Ohio Professor Remains Detained in Israel
An Ohio college professor remained in an Israeli jail on Thursday, 12 days after he was arrested on unspecified charges, his family said. Israeli officials confirmed that Ghazi Falah, 53, an Arab Israeli geography professor at the University of Akron, was detained July 8, but declined comment on the specifics of his case. Falah's family in Wadsworth, Ohio, said he was still being detained.
Shahar Shelef, consul for Israel in Philadelphia, said an Israeli judge's gag order prohibited him from commenting on the nature of Falah's arrest. Israeli law allows such orders in cases that affect national security, Shelef said, and people detained for this reason can be denied access to a lawyer for up to 21 days in some cases.
Falah's wife, Jamila, 45, said her husband was arrested after taking photographs on a tourist beach near Nahariya, and was taken to a jail in Haifa. She said he was given a hearing before a magistrate Sunday, but his lawyer, Hussen abu-Hussen, was not allowed to enter the courtroom, to speak with Falah or to learn of the charges against him.
Kofi Annan Calls for Ceasefire
“Renewing his urgent appeal for an end to the civilian carnage in Lebanon and northern Israel and condemning both that country’s use of excessive force as well as Hizbollah’s recklessness, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed elements for a political framework aimed at achieving a lasting solution to the conflict...
Switzerland demands Lebanese ceasefire
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Islamic Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and insists on the application of humanitarian law.
Calmy-Rey said in Bern on Thursday that a negotiated end to the conflict, which began nine days ago after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, was the only viable solution.
She added that while the soldiers should be returned, a prisoner exchange would be a more likely step towards defusing the crisis.
"Some governments have learnt nothing since the invasion of Iraq," she added.
Israel hints at a full-scale invasion
Lebanon crisis reveals an Anti-Jewish Israeli State
Members of the Israeli government including Prime Minister Olmert refer to themselves as Jews, who are champions of the Jewish State of Israel as Mr. Bush refers to himself as a "Christian" champion. However, the current crisis in Lebanon has nothing substantively to do with either Judaism or Christianity.
Lebanon Israel Facts the Media Isn't Telling You
Why Syria and Hezbollah tried to keep Israel out of Lebanon
IDF: Mossad “has significantly infiltrated Hizbullah”
President Bush Uncut: Why Israel Gets Away with Murder
Bush's off-the-cuff remark to Tony Blair in St. Petersburg deliberately ignored the deep history of Hizbullah, which is deemed a terrorist organization by the state of Israel and the US State Department. And lest you forgot, it was Israel who first marched forces into Lebanon in the 1990s, not the other way around. Hizbullah came about as a result of Israeli's invasion. Since then, Hizbullah has tightened their relationship with Palestine, which likely has struck fear in the Israeli government. The latest chapter of this saga came about when two Israeli soldiers were captured by Hizbullah inside Israel last week. But of course only Israel has the right to defend themselves. Israel has imprisoned thousands of Hamas and Hizbullah members.
Breaking News> Sport" href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=189629482&p=189630188&n=189630242" target=_blank>Third of Lebanon casualties are children, says UN
Nearly one third of all casualties in the Lebanon-Israel conflict have been children, according to the United Nations’ emergency relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland.
Kidnapped by Israel
Few readers of a British newspaper would have noticed the story. In the Observer of 25 June, it merited a mere paragraph hidden in the “World in brief” section, revealing that the previous day a team of Israeli commandos had entered the Gaza Strip to “detain” two Palestinians Israel claims are members of Hamas.
Whereas the Israeli “arrest raid” had passed with barely a murmur, the Palestinian attack a day later received very different coverage. The BBC’s correspondent in Gaza, Alan Johnstone, started the ball rolling later the same day in broadcasts in which he referred to the Palestinian attack as “a major escalation in cross-border tensions”.
U.S. at Odds With Allies on Mideast Conflict
European allies are particularly alarmed about the disproportionately high civilian death toll in Lebanon. They are also concerned that the U.S. position will increase tensions between the Islamic world and the West by fueling militants, playing into the rhetoric of Osama bin Laden and adding to the problems of the U.S.-led coalition force in Iraq.
