Europe Cold Snap Claims 250 Lives

KIEV (AFP) -- Hundreds of people were plucked to safety Saturday after a ferry caught in a snow storm ran aground off Italy, as a vicious cold snap that has claimed over 250 lives across Europe refused to ease its clench.
Ukraine has suffered the heaviest toll of 122 deaths, including many people who froze to death in the streets, as temperatures plunged to as low as minus 38.1 degrees Celsius (minus 36.5 Fahrenheit) in parts of the continent.
Some airports were shut, flights and trains were delayed, and highways gridlocked as emergency services raced to clear the falling snow.
But as Europe huddled indoors for warmth, Russian gas giant Gazprom said it could not satisfy western Europe's demand for more energy.
In Italy, the Shardon ferry ran aground shortly after setting off from Civitavecchia port near Rome, causing panic among the 262 passengers who feared a repeat of a cruise ship tragedy in the area last month which killed 32 people.
Coastguard spokesman Carnine Albano said the accident, which tore a 25-metre (80-foot) hole in the ship's side above the waterline, was caused after the vessel was buffeted by a violent snow storm from the north-east.
All passengers were evacuated to safety and no injuries were reported.
Heavy snowfalls in Rome caused the capital better known for its warm sunshine to grind to a halt. Parts of the Venice lagoon also froze over.
In Poland, the death toll rose to 45 as temperatures reached minus 27 Celsius in the north-east.
Snow fell in Bosnia for the second straight day, paralysing traffic, with one patient dying as the ambulance was unable to reach his village in the south of the country.
Public transport was disrupted in Sarajevo, with several tramlines blocked by snow since Friday evening.
Even Croatian and Serbian Presidents Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic were forced to postpone their departure from Friday's regional meeting, as they were blocked in the ski centre Jahorina, near Sarajevo.
"I can only leave the house if I dig a tunnel with a shovel, my car has become a mountain of snow," IT worker Eldar Hajdarevic told AFP by phone.
In tiny Montenegro, villages in the mountainous north were cut off. Rescuers managed to evacuate 120 people, among them 31 school children from neighbouring Albania on a field trip, Interior Minister Ivan Brajovic said.
Both airports -- in the capital Podgorica and the Adriatic port Tivat -- were closed for traffic, while the authorities ordered a railway service to be halted fearing mountainous avalanches.
The Netherlands' Amsterdam-Schiphol airport meanwhile reported "dozens of delays and cancellations."
The cold snap has also killed people in the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, France as well as Austria and Greece.


