Army: Gaza rockets hit Israeli city, no one hurt

Palestinians carry the body of a 65 years old man they say was killed by the Israeli army, during his …







JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says three rockets fired from Gaza have hit the Israeli city of Ashkelon. No one was hurt.

The barrage is a sign of escalating violence on the Israel-Gaza border. Israel has been hitting back for rocket attacks with airstrikes at militant facilities and smuggling tunnels in Gaza.

Palestinians say in another incident Monday, a 65-year-old Gaza man was shot dead from an Israeli guard tower on the border. The military had no immediate comment.

The rockets hit an industrial area on the southern edge of Ashkelon, which is six miles (10 kilometers) north of Gaza. The city has been a frequent target of Palestinian rocket squads when violence escalates.

The rocket fire came a day after Gaza's Hamas rulers appealed for calm.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister on Monday defended the construction of a new Israeli enclave in an Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem, rejecting a wave of international condemnation.

The Palestinians, the European Union and the U.S. have all condemned the planned building of 20 apartments for Israelis on the site of an empty hotel in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The project, approved in 2009, began in earnest Sunday with the demolition of the Shepherd Hotel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off the criticism, saying the construction was a private project carried out "in accordance with Israeli law."

"There should be no expectation that the state of Israel will impose a ban on Jews purchasing private property in Jerusalem," Netanyahu said in a statement. "No democratic government would impose such a ban on Jews and Israel will certainly not do so."

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been stalled for more than three months, in large part because of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The Palestinians refuse to negotiate as long as Israel continues to build new homes in these areas, captured territories on which the Palestinians hope to establish an independent state. Netanyahu has called for peace talks without preconditions.

During a trip to the Persian Gulf, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she was "very concerned" about the east Jerusalem project, saying it "contradicts the logic" of a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, condemned the "illegal settlement" and said such projects "undermine trust between the parties and constitute an obstacle to peace."

The dispute over east Jerusalem is the most explosive issue in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Israel annexed the area, home to sensitive Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites, after the 1967 war.

Although that move has never been internationally recognized, Israel considers the entire city its capital and has ringed east Jerusalem with a series of Jewish neighborhoods meant to solidify its control of the area. In addition, several thousand nationalist settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves inside Arab neighborhoods like Sheikh Jarrah.

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital and consider all Israeli residents in the area to be illegal settlers.

The Shepherd Hotel was built in the 1930s as the residence of the mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Husseini, a Nazi sympathizer who was forced to flee Jerusalem's British rulers at the end of the decade.

The building was later controlled by Jordan, which ruled east Jerusalem after 1948, and then taken over by Israel when it captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Israeli government sold the plot to Jewish American businessman Irving Moskowitz, a longtime patron of Jewish settlers, in 1985.

After years of bureaucratic delays, Moskowitz received the necessary permits to proceed with his development in 2009. The project's backers say an additional 50 apartments are planned for the site.

Tainted food dumped at S. Africa squatter camp

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Themba Mgodla needed a job so badly, he accepted a load of old food in payment for helping get the cookies, candies, jams and juice onto a truck. Once he got to his squatter camp in western South Africa, he found his neighbors were even more desperate, snatching from him goods he had planned to sell.

In the end, Mgodla, who had sampled the groceries, was among more than 100 Polile Park squatter camp residents in Cape Town who were treated for food poisoning over the weekend.

"We only saw that the food was spoiled hours later, when people came to us and said their children were sick," Mgodla said.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes of the city's emergency response department said all those sickened had recovered by Monday. Solomons-Johannes said authorities are trying to determine how to proceed with charges under the city's health regulations.

Mgodla said he had gone to a factory food shop and, seeing a driver loading a truck, asked for work. He said the driver was supposed to have taken the goods, some with expiration dates from 2000 and 2001, to a waste dump. Instead, the driver offered to let Mgodla have the load in exchange for his labor — saving what would have been a long trip to the dump.

Polile Park is near one of Cape Town's most popular beaches. Upscale houses are nearby, but the 1,000 or so squatter camp residents live in zinc-roofed shacks without electricity, and rely on communal water supplies and toilets.

Zithobile Maqamunca, a community leader in the camp, said he was working with police and city officials to collect the tainted food Monday. But poverty was making that difficult, he said.

"Some of the people don't want to give it up."

Spanish government rejects ETA ceasefire move

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain's government rejected a permanent ceasefire declared by the Basque separatist group ETA on Monday, saying it did not go far enough.

ETA, which has killed more than 850 people in its half-century armed struggle for an independent state in northern Spain and southwest France, has been crippled by arrests and Basques' rising support for more peaceful methods.

