World News joined 0006

[Glorious Maxxwell]

Gosh that is totally sad to hear.... especially from the lips of a 12 year old kid...

[lɐuǝɯo⊥ǝɥԀ]

tbh, it was inevitable he has overdone it on beer etc. and really ruined himself after a fantastic footballing career but to hear it from a 12 year old, especially his son, should make him or atleast open his eyes to what he is/was doing...Thanks For The Read

[OMEN]

Two people have been arrested in connection with the murder of 81-year-old Maire Rankin in Newry, Co Down.

A 39-year-old man and a woman aged 42 have been detained in Newry and are being questioned about the killing.

Maire Rankin is believed to have died some time late on Christmas Eve at her home in Newry.
Her body was found by relatives on Christmas Day after she failed to answer telephone calls.

The PSNI say they have launched the murder inquiry following the results of a post mortem examination.

For the past two days, a forensic examination has been carried out, with particular attention paid to an area at the back of the terraced house on the Dublin Road.

Detectives have ruled out a suggestion that Ms Rankin was killed in a burglary that went wrong.

The PSNI have appealed for information and want to hear from anyone who may have noticed suspicious activity near the house from 10pm on Christmas Eve.

RTE

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[DUKE NUKEM]

thanks for posting Omen

[OMEN]

Israeli troops and tanks have massed at the Gaza border amid continuing speculation that a ground offensive is being prepared.

Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that controls Gaza, said Israeli aircraft attacked the territory's interior ministry this morning.

Since the Israeli attacks began on Saturday, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed, and hundreds more wounded.
The European Union has described Israel's continuing air strikes on Gaza as 'unacceptable' and called on both sides to halt military actions.

As Israeli tanks massed on the Gaza border overnight, the army declared the area a closed military zone; a move that in the past has been followed by ground operations in the Palestinian enclave.

Amid mounting international calls for a halt to the violence, Israel allowed the passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza - where most of the 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid.

Hamas militants have responded to the air strikes with renewed rocket attacks on Israel.

An Israeli Arab was killed and eight other people were wounded when one of the projectiles slammed into a construction site in the southern city of Ashkelon, 13km north of Gaza.

The Israeli blitz, unleashed on Saturday in retaliation for ongoing rocket and mortar fire from Gaza, has killed at least 312 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,400 others, according to Gaza medics.

Among the dead are at least 51 confirmed civilian deaths, according to the UN Palestinian refugee agency.

Four girls from the same family, aged from one to 12 years old, died in fresh raids overnight. They died in an air raid in the northern town of Jabaliya that targeted a mosque near their home. Two boys were later killed in a strike on the southern city of Rafah.

China and Japan joined the growing international chorus for a halt to the violence, which has also included Britain, France and Russia. Protests took place in many European capitals at the weekend.

Hamas has lashed out at the world for not doing enough to end the blitz.

Israel is 'committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn't lift a finger to stop it,' Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on Saturday, Gaza militants have fired more than 100 rockets and mortars into the Jewish state, killing two people and wounding nearly two dozen more.

Some of the rockets landed some 30km inside Israel, the farthest yet.

Amid vows by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak to expand the air blitz and to send in ground troops if necessary, the Israeli cabinet yesterday gave the green light to call up 6,500 reserve soldiers.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has again issued a strong condemnation of the Israeli air-strikes.

The chairwoman of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Marie Crawley, welcomed Mr Martin's condemnation, but called on the Government to provide funds for emergency medical supplies.

Meanwhile Derek Graham, a Co Mayo man who is a director of the Free Gaza Movement, is among a group of activists on a boat that is attempting to take three tons of emergency medical supplies into Gaza today.

RTE

[OMEN]

A British man who was convicted of having sex on a beach in Dubai has been left with a legal bill of tens of thousands of pounds.

Vince Acors, 34, of Bromley, London, was given a jail sentence suspended on appeal, along with Michelle Palmer, 36, of Oakham, Rutland.

Acors told BBC Radio 5 Live it had been a "very expensive experience".

He also expressed his relief at seeing his family and friends after arriving back in the UK on Christmas Eve.

Palmer and Acors were arrested on Jumeirah Beach on 5 July, hours after meeting at a Champagne brunch.

In October, they were found guilty by Dubai's Court of First Instance of unmarried sex and public indecency. Both were fined £170 and sentenced to three months in prison.

They admitted a charge of being drunk in a public place.

BBC

[John]

Thanks for the news.

[OMEN]

Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf has told parliament he has resigned - a move which adds to the chaos in the country as Ethiopian troops withdraw.

Mr Yusuf's resignation follows a power struggle with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who parliament backed after Mr Yusuf tried to sack him.

Ethiopian soldiers, who support the government, are due to pull out this week, raising fears of a power vacuum.

Various Islamist and nationalist groups control most of southern Somalia.

The president had clashed in recent months with Mr Nur over attempts to negotiate a peace deal with the Islamist-led armed opposition.

Some diplomats suggest that Mr Yusuf's resignation might enhance the prospects of a deal with moderate Islamists.

He is reported to have flown out of Baidoa, where parliament is based, to his home region - the semi-autonomous area of Puntland in the north.

Speaker of parliament Aden Mohamed Nur becomes acting president until a new leader is named.

Mr Yusuf was chosen by MPs four years ago at the end of a long process that was supposed to bring peace to Somalia, which has not had an effective national government since 1991.

But government forces only control parts of the capital, Mogadishu, and the town of Baidoa.

'Failed in duty'

Mr Nur said he had accepted the president's resignation.

"I congratulate the president for the bold step he has taken in respect of the transitional federal charter," the AFP news agency reports him as saying.
Mr Yusuf told MPs in Baidoa: "As I promised when you elected me on October 14, 2004, I would stand down if I failed to fulfil my duty, I have decided to return the responsibility you gave me."

In his speech, broadcast on national radio, he said: "When I took power I pledged three things.

"If I was unable to fulfil my duty I will resign. Second, I said I will do everything in my power to make government work across the country. That did not happen either.

"Third, I asked the leaders to co-operate with me for the common good of the people. That did not happen," he said, according to Associated Press news agency.

Last week, Mohamed Mahamud Guled, who Mr Yusuf tried to install as prime minister, resigned saying his appointment was destabilising the government.

Mr Yusuf had faced criticism for appointing Mr Guled in defiance of Somali MPs, who overwhelmingly rejected the dismissal of his predecessor.

Mr Guled said he had chosen to resign "so that I am not seen as a stumbling block to the peace process which is going well now".

The regional grouping, Igad, which brokered the talks leading to Mr Yusuf's election, this month imposed sanctions on him, calling him an obstacle to peace.

Fighting between the Ethiopia-backed government and the insurgents has left some one million people homeless and much of Mogadishu deserted.

Some three million people - a third of the population - need food aid.

And the lack of leadership has led to a surge in piracy off the Somali coast.

A small African Union peacekeeping force is based in Mogadishu but analysts say they would be unable to withstand an Islamist advance.

The UN has rejected calls to send its own mission to Somalia.

BBC

[John]

Thankyou Omen,.