Netanyahu testifies on Israel’s flotilla raid

Netanyahu testifies on Israel’s flotilla raid

Netanyahu testifies on Israel’s flotilla raid

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:52 AM PDT

JERUSALEM, Aug 9 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today told an inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla that he could not "afford to ignore a threat to Israel's existence". Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal clash at sea on May 31 in which Israeli commandos killed ...


China rescuers comb sludge for mudslide survivors

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:09 AM PDT

BEIJING, Aug 9 — Rescuers armed with little more than shovels searched today for hundreds of people after a torrent of mud engulfed a northwestern Chinese town, tearing down homes, filling the streets with sludge and killing at least 127. Nearly 1,300 people were missing after heavy rains and landslides created a torrent of mud and floodwaters ...


Netanyahu testifies on Israel's flotilla raid

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:51 AM PDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told an inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla that he could not "afford to ignore a threat to Israel's existence".


Netanyahu testifies on Israel's flotilla raid

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 04:24 PM PDT

By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today told an inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla that he could not "afford to ignore a threat to Israel's existence".

Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal clash at sea on May 31 in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists, after boarding their vessel from a helicopter at night.

The May 31 raid took place in international waters off the coast of Israel after the aid flotilla ignored several Israeli warnings not to continue its course to Gaza, which is ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement and sealed off by an Israeli naval blockade.

Netanyahu, looking relaxed, took his seat before the seven-man panel and listened to a brief introductory address by its chairman before cameras were switched off.

"The state of Israel and the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) operated according to international law," he said. "As prime minister I can't ignore Hamas as a threat to Israel's existence."

Netanyahu's spokesman Nir Hefetz told reporters the inquiry was not an "anti-Israel body", unlike the UN Human Rights Commission under judge Richard Goldstone into Israel's devastating Gaza Strip offensive in January 2009. Israel has refused to cooperate with that probe.

The panel is led by retired Supreme Court judge Jacob Turkel and includes two foreign observers.

It is investigating the circumstances surrounding Israel's encounter with the six-vessel Turkish-owned aid flotilla trying to bring aid to Gaza, in a direct challenge to Israel's naval blockade of the enclave.

Hefetz said the Turkel commission "attests to the way in which the state of Israel, at the highest of international standards, is prepared to show its cards and say 'We have nothing to hide'".

Change of policy

Nine Turks were killed when Israeli commandos stormed the ship Mavi Marmara, which was released from the Israeli port of Ashdod last week and towed back to Turkey.

Israel says its commandos used live fire during the raid only after being attacked with clubs, knives and guns by some activists on board who it says were clearly prepared for violence.

Video recordings of the clash are expected to be used as evidence in the investigation.

The raid sparked a world outcry and almost ruptured Israel's relations with once-close Muslim ally Turkey. It also pushed Israel to ease restrictions of its Gaza blockade, which is aimed at preventing the territory's rulers Hamas from increasing their arsenal but also aggravates the privations of 1.5 million mostly aid-dependant Palestinians.

The United Nations is conducting two inquiries of its own into Israel's high-seas interception.

A panel formed by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer is due to meet for the first time on Aug 10. It will include one Israeli and one Turkish member.

A second probe, by the UN Human Rights Council, will be run independently and without Israeli cooperation.

A separate Israeli military inquiry said last month that it found planning errors with the flotilla raid but defended the commandos' use of force. Israel's state auditor separately is looking into the Netanyahu government's decision-making process.

Also expected to testify before the Turkel commission this week are Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak and its military chief, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi.

-Reuters

 

China milk powder blamed after babies develop breasts

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 04:10 PM PDT

BEIJING: Parents and doctors in central China fear that hormones in milk powder they fed their infant daughters have led the babies to prematurely develop breasts, state media reported today.

Medical tests indicated the levels of hormones in three girls, ranging in age from four to 15 months and who were fed the same baby formula, exceeded those of the average adult woman, the China Daily reported.

"The amount of hormones in the babies definitely means there's a problem," Yang Qin, the chief physician in the child care department at the Hubei Maternity and Children's Hospital, was quoted as saying.

"The parents should stop using the formula to feed their children and the powder should be analysed."

Local food safety authorities however refused a parent's request to investigate the formula made by Synutra, based in the eastern city of Qingdao, saying they do not conduct tests at consumers' behest, the report said.

The suspected baby formula was still being sold in the Hubei provincial capital Wuhan -- at discounted prices -- and was still on store shelves in Beijing despite the concerns which surfaced last month, the Global Times said.

Synutra insisted that its products were safe.

"No man-made 'hormones' or any illegal substances were added during production," it said in a statement.

The infants showed unusually high levels of the hormones estradiol and prolactin, the China Daily said.

Wang Dingmian, the former chairman of the dairy association in the southern province of Guangdong, told the China Daily that the hormones could have entered the food chain when farmers reared the cattle.