The weakened group announced a halt to armed attacks three months ago and said on Monday it had made the decision permanent. ETA has been under pressure from its outlawed political wing, Batasuna, which wants to be legitimized to run in local elections.

"ETA has decided to declare a permanent and general ceasefire which will be verifiable by the international community," the group said in an English-language statement on www.gara.net, the website of Basque regional newspaper Gara.

"This is ETA's firm commitment toward a process to achieve a lasting resolution and toward an end to the armed confrontation," the statement added.

ETA has broken ceasefires several times in the past, most recently in 2006 when a truce was ended by a deadly bomb attack at Madrid's airport.

In its Monday statement, the group did not specify how the permanent ceasefire might be internationally verified, nor did it say whether it had decided to turn in weapons and explosives.

Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba demanded that ETA renounce violence permanently and put a definitive and irreversible end to its activities.

"The government has rejected international verification over and over again. In a country under the rule of law it's for the state security forces to verify (the ceasefire)," Rubalcaba said in a brief statement to reporters.

ANALYSTS SCEPTICAL

Past ceasefires have been seen by analysts as ETA attempts to regroup with a view to launching further attacks.

Analysts were skeptical over the statement, in which ETA said it still aimed for self-determination for the Basque region.

"We can't be satisfied with this sort of statement, which does not mean that ETA is disbanding or showing a desire to disappear," Rogelio Alonso, political science professor at Rey Juan Carlos I University, told state radio.

"It's simply an attempt to put pressure on the democratic players to negotiate their demands."

If peace talks were to take place, ETA is expected to demand amnesty for its members and for some 550 prisoners.

ETA called on the governments of Spain and France, which has helped the Spanish capture ETA members, to "end all repressive measures" against the group.

In Bilbao, the biggest city in the Basque Country, the ETA statement raised hopes.

"It's really hopeful. Let's see if it gels by summer. What I'm scared of is the reaction from those who don't want the violence to end," said Javier, a waiter, who declined to give his last name.

Rightist opposition party the Popular Party has traditionally been opposed to any appeasement of ETA and has support from groups representing victims of ETA violence and from civil guard and police organizations.

Thousands of Basques marched on Saturday to protest against government policies toward ETA, such as sending convicted members of the group to prisons far from their families.

Sudan border clashes kill 36 as south votes: officials

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – At least 36 people have died in clashes between tribespeople and Arab nomads near Sudan's north- south border, leaders in the contested Abyei region said on Monday, on the second day of a vote on southern independence.

Analysts say the central region of Abyei is the most likely place for north-south tensions to erupt into violence during and after the vote, the climax of a troubled peace deal that ended decades of civil war.

Southerners are expected to vote to split from the mostly Muslim north, depriving Khartoum of most of its oil reserves.

Senior southern official Luka Biong official condemned the fighting and told Reuters both sides were still trying to settle their bitter dispute over the ownership of Abyei as part of a package of negotiations, including how the regions will share oil revenues and debt after a split.

In a separate more positive development, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter told CNN on Monday Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir had offered to take on all of the country's crippling debt if the south seceded.

The offer, if confirmed, would be a significant conciliatory gesture from Bashir and would lift a huge fiscal burden from the south in the early days of its expected independence.

Leading members of Abyei's Dinka Ngok tribe, linked with the south, accused Khartoum of arming the area's Arab Misseriya militias in clashes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and said they were expecting more attacks in days to come.

U.S. President Barack Obama this week warned both northern and southern leaders not to use proxy forces over the voting period, highlighting international concerns that both sides might be resorting to tactics used in past campaigns.

In another sign of tension, southern army spokesman Philip Aguer said two men -- a Ugandan and a northern army soldier -- were arrested with four boxes holding 700 rounds of AK-47 ammunition in the southern capital Juba on Sunday night.

The northern army's spokesman, al-Sawarmi Khaled, on Monday denied any link to the ammunition or the clashes.

PEACEFUL VOTING

Observers said thousands of voters queued up for a second day of voting that continued peacefully across other areas of the south. The final results are expected by February 15, with preliminary results a week earlier.

"Yesterday I tried my best but it was too much for me. Queues were too long. People were too emotional. Everyone wants to be first to decide his destiny," said Salah Mohamed, waiting outside a booth on the outskirts of the southern capital Juba.

"Today I could vote but still as you can see the crowds are still there ... I think the commission might need to extend the voting days."

The referendum's organizing commission said 20 percent of registered southerners had already cast their vote. The turnout needs to be 60 percent for the result to be valid.

