Top Stories
Over 100 killed by Indonesian tsunami At least 100 people have been killed after a tsunami hit western Java, Indonesia. Severe tropical storm Bilis leaves 178 dead in south-east China South-east China has been flooded by torrential rainstorms as the Severe Tropical Storm Bilis came ashore on Friday.

Featured story
G8 Summit debates Middle-east crisis, WTO trade talks The leaders of the Group of Eight nations met this weekend, to discuss the ongoing crisis in the middle-east, the stalled WTO trade talks and other global issues.

Wikipedia Current Events
Space Shuttle Discovery lands successfully on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility of the Kennedy Space Center, ending a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. In the United Kingdom, the Crown Prosecution Service announce that police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in the aftermath of the attempted bombings of London on July 21, 2005 will not face criminal charges. A 7.7 Mw earthquake off the coast of Indonesia causes a tsunami to crash into Java, causing significant property damage and killing over 100 people. Concern is raised over lack of a warning system for the south coast despite warnings from international agencies. At least 40 Iraqis are killed and dozens injured in the town of Mahmoudiya south of Baghdad in an insurgent attack. Kofi Annan states that he is working with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to deploy an armed force in the Middle East to quell the escalation of conflict between Israel, Palestinean insurgents and Hezbollah. Tony Blair supports the plan. Israel has rebuffed a UN call for an international monitoring force to be deployed in Lebanon as it continued to attack the country. At least 10 Lebanese have died in an Israeli attack on their vehicles in the south of the country, sources say. Israel extends its air campaign to northernmost Lebanon, killing at least 14, among them 9 soldiers, after Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa. Israel claims to have destroyed a long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv in an airstrike on Lebanon. Israel Air Force strikes the Palestinian Foreign Ministry for a second time in a week, wounding 5 people.

Sixth day of Middle East turmoil
Israel stands firm on its position to strike Hezbollah and Hamas targets in Lebanon until its two kidnapped soldiers have been released from captivity. In a speech to the Knesset, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said the country wouldn't stop its attacks until they've succeeded in "bringing home the soldiers, complete peace and quiet, removing Hezbollah from the area".

The death toll in Lebanon after six days of Israeli strikes is now over 204 people, all but 14 civilians. 415 have been injured. Ten people were killed while their vehicle was crossing a bridge in southern Lebanon and at least 32 more died elsewhere in the country on Monday.

Nine people, including six children, have been found dead in a house in the Lebanese town of Tyre. They had reportedly taken shelter from Israeli air raids on Sunday when their house were hit.

"What Israel has been doing is cutting the country to pieces", Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora said Monday. He also noted that the Israeli attacks had caused billions of dollars of damage for the country.

Israel attacked targets in Beirut, Tripoli and Abdeh on Monday. In the Lebanese capital Beirut, the port and its southern suburbs were bombed. Fuel and gas storage tanks were also set ablaze. A private house was hit by a missile in southern Lebanon when it missed a Hezbollah site. Eight Lebanese soldiers were killed and twelve wounded when Israeli warplanes hit Abdeh in northern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, three Israeli tanks briefly entered Lebanon, reportedly to destroy Hezbollah encampments. The Israeli army denied it was part of a large-scale invasion. The Israeli Defense Minister said earlier that the country intended to create a one-kilometer "buffer zone" inside Lebanon to try to stop missiles fired by Hezbollah.

It was claimed that an Israeli F16 fighter jet was shot down over Beirut on Monday, and there were rumours that a pilot had been captured. Lebanese television showed a flaming object falling from the sky, but Israel said it had not lost any of its planes. Later, Israeli radio speculated that Hezbollah had attempted to launch a long-range missile that malfunctioned.

Hezbollah again fired missiles at the city of Haifa and other towns in northern Israel Monday. Four people were injured in Haifa when a building partially collapsed, and six more were injured when a missile landed near a hospital in Safed.

The Israeli airforce said it destroyed a truck sitting near the Israel-Lebanon border capable of firing long-range Iranian missiles. Iran has previously denied that it has sold missiles to the Hezbollah.

Several countries have been evacuating their citizens from Lebanon, and French PM Dominique de Villepin is in Beirut where he held talks with his Lebanese counterpart.

Over 100 killed by Indonesian tsunami
Aid agencies are reporting that a tsunami has killed at least 105 people and injured some 148 others in the Indonesian town of Pangandaran. An earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, triggered the two-metre-high tsunami wave at 1519 local time (0819 UTC).

