Muhammad El Masrek's tomatoes are ruined, his strawberries are rotting, and his dreams of earning a decent living have vanished. El Masrek's berries usually sell at $45 a crate in markets in Israel and around the world. But the only way to get his produce to market is through Gaza's Karni Crossing. Dozens of Palestinian produce trucks now sit idle, waiting for the crossing to open. Karni has been sealed shut with Israel controlling the crossing, saying that it cannot be opened because there is a security threat. After intense lobbying, patrols briefly let trucks transporting humanitarian goods cross the border on Thursday. Farmers still have no right of passage. So El Masrek can't sell his produce. ... http://abcnews.go.com censor News |
Editor - 20:01:00 03-14-06 |
11 Dead in Texas Fires; Cattle Burn Alive |
The charred bodies of four oilfield workers were found a short distance from their car. A cow that had tried to push through a barbed wire fence was discovered burned alive. And 10,000 other cattle and horses were feared dead across the smoking landscape. The grisly toll from one of the state's worst outbreaks of wildfires became ever clearer Tuesday as the blazes continued to burn across the dry Texas Panhandle. At least 11 people have died and 1,900 others have been forced to evacuate since the weekend. The fires, propelled by winds as high as 55 mph, have raced across more than 1,000 square miles. Firefighters reported making progress Tuesday, but optimism was guarded, with winds forecast to gust to 30 mph Wednesday. ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5686411,00.html
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Editor - 19:43:00 03-14-06 |
Police gang stopped by Iraqi investigators |
Iraqi investigators broke up a ring of police officers who were kidnapping people, extorting ransoms and often killing their victims, a top U.S. military officer said Tuesday.The allegations are among the most serious charges of police abuse to surface and come amid rising concerns that police and paramilitary forces are breeding grounds for Shiite Muslim death squads and militias.The gang operated in northern Baghdad and was allegedly commanded by an Iraqi police major general, one of the highest-ranking officers implicated to date in an Iraqi-led investigation into allegations of death squads and sectarian militias functioning within police and paramilitary units, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson. said in an interview."These guys are a kidnapping ring, extorting money for personal profit and gain," said Peterson, the U.S. commander in charge of training Iraqi police. "But they were also killing people."... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-14-iraqi-police-gang_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 19:38:00 03-14-06 |
Searching for Comedy Amid Iraq's Tragedies |
Many people — including top officials in the Bush administration — think the media coverage of the war is too negative. They say there are too many stories about body counts of soldiers and Iraqis, about car bombs and carnage, and sectarian strife teetering precipitously on the brink of civil war. And not enough about all the good that's been achieved. It's not entirely an unfair criticism. There are success stories. With the country's new freedom of speech, for instance, there are more comedy shows in production on Iraqi TV than during the reign of Saddam Hussein. We in the ABC News Baghdad bureau were intrigued as we watched these shows. What must it be like, we wondered, to try to make Iraqis laugh? We called Iraqi TV and spoke with Amjad Hameed, head of the entertainment division, and asked if we could profile one of his new shows. ... http://a.abcnews.com/images/WNT/abc_wnt_iraqtvshow2_060313_sp.jpg
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Editor - 19:31:00 03-14-06 |
Britain accused after day of chaos and kidnaps in Gaza Pullout of UK monitors prompts Israeli attack on Palestinian prison |
Britain was accused of colluding with an Israeli military assault on a Palestinian jail yesterday that prompted the widespread kidnapping of foreigners in the occupied territories and the sacking of UK and EU offices.The army's day-long siege of Jericho prison ended with the surrender of five men accused by Israel of the 2001 assassination of a cabinet minister, Rehavam Zeevi, in Jerusalem. Last night it was believed three foreigners were still being held by Palestinian armed groups.Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and four other members have been held for the past four years in Jericho under British and American supervision.The UK pulled its monitors out early yesterday, saying it feared for their security. The US had no officials in Jericho at the time. The Israeli military then attacked the jail, saying it wanted to prevent a Hamas government from carrying out a pledge to release the wanted men.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1731124,00.html?gusrc=rss
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Editor - 19:21:00 03-14-06 |
Detectives 'spent decades as killers for the Mafia', court is told |
Two highly decorated former police detectives led double lives of heinous betrayal and corruption for decades, selling information to one of New York's most dangerous crime families and abetting no fewer than eight grizzly underworld murders, prosecutors told a packed courtroom in Brooklyn yesterday. The allegations came in the opening statements of the long-awaited trial of Louis Eppolito, 57, and Stephen Caracappa, 64, who were arrested last March.Already being billed as the most sensational police corruption case to be heard in the city for years, four books about it are in the works and rights have been sold for at least one Hollywood film - and that's even before the verdicts are in."The two men were not traditional mobsters," Mitra Hormozi, the New York prosecutor, told the jury. "They were better. They could get away with murder because these two men were New York City police detectives." ... http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article351138.ece
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Editor - 15:23:00 03-14-06 |
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