Obama: Peace with Palestinians Crucial to Israel's Future
President Barack Obama leaves Israel on Friday, going to Jordan on the next stop of his Mideast trip. Obama told Israelis on Thursday that Palestinians deserve an independent state and Israel's future depends on forging a lasting peace.
Punctuated by frequent applause, and at one point interrupted by a heckler, the speech was aimed at prompting Israel's younger generation to consider their future in an increasingly unstable region.
Obama suggested that future must include risk-taking to achieve lasting peace with an independent and viable Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel.
"I believe that peace is the only path to true security," he said. "You have the opportunity to be the generation that permanently secures the Zionist dream, or you can face a growing challenge to its future."
Obama said it would be easier for him to offer unconditional support for Israel. Instead, he offered his advice as a friend deeply concerned about and committed to Israel's future.
He said Israel faces sweeping political changes in the Arab world and changing demographics in the Middle East.
By committing to a lasting peace with Palestinians, Israelis could reverse an "undertow of isolation" and blunt the impact of extremists.
"No single step can change overnight what lies in hearts and minds of millions," Obama said. "No single step is going to erase years of history and propaganda. But progress with the Palestinians is a powerful way to begin while sidelining extremists who thrive on conflict and thrive on division. It would make a difference."
Obama added that Israel's security must be central to any settlement and Israel will always have the support of the United States.
"Today I want to tell you, particularly the young people so that there is no mistake here," he said. "So long as there is a United States of America - atem lo levad - you are not alone."
Earlier in the occupied West Bank, Obama met with President Mahmoud Abbas. He urged Palestinians and Israelis not to remain frozen by "old positions" blocking direct negotiations.
President Abbas called Israeli settlement policy the major hurdle to a two-state solution.
"It is the duty of the Israeli government to at least halt the activity, so that we can speak of issues, and when we define our borders and their borders together, each side will know its territory in which it can do whatever it pleases," said Abbas.
On Friday, Obama visits the Yad Vashem memorial to Holocaust victims and lays wreaths at the graves of Israeli leaders. He also returns to the West Bank to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
He then leaves for Jordan and talks with King Abdullah about Mideast peace efforts, Syria, and political and economic reform.
Source-VOA
Lindsay Lohan given rehab over Los Angeles car crash
Lindsay Lohan has been given 90 days in rehab for charges relating to a car crash last June in Los Angeles.
She accepted a deal to avoid the case going to trial after her sports car crashed into a truck on the Pacific Coast Highway last summer.
She pleaded no contest to reckless driving and lying to police. A charge of obstructing an officer was dropped.
The actress, 26, also has to carry out 30 days community service and 18 months of psychological therapy sessions.
She was fined by Superior Court judge James R. Dabney, who gave Lindsay Lohan until a court date on 2 May to enrol in a rehab programme,
The actress arrived nearly an hour late for Monday's court hearing and had her probation extended by two years.
Plea deal
If she sticks to the plea deal, she may be able to avoid 180 days in jail for violating probation in a separate case.
She was sentenced to four months in jail in 2011 over the theft of a $2,500 gold necklace from a shop in Los Angeles the year before.
Out of court, Lohan has struggled to regain her stature in Hollywood after appearing in films like Freaky Friday and Mean Girls as a teenager in 2003 and 2004.
In 2007 she was arrested twice for driving under the influence and sentenced to several short jail terms and rehab for failing to perform community service and missing counselling sessions.
She missed the premiere of Machete in 2010 because of her court troubles and her acting return in 2012's TV movie Liz & Dick was widely panned by critics and viewers.
Her next project is The Canyons, a film that also features porn actor James Deen.
Nuggets beat Thunder for first 13-game win streak
Ty Lawson scored 25 points, Andre Miller had 20 points and nine assists and the Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-104 Tuesday night to win a 13th straight game for the first time since joining the NBA.
The Nuggets trailed by one at halftime but took control in the third quarter and never let Oklahoma City reclaim the lead. Denver moved within 3 1/2 games of the Thunder in the Northwest Division and became the first team this season to beat Oklahoma City three times.
It's also a big win in the chase for home-court advantage in the playoffs for Denver, which is tied with Miami for the NBA's best home record at 30-3.
Kevin Durant had 34 points and Russell Westbrook chipped in 25 for Oklahoma City, which lost at home for just the fifth time this season.
The Thunder gave up a season-worst 72 points in the paint - Denver's specialty - as both teams struggled throughout the game from 3-point range. The Nuggets had 66 and 60 points in the lane in wins against Oklahoma City in Denver earlier this season.
