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Moody's strips France of triple-A rating


Reuters
Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:50 UTC
Moody's Investors Service downgraded France's sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 from triple-A, the agency said on Monday, citing the country's uncertain fiscal outlook as a result of "deteriorating economic prospects."

Moody's said it is maintaining a negative outlook on the country due to structural challenges and a "sustained loss of competitiveness" in the country.

Standard & Poor's has a AA+ rating on France, which it downgraded by one notch in January from AAA.
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Heart - Black

Not numbers: Named 108 Gazans killed (11pm Nov. 19 2012)

Harry Fear
YouTube/
Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:44 UTC
Harry Fear names the 108 Gazans killed by Israel as of 11pm local time on 19 Nov 2012.


Thanks to Gazan Shahd Absalama for collating these names.
gaz Candle
© Raging Whisper 2009Rest in Peace

Comment: Harry Fear's Live U stream: ustream.tv/channel/operation-pillar-of-cloud and continuous text feed of those updates sanaasultan.wordpress.com/

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Cult

Extremism in Israel: Pro-war hate rally in Tel Aviv and calls to "flatten" and "paint Gaza red" and "mow" its population

Ali Abunimah
Electronic Intifada
Sun, 18 Nov 2012 17:22 UTC
Gaza child murdered
© Majdi Fathi / APA images Palestinian doctors gather to pray around the bodies of four children from the al-Dallu family killed along with seven other persons when an Israeli missile struck a family home in Gaza City on 18 November.
Among the latest horrifying examples of incitement to mass murder by Israeli public figures, Gilad Sharon, the son of former prime minister and notorious war criminal Ariel Sharon, has called for the Israeli army to "flatten" Gaza as the US flattened the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 with an atomic bomb.

"The residents of Gaza are not innocent, they elected Hamas. The Gazans aren't hostages; they chose this freely, and must live with the consequences," wrote Sharon in the extremist publication The Jerusalem Post. Sharon elaborated:
We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn't stop with Hiroshima - the Japanese weren't surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too.

There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they'd really call for a ceasefire.

Were this to happen, the images from Gaza might be unpleasant - but victory would be swift, and the lives of our soldiers and civilians spared.
Sharon added that "There is no middle path here - either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip."

As of Sunday night, the end of the fifth day of Israel's air assault on Gaza, more than 70 Palestinians, half of them civilians, had been killed in hundreds of Israeli airstrikes.

Comment: Happily not everyone in Israel is the same. The hate rally on the video took place as a confrontation to an anti-war demonstration across the street, headed by the communist Hadash party.

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Yoda

Israeli assault leads to reconciliation, unification of opposing Palestinian groups


Fars News Agency
Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:02 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The Palestinian groups, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah announced in Ramallah on Monday that they have put aside their differences and stand united against the Israeli regime.

A prominent Fatah leader, Jibril al-Rajoub, addressing a protest rally in Ramallah said "We and other Palestinian groups' leaders announce an end to (our) differences."

He said that the now unified Palestinian groups have already started activities and a national program to halt the Israeli aggressions on Gaza.

Mahmoud al-Ramhi, a Palestinian parliamentarian and Hamas' representative, also announced his movement's agreement with the reconciliation among Palestinian groups.

Thousands of Palestinians took part in a protest rally in Ramallah (a stronghold of Fatah) in the West Bank on Monday. They chanted slogans in support of Gazans and against the Israeli aggressions.

Israel's fresh assaults on Gaza started on Wednesday and the Israeli military launched a series of new air and sea attacks against the Palestinians in the coastal territory.

A least 90 Palestinians have been killed and more than 700 others injured in the new wave of the Zionist regime's attacks on Gaza.
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Heart - Black

More children die in latest Israeli airstrike as charity warns hundreds of thousands of youngsters face food and water shortages in Gaza

Jill Reilly
Daily Mail
Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:06 UTC
  • More than 90 Palestinians and three Israelis have died since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday
  • Israel says it is 'ready' for ground invasion, but would prefer a 'diplomatic solution'
  • Israeli gunboats unleashed a steady tattoo of heavy machine gun fire and shells at Gaza's coastal road
  • The UN secretary general has called for an immediate ceasefire as he prepares to join truce talks in Egypt
  • Israeli Prime Minister: ready to expand the operation, after Israel authorised the mobilisation of 75,000 army reservists
  • U.S. senator threatens to cut off Egyptian aid saying 'Watch what you do and how you do it'
Two children have been killed and several injured in the latest Israeli airstrike as a charity warns hundreds of thousands of youngsters trapped in Gaza face prolonged power cuts and depleting supplies of food and water.

Save the Children has called for an immediate end to the conflict between Israel and Gaza as fears grow that the situation will have a devastating affect on children who make up nearly half the 1.7 million population of the Gaza Strip.

Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted around 80 sites overnight as airstrikes continued to hit the enclave during the early hours of this morning as the violence entered its sixth day.
Image
© Reuters
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Stormtrooper

Police Brutality: Philadelphia cop charged for sucker punching woman


RT
Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Screenshot from youtube.com @Gisela Valentin
A former police lieutenant who punched a woman in the face at a Philadelphia street party was charged with simple assault on Thursday

Jonathan Josey, who was a veteran police supervisor at the time of the incident, was responding to a notice of a rambunctious street party in north Philadelphia. The street festival was in honor of the city's annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. There were reports of a driver doing doughnuts with his car, as well as people throwing water and shooting "silly string" at police.

