infopalArticoli in inglese.
WHO calls on Israel to lift Palestinian blockade
AFP – The World Health Organisation on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding that Israel lift its blockade of the occupied Palestinian territories, which is blamed for a shortage of medicines.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080521/wl_mideast_afp/whomideastpalestiniansunresthealth
Israeli Gaza siege ‘significant risk to public health’ UK warns
Britain’s Department for International Development has been monitoring the humanitarian situation in Gaza, warning its assessments show that it is "extremely serious and that there are significant risks to public health."
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/080521/2008052104.html
Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan – Report by the Secretariat.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7EUNGW?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Critically ill patients from Gaza appeal to Israeli court
Ahmed al-Baghdadi’s doctors said he must leave the Gaza Strip and travel to Israel to receive urgent life-saving medical care if he hopes to fight the tumours in his body. Rada al-Khadir, aged 22, needs to get treatment immediately, her Israeli doctor said, or her liver disease could prove fatal. Both patients have been denied permission to leave by the Israeli military.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9564.shtml
OPT: Al Mezan issues report on health and environmental impacts of fuel crisis in the Gaza Strip
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights issued a report on the "Impacts on Health and Environment of the Israeli Fuel Cuts in the Gaza Strip." The report details the effects of the fuel and electricity cuts which have been imposed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Despite their punitive, nondiscriminatory nature, these cuts were deemed permissible by the Israeli High Court at the beginning of 2008; thus, producing a profound impact on the Strip’s water and sewage systems. Damage has been caused to civilians’ health and food supplies due to the vegetable oil and cooking gas used as an alternative fuel for automobiles. The fuel crisis has created a transportation crisis, as most vehicles in Gaza have stopped.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SKAI-7EURXW?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
PLEASE SIGN THE PEACE CYCLE PETITION TO SUSPEND THE EU-ISRAEL TRADE AGREEMENT!
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2008/05/if-you-only-sign-one-petition-make-it.html
Israeli Authorities demolish apartments in Jerusalem, intend to demolish 22 more
Bulldozers belonging to the Jerusalem Municipality demolished on Wednesday a number of flats that belong to two residents in Al Tour Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The Israeli Authorities also handed 22 residents notices of intensions to demolish their homes.
http://www.imemc.org/article/54984
Construction resumes in Beitar Ilit
Mayor of Beitar Ilit Meir Rubenstein said in response to the unfreezing of the construction in his city: "The pressure put on the government by Shas and United Torah Judaism was what paved the way for the unfreezing. It is a good start and we are awaiting the continuation."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3546269,00.html
PM approves 286 new settlement homes
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s approval Wednesday of 286 new housing units in the haredi settlement of Betar Illit marked the second time in less than three months that Shas has freed up a major haredi construction project in the West Bank.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288139777&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
57 MKs sign bill proposing two-third Knesset majority needed to cede Golan
MK Eliahu Gabbay (National Union NRP) announced on Wednesday he intends to spur legislation already in progress over a bill proposal which, if ratified, would require a two-third Knesset majority to withdraw from the Golan Heights.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3546241,00.html
Palestinians say one killed in Air Force strike on Gaza
Palestinian sources reported one dead yesterday following an Israel Air Force strike on the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. The Israel Defense Forces said an IAF missile struck a car, in which a number of armed Palestinians were riding, a few minutes after a barrage of Qassam rockets was fired at Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985861.html
IOF air raid wounds civilians including six children, no word about calm
Eight Palestinian citizens were wounded afternoon Wednesday in an IOF air raid that targeted a vacant civilian car in Jabalia northern Gaza, eyewitnesses reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7zPYz5pgVXN8o2r1cW3LO%2bKyDQeUITBxfCHw3Q7sJp0kocnCV5mU17J%2fvdjelgg4zX4tTVn5fQUZkx%2ftLsSl25iPJYUX0it4Px01BehkPPPw%3d
Five Palestinians wounded, including 5-month-old baby in Israeli airstrike
Gaza Strip: Five Palestinians, including a 5-month-old baby girl, were wounded in an Israeli airstrike against militants. The Israeli military said they hit militants who had just fired rockets into southern Israel. The militant Hamas that controls Gaza said the wounded Wednesday were civilian bystanders.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/21/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Palestinians.php
One killed 14 injured when Israeli troops attacked a peaceful protest east of Gaza
One Palestinian civilians was killed and 14 other injured when the Israeli troops opened fire at the peaceful protest that took place and the Al Mentar crossing in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon.