Tens of Thousands Rally Against Putin

MOSCOW (AP) — Tens of thousands of Russians flooded downtown Moscow on Saturday to demand an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's rule, casting a strong challenge to his bid to reclaim the presidency in March.
The massive protest — which drew 120,000 people, according to organizers — reflected a mounting opposition to Putin's 12-year rule that has badly dented his father-of-the-nation image, even though he's expected to win the vote that would extend his rule by another six years.
The protest leaders hope to stage another rally a week before the March 4 election to raise the heat on Putin. The previous rallies — the second of which also drew an estimated 120,000 — were the biggest in Russia since the protests 20 years ago that paved the way to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
On Saturday, protesters wearing white ribbons and holding placards reading "Russia Without Putin!" and "For Free Elections" braved temperatures as low as minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) as they marched about one kilometer (less than a mile) to a square across the river from the Kremlin where their rally was held.
Authorities had sanctioned the protest, even though they had rejected the organizers' earlier request to gather just outside the Kremlin. Thousands of police monitored the peaceful protest without intervening.
An anti-Putin protest also took place in St.Petersburg Saturday, drawing 5,000 people, and smaller rallies were also held in several dozen of cities across Russia.
In Moscow, the protesters, many bundled in fur coats against the cold, chanted "Putin, go away!" and "Russia without Putin!" Communists and nationalists also joined the protest, waving big flags.
The demonstrations in December were triggered by evidence of fraud in favor of Putin's party in December's parliamentary election. Putin has ignored the demands for a repeat election, but he has sought to assuage the mostly urban middle-class protesters' anger by making vague promises of liberalization.
Putin also has sought to consolidate his core support group of blue-collar workers, farmers, public servants and the elderly with frequent meetings with pre-selected groups of people, which received lavish prime-time coverage on state-controlled nationwide television stations. He has tried to play down the protests and cast their leaders as Western lackeys working to weaken Russia.
The presidential race is pitting Putin against three leaders of parliamentary parties, who have run against him in the past, and one fresh face — the billionaire owner of New Jersey Nets basketball team, Mikhail Prokhorov. Prokhorov joined Saturday's protest, but refrained from speaking at the rally.
None of the contenders is expected to pose any serious challenge to Putin, whose ratings are now hovering just below 50 percent needed for a first-round victory in the March 4 election. If Putin fails to win an outright victory, he will face a runoff three weeks later, most likely with Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, a rival he could easily defeat.
But protesters at Saturday's rally denounced the race as illegitimate, saying that tight controls over the political scene imposed by Putin during his 12-year rule have removed any genuine political competition.
Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the opposition Yabloko party who was barred from the race by election authorities, said the fight will not end after the presidential election. "We are defending the future of our country," he said. "Our foes will soon see that it's only the beginning."
As evening arrived, the rally ended as planned with a call of "Not a Single Vote for Putin" and demands for legal reforms that would open the way for political competition and for new parliamentary and presidential elections. The protesters also demanded release of political prisoners and a punishment for those involved in the vote-rigging.
Before leaving the scene, the protesters released white balloons — a symbol of peaceful protest.
In an apparent attempt to demonstrate a massive public support for Putin, his backers gathered across town, but their rally only drew about 15,000. Municipal workers, union activists and teachers who showed up there said they came of their own will, but some admitted they had been asked by authorities to attend.


Dozens Hurt in Clashes Over Yemen Vote

SANAA (AFP) -- Armed clashes between supporters and opponents of a presidential election in Yemen left dozens of people wounded in the main southern city of Aden, activists from both sides said on Saturday.
The violence erupted late Friday when supporters of the Southern Movement, a separatist group, attacked a march organised by rivals from a year-old protest movement against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, one activist said.
More than 30 demonstrators were injured, some by gunfire, he added.
A medical official confirmed that dozens of people had been hurt, and one who suffered serous head injuries was rushed to hospital in Aden.
A Southern Movement activist blamed the other side for triggering the violence by staging their demonstration in a stronghold of the movement, and said 15 people from his group were injured -- nine by bullets.
Nasser Tawil of the Southern Movement said the "tragic and unacceptable" clashes happened because supporters and opponents of Yemen's presidential election set for February 21 were in the same neighbourhood.
Some factions of the Movement have been campaigning for a boycott of the election, which they say fails to meet their aspirations for autonomy or even southern independence.
Saleh's deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, himself a southerner, is the sole candidate in the election to succeed the veteran strongman who is standing down after more than three decades in power.
Nationwide protests erupted against Saleh's regime in January last year, triggering months of bloodshed.
Saleh himself arrived in New York on January 28 to receive medical treatment for blast wounds suffered in a June bombing at the presidential palace.
US officials have said he will not return to Yemen until after the election.
Southerners have long complained of discrimination by the authorities in Sanaa, and Tawil accused Saleh supporters of stoking tensions in the south, proposing the election be postponed.
"Why not entrust parliament with guaranteeing Hadi as president to ward off sedition, since Saleh loyalists are likely to repeat the events of Friday night?" he asked.
Ali Salem al-Baid, the exiled main southern leader and former vice president, issued a statement blaming militants loyal to Islamist party Al-Islah for the violence in Aden.
Al-Islah is the most prominent member of the Common Front parliamentary opposition coalition that now heads the country's national unity government.
Baid accused Al-Islah of getting its northern supporters to stage protests in the south, "pretending in this way that the inhabitants of Aden and the south support the comedy of this election" for president.