One resident, who called herself Teti, told ElShinta radio station that high waves had destroyed hotels in Pangandaran and thrown boats onto the beach. "Waves suddenly came and we ran to the hills. Many small hotels were destroyed... Boats have been thrown into hotels."

Local official Rudi Supriatna Bahro told Indonesia's Metro TV that thousands of people had taken refuge in mosques and other safe places. "Many of the injured were suffering from broken bones," he also said. It is thought that 2,000 people have been displaced from the area.

Earlier, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said: "The search is ongoing for those who are still missing." 122 people are lost, said Putu Suryawan, a Red Cross worker.

In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, tremors were felt for more than one minute, but according to reports, there were no casualties.

More than 130,000 people were killed when a past tsunami struck in Indonesia in December 2004.

French PM in Beirut
French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin is in Beirut today. He will be joined by Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Foreign Affairs Minister.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister ordered a second meeting about Lebanese crisis with MichÃ¨le Alliot-Marie, the French Defense Minister.

The French government also rented a 1000 seat ferry from Greece in order to begin to evacuate French and other foreign nationals from Lebanon to Cyprus. French military forces will ship medical supplies and aid to the island.

On July 13, the French Foreign Affairs department began asking French people to identify themselves to authorities and if possible to postpone any visit to Lebanon.

Finally, this meeting talked about ways to help the Lebanese people.

Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese Prime Minister, talked to the French Prime Minister on the phone on July 15 and expressed his feelings about the situation in his country.

G8 Summit debates Middle-east crisis, WTO trade talks
The leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations met over the weekend in St. Petersburg in Russia for the 32nd G8 Summit, held under Russia's presidency, to discuss the ongoing Israel-Lebanon crisis, the stalled world trade talks and other issues. They also met with other world leaders, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy.

Israel-Lebanon crisis

The G8 leaders issued a statement expressing "deepening concern" over the unfolding crisis as Israel and Hezbollah militants operating out of Lebanon continued their attacks which have already killed scores.

G8 Statement on the crisis

The statement called for the safe return of the captured Israeli soldiers and restraint from Israel in its military actions.

The statement said the "root cause" of the crisis was the "absence of a comprehensive Middle East peace", but "extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos,".

The statement noted the rising civilian casualties on all sides and damage to infrastructure and called for an end to violence.

The statement called for the safe return of the Israeli soldiers who were abducted in Gaza and Lebanon, an end to shelling of Israeli territory, asking Hezbollah to make the first move to end the crisis.	Wikipedia has an article about 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis.

It urged Israel to be mindful of "the strategic and humanitarian consequences of its actions" and "to exercise utmost restraint, seeking to avoid casualties among innocent civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure and to refrain from acts that would destabilize the Lebanese government." It also called for an end to Israeli military operations, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of the arrested Palestinian ministers and parliamentarians. The statement said that Israel "needs to refrain from unilateral acts that could prejudice a final settlement and agree to negotiate in good faith," .

Summit leaders express differing opinions

Speaking to reporters, the assembled leaders did demonstrate some differences in their views on the conflict.

US President George W Bush said on Sunday that Hezbollah and its links with Iran and Syria is a root cause of instability in the Middle East. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said that extremists backed by Syria and Iran wanted to interrupt the [peace] process.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier termed Israel's actions as excessive and on Saturday said that Israel was pursuing "other, wider goals". He also told reporters that Russia has specifically insisted on dropping any reference to Syria and Iran as Hezbollah supporters in the summit declaration.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters, "We demand first that the Israeli soldiers be returned to Israel healthy, that the attacks on Israel cease, and then naturally for Israel to halt military action."

While French President Jacques Chirac said on Sunday that the G8 is calling for a ceasefire, the US Undersecretary of State for political affairs Nicholas Burns disagreed and said that there was no push for one. Chirac had also expressed "extreme reservations about the disproportionate character of the Israeli reactions," but no such language was incorporated into the G8 statement.

Call for UN action

The summit declaration called on the UN Security Council to draw up plans for implementing its resolutions UNSCR 1559 and 1680, which call for extending the Lebanese government's authority over all of Lebanon and the disarming of militias such as Hezbollah. It also suggested that the Council should look at setting up a monitoring force in Lebanon.

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Security Council members would follow up on the declaration and that starting Monday, work out a detailed plan for deploying a multilateral security force in Lebanon.

Reactions from the Middle-east

Israel later welcomed the Summit statement, supporting its call for Hezbollah to free the Israeli soldiers and halt rocket fire into Israel. Israel's Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni said that the international community has "placed the responsibility for the conflict on extremist elements," and that Israel "sees the path to a solution through the release of the abducted soldiers, a cessation of rocket fire on Israel, and full implementation of (U.N.) resolution 1559,".