http://www.imemc.org/article/55001
A student and a teacher injured during a settlers attack on Hebron school
One Palestinian student and one teacher were injured when Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian school located in the old part of the southern West Bank city of Hebon on Thursday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/55000
Hamas: Gaza masses head toward the Mintar crossing
At the invitation of the Hamas Movement large masses of the impoverished Gaza people will be heading at noon Thursday towards the main gates of the Mintar crossing east of Gaza city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7OAQ0CHmcTRmFO9uicqBbZ5Fxg85S34zc1Lp4qXT92RyhZw0YHCOjJKCe2eYsS774r98T60p3ziH0Z8lLmhlKtwoGmpCLvOm%2fu1l51TrSwME%3d
Gaza demo turns deadly after failed border bombing
A Palestinian man was killed on Thursday when Israeli troops opened fire on stone-throwing demonstrators who were protesting at the crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip, a medic said.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iq-9dBQYZbzchDmIxlqXgyc2iWJg
Car bomb explodes at Gaza crossing
Islamic Jihad officials say one of its men has carried out the operation.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4ED67E79-782E-4C1E-BD18-5908DAFE1247.htm
Fatah, Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for Erez attack
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3546402,00.html
IOF troops disguised in women attire abduct pardoned AMB member
A special unit of the IOF disguised in traditional Palestinian women attire on Wednesday abducted a member in the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah faction in downtown Ramallah.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s75rrnf9gXkz2sus7Y3YBqBlRybn8qazsdXa9Llr2KAYujRmwWf%2fLBws54C3nJVC%2fM8j%2bEsVZdO60NqrNA9dEay2CQf5bhK%2blYp0V7y2P1CQc%3d
Palestinians say IDF arrested Hamas head in Jenin
Palestinian sources in the West Bank city of Jenin reported Thursday that IDF forces operating in the city overnight arrested Ibrahim al-Jabar, head of the Hamas operation in Jenin. According to reports, Jabar who was held by the Palestinian Authority until recently, was arrested near his home.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3546421,00.html
The Israeli army invades villages near Jenin and kidnaps three civilians
Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army attacked the villages of Burken and Arrabah, located near the northern West Bank city of Jenin and kidnapped three civilians on Thursday morning.
http://www.imemc.org/article/54990
12 Palestinians detained for throwing stones near Bethlehem
Dozens of Palestinians threw stones at the security fence southwest of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday. An IDF patrol present at the scene responded by firing rubber-coated steel bullets and spraying tear gas.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3546257,00.html
Troops kidnap six youth, including a handicapped resident, in Hebron
Palestinian sources in the southern West Bank city of Hebron reported on Wednesday evening that Israeli soldiers kidnapped five school students in Al Arroub Refugee Camp, north of Hebron, and also kidnapped a handicapped resident in Yatta town, south of the city.
http://www.imemc.org/article/54986
Settlers protest against reopening main road in Hebron, attack several residents
Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers protesters on Wednesday evening against the reopening of a main road leading to the southern West Bank City of Hebron. The settlers attacked dozens of residents and vehicles, the Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/54987
IOF troops destroy agriculture sector in Gaza; kill Palestinian farmers
The agriculture ministry in the PA legitimate government in Gaza Strip asserted on Wednesday that the IOF troops had bulldozed vast agricultural areas in the eastern sector of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7OAlQ0HMjzMA23Au%2feOP2UouqK0p3Nhxa%2fMuwKBlvhzs86bSBIKFky8r8l8%2bn0bfskwL2DO0E1Y4r2bVA0O%2bIX9uid%2bWXGL78IYNv2z4p3nc%3d
Jenin woman bitten by snake saved by staff at Emek Medical Center in Afula
Nadia Ayad, a 30-year-old woman from Jenin, was found on Monday night in a field after having been bitten by a poisonous viper snake.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288129466&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
No agreement on Gaza truce-Palestinian official
Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas still differ on terms for a Gaza ceasefire that Egypt is mediating, a Palestinian official familiar with the talks said on Wednesday.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL21900480.html
Prime Minister of Hamas wants end of siege before truce is achieved
Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya of the ruling Hamas in Gaza, stated on Thursday that the Palestinian people and factions can not grant a truce to the ‘ Israeli occupation’ until this occupation lifts the siege and reopen crossings.
http://www.imemc.org/article/54998
Will Gaza ever get a whiff of its offshore gas?
