Deaths in Gaza as Israeli tanks respond to rockets
At least four Palestinians have been killed in Gaza after Israel tanks shelled a house. Local doctors say three of the dead were aged 12, 16 and 17. Three other people were reported injured.
The artillery fire came after an escalation in cross-border rocket attacks into Israel which started at the weekend. Four rockets were fired on Tuesday, say the Israeli military, without causing injury.
Israeli retaliatory air strikes on Monday wounded 19 people according to local medics. The attack is thought to be the heaviest in Gaza since a major Israeli military offensive in the strip ended in January 2009.
France has called on both sides to show restraint, saying it condemns the Palestinian rocket attacks and was “worried” about Israeli operations in Gaza.
Gaza is run by militant Islamist group Hamas, which refuses to take part in peace talks led by the more moderate Palestinian group Fatah, based in the West Bank. Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that “the escalation will not pass unanswered. Escalation will be met with escalation and calm will be met with calm.”
Libya: evacuation effort continues
The urgent effort to evacuate foreign nationals from Libya continues, including 150 oil workers, who were dramatically rescued by British special forces. They were flown out of Libya to Malta.
Reporting from the Mediterranean island, euronews’ Jose Miguel Sardo said: ‘‘Since Monday, Malta has become the main platform for foreigners being repatriated from Libya. In the last 5 days alone more than 2000 people have passed through this small airport.’‘
For those safely out, personal relief their ordeal is almost over, but also horror at the unfolding events.
Tom Yates, from the Australian Consul General to Libya, said: ‘‘It was an experience that I will never forget for the rest of my life. I think all us who have left Libya are very sad. Many of us have got Libyan friends and the Libyan people are very kind people. They have certainly been very kind and helpful to me and they certainly in any shape or form deserve to be treated in the terrible and brutal way they have been treated in the last few weeks.’‘
Along with Britain, other countries continue to evacuate their nationals, including China, which has moved at least 16,000 of its citizens out of Libya.
Discovery embarks on historic final flight
The space shuttle, Discovery, has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Florida for the last time.
The oldest of Nasa’s three surviving shuttles is taking six astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.
Discovery is regarded as the “flagship” of the fleet. First launched in 1984, it has completed 38 voyages and travelled around 230 million kilometres in the process.
Discovery was entrusted with the “return-to-flight” missions after the Challenger and Columbia accidents.
Discovery’s sister-shuttle Endeavour is expected to make its historic final flight in April and Atlantis should go no later than June.
Egypt on the brink of change
Egypt is entering a new era. Effectively the country is under martial law but the military is implementing a series of major reforms aimed at delivering power into the hands of the people.
In a startment on state television, a military spokesman announced that the constitution has been suspended.
He also said a committee would be established to draft a new constitution, and that parliament has been dissolved.
The army council will stay in power for six months, or at least until the end of elections.
However some continuity has been retained in that the same cabinet appointed by ousted President Hosni Mubarak will oversee the transition. The Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq, says the main priority is to restore security, and the economy.
“Our internal economic position is solid and cohesive”, he said. “We have enough reserves in the coming period and our situation is comforting, very comforting.”
But he also warned that if instability continues, there may be some obstacles.
The stock market has remained closed since the beginning of the uprising, and the Finance Minister says latest forecasts indicate Egypt’s economic growth slowing to between 3.5 and 4 per cent in the coming financial year.
That’s still higher than most western countries but lower than the 6 per cent that had been forecast before the revolution.
Israel’s Birthday
Celebrations have started to mark Israel’s 63rd year of independence.
The state was founded on May 14, 1948.
The events usually start with the lighting of a dozen torches on Mount Hertzl in Jerusalem.
On May 15 Palestinians, by contrast, mark the birth of Israel with a day of mourning.
State of emergency in Yemen after protest bloodbath
Yemen has declared a state of emergency after a massacre at an anti-government rally.
