Pope Francis has called for an end to the "increasingly unacceptable" Palestinian-Israeli conflict during a visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

His comments came as he met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as part of a three-day tour of the Middle East.
He is holding an open-air mass for 8,000 local Christians by Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
The tour's official purpose is to improve ties with the Orthodox Church.
Later, the Pope will travel to Tel Aviv and then Jerusalem where he will meet Bartholomew I, the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople.
However, correspondents say Palestinians are hoping for a show of support as his visit comes just weeks after peace talks with Israel broke down.
'Intensify efforts' Palestinian officials have already noted that Pope Francis is the first pontiff to travel directly to the West Bank rather than enter via Israel.

Pope Francis waved to the crowds as he travelled to Manger Square where went on to hold an open-air mass

The Pope's arrival was eagerly awaited by local Christians

He made an unscheduled stop to pray at the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank

Many Palestinians see it as a recognition of their push for full statehood.
Speaking in Bethlehem on Sunday, the Pope said: "The time has come to put an end to this situation which has become increasingly unacceptable."
He talked of the "tragic consequences of the protracted conflict" and the need "to intensify efforts and initiatives" to create a stable peace - based on a two-state solution.
Division Pope Francis has insisted the purpose of his Middle East trip is purely religious.
However, the first speech on his arrival in Bethlehem showed that he is also willing to address pressing political issues, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Bethlehem.
On his way to Manger Square where he is holding an open-air mass, he stopped to look at a high concrete wall that is part of the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank.
Israel says it is needed for security but the Palestinians see it as a land grab, our correspondent adds.
During the afternoon, Francis will take a short flight to Tel Aviv where he will be formally welcomed to Israel by President Shimon Peres before flying on to Jerusalem.

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Israel has issued restraining orders against several Jewish right-wing activists this week over concerns that they could try to disrupt the visit.

Twenty-six people were arrested overnight for throwing stones and bottles at police during a protest at a holy site on Mount Zion, reports say.
In Jerusalem, the Pope will commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of Catholic and Orthodox leaders who moved to end 900 years of division between the two churches.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas received the Pope at his palace

The pope flew straight from Jordan to the West Bank by helicopter

Palestinians in Bethlehem hope the Pope's visit will help the push for statehood

The Pope's tour began on Saturday with a visit to Jordan.
He was welcomed by King Abdullah II. In a speech at the royal palace, he stressed the need for an "urgent" solution to the Syrian conflict.
He praised Jordan for its "generous welcome" to Syrian refugees.
On Monday the Pope is due visit the al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem's Old City followed by the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.
Pope Francis will be the fourth leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Jerusalem, after Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who went there in 2009.

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At least 10 dead in attack on Somalia's parliament building

May 24, 2014

Mogadishu, Somalia  Al-Shabaab militants launched an attack Somalia's parliament headquarters Saturday, leaving at least 10 people dead and more than 11 others wounded, witnesses and officials said.

Members of the parliament were among those wounded after gunmen loyal to the al Qaeda-affiliated terror group stormed the facility in Mogadishu, according to witnesses and official accounts.

Fighters used automatic rifles, heavy machine guns and explosives in an attack that lasted more than three hours, witnesses said.

Mohamed Madale, a police spokesman, said security forces later secured the building after the fighters blew themselves up. He said the security forces killed several fighters during the attack.

Dahir Mohamed, a police officer who witnessed the attack, said the attackers used a car filled with explosives to get into the parliament building, and killed some of the Somali forces guarding the building on their way in.

Smoke and flames could be seen pouring from the building as ambulances pulled up to attend to the wounded lying on the ground. People took cover as security forces moved in, exchanging gunfire with the attackers. Some members of parliament were evacuated from the building.

Ali Osman, an ambulance worker at the scene, told CNN that he collected 10 bodies, including those of Somali forces, civil servants and civilians who were caught in the crossfire during attack.

He also said more than 11 others, including members of parliament, also were wounded.

A spokesman said on Al-Shabaab's radio network that the group was responsible for the attack.

Prime Minister: Attack does not reflect "true Islamic faith"

In a statement condemning the attack, Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said, "The terrorists have once again shown that they are against all Somalis, by killing our innocent brothers and sisters. These cowardly, despicable actions are not a demonstration of the true Islamic faith."

