Israeli Jewish settlers of a settlement in the occupied West Bank have agreed to a plan to relocate their hilltop outpost peacefully that could allow the government to avoid a potentially violent clash.
The 40 families living at Amona, northeast of Ramallah, face a high court order to leave the site by December 25 because it was found to have been built on private Palestinian land.
The approaching deadline led to efforts to resolve peacefully the situation, with the settlers refusing to leave and several hundred Jewish youths streaming into the outpost in recent days in support.
However, after hours of a debate on Sunday, outpost residents approved a revised government proposal to relocate by a vote of 45 for and 29 against, a spokesman wrote on the outpost's Twitter account.
"After 20 years of pioneering settlements against all odds, and after two long years, we have decided to suspend the struggle," Amona residents said in a statement.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, had earlier pressured outpost residents to accept the deal, saying "we have done the maximum".
"Until dawn this morning we made very great efforts to reach an agreed solution on Amona," he said at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Several hundred allowed to escape east Aleppo as evacuations resume
Several hundred people have been allowed to leave besieged east Aleppo after evacuations were held up for several days.
Buses containing 500 people were able to leave a rebel-held pocket late on Sunday even though officially evacuations were postponed.
Dozens of buses had entered the city earlier in the day but an operation to take people to safety was called off after an attack in another part of Syria.
TV pictures showed people receiving food, water, blankets and clothes after being taken to the al Rashidin district.
The area is in rebel-held territory to the west of Aleppo and was earlier in the week used as a holding area for refugees from eastern Aleppo who were allowed to head to the Idlib region, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
On Saturday, Reuters reported that the evacuations were being prevented by Shia militias who were insisting that people in two villages besieged by rebel forces in Idlib province also be evacuated.
Then on Sunday, an attack on buses due to take the evacuees from Al Foua and Kefraya, the two villages besieged by insurgents, further complicated matters.
Syrian state TV had said earlier on Sunday that about 1,200 civilians would initially be evacuated from east Aleppo and a similar number from the two villages.
Five buses and an ambulance were eventually able to get under way from east Aleppo after a convoy was cleared to drive to al Rashidin.
It was not clear whether the earlier burning of the buses heading to the two villages would have any impact on the departure of more convoys.
Thousands of civilians are feared to have been trapped in east Aleppo after Syrian government forces crushed rebels in the city.
An unknown number have been forced to spend several nights outdoors in freezing temperatures waiting to leave after a deal between rebel leaders and forces loyal to Bashar al Assad stalled.
The buses were accompanied by representatives from the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent.
International Red Cross Committee regional director Robert Mardini tweeted at around 10.30pm UK time: "Finally, 5 buses & 1 ambulance escorted by @SARC_Aleppo & @ICRC_sy just left dark & cold E #Aleppo. Hopeful operation will proceed smoothly."
It came as the United Nations Security Council reached an agreement on a compromise resolution to send independent officials to monitor the evacuation of civilians from Aleppo.
Buses containing 500 people were able to leave a rebel-held pocket late on Sunday even though officially evacuations were postponed.
Dozens of buses had entered the city earlier in the day but an operation to take people to safety was called off after an attack in another part of Syria.
TV pictures showed people receiving food, water, blankets and clothes after being taken to the al Rashidin district.
The area is in rebel-held territory to the west of Aleppo and was earlier in the week used as a holding area for refugees from eastern Aleppo who were allowed to head to the Idlib region, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
On Saturday, Reuters reported that the evacuations were being prevented by Shia militias who were insisting that people in two villages besieged by rebel forces in Idlib province also be evacuated.
Then on Sunday, an attack on buses due to take the evacuees from Al Foua and Kefraya, the two villages besieged by insurgents, further complicated matters.
Syrian state TV had said earlier on Sunday that about 1,200 civilians would initially be evacuated from east Aleppo and a similar number from the two villages.
Five buses and an ambulance were eventually able to get under way from east Aleppo after a convoy was cleared to drive to al Rashidin.
It was not clear whether the earlier burning of the buses heading to the two villages would have any impact on the departure of more convoys.
