Purveyor
Purveyor's JournalResource: Over Half Of Palestinians Killed In 'Pillar of Defense' Were Civilians
Human rights organization B’Tselem published a report reviewing harm to civilians in Operation Pillar of Defense. The report provides statistics on the numbers of Palestinians and Israelis killed over the course of the operation, which lasted from November 14 to 21, 2012. The report challenges the common perception in the Israeli public and media that the operation was ‘surgical’ and caused practically no fatalities among uninvolved Palestinian civilians. Furthermore, the report finds that there was a significant difference between the first and the final days of the operation: of the uninvolved Palestinian fatalities, 80 percent were killed in the last four days of the operation.According to B’Tselem’s investigation, 167 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military during the operation. This number includes 62 Palestinians who took part in the hostilities and seven other who were targets of assassination. Of the remaining fatalities, 87 did not take part in the hostilities. With regard to 11 fatalities B’Tselem was unable to determine whether or not they had taken part in the hostilities.
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http://972mag.com/resource-over-half-of-palestinians-killed-in-pillar-of-defense-were-civilians/71210/
Former US President Carter Calls For EU Labelling Of Goods From Illegal Israeli Settlements
The EU should move to introduce proper labelling of goods produced on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, former US president Jimmy Carter and fellow members of the Elders, an independent group of global leaders, urged during a visit to Dublin yesterday.
Mr Carter was speaking after he and fellow Elders including Ireland’s former president Mary Robinson and former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso held a meeting with diplomats from some 20 European countries to discuss the EU’s role in helping revive the moribund Middle East peace process.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore was also in attendance, as were representatives from NGOs including Irish aid agency Trócaire which has campaigned for a Europe-wide boycott of goods produced in West Bank settlements.
“With the Middle East peace process making no significant progress, we call on Europe to play a stronger and more independent role in revitalising peace efforts, with a fresh approach,” said Mr Carter. “The EU has repeatedly condemned settlement expansion in the West Bank. It could therefore introduce a clear labelling of products made in Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.”
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http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/former-us-president-carter-calls-for-eu-labelling-of-goods-from-illegal-israeli-settlements-1.1389313
John Kerry Meets With Russian President Vladimir Putin To Push For Tougher Stance On Syria
MOSCOW — The United States and Russia pledged Tuesday to set aside more than two years of differences over Syria's civil war, saying they'd convene an international conference later this month to try to corral President Bashar Assad's regime and the rebels into talks on a political transition.
Yet even as leaders from both countries hailed their joint strategy as proof of enhanced U.S.-Russian cooperation, it was unclear how their plan might now prove effective in ending a war that has become even more dangerous in recent months with accusations the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, Israeli airstrikes on weapons convoys and American threats to begin arming the rebels.
The outcome of more than five hours of meetings in Moscow involving Secretary of State John Kerry of the United States and President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia essentially bring diplomatic efforts to halt Syria's violence to a point they were about a year ago. The former Cold War foes, who've split bitterly over how to halt the conflict, said they'd work to revive a transition plan they laid out in June 2012, yet never gained momentum with Syria's government or the opposition. They said this time they were committed to bringing the Syrian government and rebels to the negotiating table.
Speaking about the U.S. strategy, Kerry suggested the Obama administration would consider holding off on any possible plan to provide weapons to vetted units of the Syrian opposition if a peace strategy takes hold in the coming weeks.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/john-kerry-vladimir-putin-syria-talks_n_3227389.html
Wish in one hand that Putin complies and shit in the other John...see which one fills up first... 
Israeli Attacks Show Why Obama Must Step Up In Syria
Last weekend, Israel saw a threat to its interests and acted, staging aerial attacks on Syria’s military research facilities and on a shipment of Iranian missiles waiting to be sent from Syria to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Israel’s action -- which it has yet to acknowledge -- and the retaliation it might trigger from Syria, Hezbollah or Iran are potent reminders of the dangers posed by Syria’s escalating conflict. Indeed, unless the U.S. works more resolutely to end the conflict, it risks a spiral into a wider regional war.
The Israelis had good reason for their Damascus raid. Hezbollah is intent on the destruction of Israel. During their 2006 war, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into Israel, and has since stockpiled thousands more. The shipment that was hit reportedly included solid-fueled missiles that can be deployed quickly and fired precisely to reach targets in Tel Aviv from Lebanon. For the Israelis, such weapons, along with the shipment of anti-aircraft weapons that it attacked in late January, would have been a “game-changer,” to use a phrase favored by U.S. President Barack Obama.
While Israel moved quickly to respond to this threat, the Obama administration was caught up in an unseemly debate about what extent of chemical weapons usage, and by whom, in Syria would constitute a crossing of the “red lines” it set for a more forcible intervention.
Israel’s Attack
Let’s clarify where things stand: Israel’s attack has increased the odds that Syria’s conflict will embroil the region; the U.S., France, the U.K. and the United Nations have all acknowledged credible reports of chemical weapons usage; more than a million Syrian refugees are putting pressure on Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey; and the al-Nusra Front, one of the more effective members of the Syrian rebel coalition against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, has declared its loyalty to al-Qaeda. Facing these realities, the U.S. has to understand that the situation isn’t going to improve.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-06/israeli-attacks-show-why-obama-must-step-up-in-syria.html
WP: Special Ops Halted From Responding To Benghazi Attacks, U.S. Diplomat Says
By Ernesto Londoño, Updated: Monday, May 6, 5:39 PM
As the weakly protected U.S. diplomatic compound in eastern Libya came under attack the night of Sept. 11, 2012, the deputy head of the embassy in Tripoli 600 miles away sought in vain to get the Pentagon to scramble fighter jets over Benghazi in a show of force that he said might have averted a second attack on a nearby CIA complex.