The U.S. State Department issued a statement condemning the attack.

"We extend our sympathies and condolences to those affected by this heinous act of terrorism," deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said in the statement, "and commend Somali and African Union forces for their swift and courageous response."

"We continue to stand firmly with the Federal Government of Somalia and the many international partners working to support its efforts to root out the threat posed by al-Shabaab and to build a more secure and prosperous future for the Somali people," Harf said. "Cowardly acts such as these will not shake our resolve."

Lawmakers witness carnage

Mohamed Omar, a lawmaker who was inside the parliament building, said that Al-Shabaab fighters wore military uniforms and "suicide belts." Security forces killed at least three of the militants, Omar said.

Osman Daallo, a member of parliament, said he saw two colleagues seriously wounded, including a fellow MP "whose chest was gushing out from blood."

Mohamed Deyfalah, another MP, said the attack was the worst he has ever witnessed, and he had always believed the heavy security presence at the parliament would have prevented such an attack.

One of wounded MPs who asked to remain anonymous said the attack "indicates the weakness of the government."

"Our government is still unable to deal with the terrorists and today's attack underscores a lack of efficient government," the lawmaker said.

Late Saturday, Somalia's security minister, Abdukarim Hussein Guled, resigned as a result of the attack.

"I bear witness that the 22 months I have been in the office, we managed to improve the security situation of the country, especially Mogadishu," the minister said, "but now it is time to resign so that someone else who is better than me can take over the office."

Al-Shabaab's aim is to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state, though it has carried out attacks in other African countries, as well. The group carried out the mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, in September that left at 67 people dead.

The group has increased the use of suicide attacks in recent years, though these have been somewhat rare in Somalia. It is believed that veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are helping train al-Shabaab fighters.

23 dead after al Qaeda attacks in southern Yemen

At least 12 government troops and 11 attackers were killed after al Qaeda fighters riding in more than 20 trucks raided government institutions in the southern province of Hadramout Friday night.

The Defense Ministry confirmed the fatalities to government troops, adding that 11 more were injured in the attacks, and four of them were in critical condition.

Eyewitnesses in Seyoon district told CNN that more than 100 al Qaeda fighters attacked nine different governmental institutions, including the national security and police headquarters, and two strategic military bases.

"The militants waited until nightfall and burned down all the government institutions they controlled," said Ali Ba Obaid, an eyewitnesses.

He said that government reinforcements arrived two hours after the militants had taken control of the institutions.

"Hundreds of government forces led by the air force and special forces forced the terror militants to evacuate" early Saturday morning, "but they left after destroying everything," he said.

"The latest al Qaeda defeat in Seyoon is strong proof that their ability to control areas in Yemen are very limited," the official told CNN on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to media.

He said that two of the terrorists killed in the clashes were Saudi.

The attacks came a little more than a month after Yemen launched a military offensive against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula amid an uptick in violence in the capital.

UK looks to boost fracking with new land access rules

The UK government has proposed new rules regarding rights to access land in a bid to speed up the introduction of fracking.

It proposes that shale oil and gas companies are granted access to land below 300m from the surface.
It also suggests firms pay £20,000 per well to those living above the land.
The consultation comes as a new report by the British Geological Survey (BGS) estimates there are 4.4bn barrels of oil in shale rocks in southern England.

The BGS estimates there are between 2.2 billion and 8.6 billion barrels of shale oil in the Weald Basin - that covers areas including Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent - but says there is "no significant gas resource".

These figures represent the total amount of oil in the rocks, only some of which can be accessed.
"It is not known what percentage of the oil present in the shale could be commercially extracted," the survey said.

'Opportunities'
 
Announcing the government proposals, Energy Minister Michael Fallon said: "Britain needs more home-grown energy.
"Shale development will bring jobs and business opportunities.
"We are keen for shale and geothermal exploration to go ahead while protecting residents through the robust regulation that is in place.

