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Israel approves inquiry into Gaza flotilla raid

JERUSALEM – Israel's Cabinet on Monday approved an investigation into the navy's deadly raid on a flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists bound for blockaded Gaza that will include two respected foreign observers in a step aimed at countering worldwide criticism of the operation.

Israel has been under heavy pressure to carry out an impartial inquiry into the events of May 31, when naval commandos clashed with activists on board a Turkish ship headed to Gaza. Nine Turkish activists were killed, and dozens of people, including seven soldiers, were wounded.

Israel has rejected calls for an international investigation, saying the United Nations and other global bodies have a long history of bias against the Jewish state.

But in consultation with its key ally, the United States, Israel agreed to add two high-ranking foreign observers to bolster the credibility of the probe: David Trimble, a Nobel peace laureate from Northern Ireland, and Canada's former chief military prosecutor, retired Brig. Gen. Ken Watkin.

Trimble is a member of a pro-Israel faction in Britain's House of Lords. Watkin has been a visiting fellow in the human rights program at Harvard Law School.

Before Monday's Cabinet vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was confident the makeup of the commission would blunt the international criticism and prove Israel handled the affair responsibly.

"I am convinced that the commission's uncovering of the facts will prove that the goals and actions of the state of Israel and the Israeli military were appropriate defensive actions in accordance with the highest international standards," he said.

The White House has backed Israel's inquiry into the raid, calling it "an important step forward."

The naval commandos clashed with the activists after landing on the deck of the Turkish ship from helicopters.

Israel says the ship was carrying dozens of trained militants who had prepared to confront the soldiers. It has released videos showing the activists attacking the soldiers with clubs, metal pipes and knives.

The activists say they were only defending themselves, and some members of the international community, particularly Turkey, have accused Israel of using excessive force and acting illegally in international waters.

There was no immediate international reaction to Monday's Cabinet decision.

Hah! I'm back!!

I'm coming back! I'm very sorry because i was so busy for a week(T.T). So i couldn't write the post about news...
Starting on Monday i'll write about news again....
Arigatou gozaimasu

Bicycle bomb kills Afghan policeman

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – A remote controlled bicycle bomb killed at least one policeman and wounded 15 civilians in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday, police and a provincial spokesman said.

The bomb detonated as police were getting out of a vehicle close to the provincial governor's office and the offices of the Afghan Red Crescent, the spokesman for the provincial governor, Zalmai Ayobi, told AFP.

Three children were among the 15 wounded.

NATO and US-led forces have announced a massive counter-insurgency operation in Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban during their rule over the country prior to 2001.

The Taliban are trying to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. A three-day peace conference in Kabul attended by tribal elders and religious leaders ended Friday with a call to militants to lay down their arms.

The conference, called to advise Karzai on how to make peace with the Taliban, demanded the establishment of a "powerful commission" to lead talks with the militants.

Rwanda names gorillas on World Environment Day

KINIGI, Rwanda (AFP) – Rwanda hosted UN World Environment Day Saturday with a ceremony to name 11 endangered baby mountain gorillas in which Internet users worldwide were for the first time able to take part.

The annual naming has been held since 2005 in Rwanda, but this was the first year in which people have been able to give their online suggestions for naming two of the infant apes.

The ceremony took place Saturday at the foot of the mist-capped Virunga volcanoes that straddle the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and which are home to about half of the world's 700 mountain gorillas.

Hollywood star and guest of honour, the Oscar-nominated US actor Don Cheadle, announced that the name chosen by Internet users across the globe was "Zoya."
Zoya refers to life and light in several languages: it means "shining" in India, "alive" in Greek, and "twilight" in Iranian.

The name selected by children across the planet and given to another baby gorilla was "WakaWaka", which means "to light up" in the Swahili language, another guest of honour, acclaimed wildlife photographer Luo Hong, said.

The Rwanda Development Board organised this year's ceremony to coincide with World Environment Day after the country was chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme to host the 2010 event.

In attendance alongside Cheadle and Luo Hong were Rwandan President Paul Kagame and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, who called Rwanda "a pioneer in green economic growth with a true commitment to a cleaner development model".

He said UNEP had "joined forces with partners to contribute to gorilla conservation and provide hundreds of solar lights for Rwandan villagers and schoolchildren".

A statement from UNEP said this year's World Environment Day raised more than 85,000 dollars for gorilla conservation in addition to the funding for solar lighting.

The ceremony is "part of an effort to heighten awareness of the situation of the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and of the region that are endangered," the Rwanda Development Board said.

