RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad expressed shock at the death of a Palestinian in an Israeli jail Saturday and called for full details of what happened.
Fayyad "expresses his deep sorrow and shock over the martyrdom of prisoner Arafat Jaradat in Israeli occupation prisons," said the statement from his office.
He "affirms the need to promptly disclose the true reasons that led to his martyrdom," it added.
Earlier, Israel Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said Jaradat, a 30-year-old father of two from the West Bank city of Hebron, died suddenly at Megiddo detention centre in northern Israel.
"It was probably a cardiac arrest. I don't have additional details at the moment," Weizman said.
Issa Qaraqaa, the Palestinian minister in charge of prisoner affairs, told AFP that Jaradat had been arrested just a few days earlier.
"He was killed during the investigation," Qaraqaa added.
"We demand the creation of an international commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances of his death."
Israel's Shin Bet internal intelligence service said Jaradat had been arrested on Monday for his involvement in a stone-throwing incident in November during which an Israeli had been wounded.
He was taken ill just before his death, Shin Bet said in a statement.
"After lunch, as he was resting in Megiddo prison, Arafat Jaradat was taken ill. Medics were called to treat him but they were unable to save his life," it added.
Clashes broke out in Hebron between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces after news of Jaradat's death, witnesses and security sources said.
Relations between Israel and the Palestinian territories are already particularly tense because of protests this month in solidarity with four other prisoners detained by Israel who are on hunger strike.
The Ramallah-based Prisoners' Club announced that another seven prisoners have joined the protest action, although there was no immediate confirmation from the prisons service.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives at his official residence Jan.19, 2013.
On Shinzo Abe?s first trip to the United States as Japan?s prime minister, the key issues included the rise of China, North Korea?s quest for nuclear weapons and whether Japan would revise its constitution to allow a standing military.?The year was 2007, the U.S. president was George W. Bush and the global economy had yet to begin its spectacular implosion. Since then Japan has had five prime ministers, but as Abe, who resumed his country?s top office in December, visited Washington again Friday, the agenda was remarkably similar to what he discussed with President Obama?s predecessor six years ago.
?Prime Minister Abe himself is no stranger to the United States. I think he and I studied in California around the same time, and this is not his first visit to the Oval Office,? Obama said Friday, before listing security issues and economic cooperation as some of the key topics of their meeting.?While many of the issues have remained the same, Abe?s approach has shown a dramatic shift, particularly when it comes to China. While Abe has long advocated a muscular Japanese foreign policy, he spent much of his first term in office trying to ease regional tensions. He made his first overseas trip as prime minister to China, and didn?t visit the Yasukuni Shrine, where millions of Japanese war dead?and most controversially 14 class-A war criminals?are enshrined. That helped ease tensions with China and South Korea, which were occupied by Japan during World War II and were infuriated by repeated visits to the shrine by Junichiro Koizumi during his 2001-2006 term as prime minister.
Sino-Japanese tensions are inflamed once again, this time over a group of uninhabited islets northeast of Taiwan known as the Senkaku in Japanese or the Diaoyu in Chinese. Japan?s annexed the islets in 1895, and following Japan?s defeat in World War II the U.S. administered them until 1972, when they were handed back to Japan. China argues that the Diaoyu were originally Chinese territory and should have been returned to its control. Last year, after Tokyo?s rightwing governor Shintaro Ishihara said he wanted the municipality to purchase the islands from the Japanese family that owned them for 40 years, Japan?s central government stepped in, buying three of the islands with the hope that it could manage them in a less provocative manner than the nationalist Ishihara.
China was furious that Japan?s purchase had changed the uneasy status quo that had existed for decades. Protests erupted in Beijing and other large Chinese cities, and China began near daily patrols by its civilian maritime and fisheries ships and aircraft in waters near the islets. Japan says that in January Chinese navy ships twice used targeting radar to lock onto Japanese defense forces craft in the East China Sea, moves that?can prelude an attack. Japan protested the use of targeting radar, and China strongly denied the incident.
