Our Enemy That Beheads — on The Glazov Gang

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This week’s Glazov Gang was guest-hosted by Ann-Marie Murrell and joined by Monty Morton, Nonie Darwish and Karen Siegemund.

The guests gathered to discuss, Our Enemy That Beheads, analyzing how Islam spawned Foley’s fate — and our culture’s inability to accept it.

The guests also tackled Ferguson, Foley and a Radical-in-Chief’s Double Standards, focusing on how Obama and the media support a lynch mob while engaging in willful blindness to Islamic jihad.

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Live: Breaking news, traffic and travel across Teesside

The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Tuesday 26th August, 2014.

You can contribute to the live blog by posting your comment below, and you can also tweet us @EveningGazette to share breaking news stories, pictures and opinions.

Our Teesside breaking news live blog begins at 07:00am every weekday and is updated throughout the day and into the evening.

Teesside small and medium enterprises denied £4.5m in failed loan applications

Banks and other funding bodies have rejected more than £4.5m of loan applications from Teesside SMEs, a survey has revealed.

Based on data from the BBA banking association and Office for National Statistics, the study said Stockton-based SMEs had been turned down for £1.8m of loans in the first three months of this year.

Businesses in Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland saw more than £2m of loans rejected, while funding bodies quashed almost £800,000 of applications from Hartlepool firms.

Across the North East, up to £23m of loan applications were turned down in the first three months of 2014 – around 20% from Teesside.

The study was conducted by Cambridge & Counties Bank (C&CB), which claims it has lent almost £200m to businesses since it was launched in June 2012.

Gary Wilkinson, chief executive of C&CB, said: “The North-east is home to well over 75,000 businesses. It is a hotbed of entrepreneurial spirit and it is imperative that this is supported by funds from banks to fuel growth and employment.”

In the North-east the value of borrowing facilities approved in the first quarter of 2014 was around £0.3bn, according to a separate survey by the BBA banking association – the lowest in the country.

Borrowing has generally been much lower since the financial crash of 2008 rocked confidence and forced companies to put their investment plans on hold. Businesses have criticised banks for hiking up interest rates on commercial loans and making borrowing unaffordable. Banks claim that borrowing is low because businesses have a much smaller appetite for lending than they did in the boom years before the crash.

Wilton-based recruitment firm Techconsult UK, which has not approached the banks for a loan, said lenders were still suffering from a post-financial crash hangover and were worried about “getting their fingers burnt”.

Managing director Steve Guest said: “They’ve been widely criticised and they’ve pulled the horn in to make sure that they look after their cash. They don’t want to lend to businesses that may not be able to pay their loans back. It’s still a cautious landscape.

“We’re entirely self-funded. We service our debts through the profits we generate. We’ve been around for eight years and we’ve seen steady growth in that time.”

The breakdown value of rejected loan applications in each area was as follows:

* Middlesbrough – £1.09m

* Hartlepool – £0.78m

* Redcar and Cleveland – £1.02m

* Stockton-on-Tees – £1.80m

TOTAL - £4.69m

MedicsUK adds Le Tour Yorkshire and Downton Abbey to credentials

Tees company Medics UK has added a string of high-profile jobs to its name - from emergency cover at Le Tour Yorkshire, to caring for the stars of Downton Abbey while filming takes place at Alnwick.

The company – a founder member of the independent ambulance service – provides medical cover to offshore workers around the world.

It’s already a regular at public gatherings such as agricultural shows, festivals, concerts and large sporting events.

The company was set up in 2002 and now has regular fixtures at sporting events such as Durham Cricket Club, the Jane Tomlinson Appeal 10k runs in York and Leeds, Middlesbrough 10k and 5k and Middlesbrough FC Under 21s’ matches.

Managing director Ken Lumley, who is a former Accident and Emergency nurse, said: “Business is going incredibly well, we have a core team of five full and part time staff and when we are providing cover at large events that number increases to around 80 fully trained temporary staff.

“We also have medics working for us on vessels around the world providing offshore workers with the best medical care possible.”

Ken - a qualified paramedic - worked offshore before launching the company.

Since it launched, Medics UK has gone from strength to strength and now has a fleet of 15 fully-fitted rapid response ambulances, all carrying the same life-saving equipment as NHS vehicles.

The company recently won contracts to supply medics to Technip and Northern Marine Management – a move that saw turnover increase to more than £1m.

Ken has been working with the Redcar Enterprise Team to develop the company’s marketing and human resource expertise, enabling him to expand the business further, including adding to the fleet of rapid response vehicles.

The Enterprise Team will continue to play a key role in helping that to happen.

Cllr Mark Hannon, cabinet member for economic development said: “Economic regeneration relies on companies like Medics UK generating wealth and creating jobs.

“The Enterprise Team and the local authority will continue to do whatever it can to fuel that success.”

The Enterprise Team is made up of skilled business coaches, and is focused on helping companies in Redcar and Cleveland to achieve their goals, including moving premises, increasing their turnover and improving profitability.

The scheme offers Redcar and Cleveland businesses at least 12 hours of free tailored support and in the last year more than 200 companies have been helped, leading to the creation of more than 150 jobs.

I am a Jew and I insist it is not anti-semitic to criticise Israel for its Gaza crimes

In demanding equality and freedom for all the residents of historic Palestine, it is the opponents of Israel, not its supporters, who carry the torch of history’s noble anti-racist struggles.

The old ones are always the best. That, at least, seems to be the thinking from Israel’s defenders, who are increasingly seeking to revive the claim that those appalled by Israeli violence are mostly cunningly disguised anti-Semites.

This is less an argument than an effort to shut down argument. Its intended effect is to render criticism of Israel socially unacceptable even as Amnesty International accuses it of deliberately targeting and killing six health workers.

The equivalent would be for Vladimir Putin to accuse those angered by his crackdown on LGBTQ rights of being driven by nothing but anti-Russian racism. Claims like this are significant because they shift the terms of debate – rather than asking whether Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is justified, Israel’s supporters wish to place that question beyond the scope of legitimate discussion. In order to defend human rights effectively, it is therefore important that we are all able to respond to these claims, which take two main forms:

“Lots of countries are awful. You single out Israel’s violence because you hate Jews”

This often repeated claim is doubly flawed. First, it is simply untrue that the majority of those appalled by Israel’s attack on Gaza are zombie-like automatons with no involvement in politics but who dramatically arise from their life of slumber every time Israel kills children. Most are involved in a range of political campaigns; at a recent Stop the War volunteers’ meeting about Gaza campaigners handed out flyers advertising everything from anti-fracking protests to a socialist film co-operative.