Hackers Intercept FBI, Scotland Yard Call

LONDON (AP) — Trading jokes and swapping leads, investigators from the FBI and Scotland Yard spent the conference call strategizing about how to bring down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, responsible for a string of embarrassing attacks across the Internet.
Unfortunately for the cyber sleuths, the hackers were in on the call too — and now so is the rest of the world.
Anonymous published the roughly 15-minute-long recording of the call on the Internet on Friday, gloating in a Twitter message that "the FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
The humiliating coup exposed a vulnerability that might have had more serious consequences had someone else been listening in on the line.
"A law enforcement agency using unencrypted, unsecure communications is a major fumble," said Marcus Carey, who spent years securing communications for the U.S. National Security Agency before joining security-risk assessment firm Rapid7.
"What if this event was talking about some terrorist plot to blow up something and 'they' were listening in? It could've been much worse if it was related to an al-Qaida plot or something ... So this is a lesson learned."
The leak was one of a slew of Anonymous hacks that hit websites across the United States Friday, including in Boston, where the police site was defaced, and in Salt Lake City, where officials said that personal information of confidential informants and tipsters had been compromised.
Anonymous also claimed credit for defacing the Greek Justice Ministry's website and stealing a mountain of data from the Virginia-based law firm that defended a U.S. Marine recently convicted for his role in the bloody 2005 raid in Iraq that became known as the Haditha massacre.
The hackers' successful attempt to spy on the very people charged with tracking them down remained the most dramatic coup of the day, with sensitive police conversations broadcast across the world.
The FBI said the communication "was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained," but added that no FBI systems were breached. It said that "a criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation, told The Associated Press that authorities were looking at the possibility the message was intercepted from the private email account of one of the dozens of invited participants — who hailed from the U.K., Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Anonymous published just such an email Friday, complete with the date, time and password needed to access the call.
Graham Cluley, an expert with data security company Sophos, said that anyone with that information could have "rung in and silently listened to the call just like Anonymous did."
In Paris, a French police official who was briefed on the interception said it could prompt international law enforcement bodies to be more circumspect about sharing information in conference calls. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record.
Scotland Yard said there was no immediate evidence their operations were compromised.


Bodies Pulled From Water After PNG Ferry Accident

PORT MORESBY (AFP) -- Papua New Guinean authorities began retrieving the bodies of those killed when a crowded ferry sank two days ago in what is thought to be among the nation's worst sea accidents.
More than 100 people are still missing from the MV Rabaul Queen, which went down about nine nautical miles off the coast early Thursday. Air and sea search efforts were ongoing despite rough weather.
"Four bodies were picked up from the water," rescue coordinator Captain Nurur Rahman from PNG's National Maritime Safety Authority told AFP on Saturday.
"The water at this time is still rough which is slowing down a little bit the search and rescue. We haven't found any survivors today."
Rahman said the bodies were discovered, along with debris from the wreck, about 50 nautical miles southeast of where the vessel sank.
The authority said the 246 people rescued in a joint rescue operation with neighbouring Australia were undergoing medical assessment at the Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, a major coastal gateway and the doomed boat's destination.
As the search effort involving seven fixed wing aircraft, three helicopters and seven boats continued, some families in Lae were still hoping to find their loved ones among the survivors.
"I am still... waiting for them to arrive," one elderly woman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "Maybe they are dead by now."
PNG-based Rabaul Shipping, the owner of the vessel, said Saturday it appeared that the boat had been hit by a freak wave which then left it vulnerable as another large wave came rolling in.
In a statement, it said it had spoken with the Rabaul Queen captain who had indicated weather conditions during the voyage were no worse than on some other journeys on the route.
"There were however large swells, prompting the captain to shift from an auto-pilot function and take manual control," it said.
"A freak wave hit the ferry, causing steering and positioning difficulties.
"A second large wave then hit the ferry as it was (in) a state of vulnerability, rolling it and causing it to sink in just minutes."
A second captain who was in the wheel house of the Japanese-built single engine ferry at the time has not been found, the company said.
The boat, which was travelling between Kimbe and Lae when it went down, had 351 passengers and 12 crew onboard, the firm said. Rahman said the boat was licensed to carry 310.
Rahman said officials had been unable to obtain an official manifest for the voyage because the offices of the company involved had been in "lock down" since the accident as the relatives of those onboard gathered outside.
But Rabaul Shipping said it had handed the ferry manifest to local authorities within hours of the accident and was working to assist rescue efforts as best it could.
"We again express our deepest sorrow and condolences to the many people who are suffering because of this terrible tragedy," managing director Peter Sharp said in the statement.
PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has ordered an immediate investigation into the tragedy while Queen Elizabeth II, the country's head of state, has sent a message of sympathy from Buckingham Palace.
Rahman said the accident was probably the worst sea tragedy to hit PNG.
"We do not know how many survivors we should be getting, but if we calculate it from today as it stands, then it is by far the worst one in history," he told AFP.