Residents of the central Abyei region were promised their own referendum on whether to join the north or the south but leaders could not agree on how to run the poll and the vote did not take place as planned on January 9.

The speaker of the Abyei administration, Charles Abyei, said the Misseriya attacked because they had heard false rumors the Dinka were about to declare themselves part of the south.

"A large number of Misseriya attacked Maker village yesterday (Sunday), backed by government militia ... The first day one person died, the second day nine, yesterday 13 ... It will continue," he said.

Misseriya leader Mokhtar Babo Nimr told Reuters 13 of his men had died on Sunday's clash and accused southerners of starting the fighting.

Laurent Gbagbo rides on local support

Supporters of incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo wave their arms during a pro-Gbagbo rally in the Yopougon district of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Sunday, Jan.9, 2011. Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was shuttling between meetings Sunday with the country's defiant president who refuses to cede power and the internationally recognized winner in the latest effort to resolve the post-election crisis

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo rebuffs latest mediator

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Former Nigerian leader and mediator Olusegun Obasanjo left Ivory Coast early Monday as the country's incumbent president continued to defy the world and insist he had won the recent election.

Obasanjo, who came unannounced over the weekend, had driven back and forth between the presidency and a hotel across town where the internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara is barricaded.

Three other high-level delegations, including a mission last week by several African heads of state, have all failed to get sway incumbent Laurent Gbagbo to cede power.

Foreign embassies have ordered a majority of their staff to leave as anti-Western sentiment simmers. Gbagbo's regime continues to use the state broadcasting arm to denounce the "Franco-American plot" behind calls for his ouster.

On Monday, the U.S. Embassy held a meeting with American citizens and urged them to leave while commercial flights were still available, warning that the embassy would not be able to come get them from their homes if widespread violence breaks out.

"Pack your bags — we've packed ours," U.S. Consul Barbara Ensslin said.

Gbagbo has stubbornly refused to step down even though results released by the country's electoral body showed he had lost by a nearly 9-point margin to Ouattara. In recent days he has ordered the military to encircle the Golf Hotel where Ouattara and his staff took refuge, imposing a blockade. The only way in or out of the hotel is now via helicopter.

The purpose of Obasanjo's visit was to deliver the international community's message as forcefully as possible, and to offer Gbagbo an exile abroad and a monthly stipend if he chooses to step down, said an adviser to Ouattara who was briefed on the discussions.

The adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. He also said the Obasanjo repeated the warning that Gbagbo will face a regional military ouster if he does not cede power. The 15-nation regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to remove him by force if negotiations fail.

ECOWAS has previously mounted armed interventions in Sierra Leone and Liberia, though the move in Ivory Coast is controversial because the nation is a magnet for immigrants from other African countries. Gbagbo's government has insinuated that any armed move will prompt retaliatory attacks against foreigners living in the country.

Nigeria remains the lynchpin in the decision to mount a military ouster, since the country has one of the largest standing forces in West Africa.

Obasanjo holds weight in the region because he is a former military leader and voluntarily handed over power in the 1970s to a civilian-led, elected government. He has also been a top mediator, including in Ivory Coast, which had not held an election for 10 years due to a civil war and a subsequent political impasse.

Tullow Oil hits gas at Tweneboa-3 well

Tullow Oil says Monday that it has hit gas in Ghana, barely one month after it began commercial production of oil in the country.

In a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the leading oil producer in Ghana, Tullow Oil says its Tweneboa-3 appraisal well in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana has successfully encountered gas condensate in excellent quality sandstone reservoirs.

According to Tullow, results of drilling, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluids, together with the well’s down-dip position confirms the Greater Tweneboa Area resource base potential.

The well which is located over six kilometres south-east of the Tweneboa-2 well and 12 kilometres south-east from the Tweneboa-1 discovery well, was planned with two deviated boreholes to test separate areas of the Tweneboa field.

The first leg was drilled to calibrate the potential of an area with a very weak seismic response. Within prognosis, this leg encountered thin reservoir sands and approximately 9 metres of gas condensate pay, it says.

The well was then sidetracked 550 metres west, targeting the significant Ntomme anomaly, an area of strong seismic response. This leg successfully encountered a gross vertical reservoir interval of approximately 65 metres containing 34 metres of net gas condensate pay in two zones of high quality stacked reservoir sandstones.

Tullow indicates that work is underway to integrate seismic, pressure and hydrocarbon phase data in order to progress development options for the Tweneboa and Enyenra (Owo) fields in the Greater Tweneboa Area.