"Since a regulation forbidding the use of hormones to cultivate livestock has yet to be drawn up in China, it would be lying to say nobody uses it," Wang was quoted as saying.

Chinese dairy products were recalled worldwide in 2008 after it was revealed that melamine, which is used to make plastics, was widely and illegally added to the products to give the appearance of higher protein.

Melamine was found in the products of 22 Chinese dairy companies in a massive scandal blamed for the deaths of at least six infants and for sickening 300,000 others in China.

- AFP

 

Squeezed from both sides

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:24 AM PDT

While Indonesia last year became the world's largest producer of palm oil with an annual output of almost 20 million metric tons, its palm oil-based companies have come under escalated attacks from industrial buyers in Europe.

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Thai court opens trial against ruling party

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:11 AM PDT

BANGKOK, Monday 9 August 2010 (AFP) - Thailand's Constitutional Court held its first hearing Monday in a case of alleged misuse of a state grant by the ruling Democrat Party, which faces possible dissolution.

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Sabah to host Malaysia Day celebration on 16 September

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:10 AM PDT

Sabah has been chosen as the host of this year's Malaysia Day celebration, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said.

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Singaporean PM: All to enjoy fruits of growth

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:09 AM PDT

NATIONAL DAY MESSAGE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivering his National Day Message on Sunday 8 August 2010 from the 51st floor -- 152m up in the air -- of The Pinnacle@Duxton, a Housing Board residential project in Tanjong Pagar. -- Photo courtesy of the Singapore Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts

By LI XUEYING
The Straits Times
Singapore, Monday 9 August 2010

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Aquino studying 10-billion-dollar offer for Philippine casinos

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:02 AM PDT

MANILA, Monday 9 August 2010 (AFP) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino said on Monday his government would study a 10-billion-dollar offer from a local tycoon to take over the government's monopoly casino franchise with Malaysian help.

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Reduce recruiting cost for maids, MTUC tells government

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:01 AM PDT

PETALING JAYA, Monday 9 August 2010 (Bernama) -- Instead of the salary of Indonesian maids, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) wants the government to negotiate and reduce the cost of their recruitment.

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14,179 Foreigners given Malaysian citizenship

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 11:58 PM PDT

Out of 29,677 applications for Malaysian citizenship received between 2007 and 2009, 14,179 of them had been approved, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong said.

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Court to rule whether to call DPP and Mohd Saiful as witnesses

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 11:56 PM PDT

The High Court will decide this afternoon whether to call star witness Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan and deputy public prosecutor Farah Azlina Latif, who are involved in the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial, to give evidence on their alleged affair.

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Roadshow proves Selangor Umno is united

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 11:53 PM PDT

The Umno roadshow which ended last night proves that ties between Datuk Seri Noh Omar, Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo and Senator Ezam Mohamad Nor remain strong.

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127 dead in rain-triggered landslides in northwestern China

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 11:52 PM PDT

Chinese authorities have confirmedthat 127 died in rain-triggered landslides in northwestern China, while 76 others were injured and 2,000 missing as of 4pm on Sunday 8 Augusta 2010 in landslides triggered by torrential rains

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Venezuela-Colombia talks agreed

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:15 AM PDT

Colombia's new President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez meet in Colombia for talks.


Landslides complicate Pakistan flood relief efforts

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:01 AM PDT

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Landslides triggered by the worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years are hampering already troubled relief efforts, with aid workers using donkeys or travelling on foot to reach millions in desperate need of help.


China rescuers comb sludge for mudslide survivors

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:01 AM PDT

ZHOUQU, China (Reuters) - Chinese rescuers armed with little more than shovels and hoes on Monday hunted for survivors of a huge mudslide, as relatives of the near 1,300 still missing trekked into the disaster zone to look for their loved ones.


INTERVIEW - Iraq's Maliki still wants PM job despite govt impasse

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:01 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki acknowledged he was "part of the problem" holding up the formation of a new Iraq government but challenged allies and opponents to find a better candidate for the top job.


Woman hacks off mother's head before death plunge

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 03:31 PM PDT

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong woman with a history of mental illness decapitated her elderly mother before leaping to her own death from the family's 11th floor flat, local media reported today.

The woman stabbed her septuagenarian mother repeatedly last evening and then hacked off her head with a kitchen chopper, before police arrived to find their apartment engulfed in flames, The Standard reported.

The unidentified killer, believed to have been in her 40s, was declared dead at the scene after leaping out of the flat naked, the paper said.

Neighbours at the building in Hong Kong's Kowloon district reported hearing a heated argument before the apparent murder-suicide, local media said.

Last month, police arrested a 15-year-old boy in the city's New Territories after he allegedly killed his mother and sister with a kitchen chopper -- a common weapon in domestic violence cases.

In May, a 42-year-old man with a history of mental illness attacked his neighbours at a public housing estate, killing two and injuring three others.

- AFP

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