| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 04/02/2004 3:41:28 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator, reason:
Thread Six: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1109459/posts |
Posted on 03/12/2004 8:23:06 PM PST by thecabal
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This week's deadly train bombings in Spain will not lead to a rise in the U.S. color-coded terror threat alert system, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said Friday.
"Based on the current intelligence, we have no specific indicators that terrorist groups are considering such an attack in the U.S. in the near term," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Palestinian youth Hussam Abdo stares at journalists as Israeli soldiers present him to the media at the Hawara checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Nablus Wednesday March 24, 2004. Israel says Abdo approached the crowded checkpoint wearing a suicide bomb vest in what Israel said was an effort to kill soldiers there. Soldiers jumped behind concrete barricades and sent a yellow robot to hand scissors to the boy so he could cut off the vest. Sappers later detonated the bomb. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Israelis Stop Teen Wearing Bomb Vest
17 minutes ago By ALI DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer
NABLUS, West Bank - A Palestinian teenager approached a crowded West Bank checkpoint wearing a suicide bomb vest Wednesday in what Israel said was a failed attempt to kill soldiers there.
In a tense scene captured in exclusive Associated Press Television News footage, soldiers jumped behind concrete barricades and sent a yellow robot to hand scissors to the 16-year-old boy so he could cut off the vest. They then ordered him to strip to his underwear.
Experts later detonated the bomb, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident.
The teenager's family in Nablus identified him as Hussam Abdo, and his brother, Hosni, said "he has the intelligence of a 12-year-old."
Although neighbors identified Abdo as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant group, his family said he did not belong to any militant group, but went to demonstrations held by all of them.
The incident was the latest in a series of what Israel says are foiled militant attacks involving young Palestinians.
"No matter how many times Israel learns of the use of children for suicide bombings, it is shocking on each occasion," said Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Israelis do not understand how Palestinians are willing to sacrifice their own children in order to kill ours."
Since the Israeli assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin on Monday, the country has been on high alert, fearing retaliation.
Soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint outside Nablus said they got intelligence that there was an imminent attack planned there, shut down the crossing and began searching people.
Abdo, wearing an oversized red jersey, approached them in a suspicious way, said Lt. Tamir Milrad, an officer at the checkpoint.
"We saw that he had something under his shirt," he said. The soldiers dove behind concrete barricades, pointed their guns at him and told him to stop.
They ordered him to take off his jersey, revealing a bulky gray bomb vest underneath.
"He told us he didn't want to die. He didn't want to blow up," he said. (How awfully sad.)
The soldiers then sent the robot to hand scissors to the boy so he could cut off the vest.
He cut off part of it and struggled with the rest. "I don't how to get this off," he said.
After he dropped the vest, soldiers ordered him to take off his undershirt and jeans, to ensure he had no other weapons on him.
The military said Abdo had been sent to kill soldiers at the crowded checkpoint.
"In addition to the fact that he would have harmed my soldiers, he would have harmed also the Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint and there were 200-300 innocent Palestinians there," according to the commander of the checkpoint, identified only as Lt. Col. Guy.
Several teenagers have carried out suicide bombings in the past 3 1/2 years of violence and there has been recent concern that militant groups were turning to young attackers to try to frustrate Israeli security checks.
On March 16, Israeli troops stopped an 11-year-old boy allegedly trying to smuggle explosives through the Hawara checkpoint. Israel said militants had given the boy the explosives without his knowledge. Palestinians and the boy disputed this, claiming the bag he was carrying — swiftly blown up by army sappers — contained auto parts.
Last month, Israeli police arrested three boys, aged 12, 13 and 15, who said they were on their way to carry out a shooting attack in the Israeli city of Afula.
A Palestinian boy wears an explosive belt as he is caught at the checkpoint at the entrance to the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus March 24, 2004. Israeli troops arrested the 14-year-old Palestinian would-be suicide bomber at a West Bank checkpoint before he could detonate his explosive belt, the army said. (ISRAEL OUT) REUTERS/Flash90 (ISRAEL OUT)
s/b
Add to post #3421
Depends upon the definition of "area". There are no campground in Norris that I can remember. Winter is VERY cold and few would be camping there anyway. Generally the park svc keeps active hydrothermal areas under close control as to access, etc, because there are too many stupid people out there.
Wed Mar 24,10:02 AM ET
BEIJING - A moderate earthquake rumbled through northern China on Wednesday, damaging hundreds of homes but causing no injuries, the government said.
The magnitude-5.9 temblor struck at 9:53 a.m. in Inner Mongolia, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The epicenter was between Dong Ujimqin Banner and Xi Ujimqin Banner, a sparsely populated area prone to seismic activity, Xinhua said. Several quakes of magnitude greater than 5 have been reported in the area over the past few years, Xinhua said.
