Showing posts with label breaking news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breaking news. Show all posts

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Low inflation will cap interest rate rise, says MPC member

  8/14/2014 03:50:00 PM    



David Miles says strong pick-up in investment, fading housing market boom and low wage growth means sharp rate rise is unlikely


Bank of England governor Mark Carney dampened talk of a sharp interest rate rise on Wednesday. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/PA


The Bank of England will not be pushed into raising interest rates sharply because the outlook for inflation is subdued, a policymaker on the Bank's rate-setting commmittee has said.

Speaking to BBC Radio, David Miles said that investment spending in Britain had started to increase strongly and he expected that to continue, making for more than a consumer-led recovery.

Miles, regarded as a dove on the monetary policy committee (MPC), noted that inflation is now slightly below the Bank's 2% target.

"That's very good news because it means that we're not going to be pushed into raising interest sharply, because the inflation outlook remains pretty subdued."

The BoE on Wednesday dented expectations of an interest rate hike this year, slashing its forecast for wage growth and saying higher borrowing costs hinged largely on an improved outlook for pay.

Miles said Britons were probably getting pay settlements of around 2% on average, and that he expected wages to start outstripping the rate of inflation going into next year.

Official data on Wednesday showed British workers earned less between April and June than they did in the same period last year, even as the unemployment rate fell once again.

Miles, an external member of the MPC, said the spread between mortgage rates and the Bank's official interest rate would likely be higher than it was in the past – a legacy of the financial crisis.

As a result, Bank rates will probably run at a "new normal" in future – lower than they were before the financial crisis, he added.

He also noted that some of the forward-looking indicators of Britain's housing market were starting to cool.

A survey of chartered surveyors on Thursday showed rapid house price growth in Britain is starting to moderate, with momentum in London's property boom fading fast.

Miles declined to say how he voted in the MPC's August meeting. Minutes from the meeting will be published next Wednesday. (Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Kim Coghill and Eric Meijer)

source
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/14/low-inflation-cap-interest-rates-bank-england-mpc

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Saturday, August 2, 2014

Brian Eno on the Israel-Gaza crisis: How can you justify images such as this?

  8/02/2014 09:03:00 PM    


When the musician Brian Eno saw a picture of a Palestinian man carrying the remains of his dead son in a plastic bag, he was moved to write a cri de coeur to his American friends, asking them to explain their country’s unconditional support for Israel. This is his letter – followed by the response from the author Peter Schwartz





Dear All of You,

I sense I’m breaking an unspoken rule with this letter, but I can’t keep quiet any more.


Today I saw a picture of a weeping Palestinian man holding a plastic carrier bag of meat. It was his son. He’d been shredded (the hospital’s word) by an Israeli missile attack – apparently using their fab new weapon, fléchette bombs. You probably know what those are –hundreds of small steel darts packed around explosive which tear the flesh off humans. The boy was Mohammed Khalaf al-Nawasra. He was four years old.

I suddenly found myself thinking that it could have been one of my kids in that bag, and that thought upset me more than anything has for a long time.

Then I read that the UN had said that Israel might be guilty of war crimes in Gaza, and they wanted to launch a commission into that. America won’t sign up to it.

What is going on in America? I know from my own experience how slanted your news is, and how little you get to hear about the other side of this story. But – for Christ’s sake! – it’s not that hard to find out. Why does America continue its blind support of this one-sided exercise in ethnic cleansing? WHY? I just don’t get it. I really hate to think it’s just the power of Aipac [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee]… for if that’s the case, then your government really is fundamentally corrupt. No, I don’t think that’s the reason… but I have no idea what it could be. The America I know and like is compassionate, broad-minded, creative, eclectic, tolerant and generous. You, my close American friends, symbolise those things for me. But which America is backing this horrible one-sided colonialist war? I can’t work it out: I know you’re not the only people like you, so how come all those voices aren’t heard or registered? How come it isn’t your spirit that most of the world now thinks of when it hears the word “America”? How bad does it look when the one country which more than any other grounds its identity in notions of Liberty and Democracy then goes and puts its money exactly where its mouth isn’t and supports a ragingly racist theocracy?


In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict1 of 95





I was in Israel last year with Mary [a mutual friend]. Her sister works for UNRWA [the UN agency for Palestinian refugees] in Jerusalem. Showing us round were a Palestinian – Shadi, who is her sister’s husband and a professional guide – and Oren Jacobovitch, an Israeli Jew, an ex-major from the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] who left the service under a cloud for refusing to beat up Palestinians. Between the two of them we got to see some harrowing things – Palestinian houses hemmed in by wire mesh and boards to prevent settlers throwing shit and piss and used sanitary towels at the inhabitants; Palestinian kids on their way to school being beaten by Israeli kids with baseball bats to parental applause and laughter; a whole village evicted and living in caves while three settler families moved on to their land; an Israeli settlement on top of a hill diverting its sewage directly down on to Palestinian farmland below; The Wall; the checkpoints… and all the endless daily humiliations. I kept thinking, “Do Americans really condone this? Do they really think this is OK? Or do they just not know about it?”

