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NOAH'S ARK
15 years ago
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
ISRAEL CONTINUE STRIKE ON GAZA
A Palestinian woman reacts during a demonstration against Israel's military operation in Gaza, at the … GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel rejected international pressure to suspend its air offensive against Palestinian militants whose rocket barrages are striking close to the Israeli heartland, sending warplanes Wednesday to demolish smuggling tunnels that are the lifeline of Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers.
The diplomatic action was set in motion by the scale of destruction in Gaza since Israel unleashed its campaign Saturday, and a casualty toll that Gaza officials now put at 390 dead and some 1,600 wounded. Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed, and the U.N. says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died. Four Israelis have been killed by militant rocket fire, including three civilians.
The chief of Israel's internal security services, Yuval Diskin, told Cabinet ministers Wednesday that Hamas' ability to rule had been "badly impaired." Weapons development facilities have been "completely wiped out" and the network of smuggling tunnels has been badly damaged, a participant in the meeting quoted Diskin as saying.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed to the media.
Overnight, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed a 48-hour truce proposal floated by France with his foreign and defense ministers. The meeting ended with a decision to continue the punishing aerial campaign.
"Giving Hamas a respite just to regroup, rearm is a mistake," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said. "The pressure on the Hamas military machine must continue."
Calls for an immediate cease-fire have also come from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice personally called leaders in the Middle East on Tuesday to press for a durable solution.
Underlying the Israeli decision to keep fighting are the mightier weapons that Hamas has smuggled into Gaza through underground tunnels along the border with Egypt. Previously, militants had relied on crude homemade rockets that could fly just 12 miles to terrorize Israeli border communities. Now, they are firing industrial-grade weapons that have dramatically expanded their range and put more than one-tenth of Israel's population in their sights.
More than two dozens rockets and mortar shells were fired by mid-day Wednesday, including five that hit in and around the major southern Israeli city of Beersheba, 22 miles from Gaza. One hit an empty school. Another landed in a small farming community about 20 miles southeast of Tel Aviv. No serious casualties were reported.
School was canceled in large swaths of Israel's south because of the rocket threat. The 18,000 students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, southern Israel's only university, were also told to stay home.
Early on Wednesday, Israeli aircraft pounded smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border in another attempt to sever the lifeline that keeps Hamas in power by supplying weapons, food and fuel. Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2007 and have cracked open their borders only to let in limited amounts of humanitarian aid.
A huge explosion rocked a tunnel that housed a fuel pipeline and aircraft also smashed the house of a smuggling kingpin. In all, two tunnels were destroyed in the raid, Egyptian security officials in Rafah said.
An Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media, said Israel has destroyed 120 tunnels since the aerial campaign began. According to conservative estimates, there were at least 200 tunnels before Israeli warplanes began striking.
In Gaza City, powerful airstrikes sent high-rise apartment buildings swaying and showered streets with broken glass and pulverized concrete. The Israeli military said government buildings were hit, including an office of Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.
A Palestinian medic was killed and two others were wounded when an Israeli missile struck next to their ambulance east of Gaza City, Palestinians said. The Israeli military said it did not know of the incident.
Israeli navy ships also fired at Hamas positions along the coastline.
Diskin, the Israeli security services chief, said Hamas was trying to smuggle out some of its activists to Egypt through tunnels that were still passable. Other militants were hiding in Gaza hospitals, some disguised as doctors and nurses, and in mosques, where militants had set up command and control centers, Diskin said.
Although Hamas leaders have been driven underground, spokesman Taher Nunu said the Gaza government was functioning and had met over the past few days.
"What our people want is clear: an immediate stop to all kinds of aggression, the end of the siege by all means, the opening of all border crossings, and international guarantees that the occupation will not renew this terrorist war again," Nunu said in a statement.
Israel has been massing troops and armor along the Gaza border in an indication the air campaign could morph into a ground operation. The government approved a plan to call up an additional 2,500 reserve soldiers late Tuesday, following a decision earlier this week to authorize a call-up of 6,700 soldiers. The call-ups have yet to be carried out.
In two phone calls to Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday and Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed to him to consider a truce to allow time for humanitarian relief supplies to enter Gaza, two senior officials in Barak's office said.
While rejecting the truce, Israel said it would allow 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies to enter Gaza on Wednesday, in addition to 4,000 tons the military says have been allowed in since the offensive began. Several dozen chronically ill Gazans have also been authorized to enter Israel for treatment Wednesday, the military said.
The U.N. planned to resume food aid distribution on Thursday, after halting it two weeks ago because of shortages caused by the blockade. Most of Gaza's 1.4 million residents rely on U.N. food handouts.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was to travel Thursday to Paris for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has put his growing international stature to use in other conflict zones, most recently to help halt fighting between Russia and Georgia in August.
Kouchner said Wednesday he and Sarkozy are considering traveling to Israel next week.