Secondly, Israel is sufficiently unique to justify a particular focus on its crimes. There is no other country today premised on ethno-religious discrimination. In the West Bank every aspect of life, from how much water people can drink, to how freely they can move and which courts judge them if they are accused of a crime, is differentially regulated for Jewish settlers and for illegally occupied Palestinians. In Gaza, Palestinians are besieged so that Israelis may live in safety. A large chunk of Gaza’s population is made up of internal refugees and their descendants, forced to flee their homes in 1948 to make way for the creation of the Jewish state. Israel privileges one ethnic group while impoverishing and imprisoning another.

History is not without parallels. Apartheid South Africa elicited a special horror from people all over the world even though many of its neighbours were also brutal regimes, because in South Africa suffering was deliberately perpetuated along racial lines.

Corruption, inequality and tyranny are all as appalling as they are widespread, but people find states constructed on the basis of racism particularly disturbing.

If France invaded Spain and proceeded to construct a network of settlements with special privileges for French settlers while blockading those Spaniards who fought that status quo and restricting their access to food and building materials, it is not hard to imagine that the occupied and marginalised people of Spain would receive at least as much sympathy and support as is currently shown to the Palestinians.

If Israel is singled out, it is usually because people hate occupation and discrimination, not because they hate Jews. If Israel’s friends want to query this singling out, they should ask why people are more disgusted by racism than by other injustices (which might be a reasonable question, but could hardly be more different from the question they currently ask).

Moreover, we in the West focus on Israel because our governments are implicated in its crimes. Israel is America’s outpost in the Middle East, the two of them deeply intertwined in a common project of hostility to those who challenge their shared geopolitical interests. Hence Israel has received more American aid than any other country since World War II, and hence this Saturday’s demonstration in solidarity with the people of Gaza will march past the American embassy.

Britain all but gave Israel its birth certificate and continues to fund its military machine. Our obligation as citizens to oppose the use of our taxes to kill Palestinians combines with Israel’s uniqueness as a racially defined occupying power to explain the anger its violence generates.

“You say you’re an anti-Zionist? Why should Jews be the only people denied their right to self-determination?”

Even if they acknowledge that opposition to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and its de facto occupation of Gaza need not be motivated by anti-Semitism, supporters of Israel often insist that taking offense at the crimes of 1948, rather than those of 1967, implies a hatred of Jews.

In fact, the above question suffers from historical amnesia. As recently as the early 1990s, activists were opposing the principle of self-determination for another ethnic group – white South Africans. It is noteworthy that FW De Klerk’s defence of the principle of Apartheid has involved a comparison to Israel; Afrikaners wanted only the national self-determination sought by Israeli Jews, he says. The cases are analogous because both peoples sought national rights based on dispossessing another population.

Jewish self-determination in Palestine is therefore not comparable to, say, the right of people who live north of the English Channel to self-determination in a country called Britain. Rather, the hypothetically similar case would be if one section of the British population asserted a divine right to control part or all of the country, with a flag, an anthem and a constitution declaring the state to be the property of that group. It should come as no surprise that Israel cannot countenance permitting the children of 1948, Palestinian refugees, to return to their homes since that would endanger the Jewish majority crucial to securing Israel’s future as a Jewish state. Jewish self-determination is bound up with the denial of Palestinian rights.

Israel is exceptional because it proffers a racially defined conception of national sovereignty. Those of us who demand an equal and

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Hillary’s Hand in Hamas’ Terror Tunnels

The authors are members of the board of the Religious Zionists of America.

Much has been said and written about the terror tunnels that Hamas built in Gaza. But too little has been said about who it was that put the cement into Hamas’ hands, thus making the construction of the tunnels possible in the first place.

Until now.

In a bombshell revelation, Dennis Ross, the senior Mideast policy adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from 2009 to 2011, has admitted that it was he who was assigned the task of pressuring Israel to ease up on its military blockade of Gaza, in the events after Israel’s withdrawal from that region in 2005.

“I argued with Israeli leaders and security officials, telling them they needed to allow more construction materials, including cement, into Gaza so that housing, schools and basic infrastructure could be built,” Ross revealed in the Washington Post on August 10. “They countered that Hamas would misuse it, and they were right.”

Not that Hillary’s State Department had been acting independently of the White House on the issue of cement. For example, Vice President Joe Biden told interviewer Charlie Rose, on Bloomberg TV in 2010: “We have put as much pressure and as much cajoling on Israel as we can to allow them to get building materials” and other forbidden items into Gaza.

But now that Mrs. Clinton is attempting to distance herself from the president’s debacles in foreign affairs, Ross’s admission shows that it was she who sent her personal envoy to push for a policy that ultimately enabled Hamas to build the terror tunnels.

Israeli officials have long been justifiably concerned about the danger of dual-use items such as cement. On the one hand, cement could be used for innocent purposes such as home construction, in the hands of a peace-seeking, trustworthy government. But in the hands of untrustworthy elements — such as the Hamas terrorist regime that rules Gaza — it could also be used for other purposes. Such as terror tunnels.

President Obama recently remarked, in his much-discussed interview with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times: “Because Israel is so capable militarily, I don’t worry about Israel’s survival.” Secretary Clinton evidently shared that dismissive attitude when she sent Ross on his mission to put cement into Hamas’ hands.

It seems Obama and Clinton forgot that Israel is the only country in the world that is threatened with annihilation by a nearby regime rushing to build nuclear weapons. Israel is the only country in the world that, in the space of just 65 years, has been forced to fight four major defensive wars and five smaller ones, in order to survive. Israel is the only country in the world whose next-door neighbors have built dozens of tunnels into Israel to perpetrate massacres of civilians.

Today, at least thirty-two terror tunnels later, we know that Clinton, Obama and Ross have been wrong, while Israel is right.

Hamas spent between $1-million and $10-million to build each of those tunnels, using as many as 350 truckloads of cement and other supplies per tunnel, according a report in to the Wall Street Journal, quoting Israeli military officials.

