2 STATES NO SOLUTION FOR PALESTINE
Hamas rejects the two state solution but says it could still be a part of a national unity government should a Palestinian state be established based on 1967 borders.Speaking in Damascus on Saturday, the movement's political leader, Khalid Mashaal (photo), said that Hamas does not view the two-state solution as a viable means to end the conflict with Israel.
Mashaal also warned acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas (photo) against forming a new government without Hamas. He made the comments after an aide to Abbas said the Fatah leader might soon task his prime minister Salaam Fayyad to form a new cabinet.Fayyad had stepped down in March to clear the way for the Egyptian-mediated reconciliation process with Hamas, which will continue on May 16.
The 53-year-old Hamas-leader described such a 'unilateral' decision by Abbas as a move that would 'undermine' the reconciliation talks.
Mashaal, who has been the chairman of Hamas' Political Bureau for over a decade, was reinstated following internal leadership elections late last month.
Courtesy: Press TV
POPE CALLS FOR CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM HARMONY
AMMAN, Jordan: Pope Benedict visited a mosque on Saturday in another attempt to mend fences with Islam after a 2006 speech caused offence, and urged Christians and Muslims to jointly defend religion from political manipulation.Speaking at the modern King Hussein bin Talal Mosque in Amman, he struck a note of harmony and shared purpose between the world's two largest religions, continuing a main theme of his trip to the Middle East.
"I firmly believe Christians and Muslims can embrace (the task of cooperation) particularly through our respective contributions to learning and scholarship, and public service," he told Islamic leaders and diplomats at the mosque.
Addressing the pope, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, reminded the pope of the "hurt" Muslims around the world felt in 2006 after Benedict quoted a Byzantine emperor who said Islam was irrational and violent.
Ghazi, a cousin of Jordanian King Abdullah, told the gathering the Muslim world "appreciated" the Vatican's clarification and accepted that the pope was not expressing his own opinion at the time but making an historical citation.
Courtesy: The Star Omline
HINDRAF TRIO AMONG 13 ISA DETAINEES FREED
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: Thirteen Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees, including three Hindraf leaders P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan and K. Vasantha will be released within the next few days, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said.The others are Zulkepli Marzuki, Jeknal Adil and Admi Pindatun; two Indonesian nationals Zainun Rasyid and Aboud Ghafar Shahril, and five Filipinos Sufian Salih, Hasim Talib, Abdul Jamal Azahari, Yusof Mohd Salam and Husin Alih.
"They will be released within the next two or three days as soon as the documentation process is completed.
"For the foreign nationals, they will be freed after we have sorted out the repatriation process with Manila and Jakarta," he said.
Manoharan last week threatened to quit his seat which he won in the last election despite being held in the Kamunting Detention Centre.The five Hindraf leaders were detained in December 2007 after mounting a massive street protest on Nov 25 which saw tens of thousands of Indians taking to the streets in Kuala Lumpur.
In an immediate reaction to the announcement, PKR’s Kapar MP S. Manickavasagam said he is happy with the decision.“I feel that what had happened in Perak has placed the BN government in bad light so this is the right time for them to make the announcement. However I hope that the release of the Hindraf leaders would be an unconditional one,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Courtesy: Malaysian Insider
SINGAPORE'S J.I. LEADER ARRESTED IN MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE: Mas Selamat Kastari, Singapore's Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader who escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre on February 27 last year, has been arrested.The terrorist, who once plotted to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport, was arrested in Malaysia in a joint intelligence operation involving the internal security agencies of the two countries.
It is understood that Mas Selamat was actually arrested over a month ago but had been under interrogation in Malaysia.
It is believed that the fugitive will soon be brought back to Singapore.
Last December, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said: "He is one up on us, but the game is not over. One day we will catch him."Most security experts had expected the fugitive to head for Indonesia, where other JI members are believed to be based. So, it came as a surprise to some that he was arrested in Malaysia.