More than 40 people were killed and at least 300 others injured when plainclothes police reportedly opened fire on protesters after Friday prayers.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh described it as a tragedy and blamed the violence on people within the crowd who were carrying weapons.
“I express my extreme sorrow for what happened today after Friday prayers in the university district,” Saleh told a news conference in Sanaa.
Yemen is the second country in the region to declare emergency rule this week after Bahrain introduced martial law – a move immediately followed by a massive crackdown on demonstrators.
But it is unclear whether Yemen’s president has the military power to enforce such an order, with the country deeply divided and racked by weeks of protests in which more than 70 people have been killed.
One week on Japan counts the cost
It is now a week since Japan was hit by the biggest earthquake ever recorded in its history. What followed is all too clear. The massive tremor triggered a series of catastrophes, starting with the huge tsunami that swept the country’s north east coast crushing everything in its path and knocking out the nuclear power plant at Fukishima. The crisis there is on-going and remains critically in the balance.
A one minute silence to remember the victims of this unprecedented sequence of events, described by Prime Minister Naoto Kan as the worst experienced by Japan since the end of the second world war.
The number who perished still remains only a rough estimate. What is certain is that the final cost, both human and economic will easily top that of the Kobe quake in the mid 1990s. So far, authorities say 6500 people have died, but that will rise. At least 10,000 are still missing. The ease with which the tsunami breached some of Japan’s best sea defences was frightening.
The unfolding humanitarian crisis is also of increasing concern. Hundreds of thousands have been left homeless by this twin disaster. Most find themselves in makeshift shelters with only basic supplies of food and water. A sudden drop in temperatures has also added to their misery, particularly for the young and frail.
Hopes of pulling any survivors from the rubble have all but disappeared. Nevertheless, there are some bright spots in the tragedy. Notably, the increasing number of families and relatives that are being reunited.
“I went to our house, but it was not there. All the family members were separated, but, it seems all the children survived,” said one man.
The mass exodus across large parts of the north-east and also Tokyo has left much of the country deserted. There is disbelief at how a nation as sophisticated as Japan, the world’s third largest economy, has been brought to its knees.
Saleh’s carrots and sticks fail to stop Yemen protests
Tens of thousands of people have again marched in cities across Yemen calling for an end to the president’s three-decade rule, in a clear rejection of his offer of a unity government.
They also remembered the victims of previous demonstrations; at least two dozen dead during the first two weeks of protests.
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“We swear that we won’t be scared no matter how many the president kills, how many he jails, how many he tortures. We will die as martyrs and go to paradise, and he will go to hell. Down with the president and this corrupt regime!” shouted Kamal, one of the protesters.
In a speech at Sanaa University, President Ali Abdullah Saleh turned more vehemently on his supposed ally the US, accusing it and Israel of being behind the unrest.
“The control room is in Tel Aviv which is plotting to destabilise the Arab world. The protesters are only copying what’s happened elsewhere. The control room is in Tel Aviv and it’s run by the White House,” he said.
Washington quickly dismissed the accusation.
Saleh said he would safeguard the nation’s security whatever the cost, as thousands of his supporters took to the capital’s streets.
But neither his warnings nor his concessions seem to be deterring his opponents.
China overtakes Japan as world no.2 economy
China has overtaken Japan as the world’s second biggest economy.
Figures released by the Japanese government confirmed that its gross domestic product shrank in the last three months of 2010 compared with the previous quarter.
The root cause is a drop in exports and consumer demand.
Japan’s economy for 2010 was worth $5.47 trillion, while China’s was closer to $5.8 trillion. The United States remains by some way the world’s biggest economy.
This latest data reinforces China’s rapid ascent as an economic superpower as the country surpassed Japan last summer. Just five years ago, China’s GDP was put at around half of Japan’s.
But while China is expanding Japan is set to benefit from the fast-growing neighbour as Chinese demand grows for Japanese exports.