A Hamas spokesman said militants wouldn't halt their rocket and mortar fire until Israel ended its blockade. "If they halt the aggression and the blockade, then Hamas will study these suggestions," Mushir Masri said.
Israel fears that opening crossings with Gaza would allow Hamas — which remains officially committed to Israel's destruction — to strengthen its hold on the territory even further.
___
Associated Press Writer Matti Friedman reported from Jerusalem and Sarah El Deeb reported from Cairo.CONTINUE TO
The diplomatic action was set in motion by the scale of destruction in Gaza since Israel unleashed its campaign Saturday, and a casualty toll that Gaza officials now put at 390 dead and some 1,600 wounded. Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed, and the U.N. says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died. Four Israelis have been killed by militant rocket fire, including three civilians.
The chief of Israel's internal security services, Yuval Diskin, told Cabinet ministers Wednesday that Hamas' ability to rule had been "badly impaired." Weapons development facilities have been "completely wiped out" and the network of smuggling tunnels has been badly damaged, a participant in the meeting quoted Diskin as saying.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed to the media.
Overnight, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed a 48-hour truce proposal floated by France with his foreign and defense ministers. The meeting ended with a decision to continue the punishing aerial campaign.
"Giving Hamas a respite just to regroup, rearm is a mistake," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said. "The pressure on the Hamas military machine must continue."
Calls for an immediate cease-fire have also come from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice personally called leaders in the Middle East on Tuesday to press for a durable solution.
Underlying the Israeli decision to keep fighting are the mightier weapons that Hamas has smuggled into Gaza through underground tunnels along the border with Egypt. Previously, militants had relied on crude homemade rockets that could fly just 12 miles to terrorize Israeli border communities. Now, they are firing industrial-grade weapons that have dramatically expanded their range and put more than one-tenth of Israel's population in their sights.
More than two dozens rockets and mortar shells were fired by mid-day Wednesday, including five that hit in and around the major southern Israeli city of Beersheba, 22 miles from Gaza. One hit an empty school. Another landed in a small farming community about 20 miles southeast of Tel Aviv. No serious casualties were reported.
School was canceled in large swaths of Israel's south because of the rocket threat. The 18,000 students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, southern Israel's only university, were also told to stay home.
Early on Wednesday, Israeli aircraft pounded smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border in another attempt to sever the lifeline that keeps Hamas in power by supplying weapons, food and fuel. Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2007 and have cracked open their borders only to let in limited amounts of humanitarian aid.
A huge explosion rocked a tunnel that housed a fuel pipeline and aircraft also smashed the house of a smuggling kingpin. In all, two tunnels were destroyed in the raid, Egyptian security officials in Rafah said.
An Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media, said Israel has destroyed 120 tunnels since the aerial campaign began. According to conservative estimates, there were at least 200 tunnels before Israeli warplanes began striking.
In Gaza City, powerful airstrikes sent high-rise apartment buildings swaying and showered streets with broken glass and pulverized concrete. The Israeli military said government buildings were hit, including an office of Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.
A Palestinian medic was killed and two others were wounded when an Israeli missile struck next to their ambulance east of Gaza City, Palestinians said. The Israeli military said it did not know of the incident.
Israeli navy ships also fired at Hamas positions along the coastline.
Diskin, the Israeli security services chief, said Hamas was trying to smuggle out some of its activists to Egypt through tunnels that were still passable. Other militants were hiding in Gaza hospitals, some disguised as doctors and nurses, and in mosques, where militants had set up command and control centers, Diskin said.
Although Hamas leaders have been driven underground, spokesman Taher Nunu said the Gaza government was functioning and had met over the past few days.
"What our people want is clear: an immediate stop to all kinds of aggression, the end of the siege by all means, the opening of all border crossings, and international guarantees that the occupation will not renew this terrorist war again," Nunu said in a statement.
Israel has been massing troops and armor along the Gaza border in an indication the air campaign could morph into a ground operation. The government approved a plan to call up an additional 2,500 reserve soldiers late Tuesday, following a decision earlier this week to authorize a call-up of 6,700 soldiers. The call-ups have yet to be carried out.
In two phone calls to Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday and Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed to him to consider a truce to allow time for humanitarian relief supplies to enter Gaza, two senior officials in Barak's office said.
While rejecting the truce, Israel said it would allow 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies to enter Gaza on Wednesday, in addition to 4,000 tons the military says have been allowed in since the offensive began. Several dozen chronically ill Gazans have also been authorized to enter Israel for treatment Wednesday, the military said.
The U.N. planned to resume food aid distribution on Thursday, after halting it two weeks ago because of shortages caused by the blockade. Most of Gaza's 1.4 million residents rely on U.N. food handouts.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was to travel Thursday to Paris for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has put his growing international stature to use in other conflict zones, most recently to help halt fighting between Russia and Georgia in August.
Kouchner said Wednesday he and Sarkozy are considering traveling to Israel next week.