The unstated goal of China?s escalating patrols is to force Japan to acknowledge the Diaoyu are disputed territory, which Tokyo has so far refused to officially admit. The U.S. government doesn?t take a position on the sovereignty dispute, but says that because the islands are presently administered by Japan, they fall under a defense treaty that could call for U.S. military involvement in the event of armed conflict.?Many Chinese observers have questioned the U.S. position, saying that by recognizing Japan?s administration and even using the Japanese pronunciation of the islands? name means it is hardly a neutral player. On Friday Abe argued that the alliance would help prevent tensions from worsening.??Concerning the South China Sea and the Senkaku Islands, we agree that the very existence of the Japan-U.S. alliance is a stabilizing factor, which contributes to peace and stability of the region,? he told reporters.
The escalating Sino-Japanese tensions have prompted some concerns that the Diaoyu dispute could, 100 years after World War I, set off a similar devastating armed conflict.?Certainly some parallels exist with the great conflagration that tore apart Europe. China, like Germany before, is a rising economic and military power that craves greater respect and global influence. It is engaged in disputes with several of its neighbors over islands that it says are rightly its territory. Japan?s defense treaty with the U.S. only increases the risk that a small incident at sea could, like the assassination of a little-known archiduke in 1914, lead to a broader war.
But just as there is a risk of ignoring history, there?s a risk at being trapped by it. While the Sino-Japanese conflict is very real and worrying, it does not necessarily mean a new world war. ?I don?t put much stock in the recent claims or arguments that the China-Japan dispute is somehow analogous to the start of World War I,? says M. Taylor Fravel, a China expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ?I do believe the situation is dangerous, and such analogies may help bring attention to the dangers. ?Nevertheless, we are most likely not on the cusp of a war involving all the major powers of the world for dominance over a region. ?This is a conflict over rather limited aims.?
An all-out conflict would harm both sides, with both China and Japan?the world?s second and third largest economies?suffering significant economic loses, says Linda Jakobson, East Asia program director at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank. ?I fear a naval or air incident that leads to loss of life, which in today?s world could not be kept secret, would ignite national sentiments to a much higher degree than we?ve seen so far,? she says. ?That would really box in the leaders of each side and drastically curtail maneuvering room.??And while China?s military clout is growing rapidly?it?s posted double-digit budget increases for much of the past two decades and recently launched its first aircraft carrier?it hasn?t been tested in combat since a short, bloody border war with Vietnam in 1979. An unsuccessful military campaign could have serious repercussions for the Communist Party?s hold on power, its overriding priority.
In an interview with the Washington Post before his trip to meet Obama, Abe complained that Chinese schools teach a form of patriotism that promotes ?anti-Japanese sentiment.? A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday that China was ?strongly dissatisfied with the Japanese leader?s comments that distort facts, attack and defame China and stir up confrontations between the two countries.?
Meanwhile in the waters northeast of Taiwan the dispute over the islets continued this week, as a Japanese fishing boat captain said his ship was pursued by three Chinese maritime surveillance vessels on Feb. 18, according to reports from Japan?s?Asahi Shimbun?newspaper and Tomas Etzler, a Czech television correspondent who was on the Japanese vessel. On Friday, Japan?s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga complained that China?s State Maritime Administration had installed buoys near the islets, the New York Times reported. War may still be a distant prospect, but so too is a solution.
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Police have found a black Range Rover SUV in Las Vegas and identified a suspect in a shooting that sent a Maserati into a taxi that exploded, killing three people.
Police Capt. Chris Jones tells The Associated Press the vehicle was found Saturday afternoon at an apartment complex east of the Las Vegas Strip. It has been impounded as evidence.
Jones says police are looking for 26-year-old Ammar Harris in connection with the shooting early Thursday on the Strip. His arrest history in Las Vegas includes charges of kidnapping and pandering.
Maserati driver and aspiring rapper Kenny Cherry was killed by gunfire.
Taxi driver Michael Boldon, of Las Vegas, and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund of Maple Valley, Wash., died when the Maserati crashed into them.
AAA??Feb. 23, 2013?8:55 PM ET AP PHOTOS: Frightening last-lap crash at Daytona By The Associated PressBy The Associated Press, Associated Press??
