Month: March 2011

Jerusalem, March 31: Israeli media have reported that Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have discussed building an artificial island along the Gaza Strip.

The proposed plan is reportedly estimated at US$ 9.94 billion.

Israel’s transport minister, Yisrael Katz, says the plan had been under consideration for many months and had been encouraged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has approved the cost of construction, the daily Guardian quoted Israeli media as reporting on Wednesday.

Tehran, March 31: The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says it will inspect direct flights from Tokyo to Tehran to prevent any possible transfer of radioactive substances.

The Islamic Republic’s nuclear body announced the decision on Wednesday and following reports indicating detection of radioactive iodine-131 at a concentration of 3,355 times the legal level near the quake-hit Daiichi Fukushima nuclear plant, IRNA reported.

Tripoli, March 31: The Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa has defected to London amid the dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on revolutionaries in the North African country.

The British Foreign Office approved Koussa’s defection to the country on Wednesday, state-run BBC reported.

According to a Libyan government spokesman, Koussa’s travel to the UK was a diplomatic mission.

However, the UK Foreign Ministry says that Koussa has travelled to the country to resign from his post and flee the Libyan regime.

Sanaa, March 31: Despite deepening political crisis, mounting desertions by his supporters and thousands of protesters in the streets, Saleh is still adamant of staying in power.

As dialogue between the Yemeni ruling party and opposition has reached a deadlock, Yemenis accused Saleh on Wednesday of resorting to “maneuvers” to gain time, a Media correspondent reported from Sana’a.

Saleh has been faced with mass protests since the end of January, calling for an end to his 32-year rule.

Tehran, March 31: Iran has rejected a Kuwaiti official’s claim that the Persian Gulf emirate has dismantled what he called an Iranian spy cell.

“This issue is not related to the Islamic Republic of Iran or any of our country’s embassy staff,” an informed source in Iran’s Foreign Ministry stated on Wednesday, saying such baseless allegations against Iran by Kuwaiti judiciary officials are “irresponsible.”

He said the row started last year when the accusations were first made by Kuwait and raised questions about the purpose behind renewing the claims.

Damascus, March 31: Syrian security forces have disbanded a terrorist cell in the capital Damascus as mass rallies were held throughout the country in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

The seven terrorists were caught in the Damascus neighborhood of Mezzeh-86 on Tuesday night, after police authorities received a tip off on their whereabouts, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The terror elements, among them three non-Syrian Arabs, have been taken into police custody and a full-scale investigation is underway.

Jerusalem, March 31: Israeli advocates in the US dictate to the American government which freedom movements in the world to support and which ones to ignore, says a political analyst.

“Israeli lobby in America is definitely talking to Washington and helping the decisions about which populations are worth of the international intervention and which ones are not and which ones they are going to ignore,” Sarah Marusek made the comments in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.

Kabul, March 31: A car bomb attack has wounded at least four French soldiers in Afghanistan as militants step up their attacks against foreign forces in the country.

Afghan police officials say the bomb struck the soldiers’ patrol in the province of Kapisa, a correspondent reported on Wednesday.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the incident but say the attack has killed 13 soldiers. They say four Afghan civilians have also been injured.

Earlier, a separate Taliban attack killed two NATO soldiers in eastern Afghanistan.

Manama, March 31: Security forces in Bahrain have reportedly killed a male teenager amid continuing crackdown on the popular revolution around the country.

Fifteen-year-old Sayed Ahmed died from a headshot in the village of Saar on Wednesday, Bahrain’s Al Wefaq political party announced on its page on the social networking website Facebook.

The party said the victim was out playing and tried to run when he saw the forces.

A Media correspondent has reported that the forces had placed several villages near the capital Manama under siege.

Manama, March 31: The Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses Bahraini forces of using violence on people that had received injury during government-ordered crackdown of the popular revolution.

The rights body said on Wednesday that it had documented several cases in which the forces had “severely harassed or beaten” patients that were under medical care in the country’s Salmaniya hospital in the capital Manama, Reuters reported.

“These people who need treatment are facing this difficult choice, and many choose not to go to the hospital,” said HRW’s Bahrain researcher Faraz Saneif.

Manama, March 31: Bahrain is expanding the crackdown on the opposition as security forces open fire on anti-government protesters in the capital Manama and several other towns nearby.

On Wednesday, Bahraini troops, backed by Saudi forces, attacked the protesters in Diraz, Sanabis, Nuwaidrat and Belad al-Qadeem, UPI quoted witnesses as saying.

Security forces have also managed to disperse the protesters in Manama.

Witnesses say a 15-year-old boy was killed in the village of Saar.