Thousands of civilians are feared to have been trapped in east Aleppo after Syrian government forces crushed rebels in the city.
An unknown number have been forced to spend several nights outdoors in freezing temperatures waiting to leave after a deal between rebel leaders and forces loyal to Bashar al Assad stalled.
The buses were accompanied by representatives from the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent.
International Red Cross Committee regional director Robert Mardini tweeted at around 10.30pm UK time: "Finally, 5 buses & 1 ambulance escorted by @SARC_Aleppo & @ICRC_sy just left dark & cold E #Aleppo. Hopeful operation will proceed smoothly."
It came as the United Nations Security Council reached an agreement on a compromise resolution to send independent officials to monitor the evacuation of civilians from Aleppo.
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor has died, aged 99
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor has died at the age of 99.
The Hollywood legend suffered a heart attack, said her husband.
Frederic von Anhalt told the AFP news agency she passed away at home surrounded by friends and family.
"Everybody was there," he said. "She didn't die alone."
Born in Hungary, Gabor's acting career began on the stage in Vienna before she moved to America.
She starred in dozens of films and TV shows, but was perhaps better known for her love life, having married nine times.
Among the men she was married to was Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain, George Sanders, the English actor who was the voice of Shere Khan in the original Jungle Book and the co-creator of the Barbie doll, Jack Ryan.
Her last marriage, to Frederic Prinz von Anhalt in 1986, was her longest, despite the 26 year age gap, and survived until her death.
Her ability to collect husbands was aided by a bubbly and larger than life personality.
On the silver screen, she appeared in a number of notable films including Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958), John Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952), Vincente Minnelli's The Story of Three Loves (1953) and Charles Walters' Lili (1953).
Her film career was revived in the 1980s with a documentary about her trial for assaulting a police officer called The People vs Zsa Zsa Gabor, and the Naked Gun 2.5: the Smell of Fear.
Many of her television appearances over the years featured the actress as herself, and she was well known to audiences in the 1980s and 1990s for her appearances on UK chat shows.
Her ability to shine in interviews and her penchant for calling everyone "dah-ling" in her thick Hungarian accent made her a popular guest.
Her well known quotes include the lines "I'm a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house" and "I call everyone 'darling' because I can't remember their names".
She suffered ill health on a number of occasions in later life, receiving the last rites after a medical emergency in 2010.
Burlesque star Dita von Teese tweeted: "Another Hollywood legend has left us, the glamorous Zsa Zsa Gabor, one of the wittiest beauties."
Piers Morgan said on Twitter: "RIP Zsa Zsa Gabor. 99 years old, 9 husbands, Miss Hungary & Hollywood star. What a life!"
The Hollywood legend suffered a heart attack, said her husband.
Frederic von Anhalt told the AFP news agency she passed away at home surrounded by friends and family.
"Everybody was there," he said. "She didn't die alone."
Born in Hungary, Gabor's acting career began on the stage in Vienna before she moved to America.
She starred in dozens of films and TV shows, but was perhaps better known for her love life, having married nine times.
Among the men she was married to was Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain, George Sanders, the English actor who was the voice of Shere Khan in the original Jungle Book and the co-creator of the Barbie doll, Jack Ryan.
Her last marriage, to Frederic Prinz von Anhalt in 1986, was her longest, despite the 26 year age gap, and survived until her death.
Her ability to collect husbands was aided by a bubbly and larger than life personality.
On the silver screen, she appeared in a number of notable films including Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958), John Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952), Vincente Minnelli's The Story of Three Loves (1953) and Charles Walters' Lili (1953).
Her film career was revived in the 1980s with a documentary about her trial for assaulting a police officer called The People vs Zsa Zsa Gabor, and the Naked Gun 2.5: the Smell of Fear.
Many of her television appearances over the years featured the actress as herself, and she was well known to audiences in the 1980s and 1990s for her appearances on UK chat shows.
Her ability to shine in interviews and her penchant for calling everyone "dah-ling" in her thick Hungarian accent made her a popular guest.
Her well known quotes include the lines "I'm a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house" and "I call everyone 'darling' because I can't remember their names".
She suffered ill health on a number of occasions in later life, receiving the last rites after a medical emergency in 2010.