Egyptian Party Questions Camp David Accord

TEHRAN (FNA) – A leading Egyptian political party lashed out at Tel Aviv for breaching the Camp David Accord, and stressed the necessity for revising the treaty.
"Since the accord has emphasized establishment of peace in the region and unfortunately Israel has not implement it, the treaty should be revised and the conditions demanded by the Egyptian side should be implemented as soon as possible," Spokesman of Wafd Party Mohamed Mostafa Shardi told FNA on Saturday.
"While establishment of peace in the Middle East can no doubt be expected if only Israel feels bound by the implementation of the articles of the Camp David Accord, Israel has never been committed to the treaty since it was signed," he added.
"We have never felt that our Palestinian brothers are feeling peace and security and we want this agreement and its articles to be revised for the very same reason," he noted.
The remarks by Mostafa Shardi came as the two main Islamic parties in Egypt, which won the majority of votes in the recent parliamentary elections in the country, have voiced their opposition to the Cairo-Tel Aviv ties.
Speaking to FNA in Cairo in January, spokesman of the Salafi al-Nour party rejected reports about a meeting between the party's leaders and Israel's ambassador to Egypt, and described the reports as smear campaign to defame the Islamist party.
"Al-Nour party can in no way ignore the Arab nations and Arab world's rights and the restoration of these rights is an unchangeable principle of the party," Nader Bakar said at the time.
"Al-Nour is against the establishment of any relations with the Zionist regime," he stated.
The spokesman underlined that his party would certainly strive to change the Camp David Accord in the interests of Egyptian nation.
The Salafi al-Nour is among the two main Islamist parties that won a majority of votes in both the first the second rounds of Egypt's parliamentary. It has won 20% of ballots.
Early in December, a senior member of the Egyptian Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood) party underlined the necessity for revising Camp David Accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv, describing the pact as "cruel".
"It is natural that after the victory of the revolution many things and issues should be studied and dealt with," Kamal al-Halbawi told FNA at the time.
"Hence, the issue of revising the Camp David Accord will also be in the list of the top priorities of (Egypt's new) officials to be studied in its appropriate time," he added.
Also, former Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian territories Gamal Mazloum had told FNA that Egypt should take action to boost its forces in the Sinai Desert and make a formal request to correct and modify the Camp David Accord.