And it is “likely that there are additional tunnels” that the Israelis have yet to uncover, according to the Journal’s report.

Instead of lethal purposes, the materials used for each tunnel could have built 86 homes, or 19 medical clinics, or seven mosques, or six schools. But Hamas had other priorities.

And Secretary Clinton consciously turned a blind eye. Just as she turned a blind eye to other aggressive and anti-peace behavior by the Palestinians, such as the Palestinian Authority’s sheltering of known terrorists, its payments to imprisoned terrorists, the anti-Israel and anti-America propaganda that fills the PA-controlled media, and the anti-Semitic hatred in the textbooks used in the PA’s schools.

What are the real-life consequences of ignoring such Palestinian actions? An entire generation of young Palestinians have grown up incited to hatred of Jews and Israel, and glorifying terrorists as heroes and martyrs.

What are the real-life consequences of Mrs. Clinton putting cement into Hamas’s hands? The tunnels into Israel were used to carry out the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit and numerous other attacks in which Israelis were murdered. They were being prepared to carry out a mass coordinated attack on Israeli towns and kibbutzim, this year on Rosh Hashanah.

Imagine a scenario in which a surgeon decided that she wanted to employ a controversial and risky technique. She was warned repeatedly that it was too dangerous, but proceeded anyway and in the process nearly killed the patient. Surely that would be deemed malpractice. The surgeon probably would be barred from ever again practicing medicine.

Secretary of Stated Hillary Clinton committed diplomatic malpractice. Her own top aide has revealed that it was she who put the cement into Hamas’ hands, even after Israel warned repeatedly that doing so was too dangerous. And Israel continues to suffer the consequences.

Another lesson of the Gaza war: Even as we condemn Hamas’ diversion of cement from the construction of housing to the construction of terror tunnels, let us not forget that it was Hillary Clinton who pushed through the policy that made those tunnels possible.

[Moshe Phillips and Benyamin Korn are members of the board of the Religious Zionists of America. This article is part of a series. To view previous installments, please visit http://ift.tt/1pblicQ .]

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Israel to close Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslims Monday

The Israeli authorities will close the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim worshipers on Monday for a Jewish holiday, the Hebron office of the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments said Sunday.

In a statement released Sunday, the ministry’s office quoted the chief guard of the Ibrahimi Mosque as saying that the mosque will be “completely at the disposal of settlers who will perform religious Jewish rituals” to mark the beginning of the new Hebrew month of Elul.

Hebron is a frequent site of tensions due to the presence of 500 Israeli settlers in the Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants. They are protected by thousands of Israeli forces.

In 1994, an Israeli settler opened fire on Muslim worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque, killing 29 and injuring more than 100 Palestinians.

Settlers and Israeli forces regularly target local Palestinians for harassment, and many have been forced from their homes as a result.

A 1997 agreement split Hebron into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control.

The Israeli military-controlled H2 zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque — also split into a synagogue referred to as the Cave of the Patriarchs — and the once thriving Shuhada street, now just shuttered shops fronts and closed homes.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law

Source: MAAN

New Anonymous Op Takes Down Israeli Government Websites In HUGE Counter Hack

In a startling move that has flown completely under the radar of the mainstream corporate media, some leading Anonymous “hacktivists” have taken down a large number of Israeli government websites.

While “hacktivist” operations or “ops” have been targeting the Israeli government since the beginning of the most recent War on Gaza, this new round has set Anon sights on the Israeli government for an even more focused reason. The massive hack comes in retaliation for various Anonymous social media accounts being shut down for reporting on the deaths of Gazan civilians.

Netanyahu says Gaza offensive will continue as 13 killed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s Gaza offensive would continue as long as necessary, a day after an Egyptian call for a ceasefire and new truce talks.

Israeli air strikes killed 13 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave on Sunday and injured dozens more, bringing the total death toll to 2,111. The United Nations says 70 percent of the Palestinian victims were civilians, and that among the dead have been 478 children.

“Operation Protective Edge will continue until its aims are achieved … it may take time,” Netanyahu said of the offensive launched on July 8.

As of Sunday afternoon, Israel had carried out 27 strikes while 50 rockets were fired from Gaza, 47 of which hit Israel, an army spokeswoman said.

Five Palestinians were killed Sunday afternoon including three children when an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the Tal al-Zaatar neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll since midnight to 13.

Witnesses told Ma’an reporter that an Israeli missile hit a house without any warning, killing five members of the family.

The new bloodshed came after Israel pounded Gaza with at least 60 strikes on Saturday, killing 10 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and bringing down a 12-story apartment block.

There was still no sign of either side adopting the ceasefire Egypt appealed for on Saturday to allow negotiators to return to Cairo to thrash out the details of a durable truce.

Since a previous round of frantic Egyptian diplomacy collapsed on Tuesday, shattering nine days of calm, 88 Palestinians and a four-year-old Israeli boy have been killed in the violence.

At a special cabinet session at the defense ministry in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu repeated his warning of harsh retribution for the death of the Israeli child on Friday in a rocket strike on a kibbutz near the Gaza border

Is Israel hoping to break Palestinian resistance by killing Gaza’s dairy cows, sheep and camels?

GAZA’S ECONOMY will take years to recover from the devastating impact of the war, in which more than 360 factories have been destroyed or badly damaged and thousands of acres of farmland ruined by tanks, shelling and air strikes, according to analysts.

Israeli air strikes on Gaza have resumed since a temporary ceasefire brokedown on Tuesday after rockets were fired from Gaza. The Israeli Defence Force said it launched air stikes on 20 sites on Friday morning and Gaza health officials said two Palestinians were killed in an attack on a farm.

Almost 10% of Gaza’s factories have been put out of action, said the Palestinian Federation of Industries. Most other industrial plants have halted production during the conflict, causing losses estimated at more than $70m (£42m), said the union of Palestinian industries. The UN’s food and agriculture organisation (FAO) said about 42,000 acres of croplands had sustained substantial direct damage and half of Gaza’s poultry stock has been lost due to direct hits or lack of care as access to farmlands along the border with Israel became impossible.

More than 9% of the annual fishing catch was lost between 9 July and 10 August, it added.

