Israel Hits Symbols Of Hamas Rule; 128 Killed

Smoke rises from the offices of the Hamas movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, shortly after was hit and destroyed by an Israeli strike, Tuesday, July 29, 2014. Early Tuesday, Israel warplanes struck a series of targets in Gaza City, including the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh's house and government offices, while Gaza's border area with Israel was hit by heavy tank shelling

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Israel unleashed its heaviest air and artillery assault of the Gaza war on Tuesday, destroying key symbols of Hamas control, shutting down the territory's only power plant and leaving at least 128 Palestinians dead on the bloodiest day of the 22-day conflict.

Despite devastating blows that left the packed territory's 1.7 million people cut off from power and water and sent the overall death toll soaring past 1,200, Hamas' shadowy military leader remained defiant as he insisted that the Islamic militants would not cease fire until its demands are met.

The comments by Mohammed Deif in an audiotape broadcast on a Hamas satellite TV channel cast new doubt on international cease-fire efforts. Aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Egypt was trying to bring Israeli and Palestinian delegations together in Cairo for new talks in which Hamas would be presented this time as part of the Palestinian team.

Israel's final objective in Gaza remained unclear a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis to be prepared for a "prolonged" war. Netanyahu is under pressure from hawkish members of his coalition to topple Hamas in an all-out offensive, but has not let on whether he plans to go beyond destroying Hamas rocket launchers, weapons depots and military tunnels used to infiltrate Israel and smuggle weapons.

Dozens of Israeli airstrikes and heavy tank shelling hit areas across Gaza, which was plunged into complete darkness Tuesday night after a strike on its sole power plant set a fuel tank ablaze. In the sprawling Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, at least 24 people — 10 of them from the same family — were killed and dozens wounded in a barrage of tank fire, Hamas health officials said.

"Tanks were firing in all directions and shrapnel was flying," said Moussa al-Mabhouh, a volunteer for Gaza's Civil Defense. "Smoke was rising from houses and from nearby workshops." In one incident, shrapnel from a strike in Jebaliya hit near a car with U.N. markings, killing an employee of a U.N. aid agency and his brother, and wounding the man's 12-year-old son, said agency spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna.

The Israeli military has said it is targeting Hamas command centers, along with rocket launchers and weapons arsenals, but has not provided explanations when asked about specific strikes in which many members of a single family were killed.

On Tuesday, multiple members of at least five families were pulled from the rubble after airstrikes and tank shells struck their homes, including the mayor of the Bureij refugee camp, his 70-year-old father and three relatives, according to Palestinian health officials.

In all, at least 1,229 Palestinians have been killed, including 128 on Tuesday, making it the single deadliest day since the start of fighting on July 8, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra. More than 7,000 have been wounded, he said.

Israel says it has lost 53 soldiers, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai national. Despite the heavy Palestinian losses, Deif, the commander of the Hamas military wing, said fighting would continue. "There is not going to be a cease-fire as long as the demands of our people are not fulfilled," he said.

Hamas has demanded that Israel and Egypt lift a border blockade they imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized the territory in 2007. Over the past year, Egypt has further tightened restrictions, shutting down hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border that had provide crucial tax income to Hamas. The closure of the tunnels drove Hamas into a severe financial crisis.

Deif's voice was recognizable in the audio statement on Al-Aqsa TV. He has survived repeated Israeli assassination attempts and has operated from hiding for years. Al-Aqsa also broadcast a videotape it said showed an infiltration by Hamas fighters into Israel on Monday through a border tunnel. The footage showed armed Palestinians climbing out of a hole in the ground and attacking an Israeli guard post near the border. They were then seen fleeing back down the hole.

The Israeli military said Hamas infiltrated Israeli territory near a communal farm and killed five soldiers on guard nearby. A Hamas gunman was also killed in the attack. Israeli media reported a soldier shot and killed him while he was dragging one of the bodies back to the tunnel.

The military said Palestinian militants fired at least 64 rockets Tuesday at Israeli cities. Israel has said its troops will not leave Gaza until they have demolished the sophisticated network of Hamas attack tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border and inflicted major damage on the group's arsenal and rocket launchers.

Meanwhile, the miserable living condition of Gaza's 1.7 million people deteriorated even further after two Israeli tank shells struck one of three fuel tanks of Gaza's only power plant. The hit set off a massive fire, and a column of thick putrid smoke rose from the site for hours.

"We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room," said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority. "Everything was burned." The shutdown meant that Gaza has an 80 percent deficit of electricity, said Sari Bashi of the Israeli rights group Gisha. Widespread power outages also disrupt water supplies because electricity is needed to operate water pumps. In Gaza, about 1.2 million have no access to running water, she said.

