Hostilities flare along Israeli-Gaza border

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel pressed Hamas on Wednesday to rein in rocket-firing militants in the Gaza Strip after the most serious outbreak of cross-border hostilities since the ceasefire that ended an eight-day war in November.

The flare-up, sparked by anger in Gaza over the death from cancer of a Palestinian held by Israel, included Israel's first air strike on the Hamas-run coastal enclave since the truce.

Confrontations spread to the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces clashed with dozens of Palestinian protesters in the city of Hebron, where Maysara Abu Hamdeya who died in jail on Tuesday aged 64, is due to be buried on Thursday.

Troops fired teargas and rubber bullets at youths throwing stones and petrol bombs; Reuters journalists saw several protesters escorted away with injuries. The Israeli military said a rock had also struck one of its officers in the face.

Some 4,600 Palestinian prisoners declared a hunger strike for three days in protest at Abu Hamdeya's death, accusing the authorities of poor medical treatment. Food trays were returned untouched on Wednesday, an Israeli prisons official said.

In West Bank towns, some shops were shuttered in solidarity.

The Gaza frontier fell quiet by evening and Israel and Hamas appeared to be weighing carefully their next moves; four months of relative calm has enabled Palestinians in Gaza to rebuild and Israelis near the border to live without sirens and rockets.

Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip had struck southern Israel in a morning attack on Wednesday, causing no casualties, the Israeli military said. Hours earlier its planes had targeted "two extensive terror sites" in the north of the territory.

Israel launched the air strike after three rockets landed on Tuesday. An al Qaeda-linked group, Magles Shoura al-Mujahadeen, claimed responsibility for the attacks on both days, saying it was responding to the death of Abu Hamdeya, who was jailed for life in 2002 over a planned bomb attack on a Jerusalem cafe.

Tuesday was the third time since the November truce that rockets from Gaza had struck southern Israel. But with a new government and defense minister now in place after weeks of coalition-building since a January election, Israel seems keen to show resolve, putting the onus on Hamas to curb militants.

"(Israel's armed forces) decided to attack overnight in order to signal to Hamas that we will not suffer any strike on the south. And any shooting will meet a response, in order to restore quiet for the south soon," Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, the chief military spokesman, said on Army Radio.

"I assess that Hamas has no interest in seeing the situation deteriorate," he said. "Our goal is to maintain the quiet."

SYRIA SPILLOVER

Spillover from the civil war in Syria - mortar and machinegun fire toward Israeli troops in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - has also heightened Israeli unease.

"We will absolutely not allow any sporadic fire toward our citizens and our forces," Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement, referring to both Gaza and Syrian frontiers.

Israeli tanks fired at a Syrian post on Tuesday, though it was unclear whether rebel or government forces were manning it.

Hamas, an Islamist group close to the Muslim Brotherhood now ruling neighboring Egypt, has cracked down on hardline Salafist rivals it sees as jeopardizing its control of the Gaza Strip.

But the death of Abu Hamdeya has touched a nerve among the wider Palestinian populace, which regards those in Israeli jails as heroes in the fight for statehood.

Israel has denied negligence in his treatment.

Commenting on the violence in Gaza, Richard Serry, the U.N.'s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said it was of "paramount importance to refrain from violence".

He said in a statement that renewed violations of the ceasefire threatened to unravel Egyptian-brokered understandings that included an easing of Israel's blockade on the enclave.

Egypt mediated the November truce after fighting in which some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed. Israel had launched that Gaza offensive, as it did a bigger campaign in 2008-09, with the declared aim of ending rocket fire.

Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007 after winning an election a year earlier. Palestinians want to establish a state in the enclave along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in a 1967 war.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Noah Browning in Ramallah and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem; Editing by Will Waterman and Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hostilities-flare-along-israeli-gaza-border-080427719.html

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Termanology Goes Back To Rap Roots With Hood Politics VII

'I got some time to just get in the lab and go crazy,' Term tells Mixtape Daily about his decision to revisit his Hood Politics series.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Ade Mangum

Termanology
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704774/termanology-mixtape-hood-politics-vii.jhtml

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Family grieves 5 relatives dead in Nevada crash

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A Nevada judge set bail at $3.5 million on Monday for a California teenager jailed on felony drunk driving charges in a weekend crash that killed five family members on an interstate northeast of Las Vegas.