UN warns of war crimes in Lebanon
Killing of civilians in Lebanon is likely to subject Israeli soldiers to war crime trials in international courts, UN human rights high commissioner says.
Gaza leaflets: Any house hiding weapons to be blown up
IDF distributed pamphlets throughout Strip, warning civilians that if they are hiding weapons, ammunition in houses, their lives are endangered and must leave their homes. "From now on, things will be managed differently," said source in Southern Command to ynet.
Translation: weapons or no weapons, we will destroy any bit of infrastructure left standing in Gaza to absolute rubble.
Judge Refuses to Dismiss Spying Lawsuit
A federal judge Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's domestic spying program, rejecting government claims that allowing the case to go forward could expose state secrets and jeopardize the war on terror.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said the warrantless eavesdropping has been so widely reported that there appears to be no danger of spilling secrets.
Dozens of lawsuits alleging that telecommunications companies and the government are illegally intercepting Americans' communications without warrants have been filed. This is the first time a judge has ruled on the government's claim of a "state secrets privilege."
"It might appear that none of the subject matter in this litigation could be considered a secret given that the alleged surveillance programs have been so widely reported in the media," Walker said.
Surveillance Bill Meets Resistance in Senate
A Senate surveillance bill personally negotiated by President Bush and Vice President Cheney ran into immediate trouble this week, as Democrats and other critics attacked the proposal while key GOP leaders in the House endorsed a different bill on the same topic.
The Senate legislation, drafted during negotiations between the White House and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), would allow the administration to submit the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program to a secret intelligence court for review of its legality.
Other GOP proposals -- including bills proposed by Wilson and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) -- are also opposed by Democrats and civil-liberties groups because they formally authorize the NSA program. But the scope of the Wilson bill, for example, is more limited than Specter's, and requires the executive branch to brief all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said she opposes all of the GOP proposals dealing with the NSA issue, calling them "solutions in search of a problem."
PAC Tied to DeLay Is Fined, Shutting Down
The fundraising organization that helped vault former Rep. Tom DeLay to Republican leadership ranks in the House and distributed election money to numerous Republicans has been fined for campaign finance violations and is shutting down.
Under an agreement with the Federal Election Commission, Americans for a Republican Majority's political action committee agreed to pay a $115,000 fine and close. The agreement, reached July 7, was made public late Wednesday.
The agreement resulted from an audit by the FEC of the committee's records for Jan. 1, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2002. The audit found DeLay's committee had not properly reported contributions, disbursements and cash on hand.
It also found the committee failed to properly report outstanding debts and obligations and did not follow federal rules for paying for shared federal and nonfederal activities.
Abortion protesters hold memorial for fetus at park
A memorial service for an aborted fetus concluded today without the planned burial in Smith Park.
The 11 a.m. service was part of an eight-day protest led by the anti-abortion group, Operation Save America, in an effort to shut down Jackson Women's Health Organization, the state's last remaining abortion clinic.
Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, said the fetus, which is being preserved in a formaldehyde-like solution, will be buried in Alabama in a few months.
Pavone said he received the fetus from an anonymous pathologist who asked him to give it a proper burial. Pavone said the fetus was aborted at about 18 weeks. It has been used in demonstrations in New York and Columbus, Ohio, he said, and will be in several more before being buried.
Feeding homeless outlawed: ACLU calls measure unenforceable
If someone looks like he could use a meal, be warned: Giving him a sandwich in a Las Vegas park could land you in jail.The Las Vegas City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday that bans providing food or meals to the indigent for free or a nominal fee in parks.
The measure is an attempt to stop so-called "mobile soup kitchens" from operating in parks, where residents say they attract the homeless and render the city facilities unusable by families.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada called the ordinance blatantly unconstitutional, unenforceable and the latest attempt by the city to hide and harass the homeless instead of constructively addressing their plight.
