Avalanche Kills 16 Jawans, 4 Missing
In a high-altitude warfare training camp positioned in Jammu, there was an avalanche that killed 16 soldiers of the Indian army. 70 soldiers were rescued and 4 are still missing. Almost 350 soldiers ventured out for Khilanmarg at a height of over 10,000 feet to set up a campsite. The heavy snow is holding back rescue operations. The Snow Avalanche Study Establishment issued an avalanche warning last Sunday.
U.S., China, Others Join Copenhagen Accord on Climate
The United States, China, India, and dozens of other countries that count for 80% of the world’s greenhouse gases have signed a volunteered agreement to attempt to make a change in the air pollution. If these countries keep their promises, we could reduce a large proportion of the greenhouse gases that scientist say are causing global warming. There were 193 countries that met in Copenhagen.
The director of the World Wildlife Fund’s climate change program, Keya Chatterjee made a statement. “What we now know that we did get out of Copenhagen was clarity of what countries are going to be doing to fight climate change,” she said, “The situation is much better than we had a couple months ago. But it’s still not where we need to be.”
The main countries that met were the U.S., China, India, Japan, the nations of the European Union, and the United Nations. Each nation made its own goal to helping reduce greenhouse gases.
URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-climate-accord2-2010feb02,0,4597990.story
Pentagon Chief Defends Arms Sales to India, Pakistan
Defense secretary from Islamabad, Robert M. Gates stopped at India, Pakistan during his trip to Southern Asia to work against a heated rivalry and to meet with military extremists. At the same time though, he and other U.S. officials are selling many weapons and arms and may cause more anger than they are preventing. Gates’ answer to this oppose is that he is trying to cooperate with the country and make an alliance-through selling weapons to the two countries. He also stated, “And besides, they could get weapons elsewhere, why not from us?”
The U.S. has increased the annual military aid to Pakistan and has helped build Pakistan’s attack force such as by expanding the fleet of F-16 fighter jets. This may not be the best way to solve the problems of the two countries at war, but there are signs that they are starting to trust Washington’s counsel.
URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-gates23-2010jan23,0,6998676.story
Heavy Downpours and Floods Kill 15 People
6 people in the Sinai Peninsula and 9 in Aswan were killed from Heavy rain storms which caused floods. These are some of the worst storms of the decade. The rain and lightning caused over 40 homes and 57 electrical towers to have collapsed. There were some temporary blackouts at some hotels and resorts and the visitors had to spend the evening using candles. The storm also caused blackouts across the city of Aswan! The Sharm el Shiek airport was closed for awhile because part of the roof was damaged from the storm. A number of ports near the Red Sea were also closed because of bad weather. It is said that a British tourist drowned because a yacht turned over along the Nile River. The floods also swept away or destroyed the mud-brick homes of some peasants. Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate their homes and work places.
Israel Plans to Build a Barrier to Stop Illegal Crossings
Israel plans to build a wall with Egypt to stop people from illegally crossing from North Africa to Israel. Israel will build it along the southern border, where police estimate 100-200 people cross illegally every week. This wall will stop infiltrators and terrorists. 90% of border crossings are made by refugees from North Africa. The wall will be expected to take several weeks to build and the cost is estimated at 269 million dollars. We hope that this wall will help to make things straight along the borders.
URL:http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/11/israel.egypt.border/index.html?iref=allsearch
What’s the Truth Behind Libyan Border Deaths?
31 men took the risks and decided to try to cross the Libyan border through Egypt’s desert in order to find better work. During the trip, 14 men had died, and some say it was because of a mine explosion. One survivor said that it was most certainly not a mine though. His story says that as they were nearing Sidi Barrani, close to the Libyan border, there was a sudden barrage of gun shots lasting 30 minutes. Adding to those that were dead, there were 11 injured and 6 managed to escape through the Libyan checkpoints. Both the Egyptian and Libyan security forces are working together to figure how this event could have happened.
Most Egyptians would rather take the risks rather than make a flight because the flights cost so much. People would rather spend 700 pounds ($127 in U.S. dollars) for help crossing the desert. This cost is less than the cost of a plane ticket.
Crash on Nile River has People Wondering
On the Nile, between the cities of Rashid and Kafr El Shiekh, a ferry had crashed into a smaller boat and left many either missing or dead. A small, fast-moving boat crashed into the ferry full of passengers and broke it in half. So far, 6 people have been injured and 13 more were rescued from drowning. Governors and police were looking through the area for a very long time but didn’t find any bodies. Some survivors say that there were no fewer than 50 passengers. One survivor told his story:
“The ferry’s driver kept asking for more people to hop on board until there were at least 70 of us. We complained that we were too many, but he didn’t care, ” He says. “Luckily, I can swim and I managed to stay alive and save another older woman. But I’ve seen some horrible scenes of helpless people drowning.”
The owner of the ferry and the boat have been kept in custody because the general prosecutor wanted to do a formal investigation. The people of Rashid and Kafr El Shiekh use the small boats, called “poor people’s boats” because the officials wouldn’t build a bridge between the cities as the citizens had asked. That is the reason that the people of these two cities must use unstable boats or drive 40 kilometers to travel from one city to the other.
Protesters Cause Trouble in Iran
Rioters yelled “Death to the dictator!”as students remembered a national holiday in the streets. The students were celebrating Student Day, a holiday remembering the death of 3 students in 1953 by security forces. Unfortunately, the protests were held on Student Day and they interfered with each other. the demonstrations were against the presidential elections of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. People thought those elections were deeply flawed. Demonstrations have taken place at many universities, and they have caused shopkeepers to close for a while for fear of violence. Security forces shot students and protesters with plastic bullets and hit them with batons.
For original source click here.
Israel Holds Back a Ship Full of Weapons
A ship from Iran sent to Syria was caught by Israeli professional soldiers. The ship contained tons of weapons. Those weapons contained more than 40 containers of missiles, rockets, light arms, and mortars. The ship was discovered by the Israeli navy patrolling 100 miles off the coast of Israel, near Cyprus. Documents and materials show that the weapons were from Iran. Smuggling weapons like this is a well known Iranian technique. The Israeli president says that there is a “large gap” between what Syria and Iran say and what they do.
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/04/israel.weapons.ship/index.html