Aida Guzman, a 39-year-old mother, was among the crowd when Lt. Josey punched her in the face, causing her to fall down. With her face and arm bleeding, the woman was then led away in handcuffs. Her lip had a gash and her elbow was bloodied from falling.

"After he hit me, he didn't even ask if I needed to go to the hospital," Guzman told CBS News.

After leading her away, the police charged Guzman with disorderly conduct, but later retracted that charge when a 36-second YouTube video of the incident surfaced, which went viral.

District Attorney Seth Williams said the woman had not posed a threat.
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V

Anonymous leaks personal information of 5,000 Israeli officials


RT
Sun, 18 Nov 2012 01:00 UTC
Israel, Anonymous
© Agence France-Presse/Hazem Bader
Internet hacktivist group Anonymous has declared cyberwar on Israel, posting personal data of five thousand Israeli officials online.

­The group used their Anonpaste.me site to address a message to the Israeli government before linking to the page with names, ID numbers and personal emails of 5,000 officials.

The message said:
"It has come to our attention that the Israeli government has ignored repeated warnings about the abuse of human rights, shutting down the internet in Israel and mistreating its own citizens and those of its neighboring countries."
The group also said "Israeli Gov. this is/will turn into a cyberwar."
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Pocket Knife

NYPD: Man stabbed outside Queens mosque, attacker screamed anti-Muslim rant

Vera Chinese AND
New York Daily News
Sun, 18 Nov 2012 05:46 UTC
Image
© Norman Y. Lono/New York Daily NewsScene of a stabbing attack on a Queens man outside the Masjid Al-Saaliheen mosque Sunday morning.
New York - A Queens man was stabbed repeatedly outside a mosque by a would-be killer who shouted anti-Muslim comments, police said.

The victim, identified by friends as Bashar Mohammod, 57, was attacked from behind while opening the Masjid Al-Saaliheen mosque for prayer around 4:45 a.m., police said. The attacker, described as a Hispanic man in his 40s, stabbed Mohammod repeatedly while shouting anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim slurs. The victim might have lost a finger in the attack, said a friend, Mohammad Omar, who visited Mohammod at Queens General Hospital where he was treated and released. "The person told him that he doesn't like Muslims," said Omar. "That person was trying to kill him."

Fellow worshippers described the victim, originally from Afghanistan, as a devout Muslim who often led morning prayer at the Kissena Blvd. mosque. "He prays five times a day. He's a very good guy." said fellow worshipper Dawood Mashriqi. "He's an early bird." Investigators had the mosque cordoned off late Sunday afternoon even as worshippers made their way to prayer. No arrests have been made.
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People 2

Anti-gay marriage protesters rally in Paris


France 24
Sun, 18 Nov 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
People hold a banner during a Paris protest against same-sex marriage.
Thousands of Catholics and other opponents of French government plans to legalise gay marriage and same-sex adoption marched in Paris on Sunday, a day after more than 100,000 turned out across France for the cause.

The rally, organised by conservative Catholic group Civitas, was marred by accusations that journalists covering the rally and topless counter-protesters partially dressed as nuns had been roughed up by demonstrators.

French feminist writer and columnist Caroline Fourest said about a dozen topless activists from the Ukrainian-based women's movement Femen had shown up to the protest dressed as nuns and chanting "humourous" slogans.

"When they moved toward the demonstrators, some of (the protesters) ran after them, raging," Fourest said in a phone call with AFP from a police wagon, where the women had been taken for their own safety.

She claimed the women were hit by their pursuers, who also lashed out at journalists filming the scene.

Several photographers were roughed up, an AFP photographer said. The local police station said officers had made five arrests.

French Socialist party first secretary Harlem Desir denounced the aggression as "stupid".
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People

Thousands of Chinese protest, smash police cars

Louise Watt
The Associated Press
Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:26 UTC
Beijing - Thousands of residents protested in a southeastern Chinese city after a traffic accident, smashing police cars and overturning three police vans, police and residents said.

The reason for the protest in Fuan city in Fujian province was unclear. Police said it was instigated by "a handful of lawless people." One resident said people became angry because police and paramedics took nearly an hour to arrive to help the injured, while a Hong Kong-based human rights group said it was to do with corruption.

But such protests have become increasingly common in China, and Saturday's violence is another reminder that the country's new leadership has to deal with underlying social discontent that often boils over. People are fed up with corruption and high-handed officialdom, pensions that have not kept pace with inflation, and families being forced from their homes to make way for developments.

Residents said police were stopping cars and checking people for driving after drinking on Saturday evening when the accident happened on a main road in Fuan.

Wanting to avoid being tested, a driver in a sedan accelerated away and police started chasing the car, said a resident, who would give only his surname, Lin. About three motorcycles were hit during the chase, said Lin, adding he wasn't sure who hit them.

"About 10,000 to 20,000 onlookers became angry because police officers and paramedics took nearly one hour to arrive," said Lin.

He estimated that 1,000 to 2,000 people clashed with police and overturned three police vans.
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