Palestine Times says that there were aircraft in the sky at the time, but doesn't quite say they shot anything.
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The members of the Security Council expressed grave concern at the situation in Libya. They condemned the violence and use of force against civilians, deplored the repression against peaceful demonstrators, and expressed deep regret at the deaths of hundreds of civilians. They called for an immediate end to the violence and for steps to address the legitimate demands of the population, including through national dialogue.At the same time, the Arab League was meeting in Cairo. Their statement:
The members of the Security Council called on the Government of Libya to meet its responsibility to protect its population. They called upon the Libyan authorities to act with restraint, to respect human rights and international humanitarian law, and to allow immediate access for international human rights monitors and humanitarian agencies.
The members of the Security Council called for international humanitarian assistance to the people of Libya and expressed concern at the reports of shortages of medical supplies to treat the wounded. They strongly urged the Libyan authorities to ensure the safe passage of humanitarian and medical supplies and humanitarian workers into the country.
The members of the Security Council underlined the need for the Government of Libya to respect the freedom of peaceful assembly and of expression, including freedom of the press. They called for the immediate lifting of restrictions on all forms of the media.
The members of the Security Council stressed the importance of accountability. They underscored the need to hold to account those responsible for attacks, including by forces under their control, on civilians.
The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern about the safety of foreign nationals in Libya. They urged the Libyan authorities and all relevant parties to ensure the safety of all foreign nationals and facilitate the departure of those wishing to leave the country.
The members of the Security Council will continue to follow the situation closely.
"The Arab League condemns crimes against the current peaceful popular protests and demonstrations in several Libyan cities," Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters in Cairo after the group met.The UN did not decide to kick Libya off of the Human Rights Council or any other important committee. It did not do anything concrete besides empty words.
He said the security forces use of live rounds, heavy weapons and foreign mercenaries is a grave breach of human rights.
"The organization calls for respecting Libyans' right to freedom of protest and expression as they demand democratic change," he said.
"Humanitarian aid must be allowed into the country," the Arab League leader said.
"Libya will be barred from taking part in the Arab League's meetings until leader Muammar Gaddafi responds to the organization's demands," Moussa said.
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya vowed on Tuesday that he would “fight on to the last drop of my blood” and die a “martyr.” We have no doubt that what he really meant is that he will butcher and martyr his own people in his desperation to hold on to power. He must be condemned and punished by the international community.
Colonel Qaddafi, who took power in a 1969 coup, has a long, ruthless and erratic history. Among his many crimes: He was responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. In 2003, after years of international sanctions, he announced that he had given up terrorism and his pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
We applauded those changes, and we are not eager to see Libya once again isolated. But Colonel Qaddafi’s brutal suppression of antigovernment demonstrations has left no doubt that he is still an international criminal.
The man — part scholar, part monk, part model, part policy wonk — was Saif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the powerful 33-year-old son of Libya’s extroverted and impulsive president, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. He is, in short, the un-Qaddafi.It is easy for the NYT to be against the crazed regime once they start bombing their own citizens, or once the inevitable stories of their support for terrorism (including reports that Gaddafi himself ordered the Lockerbie bombing) surface.
The younger Qaddafi is in the final stages of his Ph.D. program in governance at the London School of Economics, and his meticulous training showed itself in Cyrene, a rare appearance for him at a large public event. He reeled off statistics about the rate of desertification and calculations of the tens of thousands of jobs that could be created in fisheries, architecture and ecotourism in the region with his project.
Speaking with a small group of journalists after his presentation, he listened carefully to questions in Arabic and English, thinking before each answer. Although his handlers had announced that journalists should confine their questions to the ecotourism project, the queries inevitably got broader, having not been screened in advance.
“What about democracy in Libya?” someone asked.
“Of course we are going toward more democracy,” Mr. Qaddafi said carefully. “But this project is not about democracy.”
Iran's president said Wednesday he is certain the wave of unrest in the Middle East will spread to Europe and North America, bringing an end to governments he accused of oppressing and humiliating people.Here is an often gruesome document listing 150 protesters killed in Iran from June 2009 to July 2010.
"This is very grotesque. It is unimaginable that there is someone who kills and bombards his own people. I strongly advise them to let nations have their say and meet their nations' demands if they claim to be the officials of those nations," Ahmadinejad said.
"Of course anyone who does not heed the demands of his own nation will have a clear fate," he added.
Iranian police and paramilitary groups brutally put down protests on their own streets after Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009.
