Saturday, September 10, 2011

DTN News - SAD CHAPTER OF OUR HISTORY: 9/11 - Never To Be Repeated Again For The Sake Of Mankind

DTN News - SAD CHAPTER OF OUR HISTORY: 9/11 - Never To Be Repeated Again For The Sake Of Mankind
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 10, 2011: The 9/11 is known as a day of an extreme terrorism and heinous crime against humanity.
Ten years ago on this day 3,000 people were put to death, and thousands of families and millions of peace loving people were left to feel a great pain and sorrow in their hearts and minds on this great human loss.
On this 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on New York’s Twin Towers, our first thought should be for the nearly 3,000 who lost their lives in the worst terrorist atrocity of modern times.
We should think of the families and loved ones who were left to grieve, and the indelible scars on the countless others who were affected.
This symbolic day is also a chance to reflect on the hundreds of thousands who have died in the aftermath of 9/11, not just the innocents killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the victims of other terrorist attacks that continue with appalling regularity.
It is pertinent to ask if the response was right to Al Qaeda’s assault on the heart of America and, above all, whether the world – and particularly Britain – is safer now.
Lessons have been learnt by security services and plots have been foiled. But the threat goes on and it is impossible to see when it will end.
History may show that the most significant date turns out not to be 9/11 but 2011.
For this is the year of the Arab Spring when ruthless dictators have been overthrown and the seeds of democracy sown in several countries, with more sure to follow.
But even this can’t ensure peace, as the attack yesterday on Israel’s embassy in Egypt shows.
So on this anniversary, it would be a brave person who would forecast the future.
Today it is right to look back but more important to look forward at how the terror threat can be ended so there will never be another 9/11.
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DTN News - EGYPT ISRAEL RELATIONS WORSEN: Israel Faces Worst Crisis With Egypt For 30 Years As Diplomats Flee

DTN News - EGYPT ISRAEL RELATIONS WORSEN: Israel Faces Worst Crisis With Egypt For 30 Years As Diplomats Flee
*Attack on embassy is latest storm to engulf Jewish state as relations with Turkey also deteriorate
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 10, 2011: Israel is facing its worst crisis with Egypt for 30 years after being forced to airlift diplomats and their families to safety during the storming of its embassy in Cairo by a violent mob.

The siege of the embassy ended, with the 86 Israelis fleeing, only after intervention from the White House following phone calls between the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and US President Barack Obama.

The attack was the latest diplomatic storm to engulf the Jewish state, whose relations with another ally, Turkey, have worsened over the past nine days. Israel is also facing a "diplomatic tsunami" at the UN later this month when a majority of countries are expected to back recognition of a Palestinian state.

The embassy attack, in which a security wall was demolished and a group of protesters reached the door of the embassy's secure area, threatened to cause "serious damage in peaceful relations between our two countries", the prime minister said.

He added that it was a "grave violation of accepted diplomatic practice".

He spent the night with senior officials in a foreign ministry operation room dealing with the crisis. Eighty diplomats and their families were airlifted on an Israeli military plane at 4.40am, but six personnel were trapped inside the building.

"There was one door separating them from the mob," said the official, who described the night as "very dramatic and tense". Eventually the six were rescued by Egyptian commandos following behind-the-scenes intervention by the US.

Obama spoke to Netanyahu during the night, the White House said. He also appealed to Egypt to "honour its international obligations".

David Cameron condemned the attack and urged Egypt to meet its responsibilities under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic property and personnel.

Three people died during the overnight protests in Cairo and at least 1,093 were injured, according to Egypt's deputy health minister.

Anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt has been vociferous since the killing of five Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces in the aftermath of a militant attack last month near the border between the two countries in which eight Israelis died. Thousands of people mobbed the Israeli embassy in Cairo, and Israel was forced to issue a statement regretting the deaths in the hope that it would contain the anti-Israel mood.

