Clinton Pledges to 'De-Escalate' Gaza Conflict

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met for more than two hours today behind closed doors with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, saying she sought to "de-escalate the situation in Gaza."

Clinton, who flew to Israel today, appeared with Netanyahu ahead of their 4 p.m. ET meeting to discuss a possible ceasefire to the fighting between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza.

"They discussed efforts to de-escalate the situation and bring about a sustainable outcome that protects Israel's security and improves the lives of civilians in Gaza," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a written statement after the meeting. "They also consulted on [Clinton's] impending stops in Ramallah and Cairo, including Egyptian efforts to advance de-escalation. They pledged to stay in close touch as she continues her travels."

The meeting came amid statements from Hamas earlier today that a ceasefire would soon be announced.

Netanyahu said he would prefer to use "diplomatic means" to find a solution to the fighting, but that Israel would take "whatever actions necessary" to defend its people.

"One of the things that we are doing is trying to resist and counter a terrorist barrage which is aimed directly at our civilians," Netanyahu said. "No country can tolerate a wanton attack on its civilians."

Clinton relayed a message from President Obama, reinforcing America's commitment to Israel's security and calling for an end to the rockets coming from "terrorist organizations in Gaza."

The Israel-Gaza Conflict in Pictures

Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv/Getty Images

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Families Pray for Ceasefire Watch Video

Middle East on the Brink: Israel Prepared to Invade Gaza Watch Video

"America's commitment to Israel's security is rock solid and unwavering. That is why we believe it is essential to de-escalate the situation in Gaza," Clinton said.

Clinton added that she would reiterate her message to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during a meeting on Wednesday.

"President Obama has emphasized the same points in his multiple conversations with President Morsi of Egypt, and we appreciate President Morsi's personal leadership and Egypt's efforts thus far," she said. "As a regional leader and neighbor, Egypt has the opportunity and responsibility to continue playing a crucial and constructive role in this process. I will carry this message to Cairo tomorrow."

Clinton expressed her condolences for the Palestinian and Israeli civilians who have been killed in the violent outbreak.

The rocket fire between Israel and Hamas, which began six days ago, has claimed more than 130 Palestinian lives and five Israeli lives. Half the Palestinian deaths were civilians; four of the five Israelis were civilians. A ceasefire, if reached, would bring a halt to the worst violence between Gaza and Israel in four years.

Israeli officials told ABC News earlier today that a final deal had not been brokered between Israel and Hamas, and that if a pact were reached, it would not be announced until after midnight local time, or 5 p.m. ET.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told ABC News the news would be announced at a press conference in Cairo, where Morsi has been trying to broker an end to the fighting.

An Islamic Jihad website also reported that the ceasefire would go into effect tonight.

Clinton will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the fighting.

In the meantime, however, Abu Zuhri called on all militant groups to continue firing rockets on Israel "in retaliation for the Israeli massacres."

Israeli missiles also continued to explode in Gaza while sirens sounded in Israel, signalling incoming rocket fire from Gaza.

Hamas said three Palestinian journalists were killed by an Israeli missile today, and Israel said one of its soldiers was killed by a Palestinian rocket today.

Gazans streamed out of northern neighborhoods during the afternoon after the Israel Defense Forces dropped leaflets telling residents to evacuate before dark. Scared Palestinians poured into Gaza City, cars and trucks piled high with belongings, many heading to schools for shelter.

ABC News' Matt Gutman contributed to this report

Read More..

Israeli-Hamas conflict creates wedge in U.S. relations with Turkey and Egypt, two key partners in Middle East

The Israeli-Hamas conflict is putting the Obama administration at odds with two of its most important partners in the Middle East, threatening to undermine other U.S. objectives in the region at a time of political upheaval.

On Monday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which has frequently served as a moderate voice in the region, described Israel as a “terrorist state” and condemned the airstrikes in Gaza. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has warned Israel against a ground invasion and thrown his support behind Hamas’s leadership, sending his prime minister to Gaza.

Read More..

Colombia's FARC rebels declare ceasefire as talks begin

HAVANA: Colombia's leftist FARC rebels declared a unilateral two-month ceasefire Monday as they began talks in Cuba with the Bogota government on ending Latin America's longest-running insurgency.

But the government of President Juan Manuel Santos immediately made clear it would not be bound by the ceasefire and military operations against the FARC would continue.

