Israel membunuh 1,300 anak-anak di Gaza: PBB

Pelapor khusus PBB tentang situasi hak asasi manusia di wilayah Palestin mengatakan Israel telah membunuh 1,300 kanak-kanak Palestin sejak tahun 2000.

Richard Falk  tokoh semasa sidang akhbar di ibu negara Jordan Amman mengumumkan pada Senin malam, Palestin News Network melaporkan di laman webnya.

Dalam laporan terbarunya, Falk mencatatkan bahawa pada tahun 2010 sahaja, tembakan tentera Israel dan penembakan terhadap Jalur Gaza meragut nyawa 17 kanak-kanak.

Israel belum memberikan respons panggilan semula Pelapor Khusus PBB untuk akses ke wilayah Palestin yang diduduki.

Kerana situasi keselamatan yang berlaku di Gaza, Falk terpaksa membatalkan kunjungannya ke daerah yang ditutup Israel - sebahagian daripada mandat yang diberikan kepadanya oleh Majlis Hak Asasi Manusia.

PBB mengatakan ia akan melawat Gaza pada akhir tahun ini.

Sejak pengangkatannya pada Mei 2008, Falk telah menghadapi halangan rejim Israel, yang menolak untuk bekerja sama dengan pelapor dalam misi bidangnya.

Pada pertengahan Disember 2008, Falk ditolak masuk ke wilayah yang diduduki oleh Tel Aviv. Dia ditahan, disoal siasat dan kemudian dideportasi.

Langkah ini terjadi hari sebelum Tel Aviv melancarkan serangan setinggan terhadap pesisiran padat yang dihuni pada 27 Disember. Serangan 22-hari Palestin menewaskan lebih dari 1.400, kebanyakan wanita dan anak-anak, terluka ribuan orang lain, meratakan ratusan rumah penduduk dan pejabat dan menghancurkan sebahagian besar infrastruktur di kawasan-kawasan miskin.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb Sheikh al-Azhar Mesir mengutuk pengebumian laut Osama bin Laden.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb al-Azhar Mesir mengutuk pengebumian laut Osama bin Laden. 
 

Sheikh al-Azhar di Kaherah, Ahmad al-Tayeb, telah mengutuk tindakan AS untuk mengebumikan tubuh pemimpin Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden ke laut, sebagai melanggar undang-undang Islam.


Pengebumian di laut "bertentangan dengan prinsip-prinsip undang-undangIslam, nilai-nilai agama dan adat kemanusiaan," kata al-Tayeb dalam sebuah pernyataan.

Dia mengatakan bahawa orang mati harus diberikan penghormatan penuh tanpa memandang bangsa mereka atau keyakinan, menambah bahawa mayat harus dihormati ketika dia dikuburkan.

Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama mengumumkan dalam pidato televisyen hari Ahad bahawa bin Laden telah tewas oleh pasukan Amerika Syarikat selepas dia dijumpai bersembunyi di sebuah kawasan di Pakistan.

Seorang pegawai senior Amerika Syarikat Pertahanan mendakwa bahawa tubuh bin Laden telah dikuburkan di laut setelah prosedur untuk pengebumian Islam diikuti di dek kapal USS Carl Vinson selama satu jam.

Dia mengatakan bahawa tubuhnya dibasuh dan dikapan dalam kapan putih, dan beberapa ayat al-Qur'an di baca sebelum mayatnya itu dimasukkan ke dalam Laut Arab Utara.

Pegawai itu menambah bahawa mereka sukar menemukan sebuah negara mahu menerima mayat Osama sehingga Amerika memutuskan untuk menguburkannya di laut.

Pemakaman di laut ini bukanlah merupakan amalan Islam.

The Doom Day Imminent, Various Prophecies Skyrocketing

 

Workers had been hired to fit out "survival" containers with doors, windows and air conditioning

Police in Taiwan are investigating a self-proclaimed prophet whose doomsday warnings on a blog have caused panic. The man, identifying himself as Teacher Wang, said Taiwan would be struck by a magnitude-14 earthquake and 170m (560ft) high tsunami on 11 May.  More than 100 cargo containers have been bought and set up in a mountainous area of central Taiwan. Police said they were investigating if the blogger had conspired with a container business to defraud people. "Teacher Wang" suggested people live in such containers to survive the disaster, which he said would kill millions of people and split the island in half.

'Hide my face'  Taiwan's famous Taipei 101 skyscraper and the Presidential Office building would be toppled, he warned.

"Teacher Wang" warned that the Taipei 101 tower would be toppled

More than 100 cargo containers have been discovered in the town of Puli, Nantou county. Workers had been hired to fit them with doors, windows and air conditioning, says the BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei. The containers cost about $5,500 (£3,300) each, once water and electricity are included, our correspondent adds. Taiwan is in a quake zone. In 1999 a 7.6-magnitude tremor killed more than 2,400 people and damaged 50,000 buildings. But Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau says there is no basis for the doomsday prediction, since a magnitude-14 tremor is unheard of, and quakes cannot be reliably predicted. Officials say Japan's recent devastating quake and tsunami may have led fraudsters to exploit people's fears. The police have not been able to trace "Teacher Wang", who had touted his theory to TV reporters but insisted his face not be shown.

The authorities have removed his doomsday warnings from the internet. Fraud convictions carry a maximum five-year jail term while breaking the law on social order is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, said Taiwanese police.

The Biggest Storm Ever

 

The university town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was hardest hit, with at least 65 killed

 

The outbreak of tornadoes that ravaged the southern US last week was the largest in US recorded history, the National Weather Service has said.

The three-day period from 25-28 April saw 362 tornadoes strike, including some 312 in a single 24-hour period.

The previous record was 148 in two days in April 1974.

The tornadoes and the storm system that spawned them killed at least 350 people in Alabama and six other states. It was the deadliest outbreak since 1936.

The review by US meteorologists came as the southern US states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky continued the huge task of digging out from the destruction.

In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a university town that was the worst-hit single location, officials estimated debris removal alone would cost $70m (£42m) to $100m (£60m).

The storm tore down century-old trees, flattened farm buildings and downed power lines, leaving as many as one million people without electricity in Alabama alone.

On Monday, more than 400,000 people still had no power in that state, emergency officials said.

The most destructive tornado struck Tuscaloosa, killing at least 65 people between there and the city of Birmingham, the National Weather Service said in a statement.

That was the deadliest single tornado since 1955, when a twister in Kansas killed 80.

Storm scientists say that tornado had a maximum width of 1.5 miles (2.4km) and a track 80 miles long.