Israel has been nervous about the future of its peace treaty with Egypt, signed 30 years ago, since its staunch ally, former president Hosni Mubarak, was forced out of office in an uprising earlier this year. It fears the temporary military government is more attuned to anti-Israel sentiment on the street.

Israel is also deeply alarmed by its rapidly deteriorating relationship with Turkey, whose prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is to visit Cairo amid fears that he will attempt to forge an anti-Israel alliance with the new Egyptian government.

"The situation with Turkey is not good, and the situation with Egypt is not good," said the Israeli official. "We hope this is not a sign of things to come."

Both Turkey and Egypt are supporting the bid to have a Palestinian state recognised at the UN general assembly. Israel is braced for what its defence minister, Ehud Barak, described as a "diplomatic tsunami".

Israel is facing its worst crisis with Egypt for 30 years after being forced to airlift diplomats and their families to safety during the storming of its embassy in Cairo by a violent mob.

The US – which has pledged to veto Palestinian statehood – is frantically trying to find a way of averting a vote, fearing further alienation within the Arab world. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said US efforts to encourage the parties to return to negotiations had come "too late".

The siege of the embassy ended, with the 86 Israelis fleeing, only after intervention from the White House following phone calls between the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and US President Barack Obama.

The attack was the latest diplomatic storm to engulf the Jewish state, whose relations with another ally, Turkey, have worsened over the past nine days. Israel is also facing a "diplomatic tsunami" at the UN later this month when a majority of countries are expected to back recognition of a Palestinian state.

The embassy attack, in which a security wall was demolished and a group of protesters reached the door of the embassy's secure area, threatened to cause "serious damage in peaceful relations between our two countries", the prime minister said.

He added that it was a "grave violation of accepted diplomatic practice".

He spent the night with senior officials in a foreign ministry operation room dealing with the crisis. Eighty diplomats and their families were airlifted on an Israeli military plane at 4.40am, but six personnel were trapped inside the building.

"There was one door separating them from the mob," said the official, who described the night as "very dramatic and tense". Eventually the six were rescued by Egyptian commandos following behind-the-scenes intervention by the US.

Obama spoke to Netanyahu during the night, the White House said. He also appealed to Egypt to "honour its international obligations".

David Cameron condemned the attack and urged Egypt to meet its responsibilities under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic property and personnel.

Three people died during the overnight protests in Cairo and at least 1,093 were injured, according to Egypt's deputy health minister.

Anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt has been vociferous since the killing of five Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces in the aftermath of a militant attack last month near the border between the two countries in which eight Israelis died. Thousands of people mobbed the Israeli embassy in Cairo, and Israel was forced to issue a statement regretting the deaths in the hope that it would contain the anti-Israel mood.

Israel has been nervous about the future of its peace treaty with Egypt, signed 30 years ago, since its staunch ally, former president Hosni Mubarak, was forced out of office in an uprising earlier this year. It fears the temporary military government is more attuned to anti-Israel sentiment on the street.

Israel is also deeply alarmed by its rapidly deteriorating relationship with Turkey, whose prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is to visit Cairo amid fears that he will attempt to forge an anti-Israel alliance with the new Egyptian government.

"The situation with Turkey is not good, and the situation with Egypt is not good," said the Israeli official. "We hope this is not a sign of things to come."

Both Turkey and Egypt are supporting the bid to have a Palestinian state recognised at the UN general assembly. Israel is braced for what its defence minister, Ehud Barak, described as a "diplomatic tsunami".

The US – which has pledged to veto Palestinian statehood – is frantically trying to find a way of averting a vote, fearing further alienation within the Arab world. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said US efforts to encourage the parties to return to negotiations had come "too late".

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

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DTN News - SEARCH FOR GADDAFI: Libya Battles Rage After Deadline Expiry

DTN News - SEARCH FOR GADDAFI: Libya Battles Rage After Deadline Expiry
*NTC fighters seek to wrest control of Bani Walid, Sirte and Sabha after Gaddafi loyalists ignore deadline to surrender.
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 10, 2011: Heavy fighting is raging for the control of three key Libyan towns after a deadline set for the surrender of loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi expired.

