Entertainment
Egypt postpones dispersing protest camps
Egypt postpones dispersing protest camps (AP) / 12 August 2013 Egyptian authorities on Monday postponed a move to disperse two Cairo sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted president to “avoid bloodshed,” an official said, as Islamist supporters stepped up rallies to demand his return to power. The postponement could, at least temporarily, defuse tensions that had escalated overnight as the country braced for a new bout of violence. Any moves by the police against the protesters would have set the stage for deadly clashes with tens of thousands gathered at the two Cairo sit-ins in support of ex-President Mohammed Mursi, ousted in a popularly supported coup on July 3. An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters, said the decision to postpone an advance against the protest camps by Muslim Brotherhood supporters came after a plan on ending the sit-ins was leaked to the media. The security forces had planned to form cordons around the Cairo protest sites as early as dawn Monday, according to officials who spoke earlier to The Associated Press. The protesters have said they will not leave until Mursi is reinstated. Weeks of efforts by the international community to end the standoff and find a peaceful resolution have so far failed. Egypt’s interim prime minister warned just ahead of the Muslim Eid Al Fitr holiday that ended on Sunday that the government’s decision to clear the sit-ins was “irreversible.” Mursi was deposed after millions of Egyptians took to the streets on June 30 and for four days demanded that he step down over what they saw as his failure to act as the president of all Egyptians and his attempts to monopolise power and serve only his Muslim Brotherhood group’s interests. Mursi has not been seen since the military deposed him, disbanded his Islamists-dominated parliament and suspended the constitution. He is held incommunicado, along with some of his aides, while several top Brotherhood leaders and their Islamist allies are detained on charges of instigating deadly violence. Other Brotherhood figures, including the group’s top spiritual guide Mohammed Badie, are on the run or taking refuge amid tens of thousands of supporters at the sit-in in Cairo’s eastern Nasr City district, where a road intersection facing Rabaah Al Adawiya mosque has been turned to a heavily fortified tent city. The sit-in, along with a second one in Cairo’s twin city of Giza, are used as hotbeds for street rallies. The government says the protest camps are a “threat to national security.” On Monday, Brotherhood supporters also took to the streets in downtown Cairo and elsewhere in the country, chanting anti-military slogans and carrying pictures of Mursi. Meanwhile, an influential Brotherhood member, Mohammed El Beltagi, on Monday turned down an offer by the head of the Al Azhar, the Sunni world’s top religious institution, to negotiate a solution. El Beltagi said that top Al Azhar cleric Ahmed Al Tayyb was not an impartial mediator because he backed the coup. Another Brotherhood figure, Saad Emara, dismissed all efforts to negotiate a solution, saying the Brotherhood doesn’t recognise the “initiatives from the post-coup era.” “The key to a resolution is the return of legitimate institutions, including the president,” Emara told the AP. Earlier, Interior Ministry officials had said they were prepared for clashes that might be set off by the cordons and that ambulances were on hand to treat the wounded. A special force within the riot police trained for crowd dispersal was expected to deal with protesters. Continue reading
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