The Colombian military is determined to "chase these individuals who have violated all types of laws ... and have attacked the lives and honor of Colombians," Defense Secretary Juan Carlos Pinzon said in Bogota.

Negotiators for the Santos administration and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were in Havana to resume negotiations formally launched last month in Norway, the first attempt at a negotiated peace in 10 years.

Ivan Marquez, the head of the FARC delegation, said the rebel ceasefire would take effect at 0500 GMT Tuesday and last through January 20.

"The leadership has ordered that all military operations against government forces come to a halt," Marquez said upon arrival at the talks venue.

He said that this was "another example of our desire to create a political environment conducive to the progress of the talks."

The rebel move was a "solid contribution to strengthening the climate of understanding needed for the parties starting talks to reach the result desired by all Colombians," Marquez said.

Colombian negotiators made no statement as they arrived at the convention center in the Cuban capital. Reporters were not allowed inside as the talks began.

Both Santos and chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle have repeatedly said that government forces will maintain counter-insurgency operations during the peace talks with the FARC.

"There will be no military concessions, nor a ceasefire, nor demilitarized zones," de la Calle said before leaving Bogota on Sunday.

Both sides however have said they are confident that an end is near to the decades-long conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives is within reach.

De la Calle said Sunday that he believes this is "the defining moment" to reach a peace deal with the FARC, as both sides have agreed that talks "must end with a final agreement on the conflict."

This round of talks would likely last about 10 days, at which time a start date for the next round would be agreed.

The Santos administration wants to build "a stable peace," he told reporters as he boarded the plane for Havana, adding that "the FARC would be turned into a legal political party."

Negotiations to reach a final deal will likely last "months, not years," de la Calle said.

The FARC -- Latin America's largest rebel group, founded in 1964 and believed to have some 9,000 armed fighters -- took up arms almost 50 years ago to protest the concentration of land ownership in Colombia.

Little has changed over the years, as more than half of the country's largest properties are controlled by one percent of the population, according to a 2011 UN report.

There are however signs that the guerrillas may be ready for a truce after a long string of setbacks.

Several top commanders have been captured or killed in recent years as the group has suffered a string of military defeats and its ranks have dropped to half the number of fighters compared to the FARC's 1990s peak.

The talks, the fourth attempt at peace between the government and the FARC, will focus on a five-point agenda that includes the thorny issue of rural development.

Both sides must also agree on a mechanism to end hostilities, incorporate the rebels in political life, curb drug trafficking, and compensate victims of abuses committed by guerrillas and government troops.

According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people have died and four million have been driven from their homes in the conflict, which also involves a smaller guerrilla army and right-wing paramilitary groups.

-AFP/ac

Read More..

Gujarat Parsis being cremated as vultures dwindle

VADODARA: When Dara Hakim, 89, a former Indian Navy deep-sea diver and prominent member of Vadodara's Parsi community passed away recently, his family chose cremation for his last rites. Though he did not leave any specific instructions, his wife Roda Hakim arranged for a cremation instead of the traditional Tower of Silence.

According to Zoroastrian beliefs, the best way to dispose of a body is to let it remain in the open at the Tower of Silence and be consumed by scavenging birds. With the vulture population dwindling in Vadodara, many in this community are preferring cremation as the final rite for their loved ones.

The first woman photo-journalist of the country, Homai Vyarawalla, too had left unambiguous instructions with her lawyer about her desire to be cremated. The Modi family, which owns the popular confectionaries store and restaurant in the city, had cremated their matriarch, Roshan Modi, after she wished for the same, last year. The oldest cremation that the community members recall is that of Dr Rustom Cama, father of Boman Cama, who now heads the Vadodara Parsi panchayat, in the 1980s.

It is individual choice. The Parsi panchayat has never formally discussed the topic. The families are free to take a decision, said Jal Patel, the immediate past president of the panchayat. Some families have opted for cremation in the past, although the majority still prefer the Tower of Silence, he added.

The community welcomes this liberal approach. Everyone realizes that the decision to cremate does not mean moving away from our tradition, it's a very practical solution to a raging problem, explained Modi.

Read More..

In Gaza, a Warning Call, Then Missiles

Anger boiled over in Gaza on Monday as the death toll passed 100 and the civilian casualties mounted. Volleys of Palestinian militant rockets flew into Israel as Israeli drones buzzed endlessly overhead and warplanes streaked through the air to unleash missile strikes.