Al Jazeera correspondents reported on Saturday that fighters aligned with the National Transitional Council (NTC) were seeking to wrest control of Bani Walid, Sirte and Sabha from Gaddafi loyalists after the latter chose to ignore the deadline for surrender.

With talks aimed at peaceful handover of the Gaddafi strongholds collapsing, NTC Chairman Mustapha Abdel Jalil, the interim leader of the country, said on Saturday afternoon the situation was "in the hands of [his] battlefield commanders".

Sniper fire

Al Jazeera's David Poort, reporting from the outskirts of Bani Walid, said NTC fighters seeking to advance to the centre of the town, 150km south of the capital Tripoli, were coming under sniper fire from Gaddafi loyalists.

Abdullah Kenshil, the NTC's spokesman and chief negotiator, said the anti-Gaddafi fighters were exchanging fire with gunmen positioned in houses in the town of Bani Walid and the hills that overlooked it. "They are inside the city. They are fighting with snipers ... They forced this on us and it was in self-defence." Kenshil said that Gaddafi forces in Bani Walid had received reinforcements during the night.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reported that there seemed to be more pro-Gaddafi fighters in Bani Walid than expected, possibly coming in from Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown. "This is a surprise as it was thought that the rebels had cut off that link between the two towns," she said.

Amid the continued fighting, NATO carried out at least five air raids on the town, the Reuters news agency reported.

Ambulances transferred casualties from Bani Walid, as NTC fighters grabbed crates of rocket-propelled grenades and mortars and raced to the front.

Tariq Zbida, a Bani Walid resident who has joined the ranks of NTC fighters, told Al Jazeera's Poort the fight for the town was "far from over". He said Gaddafi loyalists still holding out inside the town"were tough and would not go down without a fight".

Fierce battles were also being fought over Sirte and the southern desert town of Sabha.

In Teassain, 90km east of Sirte, witnesses told the Reuters news agency they saw heavy rocket exchanges between NTC forces and Gaddafi loyalists.

The NTC had given Gaddafi loyalists until midnight Friday to give up peacefully or face attack, although previous deadlines had been extended to allow more time for negotiations.

Gaddafi's location has been unknown since Tripoli fell to opposition fighters on August 23 after a six-month civil war.

'Worst-case scenario'

Gaddafi insisted in a defiant audio message broadcast on Thursday that he was still in Libya to lead the fight against what he called the"rats" and "stray dogs" who had taken over Tripoli.

But four of his senior officials, including his air force commander and a general in charge of forces in south Libya, were among a new group of Libyans who had fled to neighbouring Niger, according to officials in Niger.

Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage

General Ali Kana, the southern commander, and Ali Sharifal-Rifi, the air force chief, were among 14 Libyans who arrived in the northern Niger town of Agadez on Thursday after crossing the border in a convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles, they said.

A Reuters reporter in Agadez said the four senior men were at the luxury Etoile du Tenere hotel, said to be owned by Gaddafi, who himself stayed there during a holiday in 2007.

Niger, under pressure from Western powers and Libya's new rulers to hand over former Gaddafi officials suspected of human rights abuses, said it would respect its commitments to the International Criminal Court if Gaddafi or his sons entered the country.

"We are signatories of the [ICC's] Rome Statute so they know what they are exposed to if they come," Massaoudou Hassoumi, the head of the Nigerien cabinet, said.

He said the latest arrivals were "under control" in Agadez, through which the head of Gaddafi's security brigades, Mansour Dhao, passed earlier this week en route to Niger's capital, Niamey.

"We are taking them in on humanitarian grounds. No one has told us that these are wanted people," Hassoumi said.

Niger, which only this year returned to civilian rule and is fighting al-Qaeda-linked groups in its desert north, fears the Libya conflict might spill over, Hassoumi said.

"We have prepared for a worst-case scenario. For example, if Bani Walid and Sirte were to fall by force, it could cause a massive stampede of armed groups into Niger," he said.

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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

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