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Press TV
Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:52 UTC

The 'Coalition of the willing' leaves Iraq

Thirteen countries with troops currently stationed in Iraq will remove their soldiers by the end of the year from the war-torn country.

President Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair had scrambled the 'coalition of the willing' together in the build-up of the 2003 Iraqi invasion, in a bid to legitimize what was always an unpopular war in world public opinion.

Ma'an News Agency
Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:33 UTC

Piles of sand and mud began popping up in front of houses in Rafah last week. The traditional signs of home renovations or construction, the neighborhood wondered about the reasons behind these piles, since no construction materials have come into Gaza for months.

On closer inspection it becomes obvious that the piles cannot be construction materials, since the sand is not the same color of the sand from Gaza's abandoned settlements, from where most material has been salvaged.

The sand, in fact, is the same color as the sand beneath the homes of the southern area of the Gaza Strip.

The sand excavated from the hundreds of tunnels snaking beneath the Gaza-Egypt border is being given a second life. The latest construction projects in Gaza are mud and sand stoves powered by firewood.

Abdurahman Jafar
The Guardian
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:23 UTC

With an injection of up to £5.5bn of taxpayer funds you'd think Lloyds TSB would be far more transparent and accountable, but that's not the case.

The bank's increasingly anti-democratic activities took an alarming turn last week when, without warning or prior consultation, it delivered an abrupt notification to the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) to cease all dealings with British charity Interpal by December 8 2008 (the date was subsequently revised to 30 January 2009) or "all transactions into or out of Interpal accounts will be blocked and IBB will be at further risk of all its customer payments being suspended". Interpal is one of the few remaining sources of humanitarian assistance in an increasingly beleaguered occupied Gaza.

Palestine News Network
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:16 UTC

The use of torture and ill-treatment by the Israeli authorities against Palestinians is nothing but a systematic and comprehensive process, states a human rights report issued today.

The Coalition against Torture says that Israel is either unwilling or unable to fulfill its obligations under the Convention against Torture.

The group of 14 Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations writes in its annual report for 2008 that it has recorded evidence of an act, complicity or omission of fact or duty on the part of state officials at all levels. The guilty parties include members of the army, intelligence, police, judiciary and other government branches. The coalition said that the situation is unlikely to improve in the cultural of impunity and immunity that prevails in Israel.

Two Bombings Kill at Least 30 Iraqis

Katherine Zoepf
The New York Times
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:09 UTC

Suicide bombings in Baghdad and Mosul took the lives of at least 32 Iraqis on Monday in carnage that recalled the levels of violence before the American troop buildup last year.

The Baghdad bombing occurred at a police training academy on the eastern side of the Tigris just as students were leaving their lectures for lunch. As they streamed out the gate, a car dropped off a young man - most witnesses say he looked to be 16 or 17 - who walked into the crowd and detonated his suicide vest, according to witnesses.

Moments later the car he had arrived in, which had been parked down the road, exploded. At least 15 people were killed in the explosions, the Iraqi Interior Ministry reported.

RIA Novosti
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:02 UTC

Iran is to hold on December 2-7 a large-scale naval exercise involving over 60 warships in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian television reported on Monday, citing the navy commander.

"Over 60 combat vessels will take part in the exercise, codenamed Ettehad-87, in the Gulf of Oman," Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said.

The four-stage exercise will involve destroyers, missile boats, submarines, helicopters, fighters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"The goal of the exercise is to improve the combat readiness of the Iranian navy to counter potential external threats and to test modern weaponry developed by the Iranian defense industry," the admiral said.

Sayyari confirmed last week the delivery of two new domestically-built missile boats, Kalat (Fortress) and Derafsh (Flag), as well as a Ghadir-class light submarine to the Iranian navy.

Iran has launched a domestic weapons procurement campaign aimed at improving its defense capabilities and has announced the development of 109 types of advanced military equipment over the past two years.

Associated Press
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:39 UTC

Gaza City, Gaza Strip - Israeli and Palestinian officials say a Libyan ship carrying 3,000 tons of supplies for the Gaza Strip has turned back before reaching the coast.

The change of course ended the highest-profile attempt yet to break the blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza by Israel and Egypt. A smaller vessel carrying activists has made three successful runs from Cyprus to Gaza this year.

Afif Sarhan
The Observer
Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:22 UTC

Authorities in the southern Iraqi city of Basra have admitted they are powerless to prevent 'honour killings' in the city following a 70 per cent increase in religious murders during the past year.

There has been no improvement in conviction rates for these killings. So far this year, 81 women in the city have been murdered for allegedly bringing shame on their families. Only five people have been convicted.

During 2007 the Basra security committee recorded 47 'honour killings' and three convictions. One lawyer in the city described how police were actively protecting perpetrators and said that a woman in Basra could now be murdered by hired hitmen for as little as $100 (£65).

BBC News
Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:29 UTC

The Israeli cabinet has approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners after an earlier promise from outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The prisoners, some of 11,000 held by Israel, will be freed in the West Bank.

An Israeli official said the move aimed to help bolster Palestinian PM Mahmoud Abbas's West Bank administration against Hamas, which rules in Gaza.

Comment: 'Shaky'? Perhaps Palestinian citizens are desperately tired of being slowly murdered by Zionist psychopaths?

Palestinian Information Center
Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:27 UTC

Al-Khalil - Tens of Zionist settlers from Kiryat Arba settlement and Al-Rajabi building, which has been occupied by settlers for 20 months now, wreaked havoc in Palestinian citizens' homes and property in Al-Khalil on Saturday.

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