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No truce until tunnels destroyed: Israel
US House votes to sue Obama
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Blasts as experts reach MH17 crash site
Air Algerie jet fell ‘30,000 ft in three minutes’
20 bodies found on beaches in Karachi
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No truce until tunnels destroyed: Israel
GAZA/JERUSALEM, July 31 "We are determined to complete this mission, with or without a ceasefire," Netanyahu said in public remarks at the start of a meeting of his full cabinet in Tel Aviv. "I wont agree to any proposal that will not enable the Israeli military to finish this important task, for the sake of Israel's security." Leaving open the option of widening a ground campaign in the Hamas Islamist-dominated Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said it had called up an additional 16,000 reservists. A military source said they would relieve a similar number of reserve soldiers being stood down. Netanyahu's security cabinet on Wednesday approved continuing operations launched on July 8 in response to a surge of cross-border rocket attacks. Israel also sent a delegation to Egypt, which has been trying, with US blessing, to broker a ceasefire. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned on Wednesday the deaths of at least 15 Palestinians among thousands sheltering at a U.N.-run school. On Wednesday, 17 people were killed in nearby Shejaia by what Palestinian officials said was Israeli shelling of a produce market. The Israeli military said it was investigating. Gaza officials say at least 1,372 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the battered territory and nearly 7,000 wounded. Fifty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza clashes and more than 400 wounded. Three civilians have been killed by Palestinian shelling in Israel. The shelling of a UN facility in Gaza this week by the Israeli military is "totally unacceptable and totally indefensible" and Israel needs to do more to protect innocent civilians, a White House spokesman said on Thursday. Israel talks frequently about the importance it places on sparing civilian lives but the US believes it is not doing enough to that end, spokesman Josh Earnest said. — Reuters
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Washington, July 31 Democrats say the lawsuit is a campaign-year stunt designed to draw conservative voters to the polls in congressional elections in November. They also say it may be a prelude to an effort to impeach Obama, a suggestion which top Republicans say is groundless. Republicans say Obama has gone too far in selectively enforcing parts of the health care overhaul, the signature legislation of his presidency, such as by delaying the requirement that many employers provide health insurance for their workers. They say they are protecting the Constitution's division of powers. The House vote was 225 to 201 yesterday. Speculation about impeachment of Obama has been popular among conservative activists and some lawmakers, despite House Speaker John Boehner's dismissal of the idea. Democrats have capitalised on the speculation, sending fund-raising pleas to their own supporters warning that Republicans are out to impeach Obama and ruin his presidency. Republicans, who are expected to keep their House majority after November's elections and hope to gain control of the Senate, say Obama has enforced laws as he wants to, dangerously shifting power to the presidency from Congress. Obama said the vote to file a lawsuit is taking away from time the lawmakers could be spending on issues important to the American people. He described the measure as a "political stunt" and said he took actions on his own because Congress isn't doing anything to help him. Every Republican lawmaker opposed Obama's health care overhaul. Republicans say Obama has illegally changed the law by using executive actions that don't require Congress approval. The White House and Democrats say he's acted legally and within his powers as chief executive. Republicans say there are other examples of Obama exceeding his powers. These include failing to notify Congress in advance when he traded five Taliban members held at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the captive Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. — AP
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Blasts as experts reach MH17 crash site
Rozsypne, July 31 A small team of Dutch and Australian experts accompanied by international monitors reached the vast site of the doomed Malaysia Airlines jet after days of fierce fighting between government forces and rebels had stopped them reaching the area. The Dutch justice ministry said the team was so far only a "reconnaissance" mission but would hopefully pave the way for more experts to visit soon. But in a sign of the continuing insecurity, an AFP team following some minutes behind the convoy heard loud blasts just a few kilometres away from the site and saw black smoke rising from a village close to where some of the plane wreckage is lying. Ukraine's military had earlier announced a "day of quiet" across the entire east after a plea from UN chief Ban Ki-moon to halt fighting in the area of the crash, where remains from some of the 298 victims lie festering in the sun some two weeks after the jet was shot down over rebel territory. — AFP
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Air Algerie jet fell ‘30,000 ft in three minutes’
The Air Algerie aircraft that crashed in the Sahara last week killing 118 people plunged 30,000ft into the desert in three minutes after running into a violent storm, investigators believe.
The inexperience of the Spanish crew, with only a month's flying time on the demanding cross-Sahara route, may have played a part in the accident, according to aviation experts. Although contributory factors such as mechanical failure have not yet been ruled out, studies of radar records have more or less excluded the possibility that the Spanish-owned MD-83 aircraft was the victim of a terrorist bomb or a ground-launched missile. The head of the Burkina Faso armed forces, General Gilbert Diendéré, said that radar records of the aircraft's course suggested that the pilot had tried to steer around the storm but had returned to his original course too soon. "It was while he was performing this manoeuvre that the accident happened," he said. — The Independent |
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20 bodies found on beaches in Karachi
Karachi, July 31 While the rescue teams recovered twelve bodies from Clifton Beach last night, six more bodies were recovered from the beach this morning, Dawn reported. Two bodies were also recovered from Hawks Bay today. Efforts are underway to fish out bodies of three missing persons, of the total 23 people who had drowned. The police have blocked routes leading to the beaches. Additionally, patrolling has been increased at Clifton Beach while a picket was established on Maripur road to intercept picnickers to other beaches. Thousands of people had turned up at the city beaches on the second day of Eid despite the ban imposed by administration on entering or bathing in the sea. — PTI |
Ebola-hit Sierra Leone declares state of emergency Libya Islamists seize key Benghazi army base Jihadists order total cover-up for Syrian women Muslim preacher apologises for insulting Hinduism Chinese journalist, lawyer win Magsaysay award No American proud of CIA tactics: US State Dept
25 dead as boats sink on Eid in Indonesia
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Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. It is outrageous. It is unjustifiable. And it demands accountability and justice... I call on the parties to stop the fighting and agree on an immediate
ceasefire.
Until now, we have destroyed dozens of terror tunnels and we are determined to finish this mission — with or without a ceasefire. So I will not accept any (truce) proposal that does not allow the IDF (army) to complete this work for the security of Israel's
citizens.
