California in flames : Fires cause mass evacuation

At least 900,000 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters in southern California as wildfires rage out of control across the state.

More than a dozen fires blazed from north of Los Angeles to the Mexican border, 240km south, destroying more than 1,500 buildings, blotting out the sun with smoke and raining ash on the streets.

Most of the destroyed homes were in the southern end of the state near San Diego, where three major wildfires burned.

The flames, fanned by fierce desert winds, claimed their second victim as they burned for a third day.

Deaths

Officials said an unidentified civilian had died of burns in Santa Clarita north of Los Angeles on Tuesday, the second reported death after the body of a 52 year-old man was found on Sunday.

California in flames

More than 500,000 people evacuated Emergency declared in most of California Two dead and dozens more injured, including firefighters More than 1,250 homes lost in San Diego, 68,000 threatened statewide About 6,000 firefighters battling flames

Dozens more have been reported injured, including 16 firefighters.

Walls of flame spread quickly from mountain passes to the coastline as dozens of new blazes threatened to engulf more buildings.

Al Jazeera's Kelly Rockwell, reporting from Rancho Bernardo in South California, said in some areas, the fires were raging out of control.

She quoted one official as saying all firefighters could do was to get out of the way of the fires in one district.

Kirk Humphries, San Diego Fire Captain, said: "If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops."

"We can save some stuff but we can't stop it."

Upper hand

Officials were hoping that winds would ease and humidity would rise allowing them to gain the upper hand.

Rockwell said that in some areas, the winds had been starting to die down as of Tuesday evening, but hotter temperatures and fierce wind were forecast.

Hotter temperatures and hot Santa Ana winds blowing in from the desert at up to 105kph were expected to last at least until Wednesday afternoon.

The fires were exploding and shooting embers in all directions, preventing crews from forming traditional fire lines and severely limiting aerial bombardment, officials said.

Thousands of evacuees, as well as horses and family pets, sought shelter at fairgrounds, schools and community centres, with the biggest gathering of up to 10,000 at the Qualcomm football stadium.

Rockwell said some evacuees were staying with church groups and strangers who had opened up their homes.

State of emergency

Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's governor, declared an emergency in most parts of the state, saying that 68,000 homes were threatened statewide with at least 18 firefighters injured among the 6,000 manning the fire lines.

A satellite image showing fire hotspots across California [Reuters/Nasa]

"We have had three things come together – very dry areas, very hot weather and a lot of wind," he said. "This makes the perfect storm for fire."

But he said the response to the fire had been very quick unlike previous calamities.

Schwarzenegger also asked George Bush, US president, to upgrade the wildfires to a "major disaster", which would trigger federal help.

According to Ron Lane, San Diego county emergency services director, damages from the wildfires are expected to exceed $1bn.

He said: "Based on initial estimates, just the homes damaged will be over $1 billion."

State officials estimate that the fires have covered at least 1,510 sq kilometres.

Katrina lessons

Early on Tuesday, George Bush, the US president, declared an emergency in the state and authorised the Federal Emergency Management Agency to co-ordinate disaster relief in seven affected counties.

"All of us across this nation are concerned for the families who have lost their homes and the many families who have been evacuated from their homes," he said.

"We send the help of the federal government."

Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said the government was applying lessons learnt from Hurricane Katrina in responding to the crisis.

The Pentagon also sent troops, firefighting equipment and humanitarian supplies on Tuesday to help overwhelmed California authorities.

The White House said the president planned to visit the fire-stricken area on Thursday.

Nato air raid kills 11 from Afghan family

At least 11 members of one Afghan family have been killed in a Nato-led air raid in Wardak province near the capital Kabul, according to local officials.

The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said on Tuesday that it was probing the claims, while the Afghan defence ministry said it was "12 enemies" that had been killed.

"In the bombardment ... 11 people from one family, including women and children were killed," Haji Janan, provincial council leader, told Reuters news agency.

"The only survivor from the family is a man who is hospitalised and can't speak."

Janan also said that eleven of the family's neighbours were wounded in the air raid in the town of Jalrez, 30km west of the capital.

"As of this moment we don't have reports of civilian casualties," Major Charles Anthony, Isaf spokesman, said.

He said about 50 "anti-government militants" were trying to set up an ambush before fighter aircraft dropped two bombs on their position on Monday.

Anthony said soldiers had been on the ground to guide the bombs to their targets. He said Isaf had "no evidence" that the bombs hit a housing compound.

Security 'deteriorating'

A US-funded survey meanwhile said that Afghans feel that security has deteriorated since last year and is the biggest problem facing the country.

Afghanistan is experiencing its worst bout of violence since the Taliban were removed from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

About 46 per cent of adults identified the ongoing violence, which has killed a reported 5,200 people since the start of the year, as Afghanistan's main problem, while 29 per cent said it was unemployment.

"In the 2006 survey, it was unemployment first, followed by security and corruption, and this time around it is security first followed by unemployment and poor economy," the Asia Foundation said in the survey funded by the US agency for international development.

"This further underlines the deterioration in security in the eyes of the common Afghans."