Maher Salem of the utilities department in the Gaza City municipality said about 600,000 of the city's 800,000 residents were facing water problems. "But the most catastrophic issue for us, which is the ticking bomb, is that once we have run out of fuel (for back-up generators), we have to shut down the waste water treatment," he said, adding that fuel would last up to four more days.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Obama administration urges "all parties to respect the civilian nature of these facilities." The Israeli military has not commented on the shelling of the power plant.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of attacks, leveling the home of the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, and damaging the offices of the movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, a central mosque in Gaza City and government offices.

Haniyeh's house, in a narrow alley of the Shati refugee camp, was reduced to rubble but no one was hurt. Residents placed a large framed portrait of Haniyeh atop the wreckage and draped it with green Hamas flags and Palestinian national banners.

Israel has targeted several homes of Hamas leaders but so far none has been killed. Haniyeh said in a statement Tuesday that "destroying stones will not break our determination." Meanwhile, two aides to Abbas said the Palestinian leader and the top Hamas official in exile, Khaled Mashaal, are trying to put together a joint delegation that would present Palestinian demands in future cease-fire talks in Cairo.

Abbas and Hamas are former bitter rivals, but took a step toward reconciliation earlier this year when Hamas ceded some power to a technocrat government headed by Abbas. Egypt has expressed willingness to host indirect talks, but has said the two sides must observe a humanitarian truce of unspecified duration before talks can begin, said the two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations with the media.

Alhlou reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Centenarian Gets Honorary High School Diploma

 AP Mary Moniz holds her honorary high school diploma at her home in East Providence, R.I., awarded by the Fall River, Mass., school department. On Monday she celebrated her 100th birthday. Moniz attended high school in Fall River for two years until her family moved back to the Azores amid the Great Depression. She moved back to the United States in 1949, but never completed school.

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island centenarian has received something she'd wanted for more than eight decades: her high school diploma.

East Providence resident Mary Moniz (MOH'-neez) received the honorary diploma from the Fall River, Massachusetts, school department on Saturday. She turned 100 on Monday. Moniz attended high school in Fall River. But she went for only two years because her family moved back to the Azores amid the Great Depression.

In 1949, she moved back to the United States. But she never completed high school. Her son says she always regretted not finishing. She says she had wanted to be a history teacher. She worked for a metal products company for 16 years. She says she's honored to get her degree.

Her family arranged the honorary diploma by contacting the education commissioner in Massachusetts.

US: Russia Violated 1987 Nuclear Missile Treaty

AP U.S. President Ronald Reagan, right, shakes hands with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after the two leaders signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to eliminate intermediate-range missiles during a ceremony in the White House East Room in Washington. In an escalation of tensions, the Obama administration accused Russia on July 28, 2014, of conducting tests in violation of a 1987 nuclear missile treaty, calling the breach "a very serious matter" and going public with allegations that have simmered for some time. The treaty confrontation comes at a highly strained time between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's intervention in Ukraine and Russia's grant of asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an escalation of tensions, the Obama administration accused Russia on Monday of conducting tests in violation of a 1987 nuclear missile treaty, calling the breach "a very serious matter" and going public with allegations that have simmered for some time.

The treaty confrontation comes at a highly strained time between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's intervention in Ukraine and Putin's grant of asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden

An administration official said Obama notified Putin of the U.S. determination in a letter Monday. The finding will be included in a State Department annual report on compliance with arms control treaties that will be released Tuesday.

The U.S. says Russia tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that President Ronald Reagan signed with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Russian officials say they have looked into the allegations and consider the matter closed.

The Obama administration has expressed its concern over possible violations before, but this is the first time that the administration has formally accused Russia of violating the treaty. It comes in the wake of the downed Malaysian airliner in Ukraine and as the U.S. and the European Union seek to ramp up sanctions against Russia, offering the administration a convenient time to release the report which had been due to come out in April.

Two officials said the U.S. is prepared to hold high-level discussions on the issue immediately and want assurances that Russia will comply with the treaty requirements going forward. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly by name ahead of Tuesday's report.

The New York Times first reported the U.S. move Monday evening In raising the issue now, the U.S. appears to be placing increased pressure on Russia and trying to further isolate it from the international community. The European Union and the United States plan to announce new sanctions against Russia this week in the face of U.S. evidence that Russia has continued to assist separatist forces in Ukraine.

The formal finding comes in the wake of congressional pressure on the White House to confront Russia over the allegations of cheating on the treaty. The treaty banned all U.S. and Russian land-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 300 miles and 3,400 miles.

The officials said the Obama administration has informed Congress and U.S. allies of its decision to seek Russian compliance. Indeed Obama, who has made nuclear disarmament a key foreign policy aim, has little interest in having Russia pull out of the treaty altogether.

Obama won Senate ratification of a New START treaty, which took effect in February 2011 and requires the U.S. and Russia to reduce the number of their strategic nuclear weapons to no more than 1,550 by February 2018.