Tweneboa-3 was drilled by the Deepwater Millennium drillship to a total depth of 3,906 metres in a water depth of 1,601 metres. On completion of operations, the well will be suspended for future use in the field development.

We won't fight in a needless war - Defence Minister

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has lauded President Mills' decision not to commit troops to La Cote d'Ivoire to fight in a "needless war", saying a war in that country will not be in the interest of Ghana.

"The soldiers fully support and are satisfied with the decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the GAF," Lt. General J.H. Smith, Minister of Defence told newsmen in Accra yesterday.

He said "the soldiers believe that although they have a duty to be prepared and assigned to missions, sending them on a military mission to forcibly oust the incumbent Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, would be improper."

ECOWAS Heads of State recently agreed to the use of military force to resolve the political crisis in La Cote d'lvoire, and asked member states to contribute troops.

However, Ghana can not contribute troops because her forces are outstretched, according to the President.

He explained during his encounter with editors in Accra last Friday, that the nation could not commit more troops because in addition to limited numbers of the forces available, the government did not believe that military action was the solution to the crisis in La Cote d'lvoire.

Gen. Smith explained that the President's decision was based on the result of a critical analysis of the situation in La Cote d'lvoire, indicating that there was no need to commit more troops since there were already about 500 Ghanaian soldiers serving with the UN Peace Mission in that country.

Besides the troops in La Cote d'lvoire, he said over 4,000 Ghanaian troops were serving on other peacekeeping operations in Liberia, Congo and Lebanon, adding that "we recently pulled out of Chad on the advice of the UN."

He said before sending out troops, the rule required that such a move would not affect a country's capacity for internal security, saying the GAF High Command advised the President on the need to have adequate numbers for homeland security, including protecting the oil , resources.

"It is laudable that the President heeded the advice of the GAF High Command," he stressed. Supporting the President's view that military force would not solve the Ivorian crisis, Gen. Smith was of the opinion that the ECOWAS Secretariat should have consulted experts to critically analyse the crisis before asking the Heads of State to take a decision on that country.

"This is because the sub-region will suffer serious consequences if a war should start in La Cote d'lvoire.

"It's easy to start a war but very difficult to sustain and end it," the Defence Minister said, adding that "our President has taken a very wise decision."

He said there was the need for all avenues to be explored to resolve the political impasse before a military intervention might be considered as a last resort.

Asked about the welfare of the Ghanaian troops already in La Cote d'lvoire, the Defence Minister noted that a high powered team was constantly monitoring the Ivorian situation and briefing the President on a daily basis.

Last November's presidential election has left La Cote d'lvoire divided with both incumbent President, Laurent Gbagbo and opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara, claiming to be winners of the polls, and declared themselves as President

Somali Islamists ban men, women from shaking hands

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalis say Islamist insurgents have banned unrelated men and women from shaking hands, speaking or walking together.

Residents of the southern Somali town of Jowhar said Saturday that the al-Shabab insurgents threatened to whip, imprison or execute anyone found breaking the recent edicts.

Resident Hussein Ali says he will no longer greet women he knows for fear of punishment.

Student Hamdi Osman says gunmen are searching buses for improperly dressed women or women traveling alone. She says she was once beaten for wearing Somali traditional dress instead of the long, shapeless black robes favored by the fighters.

The insurgents have already banned women from working in public, leaving many families completely destitute.

Road Construction in Ghana: Who is in Charge? (Part 1)

Courtesy GhanaWeb

By
Dr. Robert A. Baffour

Associate Professor of Transportation Engineering and the Vice President, Ghana Telecom University College

The Expansion of a roadway network or the construction of new roads in any community is a good sign of economic growth. Roads support economic growth and improve quality of life. It is of no surprise that governments spend huge sums of money to invest in road projects. In the past several years, Ghana has seen a significant change in road works. New roads are being constructed and old roads are being rehabilitated. In some parts of the country, Ghana can boast of six lane roads that help move people and goods. While road constructions follow a specific set of rules to make sure the right things are done, it appears these basic rules do not apply very well especially when the projects are being executed in developing countries such as Ghana. In most instances, roads under construction are also open to traffic simultaneously. Detours, alternate routes, and proper signage are virtually nonexistent. Communities affected by these construction works have virtually no say in the process. Health and safety issues are seriously ignored resulting in loss of life and severe illnesses. There are several issues associated with the way roads are constructed in this country. The roadway contractors, the supervising engineers and all those associated with the construction of such roads as Achimota-Ofankor, Tetteh Quarshie-Legon, Motor way extension to Malam, should bow their heads in shame for under representing the interest of the people of Ghana. The objective of this article is to provide some basic information to educate the average Ghanaian about what to expect when it comes to road construction. It is also intended to tell the Ghanaian engineers who supervise these road projects to provide the right engineering services to the nation. With this article, it is hoped that people of Ghana will begin to demand what is right and that they will not be taken for granted when it comes to projects done in their own communities.


