Israeli rights group urges government to probe Gaza War

Wed, 19 Jan 2011

Tel Aviv - An Israeli human rights group Wednesday urged the government to launch an independent probe into a three-week Israeli offensive in Gaza which killed some 1,400 Palestinians, more than half of them non-combatants.

"Better late than never: even two years since Operation Cast Lead, an independent Israeli investigation is crucial to achieve accountability and prevent future violations," B'Tselem said in a statement, issued on the anniversary of the end of the Gaza War, which took place in the winter of 2008-09.

B'Tselem provided its own casualty count of the war, saying that 1,390 Palestinians had been killed, of whom it said at least 759 were non-combatants.

The dead included 318 minors.

More than 5,300 Palestinians were also injured in the deadliest fighting by far since Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt and the West Bank from Jordan in 1967.

Internal investigations by the Israeli military police launched to probe individual allegations against soldiers were insufficient and did not meet the demands for an independent probe, while they also did not question policy, the rights group said.

As far as B'Tselem knows, four soldiers have been prosecuted on criminal charges, involving three incidents. Disciplinary proceedings were taken against six officers, it said.

"In light of the severe harm inflicted on human rights during the operation, Israel has the moral and practical obligation to open an investigation, external to the military, to examine the complaints of breaches of law," said B'Tselem.

"Israel can still investigate effectively, and has the duty to do so. First, those responsible for the harsh violations of human rights must be held accountable. Second, the investigation's conclusions can guide policy in future military operations."

B'Tselem also condemned Palestinian armed groups for their indiscriminate rocket and mortar fire from Gaza at southern Israel.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363182,government-probe-gaza-war.html.

New Israeli ministers sworn in

Wed, 19 Jan 2011

Jerusalem - Two new ministers were sworn in late Wednesday, including one to a new and specially created post of Homeland Security, in a stormy parliamentary session held two days after Israel's Labor Party suffered a major schism.

The vote was 53-40 for the nomination by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Matan Vilna'i as homeland security minister and of Orit Noked as agriculture minister.

Shalom Simhon, who until Wednesday had the agriculture portfolio, was also sworn in as trade and industry minister, while Moshe Kahlon, who had also already held a ministerial portfolio and is from Netanyahu's ruling Likud party, was sworn in as minister of welfare and social services.

Vilna'i, Noked and Simhon were members of the Labor Party - the third largest coalition partner of Netanyau's Likud - who broke away with Defense Minister Ehud Barak to form a new faction, Atzma'ut (Independence).

Barak said he formed the new faction because he found the situation within the quarreling Labor Party intolerable.

Netanyahu, in turn, was quick to sign a coalition deal with the new Atzma'ut.

On Wednesday, he created the new post of Homeland Security to be able to give Vilnai a place in his cabinet, which already counted 30 ministers.

Members of Israel's largest opposition party, the centrist Kadima, sprayed air freshener into the plenum hall in protest against what they called the "political stench" created by Barak's splitting the Labor Party.

But Netanyahu said the addition of Atzma'ut had made his coalition stronger.

"The government is being strengthened today," he told a special session of his cabinet held earlier Wednesday to approve the nominations.

"It is becoming more stable. I think that this is apparent to the Israeli people, to the entire world and to our Palestinian neighbors. And this is important, to advance the peace process and to advance our worthy goals in all areas," he said.

Three Labor Party cabinet members - trade and industry minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, welfare and social services minister Isaac Herzog and minority affairs minister Avishai Braverman - who did not join Barak, resigned from the government and the cabinet on Monday.

A fifth member of Barak's Atzma'ut faction, first-term legislator Einat Wilf, is tipped to become chairwoman of a parliamentary committee.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363178,israeli-ministers-sworn-in.html.

EXTRA: Tunisian interim president wants 'break with past'

Wed, 19 Jan 2011

Tunis/Paris - The interim president of Tunisia Foued Mebazaa promised a new start late Wednesday, in his first televised address to the nation.

"I personally guarantee that the interim government will make a clean break with the past," he said.

He promised to do everything in his power to lead the country through the difficult transitional phase.

"So that all the legitimate hopes of the uprising and this revolution of freedom and of dignity are realized," he continued.

Mebazaa has been tasked with organizing elections after long-time authoritarian president Zine el-Abidine ben Ali fled the country last week.

But the inclusion of members of ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally party in the interim government sparked fresh protests this week.

One of ben Ali's confidantes, former interior minister Abdallah Kallel, was detained by police late Wednesday as he was attempting to leave the country. He stands accused of having tortured prisoners.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363190,president-wants-break-past.html.

Nintendo launches 3DS game console

Wed, 19 Jan 2011

New York - Nintendo launched its new 3DS portable game console on Wednesday, with the unique ability to portray 3-D images without the need for glasses.

The Japanese game giant hopes the device can fight off competition from the iPhone and other smartphones to repeat the success of the Nintendo DS which has sold 130 million units worldwide since 2004.

In launch events in New York and Amsterdam, the company said the 3DS will hit the market in Japan on February 26 at a price of 25,000 yen (305 dollars). The 3DS will be available in Europe on March 25 for between 250 to 300 euros (336 to 403 dollars), and will hit US shelves on March 27 at a cost of 250 dollars.

Like its predecessor, the 3DS will have two screens with the bottom one used by players to control the game action. A slider will will allow users to control the depth of the 3-D rendering.

