Saturday, March 27, 2010
USA-RUSSIA, reached new Nuclear deal...[ 817 ]
US and Russia announce deal to cut nuclear weapons | |
| Obama: 'Nuclear weapons represent... the darkest days of the Cold War' BBC,,17:25 GMT, Friday, 26 March 2010 US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have agreed a new nuclear arms reduction treaty after months of negotiations. The treaty limits both sides to 1,550 warheads, about 30% less than currently allowed, the White House said. The deal replaces the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The leaders will sign the pact in Prague on 8 April. would ratify the treaty.  | |
Gaza : the worst clash in year...[ 816 ]
Israeli tanks in Gaza in worst clash in year
An Israeli Apache helicopter fires flares over the northern Gaza Strip, March 26, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Amir Cohen
The Gaza-based militant group Popular Resistance Committees confirmed one of its fighters was critically wounded by shelling. Palestinian sources reported Israeli helicopters and unmanned military drones in the skies.Witnesses near the scene said the sounds of gunfire abated an hour before midnight (2100 GMT) but the tanks were still in place firing occasional rounds. Residents were fearful of a bigger Israeli incursion, and evacuation warnings were given.
The Israeli army earlier said an officer and a conscript were killed when Palestinian gunmen fired on an Israeli military patrol inside the Strip. Two soldiers were wounded and two Palestinian fighters also died in that clash, it said.
Palestinian officials did not immediately confirm the two deaths but said at least five Palestinians, one a 10-year-old boy, were wounded according to Gaza hospital officials.
"I think it's true to say that this is one of the fiercest days we have had since operation Cast Lead happened," Israeli army spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said.
It was a "tragic and a painful" incident in a zone where there is "an everyday war", with Palestinian gunmen planting explosives near the fence and frequent cross-border fire at ranges of a couple of hundred meters.
Israeli forces "have to operate from both sides of the fence in order to have a maximum defensive system", she said.
The clash did not appear to be directly linked to the current diplomatic impasse between Israel, the Palestinians and the United States over Israeli settlement of occupied West Bank land and stalled efforts to relaunch peace talks.
Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
HAMAS SUPPORTERS CELEBRATE
The militant Islamist group Hamas which has ruled the enclave since 2007 said its men had fired on Israeli soldiers who crossed into the Strip.
Hundreds of Hamas supporters took to the streets of Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip to celebrate the killing of the two Israeli soldiers, led by senior Hamas lawmaker Mushir Al-Masri, who praised the battle.
"Entering Gaza is not a picnic," he said. "The Zionists cannot come in anytime they wish and leave anytime and however they want," Masri told the crowd. "The Qassam Brigades (Hamas's armed wing) were ready and taught them a lesson and they should not repeat such a foolish act,"
Hamas had largely held its fire since a costly three-week war with Israel in the opening days of 2009 in which some 1,400 Palestinians, mainly civilians, and 13 Israelis, mainly soldiers, were killed.
But smaller factions have violated the de facto truce by firing rockets and mortars into neighboring Israeli territory.
Israel said it was holding Hamas accountable for the violence, which made further retaliatory action likely.
"Hamas is accountable for any activity that takes place from Gaza to Israel," an Israeli military spokeswoman told reporters.
Two other groups, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said their men also took part in the fighting.
Israeli armored pursuits into Gaza are not unusual. The Israelis try to maintain a buffer zone within the border fence and keep it off-limits to Palestinian fighters.
Statements by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades did not make clear who carried out the initial ambush on the Israeli patrol. There have been calls from militants for an uprising to resist Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem.
Tensions have run high along the Gaza frontier this month, with Israel launching repeated air strikes in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, one of which killed a Thai worker in a kibbutz farm last week.
An Israeli soldier was accidentally shot dead by comrades earlier this month as they rushed to intercept three Palestinian border-jumpers, who were later found to have been going in search of work in Israel.
The last time an Israeli soldier was killed on the Gaza border was 9 days after the offensive ended in January 2009, when a bomb planted by Palestinian gunmen exploded.
(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
Friday, March 26, 2010
S.Korean navy corvette "Cheonan" sunk..[ 815 ]
Report: South Korean navy ship sinks
The South Korean navy corvette Cheonan, similar to this ship, sunk after an explosion, Yonhap News Agency reports.
(CNN) ,March 26, 2010 3:05 p.m. EDT- A South Korean navy ship sank in the Yellow Sea near North Korea early Saturday, and the navy shot at an unidentified ship toward the north, according to reports quoting South Korean government officials.
Yonhap News Agency quoted navy officials saying Friday that a ship carrying 104 crew members sank off the Seoul-controlled island of Baengnyeong in a flashpoint maritime border area between the Koreas.
The 1,500-ton corvette Cheonan went down at 9:45 p.m. Friday near the island, but the cause of the incident was not immediately known, the officials said.
A rescue operation was under way. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but some sort of explosion occurred in the rear of the ship, officials told Yonhap.
The South Korean government issued a statement saying the reason for the incident remains unclear, but it wasn't ruling out some sort of military engagement.
Yonhap quoted naval officials as saying a South Korean vessel fired at a ship toward the north later.
However, South Korean government officials said it isn't certain whether North Korea was involved in the incident. Yonhap said local residents reported hearing gunfire for about 10 minutes.
As a result of the incident, South Korean government officials held an emergency meeting of ministers handling security-related matters, officials told Yonhap.
Aides to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said the first priority is rescuing crew members, and the Defense Ministry said 58 members of the crew have been rescued.
South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System said navy vessels and helicopters were rescuing crew members, some of whom reportedly jumped into the sea after the blast, the KBS report said.
The official said the Sockcho, another South Korean navy vessel patrolling nearby, fired at unidentified ships north of the area.
North Korea has said recently it is bulking up its defenses in response to recent joint South Korean-S. JKorenews agency also quoted South Korean military officials saying North Korea conducted dozens of artillery firing drills Friday.
An idiot's "Haber"... "[ 814 ]
Fresh Turkish Provocation in the Aegean
An unprecedented Turkish provocation occurred at the early hours on the eve of the national day.
Specifically, a Turkish corvette in Greek territorial waters at 02:00, on Wednesday broadcast message to sailing near cargo ship "Archangel" asking the captain to give details of the route followed.
Five minutes earlier Greek frigate "Krystallidis" closely monitoring the moves of the Turkish navy craft sent message that it was " violating the basic rule of innocent passage".
At 02:30, the Turkish corvette left Greek territorial waters and entered international waters south of the island of Chios.
Only navy and port authority ships of the country to which territorial waters belong has the right to ask for sailing ship details.
Source: ΑNA-ΜPA
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