Sunday, March 21, 2010 4:04:30 AM
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon calls for Israel to halt all settlement activity
CHINA Pedestrians bear the brunt of a sandstorm that hit Lanzhou in
Gansu province. Northern China has been hit by the strongest
sandstorm so far this year, causing flight delays at Beijing's
international airport. (Associated Press)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
ISRAEL
U.N. chief: Cease all settlement activity
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Saturday during a visit to Ramallah that Israeli settlement building anywhere on occupied land is illegal, even as a Palestinian teenager was killed in clashes with Israeli troops elsewhere in the West Bank.
The death in Nablus of Mohammed Qadus, 16, occurred amid heightened tensions between both sides after Israel announced plans last week for 1,600 new homes for Jews in disputed East Jerusalem. The announcement sparked outrage and protests from Palestinians, as well as condemnation from Israel's closest ally, the United States.
Ban's remarks came a day after he, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other major Middle East mediators -- constituting the Quartet -- met in Moscow to find a way to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The mediators urged Israel to halt all settlement construction, a key obstacle. Israel has agreed to curb building in the West Bank, but not in East Jerusalem.
On Saturday, Ban rejected Israel's distinction between East Jerusalem and the West Bank, noting that both are occupied lands. "Let us be clear," he said. "All settlement activity is illegal anywhere in occupied territory and must be stopped."
-- Associated Press
SUDAN
Bashir should face court, official says
Sudan's president should surrender to the International Criminal Court to face war crimes charges, an official from the junior party in the governing coalition said Saturday, raising tensions ahead of April elections.
It was the first time such a call had been made by a senior member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the southern former rebels who signed a 2005 peace deal with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and joined him in a coalition.
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The call could send shock waves through the SPLM's governing alliance with Bashir's National Congress Party, a coalition that is already fragile because of delays in implementing the peace accord.
SOMALIA
Al-Shabab official fatally shot in south
A senior official of the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab was fatally shot Friday in a rare assassination in the southern port of Kismaayo, which is tightly controlled by the al-Qaeda-linked rebels.
Sheik Daud Ali Hasan, a commander who had been leading fighting against rival insurgents in the town of Dhobley, close to Kenya, was killed near al-Shabab's military base Friday night.
The group's local chairman said several suspects had been arrested.
Al-Shabab and rebel group Hizbul Islam have fought together in the capital against the Western-backed government but have been at loggerheads for months in the south. Hizbul Islam denied having a hand in Friday's killing.
-- Reuters
India to gain access to American in Mumbai case: Indian investigators will be given access to the Chicago man who pleaded guilty to helping plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks, but he will not be extradited to India on current charges, Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake Jr. said in New Delhi. India wants to interrogate David C. Headley, who admitted last week in a U.S. court to scouting targets for the rampage in the country's financial hub. The attacks killed 165 people and derailed a peace dialogue with Pakistan.
Rival edges past Iraq's Maliki in popular-vote tally: A secular challenger to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki edged ahead in the overall vote count in parliamentary elections, while Maliki held on to his province-by-province lead as the counting neared completion. Former prime minister Ayad Allawi's political alliance was leading by 7,970 votes nationwide, with 92 percent of the almost 12 million ballots counted. Maliki's coalition was leading in seven provinces; Allawi's bloc was ahead in five.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032002714.html
CHINA Pedestrians bear the brunt of a sandstorm that hit Lanzhou in
Gansu province. Northern China has been hit by the strongest
sandstorm so far this year, causing flight delays at Beijing's
international airport. (Associated Press)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
ISRAEL
U.N. chief: Cease all settlement activity
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Saturday during a visit to Ramallah that Israeli settlement building anywhere on occupied land is illegal, even as a Palestinian teenager was killed in clashes with Israeli troops elsewhere in the West Bank.
The death in Nablus of Mohammed Qadus, 16, occurred amid heightened tensions between both sides after Israel announced plans last week for 1,600 new homes for Jews in disputed East Jerusalem. The announcement sparked outrage and protests from Palestinians, as well as condemnation from Israel's closest ally, the United States.
Ban's remarks came a day after he, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other major Middle East mediators -- constituting the Quartet -- met in Moscow to find a way to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The mediators urged Israel to halt all settlement construction, a key obstacle. Israel has agreed to curb building in the West Bank, but not in East Jerusalem.
On Saturday, Ban rejected Israel's distinction between East Jerusalem and the West Bank, noting that both are occupied lands. "Let us be clear," he said. "All settlement activity is illegal anywhere in occupied territory and must be stopped."
-- Associated Press
SUDAN
Bashir should face court, official says
Sudan's president should surrender to the International Criminal Court to face war crimes charges, an official from the junior party in the governing coalition said Saturday, raising tensions ahead of April elections.
It was the first time such a call had been made by a senior member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the southern former rebels who signed a 2005 peace deal with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and joined him in a coalition.
ad_icon
Click here!
The call could send shock waves through the SPLM's governing alliance with Bashir's National Congress Party, a coalition that is already fragile because of delays in implementing the peace accord.
SOMALIA
Al-Shabab official fatally shot in south
A senior official of the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab was fatally shot Friday in a rare assassination in the southern port of Kismaayo, which is tightly controlled by the al-Qaeda-linked rebels.
Sheik Daud Ali Hasan, a commander who had been leading fighting against rival insurgents in the town of Dhobley, close to Kenya, was killed near al-Shabab's military base Friday night.
The group's local chairman said several suspects had been arrested.
Al-Shabab and rebel group Hizbul Islam have fought together in the capital against the Western-backed government but have been at loggerheads for months in the south. Hizbul Islam denied having a hand in Friday's killing.
-- Reuters
India to gain access to American in Mumbai case: Indian investigators will be given access to the Chicago man who pleaded guilty to helping plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks, but he will not be extradited to India on current charges, Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake Jr. said in New Delhi. India wants to interrogate David C. Headley, who admitted last week in a U.S. court to scouting targets for the rampage in the country's financial hub. The attacks killed 165 people and derailed a peace dialogue with Pakistan.
Rival edges past Iraq's Maliki in popular-vote tally: A secular challenger to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki edged ahead in the overall vote count in parliamentary elections, while Maliki held on to his province-by-province lead as the counting neared completion. Former prime minister Ayad Allawi's political alliance was leading by 7,970 votes nationwide, with 92 percent of the almost 12 million ballots counted. Maliki's coalition was leading in seven provinces; Allawi's bloc was ahead in five.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032002714.html
Jonathan Swift said, "May you live all the days of your life!"
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