As for the Peace Process: Israel wants the Process but not the Peace. While “the process” is going on, the settlers continue grabbing land and building their settlements… and then when the Palestinians finally erupt with their pathetic fireworks they get hammered and shredded with state-of-the-art missiles and depleted uranium shells because Israel “has a right to defend itself” (whereas Palestine clearly doesn’t). And the settler militias are always happy to lend a fist or rip up someone’s olive grove while the army looks the other way. By the way, most of them are not ethnic Israelis – they’re “right of return” Jews from Russia and Ukraine and Moravia and South Africa and Brooklyn who came to Israel recently with the notion that they had an inviolable (God-given!) right to the land, and that “Arab” equates with “vermin” – straightforward old-school racism. That is the culture our taxes are defending. It’s like sending money to the Klan.


But beyond this, what really troubles me is the bigger picture. Like it or not, in the eyes of most of the world, America represents “The West”. So it is The West that is seen as supporting this war, despite all our high-handed talk about morality and democracy. I fear that all the civilisational achievements of The Enlightenment and Western Culture are being discredited – to the great glee of the mad Mullahs – by this flagrant hypocrisy. The war has no moral justification that I can see – but it doesn’t even have any pragmatic value either. It doesn’t make Kissingerian “Realpolitik” sense; it just makes us look bad.

I’m sorry to burden you all with this. I know you’re busy and in varying degrees allergic to politics, but this is beyond politics. It’s us squandering the civilisational capital that we’ve built over generations. None of the questions in this letter are rhetorical: I really don’t get it and I wish that I did.

source

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Israeli newspaper sparks outrage with 'Genocide is Permissible' blog

  8/02/2014 08:40:00 PM    


Times of Israel announced it ended its association with Yochanan Gordon, a writer who authored a post entitled "When Genocide Is Permissible."


A screenshot of the Times of Israel blog post "When Genocide Is Permissible." Photo: screenshot


A blog post about the Israel-Gaza conflict that was published by an Israeli online newspaper on Friday provoked an avalanche of criticism and outrage on social media, prompting the news outlet to dismiss its author.

The Times of Israel announced on Friday that it ended its association with Yochanan Gordon, a writer who authored a post entitled "When Genocide Is Permissible."


“Hamas has stated forthrightly that it idealizes death as much as Israel celebrates life. What other way then is there to deal with an enemy of this nature other than obliterate them completely?” Gordon wrote in the Times of Israelarticle. “We have already established that it is the responsibility of every government to ensure the safety and security of its people. If political leaders and military experts determine that the only way to achieve its goal of sustaining quiet is through genocide is it then permissible to achieve those responsible goals?”

Gordon's blog post enraged thousands who took to Twitter to express their bewilderment at how such a piece could be approved.

In response to the public fury touched off by Gordon's post, the Times of Israel deleted the article and announced that it has discontinued its relationship with the author.

"The Times of Israel maintains an open blog platform: Once we have accepted bloggers, we allow them to post their own items," the newspaper said. "This trust has rarely been abused. We are angry and appalled that it was in this case, and will take steps to prevent a recurrence."

"We will not countenance blog posts that incite to violence or criminal acts."

Gordon later apologized in a statement that was posted on the website of another New York-based publication that ran the initial blog.

"I wish to express deep regret and beg forgiveness for an article I authored which was posted on 5TJT.com, Times of Israel and was tweeted and shared the world over," Gordon wrote.

"I never intended to call to harm any people although my words may have conveyed that message. With that said I pray and hope for a quick peaceful end to the hostilities and that all people learn to coexist with each other in creating a better world for us all."

sources

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When Genocide is Permissible by Yochanan Gordon

  8/02/2014 08:30:00 PM    


Judging by the numbers of casualties on both sides in this almost one-month old war one would be led to the conclusion that Israel has resorted to disproportionate means in fighting a far less- capable enemy. That is as far as what meets the eye. But, it’s now obvious that the US and the UN are completely out of touch with the nature of this foe and are therefore not qualified to dictate or enforce the rules of this war – because when it comes to terror there is much more than meets the eye.

I wasn’t aware of this, but it seems that the nature of warfare has undergone a major shift over the years. Where wars were usually waged to defeat the opposing side, today it seems – and judging by the number of foul calls it would indicate – that today’s wars are fought to a draw. I mean, whoever heard of a timeout in war? An NBA Basketball game allows six timeouts for each team during the course of a game, but last I checked this is a war! We are at war with an enemy whose charter calls for the annihilation of our people. Nothing, then, can be considered disproportionate when we are fighting for our very right to live.

The sad reality is that Israel gets it, but its hands are being tied by world leaders who over the past six years have insisted they are such good friends with the Jewish state, that they know more regarding its interests than even they do. But there’s going to have to come a time where Israel feels threatened enough where it has no other choice but to defy international warnings – because this is life or death.

Most of the reports coming from Gazan officials and leaders since the start of this operation have been either largely exaggerated or patently false. The truth is, it’s not their fault, falsehood and deceit is part of the very fabric of who they are and that will never change. Still however, despite their propensity to lie, when your enemy tells you that they are bent on your destruction you believe them. Similarly, when Khaled Meshal declares that no physical damage to Gaza will dampen their morale or weaken their resolve – they have to be believed. Our sage Gedalia the son of Achikam was given intelligence that Yishmael Ben Nesanyah was plotting to kill him. However, in his piety or rather naiveté Gedalia dismissed the report as a random act of gossip and paid no attention to it. To this day, the day following Rosh Hashana is commemorated as a fast day in the memory of Gedalia who was killed in cold blood on the second day of Rosh Hashana during the meal. They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over. History is there to teach us lessons and the lesson here is that when your enemy swears to destroy you – you take him seriously.