Obama last year announced that he wants to cut the number of U.S. nuclear arms by another third and that he would "seek negotiated cuts" with Russia, a goal now complicated by the accusation of a missile treaty violation.

Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

FG Defends Search For Oklahoma City Bombing Video

APJannie Coverdale leans on the chair of one of her grandchildren in the Field of Chairs at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial in Oklahoma City, Friday, July 25, 2014. Coverdale, who lost two grandchildren in the bombing, said she is hopeful that an upcoming trial in Utah will shed light on the bombing.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The FBI thoroughly searched its archives and found no evidence that more videos of the Oklahoma City bombing exist, agency employees told a judge Monday in a trial that has rekindled questions about whether any others were involved in the 1995 attack.

Additional searches for videos that Salt Lake City lawyer Jesse Trentadue believes are being withheld would be burdensome and fruitless, FBI attorney Kathryn Wyer argued during the first day of a bench trial.

Trentadue says the agency is refusing to release videos that show a second person was with Timothy McVeigh when he parked a truck outside the Oklahoma City federal building and detonated a bomb that killed 168 people. The government says McVeigh was alone.

The 30 video recordings the FBI has released don't show the explosion or McVeigh's arrival in a rental truck. "The plaintiff has refused to accept that the 30 tapes he got are the only tapes," Wyer said.

The FBI already has provided videos and paper documents that correspond with Trentadue's Freedom of Information Act request, she said. But unsatisfied by the FBI's previous explanations and citing the public importance of the tapes, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups has ordered the agency to explain why it can't find videos that are mentioned in evidence logs.

Linda Vernon, a longtime FBI employee who became the point person for the collection of evidence after the bombing, said she is "completely confident" the agency has found every video of the bombing that exists.

The trial continues Tuesday and will run at least through Wednesday before the judge makes a ruling. He could wait until a later date to decide. Trentadue believes the presence of a second suspect explains why his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, was flown to Oklahoma several months after the bombing, where he died in a federal holding cell. Kenneth Trentadue bore a striking resemblance to a police sketch based on witness descriptions of the enigmatic suspect "John Doe No. 2," who was never identified.

Trentadue is acting as his own attorney and tried to show that the FBI has not adequately followed up on information that could lead to the discovery of other videos. He asked Monica Mitchell of the FBI about why the agency had not done more to search for a tape mentioned in a Secret Service log. It describes security video footage of suspects — in plural — exiting the truck three minutes before the bomb went off.

"Didn't it come to your mind that that tape may exist?" Trentadue asked. Mitchell said she didn't know the authenticity of the Secret Service document and that Vernon told her she didn't know of the existence of such a tape.

Trentadue asked if Mitchell had asked FBI headquarters about the tape, citing documents that show it had one tape and 300 pages of documents. She acknowledged she had not asked headquarters about those items as part of the FOIA request.

A Secret Service agent testified in 2004 that the log does exist, but its information was pulled from reports that were never verified, said Stacy A. Bauerschmidt, who was then the assistant to the special agent in charge of the FBI's intelligence division.

Several investigators and prosecutors who worked the case told The Associated Press in 2004 they had never seen video like that described in the Secret Service log. Mitchell and Vernon described how employees searched automated systems and by hand. Vernon said she spent 85 hours searching three computer databases created to track all the evidence.

Trentadue wasn't the only one asking tough questions of FBI witnesses. The judge at one point asked Mitchell why the FBI never responded to a letter from Trentadue asking about a video that seemed to be incomplete.

"You basically did nothing?" Waddoups asked. "We did nothing because we were confident in our search and what we located," Mitchell said. Later, he questioned why Vernon neglected to send several documents to Trentadue that mentioned videos, despite her previous claim that she erred on the side of inclusivity if she wasn't sure whether something fell under his request.

Trentadue's 44-year-old brother, who was a convicted bank robber and construction worker, was brought to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City after being picked up for probation violations while coming back to the U.S. at the Mexican border, Jesse Trentadue said.

Kenneth Trentadue's death was officially labeled a suicide. But his body had 41 wounds and bruises that his brother believes were the result of a beating. In 2008, a federal judge awarded the family $1.1 million for extreme emotional distress in the government's handling of the death. The amount was reduced to $900,000 after an appeal.

Talley reported from Oklahoma City. Follow Brady McCombs at https://twitter.com/BradyMcCombs 

Be Ready For "Prolonged" Gaza War, Netanyahu Says

Palestinians look at a pool of blood from victims of an explosion that killed 10 people, 9 of them children, at a park at Shati refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, July 28, 2014. Israeli and Palestinian authorities traded blame over the attack and fighting in the Gaza war raged on despite a major Muslim holiday.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Signaling an escalation of Israel's Gaza operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis Monday to be ready for a "prolonged" war, and the military warned Palestinians in three large neighborhoods to leave their homes and head immediately for Gaza City.

