Recent News

ISRAEL VS LEBANON

Lebanon attacked Lebanon on Thursday, blasting Beirut's international airport and the southern part of the country in its heaviest air campaign against neighbor in 24 years. Three dozen civilians were killed. The strikes on the airport damaged three runways, which eliminate the road to be used as supply route. The shockwaves from the fighting began to be felt a day after Hezbollah snatched two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. Israel said it was seeking to end once and for all Hezbollah's presence on Lebanon's southern border, while the guerrillas insisted they would only release the soldiers in exchange for Israel freeing Arab prisoners. The airport, located in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, was closed after the attacks and flights were diverted to nearby Cyprus. It was the first time since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and occupation of Beirut that the airport was hit by Israel. Israel also fired a missile at the building housing the studios of Hezbollah's Al-Manar. One person was hurt, but the station continued to broadcast. Overnight Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, meanwhile, killed 35 civilians and wounded dozens more, Lebanese security officials said. A family of 10 and another family of seven were killed in their homes. Later Thursday, Lebanese guerrillas fired volleys of rockets at northern Israel, killing an Israeli woman in her home. Five people were wounded. Thousands of civilians spent Wednesday night in underground shelters. Eight Israeli soldiers and three Lebanese were killed in fighting Wednesday. Senior Israeli military officials said Israel warned the Lebanese government that it plans to strike offices and homes of Hezbollah leaders in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Lebanese army forces be deployed along the border, saying Israel would not allow Hezbollah guerrillas to reoccupy its positions there. The Lebanese government said Wednesday that it had not known of the Hezbollah operation, did not condone it and bore no responsibility for it. The attack on the airport occurred shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday. Warplanes struck three runways, leaving a large crater and seven smaller holes, airport officials said. Two flights approaching the airport were diverted to Larnaca airport on Cyprus. The main terminal building of the $500-million airport, which was built in the late 1990s, remained intact. In its overnight attacks, Israeli aircraft and artillery targeted roads and bridges, as well as Hezbollah positions and houses of guerrilla members and leaders. A bridge on the main highway between Beirut and southern Lebanon was hit by big bombs that left huge craters, blocking traffic. Air strikes also hit deep inside eastern Lebanon, striking a civic center attached to a Shiite Muslim mosque near the town of Baalbek. The whole town had been shut down and residents were urged to stay in underground shelters. Patients at the town's hospital were moved to rooms on lower floors. The Israeli army said several rockets had landed more than 12 miles south of the border, showing that Hezbollah has managed to extend its missiles' range.


DISASTER IN SOMALIA

About 2.1 million people in Somalia had severe food shortages that were caused by prolonged drought, war, displacement, flooding and human rights abuses. It was stated by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Somalia has not had an effective central government since opposition leader’s ousted longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, carving the nation into a patchwork of clan-based fiefdoms. Since then, persistent local conflicts have eroded Somali livelihoods. Infant, child and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. Medicines also are needed to prevent a measles outbreak and curb the spread of polio in the region. This is a race against the clock to stem the tide of human misery. The drought has tipped the balance in the highly impoverished border areas where Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya meet. Those areas include Gedo, Middle and Lower Juba, and parts of Bay and Bakool.
The United Nations says more than 11.5 million people will require food assistance in the next six months. Somalia's Transitional Federal Government needs to do more to ensure security so aid organizations can operate effectively, Balslev-Olesen said. The United Nations also said it needed $225 million to feed 3.5 million Kenyans over the next year, but it so far has received only about $75 million. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said Tuesday that 5 million Kenyans are facing food shortages — well above the 3.5 million cited by the United Nations. He said the country has spent $72 million from its own treasury and from international donors to feed the starving, but another $87.1 million was needed to meet needs through June.