US Officer Kills an Afghan Soldier

KABUL (Dispatches) – An American military officer has shot dead an Afghan solider in Sar-e Pol province in northern Afghanistan, Press TV reports.
The incident occurred early Saturday morning at a US military base in Sar-e Pol province when a US officer opened fire on an Afghan soldier, Afghanistan's officials said.
No information has yet been released about the details of the incident and the reason behind the killing.
The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 with the stated goal of dismantling the al-Qaeda militants, toppling the Taliban regime, democratizing the country and restoring security to the nation.
A decade after the invasion, security situation remains fragile in Afghanistan despite the presence of around 140,000 US-led foreign forces in the Asian country.
Meanwhile, civilian casualties caused by US-led military operations have triggered deep anger among Afghans.
Meanwhile, the United States' military has dropped all charges against the last of five soldiers accused of killing unarmed Afghan civilians for sport.
The US Army on Friday dropped all charges against Michael Wagnon who had been charged with the killing of an Afghan civilian in February 2010.
A US army spokesman stated the charges were dropped “in the interest of justice,” but gave no clear reasons for the dismissal.
The case is linked to a “kill team” organized by Spc. Jeremy Morlock, who has confessed his own involvement in the killings which were staged to look like combat engagements in Kandahar province.
Morlock testified that Wagnon participated in the scheme to kill an Afghan civilian.
Four other members in Wagnon's infantry have been convicted and sent to prison in connection with the murder of unarmed Afghan civilians.
Seven other soldiers were convicted with lesser offenses including drug use, mutilating and photographing Afghan remains, illicit weapons possessions, and gang-beating a fellow soldier who reported the drug use.
In all, 11 of the 12 soldiers were convicted on various counts.
Since the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, American forces have committed war crimes including the use of illegal weaponry, murder, torture, and prisoner abuse.
Afghan men walk past by US soldiers in Ghazni province on February 2, 2012.


Religious Leader:
US Muslims Live Under Nazi-Style Oppression

WASHINGTON (Press TV) – The oppression of Muslims in the United States has become similar to the mistreatment Jews experienced in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, a US-based Imam tells Press TV.
“This is the atmosphere we live in. These are the environmental circumstances that we encounter as we try to practice our daily Islam,” Abdul Alim Musa, the Imam of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, DC, told Press TV during an interview conducted on Thursday local time on the US East Coast.
That has turned many Muslims into “government informers” and reinforced the “state of suspicion and paranoia” in which Muslims live, Musa added.
“Many new immigrants that come to the United States are hired right off the boat, to go to the masjid (mosque), right, and become spies for the government,” he said.
“In fact, the government, seems that they are importing spies from our countries, right, to infiltrate Muslim group movements and organizations,” the Masjid Al-Islam Imam asserted.
Musa made the comments shortly after a May 2006 intelligence report was released which suggested that New York police officers should expand their covert operations against Shia communities in the northeastern region of the US, solely because of their religion.
“This document is a continuation of the oppression, the spreading of fear and suspicion, not only to the general public, about Muslims, but also amongst Muslims themselves,” Musa said.
According to many Muslims, hate crimes, racial profiling, and discrimination have increased in the US since the 9/11 attacks.
In January 2012, it was revealed that the New York Police Department (NYPD) had used an anti-Islamic documentary film entitled “The Third Jihad” as a training video in 2011.
The video, which was used to train over 1,500 NYPD anti-terrorist police cadets, depicted Muslims as violent and supportive of extremism.
PM/HGL


Taliban’s Mullah Omar Sent Letter to White House

WASHINGTON (Press TV) – The United States last year received a letter from reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, urging the White House to transfer five senior Taliban officials from the Guantanamo Bay prison.
The letter, conveyed through a conciliator and written for US President Barack Obama, reportedly expressed annoyance that Washington had not yet transferred the Taliban members out of the notorious detention center.
However, the White House doubts the authenticity of the letter since Washington has “engaged various interlocutors as part of the reconciliation process, we have received a variety of messages that were represented as being from senior members of the Taliban," a US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
"However, we haven't received a letter that we are certain is from Mullah Omar," the official added.
Mullah Omar fled Kabul on a motorbike in October 2001 when the US invaded Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, US intelligence officials confirmed that Washington may transfer five militants to Afghan custody in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar as an incentive to bring the Taliban to peace talks.
The prisoners include some of the detainees brought to Guantanamo during the initial days of the US invasion that ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
At least one man, Mohammed Fazl, has been accused in the massacre of thousands of Shia Muslims during the Taliban rule from September 1996 to October 2001 Afghanistan.
The US-led war in Afghanistan has become the longest war in the US history. Thousands of civilians, including women and children, have been killed as a result of the war.