Isn’t Gaza’s gas a home-grown source of energy of which the Palestinians should be in charge? Yes, but the way things are shaping it’ll probably be stolen from them just like their lands, their homes and their precious water. The Gaza marine gas field lies 25 to 30 kilometres off Gaza’s shore. In 1999 the BG Group obtained licences to Israeli offshore concessions, and shortly afterwards was awarded the Gaza licence, for a period of 25 years. BG holds 90 per cent equity in the licence, but this could reduce to 60 per cent if the Consolidated Contractors Company (its current 10 per cent partner) and the Palestine Investment Fund exercise their options.
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/slittlewood20080521
Hundreds of citizens protesting in front of flour stores in Nablus
Hundreds of citizens prevented trucks from transferring allegedly ‘inedible’ flour from Nablus to Jenin on Thursday morning by protesting in front of the flour stores in Az-Zuyout Street, west of Nablus. Citizens have demanded the distribution of flour in Nablus as well as other cities.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=29439
International study: Food price hike worsening Palestinian economic woes
Palestinians are facing greater social and economic hardships with the situation exacerbated by rising food prices, according to a new international report published Thursday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/986198.html
Photos from the Palestinian Investment Conference Bethlehem: Day one
http://www.imemc.org/article/54983
East Jerusalem Businessman says Palestinian Investment should be in Jerusalem
The Palestine Investment Conference planned as a major component of the Annapolis Process is taking place in Bethlehem from 21 through 23 May. The American administration — and Quartet Envoy Tony Blair, known as "America´s poodle even when he was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom — apparently still believe that encouraging investment in Palestine on the eve of state-creation would help jump-start the suppressed Palestinian economy and create enthusiasm for potential peace dividends.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/62553
Palestinians aim to win investment
About 1,200 businesspeople, including Arab and foreign participants, are expected to attend
Hundreds of business and political leaders are attending a conference aimed at boosting the stagnant economy in the occupied West Bank through private investment.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3990AEB4-EA86-43D8-BA4F-1FC340B42465.htm
At West Bank Conference, Dreams of Investment
Hundreds of potential investors gathered for a three-day Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem, where projects worth some $2 billion are to be presented.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/world/middleeast/22bethlehem.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Deals signed at Palestinian investment conference
AP – Saudi and Qatari companies signed up with Palestinian partners for $550 million in construction projects Wednesday, kicking off an investors conference meant to help revive the Palestinian economy and support Mideast peace efforts.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_investment
US offers risk insurance for Palestinians
AP – A U.S. government agency signed a political risk insurance deal with a Palestinian firm Thursday to help guarantee investments in the West Bank as part of an international effort to develop the beleaguered local economy.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_investment
Reproducing Oslo-era illusions
A three-day economic conference aimed at attracting foreign investments to revive the dilapidated Palestinian economy got underway in this southern Palestinian town on Wednesday amid tight security. Opening the conference, Palestinian Authority ( PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas welcomed hundreds of Arab and foreign investors, saying that economic prosperity in the occupied Palestinian territories would expedite the political process and enhance Palestinian steadfastness vis-à-vis the Israeli occupation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s730LOp%2bUYMcLjnMT9%2f6dJcMET4zfaTZ2ZQG%2f6zGMOc76uNmOglQIClOspWz%2bmJ8WPmXiO63MSiTmhO%2bLIr6iXn99BaII70yMsgAzrVVlSkCc%3d
Qatari company to invest $350 m. in new W. Bank town of 5,000 homes
A Qatari company has announced it is investing in a new West Bank town of 5,000 homes. The CEO of the government-owned Qatar Diar Real Estate Investment Co. said Wednesday his company will put up two-thirds of the$350 million (222 million) project near the West Bank city of Ramallah. A Palestinian company is putting up the rest.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288137236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israeli Threat Sustains Palestinian Identity
Israel is not sustainable as an exclusivist Jewish state that thrives on the continued dispossession of Palestinians and on territorial colonization except, that is, through perpetual American aid and military wars. The history of the conflict has not been solely defined by Israeli military supremacy, but also by all forms of Palestinian resistance. From the outset, Palestinians did not submit to a fate of forced exile, displacement and occupation: The establishment of the state of Israel was also the beginning of a Palestinian movement to reclaim a collective people’s identity.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/lamis_andoni/2008/05/israeli_threat_sustains_palest.html
Hamas blesses Lebanese agreement, waits for similar Arab role in Palestine
The Hamas Movement on Wednesday welcomed the Doha agreement signed by all Lebanese parties that warded off dangers of civil war in Lebanon after all displayed a high sense of national responsibility.
