Tag Archives: horse-racing
Israel lists names of 26 Palestinians to be freed
Israel lists names of 26 Palestinians to be freed (AP) / 12 August 2013 Israel on Monday published the names of 26 Palestinian prisoners, most of them held for deadly attacks, who are to be released this week as part of a US-brokered deal that led to a resumption of Mideast negotiations. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands before their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday. -AP Israelis and Palestinians are to launch talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday, following a preparatory round two weeks ago in Washington. The prisoner release, expected Tuesday, is part of an agreement to restart the talks after a five-year freeze. The fate of Palestinian prisoners stirs strong emotions on both sides, highlighting the competing narratives of their conflict. The upcoming release is particularly sensitive because many of those to be freed were involved in killing Israelis. “It’s painful to pay such a heavy price just as a concession for talks,” said Pini Rotenberg, after he learned that one of the killers of his father, Isaac, would be freed. The elder Rotenberg, a Nazi death camp survivor, was 69 and working as a contractor when he was killed with an axe from behind while at a construction site in 1994. In Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, Fatima Nashabat, 48, said she was counting the hours until the release of her husband, Mohammed, 52, who has spent the last 23 years in prison. “Last night, when they said he will be in the first group, our house turned into a big dance floor,” said the mother of four. “We were cheering and singing.” She refused to talk about what got her husband arrested. Israeli authorities say Nashabat is serving a 25-year term as an accessory to murder. He was convicted of involvement in the killing of an Israeli reserve soldier, Amnon Pomerantz, who was stoned and firebombed by a mob, burning to death in his car, after he mistakenly entered the camp. In all, 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners are to be released in four stages during the nine months set aside for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have spent time in Israeli prisons since Israel’s capture of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967. They were jailed on charges ranging from throwing stones to membership in outlawed groups and killing civilians. Most Palestinians view prisoners as heroes, regardless of their acts, arguing they made personal sacrifices in the struggle for independence. Palestinians argue that the 104 prisoners slated for release carried out their acts at a time of conflict, before Israel and the Palestinians struck their first interim peace agreement in 1994. They say Israel should have released them long ago, as part of previous peace talks. Many Israelis view those involved in the killings as terrorists for targeting civilians. Some of the victims’ families planned a protest outside Israel’s Defence Ministry later Monday. “They are terrorists and murderers who will be returning home to a hero’s welcome,” said Gila Molcho, whose brother, Ian Feinberg, was working at a European aid office in Gaza City when he was stabbed to death in 1993. “They will be celebrating the killers of our brothers and children,” she told Israel TV’s Channel 2. Israel’s Prison Service posted the 26 names online early Monday to allow two days for possible court appeals. Twenty-one in the group were convicted of killings, while others were involved in attempted murder or kidnapping. Half the prisoners on the list had no given release date, meaning they were serving full life terms, while others would have been released in a few years without the special deal. Most have already served around 20 years, with the longest-held arrested in 1985. The first release is to precede a round of negotiations in Jerusalem on Wednesday. The US envisions an agreement within nine months on the terms of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, including drawing a border, agreeing on security arrangements and deciding the fate of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinians want a state that would include the territories Israel captured in 1967. The diplomatic paralysis of the last five years was largely due to disputes over the construction of Israeli settlements in areas the Palestinians want for their future state. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has long insisted he will only resume talks if Israel freezes construction. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a freeze. US Secretary of State John Kerry eventually brokered the resumption of negotiations, and Abbas dropped a settlement freeze as a condition for talks. In exchange, Kerry won Israeli agreement that it will release the 104 Palestinians. Continue reading
Sudan flood victims hits 150,000 and rising: UN