Hamas has stated forthrightly that it idealizes death as much as Israel celebrates life. What other way then is there to deal with an enemy of this nature other than obliterate them completely?

News anchors such as those from CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera have not missed an opportunity to point out the majority of innocent civilians who have lost their lives as a result of this war. But anyone who lives with rocket launchers installed or terror tunnels burrowed in or around the vicinity of their home cannot be considered an innocent civilian. If you’ll counter, that Hamas has been seen abusing civilians who have attempted to leave their homes in response to Israeli warnings to leave – well then, your beginning to come to terms with the nature of this enemy which should automatically cause the rules of standard warfare to be suspended.

Everyone agrees that Israel has the right to defend itself as well as the right to exercise that right. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has declared it, Obama and Kerry have clearly stated that no one could be expected to sit idle as thousands of rockets rain down on the heads of its citizens, placing them in clear and present danger. It seems then that the only point of contention is regarding the measure of punishment meted out in this situation.

I will conclude with a question for all the humanitarians out there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly stated at the outset of this incursion that his objective is to restore a sustainable quiet for the citizens of Israel. We have already established that it is the responsibility of every government to ensure the safety and security of its people. If political leaders and military experts determine that the only way to achieve its goal of sustaining quiet is through genocide is it then permissible to achieve those responsible goals?

source
Reprint of Yochanan Gordon’s “When Genocide is Permissible” (Updated)
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/yochanan-genocide-permissible.html

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NETANYAHU TO US: DON'T SECOND GUESS ME ON HAMAS

  8/02/2014 08:14:00 PM    





Israeli Defense Minister, Moshe Ya'alon, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, attend the cabinet meeting at the defense ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, July 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty, pool)



President Barack Obama speaks in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. The president spoke on various topics including the economy, immigration, Ukraine and the Middle East. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)



A Palestinian youth carries damaged copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book, found in the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)



A Palestinian supporter of Hamas holds the Quran as others shout slogans against the Israeli military action in Gaza, during a demonstration in the West Bank town of Tulkarem town on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. A Palestinian man was shot and killed during clashes with Israeli troops, following the demonstration in Tulkarem, Palestinian security sources said. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Following the quick collapse of the cease-fire in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the White House not to force a truce with Palestinian militants on Israel.

Sources familiar with conversations between Netanyahu and senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, say the Israeli leader advised the Obama administration "not to ever second guess me again" on the matter. The officials also said Netanyahu said he should be "trusted" on the issue and about the unwillingness of Hamas to enter into and follow through on cease-fire talks.

The Obama administration on Friday condemned "outrageous" violations of an internationally brokered Gaza cease-fire by Palestinian militants and called the apparent abduction of an Israeli soldier a "barbaric" action.

The strong reaction came as top Israeli officials questioned the effort to forge the truce, accusing the U.S. and the United Nations of being naive in assuming the radical Hamas movement would adhere with its terms. The officials also blamed the Gulf state of Qatar for not forcing the militants to comply.

With the cease-fire in tatters fewer than two hours after it took effect with an attack that killed two Israeli troops and left a third missing, President Barack Obama demanded that those responsible release the soldier.

Obama and other U.S. officials did not directly blame Hamas for the abduction. But they made clear they hold Hamas responsible for, or having influence over, the actions of all factions in the Gaza Strip. The language was a distinct change from Thursday when Washington was focused on the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

"If they are serious about trying to resolve this situation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released as soon as possible," Obama told reporters. He added that it would be difficult to revive the cease-fire without the captive's release.

"It's going to be very hard to put a cease-fire back together again if Israelis and the international community can't feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a cease-fire commitment," he said. His comment reflected uncertainty in the U.S. and elsewhere that Hamas was actually responsible for the incident or if some other militant group was to blame.

At the same time, Obama called the situation in Gaza "heartbreaking" and repeated calls for Israel to do more to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties.

Despite the collapse of the truce, Obama credited Kerry for his work with the United Nations to forge one. He lamented criticism and "nitpicking" of Kerry's attempts and said the effort would continue.

Kerry negotiated the truce with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in a marathon session of phone calls over several days while he was in India on an official visit. Kerry had spent much of the past two weeks in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and France trying to mediate a cease-fire with Qatar and Turkey playing a major role because of their close ties with Hamas.

Those efforts failed with Israel saying it could not trust Hamas and some Israelis and American pro-Israel groups complaining that the U.S. was treating the group — a foreign terrorist organization as designated by the State Department — as a friend.

Late Thursday, however, Israel accepted Kerry and Ban's latest proposal, despite its reservations. Once the truce was violated, though, Israeli officials hit out at not only Hamas, but the United States and Qatar for its failure.

An Israeli official said the Netanyahu government viewed both Hamas and Qatar as having violated the commitment given to the U.S. and the U.N. and that it expected the international community to take practical steps as part of a "strong and swift response," especially regarding the return of the abducted soldier.

In a phone call with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, Netanyahu vented his anger, according to people familiar with the call.

Netanyahu told Shapiro the Obama administration was "not to ever second-guess me again" and that Washington should trust his judgment on how to deal with Hamas, according to the people. Netanyahu added that he now "expected" the U.S. and other countries to fully support Israel's offensive in Gaza, according to those familiar with the call. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name.

They said Netanyahu made similar points to Kerry, who himself denounced the attack as "outrageous," saying it was an affront to assurances to respect the cease-fire given to the United States and United Nations, which brokered the truce.