“The initial indications are that economic damage caused by the war is three times that of the 2008-9 conflict,” said Gaza-based economist Omar Shaban, referring to the Israeli military operation, codenamed Cast Lead. “It’s huge.”

Unemployment would increase from the prewar rate of 40%, a result of factory destruction, he said. “Recovery will depend on the terms of the ceasefire agreement – whether the siege is lifted, and how quickly. But it will take a minimum of two to three years even if it is lifted.”

Gaza’s biggest factory, al Awda in Deir al-Balah, which made biscuits, juice and ice-cream, was destroyed after days of air strikes and shelling last month, which caused a massive fire. Its entire stock of raw ingredients was lost and valuable hi-tech machinery damaged beyond repair. The factory employed 450 people.

“This is a war on our economy,” said owner Mohammed al-Telbani. “I started at ground zero, spent 45 years building this business and now it’s gone.”

Manal Hassan, the factory’s manager, estimated the losses at $30m. “We kept a very large stock because of the difficulties of getting raw materials and spare parts into Gaza, so we had enough to keep production going for a year,” she said. “This was a factory for making biscuits and ice-cream, not guns. There were no rockets fired in this area.”

At the Nadi family farm in Beit Hanoun, Mahmoud Nadi said almost half the stock of 370 dairy cows had been killed in shelling from tanks positioned inside the border and air strikes. The family, which has farmed in the area for 15 years, fled to UN shelters in Jabaliya when the Israeli ground invasion started.

“When we came back, there were dead cows everywhere. We could hardly reach them because of the smell,” he said. The milk yield from the remaining stock had plummeted due to the animals’ trauma, he added.

In Beit Lahiya, camel farmer Zaid Hamad Ermelat returned to his land last week to find 20 animals – worth $2,800 a head – had been shot by ground forces. Their decomposing carcasses remained on the ground amid spent bullet casings from M16 rifles.

“This is our only income, supporting 17 members of the family,” said the 71-year-old Bedouin, who came to Gaza as a refugee during the 1948 war. Asked what he would do to earn a living, he shrugged he would try to find work as a farm labourer.

In a nearby field, peppers were shrivelled on plants as farmers have been unable to harvest crops during the war.

At a cluster of farms in Juha Deek, nearly a mile from the border, almost every house, store and animal pen was wrecked, fruit and olive trees snapped or uprooted and cattle, sheep and goats killed by shrapnel, bullets or starvation as families fled for safety.

“How do I feel? Look at this,” said Ahmed Abu Sayed, 22, gesturing at a view of destroyed buildings and tank-churned land. “This tells you how I feel.”

The FAO said it would distribute enough fodder to feed 55,000 sheep and goats for 45 days once a permanent ceasefire had been established

Nigeria’s Boko Haram declares ‘caliphate’

Nigeria’s Boko Haram Takfiri militants have declared a so-called caliphate in the northeastern town of Gwoza.

In a 52-minute video, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the militants, said that he has created the “caliphate” in Gwoza after bringing it under control earlier this month.

Shekau added that he and his militants have come to stay in the town and they do not intend to leave.

Nigeria’s military, however, dismissed his claims about the seizure of the town.

“That claim is empty,” Defense Ministry spokesman Chris Olukolade said.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact” and “operations to secure that area from the activities of the bandits (are) still ongoing,” Olukolade added.

Shekau had earlier expressed support for the notorious leader of ISIL Takfiri group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has declared himself “the caliph”, in a video released in July.

The ISIL terrorists declared a so-called caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq in June.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009. Over 10,000 people have so far been killed in the assaults.

Boko Haram — whose name means “Western education is forbidden” — says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.

MSM/MAM/AS

Growing boycott will “hit each of us in the pocket” warns Israel finance minister

Israeli finance minister Yair Lapid has become the latest senior official to warn about the serious impact of growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns targeting Israel.

“The world seems to be losing patience with us,” Lapid told the Hebrew edition of Ynet on 10 January.

“In the case of Horizon 2020 (a scientific collaboration with Europe), we managed to avert the damage, and then all of a sudden, a boycott in American academia. We haven’t managed to create an effect around the Iranian agreement, because our voice was not sufficiently heard, because our standing is not as it should be. If we don’t make progress with the Palestinians, we will lose the support of the world and our legitimacy.”

Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid faction, is the senior coalition partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Things do not look good”

Lapid added: “We have formulated complete scenarios as to what will happen if the boycott continues and exports are hurt. In all scenarios, things do not look good. The status quo will hit each of us in the pocket, will hurt every Israeli. We are export-oriented, and this [export trade] depends on our global standing.”

Lapid was particularly concerned about further announcements by Israel of new tenders for houses in illegal Jewish-only colonies in the occupied West Bank.

Lapid’s frank comments come just days after Dutch pensions giant PGGM took the unprecedented decision to divest from all Israeli banks because of their role in the colonization program.

Interestingly, a 10 January report about Lapid’s comments on the English edition of Ynet by the same journalist mentions only Lapid’s criticism of the settlement tenders and omits his warning about the boycott.

String of warnings

Lapid, an alleged “centrist” who has

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Video Shows Israeli Bombing of Gaza Apartment Tower

New video shows an upscale high-rise apartment building in Gaza City destroyed in a cloud of fire and smoke during an Israeli airstrike.

Israel bombed the 12-story apartment building, called the Zafer Tower in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, today as Hamas continued to fire rockets towards the Israeli border.

The Palestine Interior Ministry released footage of the bombing, showing the apartment collapsing after being hit twice by Israeli bombs. The building goes down in seconds as onlookers scream and rush the injured to hospitals.

The entire building held 44 residential apartments

“People started shouting Allahu Akbar, and women and kids were screaming,” Maher Abu Sedo, an area resident, said. “This is crazy. The state of Israel has resorted to madness. In less than a minute, 44 families have become displaced. … They lost everything, their house, their money, their memories and their security.”

22 people were wounded, including 11 children and five women, according to Gaza hospital officials. Since the fighting erupted on July 8, Israel has launched some 5,000 airstrikes at Gaza.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, including 500 children, have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials and U.N. figures. Israel has lost 64 soldiers and four civilians.

UP villages tense after violence

Lucknow: Tensions prevailed Monday in the two Uttar Pradesh villages where communal clashes had erupted a day earlier, police said.