Hours later, according to excerpts of the account by the U.S. diplomat, Gregory Hicks, American officials in the Libyan capital sought permission to deploy four U.S. Special Operations troops to Benghazi aboard a Libyan military aircraft early the next morning. The troops were told to stand down.
Defense Department officials have said they had no units that could have responded in time to counter the attack in Benghazi, but Republicans on Capitol Hill have questioned whether the Obama administration could have saved lives with a nimbler, more assertive response. They say that the reluctance to send the Special Operations troops may have, at the very least, deprived wounded Americans in Benghazi of first aid.
Congressional investigators released a partial transcript of Hicks’s testimony Monday ahead of a hearing Wednesday at which he is scheduled to appear. His remarks are the first public account from a U.S. official who was in Libya at the time of the attacks about the options that were weighed as militants mobbed the American diplomatic outpost and CIA station in Benghazi, killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other government employees.
The new details are certain to reignite a debate over whether the Obama administration has been sufficiently forthcoming in its public accounting of the events and missteps that resulted in the first death of a U.S. ambassador in the line of duty in a generation. If Republicans in Congress succeed in portraying the administration’s response as feckless, the episode could dog any future political aspirations of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was secretary of state when the attacks happened.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-ops-halted-from-responding-to-benghazi-attacks-us-diplomat-says/2013/05/06/c3f311d4-b677-11e2-aa9e-a02b765ff0ea_story.html
US, S.Korea Launch Naval Drills in Yellow Sea
SEOUL, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – South Korea and the United States began an antisubmarine exercise in the Yellow Sea on Monday, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The drill, which will continue until Friday, involves a nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class submarine, Aegis destroyers and P-3C maritime surveillance aircraft deployed from US bases, as well as South Korean destroyers, submarines and maritime aircraft, military officials said.
"It is part of an annual routine drill held to prepare against an adversary's submarine infiltration," Yonhap quoted a military official as saying.
The antisubmarine drill comes after the US and South Korea completed their two-month-long Foal Eagle joint exercises last week, amid high inter-Korean tensions.
North Korea reacted angrily to the latest drills on Sunday, with a spokesman for the Policy Department of the National Defense Commission calling on Seoul to stop "hostile acts and military provocations."
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http://en.rian.ru/world/20130506/180993194/US-SKorea-Launch-Naval-Drills-in-Yellow-Sea.html
Kerry to Lay Wreath at Moscow WWII Memorial
WASHINGTON, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – US Secretary of State John Kerry is planning to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow on Tuesday as part of a two-day trip to Russia this week that a senior US State Department official on Monday called part of “more intensified dialogue with the Russians at the highest levels.”
Kerry’s trip comes just ahead of the nationwide May 9 Victory Day celebrations to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, widely considered the most important holiday in Russia, the official told reporters during a call.
“And so appropriately, we’re going to honor veterans, and I think we’ll even meet a few of them there,” the official said.
After the wreath-laying ceremony, Kerry is supposed to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which he will hold a “full bilateral meeting” with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the official said.
Kerry will discuss a range of bilateral issues, including Iran, North Korea, trade and counterterrorism cooperation in the wake of deadly Boston Marathon bombing last month that two men with ties to Russia’s mainly Muslim North Caucasus region have been accused of carrying out, the official said.
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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130507/181001198/Kerry-to-Lay-Wreath-at-Moscow-WWII-Memorial.html
3D Printer? Staples Says, 'Yeah, We've Got That'
The office supply retailer is becoming the first US retail outlet to sell a 3D printer, the $1300 Cube 3D Printer.May 06, 2013, 2:24 PM — 3D printers are taking another step in the long haul toward the mainstream, with a little help from Staples.
On Friday, the office supply retailer began selling the Cube 3D Printer online for $1300, becoming the first major U.S. retailer to sell a 3D printer. Staples says it will offer the printer in "a limited number" of retail stores by the end of June.
Cube 3D Printer
The Cube, made by 3D systems, can create items measuring up to 5.5 inches in any dimension, using ABS and PLA plastic cartridges in 16 colors. Staples will also sell replacement cartridges, stabilizers, and print pads.
Other features include Wi-Fi connectivity, plug-and-play support and 25 free design templates.
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http://www.itworld.com/hardware/355257/3d-printer-staples-says-yeah-weve-got
I thought they would be more expensive than this. In a couple of years they be a couple hundred bucks...
Israel Issues Demolition Orders To 11 Ramallah Homes
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces issued demolition orders to 11 homes in a Ramallah village on Monday, homeowners told Ma'an.
Military forces raided the village of Deir Nidham, located around 2km south of Nabi Saleh, and issued demolition orders to Ahmad Tamimi, his sons Abdul-Raziq, Hasan and Mahmoud, and their cousins Kafour, Abdul-Hafizh, Salih, Mustafa and Haitham Tamimi.
Israeli forces also issued Abdul-Kashif Tamimi with a stop-work order for his house, which is currently under construction.
Around 40 people will be made homeless if the demolition orders are carried out.
The homes slated for demolition are located opposite the Israeli settlement of Hallamish. The majority of the homes were built before the illegal settlement was founded, locals said.
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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592916
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