Firecrackers ripped through the skies of villages and towns in Sri Lanka last night as the majority Sinhalese population celebrated the government's claim that its forces had seized the rebel Tamil Tiger capital of Kilinochchi. But joy at the apparent breakthrough by the army was tempered by reports of a suicide bomb attack on the headquarters of the Sri Lankan air force in Colombo. The attack serves as a reminder that the Tigers, who wish to establish an independent Tamil state in the north and east of the island, remain a deadly force able to strike across the country.
Firecrackers ripped through the skies of villages and towns in Sri Lanka last night as the majority Sinhalese population celebrated the government's claim that its forces had seized the rebel Tamil Tiger capital of Kilinochchi.
But joy at the apparent breakthrough by the army was tempered by reports of a suicide bomb attack on the headquarters of the Sri Lankan air force in Colombo. The attack serves as a reminder that the Tigers, who wish to establish an independent Tamil state in the north and east of the island, remain a deadly force able to strike across the country.
The small column of military vehicles crossed the boundary fence into the northern Gaza Strip under darkness, said the witness, a resident of Beit Lahiya. An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the incursion and said the aim was to seize areas from where Hamas was launching rocket attacks on southern Israel....An Israeli air strike earlier on Saturday evening killed 11 Palestinian worshippers, including children, and wounded dozens as in a mosque in Beit Lahiya, Hamas officials and medics said. Rescuers pulled people from the debris and the bodies of victims lay in pools of blood, witnesses said. Israel has targeted mosques previously saying that Hamas had used them as command posts and fire bases. The mosque raid brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 446, with about 2,050 wounded, in the worst sustained bloodshed in decades of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Four Israelis have also been killed in the cross-border rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
The small column of military vehicles crossed the boundary fence into the northern Gaza Strip under darkness, said the witness, a resident of Beit Lahiya.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the incursion and said the aim was to seize areas from where Hamas was launching rocket attacks on southern Israel.
...An Israeli air strike earlier on Saturday evening killed 11 Palestinian worshippers, including children, and wounded dozens as in a mosque in Beit Lahiya, Hamas officials and medics said.
Rescuers pulled people from the debris and the bodies of victims lay in pools of blood, witnesses said.
Israel has targeted mosques previously saying that Hamas had used them as command posts and fire bases.
The mosque raid brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 446, with about 2,050 wounded, in the worst sustained bloodshed in decades of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Four Israelis have also been killed in the cross-border rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
By Yassin Musharbash Israel has promised a "war to the bitter end." Yet history is full of examples showing that battling an organization like Hamas is almost futile. It is a lesson Israel learned just two short years ago. It was almost a century ago when the British soldier T.E. Lawrence described for posterity the World War I revolt of the Arabs against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. Lawrence helped organize the revolt, and he famously said that combating such an uprising was "like eating soup with a knife."
Israel has promised a "war to the bitter end." Yet history is full of examples showing that battling an organization like Hamas is almost futile. It is a lesson Israel learned just two short years ago.
It was almost a century ago when the British soldier T.E. Lawrence described for posterity the World War I revolt of the Arabs against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. Lawrence helped organize the revolt, and he famously said that combating such an uprising was "like eating soup with a knife."
history is full of examples showing that battling an organization like Hamas is almost futile. It is a lesson Israel learned just two short years ago.
Errr..no. If they'd learned it, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing. This is the insanity of doing what they did several times before and expecting a different result. keep to the Fen Causeway
More than 100 protesters gathered outside the Egyptian embassy in London yesterday demanding the country opens its border with Gaza. Betty Hunter, general secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: "Egypt has to say this is our border and we can open it. It would allow humanitarian aid in and it would also allow the sick and the injured to come out and they could go to hospital."Egypt has to stop colluding with Israel and do this now."George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, joined the protesters and said: "We hold Egypt jointly responsible for this great crime. Israel's Foreign Secretary was with Hosni Mubarak when the bombs began to fall and it's inconceivable she did not co-ordinate it with him," he claimed."The Mubarak dictatorship has brought shame on Egypt," Mr Galloway declared.
More than 100 protesters gathered outside the Egyptian embassy in London yesterday demanding the country opens its border with Gaza.
