Israeli attacks kill two Palestinians and wound six others

Two Palestinian citizens were killed on Friday afternoon when an Israeli aircraft targeted a civilian vehicle in the west of the Gaza Strip, witnesses and medical sources said.

Several others were wounded by Israeli artillery shelling on the morning of the same day in the east of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Palestinian medical sources confirmed that Mohamed Al-Fasih, 24, from Gaza City and Usama Al-Hossumi, 29, from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their car.

Spokesperson of the Palestinian ministry of health Ashraf Al-Qidra said that the two citizens arrived at the hospital torn to pieces.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian medical sources confirmed that the Israeli artillery shelling in Khan Younis wounded six citizens, including a pregnant woman.

Six other Israeli airstrikes targeted empty areas or training sites of Palestinian resistance during the night. Two of the attacks targeted the headquarters of the Palestinian marine services in the middle of the Gaza Strip, causing much damage in the buildings, but no human causalities.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon as saying: “We will chase after, and strike with a heavy hand anyone who hurts or plans to hurt us, as we have done today.”

Mass prisoner deaths in Iraq point to executions

BAGHDAD: It was supposed to be a routine job, police say. Move 69 prisoners from an outlying town to a jail in southern Baghdad. But before they arrived at their destination, every single prisoner had been killed.

The official account given hours after the killing on Monday by the governor of Hilla, 92km south of Baghdad, was that militants had attacked the convoy killing 10 prisoners and one policeman in the crossfire.

“The convoy protection force fiercely responded to the terrorist attack,” Governor Sadiq Madloul told reporters.

But a police captain, a second police officer and a senior local official from where the prisoners died in Hilla, all speaking on condition of anonymity while giving an account that differed from the official line, told Reuters no attack took place, and the police had executed the 69 men.

A third police source who would not contradict the account that the convoy had come under attack nevertheless confirmed that all 69 had been killed and said some had not died in the crossfire but were gunned down to prevent them from escaping.

The deaths in Hilla came less than a week after the killing of 52 prisoners in Baquba, a regional capital north of Baghdad.

The police account there also was that the prisoners had died in the crossfire during a battle with insurgents. But local Sunni officials including the mayor and the provincial governor, medical staff at the morgue and relatives of the dead all said the victims were gunned down in their jail cells.

Iraq’s government has long denied it summarily executes prisoners. Following a Reuters report on police executions in March, army spokesman Sa’ad Ma’an said: “If it happened, whoever committed it will be investigated, held accountable and sent to a military court.”

Ma’an and other Iraqi government spokesmen did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the latest killings outside Hilla.

Unlike the Iraqi government, Sunni insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant make no attempt to hide mass executions of prisoners: they proudly proclaim that Shi’ites are heretics who must die, and boast of the killings.

Days after they began sweeping through northern cities on June 10, they released videos showing their masked fighters machine gunning captive government soldiers lying in shallow graves. On Friday, Human Rights Watch said ISIL had executed at least 160 people in Tikrit this month.

But the reports that government forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki are also executing prisoners are becoming more regular as the conflict intensifies, calling into question Washington’s stepped-up military support for the Shi’ite premier.

Several police sources interviewed by Reuters said prisoners were being preemptively killed in Iraq to prevent militant groups from freeing them to rejoin the rebellion.

“We feed them and keep them healthy and if the ISIL managed to free them, they will immediately resume fighting us,” the police captain who acknowledged the executions in Hilla said.

“We have to defend ourselves by executing those criminals.”

The second Hilla police officer said summary executions were routinely carried out by army and police forces.

“First thing we do is to shoot them in foot and then take their confessions. Then we kill them and write in report they were killed in action,” he said, also on condition of anonymity.

The third police officer, who denied that the Hilla prisoners were executed, nevertheless said the reason some of the 69 had been shot was to prevent them from escaping. He said the convoy had been hit by a roadside bomb and came under fire.

“We are not an execution squad. What happened was that we were trying to transport high-profile, dangerous members of al Qaeda – most of them awaiting death sentences – to another secure detention centre south of Baghdad,” he said.

“The convoy came under attack by militants who set off two roadside bombs. Some of the prisoners wanted to use the attack to escape. We shot them dead as they were escaping.”

A senior local official in Hilla said the attack on the convoy had been staged to hide the execution.