Hamas: Israel-Syria talks won’t affect our ‘strategic’ ties with Damascus
A Hamas official said on Wednesday that the militant Palestinian group does not oppose the Israel-Syria peace negotiations announced earlier in the day, but stressed that the talks would not affect the organization’s relationship with Syria.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985816.html
No Sex in This City
"Sex in the City" will premier in Israel next week, but Sarah Jessica Parker won’t be the star of any billboards in Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Petah Tikva objected to the use of the word "sex" on the billboards, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. The cities requested that the word "sex" be omitted from the advertisements.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4901770&page=1
Kawther Salam – Palestinian Nakba Activities Hindered in Vienna
The Diakoniewerk, which is the owner and administration of Albert Schweitzer Haus in Vienna, a student home and cultural center affiliated with the evangelical church of Austria and which also organizes cultural activities and allows other organizations to hold cultural activities in Vienna, cancelled an event which had been organized by an Austrian organization (Gaza muss Leben) for 17.May 2008. The event included a discussion and a concert, it was to be about the theme "Gaza must live" and in the memory of the 60 years of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe).
http://palestinethinktank.com/2008/05/21/kawther-salam-palestinian-nakba-activities-hindered-in-vienna/
Excerpt: Archbishop Atallah Hanna at Al-Awda Convention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F18siU5eBO8
Ahdaf Soueif on the Palestine literature festival
Ahdaf Soueif: The festival ran from May 7 to 11 and in every city our venues were filled to the rafters and our authors rode high on the enthusiasm of the audience.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/22/israelandthepalestinians?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews
A Nakba inherited
At the southernmost area of the Gaza Strip, where the Philadelphia route separates the coastal enclave from Egypt, there are scores of knocked down buildings. The destruction dates back to 2002, when Israeli army bulldozers demolished the houses of the Palestinian inhabitants of this border line. Among the houses that used to stand here was that of Ali Shaath, a 75-year-old Palestinian refugee from the Beer al-Saba’ village of historical Palestine. Rami Almeghari writes from the occupied Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9561.shtml
An award for the voiceless in Gaza
My ambition was to get the truth out, not as pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli, but as an independent voice and witness, posing questions. The siege of Gaza has many layers. I work here as a journalist, amid near-daily air and land assaults from Israel, amid the unending killings and destruction of land and livelihood, which are all made more unbearable by critical shortages of fuel, food, medicine, electricity for hospital machinery and electricity for my work. The other day I returned from fieldwork to find cheerful news from John Pilger: that I have won the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, along with my respected colleague Dahr Jamail. This is the best news I have received for many months.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200805220019
Poll: More Israelis object to Golan accord than to J’lem deal
About two-thirds of Israelis object to withdrawing from the Golan Heights even for peace with Syria – more than those who object to dividing Jerusalem for ending the conflict with the Arab world, a recent survey finds.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985866.html
Lose weight, make peace at Middle East diet group
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – There’s the weekly weigh-in, the tips on healthy snacking and the chit-chat between women about unruly kids or errant husbands. But this is a slimming group with a difference: half its members are Palestinian, half are Israeli and the aim is to foster dialogue, through a common battle with weight.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL1687989220080522
US spins up Lebanon deal, cool on Israel, Syria
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration sought Wednesday to put a positive spin on a deal between Lebanon’s feuding factions, saying it is key to short-term stability even though it gives the militant Hezbollah movement more power.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_mideast
US must tolerate outreach to Hezbollah, Syria
AP – The Bush administration, with waning influence and regional allies pursuing their own agendas, has little choice but to swallow Lebanese and Israeli talks with U.S. adversaries Hezbollah and Syria.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_mideast_muddle
PM: Talks with Syria are ‘historic breakthrough’
Israel and Syria will begin indirect negotiations in Istanbul in a few weeks, in an effort to reach a peace agreement. The talks will be held through Turkish mediators.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985848.html
Hezbollah wins veto in Lebanon deal to end 19 months on brink of civil war
Lebanon’s feuding leaders have struck a deal in Qatar which will pave the way for the election of a new president and the creation of a national unity government, capping 19 months of political turmoil which brought the country to the brink of civil war.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3978513.ece