As Israel comes under fierce criticism for the bombing of a home on Sunday that killed 11, including nine from a single family, it is emphasizing how careful it has been in striking its targets. It has released videos from drone cameras, highlighting conversations between drone pilots that show them waiting until civilians are gone to carry out their strikes. Leaflets have been dropped and Hamas' radio station was taken over by Israel to issue warnings.

And in the Jabaliya refugee camp, a phone call to a four-story building caused a mass evacuation on Sunday. A voice told Fateh Nasser he and everyone in the building had five minutes to get out.

The 40 people inside did not hesitate. And right on schedule, an Israeli missile flattened the building.

Israel says it has been careful about all its strikes, and its missiles have been accurate.

But Nasser and others who were standing outside the demolished building today claim they were not aware of any militants in the building.

Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

Gaza Violence: More Missiles Fired, Death Toll Rises Watch Video

Middle East on the Brink: Israel Prepared to Invade Gaza Watch Video

"This house consists of five families with high number of children," Nasser told ABC News.

Nearby, kids were sweeping up debris on the dusty street and men sat on street corners. Most of the homes and shops were locked up tight. The atmosphere is punctuated with the steady hum of Israeli drones, the whoosh of rockets taking off and heading for Israel, and the blasts of incoming Israeli missiles and artillery from Israeli ships at sea.

During ABC News' interview in Jabaliya, an explosion from an Israeli missile went off close by.

Mohammed Matar, 30, an architect who has a young daughter, said he was furious at the extent of Israel's collateral damage.

"It was like hell. It's war. They bombed everywhere. They say in their news that they're just attacking like kind of Hamas people or something. It's wrong. They're attacking children everywhere," Matar said.

He scoffed at Israel's claim they are firing in self defense.

"Look, I mean, everyone has the right to defend himself. They are saying that they're defending their selves. Of what? Of rockets. They have no missiles in them. It's an empty rocket. It's just a kind of tube kind of going and doing nothing. But it's our way of defense. We have nothing," Matar said.

"I have only one kid, a little girl, and I want her to live in peace. I want her to live in Palestine. We have the right to defense ourselves. No one wants war, no one...But what kind of peace we need, that is the question," he said.

A Palestinian man at a Gaza hospital today was more blunt as dead bodies were brought out for funerals. The bodies included some of the nine members of the Daloo family who died Sunday when the Israeli missile destroyed the building in which they had been.

When asked whether he thought the toll on civilians, particularly children, was too high and Hamas and its allies should stop firing rockets at Israel, he replied that the victims included a woman in her 70s and a 4-year-old child.

"All the Israeli media said that there are fighters inside the house, but we are from the family. We're denying totally that there is a fighter inside the house that was bombarded," he said.

"And we ask all the groups to retaliate for these massacres and we believe now we shouldn't talk about ceasefire at all," he said.

Read More..

Forget creativity: Can lobbying be taught?

It’s been almost 30 years since Steve Billet, at the time a newly minted lobbyist for AT&T, pulled up behind a car at a red light in Washington and noticed the bumper sticker: “Don’t tell my mother I’m a lobbyist. She thinks I play piano in a whorehouse.”

Since then, things have only gotten worse, at least reputationally, for what may be the most remunerative of the world’s more beleaguered professions (and yes, it is considered a profession by many). Billet, in fact, no longer lobbies; he runs a graduate program at George Washington University that teaches people how to lobby. It’s a tall order, and not just because the whole concept has many on K Street rolling their eyes.

Read More..

Household Expenditure Survey moves into third month

SINGAPORE: The Department of Statistics (DOS) is conducting the tenth Household Expenditure Survey (HES) from October 2012 to September 2013.

The survey covers 11,000 households, which are divided into 26 groups with each group being surveyed for a period of two weeks.

DOS says it is now moving into the third month of the year-long survey.

The forthcoming 5th and 6th groups of households will be surveyed for a period of two weeks each, starting from 26 November and 10 December.

The survey groups will cover areas in Bedok, Bukit Batok, Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Henderson, Serangoon, Teck Whye, Toa Payoh and Woodlands.

Survey officers carrying identification cards and letters of authorisation issued by DOS will visit the selected households.

Selected households are requested to provide their full cooperation.

Households who wish to verify the identity of the survey officers may call the HES hotline at 1800-888-1213 from 8.30am to 10.00pm, Mondays to Sundays including public holidays.