Denver's previous longest winning streak in the NBA was 12 straight games in 1982. The franchise won 15 in a row in the ABA.
The Nuggets trailed 66-65 at halftime, but took the lead on Danilo Gallinari's 3-pointer and then followed Westbrook's tying, two-handed dunk off an inbound alley-oop pass by charging ahead with a 12-2 run. Andre Iguodala's right-handed, fast-break slam - created by Gallinari's steal - put Denver up 80-70 midway through the third and prompted Scott Brooks' second timeout to try and end the surge.
After back-to-back Thunder baskets, the Nuggets added to their cushion with seven straight points - a Lawson 3-pointer, a Corey Brewer jumper and then an 18-footer by Lawson - to make it 87-74 with 2:59 left in the third.
Oklahoma City got as close as 102-97 when Westbrook hit a 17-foot jumper from the left elbow with 4:08 to play, but Miller had back-to-back jumpers as Denver answered right back with five straight points. Miller closed it out from the foul line after that.
Miller scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, hitting five of six foul shots in the final 69 seconds.
The Nuggets had six players score in double figures, getting 13 apiece from Kenneth Faried and Gallinari, 11 from Corey Brewer and 10 from Iguodala. Faried also grabbed 15 rebounds as Denver overcame a 14-6 first-quarter rebounding deficit to beat Oklahoma City 52-45 on the glass.
Wilson Chandler, who tied his career-high with 35 points in a win at Chicago a night earlier, did not return after separating his left shoulder in the fourth quarter.
Asia currencies gain as Cyprus bailout fears hurt euro
Asian currencies have continued to strengthen as uncertainty over the developments in Cyprus hurt the euro.
On Tuesday, Cyprus rejected a controversial levy on bank deposits, proposed by the EU and IMF as part of their bailout package for the country.
Fears that Cyprus's two biggest banks may collapse if a bailout is not agreed have seen investors ditch the euro and turn to relatively safer assets.
The Japanese yen, Australian dollar and US dollar all rose against the euro.
The Japanese currency gained as much as 1.4%. It was trading at near 122.22 yen to a euro in Asian trade.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar hit a ten-week high of A$1.24 against the single currency, while the US dollar was trading at near four-month high of $1.2843.
Analysts said that investors were worried about how Cyprus's crisis may unfold in the coming days, especially if any strict conditions may be imposed as part of a potential bailout.
Until this plays out and until that cloud is dealt with, it's going to be hard to get too optimistic on the outlook in the near term”
Michael Turner Royal Bank of Canada
This leaves Pandora's Box wide open," said Mike Moran, senior currency strategist at Standard Chartered.
"If policymakers initially thought it was OK to tax depositors as heavily as they first suggested, one just doesn't know what plan B or C might be."
Mr Moran added that the given the uncertainty surrounding the crisis, the euro was likely to weaken further.
"Unless we have a swift resolution, this will weigh on the outlook for the currency," he said.
'Negative press'
The EU and the IMF had asked Cyprus to impose a levy on bank deposits as part of a 10bn euro (£8.7bn; $13bn) bailout package.
According to the original proposal, announced over the weekend, savers with deposits of up to 100,000 euros (£86,000; $130,000) would have had to pay a one-off levy of 6.75%, while those over that amount would have been charged at 9.9%.
The pact was widely criticised and saw customers make a rush to withdraw money.
On Tuesday, the Cypriot finance ministry announced a change in the plan that would exempt savers with less than 20,000 euros in deposits. But it said those over 100,000 euros would still be charged at 9.9%.
The plan was still rejected by the parliament with no MP voting for it.
Meanwhile, the country's banks have been ordered to remain shut until Thursday, amid concerns of a run on bank accounts.
Obama On His Way to Israel, West Bank, Jordan
U.S. President Barack Obama is on his way to what the White House calls a very important visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.
This is Mr. Obama's first official visit to Israel. He will be joined by Secretary of State John Kerry as a new Israeli government featuring pro-settlement ministers takes office.
Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes says there is no substitute for Mr. Obama delivering his message of support for Israel's security directly to the Israeli people.
Rhodes also says the United States has made a significant investment in the Palestinian Authority, which he calls the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian people.
But Palestinians say they have been disappointed with Mr. Obama so far, and see little reason for optimism in his second term.
Mr. Obama also will stop in Jordan, where the United States has been helping officials cope with the flood of Syrian refugees.
French Hostage in Mali Reported Executed
An African news agency says al-Qaida's North African branch has executed a French hostage in retaliation for France's military intervention in Mali.