"These proposals allow shale and geothermal development while offering a fair deal for communities in return for underground access at depths so deep they will have no negative impact on landowners."
The new proposals do not affect the existing system for gaining access rights to land on the surface.
The government also proposed a new notification system to ensure local communities are well informed about any shale developments in their area.
The £20,000 would be an additional payment on top of the £100,000 per site already announced, and is specifically designed for those living above horizontal pipes under ground. Shale exploration companies have already committed to giving 1% of revenues from any successful wells to local communities.
But the government has not gone far enough in its proposals for compensating local residents, according to Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local Government Association.
"Given the significant tax breaks being proposed to drive forward the development of shale gas and the likely returns, payments to communities should be more in line with those across the rest of the world and be set at between 5%-10% of revenues," he said.

Fracking

The BBC's John Moylan said the report's estimates could have implications for the UK's long-term energy security and kick-off a drive to start fracking for oil in the region.

But he said the report suggests the shale rocks may contain less oil than similar formations in the US, where fracking has proved hugely successful in recovering oil and, particularly, gas. They could also be more difficult to frack.
Prof Robert Gatliff of the BGS told a news conference that the Weald could prove to be a "difficult play" for for the fracking industry.
Andrew Aplin, professor of unconventional petroleum at Durham University, also raised questions about how much of the oil could be extracted.
"Since neither the rock nor the oil is of optimal quality in the Weald, we might estimate that 1% of the Weald oil resource might be recoverable.
"This would equate to 0.05 billion barrels, which is about two months' UK consumption."
By way of comparison, the equivalent of around 45 billion barrels of oil has been extracted from the North Sea over the past 40 years.
Last year, a BGS study of the North of England suggested there could be as much as 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas contained in shale rocks.
The fracking process involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into rock at high pressure, and it has sparked demonstrations by environmentalists. Some governments have banned the process.
Critics argue that fracking contaminates water supplies and can cause earthquakes. There have been strong anti-fracking protests at Balcombe, West Sussex, against test-drilling.
However, a government report published in June 2012 concluded that fracking was safe if adequately monitored.

Politically sensitive

Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted fracking will be "good for our country" and has blamed a "lack of understanding" of the process for some of the opposition.

For many years, there has been more traditional exploration and development of oil and gas in the region.
Andrew Austin, chief executive of the onshore energy company IGAS, said it had long been known that southern England had extensive resources.
He told the BBC: "We've known that there's a big potential for oil and gas explorations across the country but particularly in terms of oil in the Weald Basin.
"There's been a long history of oil and gas exploration in this area. We as a company produce oil and gas from around 20 sites across that area. Around 40 million barrels have been recovered from that area to date."
In the US, fracking for oil and gas has created an energy boom and led to speculation that the country could overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest producer by 2020, or even sooner.
Gas prices in the US have fallen sharply as a result, and other countries are now hoping that shale oil and gas could also lead to lower domestic energy prices.


 

Brussels fatal gun attack at Jewish museum

A gunman has shot dead two men and a woman at the Jewish Museum in the Belgian capital Brussels.

A fourth person was seriously wounded, emergency services said.
The attacker arrived by car, got out, fired on people at the museum entrance, and returned to the vehicle which then sped away, Belgian media report.
One person has been arrested and police are hunting a second, officials say. Security has been tightened at Jewish sites across Belgium.
Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said all Belgians were "united and show solidarity in the face of this odious attack on a Jewish cultural site".

Belgian public prosecutor's spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch told a news conference that one suspect had been detained at the wheel of his car, although there was no proven connection to the attack.
A second suspect was still being sought, who was thought to have fled on foot, she added.

 

 Belgium's interior minister said all the circumstances pointed to an anti-Semitic attack

 

   

The public prosecutor's spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch said a second person was being sought

 

 

Police say they have detained one suspect who drove away from the museum around the time of the attack

 

Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, who was one of the first people to arrive at the scene, said he arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting.
"I heard bursts of gunfire, rushed here and saw the bodies on the ground," he said.
The gunman arrived at the museum at around 15:50 (13:50 GMT) carrying a backpack and opened fire before fleeing in an Audi, local media report.

Foreign Minister Didier Reynders: "I ran to the museum and I saw two people on the ground."

They say one eyewitness may have made a note of the number plate and given it to police.
Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur said three men and a woman had been caught up in what he thought was probably a "terrorist act". "It's clearly extremely serious," he was quoted as saying, "and on the Jewish Museum too, which isn't a coincidence".
Eyewitness Alain Sobotik told AFP news agency he had seen two bodies in the lobby of the museum.
One was "a young woman with her head covered in blood", he said. "She was holding a leaflet and looked like a tourist."

Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said everything pointed to an anti-Semitic attack.
Belgium has a Jewish population of some 42,000, about half of whom live in the capital.
Jewish community leader Julien Klener agreed the motive was probably anti-Semitic: "The assumption, and it is an assumption, is that it was someone who didn't try to target the museum but the adjective 'Jewish'".
A number of people were treated for shock after the shooting in the central Sablon area of the city.
Mr Di Rupo expressed his condolences and support for the victims' families.

Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab released from prison

Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been freed after serving two years in prison for his involvement in illegal protests.

Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was convicted in 2012 of taking part in illegal gatherings and disturbing public order.
An appeals court later reduced his original three-year term by a year.
He was one of several leading activists arrested by the authorities after pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011.

Appeal Soon after his release on Saturday, Rajab told the Associated Press news agency that he was happy to be out after spending more than 600 days in prison.
He also appealed for the release of all political prisoners, the agency added.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights First, have campaigned on behalf of Rajab throughout his prison sentence, calling on the authorities to release him.

In December 2013, a Bahraini court rejected a request by Rajab's lawyers for early release. They argued that he was eligible because he had already served three-quarters of a two-year sentence.
In addition to his role with the BCHR, Mr Rajab is deputy secretary general of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
Before his imprisonment in July 2012, Mr Rajab was repeatedly detained in connection with the pro-democracy protests that erupted in the Gulf kingdom the previous year.

Amnesty said that he was punched in the face several times by riot police as he led a demonstration in February 2012, and in May 2012 was charged with "insulting a national institution" in comments about the interior ministry he posted on Twitter.

In June 2012, Rajab was sentenced to three months in jail over different tweets he wrote about the prime minister. The conviction was eventually overturned on appeal, but only after he had begun his two-year sentence for taking part in unauthorised protests.

At his trial, Mr Rajab told the court that he had been held in dire conditions and subjected to ill treatment, including being placed in solitary confinement with a dead animal and kept almost naked.
BCHR's founder, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is serving a life sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. He was convicted on evidence that was widely accepted as having been secured under torture

The $200m match decided by defensive error as QPR back in EPL

May 24, 2014

The so-called richest game in football hinged on a late defensive error by Derby captain Richard Keogh as Bobby Zamora scored a dramatic injury-time winner for 10-man Queens Park Rangers in the Championship playoff at Wembley Saturday.

Promotion to the English Premier League is estimated to be worth $200m and it was QPR celebrating an unlikely win at the final whistle.

Former England international Zamora scored with a first-time volleyed shot after Keogh's intended clearance fell straight to his feet.

It was QPR's first shot on target after a match largely dominated by Derby -- particularly after Gary O'Neil's red card on the hour mark.

O'Neil went for hacking down Johnny Russell as he raced towards goal and it looked only a matter of time before Derby, managed by former England boss Steve McClaren, grabbed a winner.

His QPR counterpart Harry Redknapp admitted as much as he reflected on his side's triumph.

"We were hanging on with 10 men until a fantastic finish," he told Sky Sports. "We were hanging on for our lives," he admitted.

QPR, relegated from the EPL last season, has spent heavily, backed by owner Tony Fernandes, with a massive wage bill in comparison to other rivals in the second flight of English football.

Leicester City and Burnley gained the two automatic promotion spots, leaving QPR to negotiate its passage through the playoffs involving the next four best-placed teams in the league.

Victory over Wigan saw QPR into the final, while Derby thrashed Brighton to reach the Wembley showdown.

A cagey and tactical match produced few chances, the best coming after O'Neil was dismissed but QPR's man-of-the-match defender Richard Dunne and goalkeeper Robert Green were outstanding in repulsing Derby.

Then came the late drama -- with Zamora repeating a feat he achieved in helping West Ham win the playoffs in 2005.

It left a distraught Keogh to be consoled by his teammates while QPR lifted the playoff trophy.

For McClaren it was a bitter disappointment after guiding his young team to third place in the regular season standings and a deserved place in the final.

"I've lost some games in my career but that is the cruelest," he told BBC Sport. "For somebody to make mistakes -- we don't blame anybody," he added.