37 Killed in South Sudan Shootout

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) – Thirty-seven people have been killed in South Sudan during a shootout at a peace meeting held to resolve disputes about stolen cattle, officials say.
Local officials from the state of Unity and neighboring Lakes and Warrap states and the United Nations met on Friday for peace talks in the remote town of Mayendit in Unity state in an effort to reduce interethnic tension.
"These guys just started shooting everywhere," said Unity State Information Minister Gideon Gatpan Thoar.
"The fight just started there and no one knew the cause," said Lakes State Governor Chol Tong Mayay.
He added that people were just shooting at each other, without knowing whose police and army they were.
A number of civilians were killed in the incident, but most of the victims were policemen.
The peace talks were called after a series of clashes occurred in the region, including a brutal attack last week that killed 79 people.
Thousands of people have been displaced due to ethnic strife in South Sudan.
According to the UN, Friday's deadly incident took place after a row broke out at the meeting. Four trucks then turned up at the scene carrying heavily armed men, who opened fire indiscriminately.
The gunmen included policemen from different units, soldiers, and security guards.
One member of the UN peacekeeping mission was also injured in the shootout.
A herdsman from the Nuer tribe stands among his cattle at a cattle-camp, near Nyal, in south Sudan on November 11, 2011.


Syria Rejects Media Reports on Army Attack on Homs

TEHRAN (FNA) – Damascus on Saturday categorically denied media reports accusing Syrian army of involvement in shelling the Central city of Homs in which hundreds of people were killed and injured.
The government "denies shelling by the army in certain districts of Homs, as peddled by television stations that are inciting violence," SANA news agency reported on Saturday.
"The civilians shown by satellite television stations are citizens who were kidnapped and killed by armed gunmen," SANA stated.
The accusation came as talks are underway at the UN Security Council on a draft resolution about developments in Syria.
On Friday, Russia said it will not support the latest draft UN resolution on Syria, describing recent changes to the draft as insufficient.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday that despite changes taking some of Moscow's concerns into account, the country could not support the text in its current form.
On Thursday, the wording of a draft resolution against Syria was watered down after Moscow threatened to veto it. The revised draft has dropped calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. The part urging the UN member states to prevent the flow of arms into Syria was also omitted.

Russia Against UN Draft

Russia has warned of 'scandal' if a Western-backed draft resolution on Syria is put to vote in the United Nation Security Council.
"If they (the West) want yet another scandal on the Security Council for themselves then we cannot stop them," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said ahead of a UN meeting on Syria on Saturday.
"The draft does not suit us at all and I hope that it is not put to a vote," said Lavrov.
Moscow also stressed on Friday that it would not support the latest draft UN resolution on Syria, describing recent changes to the draft as insufficient.
“Some of our concerns and the concerns of those who think the same as us have been taken into consideration but all the same this is not enough for us to be able to support it in this form," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Interfax news agency.
Gatilov's remarks came shortly after a senior US State Department official said Washington was "cautiously optimistic" about winning Russia\'s support for the draft resolution.
Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UNSC, has repeatedly said that negotiation is the only way to end months of unrest in Syria, not UN resolutions and sanctions.
In October, Russia and China blocked a European-drafted UNSC resolution against the Syrian government.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March. Many people have lost their lives in the country over the past ten months.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters. But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.


To Protest Zionist Demolishing Homes
Palestinians Go on Hunger Strike

WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Residents of a small Palestinian village, including 10-year-old boy, have gone on hunger strike to draw international attention to their plight, Press TV reports.
Some 20 residents of Khirbat al-Tawil village, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, went on a 24-hour hunger strike to protest against the Zionist regime’s occupation of their lands.
The Zionist regime has been pushing forward with plans to demolish the homes of 18 families who live in Khirbat al-Tawil.
On January 17, the villagers received a seventh and final warning to leave the area.
A new report released by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (OCHA) said that the number of Palestinian homes ruined by the occupying regime in the West Bank dramatically increased in 2011.
According to the report, more than 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank, including children and women, were displaced last year -- an 80 percent increase from 2010 -- due to demolition of their homes by the regime.
The report echoes a recent statement released by over 20 groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam International at the end of 2011.