Sudan flood victims hits 150,000 and rising: UN (AFP) / 12 August 2013 The number of people affected by this month’s flooding in Sudan has climbed to around 150,000 and is expected to rise further, the United Nations said on Monday. More than half the victims, 84,000, are in the area around the capital Khartoum, said the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “More rains are expected in the coming days and the estimated number of affected people is likely to rise further as rains continue and as more information becomes available,” OCHA said in a press release. OCHA’s latest estimate follows intense rains on Friday night and is based on information from the Sudanese Red Crescent Society and other agencies. Heavy rains and flash floods began on August 1, initially affecting almost 100,000 people in several states. At least 26,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed, according to initial estimates cited by OCHA. Official Radio Omdurman reported on Sunday that the flooding killed 36 people in Nile state north of the capital. The UN and other agencies have provided aid including tents, plastic sheeting and drinking water, OCHA said. A volunteer youth group, Nafeer, said on Monday it had found 150 families “trapped” in the Al-Nizeila area on Khartoum’s outskirts. This year’s flooding is the worst in the capital region in years but water surges in rural areas of Sudan between June and October last year affected about 270,000 people and damaged more than 36,000 homes, according to figures cited by the UN. Continue reading
India ‘milestone’ as it launches own aircraft carrier
India ‘milestone’ as it launches own aircraft carrier (AFP) / 12 August 2013 India launched its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier on Monday, a landmark moment in the $5 billion project that seeks to project the country’s power and check the rising influence of China. When the INS Vikrant comes into full service in 2018, India will become the fifth nation to have designed and built its own aircraft carrier, pushing ahead of China to join an elite club that includes Britain, France, Russia and the United States. “It’s a remarkable milestone,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony said as he stood in front of the giant grey hull of the ship at a ceremony in the southern city of Kochi. “It marks just a first step in a long journey but at the same time an important one.” The ship, which will be fitted with weaponry and machinery and then tested over the next four years, is a major advance for a country competing for influence in Asia, analysts say. “It is going to be deployed in the Indian Ocean region where the world’s commercial and economic interests coalesce. India’s capability is very much with China in mind,” Rahul Bedi, a defence expert with IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, told AFP. On Saturday, India announced its first indigenously-built nuclear submarine was ready for sea trials, a key step before it becomes fully operational. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it a “giant stride” for the nation. “All these are power projection platforms, to project India’s power as an extension of its diplomacy,” Bedi added. New Delhi is spending tens of billions of dollars upgrading its mainly Soviet-era military hardware to bolster its defences. Successes in its long-range missile and naval programmes have been tempered by expensive failures in developing its own aircraft and other land-based weaponry, leaving the country highly dependent on imports. INS Vikrant is two years behind schedule after problems in sourcing specialised steel from Russia, delays with crucial equipment and even a road accident in which vital diesel generators were damaged. Overall, India lags far behind China in defence capabilities, analysts say, making the success in beating its regional rival in the race to develop a domestically-produced aircraft carrier significant. China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, which was purchased from the Ukraine, went into service last September. Beijing is reportedly planning to construct or acquire a bigger ship in the future. Jane’s claimed earlier this month that it has seen evidence that China might be building its first carrier in a shipbuilding facility near Shanghai. India already has one aircraft carrier in operation — a 60-year-old British vessel acquired by India in 1987 and renamed INS Viraat — but it will be phased out in the coming years. India’s ally Russia is also set to hand over a third aircraft carrier — INS Vikramaditya — later this year after a bitter row over the refurbished Soviet-era warship caused by rising costs and delays. The INS Vikrant, which means “courageous” or “bold” in Hindi, is a 40,000-tonne vessel which will carry Russian-built MiG-29 fighter jets and other light aircraft. While its hull, design and some of its machinery is domestically made, most of its weaponry will be imported as well as its propulsion system, which was sourced from GE in the United States. “Its primary role will only be to defend our naval fleet and it will not be used for ground attacks,” retired rear admiral K. Raja Menon told AFP. “It’s a defence carrier so it will attack platforms that are coming to attack our (naval) fleet …without air defence our fleet just cannot survive,” Menon said. C. Uday Bhaskar, a retired naval officer and former director of the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi, said the ship would “enhance India’s credibility” — but it “would not alter the balance of power with China”. “China’s nuclear expertise and ship-building capabilities are of a higher order,” he told AFP. The Indian navy is currently working on 39 ships and has begun planning to make another two aircraft carriers, Bedi said. Continue reading