Authorities said a family van was rear-ended at around 3 a.m. Saturday by an SUV driven by 18-year-old Jean Ervin Soriano.

Soriano told the arresting trooper he had "too many" beers before the crash, according to an arrest report made public Monday. Trooper Loy Hixson said several beer bottles were found in the 1999 Dodge Durango that Soriano said he was driving.

"He basically destroyed a lot of families," said Griselda Fernandez, a relative of the victims. "We're no one to criticize or anything. I know that God will somehow punish him."

A trio of brothers and their family members had been visiting their sick father in Denver and had been expected home Saturday to prepare for an Easter celebration.

The five people killed ? three men, a woman and a girl from Los Angeles, Lynwood and Norwalk, Calif. ? were in a Chevrolet Astro van that was hit from behind. Troopers said most of the passengers in the van were thrown from the vehicle as it overturned in the desert.

The dead were identified as Genaro Fernandez, 41, of Norwalk; Raudel Fernandez-Avila, 49, and Belen Fernandez, 53, both of Lynwood; and Angela Sandoval, 13, and Leonardo Fernandez-Avila, 45, both of Los Angeles.

Belen Fernandez and Raudel Fernandez-Avila had been married for 33 years. She didn't want to go on the weeklong trip, but her children eventually persuaded her to go.

"She didn't want to leave her grandkids," her daughter, Griselda Fernandez, recalled Monday, weeping. "But we all told her, you have to go with my dad. My dad needs your help."

Two more people in the van, Eddie Sandoval, 15, and Maria Rosario Cardenas, 40, remained hospitalized Monday at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Sandoval was in good condition and Cardenas was in fair condition, hospital spokeswoman Danita Cohen said.

Results of a blood-alcohol test on Soriano were pending, authorities said. A truck driver told investigators that he saw Soriano and his passenger walk away from the crash site then return before rescue crews arrived.

Soriano, who told the judge he lives in St. George, Utah, will be assigned a public defender for his arraignment April 10. He had previously lived in California, but it wasn't immediately clear where.

He was hospitalized for several hours after the crash on Interstate 15 about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas then taken to the Clark County jail, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

___

Ritter reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press writers Martin Griffith in Reno, Nev., and Gillian Flaccus in Orange County, Calif., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Ken Ritter on Twitter: http://twitter.com/krttr

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/family-grieves-5-relatives-dead-nevada-crash-194446099.html

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Paramore Reveal Details Of 'Still Into You' Video

Band's new clip aims to 'capture what love feels like,' and, yes, there are stunts.
By James Montgomery

Taylor York, Hayley Williams, and Jeremy Davis of Paramore
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704812/paramore-still-into-you-music-video.jhtml

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Look for Less: Penelope Disick?s Easter Chic

On Sunday, Penelope Disick stepped out in a chic all-white ensemble to attend church with her family for Easter -- and we have all the details on what she's wearing.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/bH_71GzmZs8/

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Cooling factory activity hints at slowing economy

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Factory activity grew at the slowest rate in three months in March, suggesting the economy lost some momentum at the end of the first quarter as the effects of tighter fiscal policy started kicking in.

Data so far this year had shown little sign that higher taxes, and the $85 billion in across-the-board government spending cuts that took effect March 1 known as the "sequester," had weighed on economic activity.

"It suggests the economy was probably starting to slow at the end of the quarter, possibly reflecting the impact of the fiscal headwinds coming from sequestration and higher taxes," said Millan Mulraine, a senior economist at TD Securities in New York.

The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday its index of national factory activity fell to 51.3 last month from 54.2 in February. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector. New orders, a key indicator of future growth, accounted for much of the drop in the index.