‘Breaching Int’l Laws’

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has accused the Zionist regime of violating international laws after two civilians were seriously wounded in Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip.
"The Israeli war machines are still practicing crimes against Gaza civilians and violating all the world's laws and conventions,” said Adham Abu Selmeya, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza, which is run by the Islamic movement.
On Friday morning, Israeli jets attacked the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia, injuring a three-and-a-half-year-old girl and a thirty-year-old man. Five other targets were also bombed in central and southern Gaza Strip.
The injured girl is now in intensive-care unit due to severe head trauma and doctors doubt whether she will survive.
The regime’s military has confirmed the attacks.
The acts of aggression came only hours after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the coastal enclave apparently to push for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli talks which stalled in September 2010 when Israel declined to renew a 10-month-long partial freeze on its illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinians in the Strip are living in what is called the “world's largest open-air prison” as Israel retains full control of the airspace, territorial waters, and border crossings of the territory.
Palestinians react after their homes were destroyed by Israeli bulldozers near the village of Yatta south of the West Bank city of Al-Khalil.


No Lull in Egypt Clashes

CAIRO (Dispatches) – Violent clashes in Egypt over a deadly football match enter a third day as angry protesters across the country demand the ruling junta hand power over to a civilian authority.
Egyptian riot police continued firing tear gas and birdshot at protesters in the capital, Cairo, on Saturday after dozens of demonstrators pelted stones at soldiers guarding the Interior Ministry building near Liberation (Tahrir) Square.
At least nine people were killed in Cairo and Suez over the past two days after violence on Wednesday claimed the lives of 74 people in clashes in the northern city of Port Said between fans of two football clubs.
Protesters accuse the supporters of the Egyptian military rulers of being behind the massacre.
Many Egyptians, including some lawmakers, have blamed police and the country's ruling junta for failing to prevent the violence.
However, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) blamed the situation on "foreign and domestic hands targeting the country.”
Meanwhile, a solider guarding the interior ministry building in the capital, died in hospital of the injuries he received during clashes.
The angry protesters set fire to a government building opposite the interior ministry.
Moreover, security officials say gunmen have torched a police station in eastern Cairo and freed a number of detainees held there.
On Thursday, two demonstrators were shot dead during clashes with police and more than 30 people were injured after security forces used live rounds on angry protesters who refused to disperse despite clouds of tear gas.
The latest round of violence broke out in the North African country after a football match on Wednesday, leaving scores of people dead and at least 1,500 others injured.
The incident occurred when deadly clashes began in the northern city of Port Said between fans of home team al-Masry and Cairo\'s leading club al-Ahly after the visitors were beaten 3-1.
Fans stormed the pitch after the game and clashed with each other. At least 74 people died in the mayhem.
Protesters accuse Egyptian military rulers of mismanaging the country during its fragile transition.
Many Egyptians, including some lawmakers, have blamed police and the country's ruling junta for failing to prevent the violence.
Egyptian protesters standing behind a makeshift barricade throw stones towards riot policemen during clashes near the interior ministry in Cairo.


UN Report:
Record Number of Afghan Civilians Killed in 2011

KABUL (Dispatches) – A recent report by the UN mission in Afghanistan says that a record number of Afghan civilians were killed in the war-torn country last year, making it the fifth consecutive year with a growing death toll.
According to the report, some 3,021 civilians lost their lives in 2011. The number is up eight percent from the previous year, with 2,790 deaths.
The report also contradicts earlier assessment of 2011, marking the year as a "remarkably successful" one.
However, the report blames most of the civilian deaths on attacks carried out by militants, while the majority of deaths caused by US-led forces happened during aerial attacks.
In 2011, about 190,000 people were also displaced as a result of the conflict, which is a 45 percent increase from 2010.
Since 2007, some 12,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the war.
In conclusion, the report urges NATO to review its tactics to prevent civilian deaths in all military operations.
Civilian casualties caused by US-led military operations have triggered deep anger among Afghans.
Meanwhile, NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the military alliance will withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, as “originally planned.”
Rasmussen announced the decision at a news conference on Friday after NATO's defense ministers resumed their talks at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy had earlier announced that French troops will pull out a year before then.
However, Rasmussen insisted that the handover of combat roles to local Afghan forces would depend on the security situation on the ground.
The NATO ministers convened on Thursday to discuss major changes to the war strategy in Afghanistan during the two-day meeting.
In 2001, the United States led an invasion of Afghanistan under the pretext of removing Taliban militants from power.
Insecurity, however, continues to rise across Afghanistan despite the presence thousands of US-led troops in the war-weary nation.
Meanwhile, a recent NATO report leaked to the media suggested that Afghan militants are confident they can defeat the coalition.
In 2011, a record number of Afghan civilians were killed. (File photo)