The warnings came on a day of heavy Hamas-Israeli fighting in which nine children were killed by a strike on a Gaza park where they were playing, according to Palestinian health officials — a tragedy that each side blamed on the other.

Later Monday, Israeli forces fired a large numbers of flares over Gaza City, turning the night sky a bright orange. The latest bloodshed came despite mounting international calls for a cease-fire and followed failed attempts by both sides to agree to even a lull in fighting of several hours for the start of the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid el-Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan.

The Hamas-run health ministry said 10 people, including nine children under the age of 12, were killed and 46 wounded in the blast at a park in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City. Each side blamed the other.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said the explosion was caused when a rocket launched by Gaza militants misfired and landed in the park. Palestinian police and civil defense said an Israeli missile hit as children were playing on a swing set.

"The children were playing and were happy, enjoying Eid, and they got hit," said Nidal Aljerbi, a witness. After three weeks of bloodshed, both Israel and Hamas are holding out for bigger gains and a cease-fire remains elusive, despite an appeal by the U.N. Security Council and growing pressure from the United States.

Israel says its troops will not leave Gaza until they have demolished scores of Hamas military tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border that militants use to infiltrate Israel and smuggle weapons. Hamas says it will not cease fire until it receives international guarantees Gaza's 7-year-old border blockade by Egypt and Israel will be lifted.

Netanyahu defended the Gaza air and ground offensive, saying in a televised speech Monday that "there is no war more just than this." Israel has said it is defending its citizens against attack from Gaza by hitting Hamas rocket launchers, weapons storage sites and military tunnels. However, there is growing U.S. frustration with the mounting number of Palestinian casualties — at least 1,072 killed and 6,450 wounded since July 8, the vast majority civilians, according to Hamas health officials.

The Israeli military says 52 soldiers have been killed, including four killed Monday in a mortar attack on southern Israel. Two Israeli civilians and a Thai citizen working in Israel also have been killed.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been pressing Israel to accept an immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire. The Obama administration pushed back Monday against a torrent of Israeli criticism over Kerry's latest bid to secure a cease-fire with Hamas, accusing some in Israel of launching a "misinformation campaign" against the top American diplomat.

"It's simply not the way partners and allies treat each other," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Her comments were echoed by the White House, where officials said they were disappointed by Israeli reports that cast Kerry's efforts to negotiate a cease-fire as more favorable to Hamas.

Israel had accepted an Egyptian call for an unconditional cease-fire early in its Gaza campaign, but Hamas rejected the idea. Netanyahu said Monday that Israel won't end its offensive until Hamas' network of tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border has been neutralized. "We need to be ready for a prolonged campaign," he said. "We will continue to act aggressively and responsibly until the mission is completed to protect our citizens, soldiers and children."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded defiantly. "His threats do not scare Hamas or the Palestinian people, and the occupation will pay the price for the massacres against civilians and children," he said.

Israel's last major Gaza invasion ended in January 2009 after 23 days, one-third of that time with troops on the ground. Already, the current ground operation, which began 11 days ago, has lasted longer than the one in 2009.

In recent days, Israeli leaders have debated whether to withdraw from Gaza after the tunnels are demolished, or to expand the ground operation to deliver a more painful blow against Hamas. Those in favor of an escalation have argued that unless Hamas is toppled and disarmed, a new round of Israel-Gaza fighting is inevitable. Opponents say attempting to reoccupy densely populated Gaza, even if for a short period, could quickly entangle Israel politically and militarily and drive up the number of dead.

In his remarks Monday, Netanyahu didn't let on which way he is leaning. However, he insisted that "preventing the arming of terror groups and demilitarizing Gaza must be part of any solution," indicating that Israel's aims are broader than initially stated.

For now, ground forces have largely operated on the edges of Gaza. The Israeli military has said it has located 31 tunnels, is aware of the existence of 10 more and has so far demolished close to 20. Gaza militants have repeatedly used the tunnels to sneak into Israel, including on Monday when several infiltrated into southern Israel. The army said one Hamas militant coming through a tunnel was killed in a firefight, but that searches in the area were continuing.

The Hamas military wing said nine of its fighters infiltrated and attacked an army post. After three weeks of battle, "our fighters still have a lot of surprises in store for the leaders of the occupation and their elite soldiers," the group said in a statement.

The blast at the Gaza park occurred within minutes of a separate strike Monday afternoon on nearby Shifa Hospital, Gaza City's largest medical facility. Several people were wounded in the blast near one of the hospital's outpatient clinics, Hamas health officials said.