A Hamas spokesman said militants wouldn't halt their rocket and mortar fire until Israel ended its blockade. "If they halt the aggression and the blockade, then Hamas will study these suggestions," Mushir Masri said.
Israel fears that opening crossings with Gaza would allow Hamas — which remains officially committed to Israel's destruction — to strengthen its hold on the territory even further.
___
Associated Press Writer Matti Friedman reported from Jerusalem and Sarah El Deeb reported from Cairo.CONTINUE TO
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
CALLS FOR GAZA CEASEFIRE
Foreign powers have stepped up calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Four days of Israeli air attacks have left 384 Palestinians dead and more than 800 wounded. Four Israelis have been killed after the Islamic militants fired salvoes of rockets.
The Quartet of Middle East peace brokers - the United Nations, US, Russia and European Union - have called for an immediate halt to the hostilities.
US President George W Bush has spoken to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss how to end the violence.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner proposed Israel accept a 48-hour truce to allow aid into Gaza. French President Nicolas Sarkozy may visit Israel on Monday.
Hamas appeared to reject the idea of an agreed truce. It said the onus was on Israel to stop firing and lift a blockade of Gaza's border.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: "We want to see convoy after convoy of humanitarian support and we are willing to work closely with all relevant international parties to facilitate that goal.
"At the same time, it is important to keep the pressure up on Hamas, not give them a respite, time to regroup and reorganise."
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "You can't equate the victim and the jailer. What is required at this time is an Arab and international effort to stop the (Israeli) aggression and open the crossings."
Israel has called up 6,500 reservists to boost the garrison on the Gaza border and the government will seek to mobilise 2,500 more.
But winter rain could make a full-scale ground operation difficult for the Israelis.
Four days of Israeli air attacks have left 384 Palestinians dead and more than 800 wounded. Four Israelis have been killed after the Islamic militants fired salvoes of rockets.
The Quartet of Middle East peace brokers - the United Nations, US, Russia and European Union - have called for an immediate halt to the hostilities.
US President George W Bush has spoken to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss how to end the violence.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner proposed Israel accept a 48-hour truce to allow aid into Gaza. French President Nicolas Sarkozy may visit Israel on Monday.
Hamas appeared to reject the idea of an agreed truce. It said the onus was on Israel to stop firing and lift a blockade of Gaza's border.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: "We want to see convoy after convoy of humanitarian support and we are willing to work closely with all relevant international parties to facilitate that goal.
"At the same time, it is important to keep the pressure up on Hamas, not give them a respite, time to regroup and reorganise."
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "You can't equate the victim and the jailer. What is required at this time is an Arab and international effort to stop the (Israeli) aggression and open the crossings."
Israel has called up 6,500 reservists to boost the garrison on the Gaza border and the government will seek to mobilise 2,500 more.
But winter rain could make a full-scale ground operation difficult for the Israelis.
Saturday, 27 December 2008
GAZA UNDER ATTACK
Israel's air force fired about 30 missiles at targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, destroying several Hamas police compounds and killing more than 140 people, medical officials and witnesses said.
Hamas vowed to avenge what it called "the Israeli slaughter."
Medical officials said 120 people had been killed in Gaza City and another 23 in Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza strip.
Thick black smoke billowed over Gaza city, where the port and security installations of the Islamist Hamas group were badly damaged.
Television footage showed dead bodies scattered on the ground and wounded and dead being carried away by distraught rescuers. There was widespread damage to buildings.
Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan said a police compound in Gaza City had been hosting a graduation ceremony for new personnel when it was attacked. Police chief Tawfiq Jabber was among the dead, the radio said.
Uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain. Rescuers carried those showing signs of life to cars and ambulances, while others tried to revive the unconscious, television pictures showed.
Several of the rescuers beat their heads and shouted: "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)." One badly wounded prostrate man quietly recited verses from the Koran.
At another site, there was a huge crater in the ground. Nearby medics carried people into an ambulance.
Witnesses said the attacks were carried out by warplanes and combat helicopters.
"All fighters are ordered to respond to the Israeli slaughter," said a statement by the Islamic Jihad group, echoing statements issued by Hamas and other armed factions.
An aide to Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the military was prepared to step up the assault if necessary.
"The operation will be pursued and widened as required and subject to (commanders') assessments," the aide told Reuters. "We are facing a period that will not be simple or easy."
A six-month truce expired in Gaza just over a week ago. Since then, at least six militants have been killed by Israeli air strikes and dozens of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza have slammed into Israel, damaging homes and causing panic.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Islamist group Hamas on Thursday to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price. "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad," he told Al Arabiya television, an Arab broadcaster widely watched in Gaza.
About a dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza on Friday. One accidentally struck a northern Gaza house killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and 13, and wounding a third, Palestinian medics said.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Hamas vowed to avenge what it called "the Israeli slaughter."
