Lincoln Tribune |  |
- Captured soldier Shalit returns to Israel after hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are released
- Suspected PKK attack in southeastern Turkey kills 6, including 2-year-old
- More deaths in Yemeni protests as crackdown intensifies
- Tibetan nun sets herself on fire in southwestern China
- Chinese National Pleads Guilty to Stealing US Trade Secrets
| Captured soldier Shalit returns to Israel after hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are released Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:50 PM PDT TEL AVIV (BNO NEWS) -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Gilad Shalit on Tuesday returned to Israel after spending more than five years in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip. Israel freed hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners to get Shalit back. "Today Gilad Shalit returned from the military operation he left for on June 25, 2006. This very moment Gilad Shalit is stepping back into the State of Israel," IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said. Shalit arrived at the Israel Air Force base in Tel Nof where he was reunited with his family. Shalit's family had been attempting for years to have contact with him but without avail. The only signs of life were three letters, an audio tape released a year after he was taken and a brief video broadcast on October 2, 2009. Shalit's father, Noam, said that his son was suffering from a few minor injuries, including shrapnel wounds he sustained during his capture, but that he was in good health. He thanked the public and thousands of activists for all of their support and efforts to secure his son's release. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak greeted Shalit as he arrived at the air base. "A short time ago, I embraced him as he came off the helicopter and escorted him to his parents, Aviva and Noam, and I said, 'I have brought your son back home.' But this is also a hard day; even if the price had been smaller, it would still have been heavy." On Monday, families of victims of terror attacks filed four petitions against the deal, claiming that it will serve to encourage future attacks. According to the terms of the deal, 477 prisoners were released on Tuesday while another 550 prisoners will be released within two months. "I know very well that the pain of the families of the victims of terrorism is too heavy to bear. It is difficult to see the miscreants who murdered their loved ones being released before serving out their full sentences," Netanyahu said. "But I also knew that in the current diplomatic circumstances, this was the best agreement we could achieve, and there was no guarantee that the conditions which enabled it to be achieved would hold in the future." United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the prisoner exchange deal, calling it a "significant humanitarian breakthrough." A statement from his spokesman said that the Secretary-General hoped that more steps will be taken "to end the closure of Gaza and enable reconstruction." All prisoners to be released as part of the deal are required to sign a document in which they pledge not to engage in terrorist activity in the future. Israeli officials previously said they will hunt down any released prisoners if they are found to have engaged in terrorism. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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| Suspected PKK attack in southeastern Turkey kills 6, including 2-year-old Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:43 PM PDT ANKARA, TUKEY (BNO NEWS) -- Six people were killed, including a toddler, when suspected PKK militants attacked a police vehicle with an explosive device in southeastern Turkey, local media reported on Tuesday. The explosion occurred in the Güroymak district of Bitlis province in southeastern Turkey as a police vehicle passed by and has been blamed on the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), according to Turkey's World Bulletin. The explosion killed four police officers and two civilians, including a 2-year-old girl. Several others were injured, among them another two police officers who were reported in critical condition. According to reports, Turkish intelligence officers had recently intercepted radio communications between militants which revealed that PKK senior member Erdal of Syria ordered increased attacks against Turkish security forces after the destruction of a PKK camp. Last week, a PKK camp located in Kavaklı, located some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the provincial center of Turkey's southeastern Hakkari province, was destroyed by Turkish military forces. The camp was a key base for the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), the organization controlling the PKK and affiliated groups, both logistically and strategically. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on Turkey's Kurds to fight off the PKK, which has increased its attacks in the past few months. Throughout the year, Turkey has carried out air strikes against suspected PKK targets in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish area and in southeastern Turkey. Last Thursday, suspected PKK members shot and killed a police officer in front of a police station in the province of Hatay. Three others were wounded. Suspected PKK rebels have killed at least 40 Turkish soldiers since July. Eight Turkish soldiers and a village guard were killed on August 17 when a roadside bomb and an ambush targeted a military convoy in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari near the Iraqi border. Among the fatalities was a military officer who was in command of the troops. The PKK, which has been labeled as a terrorist organizations by the United States, Turkey and the European Union, was established in 1984 in its efforts to establish the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey as an autonomous Kurdish state. Over 40,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed in violent clashes since the group took arms. The PKK maintains its military bases across the Iraqi border. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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| More deaths in Yemeni protests as crackdown intensifies Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:38 PM PDT SANAA (BNO NEWS) -- Yemeni security forces on Tuesday killed at least 11 more people as anti-government protests continue to fill the streets of the country's capital, according to a hospital official. Government forces allegedly gunned down protesters as they marched through downtown Sanaa, leaving at least 11 people dead. Hundreds of security forces attempted to restrict the protesters' movements and tear-gas canisters could be seen flying toward the crowd, hospital director Mohammed Qubati said, as reported by CNN. The violence comes after at least 20 people were killed in the past days. On Monday, thousands of women demonstrated in front of Yemen's Foreign Ministry in Sanaa, demanding U.N. intervention in the ongoing unrest in the Persian Gulf nation. Protesters have been calling on the United Nations to pressure President Saleh, who sharply criticized United Nations Security Council members, to step down. The UN Security Council is currently working on a draft resolution that is expected to call for Saleh to leave power. Violence in Yemen has continued to escalate after President Saleh threatened with civil war after refusing, for a third time, to sign the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative for power transition on May 22. The uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh has claimed at least 1,500 lives since February. Tensions have further escalated since Saleh returned to Yemen after spending more than three months in Saudi Arabia to recover from injuries he sustained in a rocket attack which hit the mosque of the presidential palace in Sanaa on June 3. Saleh has said he is planning to leave power 'in the coming days', although a ruling party official immediately said that Saleh has no intention to leave. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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| Tibetan nun sets herself on fire in southwestern China Posted: 18 Oct 2011 04:15 PM PDT BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- A Tibetan nun on Monday set herself on fire in protest against Chinese rule in the southwestern province of Sichuan, a rights group reported on Tuesday. She is the ninth Tibetan to have self-immolated this year. Free Tibet, a group campaigning for an end to the 'Chinese occupation' of Tibet, said Tenzin Wangmo called for religious freedom in Tibet and for the return of the Dalai Lama as she set fire on herself on Monday outside Ngaba Town. The 20-year-old, who is the first woman in Tibet to have set fire to herself, died at the scene. Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said the unrest in Tibet is "escalating and widening". She warned that there are reports from Tibet suggesting that there are more who are willing to give their lives in order to draw global attention to the issue. "The acts of self-immolation are not taking place in isolation, protests have been reported in the surrounding region and calls for wider protests are growing. China has already responded with force in one instance we have grave concerns that greater force may be deployed if protests spread," she added. Free Tibet also reported that two Tibetans were shot by Chinese security forces during a protest on Sunday in the same province. The group said it is not known why security personnel opened fire, nor are there further details about the conditions of the victims. Chinese media, which is strictly controlled by the government, did not report on the incidents. An eighth Tibetan man also set himself on fire in Ngaba Town on late Saturday morning. Since March, seven current and former monks and now a nun have set themselves on fire in Ngaba Town while another monk set himself on fire in Tawu, which is located about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Ngaba. At least five of them died, while the conditions of the four others remain unknown. The first incident happened on March 16 when 21-year-old Phuntsog from Kirti Monastery set himself on fire in Ngaba. It happened on the third anniversary of protests in Ngaba during which at least 13 people were shot dead by Chinese security forces. Phuntsog later died. Last week, Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay expressed his concern about the incidents. "The incidents are a clear indication of the genuine grievances of the Tibetans and their sense of deep resentment and despair over the prevailing conditions in Tibet," he said. "It is therefore of the utmost urgency that every possible effort be made to address the underlying root causes of Tibetan grievances and resentment." The Dalai Lama has resided in the Indian city of Dharamsala, which is now the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, since 1960 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet. Dharamsala is sometimes also referred to as 'Little Lhasa', referring to the capital ofTibet. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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| Chinese National Pleads Guilty to Stealing US Trade Secrets Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:54 PM PDT A Chinese-born scientist formerly employed by a research firm in the midwestern U.S. state of Indiana has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets and sending them illegally to China and Germany.
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