The ISM report was at odds with a separate report showing that factories gained steam in March on strong order growth, closing out the best quarter for the sector in two years.

Financial data firm Markit said its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to 54.6 last month from 54.3 in February. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

While the two surveys use the same sub-indexes, they assign different weights to the components.

Economists and investors placed more emphasis on the ISM survey, which has a longer history and has been generally a good gauge of overall U.S. economic activity.

U.S. stock prices fell in light trade, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index stepping back from last Thursday's record closing high. U.S. financial markets were closed on Friday for Good Friday.

The price for the longer-dated U.S. government bond rose, while the dollar fell to a near month low against the yen.

"We are beginning to see where the government spending cuts will reduce demand," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. "In those sectors and parts of the country that will feel the wrath of sequestration, adjustments are being made."

ROBUST FIRST-QUARTER GROWTH EYED

The U.S. Labor Department employment report for March to be released on Friday could shed more light on the U.S. economy's health.

Though factory activity slowed last month, there were pockets of strength. Export orders approached a year high and factory employment was the highest since June.

In addition, both manufacturers and their customers maintained lean inventories, which economists said pointed to a ramping up of activity later this year.

Last month's pullback did not, however, change perceptions that economic growth in the first quarter accelerated after almost stalling in the last three months of 2012.

The upbeat picture for the first quarter was bolstered by a Commerce Department report on Monday showing that construction spending advanced 1.2 percent in February. Spending had declined 2.1 percent in January.

The construction report added to a series of other data that has suggested economic growth accelerated in the first quarter from the fourth quarter's anemic 0.4 percent annual pace.

Data on employment, consumer spending, industrial production and housing have been relatively strong.

Some economists raised their growth estimates for the January-March period in the wake of the construction report.

Macroeconomic Advisers lifted its forecast by one-tenth of a point to 3.6 percent. JPMorgan raised its estimate from 2.7 percent to 3.8 percent. Part of the increase reflected strong consumer spending.

The U.S. Commerce Department released the consumer spending report on Friday, when financial markets were closed.

Construction spending in February was boosted by a 1.3 percent rise in private construction projects. Spending on private residential projects increased 2.2 percent to the highest level since November 2008.

Part of the increase reflected renovations. The housing market is no longer a drag on the economy and residential construction contributed to growth last year for the first time since 2005. It is expected to do so again this year.

"Housing is catching fire," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. "All the conditions are in place for further improvement with housing even with lingering risks. Housing will keep the economy going forward even with the fiscal constraints."

Spending on private nonresidential structures rose 0.4 percent after declining 5.9 percent.

Public sector construction spending increased 0.9 percent, rising for a second straight month. Outlays on federal government projects fell 1.1 percent.

State and local spending, which is far larger than federal projects, rose 1.1 percent. It was the second straight month of gain in state and local government outlays.

(Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez, Steven C. Johnson and Richard Leong in New York; editing by Neil Stempleman, Leslie Adler and James Dalgleish)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/manufacturing-sector-expansion-slows-march-ism-140720404--business.html

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North Korea to restart nuclear reactor in weapons bid

By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea announced plans on Tuesday to restart a mothballed nuclear reactor that has been closed since 2007, but emphasized it was seeking a deterrent capacity, rather than repeating recent threats to attack South Korea and the United States.

The state-owned KCNA news agency said North Korea would restart all nuclear facilities for both electricity and military uses.

The announcement came amid soaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the United States bolstered its forces in the region after a series of threats by Pyongyang to attack U.S. bases in the Pacific and to invade South Korea.

North Korea, one of the most isolated and unpredictable states in the world, conducted its third nuclear test in February but is believed to be some years away from developing nuclear weapons, although it claims to have a deterrent.

A speech by the North's young leader Kim Jong-un, delivered on Sunday but published in full by KCNA on Tuesday, appeared to dial down the prospects of a direct confrontation with the United States as he stressed that nuclear weapons would ensure the country's safety as a deterrent.