___

AP National Security Writer Lara Jakes at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, contributed to this report.
By MATTHEW LEE— Aug. 2, 2014 5:10 AM EDT
source

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ISRAEL BOMBARDS GAZA AS IT SEARCHES FOR SOLDIER

  8/02/2014 08:07:00 PM    






Smoke billows from the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)



Palestinian Seraj Ismail Abdel Al, 5, lightly wounded in an overnight Israeli strike, inspects the damage to several buildings in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)



Palestinian members of the Abdel Al family salvage belongings from their house destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)




A Palestinian youth carries damaged copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book, found in the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)




Palestinians inspect the damage to their property after the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, across the street, was destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)



This undated photo shows Israeli Army 2nd. Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23 from Kfar Saba, central Israel. Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Friday, Aug. 1, 2014 that Goldin was apparently captured by Hamas militants who came through a tunnel from the Gaza Strip and another two soldiers were killed. An hour after Friday's cease-fire started, gunmen emerged from one or more Gaza tunnels and opened fire at Israeli soldiers, with at least one of the militants detonating an explosives vest, said Lerner. Goldin was apparently captured during the ensuing mayhem and taken back into Gaza through a tunnel. (AP Photo/YNet News)



An Islamic University guard inspects the damage to the institution, hit in an overnight Israeli strike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)




Palestinians, standing on an adjacent building, inspect the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel bombarded the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Saturday as troops searched for an officer they believe was captured by Hamas in an ambush that shattered a humanitarian cease-fire and set the stage for a major escalation of the 26-day-old war.

The Israeli military has said it believes the soldier was grabbed in a Hamas ambush about an hour after an internationally brokered cease-fire took effect Friday morning. The Hamas military wing on Saturday tried to distance itself from the soldier's alleged capture, which has prompted widespread international condemnation. President Barack Obama, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and others have accused Hamas of violating the cease-fire and have called for the soldier's immediate and unconditional release.

At least 35 Palestinians were killed in the bombardment and shelling in and around the city of Rafah early Saturday, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra, adding that the area's main hospital was evacuated because of the strikes, which killed dozens of people on Friday.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Palestinian officials reported more than 150 airstrikes including several against mosques and one against the Hamas-linked Islamic University in Gaza City. Heavy shelling continued along the border areas.

The Israeli military said it struck 200 targets over the previous 24 hours. It said it attacked five mosques that concealed weapons and that the Islamic University was being used as a research and weapons manufacturing site for Hamas.

The fiercest battles took place near the site of Friday's attack and purported abduction, near Rafah, about three kilometers inside the strip and close to the borders with Israel and Egypt. Officials have reported that dozens of houses have been damaged or destroyed in airstrikes.

The Hamas military wing said on its website that it is "not aware until this moment of a missing soldier or his whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance."

The group said the soldier might have been killed in a clash with Hamas fighters about an hour before the start of the 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) cease-fire, and that it had lost contact with the fighters.

"We believe all members of this group have died in an (Israeli) strike, including the Zionist soldier the enemy says disappeared," it said.

The Israeli military declined comment on the statement.

Hamas could be withholding information about the soldier in order to extract concessions from Israel, a strategy used in the past by the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which did not disclose whether two Israeli soldiers it seized in 2006 were alive or dead until their remains were handed over in a prisoner exchange.

The Israeli Cabinet met for an exceptionally long and rare Friday night session to discuss the missing soldier. There was no immediate announcement on a course of action, but an official in the prime minister's office said Israel "expects the United States and the international community to respond strongly to a terror organization that so blatantly defies them."

The official, who spoke anonymously because there was no official Israeli announcement, said "Hamas and other terror groups will bear the consequences of their actions."

The disappearance of the soldier, 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, and the heavy clashes that followed it, ended an internationally brokered cease-fire that was to have been in place for three days and open the way for talks in Cairo on a more sustainable truce. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the humanitarian pause.

Israel launched an aerial offensive on July 8 to stop unrelenting Gaza rocket fire toward its cities and communities and later expanded it to a ground offensive mostly aimed at destroying an elaborate Hamas cross-border tunnel network used for attacks inside Israel.

Since fighting began, Gaza militants have fired more than 3,000 rockets into Israel, reaching most major cities and forcing millions to seek cover. Hamas has also infiltrated Israel several times and killed Israeli soldiers.

In central Israel, residents awoke on the Jewish Sabbath to sirens wailing at 6 a.m. Saturday warning of incoming rockets. The military said they were successfully intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.

Since fighting began on July 8, more than 1,650 Palestinians — mostly civilians — have been killed and more than 8,000 wounded, according to al-Kidra. Israel has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians, its highest death toll since the 2006 Lebanon war. Hundreds of other soldiers have been wounded.

The prospect of an abducted soldier struck a particularly raw nerve in Israel and looked to worsen the fighting.

Israel has a history of striking back hard after the abduction of its soldiers and going to great lengths to bring them back. In 2011, it traded more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier who had been captured by Hamas and other militants five years earlier. Hezbollah's capture of the two soldiers in a cross-border operation in 2006 sparked a 34-day war between the Iran-backed Shiite group and Israel. Israel later traded Lebanese prisoners for their bodies.

The Israeli military accused Hamas of flagrantly violating Friday's cease-fire. Goldin disappeared in an ambush about an hour after the cease-fire began, when gunmen emerged from one or more Gaza tunnels and opened fire at Israeli soldiers, with at least one of the militants detonating an explosives vest, said Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.

