Turkey needs Israel, Erdogan says

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Sat Jan 2, 2016 5:20PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey and Israel must improve their relations, stressing that his country needs the Tel Aviv regime.
"Israel is in need of a country like Turkey in the region. And we too must accept that we need Israel. This is a reality in the region," the Turkish president said on Saturday.
Erdogan added that normalization of ties between Turkey and Israel would take place “if mutual steps are implemented based on sincerity.”
The Turkish president made the remarks as he was speaking to reporters during his flight back from Saudi Arabia, where he met with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.
Relations between the two sides took a nose dive in May 2010 after Israeli forces stormed the Turkish aid ship Mavi Marmara, as it was on its way to deliver aid to Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, killing several activists.
Following the incident, ambassadors were withdrawn and Erdogan said Israel had to formally apologize over the killings, pay compensation for the victims, and lift the Gaza blockade in order for ties to be normalized.
Israel has apologized for the incident and negotiations are still under way for compensation but the blockade on Gaza remains in place.
On December 26, the Turkish daily, Today’s Zaman, citing unnamed sources, said Ankara was looking forward to purchasing military hardware such as advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and reconnaissance and surveillance systems from Tel Aviv, hinting at the possible resumption of military ties between the two sides.
Israel and Turkey recently reached a preliminary agreement to normalize ties following the 2010 incident, unnamed officials from Tel Aviv and Ankara said last month.
The deal was reached during a secret meeting in Switzerland between Yossi Cohen, the incoming head of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s point-man for Turkish reconciliation Joseph Ciechanover and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu.
Under the deal, Israel should compensate the victims of the raid. Ankara and Tel Aviv would also exchange envoys and hold talks on the restart of gas exports to Turkey.

http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/01/02/444217/Turkey-Israel-Erdogan-Mavi-Marmara/

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72 Year Old Scores 299 Marks In KCPE

TUKO

Joshua Masinde 2 days ago 31580

A 72 year old Madrassa teacher in Kwale County is elated for scoring 299 marks in the just released Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCPE) examination results.
READ ALSO: See 72-Year Old Kwale Teacher Sitting For KCPE
The 72 year old Kaya elder Asman Ruma who hails from Kwale County in Kenya’s south coast region is keen on studying up to secondary school level but at least he is happy to have passed a crucial hurdle that will see him continue with his schooling. The father of five and grandfather of eight had enrolled at the Maweni Joy Adult Literacy Centre to further his primary school education.


READ ALSO: CS Matiang’i Warns KNEC Officials Over Exam Cheating
In November 2015, Ruma said that he would study hard to realise his dream of joining high school in 2016. His motivation to go back to school emerged after he was denied an opportunity of attending the UN Climate Change Conference in 2014 in Lima, Peru for being illiterate. This is despite being nominated by the government to attend the meeting.

“I missed the chance to fly out because I had no form four qualifications, something I regret up to this day,” Ruma said at the time.

In January 2004, Kimani Ng’ang’a Maruge (1920–2009) went into the Guinness Book of Records for being the oldest person in the world to begin school. Maruge was 84 years old when he started school after the introduction of the free primary education by former President Mwai Kibaki.

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http://tuko.co.ke/81333-72-year-old-teacher-scored-299-kcpe.html

6 killed in gun battle after terrorists storm Indian airbase near Pakistani border

RT

Published time: 2 Jan, 2016 01:15Edited time: 2 Jan, 2016 05:43

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© Jayanta Dey / Reuters

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An hours-long gun battle raged at India’s Pathankot Air Base in the northern Punjab state after four to five armed men stormed the facility. Two Indian troops were confirmed dead, and four terrorists were killed in the shootout with Indian security forces.

The gun battle between security forces and the terrorists ended only several hours after the attack began. Four of the attackers were shot dead, Times of India reported.
It has been confirmed that two Indian Air Force personnel were killed in the attack, and six more soldiers injured.

ANI Verified account ‏@ANI_news

Security deployed outside #Pathankot Air Force Station. (pictures deferred by unspecified time)

The armed assault was launched at 3:30 am local time (22 pm Friday GMT), according to the NDTV agency, citing local authorities. The assailants reportedly used a police vehicle, stolen a day earlier, and were dressed in military uniforms to get into the base.
The terrorists entered the living quarters of the Pathankot Air Force base, which is situated some 430 kilometers north of the capital, New Delhi.
The Pathankot airfield is close to the Pakistani border, and straddles the highway connecting India's Muslim-inhabited Jammu and Kashmir state with the rest of the country.
The attack resulted in a fierce gun battle with Indian security forces, which blocked the gunmen in an area inside the base. Although there are Indian MiG-29 fighter jets and helicopters stationed at the location, none of them could be reached by the attackers, according to officials quoted by NDTV.
Up to five terrorists stormed the facility, local news agency Asian News International (ANI) reported. According to ANI, the Indian troops sent for reinforcements, including helicopters.
Meanwhile, the assault has been linked to an earlier attack in Punjab on Friday, in which five armed men with “heavy weapons” ambushed the SUV of the local police chief. According to The Indian Express, three people, including the policeman, were kidnapped at gunpoint but later released. An apparent murder of a taxi driver in the area has also been linked to the attackers.