"So the only people who get to eat are those who have enough money? Those who get (government) assistance can't eat at your picnic?" asked ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein. "I've heard of some rather strange and extreme measures from other cities. I've never heard of something like this. It's mind-boggling."
Sen. Reid: Iraq devolves into 'civil war'
Democratic leader will try to revive Senate debate on Iraq
Declaring that he believes the situation in Iraq has devolved into a civil war, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday he plans to try to bring the war back up for debate on the Senate floor.
The Nevada Democrat said he has been "somewhat gingerly approaching this.... No longer. There is a civil war going on in Iraq. In the last two months, more than 6,000 Iraqis have been killed. That's averaging more than 100 a day being killed in Iraq and we need to make sure there is a debate on this.
"Republicans questioned why Reid wants to go over old ground and were ready to highlight the divisions among Democrats once again....Eric Ueland, Chief of Staff to Majority Leader Bill Frist....threatened that Republicans would offer a proposal from Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, which calls for U.S. troops to come home by July of 2007....
Strapped for money, Army extends cutbacks
The Army, bearing most of the cost for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Thursday its money crunch has gotten so bad it is clamping down on spending for travel, civilian hiring and other expenses not essential to the war mission.
A statement outlining the cutbacks did not say how much money the Army expects to save, but senior officials have said the cost of replacing worn equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan is rising at a quickening pace.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, said last week that in 2004 it cost $4 billion to repair or replace war equipment, but now it has reached $12 billion to $13 billion. "And in my view, we will continue to see this escalate," he said, adding that the Army is using up equipment at four times the rate for which it was designed.
Schoomaker traced the problem's origin to entering the Iraq war in 2003 with a $56 billion shortfall in equipment. The Army managed the situation by rotating in fresh units while keeping the same equipment in Iraq. Over time, he said, the equipment has worn out without sufficient investment in replacements.
Earth faces 'catastrophic loss of species'
Life on earth is facing a major crisis with thousands of species threatened with imminent extinction - a global emergency demanding urgent action. This is the view of 19 of the world's most eminent biodiversity specialists, who have called on governments to establish a political framework to save the planet.
The planet is losing species faster than at any time since 65 million years ago, when the earth was hit by an enormous asteroid that wiped out thousands of animals and plants, including the dinosaurs. Scientists estimate that the current rate at which species are becoming extinct is between 100 and 1,000 times greater than the normal "background" extinction rate - and say this is all due to human activity.
The call for action comes from some of the most distinguished scientists in the field, such as Georgina Mace of the UK Institute of Zoology; Peter Raven, the head of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis, and Robert Watson, chief scientist at the World Bank. "For the sake of the planet, the biodiversity science community had to create a way to get organised, to co-ordinate its work across disciplines and together, with one clear voice, advise governments on steps to halt the potentially catastrophic loss of species already occurring," Dr Watson said.
In a joint declaration, published today in Nature, the scientists say that the earth is on the verge of a biodiversity catastrophe and that only a global political initiative stands a chance of stemming the loss. They say: "There is growing recognition that the diversity of life on earth, including the variety of genes, species and ecosystems, is an irreplaceable natural heritage crucial to human well-being and sustainable development.
Bush NAACP Address Receives Lukewarm Applause
President Bush, addressing the annual NAACP convention for the first time despite being repeatedly invited, said today that slavery is a stain on America that has not yet been "wiped clean." He promised to work with African-American leaders in practical ways to address the problems faced by American blacks.
Bush's remarks were met with largely lukewarm applause from the crowd and at one point near the end of his speech, a heckler threatened to disrupt the address. The president pressed ahead undaunted, though, and told a concerned NAACP Chairman and Chief Executive Bruce Gordon, "Don't worry about it.
"Bush kicked off his speech by acknowledging his long-running absence from the group's annual meeting. After being introduced by Gordon, Bush said: "Bruce is a polite man. I thought he was going to say: It's about time you showed up.
"Bush has declined invitations to address the annual convention for five years. This year, with the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act set to be renewed by the Senate as early as today, he accepted.
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