Betty Hunter, general secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: "Egypt has to say this is our border and we can open it. It would allow humanitarian aid in and it would also allow the sick and the injured to come out and they could go to hospital.
"Egypt has to stop colluding with Israel and do this now."
George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, joined the protesters and said: "We hold Egypt jointly responsible for this great crime. Israel's Foreign Secretary was with Hosni Mubarak when the bombs began to fall and it's inconceivable she did not co-ordinate it with him," he claimed.
"The Mubarak dictatorship has brought shame on Egypt," Mr Galloway declared.
George Bush branded the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel an "act of terror" and outlined his own condition for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.
German Foreign Minister Steinmeier has pressed Muslim nations to use their influence to help secure an end to Hamas militants' rocket attacks on Israel, saying it was the only way to clear the path for a ceasefire.
Sigh... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
La présidence de l'UE parle d'action "défensive" d'Israël à Gaza La nouvelle présidence tchèque de l'Union européenne a qualifié samedi l'opération terrestre d'Israël dans la bande de Gaza d'action "défensive, pas offensive". "A l'heure actuelle et à la lumière des événements des jours derniers, nous estimons que cette mesure constitue une action défensive, et non offensive", a déclaré Jiri Putuznik, porte-parole de la présidence tchèque.
La nouvelle présidence tchèque de l'Union européenne a qualifié samedi l'opération terrestre d'Israël dans la bande de Gaza d'action "défensive, pas offensive".
"A l'heure actuelle et à la lumière des événements des jours derniers, nous estimons que cette mesure constitue une action défensive, et non offensive", a déclaré Jiri Putuznik, porte-parole de la présidence tchèque.
"As of today, in light of current events, we consider that this is defensive action by Israel, not offensive, says the EU Presidency" In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Some 6,428 Iraqis applied for asylum during the first 11 months of 2008, a rise of 64 percent from a year ago, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said. Nearly one-third of the 20,436 asylum seekers registered between January and November came from Iraq, said Michael Kleinhans, who heads the department responsible for processing asylum applications. Kleinhans attributed the increase to moves by Germany to ease asylum requirements for members of certain religious minorities.
Some 6,428 Iraqis applied for asylum during the first 11 months of 2008, a rise of 64 percent from a year ago, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said.
Nearly one-third of the 20,436 asylum seekers registered between January and November came from Iraq, said Michael Kleinhans, who heads the department responsible for processing asylum applications.
Kleinhans attributed the increase to moves by Germany to ease asylum requirements for members of certain religious minorities.
Hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers have started pulling out of the Somali capital Mogadishu amid fears the troops' departure will allow Islamic insurgents to take even more control of the lawless country. Ethiopia has been propping up Somalia's weak government for two years, but vowed to leave by the end of 2008. Officials declined to give an exact date because of fears of a power vacuum, saying only that the thousands of troops would be pulled out in stages.
Hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers have started pulling out of the Somali capital Mogadishu amid fears the troops' departure will allow Islamic insurgents to take even more control of the lawless country.
Ethiopia has been propping up Somalia's weak government for two years, but vowed to leave by the end of 2008.
Officials declined to give an exact date because of fears of a power vacuum, saying only that the thousands of troops would be pulled out in stages.
Ghana's electoral commission says John Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress has won the country's presidential election. The 64-year-old lawyer is to succeed President John Kufuor, who is to step down on Wednesday after serving his maximum two terms in office. Election officials in Accra said the results of a run-off in which a final constituency voted on Friday showed Mills had won narrowly with 50.23 percent of the votes, against 49.77 percent for Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party. Turnout in the run-off vote, which was held in most of the country last Sunday was 73 percent. The ruling NPP boycotted Friday's poll in a remote rural constituency after it failed in its bid to stop the vote over alleged election irregularities.
"On the basis of the official results given, it's my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta-Mills president-elect of the Republic of Ghana," electoral commissioner Kwado Afari-Gyan told reporters. "Victory for the opposition party is a victory for democracy," NDC member Sekou Nkrumah, the youngest son of Ghana's first president at independence Kwame Nkrumah, told AFP at the party's headquarters.