All things being equal, the science and art of road construction should not change because of location. The steps involved in constructing a three kilometer six lane road should not differ from one country to the other simply because one is a developed country and the other is a developing country. For example, a contractor should use the same methods and common engineering and construction principles to construct this three kilometer road in the United States and in Ghana. Corruption, poor supervision, and poor enforcement are some of the factors that affect change in rules. Roads that are supposed to last for twenty years last for two years in Ghana,


The steps involved in the construction of a road are many and usually involves lots of people and agencies. The initial idea to provide a road, the selection of the road location, the purchase of land, the survey of land, the involvement of the community, the demolishing of properties, bulldozing, digging, traffic re-assignments, pouring of asphalt or concrete, and handing over are some of the key steps involved in the roadway construction process. While most of these processes are obvious, this article will touch on some of the processes that are not so obvious to the public. Perhaps the best way to explain this is to use some examples. Example 1: The road that carries traffic from the Achimota school area to the Accra-Tema motorway extension is closed due to construction. A new driver from the 37 Military Hospital through Dwowolu heading towards the Achimota school area will find it very difficult to get there. There are no detour signs to guide drivers from this point to the other side of the road. Example 2: A new driver from Circle heading toward New Achimota using the ABC junction will be confused once he/she gets there. In fact the very day the road was closed (with no warnings or signage), I used the road in the morning to go to work but found that section closed in the evening. I had to continue on to Tantra Hill before making a left turn to find my way back. A driver new to this area will have a serious challenge. In sum, providing detours and signage for closed roads is simply poor and it shows a complete disregard of professionalism and also lack of respect for the people of Ghana. This cannot happen in England, cannot happen in the United States and therefore should not happen here in Ghana.


How many times have you or a member of your community been involved in deciding the kinds of transportation projects that affect your community? Have you ever wondered how decisions are made about transportation projects that affect your life? Have you ever been bothered about why a road being constructed is also opened to traffic at the same time? Have you ever been concerned about why road construction processes may be different from developed countries to developing countries? Does it bother you when you have to pass through a three feet water on a road because the road to work is under construction? Have you ever experienced a situation where the road you used to work in the morning was closed during the evening and going back home was a problem because there were no guiding signs? Have you ever wonder how businesses fair during such construction projects?


In short, do you think you have any right to be involved in making decision that will help answer some of the questions raised above? Yes, in modern transportation and highway projects, it is imperative that the public is involved in helping change the direction of such projects. Civil and construction engineers are no longer the only stakeholders in the roadway construction projects. It is now a community wide project where all stakeholders including community leaders, environmentalist, engineers, teachers, business owners, etc are deeply involved from the conception of the project to the end of the project. Until communities and the citizens of Ghana demand a fair treatment to make sure our health is taken into consideration, our safety is assured and that our money is being used wisely, such projects will always be done with such poor judgment as we see on our roads daily. Where else in the world can one see a road project being executed like the project going on in Ofankor. We all have to be ashamed that such a thing is going on in our neighborhood.


While the time involved in completing a highway project depends on several factors, one always wonders how communities are subjected to long span of construction time. Such times and delays are most of the time not warranted. Can anyone justify shutting down the though movement from Tetteh Quashie to Legon for 10 years? 10 years is long enough to destroy an entire community, to cause so much pollution in a residential area, enough to destroy several businesses and livelihoods, ten years in roadway construction is long enough to kill lots of people either directly or indirectly. The bottom line is these projects should be planned well to minimize the social and economic impact of the people of this country.
A proper roadway construction process demands that a temporary alternate road is provided. In addition to providing these alternate roads, proper detour or diversions with proper signs are provided to motorist till they find themselves back to the main road of travel. It appears this is not part of the roadway construction process in Ghana. Motorists are left to find their way through usually a very messy system that makes travel very unpleasant, unsafe and time consuming.


Public infrastructure construction workers especially highway construction workers are exposed to hazards from outside and inside the work zone. More so in Ghana, the safety dimension are very different especially with Taxi and Trotro drivers using all available means to get to their destination. Proper engineering practices demands that proper safety procedures are used to protect both the construction workers and also the travelling public. Work zone signs, cones, barricades, flagging, etc. are useful to minimize accidents. In Ghana, signs are not adequate, barricades (usually stones) that are usually put to protect humans are either inadequate or are removed by taxi and trotro drivers, flagging are most of the time not present. Driving in a construction zone in Ghana is tantamount to driving in a dead zone. Whoever is responsible for overseeing the proper adherence to construction safety practices need to buckle up before the unexpected happens.