Burlesque star Dita von Teese tweeted: "Another Hollywood legend has left us, the glamorous Zsa Zsa Gabor, one of the wittiest beauties."
Piers Morgan said on Twitter: "RIP Zsa Zsa Gabor. 99 years old, 9 husbands, Miss Hungary & Hollywood star. What a life!"
New government announced under PM Saad al-Hariri
Lebanon acquired a new 30-minister government led by Saad al-Hariri, bringing together the entire political spectrum except for the Christian Phalangist party that rejected the portfolio it was offered.
The new cabinet, which was announced on state television on Sunday evening, will keep Gebran Bassil as foreign minister, Ali Hassan Khalil as finance minister and Nouhad Machnouk as interior minister.
The new cabinet, which was announced on state television on Sunday evening, will keep Gebran Bassil as foreign minister, Ali Hassan Khalil as finance minister and Nouhad Machnouk as interior minister.
The cabinet will also include Yacoub al-Sarraf as the new defence minister and Cesar Abou Khalil as the new energy and water minister, two of the other most important jobs.
"This is a government of entente," Hariri said of the new line-up, formed six weeks after the election of President Michel Aoun .
New portfolios include an anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women's affairs.
Hariri said the Phalangist party had been offered a minister of state post but had turned it down.
'Preserve security'
The new government will have "at the top of its list of priorities to preserve security against the fires ravaging our region," Hariri told reporters.
He stressed that the government would act to "preserve our country from the negative consequences of the Syrian crisis".
On November 3, former prime minister Hariri was nominated to form Lebanon's next government, but the process was seen as likely to be hampered by deep differences with Hezbollah, an influential Shia movement.
Hariri, 46, is anti-Syria and a fierce opponent of Hezbollah, members of which have been accused by an international court of involvement in his father's 2005 assassination.
"This is a government of entente," Hariri said of the new line-up, formed six weeks after the election of President Michel Aoun .
New portfolios include an anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women's affairs.
Hariri said the Phalangist party had been offered a minister of state post but had turned it down.
'Preserve security'
The new government will have "at the top of its list of priorities to preserve security against the fires ravaging our region," Hariri told reporters.
He stressed that the government would act to "preserve our country from the negative consequences of the Syrian crisis".
On November 3, former prime minister Hariri was nominated to form Lebanon's next government, but the process was seen as likely to be hampered by deep differences with Hezbollah, an influential Shia movement.
Hariri, 46, is anti-Syria and a fierce opponent of Hezbollah, members of which have been accused by an international court of involvement in his father's 2005 assassination.
Saddam Hussein warned the US it could not govern Iraq
Saddam Hussein warned the Americans they would be unable to run Iraq after the 2003 war because they did not understand the language, the history, or the "Arab mind".
After he had been captured in December 2003, the toppled Iraqi president was interviewed by John Nixon.
Mr Nixon, who was a senior analyst with the CIA, has now written a book about his encounter with the man who had been in power in Iraq for more than 20 years.
In an article in Time magazine, Mr Nixon writes: "When I interrogated Saddam, he told me: 'You are going to fail. You are going to find that it is not so easy to govern Iraq.'
"When I told him I was curious why he felt that way, he replied: 'You are going to fail in Iraq because you do not know the language, the history, and you do not understand the Arab mind.'"
Mr Nixon says some of what the Americans thought before the Iraq War started in March 2003 was wrong.
He writes: "I heard over and over from counterparts in the military and the Bush administration that if we caught Saddam we would be able to nip the growing Iraqi insurgency in the bud.
"This presupposed that Saddam had an iron-like control over the Sunni insurgency (he didn't) and that decapitating the Baathist regime would make Iraq a peaceful country (it didn't).
"This was the underlying ethos of the Bush administration's decision to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom."
In his book, Mr Nixon ponders what might have happened had Saddam remained in power.
Concerning Islamic State, he says: "Saddam felt that Islamist extremist groups in Iraq posed the biggest threat to his rule and his security apparatus worked assiduously to root out such threats."