In initial reaction to the proposed deployment, Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said, "I don't think we're at that stage yet. We're at the stage where we want to be sure that Hezbollah is not deployed at our northern border,".

In an address to the nation, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora urged an immediate cease-fire and establishment of the government's sovereignty in all Lebanese territory with help from the UN. It requested humanitarian aid and called for international pressure on Israel to stop its attacks. Disclaiming prior knowledge or responsibility for Hezbollah's capture of Israeli soldiers, the Prime Minister termed Israel's actions as "collective punishment".

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said yesterday that Hezbollah would not disarm, despite calls from the US and "Zionists" (Israel). Iran says it offers moral but not military support to the Hezbollah and has denied Israeli accusations that Iranian arms have been used in the latest conflict.

Syria spoke of a "harsh and direct" response to any attack by Israel. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday that Syria will put its resources at the disposal of Lebanon to help cope with Israeli attacks devastating the country.

WTO Trade talks

The leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa and the World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy were also present at the final session of their three-day summit.

They joined the G8 leaders in addressing the stalled negotiations in the Doha round of the WTO trade negotiations. The talks were deadlocked over US cuts on farm subsidies, the EU cuts on tariffs on farm goods and developing countries opening their markets for industrial goods and services.

Timely progress in the talks is crucial as the the US president's special authority to negotiate trade deals will expire in a year.

G8 powers have asked their trade negotiators and Pascal Lamy to broker a breakthrough on the stalled talks, giving WTO members one month to revive the Doha round.

A statement released said that the G8 was "fully committed to the development dimension of ongoing WTO talks." and that "The Doha Round should deliver real cuts in tariffs, effective cuts in subsidies and real new trade flows,".

"In agriculture we are committed to substantially reducing trade-distorting domestic support and to the parallel elimination by the end of 2013 of all forms of export subsidies a well as establishment of effective disciplines on all export measures with equivalent effect as agreed in Hong Kong, the statement said.

The G8 also expressed support for Russia's entry into WTO in accordance with the rules that apply to all its members.

Assistance to Africa and other issues

While assistance to Africa was top of the agenda at last year's summit, this year it figured in the final session attended by Kofi Annan and the African Union delegation. Mr. Annan cited progress in implementing last years plans, but said much more needs to be done.

"Fourteen African countries have been given complete debt relief, eight more have had substantial debt relief. We've seen some progress in development assistance. For the first time in many years we have gone over 100 billion dollars," he said.

The formal agenda of the meeting included securing energy supplies, boosting world trade talks and addressing a standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Summit leaders approved documents on education and fighting infectious diseases, discussed high world oil prices and the state of democracy in Russia and renewed a pledge to combat the AIDS crisis, though no detailed funding plan for it was agreed upon.

Bush also met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and discussed the standoff over nuclear power in Iran and nuclear weapons in North Korea.

A statement was also released reiterating the leaders' condemnation of terrorism and resolve to combat it. The leaders expressed outrage at the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai, India which killed close to 200 people.

Severe tropical storm Bilis leaves 178 dead in south-east China
South-east China has been flooded by torrential rainstorms as the Severe Tropical Storm Bilis came ashore on Friday, July 14. The total death toll stands at 178 people but many people are missing, and the figure might rise.

Floods, 10 meters high in some areas washed away 19,100 houses, damaged roads, power lines, and devastated villages and agriculture. Three million people were affected by the tropical storm which Xinhua, the state news agency, estimated would cost three billion yuan ($375 million) damage.

The worse-hit provinces were Fujian, Hunan and Guangdong while their were deaths and an economic impact in Zhejian, Jiangxi and Guangxi provinces.

At least 92 died in Hunan where dam reservoirs rose to their limits. The water swell in Leiyang rose 10 metres above the levels from Friday.

40,000 people in the cities of Hengyang and Chenzhou were reported stranded. 14 coal miners died when a dam burst, ravaging the land and flooding their pit at Shenjiawan Colliery.

The floods in Hunan also took out the Beijing-Guangzhou railway leaving 5,000 stranded in the capital, Changsha. 10,000 workers were sent to repair the damaged sections of line.

An estimated 33 people died in Guangdong, an important economic area near Hong Kong. Lechang was submerged under three metres of water and 1663 prisoners had to be moved from the city.

In Fujian province 43 people are reported dead. Deadly mudslides killed 10 in the city of Zhangzhou and another 10 are missing from a second mudslide.