It is important that road construction are done at times that will minimize delays. It is very obvious that there is absolutely no respect for the driving public when it comes to road constriction. It appears decision to construct a road does not consider delays to travelers at all. The question is, do the contractors use the same construction principles when they construct roads in their own countries? If the answer is no, then why Ghana?
Wait for part two

Shops burn in Algerian riots

Youths attacked a police station and burned shops in Algiers on Thursday, in a second day of protests against rising costs and unemployment. Demonstrators are also protesting against a lack of social housing and allegations of corruption.

“There’s been a simmering tension already caused by unemployment, caused by high prices,” says Gita Subrahmanyam, Algeria specialist at the London School of Economics.

“But it’s also to do with housing, and the riots are supposedly the result of the authorities closing down and destroying some illegal housing settlements.”

More than a million houses in the country were destroyed in an earthquake in 2003 and they have not yet been replaced, despite a government promise.

"In Algiers and in some of the other cities like Oran where there were riots, there’s a real, serious problem of lack of housing and overcrowding,” says Subrahmanyam.

Algeria has a strong hydrocarbon industry, but that is only adding to the frustration among protesters, she adds.

“There’s a real frustration that this wealth is being kept by government rather than being distributed across the population.”

Another problem the country faces is that it has not been able to diversify its industry. This is partly to do with a lack of available skills and partly because the country’s history of violence is putting off foreign investors.

Ghana president says 'no' to troops in Ivory Coast

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — The president of Ghana on Friday said his country is not able to send troops to oust the leader of Ivory Coast who is unwilling to cede office after losing presidential election in late November.

The announcement could complicate a move by a regional bloc of 15 nations in West Africa to mount a military intervention in order to allow the internationally recognized winner of the election Alassane Ouattara to assume his functions. He and his staff are barricaded inside a hotel, his exits blocked by soldiers loyal to Gbagbo.

ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, has twice sent a delegation to try to persuade Gbagbo to step down.

After the second attempt failed this week, the group began deliberating the military option. The move is controversial, however, since it could entail civilian casualties as well as reprisal attacks against expatriates from ECOWAS member countries living in Ivory Coast.

Ghanaian President John Atta Mills said he backs ECOWAS, but said his troops are already committed to other peace missions around the world — including in Ivory Coast

"Ghana's position is that even though we support the decision by ECOWAS to send a force to Ivory Coast, Ghana finds itself unable to contribute troops," because they are overstretched, he told reporters at a press conference in Accra, the capital of Ghana. "Currently, Ghana has 500 soldiers on United Nations missions in Ivory Coast who are guarding Mr. Alassane Ouattara."

The international community has been uncharacteristically united in their decision to not recognize Gbagbo because the results were carefully reviewed and certified by a special United Nations election unit.

Ouattara is under 24-hour guard at the Golf Hotel where he is guarded by some 800 U.N. peacekeepers, who have encircled the perimeter of the hotel with sandbags and razor wire.

Gbagbo came to office 10 years ago in another messy election and overstayed his legal mandate, which expired in 2005 just after the end of the nation's brief civil war. The election was rescheduled at least six times before it was finally held in October. Results from the runoff held on November 28, which were released by the electoral commission and validated by the United Nations, showed that Ouattara had won with 54 percent of the vote.

The United States, the European Union, the African Union and the United Nations' General Assembly have all recognized Ouattara as the legitimate president. It's created a dichotomy where the man that is the president-elect in the eyes of the world has no control of the institutions of state inside the country he was elected to run. Gbagbo still occupies the presidential palace and in the past week, he has stepped up the blockade on the Golf Hotel where Ouattara is holed up to the point that now the only way in or out is via a United Nations helicopter.

Ouattara has asked foreign governments to no longer recognize ambassadors appointed by Gbagbo. Several countries have asked the pro-Gbagbo ambassadors to leave, including Canada and Britain. In London, the Foreign Office notified the Ivorian diplomat on New Year's Eve that his diplomatic privileges and immunity had been suspended and that he his dependents have 31 days to leave the country.

On Thursday, the Gbagbo regime retaliated. A government spokesman said they have asked the British and Canadian ambassadors to leave Ivory Coast within 30 days.

