Latest World News:
Occupied Jerusalem, Palestine -- An Israel
Air Force air strike in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least five militants
and wounded several others on Tuesday, Palestinians said.
Earlier, Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed a Hamas gunman and wounded
two others on Tuesday in the first armed clash in the Gaza Strip since a
ceasefire was declared in the territory in June, Palestinian medics said.
According to Palestinian sources, the troops entered the area east of Deir
el-Balah and carried out an operation at a house belonging to the Abu Hamam
family. Hamas quickly vowed revenge for its losses.
"Our response will be harsh, and the enemy will play a heavy price," Hamas
said in a statement on its military wing's Web site.
Palestinian residents in the area of the al-Bureij refugee camp in the central
Gaza Strip reported seeing Israeli soldiers about 300 meters inside Gaza.
They also reported hearing shots fired from Israeli military vehicles positioned
on the Israeli side of the border fence and the buzz of unmanned drones overhead.
The residents said Hamas gunmen had responded by firing at the troops. Residents
said that one of the Israeli drones fired a missile into the area where the
firing had occurred.
Palestinian medical workers said three gunmen were wounded by shrapnel from
the Israeli missile.
Israel, since its occupation of Palestine in 1948,
has committed daily crimes against the Palestinians. Illegal settlements
were established illegally depriving the Palestinians from their homes and
lands. Palestinian groups are waging a war of Independence from European
Zionists who occupied Palestine since 1948.
Baghdad, Iraq -- As the death toll of U.S. personnel killed in Iraq approaches
the 4,200 mark, three more U.S. servicemembers were killed on Monday. At
least 3388 died as a result of hostile action, and about 13,559
servicemembers were wounded and not returned to duty, according to the U.S.
military.
For the latest on the number of soldiers killed, check
the U.S. Dept of Defense website at the following link,
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf.
The number of U.S. soldiers and personnel killed or
wounded in Iraq has been disputed by many U.S. informed sources and military
Generals. According to them, the real number is much higher than the number
reported by the U.S. DOD.
According to two independent and reliable U.S. studies,
over 680 thousands Iraqi civilians, military personnel and militias have
been killed since the invasion in 2003.
VIENNA, Austria -- A U.N. nuclear conference of 145 nations indirectly
criticized Israel on Saturday for refusing to put its atomic program under
international purview.
But the Jewish state managed to evade being targeted by Islamic countries
pushing for a vote to link it to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
Iran, Israel's most outspoken foe, spearheaded the verbal attack on the Jewish
state, as it has done at past general conferences of the International Atomic
Energy Agency. Israel is widely considered to have nuclear arms, but has
a "no tell" policy on the issue.
Chief Iranian delegate Ali Ashgar Soltanieh said Israel's nuclear capabilities
represent a "serious and continued threat to the security of neighboring
and other states."
He took the United States and other Western backers of Israel to task for
their "shameful silence" on what he said was the menace posed by Israel's
atomic arsenal.
The meeting voted for a resolution urging all nations to open their nuclear
activities to outside inspection and work toward the establishment of a Mideast
nuclear weapons free zone. With Israel the only country in the region considered
to have atomic arms, passage of the resolution constituted indirect criticism
of the Jewish state.
The resolution called on all nations in the Middle East "not to develop,
test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons," and urged nuclear weapons states
to "refrain from any action" hindering the establishment of a Mideast zone
free of nuclear weapons.
But U.S. and the European Union managed to block an effort by Muslim nations
and their supporters to submit a resolution more directly critical of Israel
and its "nuclear capabilities."
Ankara, Turkey (AP) -- Fifteen Turkish soldiers were killed in an overnight
clash with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey along the country's border
with Iraq, President Abdullah Gul said.
Two others were missing and 20 were wounded, two of them seriously, the Turkish
military said.
"The terror group (PKK) wants to show that it is still alive," Gul told
reporters. "That's the reason for this attack."
Gul was referring to the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, the leading Kurdish
rebel group in the region.
The Associated Press reported at least 23 rebels were killed when Turkish
troops later returned fire.
Most of the casualties in the attack, which was launched from northern Iraq,
were caused by heavy arms fire, the military said.
The attack comes prior to Tuesday's scheduled vote by the Turkish government
that would extend the authority of the Turkish military to launch attacks
on PKK positions in northern Iraq.
A PKK spokesman acknowledged the attack on a Turkish military post, but called
the casualty figure given by the Turkish authorities "an exaggeration."
NADARBAZEVI, Georgia (AP) -- Russian troops began dismantling positions Sunday
in the so-called security zones inside Georgia they have occupied since August's
brief but intense war, a Georgian Interior Ministry official said.
The moves came as Russia faced a Friday deadline for pulling back its troops
under terms of a deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf
of the European Union. Hundreds of EU observers began monitoring Russia's
compliance with the pact last week.
Russia and Georgia went to war in early August after Georgia launched a massive
barrage on the capital of South Ossetia, one of two Georgian separatist regions
where Russia has troops stationed as peacekeepers. Russian forces then declared
what it called a security zone roughly seven kilometers (four miles) deep
inside Georgia south of South Ossetia and the other separatist region, Abkhazia.
The EU-brokered agreement obliges Russia to pull its troops out of the zones
by Friday, but Russia says it plans to keep thousands of troops inside Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. Russia recognized the independence of both regions after
the fighting, a moved denounced by Georgia and the West; only Nicaragua and
the Hamas government in Gaza have followed suit with recognition so far.
On Sunday, troops lowered the flag at a Russian base in Nadarbazevi, about
50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of the capital, Tbilisi. Georgian Interior
Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili described the position as a communications
center and said Russia had promised to fully leave it on Monday.
Source: AP, Reuters, and Other News Bureaus
Contributed to this News Brief. |