Reactions to Doha agreement
Under the leadership of Qatar, the Arab League has brokered an end to Lebanon’s 18-month political crisis. Feuding factions have agreed to stop fighting and elect a unity government and new president. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, said: "With God’s help and thanks to the co-operation of the Lebanese representatives and efforts of the Arab League seceretary-general, we have been able to reach an agreement based on consensus between all the Lebanese brothers."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5AC0E141-9B9B-41BD-8D66-F2C48EA40354.htm
US strike kills 8 civilians in Iraq
A US military helicopter air strike on a car last night killed eight civilians, including two young boys, in Baiji north of Baghdad. Baiji’s police chief Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi said the civilians were shepherds who were in a farming area in the town when the strike took place.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0522/breaking8.htm
US helicopter strike kills children
AP – Iraqi police say eight civilians have been killed by a U.S. helicopter strike north of Baghdad. The U.S. military says the strike was targeting al-Qaida militants but acknowledges some civilian deaths including children.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_helicopter_strike
U.S. shoots 11 in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The U.S. military said its troops shot dead 11 militants in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, but police and several residents said at least some of the dead were civilians killed by U.S. snipers.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/gc05/idUKCOL15082820080521
Iraq: At least 35 killed in another bloody day of US occupation
A female suicide bomber with explosives strapped to her belt blew herself up north of Rutba town.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL2124569020080521
Iraqi cameraman dies in Baghdad clashes
AP – An Iraqi satellite TV channel says its cameraman has been killed during clashes in eastern Baghdad.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_cameraman_killed
IRAQ: Government negligent in tackling human displacement – MP
The problem of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and Iraqi refugees in neighbouring countries is likely to grow into a regional and international problem because the government appears to have no clear policy to tackle it, a member of parliament (MP) said on 12 May.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=78172
Genocide in Iraq?
Despite the precipitous plunge in his popularity and growing criticism of his competency, character, and style, George W. Bush is not really that much different from other presidents with respect to his hegemonic ambitions or his proclivity to use force to achieve foreign policy objectives. Continuing historical patterns, President Bush and all presidents since World War II have committed horrendous crimes against humanity in order to protect and advance American interests under the guise of liberating people from under the jackboot of brutal dictators or communist subversives, bringing democracy to totalitarian states, improving the lives of those who are suffering and eradicating terrorism.
http://www.counterpunch.com/model05212008.html
Iraq criticized after disbanding Olympic committee
The Iraqi government ordered the disbanding of the country’s national Olympic committee because of questions over its legitimacy, drawing a harsh rebuke Wednesday from the international umbrella organization.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gx1X43pDXJ1DrOBAFa2XjnMLHJmAD90Q86F82
Headbangers From Iraq, Thrashing and Waiting
It was already an unlikely story: Around 2000, a group of Iraqi school friends weaned on bootleg Metallica and Slayer tapes formed their own metal band with an imposing name, Acrassicauda (derived from the name of a species of black scorpion), and an appropriately do-or-die attitude.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/movies/22meta.html?ref=movies
Iraqi orchestra stages rare concert
An Iraqi flag is seen during a performance by the US national symphony orchestra and the Iraqi national symphony orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington in 2003. Iraq’s national symphony orchestra has staged a rare concert in Baghdad in what organisers said was an effort to preserve the nation’s cultural heritage despite years of warfare.(AFP/File/Mike Theiler)AFP – Iraq’s national symphony orchestra staged a rare concert in Baghdad in what organisers said was an effort to preserve the nation’s cultural heritage despite years of warfare.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080522/wl_mideast_afp/entertainmentiraqunrestmusic
Poll: Americans Want their Iraq News
The Zogby news release, below, about a new poll demonstrates that Informed Comment is giving the American people what they want in the way of Iraq news: "When asked about the news coverage of the Iraq war, most (80%) say the coverage has been fair or poor. When respondents were asked to pick what coverage they would like to see more of, stories about the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people were the two most chosen (68% each) . . ." They also said that the war is having an impact on their local communities, and a fifth had had a relative serve in Iraq! Nearly half knew community members who had served or were serving.