“The police brought the bodies of 16 other terrorists they had executed earlier to the scene and laid weapons by their corpses to pretend they had attacked the convoy,” he said.

One of ISIL’s main aims is to free Sunni prisoners from government jails, and Iraqi police and troops who guard them come under frequent attack.

A year ago ISIL launched its biggest military operation in years, attacking two jails. Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of Al-Qaeda, were freed from Abu Ghraib jail on Baghdad’s western outskirts in the assault, which saw suicide bombers blast through the gates.

When militants took Mosul city on June 10 at the start of their present offensive, they freed as many as 1,000 prisoners from a jail.

The government’s harsh justice towards prisoners did not begin with this month’s ISIL advance, however.

In a Reuters investigation in March, a police officer, an army officer, a general and an Iraqi Special Forces member all said that in western Anbar province Iraqi troops had begun replying in kind to ISIL, carrying out extra-judicial executions, torture and humiliations of their enemy and posting images of the results online.

On June 4, a week before the assault on Mosul, the chief of police in Hilla held a news conference to display six captives, charged with a car bomb attack that killed 14 people. The prisoners confessed in front of cameras to having bombed Hilla hospital.

Hours later, Police Chief Major General Riad al-Hikani posted pictures of the bullet-riddled bodies of four of the suspects on his Facebook page.

He said they had been killed when unidentified assailants opened fire while they were being escorted to cells, but expressed no regret at the death of captives in his custody.

“Delighted that divine justice has been achieved against them,” Hikani wrote on Facebook.

Anti-surveillance groups flew over the NSA’s massive Utah data center

Anti-surveillance groups flew over the NSA’s massive Utah data center in a blimp on Friday in a dramatic protest against government surveillance.

Greenpeace, the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation and the conservative Tenth Amendment Center sent up a message on a thermal airship for a flying protest above the agency’s $2 billion data center, which critics charge could be used to store nearly limitless amounts of Americans’ private information.

“NSA illegal spying below,” read a message on the blimp, with an arrow pointing straight down to the Bluffdale, Utah center.

“The public needs to be brought into the Congressional debate around surveillance reform happening right now,” the EFF’s Rainey Reitman said in a statement. “We’re flying an airship over the Utah data center, which has come to symbolize the NSA’s collect-it-all approach to surveillance, and demanding an end to the mass spying. It’s time for bold action in defense of our privacy.”

Greenpeace said it offered its blimp for the protest because the NSA’s surveillance also jeopardizes the basic free speech and free association rights of its environmental advocates. The conservative group, for its part, joined the fly-by to show that electronic surveillance is not a partisan issue.

Journalists who have attempted to photograph the Utah data center have occasionally encountered hostile reactions. But the airspace above the data center is not restricted, so Greenpeace was apparently within its rights to fly the blimp overhead.

Asked for comment on the dirigible escapade, NSA spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines essentially said the agency’s critics should get their heads out of the clouds.

“All of NSA’s operations are conducted in strict accordance with the rule of law,” she said in a statement. The Huffington Post

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Prince Harry turns repair man at Chilean shanty town

Prince Harry has visited a Chilean shanty town community whose homes were destroyed by devastating wildfires - and fixed a family’s television.

Thousands were left homeless and 15 people were killed when the flames struck in and around the port of Valparaiso in April.

Fire fighters spent two days battling the wildfires but hardest hit were the slum dwellers living in shacks built on steep hills overlooking the city.

Harry was welcomed into the temporary home of three families living in a small hilltop community called El Vergel, where almost all the wooden properties were destroyed leaving 100 families homeless.

His visit lifted the mood of the residents who were gearing up to watch Chile take on Brazil in the World Cup match.

The charity Techo is helping the villagers to build new homes out of chipboard and corrugated iron, and inside one of the shacks, home to Coca Perez, 50, and her teenage son and daughter, the Prince noticed their television was not working properly.

Mrs Perez said: “He looked at it and he started to fiddle with the cable.

“He managed to get it working so we could watch Chile playing Brazil. Now I can tell everyone that Prince Harry is my TV repair man.”

Harry also visited Carolina Guzman, 33, who later became emotional and wiped away a few tears as she recounted the day the fire swept through her community.

She had chatted with Harry for 10 minutes in her cramped two-room home with her son Gerald Perez, aged seven.