Medical officials said 120 people had been killed in Gaza City and another 23 in Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza strip.
Thick black smoke billowed over Gaza city, where the port and security installations of the Islamist Hamas group were badly damaged.
Television footage showed dead bodies scattered on the ground and wounded and dead being carried away by distraught rescuers. There was widespread damage to buildings.
Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan said a police compound in Gaza City had been hosting a graduation ceremony for new personnel when it was attacked. Police chief Tawfiq Jabber was among the dead, the radio said.
Uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain. Rescuers carried those showing signs of life to cars and ambulances, while others tried to revive the unconscious, television pictures showed.
Several of the rescuers beat their heads and shouted: "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)." One badly wounded prostrate man quietly recited verses from the Koran.
At another site, there was a huge crater in the ground. Nearby medics carried people into an ambulance.
Witnesses said the attacks were carried out by warplanes and combat helicopters.
"All fighters are ordered to respond to the Israeli slaughter," said a statement by the Islamic Jihad group, echoing statements issued by Hamas and other armed factions.
An aide to Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the military was prepared to step up the assault if necessary.
"The operation will be pursued and widened as required and subject to (commanders') assessments," the aide told Reuters. "We are facing a period that will not be simple or easy."
A six-month truce expired in Gaza just over a week ago. Since then, at least six militants have been killed by Israeli air strikes and dozens of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza have slammed into Israel, damaging homes and causing panic.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Islamist group Hamas on Thursday to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price. "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad," he told Al Arabiya television, an Arab broadcaster widely watched in Gaza.
About a dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza on Friday. One accidentally struck a northern Gaza house killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and 13, and wounding a third, Palestinian medics said.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Friday, 26 December 2008
VITAL QUESTION TO ANSWER
Will Obama be a warmonger? How many wars will he likely lead the U.S, to fight in the next eight years and how justified will those wars be? Time will surely tell.
OBAMA IN HAWAII
US President-elect Barack Obama has paid American military families a Christmas visit to thank them for their service. Skip related content
Mr Obama, who is spending the festive season in Hawaii where he grew up, chatted to members of the Marine Corps based on the island as they ate Christmas dinner.
There were no speeches or formalities during the visit, it was just a personal expression of thanks and encouragement from Mr Obama.
After two years on the campaign trail, the Obama's have taken this time to relax before moving into the White House in January.
Mr Obama has returned to Hawaii to scatter his grandmother's ashes into the Pacific Ocean. She died on the eve of his election victory in November.
PAKISTAN READY WITH TROOPS AT BORDER WITH INDIA
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani troops have been moved to the Indian border amid fears of an Indian ground incursion, two Pakistani military officials told CNN on Friday.
The troops were deployed from Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan, where forces have been battling Taliban and al Qaeda militants in North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Pakistan's armed forces have been on high alert in anticipation of a possible conflict with India following last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which killed 160 people.
India believes the 10 men who carried out the attacks were trained at a terrorist camp in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir.
A senior official said the troops had been moved from areas where there are no active military operations, and emphasized that troop levels have not been depleted in areas where soldiers are battling militants, such as the Swat Valley and near Peshawar, capital of the North West region.
In addition to the move, leave for all military personnel has been restricted and all troops were called back to active duty, the senior official said.
Asked for a reaction to the development, Husain Haqqani, Pakistani ambassador to the United States, said, "Pakistan does not seek war, but we need to be vigilant against threats of war emanating from the other side of our eastern border."
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He said Pakistan's conduct since the Mumbai attack "has been consistent with international expectations. There is no justification for threats against Pakistan."
"Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism and will continue to act against terrorists," he added. "We are a country of rule of law and need evidence to prosecute anyone for the crime of terrorism."
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the United States has been "in close contact" with India and Pakistan in probing the Mumbai attack and fighting terror. He is hoping that "both sides will avoid taking steps that will unnecessarily raise tensions during these already tense times."
In London, England, Pakistani envoy to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan countered the report, noting that winter redeployments are normal and that only police and not the army had their vacation canceled. While he criticized India's "coercive diplomacy" and regretted India's "war hysteria," he underscored the fact that the two countries don't want to go to war.
Tensions increased between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan following the November 26 attacks in Mumbai, where militants launched a coordinated strike against luxury hotels, a Jewish center and other targets.
India has criticized Islamabad for not doing enough to counter terrorism, and it has accused elements within the Pakistan government and military of complicity in fueling terrorism in the region.
On Thursday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India to refrain from launching any strikes against Pakistan, according to a report in The Nation newspaper.
Another unnamed Pakistani military official told CNN that the Pakistani military has been taking precautionary measures to safeguard borders in the face of mounting military threats from India over the Mumbai attacks.
"Naturally, you have to take certain steps to stem that expected tide of Indian operations," he said, "You can't fight on both fronts so we have redeployed certain military elements from the western border to the northern border to meet Indian operations."