Forty percent of the brick-and-wood homes in and around the earthquake's epicenter sustained some damage but there were no reported deaths or injuries, Xinhua said. Hundreds of school buildings in the area also were badly damaged, the agency said.
Emergency rescue officials are in the area, the report said.
Tremors were felt in provinces bordering the region including Liaoning, Hebei and Jilin, Xinhua said.
A magnitude-5.9 quake in Inner Mongolia in August killed three, injured 1,100, and left thousands homeless.
STUFF.co.nz: "EXPLOSION ROCKS THAILAND'S MUSLIM SOUTH" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "BANGKOK: A bomb has gone off right across the street from where two senior Thai ministers were meeting on how to deal with a surge of violence in the largely Muslim south and another has been defused next door, police say.") (March 24, 2004) (Read More...)
INTERNET HAGANAH (ANTARA): "...A 5 KM BLAST RADIUS? Bombs Found In Indonesia's Medan Believed to be Stolen from Thai Arsenal - Source" (March 24, 2004) (Read More...)
By GARY SCHAEFER, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO - The embers of a century-old territorial dispute burst into a flaming war of words Wednesday as Japanese police arrested Chinese activists who landed on a remote island held by Tokyo.
The Chinese said they wanted to draw attention to China's claim to own the island.
Japan's government summoned China's ambassador to lodge an official protest, saying the seven activists ignored a warning not to trespass. For its part, China protested the arrests and flag-waving demonstrators gathered outside Japanese diplomatic offices in Beijing and Hong Kong.
The incident came at a time when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been trying to mend fences with China about his annual visits to a war memorial that Asians say glorifies Japan's militaristic past.
But Koizumi dismissed suggestions relations between the neighbors would be strained by the latest incident.
"Authorities were acting strictly in accordance with the law," he said. "Both sides need to deal with this as calmly as possible."
The activists were arrested by Japanese police who flew by helicopter to Uotsuri island, part of an uninhabited chain in the East China Sea called the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyutai in China. The chain is surrounded by fish-rich waters and claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan, but Japan has controlled archipelago since defeating China in an 1895 war. China says its claims go back centuries.
Boatloads of activists from China and Taiwan have clashed in the past with Japanese vessels guarding the area, but Thursday's protest was the first to result in arrests.
A trawler reportedly carrying 16 activists from China's Zhejiang province arrived off the disputed islands Wednesday morning. Ignoring warnings from a Japanese coast guard cutter, the trawler lowered two smaller boats that landed on the island.
Television images showed the seven activists in orange life preservers huddled on a barren landscape. One appeared to be holding a Chinese flag.
They were taken into custody about 10 hours later by Japanese police who touched down in four helicopters that flew from the Japanese island of Okinawa, 300 miles away. Japan's top government spokesman hinted the arrested Chinese probably would be expelled.
The Japanese government said the protesters were trespassing and there was "no doubt" about Tokyo's claim to the islands, messages conveyed in the formal protest Wednesday to Chinese Ambassador Wu Dawei.
Later Wu returned to the Foreign Ministry to protest the arrests of the seven. He was quoted by Japanese media as saying his government was "indignant."
In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the islands "have been considered Chinese territory since ancient times" and asking Japan not to harm the activists. The statement did not say, however, whether the Chinese government supported their actions, referring only to its desire for a "negotiated solution" to the territorial dispute.
Thursday's arrests came three months after another clash during which Japanese coast guard cutters used fire hoses to turn away two Chinese boats.
The islands were administered by the United States when it occupied Japan after World War II but were returned to Japanese jurisdiction in 1972.
Article #1:
The struggle reached its peak in July 1947, when 4,515 refugees on board the Hagana ship Exodus reached the shores of Palestine. After a fight on board with the British, when 3 were killed and 28 injured, the passengers were transferred against their will from the Exodus to British deportation boats and to a British internment camp in Germany.
This incident aroused world opinion against Britain's policy of closing the gates of Palestine to survivors of the Holocaust. The Exodus became the symbol of the clandestine immigration operations.
Article #2:
Sometimes Bricha's efforts failed. British seamen captured many covert transport ships, and interred the passengers in transit prisons on the island of Cyprus. The Exodus 1947 was carrying 4,515 Jewish DPs when it was stopped by British forces on July 17, 1947. The crew and passengers resisted surrender, prompting a British attack in which three men from the Exodus 1947 were killed and many others wounded. The debacle attracted worldwide publicity, embarrassing the British and garnering support for the DPs' struggle to emigrate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.