She said: “My husband was on another hill and I phone him and said ’should I leave?’

“But he said ’no, don’t worry, the fire is on the other side’.”

But the flames arrived at the settlement and she had to shout for help to move her father-in-law who is bedridden.

She said: “I yelled and four of my neighbours came to help move him out. When my husband arrived our home was burning and he tried to put out the flames on our son’s bed but we had to leave.

“I feel really moved to have met Harry and thankful and happy. I feel like crying.”

Egyptians stage anti-government demos

Egyptians have once again taken to streets in several cities across the country to protest against the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

On Friday, the protesters condemned the ouster of the former president, Mohamed Morsi, by the Egyptian military and called for his reinstatement.

They also slammed the military-backed government of Sisi for its crackdown on supporters of Morsi.

Reports say police clashed with protesters in the capital Cairo, Giza and Minya. Dozens of protesters were injured and nearly 90 others, including 26 in Sharqiya alone, were arrested.

Security forces reportedly used tear gas and batons to quell the protests.

Pro-Morsi groups have called on Egyptians to stage a massive rally on July 3 to mark the anniversary of the ouster of Morsi.

Sisi led Morsi’s ouster, triggering demonstrations across Egypt.

Morsi was Egypt’s first democratically-elected president following the 2011 revolution that toppled long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Sisi is also accused of leading the suppression of the Brotherhood supporters as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with the Egyptian security forces over the past few months.

Rights groups say at least 1,400 people have been killed in the violence since Morsi’s ouster, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”

MSM/MHB/MAM

Redcar salutes servicemen and women in spectacular fashion on Armed Forces Day

A fly-past by iconic World War II aircraft marked the celebration of Armed Forces Day at a Teesside seaside town.

Hundreds attended Saturday’s event in Redcar, including veterans of all ages as well as serving military personnel.

A Lancaster bomber and two Spitfires of the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight team delighted the crowds below as they passed.

Other highlights from the day included a parade, aerial demonstrations from a tiger moth bi-plane and the RAF’s Red Devils, a drill competition for tri-service cadets and living World War I historians.

This year’s event served to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, the 75th anniversary of the start of World War II and the 70th anniversary of D-Day, which all occur this year.

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Armed Forces Day in Redcar

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Veteran, Eric Howden, chairman of the Redcar Royal British Legion and the council’s Armed Forces champion, said: “Too many people lost their lives for us to celebrate such events but we must remember them and those that have lost their lives in more recent conflicts.”

The event is organised by the Redcar branch of the Royal British Legion in conjunction with Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council and the town’s Rotary Club.

Military charities, standard bearers and reserve forces units were in attendance at the event which also featured a climbing wall, paint balling and face painting.

To start the day ‘morning colours’ were raised by cadets from the training ship, Zetland, before last post, silence and reveille, was sounded and observed.

Olwyn Peters, Redcar & Cleveland Council’s cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism, said: “Armed Forces Day is an opportunity for us civvies to show our appreciation for the fantastic job the Armed Forces do and show them how proud we are of them.”

Mayor of Redcar & Cleveland, Carole Simms, was invited to meet all those on parade before the parade marched off ready for the day’s events which took place in the town centre and on the esplanade.

Replay: EDL march and counter demonstration in Middlesbrough town centre

EDL supporters marched through the streets of Middlesbrough this afternoon.

Counter demonstrations also took place by groups opposed to the EDL.

Our reporter James Cain was on the scene of both demonstrations.

Israeli air strike claims two lives in Gaza Strip

At least two Palestinians have been killed and several others injured in an Israeli drone strike on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Local residents and medics said the strike killed at least two Palestinians driving in a car in Gaza City on Friday.

Also earlier on Friday, Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesman for the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza, said Israeli military tanks fired shells into the agricultural areas of the southern city of Khan Yunis, wounding several Palestinians, including a pregnant woman.

According to witnesses, the new Israeli assault damaged two mosques as well as a number of homes in the area.

Israeli drones and warplanes have pounded the besieged Gaza Strip on numerous occasions killing and injuring defenseless Palestinians.

Israelis claim their attacks are in retaliation for rockets fired from Gaza. However the Palestinians lack any drones, warplanes or even sophisticated missile systems to attack Israelis.