Teacher found murdered in New Zealand classroom
Lois Dear, a 66-year-old teacher at Strathmore Primary School, Tokoroa, has been murdered in her classroom at about noon on Sunday. She was found by two of her colleagues, lying face down. New Zealand Police say that the teacher had suffered head injuries.

School was supposed to return back to start term 3 but today the school was cordoned and being guarded by police while the 278 pupils got the day off.

The body was not removed from the scene until noon today, Monday 17, when it was carried off to a hearse and a karakia (Maori prayer) was performed in front of 70 people.

Staff will be offered counselling.

Ngaire Taikato, a colleague of Ms Dear, told Newstalk ZB "the school has been devastated at the killing. It will take a long time for the children at the school to get over Ms Dear's death, and a lot of counselling will be needed. Dear was never in the staff room, because she was always out with the children who loved and respected her."

The school will no longer let teachers work by themselves out of school hours, the school will introduce a buddy system, for the teachers safety. However Pat Newman, New Zealand Principals' Association president, said "schools are generally secure places where teachers can work safely on their own."

Murray Kendrick, principal of Strathmore Primary School, said "the school had had the occasional break-in but no major problems." Detective Sergeant Karl Thornton, the officer in charge of the investigation, said "It was too soon to say whether robbery could be behind the attack."

Hooters Chairman dead at 69
Robert Brooks, chairman of Hooters of America, Inc. who was famous for opening a restaurant selling chicken wings by scantily clad waitresses, was found dead yesterday, police said. Brooks was 69 years old. An autopsy is waiting to be performed later on today.

Since opening its first store in Clearwater, Florida in 1983, the chain has expanded across the United States and into more than a dozen foreign countries. At last count, Hooters had 425 restaurants nationwide.

Brooks was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in 1996.

New Zealand government withdraws asset forfeiture bill
The New Zealand government has withdrawn its Criminal Proceeds and Instruments Bill from Parliament, putting on hold its plans to introduce a non-conviction-based asset forfeiture regime.

The bill was introduced to Parliament in June last year, and was removed from the Parliamentary Order Paper in the last week, before it had even received a first reading vote.

A spokesperson for the Minister of Justice refused to give a reason for the bill's withdrawal, saying only that there were "a couple of procedural issues that need to be dealt with".

The bill would establish a non-conviction-based asset forfeiture regime, which would allow the government to confiscate the assets of those suspected of involvement in serious crime. Suspected criminals would be required to prove on the balance of probabilities that their assets were legally acquired or else forfeit them to the crown. No criminal conviction would be required.

The scheme has attracted criticism from both sides of the House, with the Green Party calling it "an affront to the principles of justice and law", and the National Party demanding a much tougher regime. Given the stated positions of parties on the bill, the most likely reason for its withdrawl is that the government does not have a majority to pass it in its present form.

Today in History
64 - The Great Fire of Rome burned completely out of control, while Roman Emperor Nero reportedly played his lyre and sang as he watched the blaze from a safe distance.

1863 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, saw action against the Confederacy's Fort Wagner.

1925 - Adolf Hitler published his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.

1944 - General Hideki Tojo was forced to resign as Prime Minister of Japan after a series of setbacks towards the end of World War II.

1982 - The Guatemalan army and allied paramilitaries slaughtered upwards of 250 Maya campesinos in the Plan de Sanchez massacre.

Quote of the Day

"To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it; to go through intrigue spotless; and to forgo even ambition when the end is gained - who can say this is not greatness?"
~ William Makepeace Thackeray

Word of the Day

pander; v

To tempt, usually by appealing to improper motivators.

To offer illicit sex.

About Wikinews
We are a group of volunteer journalists whose mission is to create a diverse community where citizens from around the globe (including you) can collaborate to report the news on a wide variety of current events. By making our content perpetually available for free redistribution and use, we hope to contribute to a global digital commons. Got news and no computer? Call the Wikinews Hotline +1-866-653-4265 (toll-free in the U.S.) +1-202-742-5918 (outside the U.S.) +44-871-218-6397 (U.K. / Europe)
License
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Articles published in this Print edition were created by Wikinewsies. To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor San Francisco, California, 94105, USA
Audio Wikinews
Audio Wikinews is a free non point-of-view news radio program recorded daily. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Audio
About Wikinews Print Edition
For more information about Wikinews Print Edition visit: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Print

Tuesday, July 18, 2006	Wikinews	Page 6

If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit www.wikinews.org

July 18, 2006	The free-content news source that you can write!	Page 6

If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit en.wikinews.org

Wikinews Back Page

2006-07-17T23:44:53