Israel blocks aid ship bound for Gaza..[ 1419 ]

Israel steps up bid to block aid ship bound for Gaza

BBC., Saturday, 10 July 2010 10:39 UK

 

The Amalthea is carrying 2,000 tonnes of food, medicine and other items

Israel has stepped up its attempts to stop an aid ship breaking its blockade of Gaza, sending a letter to the UN and engaging Greece and Moldova in talks.

The Moldovan-flagged ship, Amalthea, chartered by a charity run by the son of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, was due to leave the Greek port of Lavrio on Saturday.

Israel said it now believed the ship would not reach Gaza.

An Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship in May killed nine Turkish activists.

Israel insisted its troops were defending themselves but the raid sparked international condemnation. 

Israel recently eased its blockade, allowing in almost all consumer goods but maintaining a "blacklist" of some items.

Israel says its blockade of the Palestinian territory is needed to prevent the supply of weapons to the Hamas militant group which controls Gaza.

Continue reading the main story

The foreign ministry believes that due to these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza

Israeli foreign ministry

Israel has been engaged in intense diplomatic activity to prevent the Amalthea, renamed Hope for the mission, reaching Gaza.

A foreign ministry statement said that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had spoken with his Greek and Moldovan counterparts on the issue.

The statement said: "The foreign ministry believes that due to these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza."

Ministry officials quoted by the Israeli news source Haaretz said that if the ship did sail it would travel instead to the Egyptian port of el-Arish.

Israel also lobbied the UN to take action.

Israel's UN ambassador Gabriela Shalev said in a letter: "Israel calls upon the international community to exert its influence on the government of Libya to demonstrate responsibility and prevent the ship from departing to the Gaza Strip."

Ms Shalev also warned: "Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip."

She said the motives of the operators were "questionable and provocative".

'Expressing solidarity'

The Amalthea is being loaded with about 2,000 tonnes of food, cooking oil, medicines and pre-fabricated houses.

It has been chartered by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation. Its chairman is Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

The organisation said the 92m (302ft) vessel would also carry "a number of supporters who are keen on expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people."

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Lavrio says the Libyans clearly believe the time is right to test Israel's resolve to maintain the naval blockade.

 
Charity director Yousef Sawani said: "We are doing what we can, this is our responsibility. If everyone says 'we will not allow this', nothing will happen and the people of Gaza will continue un

An amazing lightning storm..[ 1418 ]

   Denver, chasing an amazing lightning storm   

Telegraph co.uk.

A shot from Roger Hill's house in Denver, Colorado, of an amazing lightning storm. 
Storm-chasing husband and wife team Roger and Caryn Hill take tourists on trips following tornadoes

Picture: ROGER HILL / BARCROFT USA

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Afghanistan: A deadly road to peace..[ 1417 ]

Slow, deadly road to peace for U.S. troops in Kandahar

A group of men detained for suspected Taliban activities are held for questioning at a schoolhouse in the village of Kuhak in Arghandab District, north of Kandahar July 9, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Bob Strong

By Jonathon Burch

 

KUHAK Afghanistan (Reuters)Sat Jul 10, 2010 1:49am EDT - 

As U.S. soldiers from Alpha Company stepped out of their outpost on a scorching July morning in Arghandab in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, an all too familiar sound rang through the air.

"Can you hear that? They're blowing their horns again," one soldier shouts down the line.

It is a sound the U.S. soldiers have become accustomed to nearly every time they go out on patrol -- insurgents sounding their car and motorcycle horns, warning each other the Americans are on the move.

A couple of hours into the patrol and the even more familiar crack of gunfire breaks the mundane silence. The soldiers dive for cover, bullets whistling past their heads, as they work out where the shots are coming from.

"Flank it 1 Alpha!" Sergeant Jonathan Garcia screams at his soldiers up ahead before firing off a couple rounds over the low mudbrick wall.

As the soldiers maneuver forward, the insurgents -- probably no more than three or four men -- lose heart and disappear into the thick vegetation.

Apart from one Afghan soldier who takes a bullet through his leg and is airlifted to safety, the battle passes without incident and finishes as quickly as it started. This is Kuhak, a small village nestled inside the pomegranate orchards of Afghanistan's Arghandab valley, only miles outside Kandahar city.

It is a scene the soldiers from Alpha Company, 2-508th Parachute Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, are getting all too used to since they moved into the area in December.

Homemade bombs and gunbattles are now an almost daily occurrence. In the last week alone, the men at Kuhak have come under fire five times.