Mas Selamat gave his guards the slip while he was being taken to the toilet at the detention centre.
The escape sparked the largest manhunt in Singapore's history. Thousands of police and military personnel were roped in to comb the island for the fugitive. Checks at the borders were stepped up, road blocks were set up, officers went house to house, and forested areas were swept.
There were also offers of a million dollar reward by two businessmen for his capture.
Courtesy: Channel Asia
FIRE RIPS THROUGH SANTA BARBARA NEIGHBORHOODS
SANTA BARBARA, Californea: Winds swirled and homes of all
sizes burned as a wildfire descended on this scenic coastal city amid hot, dry conditions that resembled late summer more than the middle of spring.Firefighters had a brief respite of moderate breezes early Thursday, but expected another day of heat, gusts and potential destruction as they took on a blaze that had swelled to 500 acres and forced the evacuation of more than 5,000 homes.
TV news helicopters showed at least a dozen homes ablaze as night fell, but authorities had no immediate estimate of how many had been destroyed.Huge mansions and humble homes alike were reduced to rubble, leaving palm trees swaying over gutted ruins. Aerial footage showed five or more luxury homes burning along one crest-top road, and many flare-ups dotting the residential hills were apparently burning homes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, and the National Weather Service issued a "Red Flag" warning for fire danger, predicting strong wind danger through Friday morning.Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department spokesman Drew Sugars said 5,430 homes were under mandatory evacuation. The estimated population of those homes was 13,575 people, he said.
Courty: Fox News
BRAZIL'S FLOOD COVERED VAST AREA
SAO PAULO : Brazilians huddled with livestock in shelters, paddled swollen rivers in search of food and complained that government aid was slow to arrive in a vast region stricken by some of the worst rainfall and flooding in two decades.Authorities reported at least 32 deaths from drowning and mudslides and said more than 200,000 people have fled swamped, ramshackle homes.
Rain continued to fall across a huge swath stretching from the Amazon jungle to the northeastern Atlantic coast, and meteorologists predicted the bad weather could last for weeks.Rivers were rising as much as a foot (30 centimeters) a day in the hardest hit state of Maranhao. The surging torrents wrecked bridges and made it too dangerous for relief workers to take boats onto some waterways.
"There are some places where the water is so high that not even a boat can get to people," said army Lt. Ivar Araujo, the commander of 200 soldiers trying to help two towns where tiled roofs barely poked above swirling waters and hundreds of people packed into gyms and schools on higher ground.Television images showed hundreds of
people with pets and chickens crowded inside an abandoned hospital turned into a shelter with only one working bathroom. Some victims paddled canoes to retrieve belongings from inundated homes, and children said they had no food. Isolated cases of looting were reported in communities cut off by high water.In three Amazon states, at least 3,000 Indians living near rivers were chased to higher ground or into the jungle when flood waters gushed in and destroyed their crops of manioc, bananas and potatoes, said Sebastiao Haji Manchiner, executive secretary of the Brazilian Amazon Indigenous Organization.
Courtesy: AP
ARRESTS AT MALAYSIAN OPPOSITION DEMO
Malaysian police wearing riot gear have set up blockades around the Perak assembly
At least 12 people have been arrested in the northern Malaysian city of Ipoh during opposition-led protests over the government's takeover of a state assembly.The arrests on Thursday come amid an increasingly tense showdown between the ruling National Front coalition and the opposition alliance over who rules the state of Perak.
Opposition leaders had called for protests outside the assembly which was due to meet on Thursday for the first time since the previous state government was ousted.
In response police, some wearing riot gear and backed by water cannon, surrounded the assembly building and set up a 500 metre exclusion zone.
Several people wearing black, the colour chosen by the opposition to protest against the takeover, were arrested.
Jenice Lee, an opposition state assemblywoman from the state of Selangor near the capital Kuala Lumpur was among those detained."I am an elected representative, I am not fighting you," she said as she was dragged away.