Goldin, a 23-year-old from the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba, was apparently captured in the ensuing mayhem, while another two Israeli soldiers were killed. "We suspect that he has been kidnapped," Lerner said.

The military has provided no further details and it remains unclear if the officer is alive or dead.

Outside the family's home, just a block away from the city's military cemetery, which has already seen one funeral of a Kfar Saba soldier from the fighting in Gaza, family and friends gathered and later went to an adjacent synagogue to pray for the soldier's safe return.

Goldin, who was recently engaged to get married, also has a twin brother in the military on the Gaza front-lines.

The officer's father, Simha Goldin, said he expects Israel to "not stop before it turns over every stone in Gaza and returns Hadar home safe and sound."

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By IBRAHIM BARZAK and ARON HELLER— Aug. 2, 2014 6:55 AM EDT
Heller reported from Kfar Saba, Israel.

sources
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/israel-bombards-gaza-it-searches-soldier

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Friday, August 1, 2014

US Senate blocks Iron Dome funding to Israel

  8/01/2014 09:17:00 PM    


Republicans nix aid proposal out of fear that "it would increase the debt"; Majority Leader Harry Reid says"If this isn’t an emergency I don’t know anything that is.”


Senate Majority Leader Reid speaking in Senate Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts


A United States Senate bid to deliver aid to Israel duringOperation Protective Edge was blocked by Republicans "over concerns that it would increase the debt," Politico reported.

The Democrats proposed a $2.7 billion border aid package that included $255 for the Iron Dome missile defense system.

“We’ve all watched as the tiny state of Israel, who is with us on everything, they have had in the last three weeks 3,000 rockets fired into their country,” Majority Leader Harry Reid was quoted as saying in an appeal to Republicans' deep ties to Israel after they shut down the proposal. “Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel asked for $225 million in emergency funding so that Israel’s arsenal as it relates to the Iron Dome could be replenished. It’s clear that is an emergency, and we should be able to agree on that.”

“Our number one ally — at least in my mind — is under attack. If this isn’t an emergency I don’t know anything that is,” Reid continued.

GOP leaders who had promised to pass an Israel aid bill in recent days were disappointed, as they had been pushing Reid to separate Israel funding from the border bill, which also included $615 million to fight Western wildfires.

“It’s an important moment for the Senate and the House to show support for Israel. All I can say that if you don’t see the need to come to Israel’s aid now, and the message that it would send now, it would be a big mistake,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was quoted by Politico as saying. “Any person who thinks that the Iron Dome is unnecessary needs to go to the floor and tell us why, why we don’t need to help Israel right now. They’re asking for our help, they’re our best friend in the region, one of our best friends in the world. “

Since the start of Israel's Gaza operation on July 8, Hamas has fired more than 2968 rockets at Israel, according to the IDF. A total of 547 of those rockets have been intercepted by Iron Dome.

sources

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The Gaza ceasefire has now officially unravelled

  8/01/2014 07:43:00 PM    




Smoke billows after Israeli shelling of Rafah (Picture: AFP/Getty)

A 72-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has come to an end within hours, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other for violating the truce.


Palestinian rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a building in Rafah (Picture: AFP/Getty)



Health officials in Gaza said up to 40 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli tanks shelling the town of Rafah near the border with Egypt, while the Israel Defence Forces said it feared one of its soldiers had been captured and that Hamas had resumed rocket fire upon Israel.


Palestinian women react as they arrive at the a hospital in Rafah (Picture: Reuters)



When asked whether the truce, which coincided with talks in Cairo to find a lasting peace, was over, IDF Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner told journalists: “Yes. We are continuing our activities on the ground.”

sources
http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-gaza-ceasefire-has-now-officially-unravelled--ekKkwKNBMg

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IDF view: Hamas Terror Cell Received Advanced Training in Malaysia

  8/01/2014 07:35:00 PM    






Shin Bet investigation reveals that Hamas terrorists received training in Malaysia and Gaza to infiltrate Israel by air to kidnap and murder Israelis.



In the early hours of July 21, IDF forces captured a Hamas cell commander in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. When questioned by the ISA (Israel Security Agency — also known as the Shin Bet Security Service), the cell commander revealed that he had been sent by Hamas leadership to Malaysia for paragliding training. The plan was to parachute into Israel to kidnap and murder civilians.

The prisoner also revealed Hamas plans to ambush Israeli soldiers with anti-tank missiles and even pointed to a terrorist sniper nest on a map of Gaza. The location: the tenth floor of the Palestinian Red Crescent building in Khan Yunis.
Training to be a terrorist

After being recruited into Hamas’ military wing in 2007, the terrorist underwent regular combat training. Every five months he would attend refresher courses which involved training with Kalashnikov automatic rifles, Soviet-made PKC machine guns and locally manufactured hand grenades.



In 2010, the prisoner was enlisted into a special force sent to Malaysia for parachute training, in preparation for a cross-border kidnapping attack on Israel. He and ten other terrorists from across Gaza spent a week receiving training in Malaysia.

After returning to Gaza, the cell was given additional weapons training. They were warned to maintain secrecy, and not to reveal details of their Malaysian training to anyone.
Preparing the attack

In 2014, four years after being sent to Malaysia, the Hamas commando squad was summoned for more parachute training. This time the training took place inside the Gaza Strip. According to the prisoner, the squad was not told about where the kidnapping attack would take place.