The official said that while Pakistan has tolerated U.S. missile strikes from Afghanistan into Pakistan, he believes the government and public would not stand for an Indian incursion.
In the Indian capital of New Delhi on Friday, three military chiefs briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the security situation.
An Indian officer said Indian soldiers have spotted Pakistani troop movements along the Line of Control in Kashmir. The Line of Control divides the disputed region between the area controlled by India and the area administered by Pakistan.
Indian defense spokesman Sitanshu Kar said India isn't carrying out a troop buildup along its western borders but "is monitoring the situation closely." He also said he is "not aware" of military reports about Pakistani troop mobilization along the Indian border.
"But we are keeping a vigil," Kar said.
Since the division of the subcontinent in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed territory of Kashmir -- now wracked by an 18-year, bloody separatist campaign that authorities say has left at least 43,000 dead. There also was a limited border conflict in 1999 between the countries in Kashmir.
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
SANTA JOURNEY ON SATELLITE
For web-savvy kids everywhere, Santa's journey from the North Pole can be tracked online. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Track Santa by satellite! The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), which is responsible for aerospace and maritime defence, has teamed up with internet giants Google to make Santa's busy 24 hours visible online via the www.noradsanta.org site.
It appears he has already dropped off some some gifts in Russia, Japan, Fiji, North Korea, New Zealand and Australia and will be heading to the UK later.
So you'd better be good for goodness sake...
Related photos / videos Track Santa by satellite! The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), which is responsible for aerospace and maritime defence, has teamed up with internet giants Google to make Santa's busy 24 hours visible online via the www.noradsanta.org site.
It appears he has already dropped off some some gifts in Russia, Japan, Fiji, North Korea, New Zealand and Australia and will be heading to the UK later.
So you'd better be good for goodness sake...
SANTA JOURNEY ON SATELLITE
For web-savvy kids everywhere, Santa's journey from the North Pole can be tracked online. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Track Santa by satellite! The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), which is responsible for aerospace and maritime defence, has teamed up with internet giants Google to make Santa's busy 24 hours visible online via the www.noradsanta.org site.
It appears he has already dropped off some some gifts in Russia, Japan, Fiji, North Korea, New Zealand and Australia and will be heading to the UK later.
So you'd better be good for goodness sake...
Related photos / videos Track Santa by satellite! The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), which is responsible for aerospace and maritime defence, has teamed up with internet giants Google to make Santa's busy 24 hours visible online via the www.noradsanta.org site.
It appears he has already dropped off some some gifts in Russia, Japan, Fiji, North Korea, New Zealand and Australia and will be heading to the UK later.
So you'd better be good for goodness sake...
Monday, 22 December 2008
NATION AGAINST NATION
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass; but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation,and kingdom against kindom: and there shall be famines. and pestilemces, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows,"Matt.24:6-8
For nation shall rise against nation,and kingdom against kindom: and there shall be famines. and pestilemces, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows,"Matt.24:6-8
Saturday, 20 December 2008
MORE U.S. TROOPS FOR AFGHANISTAN
NIS
Slideshow: Afghanistan Play Video Barack Obama Video: Obama names Holdren, Lubchenco to science posts AP Play Video Barack Obama Video: Obama urges carmakers to 'reform' BBC KABUL, Afghanistan – The top U.S. military officer says that up to 30,000 new American troops could be sent to Afghanistan next year.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said on a visit to Kabul that between 20,000 and 30,000 additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan by summer.
U.S. commanders have long requested an additional 20,000 troops to bolster the 31,000 U.S. forces already in the country. But the high end of Mullen's range — 30,000 additional forces — is the largest number any top U.S. military official has said publicly.
Mullen says that after those troops are added, only improvements in Afghanistan's governance and economic situation will affect the strength of the insurgency.
Slideshow: Afghanistan Play Video Barack Obama Video: Obama names Holdren, Lubchenco to science posts AP Play Video Barack Obama Video: Obama urges carmakers to 'reform' BBC KABUL, Afghanistan – The top U.S. military officer says that up to 30,000 new American troops could be sent to Afghanistan next year.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said on a visit to Kabul that between 20,000 and 30,000 additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan by summer.
U.S. commanders have long requested an additional 20,000 troops to bolster the 31,000 U.S. forces already in the country. But the high end of Mullen's range — 30,000 additional forces — is the largest number any top U.S. military official has said publicly.
Mullen says that after those troops are added, only improvements in Afghanistan's governance and economic situation will affect the strength of the insurgency.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
GENOCIDE: ANIMAL TRAIT
AP – Theoneste Bagosora reacts as he sits in the court at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, … ARUSHA, Tanzania – A former Rwandan army colonel was convicted Thursday of genocide and crimes against humanity for masterminding the killings of more than half a million people in a 100-day slaughter in 1994. Survivors in Rwanda welcomed the watershed moment in a long search for justice.