GATEWAY TO CITY

The reason the insurgents are putting up a tough fight in Arghandab is because the district forms a gateway to Kandahar from the north and the militants do not want to give that up.

With only around 2,500 Canadian troops patrolling the entire province until last year, the Taliban, for years had virtual free reign around Kandahar. When U.S. troops arrived there in Spring 2009, they disturbed something of a hornets' nest.

A U.S. Stryker Brigade that first moved in suffered heavy losses early into its deployment. More than 20 soldiers were killed and many more wounded, most by homemade bombs.

Recognizing the province was neglected for too long, military commanders have now shifted focus from neighboring Helmand to Kandahar, in a bid to drive the insurgency from its heartland strongholds.

Instead of launching a massive offensive as in Helmand earlier this year, however, commanders are talking of bringing a slow wave of security to the area with alongside more effective government and backed up with economic development.

At the battalion headquarters perched on a hill overlooking the valley, a line of bearded men wait to see the district governor, who shares his compound with the U.S. troops.

Chris Harich, from the U.S. State Department, who has been in the district center since November as part of Washington's civilian "surge," said more villagers were now coming to enquire about development projects, but also to complain about security.

WALKING THE LINE

With all the talk of governance and development, for the young soldiers at Kuhak it is just another day and another gunfight.

The men from Alpha Company rarely see who they are fighting and if they eventually do catch up to them, the insurgents have hidden their weapons and melted back into the population.

"It gets really frustrating trying to walk the line between a counter-insurgency fight and not harming the populace and trying to kill the enemy," said Platoon Commander Staff Sgt. Aaron Best.

Best, a bright 28-year-old on his second Afghanistan tour, understands the counter-insurgency message coming down from commanders, but that does not stem platoon level frustration.

"In 2007 I was getting blown up and shot at. I come back now and guess what, I'm getting blown up and shot at. Nothing's changed," he said.

(Editing by David Fox)

Pakistan Death Toll Rises to 105..[ 1416 ]

Death Toll From Two Bomb Attacks in Northwestern Pakistan Rises to 105

BLOOMBERG., By Anwar Shakir - Jul 10, 2010

 

The death toll in Mohmand Agency rose after two bombs exploded yesterday, equaling the deadliest guerrilla attack since January in Pakistan’s northwest.

The blasts killed 105 people and wounded 140 others, Miraj Ali Khan, a local government official, said by telephone from Mohmand today.

The Edhi Foundation ambulance service counted 85 people killed and more than 150 injured, its provincial coordinator, Mujahid Khan said yesterday.

Bombs built into a car and a motorcycle exploded yesterday at Yaka Ghund, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the main northwestern city of Peshawar. The bombs struck near the office of Assistant Political Agent Rasul Khan, the government administrator in the village, who has been organizing local Mohmand tribesmen to fight the Taliban.

The attack is the biggest in the frontier region since a Jan. 1 bomb killed 105 people.

Guerrillas

While Mohmand has been one of the calmer Pakistani regions along the Afghan border, guerrillas have been gathering there after fleeing the army’s latest offensive in the Orakzai Agency, south of Peshawar, Malik Naweed, chief of police for Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, said yesterday.

Taliban guerrillas seized an army post on the Mohmand frontier with Afghanistan on June 15, forcing scores of soldiers to flee.

Taliban guerrillas claimed responsibility in February for a series of bomb attacks that destroyed or damaged schools in Mohmand and other tribal areas. 

To contact the reporter on this story: Anwar Shakir in Peshawar at ashakir1@bloomberg.net

Russian Diplomat, New head of UN office in Vienna..[ 1415 ]

Russian diplomat named new head of UN office in Vienna

 

 

10.07.2010 02:46

 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon has appointed Russian Ambassador Yuri Fedotov as the new head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), his associate spokesperson said here Friday, Xinhua reported.

Fedotov will also serve as the director-general at the UN Office at Vienna (UNOV), UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters here.

The Russia diplomat succeeds Antonio Maria Costa of Italy who the secretary-general expressed gratitude for in his services and commitment in leading UNODC since 2002, said a news release here.
"Mr. Fedotov will bring a wealth of senior-level experience to his new function," said the news release.

"He is well informed on the issues of the international community and on those that are on the agenda of UNODC: rule of law, policy and trend analysis, prevention, treatment and reintegration, and alternative development," said the news release.

Currently the ambassador of Russia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Fedotov has also served as deputy minister of foreign affairs.                             

Joining the diplomatic service since 1971, Fedotov has also served as deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN and as a member of the Russian delegation to many UN conferences.