The prisoner told investigators about a Hamas training camp that took place in June of this year. Exercises involved training with handguns, Kalashnikovs, M-16s, RPGs, machine guns anddemolitions training. Terrorists who attended the camp were trained in various methods forkidnapping soldiers and how to operate inside Hamas’ extensive tunnel network. The prisoner was meant to attend such a course after Ramadan (late July). Ultimately, he was arrested by IDF soldiers operating in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.



The details of the ISA investigation reveal the great efforts and resources that Hamas invested in bolstering its military capabilities including the building and training of a standing commando army to attack and kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Hamas goes to incredible lengths to carry out attacks against Israel. That is why the IDF will not rest in its mission to dismantle the organization’s terrorist infrastructure and keep the people of Israel safe.

sources

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IDF view: Hamas Uses Holy Places in Gaza as Terrorist Facilities

  8/01/2014 07:32:00 PM    




Hamas routinely treats the civilian buildings of Gaza as its private terrorist compounds. It fires rockets at Israel from schools and hospitals, and uses mosques as command centers and to store weapons and hide infiltration tunnels.

Throughout Operation Protective Edge, IDF forces have discovered Hamas terrorists using mosques as terrorist facilities. Hamas exploits the IDF’s sensitivity towards protecting civilian structures, particularly holy sites, by hiding command centers, weapons caches and tunnel entrances in mosques.

On July 29, IDF special forces engaged and eliminated an armed terror cell guarding a mosque being used as a Hamas military compound. When searching the basement of the mosque after the battle, the soldiers uncovered a stockpile of weapons including sniper rifles, RPGs and machine guns. They also found two concealed tunnel entrances, one of which ran 14 meters deepunderground.



The following day, a joint IDF task force tracked down the entrance to a tunnel that had been used by Hamas terrorists to attack Israeli soldiers. The tunnel entrance was in the basement of a mosque. There, the IDF soldiers found the opening to another tunnel serving as a Hamas terrorist bunker.



Hamas’ conversion of Gaza’s holy places into military compounds is further proof that it will stop at nothing to achieve its terrorist aims.


sources
http://www.idfblog.com/blog/2014/08/01/hamas-holy-places-in-gaza-as-terrorist-facilities/

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Updates: Israel Defense Forces

  8/01/2014 07:04:00 PM    


Friday, August 1



1:30 PM: This morning, in violation of the latest ceasefire, Hamas terrorists fired at our forces in southern Gaza. We suspect that Hamas kidnapped an IDF soldier during the exchange of fire. The IDF is currently conducting intelligence efforts and extensive searches in order to locate the missing soldier.

12:45 PM: 8 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, 1 was intercepted and 7 hit open areas.

10:15 AM: The names of 4 of the 5 IDF soldiers killed last night by mortar fire are released: Staff Sgt. Noam Rosenthal, 20, Sgt. 1st Class (Res.) Daniel Marash, 22, Cpt. Omri Tal, 22, Staff Sgt. Shay Kushnir, 20 & Cpt. (res.) Liran Adir (Edry), 31. May their memory be blessed.

7:47 AM: Moments ago, six rockets fired from Gaza were intercepted by Iron Dome above southern Israel.

7:14 AM: At 8:00 AM, the IDF will cease fire for 72 hours in accordance with the government’s directive. We will continue to dismantle the tunnels.

5:10 AM: Yesterday, five IDF soldiers were killed by mortar fire during operational activity along the Gaza border.

1:30 AM: Moments ago, three rockets were fired from Gaza. Iron Dome intercepted one above central Israel.

source

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Australia bans reporting of multi-nation corruption case involving Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam

  8/01/2014 01:10:00 AM    



29 July 2014, WikiLeaks releases an unprecedented Australian censorship order concerning a multi-million dollar corruption case explicitly naming the current and past heads of state of Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, their relatives and other senior officials. The super-injunction invokes “national security” grounds to prevent reporting about the case, by anyone, in order to “prevent damage to Australia's international relations”. The court-issued gag order follows the secret 19 June 2014 indictment of seven senior executives from subsidiaries of Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The case concerns allegations of multi-million dollar inducements made by agents of the RBA subsidiaries Securency and Note Printing Australia in order to secure contracts for the supply of Australian-style polymer bank notes to the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries.

The suppression order lists 17 individuals, including "any current or former Prime Minister of Malaysia", “Truong Tan San, currently President of Vietnam", "Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (also known as SBY), currently President of Indonesia (since 2004)", "Megawati Sukarnoputri (also known as Mega), a former President of Indonesia (2001–2004) and current leader of the PDI-P political party" and 14 other senior officials and relatives from those countries, who specifically may not be named in connection with the corruption investigation.

The document also specifically bans the publication of the order itself as well as an affidavit affirmed last month by Australia's representative to ASEAN Gillian Bird, who has just been appointed as Australia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The gag order effectively blacks out the largest high-level corruption case in Australia and the region.

The last known blanket suppression order of this nature was granted in 1995 and concerned the joint US-Australian intelligence spying operation against the Chinese Embassy in Canberra.

WikiLeaks' publisher Julian Assange said about the order:


"With this order, the worst in living memory, the Australian government is not just gagging the Australian press, it is blindfolding the Australian public. This is not simply a question of the Australian government failing to give this international corruption case the public scrutiny it is due. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop must explain why she is threatening every Australian with imprisonment in an attempt to cover up an embarrassing corruption scandal involving the Australian government."