Conducted once every five years, the HES collects up-to-date information on households' expenditure for updating the weighting pattern and the basket of goods and services used in the compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Data from the survey also serve as input for social and economic policy planning and formulation as well as studies on income and expenditure patterns.

All information supplied by households will be kept in confidence in accordance with the Statistics Act.

- CNA/ir

Read More..

Badal justifies meddling in DSGMC affairs

JALANDHAR: The showdown between Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and her Punjab counterpart over the affairs of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) continues to rage and got shriller on Sunday.

On Friday, Badal had sought putting a "leash" on Dikshit-led Delhi government and action against those who had attacked the SAD(B) leaders at Rakabganj gurdwara. A day later, Dikshit asked the Punjab CM to keep off Delhi gurdwaras' affairs. Reacting to this, the Punjab CM on Sunday justified meddling in DSGMC's matters because Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had fought during gurdwara reforms movement and made sacrifices after which SGPC and DSGMC were constituted.

Badal said that before questioning the role of SAD in the affairs of DSGMC, Dikshit should explain the rationale behind the "ill-conceived" move of amending the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971 enacted by Parliament.

He made these remarks while responding to queries from mediapersons at Khiala village. "SAD has every right to participate in the affairs of the DSGMC. Rather Delhi CM should not forget that SAD was contesting the DSGMC elections ever since its inception due to which they were fully entitled to raise their voice against any interference by the government in the religious affairs of the Sikhs," Badal said.

Even as the proposed amendments in the Delhi Gurdwara Act pertain to direct election of the president and giving him a tenure of four years equal to the tenure of the elected house, Badal went on to term these changes by Delhi government as "a direct onslaught on the rights of Sikhs". He even held that this was in contrast to the basic spirit of the Indian Constitution as there was no provision for a direct election of a president in any of the elected constitutional bodies in the country, right from the office of the President of India, the Prime Minister, chief minister down to the panchayats.

He, however, held that the ulterior motive of the Delhi government behind the amendments was to further delay the general elections of DSGMC, which was scheduled to take place in January last year.

Slamming the Delhi CM, Punjab dy CM Sukhbir Badal said, "Will someone please go and tell her that Sikh affairs are very much a business of the Sikhs, and of the Sikhs alone, and that she or her government should stay away from the internal religious matters of the Sikh community. By openly talking about an issue which concerns our shrines, Dixit has only confirmed our observation that the Congress government in Delhi is indeed interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikhs," Badal Jr said in a statement issued by the party.

Badal Jr also said that Dikshit "must respect the orders of the Supreme Court that elections to the DSGMC be held in December".

Read More..

Lonesome George Not the Last of His Kind, After All?

The tide may be turning for the rare subspecies of giant tortoise thought to have gone extinct when its last known member, the beloved Lonesome George, died in June.

A new study by Yale University researchers reveals that DNA from George's ancestors lives on—and that more of his kind may still be alive in a remote area of Ecuador's Galápagos Islands.

This isn't the first time Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni has been revived: The massive reptiles were last seen in 1906 and considered extinct until the 1972 discovery of Lonesome George, then around 60 years old, on Pinta Island. The population had been wiped out by human settlers, who overharvested the tortoises for meat and introduced goats and pigs that destroyed the tortoises' habitat and much of the island's vegetation.

Now, in an area known as Volcano Wolf—on the secluded northern tip of Isabela, another Galápagos island—the researchers have identified 17 hybrid descendants of C.n. abingdoni within a population of 1,667 tortoises.

Genetic testing identified three males, nine females, and five juveniles (under the age of 20) with DNA from C.n. abingdoni. The presence of juveniles suggests that purebred specimens may exist on the island too, the researchers said.

"Even the parents of some of the older individuals may still be alive today, given that tortoises live for so long and that we detected high levels of ancestry in a few of these hybrids," Yale evolutionary biologist Danielle Edwards said.

(See pictures of Galápagos animals.)

Galápagos Castaways

How did Lonesome George's relatives end up some 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Pinta Island? Edwards said ocean currents, which would have carried the tortoises to other areas, had nothing to do with it. Instead, she thinks humans likely transported the animals.

Crews on 19th-century whaling and naval vessels hunted accessible islands like Pinta for oil and meat, carrying live tortoises back to their ships.