Bahrainis Protest Regime Crackdown

MANAMA (Press TV) – Thousands of Bahrainis have staged a protest rally near the capital, Manama, to condemn the regime's suppression of anti-government demonstrations.
The mass rally in Bilad Al Qadeem came despite Manama\'s brutal crackdown on protests. On Thursday, an elderly man and woman died in the capital after inhaling toxic tear gas fired by regime forces on protesters.
The demonstrators also called for an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty.
Meanwhile, opposition groups in Bahrain have called for international pressure on the Manama government to stop its deadly crackdown on protesters.
They have also accused authorities of ignoring findings and recommendations made by an independent commission, which investigated reports of rights abuse during the crackdown.
The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry issued a report on November 23, 2011, saying that the Manama regime had used \''excessive force, including the extraction of forced confessions against detainees.''
Bahrainis have repeatedly said that nothing has changed since the government-authorized international investigation publicized found numerous human rights abuses.
Bahrain has been hit by a wave of anti-regime protests since mid-February, which was immediately met with a brutal crackdown by the ruling Al Khalifa family.
Scores of demonstrators have been killed and hundreds wounded in the popular uprising in the Persian Gulf nation.


Jordan Ex-MP Charged With Inciting Revolt

AMMAN (AFP) – Jordanian military prosecutors have charged an outspoken former lawmaker with inciting the public to oppose the regime and urging a revolt.
According to a judicial official, Ahmad Oweidi Abbadi, who served in parliament from 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2001, is accused of incitement against the regime during a rally by military retirees last month, AFP reported.
"Three retired officers have filed an official complaint against Abbadi, after he publicly said the revolt starts with the retirees," the official said.
Abbadi would face 15 years in prison if convicted. He was arrested on Thursday.
Abbadi, 66, has made several statements and published articles calling for toppling Jordan's royal Hashemite dynasty. He says the king must be elected and serve a four-year term.
He has recently said on in a YouTube video that the Hashemite monarchy is ruling Jordan against the people's will and that the country will turn into a republic in two years.
In 2007, he was sentenced to two years in jail for posting on the Internet a letter he wrote to US Senate majority leader Harry Reid, in which he accused the regime of King Abdullah II of corruption and human rights abuse.
Jordanians have been holding street protests demanding political reform, including the election of the prime minister by popular vote, and an end to corruption since January. There have been no calls for the king to be removed.
Since the beginning of protest rallies, Jordanian ruler, King Abdullah II, has sacked two prime ministers in a bid to avoid more protests. Awn al-Khasawneh, a judge at International Court of Justice, is Jordan\'s third premier this year.


Iraqis Celebrate US Troop Pullout

Baghdad (Press TV) – A mass rally, attended by tens of thousands of people, has been held In Iraq to celebrate the withdrawal of American troops from the country.
The rally was organized by Iraq's Hezbollah Movement- part of the United Iraqi Alliance to commemorate the withdrawal of US troops deployed in Iraq during its 2003-2011 occupation.
Washington pulled out its troops from Iraq after nearly nine years of occupation that has left more than one million Iraqis and some 4500 American soldiers dead and cost Washington more than $1 trillion.
The Iraqi government has declared December 31, which was the deadline for the US troop withdrawal, a national day.
"I declare this day, the 31st of December, on which the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq is complete, a national day," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on December 31.