The Israeli military has recently conducted dozens of strikes on the coastal enclave after three Israeli settlers went missing.

Israel has accused Palestinian resistance movement Hamas of being behind the disappearance of the settlers. However, the movement has denied any involvement.

Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standards of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

The apartheid regime of Israel denies about 1.7 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs that pay proper wages, and adequate healthcare and education.

Over 160 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and about 1,200 others were injured in Israel’s eight-day offensive on the coastal enclave, which ended on November 21, 2012.

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Tees Pride Middlesbrough 10k Road Race celebrates 10th birthday with new sponsor

Organisers are hoping for a record turn-out when the Tees Pride Middlesbrough 10k Road Race marks its tenth anniversary this August.

And in a double celebration the event is welcoming housing developer Taylor Wimpey on board as a new sponsor.

To mark the official launch of the Taylor Wimpey Tees Pride 10k, organisers gathered near the route this week to enjoy a slice of birthday cake.

They are urging runners of all ages and abilities to start getting in shape for this year’s landmark run on Sunday, August 31.

It follows a record-breaking Middlesbrough 5k Riverside Run and 2k Fun Run earlier this month which drew a total field of more than 2,300.

Taylor Wimpey – currently developing a number of housing sites across the town including Scholars Rise and Rose Cottage Farm – have agreed to sponsor the 10k for the next two years.

The 10k, recognised as one of the best events of its kind in the region, has grown steadily since the inaugural race in 2005.

More than 36,000 runners have pounded the route over the last nine years, and organisers are hoping this year’s field will top 5,000, with many running and walking the course to raise money for good causes.

There’s something for all ages and abilities, with a field ranging from elite athletes and wheelchair athletes, fun-runners, charity fundraisers in fancy dress and family groups. For those new to running or looking for a gentler challenge, the 3k Fun Run takes place before the main event.

Taylor Wimpey managing director Mark Leigh said: “We’re delighted to get involved in an event that is firmly established as one of the best in the region.”

Councillor Tracy Harvey, Middlesbrough Council’s executive member for environment, said: “It’s a great way to encourage people of all ages and fitness levels to lead healthier lifestyles as well as being an ideal opportunity to raise much-needed funds for good causes.”

To sign up for the Taylor Wimpey Tees Pride 10k, visit http://ift.tt/1jJi1ca , call 01642 515672 for an application form or pick one up at Middlesbrough leisure centres or central library. Entry is £16 or £14 for affiliated runners. Entry for the 3k Fun Run is £7, with family entries £24.

Live: EDL march and counter demonstration in Middlesbrough town centre

Almost 350 EDL supporters have said they will march through the streets of Middlesbrough this afternoon with more considering it.

Counter demonstrations are also being planned by groups opposed to the EDL.

We'll be bringing you live updates from the demonstrations until they end.

Armed US drones fly over Baghdad

The US has armed drones flying over Baghdad to protect US troops that have recently arrived to assess Iraq’s deteriorating security, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The military for more than a week has been flying manned and unmanned aircraft over Iraq, averaging a few dozen sorties daily for reconnaissance.

The decision to arm some of the drones follows the deployment to Baghdad of troops who will advise and assist Iraqi counter-terrorism forces.

“The reason that some of those aircraft are armed is primarily for force protection reasons now that we have introduced into the country some military advisers whose objective will be to operate outside the confines of the embassy,” the Defence Department’s press secretary, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, told a Pentagon press conference.

So far, 180 of 300 troops promised by Obama have arrived in the country. They consist of 90 advisers and 90 who are setting up an operations and intelligence analysis unit.

Targeting rebel leaders

Using US air assets to target rebel leaders is one of the options being prepared for President Barack Obama as he considers what support to provide to Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, said in a radio interview. Protection of critical infrastructure is part of that option, he said.

“We’re flying a great deal (of) manned and unmanned … intelligence and reconnaissance assets, and we’re building a picture so that if the decision were made to support the Iraqi security forces as they confront (ISIL), we could do so,” Dempsey said.

A handful of Predators armed with Hellfire missiles are being used over the capital for the new force protection mission, a senior defence official said. The official was not authorised to discuss the new flights on the record and requested anonymity.

Officials stressed that Obama still has not authorised airstrikes against rebels who have been claimed territory in other parts of the country.

Source: Al Jazeera