"The concept of 'national security' is not meant to serve as a blanket phrase to cover up serious corruption allegations involving government officials, in Australia or elsewhere. It is in the public interest for the press to be able to report on this case, which concerns the subsidiaries of the Australian central bank. Who is brokering our deals, and how are we brokering them as a nation? Corruption investigations and secret gag orders for 'national security' reasons are strange bedfellows. It is ironic that it took Tony Abbott to bring the worst of 'Asian Values' to Australia."






Read the Australia-wide censorship order for corruption case involving Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

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Gaza 'miracle baby' dies over complications, power cuts

  8/01/2014 12:48:00 AM    

Embedded image permalink

A premature baby rescued by Gaza doctors from her dead mother's womb last week has died due to complications and power cuts affecting the intensive care unit where she was treated.

The six-day-old baby was born by emergency Caesarean section Friday after doctors at Deir al-Balah hospital in central Gaza managed to save her from the womb of her mother, who died when an Israeli tank shell hit her home.

The mother, 23-year-old Shayma al-Sheikh Qanan, had been eight months pregnant, and the baby was named after her.

But the baby was deprived of oxygen between her mother's death and doctors being able to operate, which meant she had to be hooked up to a respirator at the maternity ward in Khan Yunis hospital in southern Gaza.

"The baby suffered an oxygen deficiency in the womb after her mother's heart stopped," Dr Abdel Karem al-Bawab, head of the maternity ward at Nasser hospital, told AFP Thursday.

"This deficiency caused the baby to asphyxiate unexpectedly, rendering her brain dead," he said of the tragedy, which occurred Wednesday.

"The ongoing electricity shortages played a role because her oxygen tubes did not work properly and we had to resuscitate her more than once manually."

Doctors told AFP earlier this week that her vital signs were stable but said she would have to be on the respirator for "at least three more weeks."

http://vientradingsystem.blogspot.com/2014/07/shaimaa-gave-face-to-tragedy-in-gaza.html

http://www.afp.com/en/news/

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Under fire and out of cash, U.N. overwhelmed by Gaza crisis

  8/01/2014 12:17:00 AM    


GAZA/JERUSALEM Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:22am EDT







1 OF 4. Valerie Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (seen on screen) briefs a U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, at U.N. headquarters in New York, July 31, 2014.


(Reuters) - The United Nations in Gaza is struggling to withstand a flood of almost a quarter of a million refugees into shelters that have repeatedly come under Israeli fire.

Out of cash, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main U.N. body in the impoverished enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians, says it can barely handle the humanitarian crisis unleashed by more than three weeks of fighting between militants and Israel.

Asked to explain the scale of the civilian suffering to an Arab news station, an UNRWA spokesman simply burst into tears.

"There are times when tears speak more eloquently than words. Mine pale into insignificance compared with Gaza's," Chris Gunness said.

"UNRWA is overwhelmed in Gaza. We have reached breaking point; our staff are being killed, our shelters overflowing. Where will it end ... UNRWA now has 225,178 displaced in 86 shelters. But Gaza is being destroyed. So when the war is over, where will these people go?" Gunness said.

At dawn on Wednesday, Israeli forces shelled a girls' school doubling as a refuge for more than 3,000 people, killing at least 15, including four children, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Eight U.N. employees have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on July 8 after rocket fire from Gaza intensified. U.N. shelters have been bombed by Israel on six separate occasions, including in another shelling of a U.N. shelter last week that killed 15 people.

Israel said its forces had come under fire from the vicinity of the school on Wednesday and responded. It denies targeting civilians and says militants use innocents as human shields and their neighborhoods as firing positions.

Gaza officials say more than 1,370 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the battered enclave. Israel says 56 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed.

Even in peacetime, the U.N. was under strain to provide food aid to a million Gaza residents, over half the total population.

UNRWA made an urgent appeal for $187 million on Thursday to buy beds and basic supplies for those who fled and to stem the rise of diseases in shelters.

Insecticide and medicine were urgently needed for refugees in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs department said, "to treat epidemics such as lice and scabies, which started to spread in shelters".

Clean water, food and drugs are in short supply and being delivered to refugee families, and the U.N. said hundreds of thousands of traumatized children would need urgent psychiatric help.



SCHOOL TURNED CAMP

The central courtyard of a U.N. school in the city of Gaza has become a teeming refugee camp housing desperate and scared families.

Hundreds of unwashed bodies rendered the air stale. Restless kids played with dolls and kicked around a soccer ball improvised out of a piece of leather. Anxious adults lay in the shade of corridors or cramped classrooms, filled with anxiety.

Samir Al-Tumi, 60, said he and his family were planning to leave and take their chances in their home neighborhood of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza strip, despite ongoing battles there and Israeli army warnings for locals to leave.

"I feel I would be safer outside the UNRWA school ... I prefer to take my family and return to my house and die there instead of dying here," he said.

Tumi echoed the sentiments of many refugees there when he said he believed world powers had failed them and had allowed innocent people to be killed.

"I urge the United Nations Security Council, be merciful to our children, not to us - we are adults and maybe we have done mistakes in our life - but what about those children, what could they be guilty of?" he said.

The U.N. has urged the immediate conclusion of so-far fruitless regional talks for a ceasefire and suggested the mass deaths at its facilities were cause for Israel to be investigated for the attacks on its schools.