The demand comes on the heels of an earlier declaration asking the nearly 10,000-strong United Nations mission to leave. But the force will stay and may grow. On Wednesday, Alain Le Roy, the U.N.'s peacekeeping chief said he will formally request an additional 1,000 to 2,000 peacekeepers from the Security Council to beef up the force in Ivory Coast.

The latest order does not actually impact the British ambassador, who is based in Accra. The Canadian foreign minister issued a statement saying that since Canada does not recognize Gbagbo, they do not consider the demand to remove their ambassador legitimate.

The Gbagbo regime, however, has not asked the U.S. ambassador in Abidjan to leave, even though the Gbagbo-appointed diplomat in Washington was given his 30-day notice on Dec. 30, said an Obama administration official.

Contacted by telephone in Abidjan, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, one of Gbagbo's closest advisers, said the administration would apply the principle of reciprocity equally and said he did not know why the U.S. ambassador had not yet been asked to leave.

"There is no discrimination. I think probably the foreign ministry has not yet been informed that (Ivory Coast Ambassador to Washington) Charles Koffi was told to leave. We plan to apply this to everyone."

New Israeli military technology speeds up warfare

AP – In this Dec. 29, 2010 photo, Israeli soldiers cover their ears as a shell is fired during an army drill …




SHIVTA ARTILLERY TRAINING SCHOOL, Israel – Intense winds scraped sand from the desert floor, clouding the view and leaving the Israeli soldiers scarcely able to see each other as they practiced blasting artillery shells at distant targets.

In a nearby armored vehicle, commanders armed with small screens could easily monitor every cannon, jeep and target involved, ordering strikes with the tap of a finger. Their weapon: a sophisticated communication system that compiles battlefield information in an easy-to-use, video game-like map interface, helping militaries make sense of the chaos of battle.

The Associated Press was given rare access to the exercise by a military eager to reclaim some of the deterrence it held in the region when technologically inferior Arab armies were the main threat against it.

That deterrence has eroded in recent times, as guerrilla warfare became more prominent and left conventional armies — here as elsewhere — looking clumsy and vulnerable.

In a monthlong war in 2006, Lebanese guerrillas with relatively simple rockets knocked out Israeli tanks, and Israel's high-tech military was powerless to stop a barrage of primitive, unguided Katyusha rockets on northern Israel.

The latest computerized gadgetry is designed to knock down the military's response time. Troops on the ground can add new targets as soon as they spot them — like militants on foot, a rocket squad or a vehicle — to the network for commanders to see instantly and hit.

Strikes that used to take 20 or more minutes to coordinate now take just seconds, said Maj. Hagai Ben-Shushan, head of the C4I section for Israel's artillery. "It doesn't take much, then shells are going to the target," he said.

Israel is among several nations harnessing digital and satellite technology to develop C4I systems — short for "command, control, communications, computers and intelligence" — that integrate battlefield information.

The goal is to have "all the elements of a force ... seeing the same tactical picture, and you can move information from one to the other completely seamlessly," said Britain-based Giles Ebbutt, who studies such systems for Jane's Information Group.

C4I systems are operational in the United States, which started development in the 1990s, as well as France, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy, among other countries, Ebbutt said.

Israel's version — being developed over the past decade or so — is "a little bit further down the road than some people ... because they have a focus on the problem, they are constantly operationally alert, and they need to be as operationally developed as they can," Ebbutt said.

The army says it started using the first, basic version in 2005, but it did not include all units and functions. The latest, completed in 2009 and in training since last March, allows all forces on the ground to communicate instantaneously.

"Visually, now everything is on the map, so it's much easier to coordinate," said the battalion commander whose men were being trained. "You can easily understand the map and the position of forces." He spoke on condition of anonymity under military rules.

On a stretch of sand near the army base at Shivta, deep in Israel's southern Negev desert, six artillery cannon stood with their barrels aimed at targets about 4 miles (6 kilometers) away. Commanders in a nearby armored vehicle stared at two screens, watching all movement on an interactive satellite map.

Pink squares marked each cannon, dotted lines of shell trajectory extended from their barrels and circles showed the expected blast radius of any shells fired.

Different symbols marked other army vehicles, their locations kept up to date with GPS-like devices. All the vehicles carried similar screens, giving soldiers a realtime map of the battlefield.

One soldier demonstrates how to add a new target to the map: A tap on the screen places it, then he can describe its size and character.

Seeing the target, a commander can then order a strike with a few more taps, deciding who will fire and how much. The order immediately appears on those units' screens.

The system's newest version, built by Israeli defense contractor Elbit, has yet to be battle-tested, but Israel used an earlier one in its Gaza offensive two years ago, Ben-Shushan said.