Lerner, the army spokesman, denied Israel was involved in the two attacks. "This incident was carried out by Gaza terrorists whose rockets fell short and hit the Shifa Hospital and the Beach (Shati) camp," he said, adding that the military had identified 200 "failed launchings" so far.

Early Tuesday, the military released aerial photographs that it said showed the paths of two misfired Hamas rockets it said hit the park and Shifa Hospital. It said the rockets were detected by Israeli military radar and sensors.

Gaza's police operations room and civil defense department blamed the attacks on Israeli airstrikes. Gaza's Interior Ministry spokesman Eyad al-Bozum said he believes that shrapnel found in the dead and wounded is evidence of Israel's role in the incident.

Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, and Ian Deitch and Yousur Alhlou in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

NIGERIA: Jubilation In Anambra As Appeal Court Upholds Obiano's Victory

 JULY 27, 2014 

Supporters of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) broke into celebration, victory songs and almost turned the premises of the Court of Appeal into a carnival ground as the court reaffirmed the ruling of the Anambra State Election Petitions Tribunal on the victory of Chief Willy Obiano in the November 2013 governorship election.

Delivering judgment in four separate appeals, the five justices of the court: Hon. Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba; Hon. Justice Ejembi Eko; Hon Justice I.O. Akeju; Hon. Justice Tijjani Abubakar; and Hon Justice M. Mustapha, yesterday, unanimously dismissed the appeals of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its candidate, Senator Chris Ngige; the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP), its candidate Tony Nwoye; and governorship aspirant in the election, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, for lack of merit.

In the election Ngige, came third behind Obiano while Nwoye of the PDP came second. Ngige and Nwoye had proceeded to appeal after losing at the Election Petition Tribunal presided by Hon. Justice Ishaq Bello, which on June 4 in Awka upheld the victory of Obiano, declaring that he was validly elected, as the November 16, 17 and 30 governorship ballot complied substantially with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution.

Pronouncing ruling in the appeal by Ngige against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Obiano, APGA, and others, the Presiding Justice, Mohammed Garba said: “The appeal lacks merit and is dismissed in its entirety. The ruling of the Election Tribunal on June 4, 2014, is hereby affirmed by me. I have assessed cost at N50,000 in favour of the third respondent (Obiano).”

That became the pattern in the subsequent appeals, as each Justice affirmed the lack of merit in the appeals. On the second ruling, which is the appeal by Nwoye against INEC, Obiano and others, the PDP candidate had, like Ngige, canvassed a cancellation of the election and a fresh poll held because of irregularities and the double registration by Obiano. His appeal was also unanimously dismissed by the five justices, and N50,000 cost awarded in favour of Obiano.”

The PDP’s appeal which was similar to the one by Nwoye was also dismissed in similar fashion.

Dr. Obidigbo, an APGA governorship aspirant, who wanted the court to declare him the rightful candidate of the party after he merged with the candidate of another faction of the party, also canvassed a cancellation of the election and a fresh election held.

The Presiding Justice apologized for the delay in delivering the ruling following extensive typographical errors in the judgement. These errors necessitated the delay of the ruling from 9am till 2 pm. Although the corrections of errors could not be completed at the time of the delivery, Garba opted to pronounce the ruling without reading the entire judgment.

Taking time off the celebrations, the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh told journalists that the party was grateful to God for the Judiciary.

He noted that, “it has become obvious that over 95 per cent of judicial officers in this country have decided to uphold the rule of law and principles of law. Today, a five-man panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed all the appeals standing against our victory at the lower tribunal in Awka following our victory at the governorship election in November 2013.

“We were not in doubt that all these appeals will be dismissed because APGA’s candidate, Chief Obiano, won this election. Our opponents, the APC and PDP, decided to head to the Tribunal. During the hearing at the Tribunal, they did not prove anything, and the Tribunal ruled in our favour. Both the APC and its candidate, the PDP, and another petitioner, who claimed to be a member of APGA, Chike Obidigbo, had their petitions dismissed for lack of merit.”

---------DAILY TIMES NIGERIA, SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2014

Study: Embargo Wouldn't Hurt Russia

A pro-Russian fighters' APC stands abandoned near the city of Lisichansk, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine Saturday, July 26, 2014. Volunteers from the Donbas Battalion, a volunteer militia for a united Ukraine, told The Associated Press their units, along with the Ukrainian army, regained control of Lisichansk on Friday.

LONDON (AP) — An arms embargo against Russia would be little more than symbolic because Russia is largely self-sufficient in supplying its armed forces, a report argued Sunday.

European Union countries exported $583 million of military equipment to Russia last year, less than 1 percent of the nation's $68 billion defense budget, according to a study by IHS Jane's, which provides analysis on the defense industry and security issues. The bulk of that was a $521 million payment to France, which is building two Mistral class warships for Russia.