A Coptic Christian priest has been killed in southern Egypt, triggering street demonstrations by several thousand Christians.(h/t MP, AR)
The priest was found dead in his home. A fellow clergyman, Danoub Thabet, says his body had several stab wounds. He says neighbours reported seeing several masked men leaving the apartment and shouting "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," suggesting the killing was motivated by the divide between Egypt's Muslims and its minority Coptic community.
About 3,000 protesters scuffled with Muslim shop owners Tuesday night and smashed the windows of a police car in the city, Assiut.
Hamas -- with its armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades -- is condemned by the United States as a terrorist organization and reviled by Israel as the perpetrator of some of the deadliest suicide bombings of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. At the same time, Hamas has won respect among Palestinians by providing education and health programs. Now, when the U.S. and Israeli governments are demanding greater democratization of the Palestinian Authority, voters in the West Bank and Gaza are handing a sizable share of power to a group that many U.S. and Israeli leaders associate more closely with terrorism than with political reform.
Secular Egyptians and many in the West view the Brotherhood warily because it seeks to deepen the role of Islam in people's lives. Deeply religious Egyptians, meanwhile, view it as too liberal.
Candidates aligned with Fatah, which has been the dominant Palestinian party for decades, have won the most local council seats overall in both Gaza and the West Bank. But Hamas has been victorious in the larger, more influential cities where it has capitalized on disorganization and bickering within Fatah, as well as its reputation for corruption.
After decades of fighting for the right to participate openly in politics, Egypt's largest opposition movement soon will face competition from emerging political factions, led by tech-savvy young Egyptians, as the country gears up for what could be its first fair election.
The Islamist group also is facing internal discord, with a handful of young members breaking away. Some say they disapprove of its rigid top-down leadership structure and its politics.
In Beit Hanoun, and in communities across Gaza and the West Bank, Islamic politicians are earning wide support using old-fashioned tactics valued the world over: fixing potholes, picking up garbage and turning on the lights.
Since Mubarak's ouster, the Brotherhood has offered few signs that it aspires to transform Egypt into a repressive Islamic state. The group bills itself as a moderate movement that seeks to broaden the appeal of Islam from the ground up. It also has long lobbied for a democratic system that ensures freedom of expression and term limits.Luckily, we have the benefit of hindsight to see how Hamas ended up.
#Gaddafi's internal microchip just rebooted. (During a long pause)
Gaddafi: "I built Benghazi block by block. And now they are destroying it." Awwww.
Nothing says "strong national leader" than screaming like a homeless lunatic from a ruined house.
The transcript from #Gaddafi's speech should be turned into performance art. Better than "Seven Jewish Children."
The Partnership For a Drug-Free America really needs to record #gaddafi's speech and make a PSA out of it.
Did the translator just commit suicide? (during one section where the translation stopped...after about 50 minutes, the translator was indeed replaced, probably because of a nervous breakdown)
T-shirt: "I survived the first hour of Gaddafi's speech"
Inventing a drink. Pour every type of alcohol you own into a glass.. Add bleach. Voilà! Le Gaddafi. Best served in a tent or w/ umbrella.
bloody hell, where's Kanye when you need him?
Gaddafi's cell phone bills must be a nightmare.
In face of Iran's continued race for nuclear power, Israel conducted a successful test of the Arrow 2 ballistic missile defense system off the coast of California early Tuesday morning, when it destroyed a target simulating an Iranian ballistic missile.
It was the eighteenth test of the Arrow, and the second in which the modified Arrow 2 was tested in its entirety, along with the Green Pine radar manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The test was conducted jointly by the IAF, the Defense Ministry's Homa Missile Defense Agency and the US Missile Defense Agency. The Arrow is a project developed in cooperation by the IAI and Boeing.
The Arrow interceptor was launched at around 10:30 pm Pacific Standard Time from a US Navy base along the California coast and intercepted a missile fired from a nearby navy vessel. Defense officials said that the enemy missile impersonated a "future threat that Israel could one day face in the region." Defense officials lauded the successful launching as another indication of Israel's defense capabilities in the face of Iran's continued quest for a nuclear weapon. They said that the Arrow system could protect Israel from all of the missiles in Iran's arsenal.
"This test is important for Israel as it prepares to counter the ballistic missile threat in the region," Herzog said. "This test proves the success of the system after it underwent new upgrades." Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the test was an important milestone in the Israel's development of missile defense systems. Last week, the IAF successfully tested the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system ahead of its planned deployment in southern Israel.
Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
If you want real peace, don't insist on a divided Jerusalem, @USAmbIsrael
The Apartheid charge, the Abraham Accords and the "right side of history"
With Palestinians, there is no need to exaggerate: they really support murdering random Jews
Great news for Yom HaShoah! There are no antisemites!