Death toll hits 800 in floods

Posted on by

JNN 31.07.10 The death toll from three days of flooding in Pakistan has reached around 800 as rain showers bloated rivers, submerged villages, and triggered landslides.

Regional officials said the death toll was likely to rise as more rain has been forecast and large areas remain inaccessible to aid and rescue missions.

More than a million people have been affected by the floods in the country’s northwestern region and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, a Press TV correspondent reported on Saturday.

The flood has destroyed many bridges and shut down the highway connecting Peshawar to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Hundreds have gone missing as a result of the flood while at least 1 million people have been rendered homeless.

The rising toll from the monsoon rains underscores the poor infrastructure in the impoverished region. The northwestern parts of Pakistan have been hit the hardest with the worst flooding since 1929.

The UN has announced that humanitarian efforts are underway to put together a proper response to the crisis. The continuing rain showers, however, are making many roads impassable, complicating any relief efforts

Mossad assassins paid by US firms

Posted on by

JNN 31.07.10 American cyberspace companies have been named among the firms that transferred money to the alleged hitmen behind the targeted killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh — the co-founder of the Hamas resistance movement’s armed wing, known as the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades – on January 20 The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

CCTV camera footage, caught in a Dubai hotel, where the operation took place, has led the emirate’s police to put the names of more than two dozen suspects on the international wanted list.

The Dubai police have identified 13 US-issued debit-card accounts used by the suspects into which money was deposited.

Police say evidence confirms the involvement of the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, in the operation.

Earlier in the year, The Sunday Times reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “gave his authorization” for the assassination.

The discovery that the death squad used British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports caused a political predicament for Tel Aviv which ended in the expulsion of its diplomats by Dublin and Canberra.

Poland recently denied Israel’s request to extradite an Israeli man, named Uri Brodsky, who has been accused of providing the assassins with the only German passport used in the murder.