There was heavy deployment of police personnel in Kanpur’s Ghatampur area and Mainpuri’s Bhogaon area, an official told IANS.

However, no untoward incident has been reported since Sunday night.

In the first incident, violence had broken out in Ghatampur’s Bhetargaon village Sunday after two communities clashed and over two dozen shops were set on fire.

One person was killed and over a dozen, including three policemen, were injured in the clash over a minor theft case.

District officials said five policemen were suspended for dereliction of duty.

In the second incident, two communities clashed with each other in Alipur Kheda village of Mainpuri after reports that a girl of a community was raped by a boy of another community surfaced.

A mob tied the youth to a tree and tried to set him on fire.

When the sub-divisional magistrate rushed to the crime scene and tried to save the youth, villagers attacked his vehicle and stoned the police party accompanying him. Police fired blanks to disperse the unruly crowd.

Three people were detained in the matter.

Police, however, trashed the rape charge and said two were in a relationship. Alipur Kheda was singed with similar violence July 23 when a girl from one community had eloped with boy of another community.

Stockton Summer Festival hailed great success by organisers

Thousands of people have ensured a popular summer show remains a firm favourite of Teesside’s summer calendar.

The grounds of Preston Park Museum in Eaglescliffe, became an arena of entertainment for all the family over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Organisers from Stockton Council hailed their annual summer show as “one of the best” with high numbers turning out to enjoy the sunshine.

Some of the fun-packed programme included medieval jousting displays with the ‘Devil’s Horsemen’, a dog show, birds of prey displays, a food festival celebrating the very best of the region’s produce, music from brass bands, a trombone choir, and not forgetting the famous World Parmo Championships.

On Sunday evening the crowds had the chance to sit back and relax while The Wildcats of Kilkenny delivered an epic performance.

View gallery

More pictures from the Stockton Summer Festival

View gallery

Events production officer Steve Hodgson, from Stockon Council, said he was pleased to see so many smiling faces over the two day festival.

He said: “We have had a fantastic bank holiday weekend and the usual high standard of exciting events has proved popular with our visitors.

“The live music concerts were a definite favourite, and a surprise performance from up and coming band Young Rebel Set really topped it off.”

Among the crowd on Saturday was John Petty, from Thornaby, who was enjoying the day with his two young granddaughters, Emily, three, and Alissa, five.

He said: “We have really enjoyed ourselves, I was surprised by how much was going on. There has been something for everyone, and plenty for the kids. We’ve had a long walk through the woods, a picnic and the girls have been enjoying watching the horses and the swings. It’s a great day out.”

Gazan family grieves child loss in Israeli airstrike

Having gone through more than two decades of fertility treatment, a Gazan family is grieving the loss of their eight-year-old child in the recent Israeli military attacks against the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, Press TV reports.

The child, identified as Mahmoud al-Majdalawi, lost his life earlier this month when an Israeli F-16 fighter jet fired a missile at his uncle’s house in the Gaza Strip as he was playing with his cousins there.

“We were sitting in this room. The F-16 hit my brother’s house next to my house without any warning. I started shouting and calling on my son. He was at his uncle’s. My wife’s foot was injured. I ran to my brother’s house and found my only child dead. My young nephew’s body was in pieces everywhere. Shrapnel was in my son’s head. He was killed right away,” Ahmad, Mahmoud’s father, told Press TV.

“I waited to be a father for 22 years, and now he is gone. Even our house is destroyed. But, we will never give up even if we are all killed. Arabs have put their hands in the hands of Israel and left us to be killed.”

“I had waited for 22 years to have him in my arms. Today is his eighth birthday. He used to tell me he wants a cake and a bike for his birthday. I lost him within seconds, within minutes. The room he was in at his uncle’s house is still full of Mahmoud’s innocent blood.”

Mahmoud’s mother, Heyam al-Majdalawi, said, “Every day, a wife is widowed and a mom losses her child. The land is irrigated with blood rather than water. Our blood is cheap to Arabs and Israelis.”

Some 2,100 people, mostly civilians, have lost their lives and over 10,200 have been injured in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which began on July 8.

Nearly 400,000 Palestinian children are in immediate need of psychological help due to “catastrophic and tragic impact” of the Israeli war, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, has been launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.

MP/HJL/HMV

Gypsy Rover Lee reads the fortunes of fury friends at Redcar charity dog show

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Save Our Strays charity dog show at Redcar Rugby Club

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Pet pooches had their fortunes told at at one of Teesside’s summer shows.

Animal charity Save Our Strays held its annual fun dog show at Redcar Rugby Club today.

Gypsy Rover Lee was on hand to read what the future had in store for the visiting pups while refreshments, tombolas and numerous dog shows kept the crowds entertained for hours.

Children have bank holiday fun at Kirkleatham Museum kite making session

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Bank Holiday kite making and flying at Kirkleatham

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Children had bank holiday fun when they got crafty at Kirkleatham Museum.

Families on a day out at the Redcar museum were given the opportunity to join a kite making session.

The youngsters could design and make their own kites before getting the chance to put them into action - flying them in the grounds of Kirkleatham Museum.

Among those enjoying the free event was three-year-old James Flintoff from Redcar and siblings, William and Maddie Smith from Skelton.

The event, ran by countryside ranger Paul Murphy, is one of many free activities put on by staff at the Redcar and Cleveland Council-run facility.

Families have a tickling time as Mr Men and Little Misses visit the Cleveland Centre

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The Mr Men at the Cleveland Centre

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Shoppers and families had a tickling time at the Cleveland Centre after a visit from some special guests.

Two of the Mr Men were accompanied by two Little Misses at the Middlesbrough shopping centre on Saturday.

Children of all ages had the chance to meet Mr Tickle and Mr Bump, Little Miss Sunshine and Little Miss Princess as part of a free family fun day at the centre’s Newton Mall.

Along with Roger Hargreaves’ official characters, face painting and balloon modelling was also on offer, with the chance to win Mr Men and Little Miss goodies and Cleveland Centre gift cards.

Little ones were lucky enough to have their photograph taken with their favourite characters and download it later free of charge from the Cleveland Centre website.

Cleveland Centre manager Graeme Skillen said: “We were all excited about the visit of the real Mr Men and Little Misses – and shoppers young and not-so-young were keen to meet our special guests.