That war, launched to stop militant rocket fire on Israeli towns, killed about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Four of the 10 Israeli soldiers were killed by friendly fire, but Col. Gil Maoz, head of Israel's Digital Army program, said the technology helped to prevent other Israeli fatalities.

Israel had only an early version of the system during its war with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah in 2006, which killed about 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis. An Israeli investigation into the war, which was widely seen as a failure, criticized the inability of commanders to relay key information to the field.

Maoz said having the system then could have lowered the Israeli death toll.

Elbit spokeswoman Dalia Rosen said that what sets the Israeli system apart from others is the ease with which it allows land, naval and air forces to communicate with each other and its ability to link everyone from rank-and-file soldiers in the field to the highest commanders.

She said Australia purchased Elbit communications technology for its own battle management system in a deal last year valued at $298 million.

Jehovah Witnesses say harassed in south Sudan

JUBA (Reuters) – Jehovah's Witnesses in a south Sudan town have been harassed and expelled and a place of worship was burned down after it was alleged they had told voters not to take part in a secession referendum, members of the sect said.

Members of the small minority Christian group in Sudan said the sect was wrongly accused of preventing its followers from taking part for religious reasons in the vote on Sunday that will likely see the south secede.

The semi-autonomous southern government, formed after a 2005 peace deal, has faced criticism for rights abuses including harassing the press and opposition party members and widespread intimidation and fraud during April elections.

"They (the government) accused our brothers there that they were going from house to house telling people not to register and not to vote," Taban Jamba Lemi, a Jehovah's Witness based in Juba, told Reuters late on Friday.

"They are just allegations and the government took them seriously," Lemi added.

"For Jehovah's Witnesses, each one has his own responsibility whether he votes or not. We are not dictating that all Jehovah's Witnesses cannot vote."

Police in Yambio, Western Equatoria State, arrested and later released two Jehovah's Witnesses in December while a Kingdom Hall there was burned down on January 1 by "local people ... instigated by the government," Lemi said.

Two Kenyan members were expelled from the semi-autonomous region and the local government on radio announced a ban on all activities by the sect in the south Sudanese state, Lemi added.

A spokesman for Western Equatoria denied the allegations.

"The government has not banned their activities in Yambio. The radio announcement asked them to stop their campaigning against registration," Gibson Wande, minister of information and communication for the state, told Reuters.

"They burned their own church and are accusing the government."

Lemi said Jehovah's Witnesses had not faced similar problems in Juba as representatives had met with the governor to explain the misunderstanding. He said around 1,000 members of the sect were in Sudan, with the majority living in the south.

The Carter Center international observers said in a statement last month it was "concerned about intimidating rhetoric prevalent in Western Equatoria aimed at the Jehovah's Witness congregation."

"The Carter Center calls upon all stakeholders in Western Equatoria to respect the right of all individuals to participate in or refrain from the referendum process."

Earth’s magnetic pole shifts, screws up runway at Florida airport

An airport in Tampa, Florida, has had to temporarily close its runways to keep up with Earth's magnetic north pole, which is drifting toward Russia at a rate of 40 miles per year.

Fox News reports that the international airport was forced to adjust the signs on its busiest runway Thursday because pilots depend on the magnetic fields to navigate. The runway will be closed until Jan. 13, and will re-open with new taxiway signs that indicate its new location on aviation charts, the Tampa Bay Tribune reports.

Paul Takemoto, a spokesman for the FAA, says the Earth's magnetic fields are constantly in flux -- but rarely so much so that runway signage needs to be changed. "You want to be absolutely precise in your compass heading," he told Fox. "To make sure the precision is there that we need, you have to make these changes."

[Rewind: Scary gaffe adds to week of airline mishaps]


"The Earth's poles are changing constantly, and when they change more than three degrees, that can affect runway numbering," FAA spokesperson Kathleen Bergen told Fox News. It's unclear whether any other airports will have to adjust their runways.

Earth's magnetic field, which still flummoxes those who study it, "is thought to be generated deep inside the planet," LiveScience writer Jeanna Bryner explains. "An inner core of solid iron is surrounded by an outer core of molten iron. They rotate at different rates, and the interaction between the regions creates what scientists call a 'hydromagnetic dynamo.' It's something like an electric motor, and it generates a magnetic field akin to a giant bar magnet."



Sometimes, the poles completely flip -- and presumably when that happens, many bigger changes are afoot than modest tweaks to airport signs. The last time the planet experienced a polarity flip was 780,000 years ago.