Kyle Larson's car is on fire as he slides down the track with Regan Smith after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Kyle Larson's car is on fire as he slides down the track with Regan Smith after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Kyle Larson (32) goes airborne and into the catch fence during a multi-car crash involving Justin Allgaier (31), Brian Scott (2) and others during the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Larson's crash sent car parts and other debris flying into the stands injuring spectators. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Kyle Larson (32) slides along the wall after hitting the catch fence as Eric McClure (14) goes low after the cars were involved in a multi-car crash on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Driver Kyle Larson gets out of his car, which is missing the engine, after hitting the wall and safety fence along the front grandstands on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
An emergency official ushers fans away from driver Kyle Larson's engine as it burns behind the wall and safety fence that he hit along the front grandstands on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
A last-lap accident sent rookie Kyle Larson's car sailing into the fence that separates the track from fans at the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday at Daytona, injuring 30 spectators. Large chunks of Larson's car landed in the grandstands. The car itself had its entire front end sheared off, with a piece of burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence.
The Associated Press, only two months after from the announcement that the word ?homophobia? did not meet their style guidelines, decided last week to be homophobic. Their guidelines would now no longer permit the use of ?husband? or ?wife? for persons in legal marriages when the partner was same-sex.
GLAAD summarizes the AP position:
GLAAD reached out to the Associated Press today for clarification on a memo reportedly circulated today that appears to instruct writers to use different vocabulary to describe legally married same-sex couples than they would use to describe opposite-sex couples.
This morning, journalist and media reporter Jim Romenesko posted this item, regarding an internal memo from the Associated Press that covered how they choose to refer to a same-sex couple that is married:
SAME-SEX COUPLES: We were asked how to report about same-sex couples who call themselves ?husband? and ?wife.? Our view is that such terms may be used in AP stories with attribution. Generally AP uses couples or partners to describe people in civil unions or same-sex marriages.
Later, AP spokespeople told Romenesko that the memo had been revised and reissued, and that this was the correct version:
SAME-SEX COUPLES: We were asked how to report about same-sex couples who call themselves ?husband? and ?wife.? Our view is that such terms may be used in AP content if those involved have regularly used those terms (?Smith is survived by his husband, John Jones?) or in quotes attributed to them. Generally AP uses couples or partners to describe people in civil unions or same-sex marriages.
The ensuing protest included an effort by one physician in the Central Valley of California to organize couples to write to the AP one at a time to advise that ?we regularly use these terms.? Now, though, the AP has backed down. The AP will use the term ?husband? to apply to a male partner in any legal marriage and the term ?wife? to apply to the female partner in any legal marriage, regardless of the gender of the partner.
Another small step for equality.
The Associated Press stated Thursday that ?husband? and ?wife? are ?acceptable in all references? to same-sex married couples, reversing an internal style guidance initially publicized by Jim Romenesko this past week.
In a news release Thursday, the AP states, ?The following entry was added today to the AP Stylebook Online and also will appear in the new print edition and Stylebook Mobile, published in the spring.? This is the new entry:
husband, wife: Regardless of sexual orientation, husband or wife is acceptable in all references to individuals in any legally recognized marriage. Spouse or partner may be used if requested.
The style guidance issued this past week had said the terms ?husband? or ?wife? could only could be used with same-sex married couples ?if those involved have regularly used those terms ? or in quotes attributed to them.? Instead, the guidance continued, ?Generally AP uses couples or partners to describe people in civil unions or same-sex marriages.?
Nice to see the AP agree that the legal marriages in the nine states (and DC) that permit them aren?t any different with regard to how the partners? titles should be reported. What a silly unforced error by AP!
Photo by Ernst Vikne under Creative Commons license
NEW YORK (AP) ? David Gregory has re-upped as host of "Meet the Press."
NBC News shared no details, but described the new deal as "a long-term commitment."
"What a great vote of confidence from NBC," a pleased-looking Gregory said Thursday. He said his first four years in the moderator's chair have passed quickly.
"In some ways, it feels like we're just getting started," he said.
The 42-year-old Gregory began as host of the Sunday morning public-affairs program in December 2008, succeeding the late Tim Russert.
Before that, he was Chief White House correspondent during the presidency of George W. Bush. He joined NBC News in 1995.
Gregory is only the 10th permanent host of "Meet the Press," which premiered in 1947 and continues as the longest-running program on network television.
Looking beyond the new contract, Gregory said he planned to be hosting the program "for as long as they'll let me."
"I can't think of a better platform to have for doing what I love to do ? the interviews ? and as an outlet for my curiosity," he said. "I think this is an impactful, influential program, and I love being associated with it."
?