The propriety of arms sales to Russia was questioned last week as the U.S. and EU debated tougher sanctions against President Vladimir Putin's government because of its support for Ukrainian rebels, who are believed to have fired the missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing all 298 people on board.

Many of the existing arms deals are the product of a brief period between 2010 and 2012, when Russia sought Western help in modernizing its military, said Guy Anderson, a senior principal analyst for aerospace, defense and security at IHS Jane's. Putin reversed that strategy in 2012, when he decided that Russia should be self-sufficient once more and ordered the military to stop buying Western materiel.

"Russia's reason for doing this was security," Anderson said. "You could probably argue they saw something like this coming." The Jane's analysis shows that Russia wasn't even among the world's top 10 defense importers last year — though it was the No. 2 exporter behind the United States.

There are no EU countries among the top 10 buyers of Russian military material. While Russia hasn't bought much strictly military equipment, it purchases a considerable amount of dual-use technology such as engines that can be used in both civilian and military vehicles, said Trevor Taylor, a professorial fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

The IHS Jane's analysis covers only equipment with a purely military function. It also excludes weapons under 57 mm calibre or sub-components. The European Union, in a discussion paper on possible actions against Russia, suggested that banning shipments of dual-use goods to military users and companies that operate in both the military and civilian sectors could be an "effective and targeted measure." EU exports to Russia in this category total about 4 billion euros, or 20 percent of dual-use exports to the country, according to the paper.

Russia is decreasing imports at a time when it is increasing military spending. The country's defense budget, the world's third-biggest behind the U.S. and China, is set to jump by more than 40 percent to $98 billion by 2016, according to IHS Jane's.

When the Russian economy collapsed following the breakup of the Soviet Union, military budgets fell as well. In recent years, Moscow launched a desperate bid to revive its defense industries and embarked on a massive re-armament program designed to totally re-equip its forces by 2023.

The Russians were obsessive in their drive to go it alone, with the military barred from importing weapons, or even the equipment used to make them, unless absolutely nothing at home was suitable, Anderson said.

"It got down to the level of machine tools," he said. "Even the lathes have to be Russian." In some ways, Putin's decision is a return to the situation during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was barred from doing business with Western defense contractors.

After the collapse of communism, Western governments decided that Russia should become a partner in controlling arms exports around the world, rather than a subject of those controls. A U.K. parliamentary committee last week questioned why British companies were being permitted to sell 132 million pounds ($224 million) of military equipment, including components for anti-aircraft guns, to Russia. The government said it would examine the deals but that many were for legitimate, non-military uses.

Yet among the military contracts, France's carrier deal stands out. France was able to capitalize on the brief opening of the Russian market by signing a 1.2 billion euro contract for the two Mistral class helicopter carriers, securing jobs for hundreds of workers in its struggling shipyards.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has pressed the French to rethink the deal, saying it would be "unthinkable" for his country to fulfill such a contract given events in Ukraine. "It's very difficult for France," Taylor said. "When they sighted this deal, no one was envisioning the situation in the Ukraine. That was not on the risk register for sure."

AP Analysis: Putin Stays On Offense In Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Head of the Jewish autonomous region Alexander Vinnikov in the Kremlin in Moscow, Friday, July 25, 2014.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Russian President Vladimir Putin might be expected to hunker down into defense mode as he is besieged by accusations of Russian involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Instead he has stayed on offense and appears to positioning for the long game.

In his televised appearances since last Thursday's crash, Putin's demeanor hasn't wavered from his usual steely determination. He has allowed Russian media to propound theories blaming Ukrainian forces or suggesting a U.S hand in the crash, while refusing to deny such theories and indirectly placing responsibility on the Ukrainians.

Just hours after the crash, Putin laid the groundwork for this approach, saying at a meeting of economic officials that "the tragedy would not have happened" if Ukraine had not resumed its military actions against rebels in late June. "The state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy," he said.

That argument neatly eludes a key issue: that the offensive was renewed after a 10-day unilateral ceasefire that the pro-Russia rebels ignored. Throughout the eastern Ukraine crisis, now in its fourth month, Putin and his officials have consistently portrayed the conflict as Ukraine's unprincipled assault on its own citizens, rather than as a move to take back a sizeable part of the country seized by heavily armed separatists.

The aim is to discredit the Kiev authorities without openly opposing them. Putin even spoke face-to-face in June with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who had just been elected following the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych in the wake of months of mass protests. But on Tuesday, he stepped up the aspersions in a meeting with his security council.

"True, they held elections after the takeover," Putin said. "However, for some strange reason, power ended up again in the hands of those who either funded or carried out this takeover." This is where the long game appears to take shape.

