Netanyahu rejects debate on checkpoint policy (plus 11 more items)

Netanyahu rejects debate on checkpoint policy

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 09:08 AM PST

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has snubbed repeated calls for a discussion about the policy of removing military checkpoints in the West Bank.

The requests came from right-wing cabinet members who argue the removal of checkpoints would amount to a rise in attacks on Israelis, Israel Radio reported on Friday.

Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, asked Netanyahu to summon his security cabinet to discuss the checkpoint removal issue, the radio said.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 06:09 AM PST

A state of emergency has been declared across the Midwest in the US as a massive winter storm brings Christmas season travel to a standstill.

At least 19 people have been killed in road accidents forcing authorities to shut down highways in South Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma.

In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where snowfall totals reached about 14 inches, crews were out in full force on Friday trying to clear roads, move abandoned cars and rescue motorists.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST

A Nigerian passenger has attempted to ignite an incendiary device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, US officials say.

On Friday, a White house official described the incident as an act of terrorism.

The suspected would-be bomber suffered burns as the result of his attempt, and two of the other 277 passengers reported minor injuries, authorities said.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 04:44 AM PST

Asian countries are to hold a solemn day of prayers and remembrance to mark one of the world's worst natural disasters which killed over 230,000 people in 11 countries.

People in the hardest hit countries — India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand — will hold commemorative ceremonies on Saturday to remember their dead during the December 26, 2004 tsunami resulting from the Indian Ocean mega-thrust 9.3-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra.

Indonesia's Aceh province lost almost 170,000 people. More than 50,000 people were killed in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand where a wall of water, as high as 30 meters (100 feet) smashed everything in its way.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 03:44 AM PST

A woman has attacked Pope Benedict XVI during a procession to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass, pulling the pontiff to the ground.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church was leading the procession to Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on Thursday when a woman from the front row climbed over a security barrier and jumped at the 82-year-old pope.

The pope reportedly escaped the commotion unscathed as security guards rushed to the scene and separated the reportedly mentally unstable woman from Benedict XVI.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 03:24 AM PST

Palestinians have held a mass demonstration against Egypt's construction of an underground wall along the border with the Gaza Strip which claimed its first victim on Friday.

According to Palestinian security sources, a Palestinian man was killed after a tunnel collapsed over him due to the Egyptian excavation.

During the demonstration, Hamas spokesperson Hammad Ar-Ruqab urged Cairo to open the Rafah border crossing and facilitate the entry of food and construction materials needed to rebuild Gaza which is in ruins due to Israel's war which left thousands of homes destroyed last year.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 03:24 AM PST

The Russian gas giant Gazprom has said that Ukraine has cut back on purchases of Russian gas since mid-December in what is said is a sign of cash problems.

"Ukraine is experiencing serious problems with payment," Alexei Miller said on Russia's Vesti channel in comments carried by the Ria-Novosti news agency.

"We are hearing and seeing that Ukraine is experiencing very, very serious problems in paying for supplies of Russian gas for December," he said.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 03:24 AM PST

Deposed king Gyanendra and his son Paras were involved in a 2001 palace massacre of ex-monarch Birendra along with most of his family, a Nepalese prisoner says.

The prisoner, Lal Bahadur Magar, who is serving a jail term in Birgunj jail on charge of killing a couple, claimed that he was an eye-witness to the royal massacre.

Gyanendra and Paras were center of all conspiracies, including the palace massacre, that killed his popular elder brother Birendra along with most of the royal family with the help of the then crown prince Dipendra, who was allegedly fuelled by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol, he said.

Pakistan releases 100 Indian fishermen

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 02:24 AM PST

A Pakistani official announces the release of 100 Indian fishermen, who had been jailed for three years, as a "goodwill gesture" to India.

Ashraf Nizamani, superintendent of the Malir District Jail in Karachi, said on Friday that 91 men and nine boys under the age of 18 have been released on the orders of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Nizamani said that Gilani ordered the release of the fishermen on Christmas Eve as a "goodwill gesture" to its neighbor, after more than a year of deteriorating ties following the Mumbai attacks in which around 176 people were killed.

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 02:24 AM PST

A Pakistani court extends the custody of five American suspects of terrorism for another 10 days after police sought more time to complete their investigations about them.

Winning more time from a court, Pakistani police say they will have time to complete their investigations, as the five, all under 20 years of age, are suspected of using the Internet to contact militants, on whether they had offered to carry out terror attacks, a police statement said on Friday.

Sargodha police chief Usman Anwar said Judge Mohammad Aslam agreed to the extension on Friday as per his request, but ordered the police to produce the suspects on January 4.

Posted: 24 Dec 2009 11:44 PM PST

Yemeni lawmaker Yahya al-Houthi says Saudi Arabian warplanes are engaged in the relentless bombardment of civilian positions in Yemen's war-torn north.

In an interview with Press TV on Friday, the Yemeni lawmaker accused the Saudi army of using internationally banned weapons in its attacks on villages in the northern province of Sa'ada, regretting the high civilian toll from the raids.

If Riyadh had nuclear weapons, it would have used them against the Houthi fighters, the lawmaker charged.

Posted: 24 Dec 2009 10:44 PM PST

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Patriarch Fouad Twal, has voiced concerns over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"How can one celebrate while Palestinians are still struggling with a devastating blockade one year after Israel's onslaught on Gaza?" Twal said while addressing the Midnight Mass at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity on Thursday.

Twal went on to complain that people have no freedom to move around freely and travel or to reunite with their families, alluding to the Israeli policy of restricting Palestinian residents by building separation walls and erecting a large number of checkpoints throughout the West Bank.

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