Tortoises can survive up to 12 months without food or water because of their slow metabolisms, making the creatures a useful source of meat to stave off scurvy on long sea voyages. But during naval conflicts, the giant tortoises—which weighed between 200 and 600 pounds (90 and 270 kilograms) each—were often thrown overboard to lighten the ship's load.

That could also explain why one of the Volcano Wolf tortoises contains DNA from the tortoise species Chelonoidis elephantopus, which is native to another island, as a previous study revealed. That species is also extinct in its native habitat, Floreana Island.

(Related: "No Lovin' for Lonesome George.")

Life After Extinction?

Giant tortoises are essential to the Galápagos Island ecosystem, Edwards said. They scatter soil and seeds, and their eating habits help maintain the population balance of woody vegetation and cacti. Now, scientists have another chance to save C.n. abingdoni and C. elephantopus.

With a grant from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, which also helped fund the current study, the researchers plan to return to Volcano Wolf's rugged countryside to collect hybrid tortoises—and purebreds, if the team can find them—and begin a captive-breeding program. (National Geographic News is part of the Society.)

If all goes well, both C.n. abingdoni and C. elephantopus may someday be restored to their wild homes in the Galápagos. (Learn more about the effort to revive the Floreana Galápagos tortoises.)

"The word 'extinction' signifies the point of no return," senior research scientist Adalgisa Caccone wrote in the team's grant proposal. "Yet new technology can sometimes provide hope in challenging the irrevocable nature of this concept."

More: "Galápagos Expedition Journal: Face to Face With Giant Tortoises" >>

The new Lonesome George study was published by the journal Biological Conservation.

Read More..

Officials: Israeli Strike Kills 11 Civilians in Gaza

An Israeli missile ripped through a two-story home in a residential area of Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least 11 civilians, including four young children and an 81-year-old woman, in the single deadliest attack of Israel's offensive against Islamic militants.

A similar scene unfolded elsewhere in the city early Monday, when an airstrike leveled two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and a woman and injuring 30 others, half of them children, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra. Rescue workers were frantically searching for 12 to 15 members of the Azzam family under the rubble.

While the airstrikes relentlessly targeted militant rocket operations, Israeli gunboats unleashed a steady tattoo of heavy machine gun fire and shells at militant facilities on Gaza's coastal road.

The bloodshed was likely to raise pressure on Israel to end the fighting, even as it pledged to intensify the offensive by striking the homes of wanted militants. High numbers of civilian casualties in an offensive four years ago led to fierce criticism and condemnation of Israel.

In all, 77 Palestinians, at least half of them 37 civilians, have been killed in the five-day onslaught. Three Israeli civilians have also died from Palestinian rocket fire.

President Barack Obama said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting, while also warning of the risks of Israel expanding its air assault into a ground war.

Is Ceasefire Possible for Israel and Hamas? Watch Video

"We're going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours," Obama said during a visit in Thailand.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged the two warring parties to achieve an immediate cease-fire. He said he was heading to the region to appeal personally for an end to the violence, but no date was given in the U.N. statement for his arrival.

On the ground, there were no signs of any letup in the fighting as Israel announced it was widening the offensive to target the military commanders of the ruling Hamas group.

The Israeli military carried out dozens of airstrikes throughout the day, and naval forces bombarded targets along Gaza's Mediterranean coast. Many of the attacks focused on homes where militant leaders or weapons were believed to be hidden.

Palestinian militants continued to barrage Israel with rockets, firing more than 100 on Sunday, and setting off air raid sirens across the southern part of the country. Some 40 rockets were intercepted by Israel's U.S.-financed "Iron Dome" rocket-defense system, including two that targeted the metropolis of Tel Aviv. At least 10 Israelis were wounded by shrapnel.

Israel's decision to step up its attacks in Gaza marked a new and risky phase of the operation, given the likelihood of civilian casualties in the densely populated territory of 1.6 million Palestinians. Israel launched the offensive Wednesday in what it said was an effort to end months of intensifying rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

In the day's deadliest violence, the Israeli navy fired at a home where it said a top wanted militant was hiding. The missile struck the home of the Daloo family in Gaza City, reducing the structure to rubble.

Frantic rescuers, bolstered by bulldozers, pulled the limp bodies of children from the ruins of the house, including a toddler and a 5-year-old, as survivors and bystanders screamed in grief. Later, the bodies of the children were laid out in the morgue of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.

Read More..