By aggressively suggesting that Ukraine's instability is a prelude to Western designs on Russia, Putin not only deflects attention away from the plane crash, but strikes a chord in the Russian psyche. Russia characteristically sees itself as both a vast and mighty world power and as forever beleaguered by devious and violent forces dating back to the Mongol hordes and later including Napoleonic France, Poland, Sweden and, finally, Nazi Germany.

Even as he expresses concern about Russia's vulnerability, Putin also declares that "the recipes used regarding weaker states fraught with internal conflict will not work with us." Resorting to the contradictory — yet popular — message may indicate the tight spot Putin finds himself in as he faces not only international opprobrium but the prospect of even more economic sanctions.

"He appears caught, first, by the possibility of very serious limitations from the West," analyst Fyodor Lukyanov was quoted as saying by the news website Ekspert. "Secondly, the psychological pressure is very serious. And for Putin, I think, it's hard just on a human basis."

But Putin is the ultimate survivor. And barring evidence that irrefutably connects Russia with the plane's crash Putin likely has the stamina and determination for a long haul. Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow think-tank, said that while many may hope that sanctions and the pressure on Putin will cause him to pull back, "those banking on this scenario will probably be disappointed."

"Putin is unlikely to stand down, or back off," he wrote in a commentary.

Israel Resumes Offensive After Gaza Rocket Fire

As her brother-in-law Mazen Keferna, background left, weeps, Palestinian Manal Keferna, 30, right, cries upon her return to the family house, destroyed by Israeli strikes in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 26, 2014. Thousands of Gaza residents who had fled Israel-Hamas fighting streamed back to devastated border areas during a lull Saturday, and were met by large-scale destruction: scores of homes were pulverized, wreckage blocked roads and power cables dangled in the streets.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has resumed its Gaza offensive after a series of Palestinian rocket attacks.

The Israeli military said Sunday that following "Hamas' incessant rocket fire" during the unilateral Israeli extension of a temporary humanitarian truce it would resume targeting Gaza militants. Israel's Cabinet had unilaterally decided to extend the truce for 24 hours, until midnight (2100 GMT) Sunday. Hamas, which has requested the lifting of an Israeli and Egyptian blockade on Gaza, among other demands, did not agree to extend the truce.

The 20-day operation has already killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and 45 Israelis.

Hamas Fires Rockets On Israel, Ending 12-Hour Lull

Palestinians salvage usable things in their belongings they find at their destroyed houses during a 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood, Saturday, July 26, 2014. Thousands of Gaza residents who had fled Israel-Hamas fighting streamed back to devastated border areas during a lull Saturday to find large-scale destruction: scores of homes were pulverized, wreckage blocked roads and power cables dangled in the streets.

BEIT HANOUN, GAZA STRIP (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Hamas said it fired five rockets at Israel late Saturday after rejecting Israel's offer to extend a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire by four hours, casting new doubt on international efforts to broker an end to 19 days of fighting.

Hamas said two of the rockets were aimed at Tel Aviv. Police in Israel's second-largest city dispersed a peace rally attended by several thousand people because of the threat, a spokesman said. In Paris, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European foreign ministers met earlier Saturday to find ways to transform Saturday's initial 12-hour lull into a sustainable truce.

In Gaza, thousands of residents who fled the violence streamed back to devastated border areas during the cease-fire to find large-scale destruction: fighting had pulverized scores of homes, wreckage blocked roads and power cables dangled in the streets.

In the northern town of Beit Hanoun, Siham Kafarneh, 37, sat on the steps of a small grocery, weeping. The mother of eight said the home she had spent 10 years saving up for and moved into two months earlier had been destroyed.

"Nothing is left. Everything I have is gone," she said. More than 1,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed and more than 6,000 have been wounded over the past 19 days, Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. Israeli strikes have destroyed hundreds of homes, including close to 500 in targeted hits, and forced tens of thousands of people to flee, according to Palestinian rights groups.

Across Gaza, more than 130 bodies were pulled from the rubble Saturday, officials said. In southern Gaza, 20 members of an extended family were killed before the start of the lull when a tank shell hit a building where they had sought refuge, al-Kidra said.

Israel says it is doing its utmost to prevent civilian casualties, including sending evacuation warnings to residents in targeted areas, and blames Hamas for putting civilians in harm's way. Israel has lost 40 soldiers and two civilians, and a Thai worker also has been killed.

"There is no proof that any kind of gratuitous damage is being inflicted," said Israeli legislator Ofer Shelah of the centrist Yesh Atid party. Israeli troops are "fighting with an enemy dug in within the civilian population, dug in underground or within the houses there," he said, adding that "those are the consequences of such a fight."

Israel launched a major air campaign in Gaza on July 8 and later sent ground troops into the Hamas-ruled territory in an operation it said was aimed at halting Palestinian rocket fire and destroying cross-border tunnels used for attacks.

