163 people killed in Syria today, according to a local activist committee. The fact that one of them was a Michigan woman has turned heads at the State Department; according to both AP and John McCain, the regime has recently gained the upper hand in the two-year-old conflict, which has claimed roughly 80,000 lives so far. source
We’re changing the name ‘Palestinian Territories’ to ‘Palestine’ across our products. We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries. In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, Icann [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organisation for Standardisation] and other international organizations.Google spokesman Nathan Tyler • Discussing the web giant’s decision to change the name of the Palestinian edition of its search engine to “Google Palestine,” from “Google Palestinian Territories.” While the Palestinian Authority praised the move, which matched the UN’s decision to designate the contested region as a non-member observer state late last year, Israel was less happy about it. “This change raises questions about the reasons behind this surprising involvement of what is basically a private internet company in international politics, and on the controversial side,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
As Islamists increasingly fill the ranks of Syrian rebels, President Bashar al-Assad is waging an energized campaign to persuade the United States that it is on the wrong side of the war
“If the Syrian regime falls, al Qaeda wins.” That’s what Bashar al-Assad wants US officials to believe: By playing off US fears of Islamic terrorism, he’s hoping America will shift its support from the Syrian rebels to the incumbent regime, or at least withhold providing any more material support for the rebels. Because at least one rebel faction is allied with al Qaeda, it’s not an altogether crazy strategy. The regime is reportedly relying on Khaled Mahjoub, a Syrian-American businessman, to relay this message to US officials. “We are partners in fighting terrorism,” said Wael Nader al-Halqi, Syria’s prime minister.
200 US troops are headed to Jordan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced today. Their stated purpose is to help contain violence spilling over from the Syrian conflict, and according to Mohammad al-Momani, Jordan’s Minister of State for Information, they should be arriving “in the next few weeks.” This is a significant announcement, but we’re betting it’ll get buried under all the news today about gun control legislation and the Boston explosion. And that’s a shame. source
Egypt announced on Wednesday that a ceasefire had been reached to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, starting later in the day.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr made the announcement in a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The ceasefire would come into effect at 15:00 EDT, said Amr, whose country has been at the heart of efforts to broker an end to the conflict.
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Here are the details of the agreement. This is a big development not only for Israel and Gaza, but post-revolutionary Egypt as well. If the ceasefire holds, it will be a huge win for President Mohammed Morsi, and he’ll reap lots of credit for helping broker the agreement.
~950 Gaza sites have been struck by IDF attacks since Wednesday
~400Palestinian missiles have hit Israel during the same period of time
180airstrikes were launched at the Gaza Strip today
three rockets have been fired at Tel Aviv from Gaza; all were intercepted
In non-numerical updates: Israeli missiles today hit Hamas police headquarters and the Gaza prime minister’s office (the PM wasn’t inside). Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi is reportedly planning to hold four-way talks with the emir of Qatar, the prime minister of Turkey, and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in an attempt to resolve the crisis. source [1] [2] [3]
Jon Stewart on the Middle East: Democracy is their right, but “I think this whole situation has been mishandled by the United States government.”
Bill O’Reilly on the Middle East: You attack our embassy and we’re pulling our aid out of there.
In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo…As we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists.Director of National Intelligence James Clapper re: the attack on the US consulate in Libya. Shortly after the incident, Obama’s UN ambassador Susan Rice said that the violence was “initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo.” In his statement, released yesterday, Clapper claims that the intelligence community’s “understanding of the event continues to evolve,” and while the official story is now that the attack was planned, “it remains unclear if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate.” source
WATCH The New York Times’s C.J. Chivers and photographer Bryan Denton joined a group of Syrian rebels during the battle for Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city. Yesterday, President Obama warned Syria’s government they might face military intervention “if there were signs that its arsenal of unconventional weapons was being moved or prepared for use.” (Photo: Denton / Times)
Major props for the front-line work.
Civilians in and around the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo are increasingly at risk from aerial attacks, artillery shelling and gunfire. Commanders of Syrian government forces and the opposition Free Syrian Army should ensure that their troops abide by the laws of war and never target civilians or conduct indiscriminate attacks.
Read more after the jump.
Scenes from a quickly-heating-up warzone.
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Timing is everything: Today, President Obama signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act. The legislation, which passed Congress with ease, authorizes $70 million in military aid for Israel’s “Iron Dome,” a defense system that intercepts missiles from Gaza (93 interceptions as of last April, according to the IDF). Sneakily, Obama held the signing ceremony one day before Mitt Romney is set to go to Israel himself, ensuring that every news article about Romney’s visit also mentions Obama’s signing of the bill. Clever. (Getty photo). source
The Free Syrian Army carried out this attack in retaliation for the massacres committed by the regime and because of the international silence. We promised that we are going to hit the regime in its most sensitive axis. This was necessary for us.COL. MALIK KURDI, deputy commander of the Free Syrian Army, which claimed responsibility for an attack in Damascus that killed Syria’s defense and deputy defense ministers. (via the Washington Post)
Just passed the 20,000 followers mark today. Wohoo!
Thank you all for making tumbling worth while.
I know for many of the greats of tumblr this figure is a fraction of their followers but I’m grateful. I do believe I haven’t returned the favour by not being as committed to tumblr as I should be.
And thus it would be grate to get your feedback on what you would like to see more of from newsflick?
As one of Newsflick’s earliest fans, we’re very happy to hear about this milestone! Keep it up, Sayid! You’re better than you think! :)
Internet content blocking travels downstream, affects unwary users
A team of Canadian researchers have uncovered an unusual new example of “upstream filtering,” where online content in one country is blocked in another country due to filtering that happens in transit.
Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, revealed that some Oman Internet users using the Omantel ISP are also being subjected to Indian content restrictions because of traffic flowing through India.
Think having your internet blocked is bad? Try having it blocked indirectly.
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