Mauritania's ANI news agency Tuesday said the execution of hostage Philippe Verdon was relayed in a telephone call to the news agency, which has close links to Islamist militants in the region. The agency quoted a spokesman for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, as saying the execution took place March 10.
The killing has not been confirmed, and the French Foreign Ministry declined comment late Tuesday.
Verdon was one of two French hostages kidnapped in November 2011 in the northern Mali town of Hombori. He was reported to be on a business trip
Earlier Tuesday, French radio broadcast an interview with Verdon's father, in which he complained about the lack of information on the status of his hostage son. Jean-Pierre Verdon said neither French officials nor militants had supplied information on his son, and he called the lack of news "insufferable."
Dominican men remanded in St. Lucia
Two Dominican men, who were accosted in St. Lucia on Friday with over 1,400 pounds or marijuana, were remanded into custody on Monday, March 18th and are scheduled to re-appear in court on April 30th.
Alex James, 39 and Rawlins Rolle, 33 appeared before the Second District Court on Monday. They were charged with possession of a controlled drug and possession with the intent to supply a control drug, according to a police statement.
Members of the Marine Unit intercepted a blue, orange and black pirogue named “Von Von” about 8.2 nautical miles south of Gros Piton in Soufriere with 1, 487.2 pounds of the drug.
The men were travelling on the vessel according to a statement by the St. Lucia Police; however it did not indicate the street value for the marijuana seized.
DFID names replacement CFO for Turks & Caicos
The Department for International Development (DFID) in London has nominated Stephen Turnbull as the country’s new Chief Financial Officer for an interim period with effect from 4th May.
He replaces the outgoing Chief Financial Officer Hugh McGarel-Groves. Mr. Turnbull will travel to the TCI this week to begin the handover and to assist the Ministry of Finance with its budget and fiscal planning. He is a qualified accountant with more than twenty years of experience, of which over five years have been in Overseas Territories, including two as a Public Finance Adviser in TCI.
Mr. Turnbull will remain CFO until the end of August, during which time he will help the TCI Government to continue on its path towards sustainable public finances. The Department for International Development is in the process of recruiting a permanent CFO to take over from Mr. Turnbull in due course.
Allocation of voters for By-Elections
The Supervisor of Elections Mr. Dudley Lewis has announced the allocation of voters to polling stations for the by-election on March 22 for the Richmond Hill and Cheshire Hall Electoral District in Providenciales. Polling stations will be at the Gustavos Lightbourne Sporting Complex and the TCI Community College. Electors with family names A-L will vote at the Gustavos Lightbourne Sporting Complex while electors with family names M-Z will vote at the TCI Community College. Here’s Chris Jarrett with more on the election.
The Elections Ordinance requires that the Supervisor allocate each elector to an appropriately designated polling station within their electoral district in any case where there is more than one polling station in a district. This is done by the Supervisor providing the Returning Officer with an official list of the names of those people who are eligible to vote that that polling station as required under the Election Ordinance. “To cast your vote at a particular polling station, your details MUST appear on the official list for that venue. This means that you MUST vote at the polling station within your electoral district to which you have been allocated,” Mr. Lewis said.
The Supervisor of Elections noted that individuals who attempt to vote at a polling station, to which they have not been allocated, will NOT be allowed to vote and will instead be referred to the designated polling station. Voters Lists are being posted at the following locations in Electoral District 7- Richmond Hill & Cheshire Hall:
· General Post Office
· Public Library
· Lu Lu’s Food Store
· Provo Discount Pharmacy
· Lamont Restaurant
· Chinson’s Restaurant
· Texaco Gas Station
· Grant’s Gas Station
Mr. Lewis is also reminding the public that under Section 40 of the Elections Ordinance, it is an offense to vote at more than one polling station in the same electoral district or more than once in the same district on polling day.
This is Chris Jarrett for RTC News.
The Supreme Court & the Assembly Members
The Supreme Court hearing into the cases of five assembly members have been adjourned until April 9th without a verdict by the Chief Justice Judge Goldborough - who ordered a sitting of the court in Grand Turk on Saturday. That means for the moment that the political balance in the Assembly will be decided for the moment by Friday’s by-election. Currently the PNP and PDM each hold seven seats. The validity of the election of the MPs was challenged by the Attorney General’s Office following a referral from the Integrity Commission for alleged breaches of the constitution’s rules for candidates on declarations of interest. The cases were referred to the Supreme Court by Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles, Acting Attorney General who lodged a challenge to the election of the candidates. RTC has been told the Chief Justice considers there are serious issues of law to nbe determined in at least two of the cases.