Lim Kit Siang, a senior member of the national parliament with the opposition Democratic Action Party, was also barred from entering the assembly building.
He said the government's move had turned the area around the assembly into a "war zone" and said the refusal to allow protests was "a national and international disgrace".
Courtesy: Al jazeera
FORMER PRIME MINISTER IS CORRIDOR ADVISER
Tuanku Mizan shaking hands with Abdullah as Tuanku Nur Zahirah, Najib and Muhyiddin look on during the farewell dinner for the former Prime Minister at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre last night.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has appointed former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi(photo) as the National Corridor Development adviser.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who announced the appointment, said Abdullah’s initiative on the regional corridor development projects would bridge the gap between the urban and rural communities in the country.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has appointed former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi(photo) as the National Corridor Development adviser.Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who announced the appointment, said Abdullah’s initiative on the regional corridor development projects would bridge the gap between the urban and rural communities in the country.
“The corridor concept is based on the 
realisation that development can be carried out in a well-planned manner if all the potential of the different states is combined,” Najib said at a farewell dinner for Abdullah at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here last night.
Najib said the initiatives by Abdullah would revive the socio-economic development of the country and strengthen racial harmony among the rakyat.
“Abdullah has injected the spirit of self-confidence into Malaysians to bring the country to greater heights and to ensure that the spirit lives on; he has emphasised on the development of human capital,” he said.
Abdullah had also put in motion the National Integrity Plan to produce a first-class mentality among the people.
Meanwhile, Abdullah expressed confidence in Najib’s capability, vitality and dynamism in leading the country. “I will support Datuk Seri Najib in whatever way,” he said.
Courtesy: The Star Online
realisation that development can be carried out in a well-planned manner if all the potential of the different states is combined,” Najib said at a farewell dinner for Abdullah at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here last night.Najib said the initiatives by Abdullah would revive the socio-economic development of the country and strengthen racial harmony among the rakyat.
“Abdullah has injected the spirit of self-confidence into Malaysians to bring the country to greater heights and to ensure that the spirit lives on; he has emphasised on the development of human capital,” he said.
Abdullah had also put in motion the National Integrity Plan to produce a first-class mentality among the people.
Meanwhile, Abdullah expressed confidence in Najib’s capability, vitality and dynamism in leading the country. “I will support Datuk Seri Najib in whatever way,” he said.
Courtesy: The Star Online
UP TO 100 DEAD IN US RAID IN AFGHAN
Governor fears death toll, including a Red Cross worker, could soar after US bombing.
Up to 100 Afghan civilians may have been killed during an air raid by US forces during a joint operation targeting suspected fighters, a regional administrator says.
Rohul Amin, the governor of Farah province, said on Wednesday that he feared that 100civilians had been killed in the Bala Baluk district, about 600km west of Kabul, the capital.
Amin said that Taliban fighters were reportedly using civilian homes to take shelter during the fighting.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, US secretary of state, said that the Obama administration "deeply, deeply" regrets the loss of innocent life apparently caused by the US bombing in Afghanistan. Clinton also said that any loss of innocent life is "particularly painful."
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, thanked Clinton for "showing concern and regret'' and said he hoped they would work together completely to reduce civilian casualties in the struggle against terrorism.'
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
Up to 100 Afghan civilians may have been killed during an air raid by US forces during a joint operation targeting suspected fighters, a regional administrator says.Rohul Amin, the governor of Farah province, said on Wednesday that he feared that 100civilians had been killed in the Bala Baluk district, about 600km west of Kabul, the capital.
Amin said that Taliban fighters were reportedly using civilian homes to take shelter during the fighting.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, US secretary of state, said that the Obama administration "deeply, deeply" regrets the loss of innocent life apparently caused by the US bombing in Afghanistan. Clinton also said that any loss of innocent life is "particularly painful."Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, thanked Clinton for "showing concern and regret'' and said he hoped they would work together completely to reduce civilian casualties in the struggle against terrorism.'
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
