Category: World News & Politics

Israel is being accused of fabricating a story about a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who planned to blow himself up.

The Israeli army said he was caught wearing an explosive belt at an army roadblock in the northern West Bank and that he disclosed to interrogators that an anonymous person had promised him 100 shekels if he blew himself up in the midst of Israeli soldiers.

The armed wing of Fatah, the Aqsa Martyrs? Brigades, has denied any involvement in the incident, accusing Israel of “concocting the whole story for the purpose of justifying the killing of more Palestinian children”.

Al Jazeera asked the Israeli army spokesman in Tel Aviv to explain why Abdu would accept 100 shekels to get blown up and what good the money could possibly do?

The army was also asked to explain why it had TV cameras ready at the roadblock more than two hours before the event.

The army failed to provide an answer.

A similar story took place a few weeks ago, when another boy from Nablus, Muhammad Kuraan, made headlines when the Israeli army presented him to the media as a child who had been dispatched to blow himself up at an Israeli roadblock.

However, when the boy returned home, he reportedly told his family and relatives “Jews told me to do this or else they would kill me.”

Dirty Liars !

[More: Al Jazeera]

As usual, whenever a resolution against Israel is brought up in the joke called the UN Security Council, you can always count on the US veto to save the day.

I don’t know why other countries even bother anymore !
It’s obvious the US would veto any resolution against Israel even if it were for an attack against the US itself.

Anyway, the veto this time was against the resolution condemning Israel’s assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Why ?
Because the US demand that the measure also condemn violence by Hamas and other militant groups by name.

The resolution “is silent about the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas,” U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said before the vote. He called the measure “unbalanced, one-sided.”

Well, here’s what I think, the only thing that is unbalanced and one-sided is the US and it’s policies !
Hamas’ activities are only a tiny fraction of the terrorism the Israeli state is involved in.

Interesting cover for The Economist.

[via Hou-Hou Blog]

What do you give someone who?s been proved innocent after spending the best part of their life behind bars, wrongfully convicted of a crime they didn?t commit?

An apology, maybe? Counselling? Champagne? Compensation? Well, if you?re David Blunkett, the UK Labour Home Secretary, the choice is simple: you give them a big, fat bill for the cost of board and lodgings for the time they spent freeloading at Her Majesty?s Pleasure in British prisons.

Now, this is really really weird and very not funny.

[Source: Sunday Herald]

Israeli aircraft attacked and killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas and Israel’s top target this morning as he was leaving a Gaza City mosque.

Yassin, who was in his late ’60s, has been confined to a wheelchair since an accident as a teenager that paralysed him. He is also partially blind.

“This is a crazy and very dangerous act. It opens the door wide to chaos. Yassin is known for his moderation and he was controlling Hamas and therefore this is a dangerous, cowardly act,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurai.

At least nine people died in the attack including at least two of Yassin’s bodyguards. Ten more were wounded.

In an interview with the Washington Post in August 2001, Yassin said he was aware that Israel’s government had targeted him.

“We are a people not afraid of death, and when one of us dies, it’s like a wedding day for him,” Yassin said. “One who is martyred attains a very high spiritual level, and so his death is like a celebration — we offer candy, sweets and cold drinks, because we know he’ll be so high in heaven.”

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Spanish Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Wednesday described the U.S. occupation of Iraq as “a fiasco” and suggested American voters should follow the example set by Spain and change their leadership.

“The occupation is a fiasco,” he said. “There have almost been more killed after the war, from a year ago, than during the war. In the end, the occupying forces have not handed over control of the situation to the U.N.

“I said during the campaign I hoped Spain and the Spaniards would be ahead of the Americans for once,” Zapatero said in an interview on Onda Cero radio. “First we win here, we change this government, and then the Americans will do it, if things continue as they are in Kerry’s favor.”

And on the war on terrorism:

“Fighting terrorism with bombs, with Tomahawk missiles, isn’t the way to beat terrorism, but the way to generate more radicalism,” he said.

I can’t help it, I really like this guy…

[Source: Washington Post]

Iraq on the Record is a report and associated online database presenting the results of an investigation of the misleading statements, falsehoods, and outright lies presented to the American public during the runup to the Iraq war, as comissioned by Representative Henry A. Waxman.

The Iraq on the Record Report, prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is a comprehensive examination of the statements made by the five Administration officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping public opinion on Iraq: President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

[The] database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq.

Check out the report: Iraq on the Record.

[via eclecticism]

The European Commission president, Romani Prodi, has said a war on terror that uses force rather than thought is no answer to resolving conflicts.

“It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists,” Prodi was quoted as saying in the daily La Stampa.

“We must remember that it has been a year since the war in Iraq started. Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago.”

At last someone’s thinking right and facing the reality that use of force will only bring more force and terror.

Scientists may have discovered the solar system’s 10th planet, more than 3 billion kilometers farther away from the sun than Pluto.

The object — about 10 billion kilometers from Earth — has been given the provisional name of Sedna after the Inuit goddess of the sea.

Sedna was found using the recently launched high power Spitzer Space Telescope.

Initial details indicated Sedna to be made of ice and rock and to be of a smaller size than Pluto, with a diameter of almost 2,000 km.

NASA is set to make an official announcement later Monday.

[via CNN]