“There was a real party atmosphere with a photo with the Mr Men for every child, so we were happy to send shoppers home with smiles on their faces.”

Israeli airstrike kills mother, 4 children in Gaza

GAZA CITY: An Israeli airstrike killed a mother and four children from the same family in northern Gaza on Sunday, medics said.

The strike hit a home near Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory, emergency spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said, as Sunday’s death toll in Gaza reached at least 14.

Earlier strikes in the day killed a one-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, Qudra said. Several other air strikes brought Sunday’s death toll to at least 14 people, including six children. The conflict, which erupted on July 8 when Israel launched its operation against the besieged coastal territory, has claimed more than 2,100 Palestinian lives and those of 68 Israelis, four of them civilians.

Israel also killed a top Hamas financial official in an air strike on Gaza City. Mohammed Al-Ghul was an important Hamas actor, Israeli army spokesman Major Arye Shalicar claimed. The airstrike targeted a car in Gaza City, killing Ghul, the army said. Palestinian medics in Gaza confirmed his death

NYSD League: Marske edge nearer to safety with six wicket win

Marske produced a momentous performance, their best of the season, to take a leap towards safety in the premier division of the Darlington Building Society NYSD League on Saturday.

Enjoying their first win in 15 games, and only their third all summer, the Seasiders extended the gap between themselves and their danger-threatened neighbours Saltburn from 23 to 32 points, and with five games remaining, including today’s visit to unpredictable Barnard Castle, a further victory could be sufficient to cement the place they won back for the start of this season.

Marske’s victory was by six wickets over Guisborough who posted 175 from their 50 overs after Roshen Silva made a carefully compiled 87. He faced 125 balls and hit six fours and a six to take his overall run making to 659. Recently promoted Brad Passmore (22 from 32 balls) impressed and skipper Phil Holdsworth (22 from 33 balls) became the latest to reach the milestone of 500 runs. But Sri Lankan Nadeera Nawela (3-47 from 14 overs) and the evergreen Chris Nicholls ( 3-50 from 16) curtailed the Priorymen’s progress.

With rain threatening Marske wasted no time stepping up the pace of their reply and despite losing newly acquired Phil Mustard for 14, Nawela joined with Gary Lynch to share an exciting run chase.

Lynch made an unbeaten 61 from 60 balls and Nawela cracked 57 from 60. Between them they hit 22 boundaries. Silva (2-23) and Ryan Murray (2-60) did their best to halt the run-fest.

Saltburn just can’t step up the pace to turn drawn finishes into winning performances and they are favourites to return to the lower league from where they came just the season before last.

Visitors Redcar were bowled out for 156 with Niraj Patel (4-36) and Dan Conway (3-52) causing them the most trouble. In reply Saltburn found the accuracy of Mohammad Zahid (3-55) and Mohammud Saad hard to score from and they fell 14 runs short of their target – on 142 for 6 - despite an unbeaten 41 from skipper Steve Purcifer.

Two other games were abandoned due to the weather and one, Stokesley’s clash with close neighbours Great Ayton, could have ended their chances of chasing leaders Darlington and Richmondshire for the title.

They had their hosts in trouble on 117-6 when a cloudburst left the Ayton ground under water. Both the home side’s outstanding run makers, Chris Batchelor (36) and Nick Hendrie (24), were back in the pavilion and Andrew Weighell (2-29) and his brother James (2-37) were getting up a head of steam. But with just 26 overs played the ground was too bad to continue.

Middlesbrough’s Acklam Park was also hit by the storm although their game with Marton reached 43 overs before it was called off. Marton were on 257-2 with Lee Hodgson making his second century, although his first in the league, and Aussie Sam Jones making a half century. Hodgson hit his unbeaten 122 from 111 balls with 12 fours and three sixes.

Leaders Darlington maintained their 29 point lead over Richmondshire in a title race which could be decided when the two meet on the last day of the season.

In the NEPL, Stockton’s game with Durham Academy was washed out with the Teessiders on 73 for 5.

Long jumper Chris Tomlinson admits he has a big task ahead

Chris Tomlinson admits it will be back to the drawing board again after finishing eighth in the men’s long jump at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix yesterday.

Despite posting 8.23m at the start of June, Tomlinson has struggled to reach the same level since, failing to pass the eight metre mark a second time this summer.

That period included a fifth place finish at last month’ Commonwealth Games as rival Greg Rutherford took gold.

And it proved yet another frustrating day at the office for Tomlinson this weekend at the prestigious IAAF Diamond League meet in Birmingham.

He opened the competition with 7.73m in the first round but failed to beat it, leaving him in last spot.

Victory went to American Christian Taylor with 8.09m with Olympic, Commonwealth and now European champion Rutherford fourth on 8.04m.

And Tomlinson admitted he would be taking a few days off to reassess his performances.

“It was not great out there but that’s sometimes how it goes. Technically it wasn’t horrendous, just physically it wasn’t there,” said Tomlinson.

“I’ve just got to go back, take a few days off training and let the central nervous system and the body recharge.

“It’s not been an ideal season. I opened up well but I picked up a bad injury. I’ve gone into the 7.90s but I’ve failed to move it on.”

Tomlinson was due to be joined by Richard Kilty in Birmingham but the sprinter had to pull out with a stomach bug.

And while there was little to cheer for Tomlinson, he was already thinking about wiping the slate clean.

The long jumper’s best major achievement still stands at the world indoor silver medal he won in Valencia in 2008 but with next year’s world championships the next big target, Tomlinson backed himself to hit back.

“I’m in Berlin next and then I will take it from there,” he added. “I’ll be back strongly next season though, there are things to work on and I’ll just take it step by ste.”

Sainsbury’s is proud to support British Athletics through the Summer Series events and is committed to helping young people lead healthier, more active lifestyles. For more information visit http://ift.tt/1mcE81N

Redcar Bears can take the sting out of Scorpions - Aaron Summers

Skipper Aaron Summers believes Redcar Bears can continue the upturn in form shown at the end of last week by taking points off play-off hopefuls Scunthorpe when they visit the Eddie Wright Raceway this afternoon (3pm).