"Our nuclear strength is a reliable war deterrent and a guarantee to protect our sovereignty," Kim said. "It is on the basis of a strong nuclear strength that peace and prosperity can exist and so can the happiness of people's lives."

Kim's speech, delivered to the central committee meeting of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, appeared to signal a small shift from threats against South Korea and the United States, but it was some distance from any kind of end to the crisis.

"The fact that this (speech) was made at the party central committee meeting, which is the highest policy-setting organ, indicates an attempt to highlight economic problems and shift the focus from security to the economy," said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

But if Pyongyang follows through with its plan to restart the nuclear facilities, it will have longer-term security implications for the region.

Reactivating the aged Soviet-era reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear plant will produce plutonium, a tested path to acquire more fissile material than a uranium enrichment program.

It was unclear how quickly the Yongbyon plant, whose cooling tower was destroyed as part of a de-nuclearization deal, would take to restart and it was impossible to verify whether it was still connected to North Korea's antiquated electricity grid at all.

"It was a reactor that was nearing obsolescence with a cooling tower that wasn't functioning properly when it was blown up. It could mean they've been rebuilding quite a few things," said Yoo Ho-yeol, North Korea specialist at Korea University in Seoul.

ENRICHMENT

The move to restart the reactor comes as a big blow to China's stated aim of restarting de-nuclearization talks on the Korean peninsula, prompting a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing to express regret at the decision.

As well as restarting the 5MW reactor at Yongbyon, the North's only known source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons program, KCNA said a uranium enrichment plant would also be put back into operation.

The nuclear plant's output would be used to solve what KCNA termed an "acute shortage of electricity" and to bolster "the nuclear armed force".

After being hit with U.S. sanctions for conducting the February nuclear test and what it has viewed as "hostile" military drills being staged by Seoul and Washington in the South, Pyongyang had threatened a nuclear strike on the United States, missile strikes on its Pacific bases and war with South Korea.

Washington, which has said it has not seen any evidence of hostile North Korean troop moves, deployed a warship off the Korean coast overnight.

The United States earlier bolstered forces staging joint drills with South Korea with Stealth fighters and has made bomber overflights in a rare show of strength.

Much of the rhetoric that has come from Pyongyang in recent weeks has been a repeat of previous bouts of anger, but the length and intensity has been new, leading to concerns that the tensions could spiral into clashes.

In Washington, the White House has said the United States takes North Korea's war threats seriously. But White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday: "I would note that despite the harsh rhetoric we are hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture, such as large-scale mobilizations and positioning of forces."

A U.S. defense official said on Monday the USS McCain, an Aegis-class guided-missile destroyer used for ballistic missile defense, was positioned off the peninsula's southwestern coast.

It was not immediately clear where the ship was on Tuesday.

MOOD CHANGE

In Pyongyang, the party congress meeting and a subsequent assembly of the country's rubber-stamp parliament reiterated the usual anti-American rhetoric and criticized South Korea, but the mood appeared to have changed.

The pariah state has once again started emphasizing economic development as it shifts to the major April 15 celebration of the birth of its founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current ruler.

For the young Kim, it appears that cementing control of the party and state had now taken top priority as well as improving living standards in a country whose economy is smaller than it was 20 years ago, according to external assessments.

Kim appointed a handful of personal confidants to the party's politburo, further consolidating his grip on power in the second full year of his reign.

Former premier Pak Pong-ju, a key ally of the leadership dynasty, was re-appointed to the post from which he was fired in 2007 for failing to implement economic reforms.

Pak, believed to be in his 70s, is viewed as a key confidant of Jang Song-thaek, the young Kim's uncle and also a protege of Kim's aunt. Pak is viewed as a pawn in a power game that has seen Jang and his wife re-assert power over military leaders.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert, Phil Stewart, David Alexander and Jeff Mason in WASHINGTON; Editing by David Chance and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-deploys-warship-off-south-korea-amid-soaring-013622157.html

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