Addressing the region's balance of power, he says: "Saddam also would have inevitably maintained a hostile stance toward Iran … Iraq is now very much the junior partner to a much emboldened Iranian regime that has expanded its military and security influence in the chaotic aftermath of Saddam's overthrow and the aborted Arab Spring."
Mr Nixon says that "Saddam's leadership style and penchant for brutality were among the many faults of his regime".
Nevertheless, he observes: "Although I found Saddam to be thoroughly unlikeable, I came away with a grudging respect for how he was able to maintain the Iraqi nation as a whole for as long as he did."
After he had been captured in December 2003, the toppled Iraqi president was interviewed by John Nixon.
Mr Nixon, who was a senior analyst with the CIA, has now written a book about his encounter with the man who had been in power in Iraq for more than 20 years.
In an article in Time magazine, Mr Nixon writes: "When I interrogated Saddam, he told me: 'You are going to fail. You are going to find that it is not so easy to govern Iraq.'
"When I told him I was curious why he felt that way, he replied: 'You are going to fail in Iraq because you do not know the language, the history, and you do not understand the Arab mind.'"
Mr Nixon says some of what the Americans thought before the Iraq War started in March 2003 was wrong.
He writes: "I heard over and over from counterparts in the military and the Bush administration that if we caught Saddam we would be able to nip the growing Iraqi insurgency in the bud.
"This presupposed that Saddam had an iron-like control over the Sunni insurgency (he didn't) and that decapitating the Baathist regime would make Iraq a peaceful country (it didn't).
"This was the underlying ethos of the Bush administration's decision to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom."
In his book, Mr Nixon ponders what might have happened had Saddam remained in power.
Concerning Islamic State, he says: "Saddam felt that Islamist extremist groups in Iraq posed the biggest threat to his rule and his security apparatus worked assiduously to root out such threats."
Addressing the region's balance of power, he says: "Saddam also would have inevitably maintained a hostile stance toward Iran … Iraq is now very much the junior partner to a much emboldened Iranian regime that has expanded its military and security influence in the chaotic aftermath of Saddam's overthrow and the aborted Arab Spring."
Mr Nixon says that "Saddam's leadership style and penchant for brutality were among the many faults of his regime".
Nevertheless, he observes: "Although I found Saddam to be thoroughly unlikeable, I came away with a grudging respect for how he was able to maintain the Iraqi nation as a whole for as long as he did."
Tourists trapped with gunmen in Karak Castle in Jordan
Several tourists are believed to be trapped within a castle in southern Jordan where gunmen have taken refuge after shooting dead five people.
A Canadian woman was among those killed in the shootout between the armed men and police.
The other four killed were police officers.
Nine people were injured.
The attackers then hid in the grounds of Karak Castle, a Crusader fort around 70 miles south of Jordan's capital city, Amman.
Special forces have been sent to hunt the gunmen and security officials are not ruling out the possibility that the shooting was a coordinated militant attack.
The Public Security Directorate said on Sunday that events began when a police patrol received reports of a fire at a house in the town of Qatraneh, in the Karak district.
When the officers arrived, they were shot at by people inside the house.
Two officers were injured and the shooters fled in a car.
A Canadian woman was among those killed in the shootout between the armed men and police.
The other four killed were police officers.
Nine people were injured.
The attackers then hid in the grounds of Karak Castle, a Crusader fort around 70 miles south of Jordan's capital city, Amman.
Special forces have been sent to hunt the gunmen and security officials are not ruling out the possibility that the shooting was a coordinated militant attack.
The Public Security Directorate said on Sunday that events began when a police patrol received reports of a fire at a house in the town of Qatraneh, in the Karak district.
When the officers arrived, they were shot at by people inside the house.
Two officers were injured and the shooters fled in a car.
Jordan police patrols attacked in Al-Karak
Unidentified fighters have attacked several police patrols in drive by shootings in the southern Jordanian city of Al-Karak with reports of several casualties, according to security officials.
Heavy fighting was reported after Sunday's attacks, as witnesses posted purported amateur videos and images of the shootings on social media.
Heavy fighting was reported after Sunday's attacks, as witnesses posted purported amateur videos and images of the shootings on social media.
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