http://www.juancole.com/2008/05/poll-americans-want-their-iraq-news.html
Syria seizes more smuggled Iraqi artifacts
AP – Syrian customs officials seized 40 artifacts stolen from the National Museum in Iraq as they were being smuggled across the border into Syria, state media reported Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_re_mi_ea/syria_iraq_smuggled_artifacts
Report Details Dissent on Guantánamo Tactics
WASHINGTON In 2002, as evidence of prisoner mistreatment at Guantánamo Bay began to mount, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at the base created a "war crimes file" to document accusations against American military personnel, but were eventually ordered to close down the file, a Justice Department report revealed Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/washington/21detain.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
FBI watched Guantanamo abuse – report
AN FBI agent watched Australian detainee Mamdouh Habib repeatedly vomit during a marathon interrogation session at Guantanamo Bay in 2004, according to a long-awaited US Justice Department report released today.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23735419-401,00.html
FBI staff silenced over torture
AS EVIDENCE of prisoner mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay began to mount in 2002, FBI agents at the base created a "war crimes file" to document accusations against American military personnel, but were eventually ordered to close the file down, a Justice Department report has disclosed.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/21/1211182897520.html
Report: U.S. Soldiers Did ‘Dirty Work’ for Chinese Interrogators
Alleges Guantanamo Personnel Softened Up Detainees at Request of Chinese Intelligence.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4894921&page=1
CAIR: Arab Media, Islamic Scholars: Obama Is No Apostate
Editor’s Note: The recent New York Times op-ed claiming that Muslims view Barack Obama’s conversion to Islam as ‘apostasy’ has no basis in the Arab media, write the commentators. In fact, they argue, Obama has received more favorable coverage in the Arab media than in the American press. Jalal Ghazi and Souheila Al-Jadda are associate producers of "Mosaic: World News from the Middle East" on Link TV.
http://www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?mid1=674&&ArticleID=24808&&name=n&&currPage=1
Running out of Time, and Friends
I cannot help thinking that the recent trip of President Bush to the Middle East was a spectacular failure. In Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in every country he visited and every speech he made, Bush managed to offend leaders, as well as people, in the region. Reverberations will be felt beyond.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13814
Jibes highlight Bush-Mubarak rift
Officials from both sides often acknowledge there are disagreements. It has emerged that US President George Bush and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt were studiously absent from each other’s speeches at the World Economic Forum in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, as the BBC’s Magdi Abdelhadi reports from Cairo.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7410669.stm
Report: U.S. delays report on Iran
The United States has postponed the release of a report detailing allegations of Iranian support for Iraqi insurgents, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/21/content_8222915.htm
Olmert proposes US naval blockade on Iran
Report: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed in talks with a U.S. Congressional leader that a naval blockade be imposed on Iran to try to curb its nuclear program, an Israeli newspaper said on Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080521/wl_nm/israel_iran_dc
Former Clinton Whitehouse aide
We’re in for a "cataclysmic" Bush endgame: He said that the US faces a "cataclysmic" final few months of the Bush term, and that Bush is determined to leave a lasting mark on the world regardless of who is elected the next president.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/usa/2008/05/former_clinton_whitehouse_aide.html
US opposes cluster bomb ban, backs ‘technological fixes’
The United States on Wednesday opposed a worldwide ban on cluster bombs, calling instead for "technological fixes" that would make them safer.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_opposes_cluster_bomb_ban_backs_t_05212008.html
FBI can’t protect US from terror: agent
Counterterrorism official says FBI is recruiting inexperienced managers.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4902246
POLITICS-US: As Bush Policy Crumbles, Allies Pick Up the Pieces
As the White House agenda for the Middle East continues to unravel, events over the past 24 hours seem to suggest that U.S. allies in the region are determined to construct a new edifice based on diplomacy, with or without Washington’s help.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42458
American Psywar Cadres at Home and Abroad
With that simple three-word rallying cry, Barack Obama claims to transcend all the problems of Washington’s entrenched status quo and bridge all the divisions segmenting American society. Obama’s website invites us join the "movement," not a campaign to get him elected but a movement to change the world.
http://www.counterpunch.com/mcquade05222008.html
__._,_.___