The Ecco Finishing Bears took four points from Sheffield in their back-to-back matches last Thursday and Friday and this week face home and away clashes with the Lincolnshire outfit, against whom they have have a mixed record.

Today the Teessiders line-up without number one Richard Lawson, who is committed to racing for Elite League side Lakeside Hammers.

So they bring in another former Bears favourite Ulrich Ostergaard as a guest and Summers feels the inclusion of the vastly experienced Dane, who only left the South Tees Motorsports Park during the winter, will not significantly decrease the Bears fire-power.

“We’ve won at Scunthorpe before this season so we can do it again,” insists the 25-year old Australian, who is now Redcar’s longest-serving rider.

“Scunthorpe have hit a bit of form recently and have David Howe (an ex-England International) down at reserve now, but Jan (Graversen) can score well for us at reserve so we’ll certainly go and give it our best.

“I think Ulrich will be out to prove a point - he got left out of the team this year and has been riding well for his new club Peterborough.”

SCORPIONS:  Josh Auty, Ashley Birks, Ryan Douglas, David Howe, Thomas Jorgensen, Nicolai Klindt, Matt Williamson.

BEARS:  Jan Graversen, Rafal Konopka, Mark Lemon, Ulrich Ostergaard (guest),Hugh Skidmore, Aaron Summers, Carl Wilkinson.

Duffill, Skidmore, Bears promoter Brian Havelock and son and former world champion Gary appear at a special speedway forum, hosted by the North Yorkshire Road Racing Supporters Club, at the Golden Lion Hotel in Northallerton tomorrow (8pm).

Wearside League: Silky Stockton Town are still ticking along at the top

Stockton Town face an early top-of-the-table clash at Easington Colliery on Wednesday night after maintaining their Wearside League lead with a 2-0 home win against Silksworth.

Second-half goals from Chris Stockton and Stephen Roberts gave the champions a sixth straight victory which keep them top on goal difference from Whitehaven and Easington CW.

Silksworth made it difficult in the first half as they battled for every ball in midfield, which kept goalmouth chances down to a minimum.

Stockton opening goalscorer and midfielder Carlton McCabe had the home teams’s two best efforts before the break.

Stockton saw his header saved by Silksworth keeper Joe Clayton and McCabe sent a shot against the foot of a post.

Silksworth continued to block up midfield after half-time, but the breakthrough was finally made on 64 minutes.

The ball broke to Chris Stockton on the edge of the box and he fired in a fierce shot that fizzed past Clayton and into the net.

Silksworth showed more attacking devil after conceding and Stockton keeper Michael Arthur had a busy couple of busy minutes with shots from Liam Gill and Liam Hodgson going close.

Micky Dunwell’s side secured the points six minutes from time when Roberts finished from six yards from substitute Matty Garbutt’s cross.

Stockton Town will have James Ward available to add to the squad for the top of the table clash with Easington CW in midweek.

Redcar Athletic are nicely nestled in seventh after five games after being made to work for their 3-2 victory at ailing Annfield Plain.

All of the goals arrived in the second half with Adam Preston getting two for Redcar, either side of a James Swann tap-in.

Winless Wolviston tumbled to a fifth defeat in six, 2-0 at Sunderland WE.

Plans to transform derelict White Rose pub in Middlesbrough into restaurant and takeaway approved

Plans to transform a derelict pub into a restaurant and takeaway have been given the green light.

Middlesbrough Council’s planning committee has granted permission for the proposals at The White Rose on Marton Road, near Middlesbrough town centre.

The pub became vacant in January and work has now started on site.

But the building is now set to be converted into a restaurant and a single storey extension constructed to accommodate a takeaway and kitchen area.

Another extension will also be added on the north side of the building for toilets.

The application, which could now create up to 30 jobs, was recommended for approval with conditions.

However, there were some neighbour objections to the proposals from Ali Mourzzam.

Concerns included the “unsociable hours”, increased traffic and the visual impact.

As previously reported, The Gazette reported how the once-popular pub had been sold to a new owner. It had been offloaded by then owner Spirit Pub Company.

The substantial building, at the junction of Marton Road and Egmont Road in Longlands, extending to 0.4 acres, was sold for the asking price of £375,000.

The sale was handled by leisure property specialists Fleurets.

Man taken to hospital after A19 car crash in which vehicle burst into flames

A man was taken to hospital after the car he was driving ended up on its side and burst into flames.

The single-vehicle collision happened on the A19 at Crathorne at 12.23am yesterday.

The vehicle landed on its side and then caught fire.

Luckily the sole occupant was not trapped and was able to get himself out of the car before emergency services arrived.

Police, ambulance and fire crews from Coulby Newham, Stokesley and Northallerton attended the scene.

The man was taken to hospital by road ambulance with injuries not believed to be serious.

Israel destroys seven story government building in Gaza

The Israeli Air Force bombed a seven story government building Saturday evening in Gaza Strip; no casualties or injuries have been reported.

Anadolu news agency correspondent quoted eye-witnesses as saying that the Israeli warplanes bombed the seven story Zourob compound in the centre of Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip which included commercial shops and government offices belonging to the Palestinian Interior Ministry.

The witnesses said the Israeli warplanes levelled the building and severely damaged dozens of homes in the surrounding area.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry, Ashraf Al- Qudra told Anadolu that “the Israeli bombardment of the Zourob compound in Rafah did not result in any casualties since the building included commercial shops and government offices that do not work during the night hours”.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli air force bombed a residential building consisting of eleven floors in the southern Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City; which led to its complete destruction and partial damage to dozens of surrounding homes.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 12 Palestinians were killed since Saturday in a series of Israeli raids on different parts of the Gaza Strip. The new deaths brings the number of victims who fell in the Israeli war to 2,102 people, including 565 children, 265 women and 99 elderly, as well as to injuring 10,597 others, including 3,189 children, 1,994 women and 388 elderly.

Israeli forces resumed on Tuesday evening its aggression on the Gaza Strip, in response to what it claims “Hamas breaking of the ceasefire”, which the Islamic movement denies.

Israel claims that 64 soldiers and four civilians were killed during the war on Gaza and more than 530 were wounded, mostly civilians, but the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing claims it had killed 161 Israeli soldiers and captured another.

New Marske U9s hoping for a good Wish Sport result

A team of keen young footballers are hoping to net plenty of tokens in this year’s Wish Sport campaign.