Later Saturday, Israel decided to extend the 12-hour lull by four more hours, until midnight (2100 GMT) Saturday. However, Israel set its own terms for the extended truce, saying it would continue to demolish Hamas military tunnels.

The Israeli military said that through Saturday's lull, troops uncovered four more tunnel shafts. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri later said that the group rejected the four-hour extension. Shortly after that, Hamas claimed responsibility for firing five rockets at Israel, including two at Tel Aviv. The Israeli military said three rockets fell in southern Israel.

Al-Kidra said that a 36-year-old Palestinian man was killed by a sniper near the central Gaza town of Deir el-Balah shortly after the 12-hour truce ended. In Paris, Kerry met with European foreign ministers and later with foreign ministers from Qatar and Turkey to try to salvage truce efforts.

On Friday, Israel rejected a proposal by Kerry and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to halt fire for a week and to begin talks during this period on easing the border blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza. Hamas has said it would not halt fire until it won guarantees that the border blockade, enforced by Israel and Egypt, would be lifted.

Any new border arrangements for Gaza would likely give a role to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the main political rival of Hamas. Hamas had seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007, triggering the Gaza blockade by Israel and Egypt. However, Abbas, who heads the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, reached a power-sharing deal earlier this year with Hamas. Under the deal, a government of technocrats headed by Abbas was to prepare for new elections in the West Bank and Gaza.

Egypt wants forces loyal to Abbas to be posted on the Gaza side of the mutual border before considering open the Rafah crossing there, Gaza's main gate to the world. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in Paris that he and his counterparts from other nations are calling on both sides to negotiate a sustainable cease-fire.

Such a truce should meet Israeli security concerns, but also "the Palestinians' expectations in terms of economic development and access to Gaza," he said. "We are convinced of the need to involve the Palestinian Authority in achieving these objectives."

Deitch reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Yousur Alhlou in Jerusalem and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

Nigeria Government Confirms Ebola Case In Megacity Of Lagos

By Felix Onuah and Tom Miles

Abuja/Geneva

Yewande Adeshina, special adviser on public health to the Lagos state government, speaks with Reuters in her office after a news conference on suspected outbreak of Ebola virus in Lagos, July 24, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye

LAGOS, NIGERIA (REUTERS) - A Liberian man who died in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos on Friday tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.
Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry in his 40s, collapsed on Sunday after flying into Lagos, a city of 21 million people, and was taken from the airport and put in isolation in a local hospital. Nigeria confirmed earlier on Friday that he had died in quarantine.

"His blood sample was taken to the advance laboratory at the Lagos university teaching hospital, which confirmed the diagnosis of the Ebola virus disease in the patient," Chukwu told a press conference on Friday. "This result was corroborated by other laboratories outside Nigeria."

However, at a separate press conference held by the Lagos state government at the same time, the city's health commissioner, Jide Idris, said that they were only "assuming that it was Ebola" because they were "waiting for a confirmative test to double check" from a laboratory in Dakar.

Paul Garwood, spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, said the U.N. health agency was also still waiting for test results.

"We're still waiting for laboratory-confirmed results as to whether he died of Ebola or not," he said.
It could not be immediately determined why there was a contradiction in the comments from central government and city officials.

If confirmed, the man would be the first case on record of one of the world's deadliest diseases in Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy and with 170 million people, its most populous country. Ebola has killed 660 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since it was first diagnosed in February.
Sawyer was quarantined on arrival and had not entered the city, a Nigerian official told Reuters.
"While he was quarantined he passed away. Everyone who has had contact with him has been quarantined," the official said.

Liberia's finance minister Amara Konneh said Sawyer was a consultant for the country's finance ministry.

"Our understanding is that the cause of death was Ebola," Konneh told Reuters.

The victim's sister had died of the virus three weeks previously, and the degree of contact between the two was being investigated by Liberian health ministry officials, he said.

Earlier on Friday, WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said: "I understand that he was vomiting and he then turned himself over basically, he made it known that he wasn't feeling well. Nigerian health authorities took him and put him in isolation."

Nigeria has some of the continent's least adequate healthcare infrastructure, despite access to billions of dollars of oil money as Africa's biggest producer of crude.

Some officials think the disease is easier to contain in cities than in remote rural areas.

"The fear of spread within a dense population would be offset by better healthcare and a willingness to use it, easier contact tracing and, I assume for an urban population, less risky funerary and family rites," Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading in Britain, said.

"It would be contained more easily than in rural populations."

There have been 1,093 Ebola cases to date in West Africa's first outbreak, including the 660 who have died, according to the WHO.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Additional reporting by Tim Cocks and Oludare Mayowa in Lagos, Kate Holtan in London, Clair MacDougall in Monrovia, Emma Farge in Dakar and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Stephanie Nebehay and Tim Cocks; Editing by Susan Fenton and Sonya Hepinstall)