The U.N. courtroom in Tanzania was packed for the culmination of the trial of Theoneste Bagosora, the highest-ranking Rwandan official to be convicted in the genocide. Onlookers were silent as the 67-year-old was sentenced to life in prison.
"Let him think about what he did for the rest of his life," said Jean Pierre Sagahutu, 46, in Rwanda, who lost his parents and seven siblings. He escaped by hiding in a septic tank for 2 1/2 months.
Former military commanders Anatole Nsengiyumva and Aloys Ntabakuze also were found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison. The former chief of military operations, Brig. Gratien Kabiligi, was cleared of all charges and released.
The U.N. Security Council created a tribunal in 1994 to prosecute those responsible for "genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law."
The 1994 genocide saw government troops, Hutu militia and ordinary villagers spurred on by hate messages broadcast on the radio going from village to village, butchering men, women and children. The consequences still shake the region.
Hutu fighters, chased by the Tutsi military leader who is now Rwanda's president, fled into Congo at the end of the bloodletting. Rwanda has twice invaded Congo, fueling a conflict that drew in a half-dozen African nations.
Recent clashes in eastern Congo, which borders Rwanda, have driven more than 250,000 people from their homes. Laurent Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi and former general who quit his country's army in 2004 to launch a rebellion, contends he is fighting to protect the region's ethnic Tutsis from Hutu militias.
Perpetrators and victims, meanwhile, struggle to reconcile in Rwanda, a desperately poor and densely packed east African country the size of Vermont.
On Thursday, the court said Bagosora used his position as the highest authority in Rwanda's Ministry of Defense to direct Hutu soldiers to kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus. According to the indictment against him, Bagosora once said he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse."
The court said he was responsible for the deaths of former Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian peacekeepers who tried to protect her at the outset of the genocide. Belgium had sought Bagosora's extradition for the murder of 10 Belgian peacekeepers.
"It's been a very important day in the tribunal here with judgments given in respect of very important cases which shed a lot of light on really what happened on that fateful day, on 6th April 1994, and the few days following thereafter," Hassan Bubacar Jallow, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, told French international news channel France 24.
The killings began on April 7, 1994, the day after a plane carrying ethnic Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down by unidentified attackers on its approach to Kigali airport.
About 2,500 U.N. troops were in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, when the genocide began. Canadian Romeo Dallaire, the U.N. force commander in Rwanda, had repeatedly warned of the looming slaughter and sought more troops and authority to stop it, but was refused.
The U.N. and former President Bill Clinton have apologized for failing to intervene. Allegations the international community failed to respond quickly and decisively to crises in Sudan and elsewhere in Africa in subsequent years have been cited as proof the lessons of Rwanda were all too quickly forgotten.
The U.S. called the convictions an important step in providing justice and accountability for the Rwandan people and the international community.
"The conviction of Mr. Bagosora shows that even those at the highest levels of government are not immune from prosecution in the face of such grave atrocities," said Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman.
The U.S. urged countries to continue cooperating with the tribunal, which is still seeking the arrest and transfer of 13 fugitives in the case.
Some 63,000 people are suspected of taking part in the genocide. Many have been sentenced by community-based courts, called "gacaca," where suspects were encouraged to confess and seek forgiveness in exchange for lighter sentences.
The Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was set up by the U.N. in 1994 to try those responsible for the killings and had its first conviction in 1997. There have been 42 judgments, of which six have been acquittals. The tribunal does not have the power to impose the death sentence.
Eighteen trials remain under way but none of the defendants is as senior as Bagosora, who was captured in Cameroon in 1996, has been in custody in Tanzania since 1997, and is to serve his sentence here. His lawyer, Raphael Constant, has said he will appeal the verdict within a 30-day deadline.
"Bagosora ... is the person behind all the massacres," said Jean Paul Rurangwa, 32, who lost his father and two sisters. "The fact that he was sentenced to the biggest punishment the court can give is a relief."
Also Thursday, Protais Zigiranyirazo, 70, was convicted of organizing a massacre in which hundreds of Tutsis died, and was sentenced to 20 years. Zigiranyirazo — the brother-in-law of the Rwandan president who was killed in the 1994 plane crash — gets credit for seven years already served in prison.
The chief prosecutor at the tribunal said "it would appear to me that 20 years for a genocide may be on the low side."
"We are reviewing that aspect of it and will eventually decide whether to pursue an appeal against the sentence or not," Jallow told France 24.
Chris Hennemeyer, who was a relief worker in Rwanda and is a vice president at the U.S.-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems, said "the important thing is that he's behind bars and at his age he won't get out until he's very elderly."
Hutus, by far the majority in Rwanda, had overthrown a Tutsi monarchy three years before independence from Belgium in 1962 and took power. Ethnic tensions were unresolved, and rebels, most of them ethnic Tutsis, invaded from their base in neighboring Uganda in 1990.