"We have moved beyond what humanitarian action alone can deal with. This is now the time for political action. It is the time for accountability," UNRWA's chief Pierre Krähenbühl told reporters in Gaza's main hospital on Thursday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/us-mideast-gaza-un-idUSKBN0G01DL20140731?utm_source=twitter

"The attack on the Jabalya school ... is probably one of the most tragic protection failures that the international community has witnessed," he added.

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Former Israeli President Shimon Peres Speaks Out

  8/01/2014 12:07:00 AM    



Former Israeli President Shimon Peres left office only a week ago, yet it's already clear that his influence in the Israeli public sphere - and perhaps beyond - will remain significant.

He spoke with Wolf Blitzer on Thursday about the current conflict in Gaza, and how to go about finding a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"I cannot see a cease-fire with rockets and with tunnels," Peres said. "Only a cease-fire without rockets and without tunnels."

Peres does not view Hamas as the legitimate political rulers of Gaza, referencing Hamas' coup of the territory in 2007.

He believes Gaza should be in control of the Palestinian Authority, the ruling entity of the West Bank, and its president, Mahmoud Abbas.

"I don't think that two countries can bring peace," Peres said of a divided West Bank and Gaza. "Two countries will continue war."

Peres regards Abbas, or Abu Mazen, as he is known to Palestinians, as an essential figure in achieving Israel-Palestinian peace.

"He got the courage, more than any other Arab leader, to stand up and say, 'I'm against terror. I'm against kidnapping ... I'm for peace,'" Peres said.

http://newday.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/31/former-israeli-president-shimon-peres-speaks-out/?sr=twpoli073114wolfperes1115avodtopphoto

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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Sierra Leone declares emergency as Ebola death toll hits 729

  7/31/2014 11:58:00 PM    






Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma attends a meeting of regional group Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Yamoussoukro June 29, 2012.



(Reuters) - Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency and called in troops to quarantine Ebola victims on Thursday, joining neighboring Liberia in imposing tough controls as the death toll from the worst-ever outbreak of the virus hit 729 in West Africa.

The World Health Organisation said it was in urgent talks with donors and international agencies to deploy more medical staff and resources to one of the world's poorest regions.

The WHO reported 57 new deaths between July 24 and July 27 in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.




Authorities in Nigeria, which recorded its first Ebola case last week when a U.S. citizen died after arriving on a flight from Liberia, said all passengers traveling from areas at risk would be temperature-screened for the virus.

In a measure of rising international concern, Britain on Wednesday held a government meeting on Ebola and called it a threat requiring a response. The White House has also said President Barack Obama was being briefed on the situation.

But international airlines association IATA said the WHO was not recommending any travel restrictions or border closures due to the outbreak, and there would be a low risk to other passengers if an Ebola patient flew.

The outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever, for which there is no known cure, began in the forests of remote eastern Guinea in February, but Sierra Leone now has the highest number of cases.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma said he would meet with the leaders of Liberia and Guinea in Conakry on Friday to discuss ways to combat the epidemic. He canceled a visit to Washington for a U.S.-Africa summit next week.

"Sierra Leone is in a great fight ... Failure is not an option," Koroma said in a speech late on Wednesday, adding that the state of emergency would initially last between 60 and 90 days. "Extraordinary challenges require extraordinary measures."

He said police and the military would enforce a quarantine on all epicenters of the disease, and would help health officers and NGOs do their work unhindered, following a number of attacks on health workers by local communities.

House-to-house searches would be implemented to trace Ebola victims and homes where the disease was identified would be quarantined until cleared by medical teams, he said, announcing a ban on all public meetings except those related to Ebola.

The moves echoed a raft of measures unveiled by Liberia on Wednesday, which included the closure of all schools across the country and a possible quarantine of affected communities.



NEW AIRPORT CONTROLS

The disease kills up to 90 percent of those infected, though the fatality rate in the current epidemic is running at around 60 percent. In the final stages, its symptoms include external bleeding, massive internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea - at which point the virus becomes highly contagious.

Sierra Leone, a former British colony, said passengers arriving and departing Lungi International Airport would be subject to new protocols, including body temperature scans.

Two regional airlines, Nigeria's Arik and Asky, have canceled all flights to Freetown and Monrovia after a U.S. citizen, Patrick Sawyer, died in Lagos last week after arriving on an Asky flight from Liberia.

The WHO said authorities in Nigeria had identified 59 people in the airport and hospital who had come into contact with Sawyer, whose flight also stopped in Ghana and Togo.

Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) suspended Asky for bringing Ebola to Lagos, a teeming mega-city of 21 million people. Many people had questioned how a person showing signs of the disease - whose sister had died of it three weeks previous - had been able to board an international flight.

Health officials are scrambling to avoid the nightmare scenario of an Ebola outbreak in Lagos, the continent's biggest metropolis, but say there are so far no signs of further cases.

Ghana also announced on Thursday it was introducing body temperature screening of all travelers from West African countries at Accra airport and other major entry points, with isolation centers being set up in three towns.

Kyei Faried, deputy director in charge of disease control, told a news conference that authorities had a list of 11 passengers who disembarked from Sawyer's flight and were monitoring them. The government is considering whether to ban flights from affected countries.

The U.S. Peace Corps said it was withdrawing 340 volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea after two of them came in contact with a person who later died of the virus.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/us-health-ebola-leone-idUSKBN0G00TG20140731?utm_source=twitter

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