New Marske Under 9s football team is now in its third year, having been a team since Under 7s, the club’s first league.

The friendly team of boys are trained by four volunteer FA qualified coaches.

The team also receives a lot of help from the children’s parents who support their fundraising efforts.

Having entered the Wish Sport campaign before, the team used the money they received to buy new pieces of equipment such as balls and bibs. The money was also put towards the cost of a fun day out which the team all enjoyed.

Gary Pursley, of the club, said: “Any money we receive from this year’s campaign will also be put towards more new equipment as well as kit for the team.

“If possible, we would also like to put some money towards the cost of another fun day for the children.”

The Gazette has teamed up with Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation, which is providing £30,000 to share between groups across Teesside.

Tokens are being printed in the Gazette every day for groups to collect. The more collected, the greater the share of the prize pot.

This year the tokens collected will be worth a share of £25,000, with the remaining £5,000 up for grabs during online bonus days.

All groups will be in with a chance during the bonus days to win a share of the additional money pot. The five groups that receive the most votes on http://ift.tt/1md60Qe will get the cash.

Andy Preston, Chairman of Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation, said: “Supported by some very special businesses and individuals who care passionately about this region and believe in supporting their community, our charitable movement has raised more than £700,000 for Teesside good causes in just three years.

“Those funds have allowed the Foundation to achieve some truly amazing things and made a real difference across Teesside.

“Wish Sport stands out as one of our best in many ways, not least because we are helping local sports clubs to shape their own financial destiny and continue the outstanding work that they do.

“I know from experience that these clubs survive and thrive because several enthusiastic volunteers generously dedicate much of their spare time to running the organisation and fundraising.

“I was delighted to see so many sports clubs from such a wide range of activities take part in previous Wish Sport campaigns. Improving on what we achieved over the last two years will take some doing but Teesside is such a hotbed of sport that I am sure we can do it.”

To help New Marske U9s, send your tokens to: 3 Folland Drive, Marske by the Sea, TS11 6NJ.

Musician Roger Waters compares Israelis to Nazis

Remarks by the musician Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd, comparing the modern Israeli state to Nazi Germany have put him at the centre of a furious dispute.

The veteran rock star’s argument that Israeli treatment of the Palestinians can be compared to the atrocities of Nazi Germany has buffed many zionists. “The parallels with what went on in the 1930s in Germany are so crushingly obvious,” he said in an American online interview last week.

Waters, 70, a well-known supporter of the Palestinian cause, has frequently defended himself against accusations that he is antisemitic, claiming he has a right to urge fellow artists to boycott Israel.

Speaking to the leftwing CounterPunch magazine, the musician criticised the US government for being unduly influenced by the Israeli “propaganda machine”.

The former Pink Floyd frontman, who has recently toured the world with a show based on the influential 1979 album The Wall, went on to describe the Israeli rabbinate as “bizarre” and accused them of believing that Palestinians and other Arabs in the Middle East were “sub-human”. Waters suggested the “Jewish lobby” was “extraordinarily powerful”. On the subject of the Holocaust, he said: “There were many people that pretended that the oppression of the Jews was not going on. From 1933 until 1946. So this is not a new scenario. Except that this time it’s the Palestinian people being murdered.”

Speaking from New York on Saturday night, Waters strongly rejected Rabbi Boteach’s characterisation of his views. He said: “I do not know Rabbi Boteach, and am not prepared to get into a slanging match with him. I will say this: I have nothing against Jews or Israelis, and I am not antisemitic. I deplore the policies of the Israeli government in the occupied territories and Gaza. They are immoral, inhuman and illegal. I will continue my non-violent protests as long as the government of Israel continues with these policies.

“If Rabbi Boteach can make a case for the Israel government’s policies, I look forward to hearing it. It is difficult to make arguments to defend the Israeli government’s policies, so would-be defenders often use a diversionary tactic, they routinely drag the critic into a public arena and accuse them of being an antisemite.”

Waters continued: “The Holocaust was brutal and disgusting beyond our imagination. We must never forget it. We must always remain vigilant. We must never stand by silent and indifferent to the sufferings of others, whatever their race, colour, ethnic background or religion. All human beings deserve the right to live equally under the law.”

In August Waters used his Facebook page to respond to allegations that he was an “open hater of Jews”, made by Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in an interview with an American weekly Jewish newspaper, the Algemeiner .

“Often I can ignore these attacks, but Rabbi Cooper’s accusations are so wild and bigoted they demand a response,” Waters wrote, adding that he had “many very close Jewish friends”.

Picture gallery: Boro fans at the Riverside for the home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday

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Picture gallery: Boro fans at the Riverside for the game against Sheffield Wednesday

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Boro fans who chose to spend their Saturday afternoon at the Riverside headed for home disappointed following Sheffield Wednesday's fully deserving victory.

Almost 16,000 Boro fans were joined by 1,848 loud travelling supporters who made the trip to Teesside for Saturday's game.

But Boro slumped to their first home defeat of the season after handing Wednesday a three-goal headstart.

Two late Grant Leadbitter penalties made the score more respectable from Boro's point of view but it was a game Karanka's men never looked like taking anything from.

Were you at the Riverside for the match? Take a look through our picture gallery of fans and see if you can spot yourself or your mates in the stands.

Libyan Dawn forces accuse Egypt and UAE of bombing Tripoli

A spokesman of Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) troops accused Egypt and the United Arab Emirates of involvement in the airstrikes that hit military bases in Tripoli last Friday leading to the death of 12 Libyan fighters.

At a press conference in Tripoli on Saturday, Ahmed Hadiya, the Fajr Libya spokesman, said that preliminary information indicate that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are “complicit” in the bombardment of Libyan military bases in Tripoli this week.

“Fajr Libya forces reserve the right to respond to this aggression,” he told reporters.

Airstrikes on Fajr Libya military bases in Tripoli killed at least 10 people on Friday, Anadolu reported.

Hadiya called on the international community, including the UN, EU, Arab League, and African Union, and all countries which supported the17 February revolution to “undertake their responsibility in preventing any violation of Libyan sovereignty.”

He held the members of parliament convening in Tobruk and the interim government responsible for the “aggression,” warning them that they would be brought to justice