Habyarimana, a Hutu, had been negotiating peace with the rebels when his plane was shot down.
Bagosora had participated in international talks arranged in the early 1990s, but grew angry with government delegates he deemed soft on Tutsi-led rebels and said he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse," the indictment quoted him as saying.
Hours after Habyarimana's plane crashed, militants from the Hutu ethnic majority known as Interahamwe set up roadblocks across Kigali and the next day began killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The slaughter ended after Tutsi rebels led by Paul Kagame, now the president, drove out the genocidal forces.
Tutsis now dominate the nation's government and army.
Reed Brody, a specialist in international justice for Human Rights Watch, said Thursday's sentence sent a clear message to other world leaders accused of crimes against humanity and genocide, like Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
"It says watch out. Justice can catch up with you," Brody said. "The authors of genocide can and will be punished by the international community."
___
Bryson reported from Johannesburg, South Africa. Associated Press writers Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya, and Joelle Diderich in Paris contributed to this report.
Monday, 15 December 2008
THE MAN AND THE CHIMP
There is no doubt about the fact that as it is with man so it is with the animals. Emotions easily trigerred and violence errupts and the end result is that someone gets hurt. While a journalist was hurling his shoe at President Bush in Baghdad in Iraq, a chimp by name Babu in an Indian zoo was hurling stones at visitors that were trying to draw its attention. In the processs a female chimp by name Mithu Mondal and her daughter Nikita were wounded. Definitely the stones being hurled by Babu missed its target. The two victims have been rushed to the hospital.
We should ask the question why is it that in times of war or violence the women and children are always the primary victims. There is no doubt about it that our's is the animal kingdom and man is the animal and we are the source of every violent situation in the world. Violence is contagious hence it has spread even to every sphere of life in our planet.
We should ask the question why is it that in times of war or violence the women and children are always the primary victims. There is no doubt about it that our's is the animal kingdom and man is the animal and we are the source of every violent situation in the world. Violence is contagious hence it has spread even to every sphere of life in our planet.
PRESIDENT BUSH SHOE ATTACK
US President George W Bush is in Afghanistan for talks with President Hamid Karzai, after surviving a shoe attack in Iraq. Skip related content
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Mr Bush also met with US troops spearheading the fight against a resurgent Taliban, after his surprise trip on Sunday to farewell troops in Iraq.
He received a farewell gift in Baghdad by an Iraqi journalist who shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," and hurled his shoes at Mr Bush during a news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Throwing shoes at somebody is a supreme insult in the Middle East.
One of the shoes sailed over the president's head and slammed into the wall behind him and he had to duck to miss the other one.
"It's like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It's a way for people to draw attention," Mr Bush said. "I don't know what the guy's cause was. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."
The journalist was leapt on by Iraqi security officials and US secret service agents and dragged from the room screaming and struggling.
On his visit to Afghanistan, Mr Bush said, "I told the president you can count on the United States. Just like you've been able to count on this administration, you will be able to count on the next administration as well."
After Air Force One touched down at Bagram air base outside Kabul under heavy security, Mr Bush strode across the tarmac and into a giant tent where hundreds of troops greeted him with raucous cheers as he thanked them for their service.
"I am confident we will succeed in Afghanistan because our cause is just," he told them.
Mr Bush, who has already ordered a troop increase in Afghanistan, appeared to lend tacit support to President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to increase troop levels even more after he takes office on January 20.
"I want him to succeed, I want him to do well," Mr Bush said of Mr Obama. "I'd expect you'll see more US troops here as quickly as possible in parts of the country that are being challenged by the Taliban."
Mr Obama has promised to make Afghanistan a higher priority, saying the Bush administration has been too distracted by the unpopular Iraq war to pay Afghanistan the attention it deserves.
Related photos / videos Bush 'shoe attack' in slow motion & the words ... Play video Bush 'shoe attack' in slow motion & the words ... Play video George Bush dodges shoe 'insult' in Iraq Play video Bush welcomed in Afghanistan
Related content
Israel turns back senior UN official
Video: Bush 'shoe attack' in slow motion & the words ...
Video: George Bush dodges shoe 'insult' in Iraq
Related Hot Topic: Terrorism
Have your say: Terrorism
Mr Bush also met with US troops spearheading the fight against a resurgent Taliban, after his surprise trip on Sunday to farewell troops in Iraq.
He received a farewell gift in Baghdad by an Iraqi journalist who shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," and hurled his shoes at Mr Bush during a news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Throwing shoes at somebody is a supreme insult in the Middle East.
One of the shoes sailed over the president's head and slammed into the wall behind him and he had to duck to miss the other one.
"It's like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It's a way for people to draw attention," Mr Bush said. "I don't know what the guy's cause was. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."
The journalist was leapt on by Iraqi security officials and US secret service agents and dragged from the room screaming and struggling.
On his visit to Afghanistan, Mr Bush said, "I told the president you can count on the United States. Just like you've been able to count on this administration, you will be able to count on the next administration as well."