Previous naming ceremonies "have greatly contributed both to promoting tourism in Rwanda and to getting Rwandans to understand the benefits of protecting the environment in general," Rwanda's top tourism and national parks official, Rica Rwigamba, said in a statement.

Gorilla tracking is a major draw for tourists in Rwanda, with visitors paying 500 dollars for a permit to spend an hour with the primates in their bamboo forest habitat.

Four highly endangered mountain gorillas were found dead last month in Rwanda's part of the Virunga mountains, likely because of extreme cold in their mountain habitat.

Pope urges support for Mideast Christians

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Pope Benedict XVI appealed Saturday for support for embattled Christian communities in the Middle East, calling them a vital force for peace in the region.

Benedict's three-day pilgrimage to Cyprus is part of preparations for a crisis summit of Middle East bishops in Rome in October. Many bishops from the region have traveled to Cyprus to see Benedict and receive a working paper for the summit that will be made public Sunday.

War and harsh economic conditions have led to the exodus of thousands of Christians from the Holy Land, Iraq and elsewhere in recent years.

Meeting with Orthodox Christian Archbishop Chrysostomos II, Benedict said the continuing conflict in the Middle East "must be a source of concern to all of Christ's followers."

"No one can remain indifferent to the need to support in every way possible the Christians of that troubled region, so that its ancient churches can live in peace and flourish," Benedict said.

Benedict has walked a careful diplomatic path since arriving Friday on this divided eastern Mediterranean island. Cyprus was ethnically split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent republic in the north in 1983, but only Turkey recognizes it, and it maintains 35,000 troops there.

Shortly after Benedict's arrival, the Cypriot archbishop launched a harsh attack against Turkey, accusing it of ethnic cleansing and of aiming to take over the entire island.

Benedict has not responded directly to the Greek Cypriot leaders. On Saturday, he called for a "just settlement" of outstanding issues.

President Dimitris Christofias kept it up Saturday when Benedict visited him at the presidential palace in the divided capital. He urged the international community to put its larger geopolitical interests aside and pressure Turkey to reach an accord reunifying the island.

Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu last month resumed long-running peace talks after a two-month pause.

While Benedict has no plans to visit northern Cyprus, his spokesman said it is likely the pope will meet with a Muslim delegation.

In addressing members of Cyprus' tiny Catholic community, he stressed the importance of interreligious dialogue for the Catholic community, a reference to the overwhelmingly Muslim Turkish Cypriots.

"Only by patient work can mutual trust be built, the burden of history overcome, and the political and cultural differences between peoples become a motive to work fore deeper understanding," Benedict said.
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Associated Press writer Menelaos Hadjicostis contributed to this report from Nicosia.

Israeli forces board Gaza-bound aid vessel

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces seized a Gaza-bound aid vessel without meeting resistance on Saturday, preventing it from breaking an Israeli maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory days after a similar effort turned bloody.

The military said its forces boarded the 1,200-ton Rachel Corrie cargo ship from the sea, not helicopters.

The takeover stood in marked contrast to a violent confrontation at sea earlier this week when Israeli commandos blocked a Turkish aid vessel trying to break the blockade. At the time, Israeli commandos rappelled from helicopters and a clash with passengers left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.

Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich says Saturday's takeover took only a few minutes and that the vessel was being taken to Israel's Ashdod port.

The Irish ship — named for an American college student who was crushed to death by a bulldozer in 2003 while protesting Israeli house demolitions in Gaza — was carrying hundreds of tons of aid, including wheelchairs, medical supplies and cement.

The standoff has raised international pressure on Israel to lift the 3-year-old blockade that has plunged the territory's 1.5 million residents deeper into poverty.

Activists on board the boat, including Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan, had said they wouldn't resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel.

This latest attempt to breach the blockade differs significantly from the flotilla the Israeli troops intercepted on Monday, killing eight Turks and a Turkish-American after being set upon by a group of activists.

Nearly 700 activists had joined that operation, most of them aboard the lead boat from Turkey that was the scene of the violence. That boat, the Mavi Marmara, was sponsored by an Islamic aid group from Turkey, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief. Israel outlawed the group, known by its Turkish acronym IHH, in 2008 because of alleged ties to Hamas. The group is not on the U.S. State Department list of terror organizations, however.

By contrast, the Rachel Corrie was carrying just 11 passengers from Ireland and Malaysia, whose effort was mainly sponsored by the Free Gaza movement, a Cyprus-based group that has renounced violence. Nine crew were also on board.