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, similar attacks have been carried out in the northern Indian state by militants crossing into India from Pakistan. In July, three terrorists armed with AK-47s and grenades attacked a bus and a police station in Gurdaspur district. Three civilians and all of the attackers were killed after a 12-hour shootout with the police.
The attack comes days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore, Pakistan on December 25. The move was warmly welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and has been viewed as an attempt to mend ties between the two historic rivals. The territorial dispute over the northern region of Kashmir has resulted in three major conflicts between India and Pakistan since the Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

Secrets censored for 30 years reveal dark history of UK ‘terrorism’

RT

Published time: 31 Dec, 2015 18:15Edited time: 1 Jan, 2016 17:15

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Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson © Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

Documents censored by the Irish government for 30 years and now released to the public reveal a tumultuous island mired in a decades-long struggle with the UK.

The “30-year rule” allows the government to withhold information from its citizens and will soon be reduced to 20 years, in line with the UK’s recent change in its law.
This week, state papers released by Ireland’s National Archives and reviewed by RTÉ journalists showed what government officials really thought about the historic Anglo-Irish Agreement signed that year, described as a "substantial invasion of British Sovereignty in Northern Ireland".
British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tom King said there had been "a guarded welcome" from the nationalist community and "a hostile reception from the unionist community".
Irish Foreign Affairs minister Peter Barry said he wasn’t surprised by the unionist reaction and warned about the future leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Peter Robinson.
"The unionist reaction wasn't any worse than I had expected,” the report quotes Minister Barry. “The Irish government is the hate organisation for unionists. I think the steam has run out of (Ian) Paisley, but Robinson is a dangerous man. He appears to be taking over the DUP and is much harder than Paisley."
Some 23 years later his prediction came true as Robinson, a former paramilitary, became the hard-line leader of the DUP and eventually, First Minister of Northern Ireland.
Robinson last month announced he was resigning from both positions amid accusations of financial impropriety and recent health issues. Five years ago, he lost his seat in Westminster after his wife Iris, aka “Mrs. Robinson”, was caught up in a sex scandal with a 19-year-old man.
The censored documents also revealed the lives of prominent members of SDLP, the leading nationalist party at the time, were in danger.
The report of an October 23 lunch with SDLP leader Seamus Mallon and a senior civil servant said: “There may be loyalist assassination attempts on prominent members of the SDLP, including himself and on those people in Dublin who are believed to be involved in implementation of an agreement."
The thoughts of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were also captured in a report written by the Irish Ambassador to the UK, Noel Dorr, after his meeting with Lord Gowrie, a minister from Thatcher’s cabinet.
“Thatcher has no sense of history, but she really does like the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister),” Gowrie reportedly said. “She thinks him essentially 'a good man' and 'goodness' does matter greatly to her."
Gowrie also told a senior Irish diplomat that the British agency GCHQ was spying on Irish diplomats and government officials including contents of a coded telex sent from the Irish Embassy.
Previously-released classified documents showed Thatcher “fought terror with terror” through MI5 and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Northern Ireland’s police force) by arming paramilitaries and covering up their deadly deeds.
The Department of Foreign Affairs concluded in March 1985 that Thatcher wanted to get on the good side of Irish-American president Ronald Reagan, who showed interest in Northern Ireland’s ongoing conflict when they met in the US that year.
READ MORE: Bizarre Cold War moments of UK-US ‘special relationship’ revealed
 

The Irish government wrote in late October about the "disturbing tendency" Thatcher had of emphasizing that all decisions about the occupied six counties in Northern Ireland would always be taken by the UK.
Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald rejected a constituent’s idea to have unionist or British government representatives in the Dáil Éireann (the Republic of Ireland’s parliament) in Dublin.
The Catholic Church expressed mixed views on the Anglo-Irish Agreement to government officials. Derry Bishop Edward Daly described it as a "magnificent and historic achievement" and "our first real ray of hope for many years" to Taoiseach Fitzgerald, but Father Denis Faul warned the Department of Foreign Affairs that working-class nationalists would view the agreement as something "engineered purely for the SDLP's benefit".
Ironically, these censored documents revealed another act of censorship by the British government against Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ.
A telex sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs from the Irish Embassy in London tells how RTÉ journalists preparing a program on the case of Annie Maguire, who was being falsely detained for the possession of explosives, were arrested, held at Brixton police station for three hours, and had their interviews confiscated.
The secret documents show how the Irish Embassy pressed the matter with the British authorities so the confiscated film would be returned.
In 2013, Britain decided to reduce the time it censors some government documents to 20 years. Records are being released twice a year until 2022, when the 20-year rule becomes fully operational.
Australia also has a 30-year rule and on Thursday revealed its dark homophobic history during the Bjelke-Petersen government.
According to the Brisbane Times, Queensland’s Minister for Welfare, Youth and Ethnic Affairs Geoffrey Hugh Muntz said at the time: "As a parent, I would have strong reservations about letting young people compete in a pool that was used for such a sick event as a gay swimming carnival. It seems these people who promote such an immoral, unnatural and deviant lifestyle are turning up everywhere in New South Wales. You'll never hear of a gay Mardi Gras or gay swimming carnival in Queensland."
Homosexuality remained illegal in Queensland for another five years after Muntz’s comments.
Read morer https://www.rt.com/uk/327596-secrets-censored-30-years/

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