The device features a front-facing camera and two rear-facing cameras to snap 3-D snapshots. The console will also be compatible with older games made for the DS and DSi. More than 30 games will be available by early June, many of them in 3-D, Nintendo said.

"This is the next big step in the modern era of video games," said Nintendo's US boss Reggie Fils-Aime. "The Nintendo 3DS is 3-D games, plus 3-D video, plus 3-D photography. There are no special glasses or skills required to enjoy it. And above all, the Nintendo 3DS is distinct. It's a breakthrough. There's nothing else like it. It is truly a category of one."

He predicted that the device would mirror the success of the Nintendo Wii in crossing over to appeal to people who do not classify themselves as gamers.

"The system offers more than enough for people who have never played a video game before," said Fils-Aime. "Right off the bat, it's mass market ready."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363194,launches-3ds-game-console.html.

Spacecraft has Valentine's date with comet

Wed, 19 Jan 2011

Washington - An unmanned spacecraft has a Valentine's Day date with a comet, in the second such close encounter by a NASA craft in recent months.

The Stardust-NEXT spacecraft will pass within 200 kilometers of the comet Tempel 1 to give scientists their first look at the changes on a comet's surface after it has made an orbit around the sun.

They will compare photos taken during the fly-by to images captured in 2005 by the Deep Impact spacecraft. That mission involved crashing a part of a spacecraft into the comet to look at its internal composition.

"We want to see more about the area Deep Impact already discovered in 2005," principal investigator Joe Veverka told reporters. "The most important reason is: How much a comet changes. We will be looking for changes and new territories."

Scientists hope to use data to measure the composition and amount of dust being sent off by the comet's nucleus because such information will provide information about how comets evolve and were formed millions of years ago.

In November, NASA conducted another close fly-by of a comet, known as Hartley 2, snapping high-resolution images of the comet's nucleus.

Composed of ice, dust and gases, comets offer windows on the formation of the solar system, because they are believed to be leftover building blocks of the early solar system that may have brought water and other organic compounds to Earth.

The Stardust mission has been underway since 1999 and has already visited comet Wild 2. This is to be its final task.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363204,spacecraft-valentines-date-comet.html.

Ben Ali's riches under scrutiny; fresh start promised

Wed, 19 Jan 2011

Tunis/Geneva/Paris- Ousted Tunisian president Zine el- Abidine ben Ali found himself further marginalized Wednesday as the country's new unity government began investigating his family's riches and the Swiss government announced it was blocking his assets.

A day after being sworn in, Tunisia's transitional government began probing Ben Ali's assets, as well as those of his family and his wife Leila's powerful Trabelsi clan, Tunisia's official TAP agency reported.

Interim president Foued Mebazaa meanwhile promised a new start in his first televised address to the nation late Wednesday.

"I personally guarantee that the interim government will make a clean break with the past," he said.

He promised to do everything in his power to lead the country through the difficult transitional phase.

"So that all the legitimate hopes of the uprising and this revolution of freedom and of dignity are realized," he continued.

Mebazaa has been tasked with organizing elections after long-time authoritarian president Zine el-Abidine ben Ali fled the country last week. But the inclusion of members of ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally party in the interim government sparked fresh protests this week.

One of ben Ali's confidantes, former interior minister Abdallah Kallel, was detained by police late Wednesday as he was attempting to leave the country. He stands accused of having tortured prisoners.

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said her government was blocking the assets of Ben Ali and incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, as well as those of their inner circle.

One Swiss radio report said Ben Ali's Swiss assets include a jet plane and a building in the most expensive part of Geneva.

The autocratic Ben Ali, whose extended family is accused of creaming off much of Tunisia's wealth, last week fled to Saudi Arabia.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the EU was also considering a freeze on Ben Ali's assets, part of a comprehensive package of measures to support the transition to democracy in Tunisia.

France, the former colonial power in Tunisia, has already ordered its banks to freeze any accounts belonging to Ben Ali and his family.

Meanwhile, capital Tunis was returning to normal, with cafes reopening and most people returning to work after days of demonstrations and looting.

As one of its first actions, Tunisia's transitional government on Wednesday released 1,800 prisoners across the country, the Justice Department said.

On Monday, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said the government was committed to freeing all political prisoners.

However, those freed Wednesday were prisoners who only had sentences that did not exceed six months. The government plans to issue new legislation soon to free all political prisoners.

While about 2,000 people continued to protest the inclusion in the new government of several ministers who served under Ben Ali, the demonstration in central Tunis was peaceful.

Several towns in the center of the country, where the unrest began in December, also saw renewed protests Wednesday.

Ben Ali's foreign, interior and defense ministers were among those reappointed to their posts Monday, in a move that drew fierce criticism from the opposition and civil society.

Since Ben Ali fled, the target of popular discontent in Tunisia has shifted to the RCD - the party that has ruled the country since independence from France in 1956.

On Tuesday, three ministers from the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) quit the government in protest at RCD members being given the top jobs.

Health minister-designate Mustapha Ben Jaafar of the opposition FDLT party is also boycotting the new government.

Ben Ali, leader of 23 years, left after a month of protests that began over unemployment and gradually swelled into a national uprising.

The uprising cost the lives of 78 people, mostly unarmed demonstrators.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363208,scrutiny-fresh-start-promised.html.