After Air Force One touched down at Bagram air base outside Kabul under heavy security, Mr Bush strode across the tarmac and into a giant tent where hundreds of troops greeted him with raucous cheers as he thanked them for their service.
"I am confident we will succeed in Afghanistan because our cause is just," he told them.
Mr Bush, who has already ordered a troop increase in Afghanistan, appeared to lend tacit support to President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to increase troop levels even more after he takes office on January 20.
"I want him to succeed, I want him to do well," Mr Bush said of Mr Obama. "I'd expect you'll see more US troops here as quickly as possible in parts of the country that are being challenged by the Taliban."
Mr Obama has promised to make Afghanistan a higher priority, saying the Bush administration has been too distracted by the unpopular Iraq war to pay Afghanistan the attention it deserves.
CHIMP REVENGE ON VISITORS
Sky News Print Story
A chimpanzee in a zoo has taken revenge on visitors by hurling stones at them, apparently because the same thing had been done to him. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Chimp Takes Revenge On Visitors Mithu Mondal, 30, and her six-year-old daughter Nikita were hurt at Kolkata zoo in India when Babu, a male chimpanzee, threw stones at them, the zoo reported.
The chimp was reacting angrily after being teased by crowds on Sunday afternoon.
The zoo's director said visitors had been trying to attract the chimp's attention, something which happens regularly.
The two victims were taken to hospital and released after treatment.
Last year, Babu and a female chimpanzee escaped from their enclosure by breaking the lock.
Zoo authorities have repeatedly asked visitors not to throw stones, but people take no notice.
"Unless people throw stones, there is no way the chimpanzees can have stones in their enclosures," an official said.
The zoo was created in the 19th century while India was under British rule, in the city that was home to the rich and prosperous East India Company.
It was opened in 1876 by the future Edward VII, becoming the first zoological gardens in Asia and, with its 45 acres, grand enough to rival its European counterparts.
The zoo is also home to the white tiger, an endangered specie
A chimpanzee in a zoo has taken revenge on visitors by hurling stones at them, apparently because the same thing had been done to him. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Chimp Takes Revenge On Visitors Mithu Mondal, 30, and her six-year-old daughter Nikita were hurt at Kolkata zoo in India when Babu, a male chimpanzee, threw stones at them, the zoo reported.
The chimp was reacting angrily after being teased by crowds on Sunday afternoon.
The zoo's director said visitors had been trying to attract the chimp's attention, something which happens regularly.
The two victims were taken to hospital and released after treatment.
Last year, Babu and a female chimpanzee escaped from their enclosure by breaking the lock.
Zoo authorities have repeatedly asked visitors not to throw stones, but people take no notice.
"Unless people throw stones, there is no way the chimpanzees can have stones in their enclosures," an official said.
The zoo was created in the 19th century while India was under British rule, in the city that was home to the rich and prosperous East India Company.
It was opened in 1876 by the future Edward VII, becoming the first zoological gardens in Asia and, with its 45 acres, grand enough to rival its European counterparts.
The zoo is also home to the white tiger, an endangered specie
Friday, 5 December 2008
THE WORLD NATIONS
The Nations of the world are governed by mankind but in actual fact, the entire nations of the world are all a glorified animal kingdom. By what we believe and the manner we go about the running of our affairs, it is all an animal kingdom. What will be the end of all this violence, economic crisis, demonstration of power through possession of instruments of war, social injustice and religious bigotry. Lack of wisdom by not being able to discern the things of God even when the biblical prophecies are being fulfilled every day. Through this blog I will take us through articles and news analysis that will shed light on the stage at which we are in creation and how the word spoken and forever settled in heaven is affecting the animal kingdom of man.
The late Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola of the great Spiritual Revival Of the 1930s said in one of his sermons that all the governments and kingdoms of the world are animal kingdoms. He pointed to the fact that hardly would we see a nation in the world that do not have the symbol of the animal on their national flag. He said such animals such as the lion, tiger, eagles, fish, bulls and even sword which symbolises violence, could be seen on national flags of nations. This is in consonance with that which is written in the book of prophet Daniel in which the kingdom of the world were symbolised with the imagery of the beast.
"I came near unto them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all these. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.
This great beast, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
But the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
Then I will know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whole teeth was of iron, and his nails of brass; and stamped the residue with his feet;
And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints,and prevailed against them;
Until the ancient of days came, and judgement was given to the saints of the most high; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus he said the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
And he shall speak great words against the most high, and shall wear out the saints of the most high, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
But the judgement shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,and all dominions shall serve and obey him."Dan.7:16-27
This is an excerpt from the book; A CALL TO HONOUR:A BIOGRAPHY OF APOSTLE JOSEPH AYO BABALOLA by Rev. Babatunde Ezekiel Ajibola
BUY THESE CHRISTIAN TITLES
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