However, despite concerns about the rise in violence, many people thought Afghanistan was heading in the right direction and that life had improved since the Taliban's rule in the 1990s.

About 80 per cent of the more than 6,000 respondents also said that they had confidence in the Afghanistan's national army and the country's police force.

The survey was conducted in all of Aghanistan's 34 provinces and was the largest comprehensive opinion poll ever conducted in the country

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Philippines explosion kills 8 in a shopping mall

An explosion in a crowded shopping centre has killed at least eight people and wounded 80 more in the Philippine capital, Manila, police say.

Police initially thought the lunch-time blast at the Glorietta centre had been caused by an exploding cooking gas cylinder, but later discounted that theory.

They said bomb squad detectives were trying to ascertain what caused Friday's explosion.

Norberto Gonzales, the Philippines national security adviser, described it as "the biggest bombing" in Manila so far.

He told Al Jazeera that police and military experts were looking into what kind of bomb was used to give an indication of what group could be behind it.

"We have fielded more than 2,000 police officers in the entire national capital region to increase the security measures," he said.

Speaking from the site after the blast, Al Jazeera's correspondent Marga Ortigas said: "The shopping mall lights are completely shut. The people are not being allowed in.

"Very few rescue workers are now working as they are afraid the foundation of the bomb site might collapse.

"They are worried there are still people buried under piles of rubble."

A general alert was issued for the rest of the city and for the international airport, officials said.

Jonjon Binay, a city councillor, said four people died immediately and four more died in hospital.

Blocks of cement had fallen from an upper storey of the shopping centre, hitting cars parked below and spreading a film of dust. Scores of windows in nearby shops were shattered.

A security guard said: "I was eating lunch when the ground shook. I thought it was an earthquake. Then the electricity went off."

Manila has largely been spared a spate of bomb attacks by

Muslim separatists have been fighting in the southern Mindanao region, but few attacks have been carried out in the capital. A series of bomb blasts in 2000 killed at least 22 people.

Iraqi civilians killed in US raid

US air and ground forces have killed 19 fighters and 6 women and 9 children in raids north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a US military statement said.

"We regret that civilians are hurt or killed while coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism," said Major Brad Leighton, a spokesman for US forces in Iraq, on Thursday.

bomb meanwhile killed a child and wounded 13 others in a playground as they celebrated Eid on Friday in the northern town of Tuz Khurmato.

Police Colonel Abbas Mohammed said a would-be suicide bomber hid the explosives in a cart he was pushing that was filled with children's toys.

US Raids

"These terrorists chose to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in danger by their actions and presence."

US aircraft attacked an area in the Lake Thar Thar region, 120km north of Baghdad, after intelligence reports indicated al-Qaeda members were there, the US military said.

Four fighters were killed during the first raid and the suspects at the scene then moved to another area south of the lake.

US forces came under small arms fire from a building, the US military statement said.

"Responding in self-defence, supporting aircraft engaged the enemy threat," the statement said.

"After securing the area, the ground force assessed 15 terrorists, six women and nine children were killed. Two suspects, one woman and three children were wounded and one suspected terrorist was detained."

George Bush, the US president, ordered 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in June in an attempt to stem sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

Thursday's news of the raid comes just days after another raid by US forces on Khalis, a Shia city north of Baghdad, led to the deaths of 25 people.

US troops called in air raids after meeting resistance while hunting suspected arms traffickers from Iran to Baghdad, but village leaders said those killed included civilians.

Iraqi women killed by security firm

Foreign security guards have killed two Iraqi women by opening fire on their car in the capital, Baghdad.

Witnesses said the car got
too close to the convoy
and police said warning was given
before the firing [AFP]

Unity Resources Group, an Australian-owned security firm based in Dubai, said one of its teams was involved in the shooting on Tuesday and "deeply regret" the incident.

An Iraqi government spokesman said an investigation was under way.

The shooting came the same day as Iraq's government demanded that a US security company, Blackwater, pay $8m each to families of 17 people killed in a shooting in September. An Iraqi investigation into that incident found that the guards were unprovoked when they opened "deliberate" fire.

Tuesday's shooting occurred near Unity offices in central Baghdad's Karradah district.

Warnings
Michael Priddin, Unity's chief operating officer, issued a statement saying: "We deeply regret this incident and will continue to pass on further information when the facts have been verified and the necessary people and authorities notified."

The company further said: "The first information that we have is that our security team was approached at speed by a vehicle which failed to stop despite an escalation of warnings which included hand signals and a signal flare.

"Finally shots were fired at the vehicle and it stopped."

Iraqi police said guards threw a smoke bomb in an apparent bid to warn the car against coming forward.

Several witnesses said the car had moved too close to the convoy.

Ammar Fallah, a shopkeeper and witness to the shooting, said that the guards, who were escorting a civilian convoy through the streets, signalled for a woman driving a white Oldsmobile car to pull over as they passed.

"When she failed to do so they opened fire, killing her and the woman next to her," he said. "There were two children in the back seat but they were not harmed. The women were both shot in the head."

Another witness, Sattar Jabar, said the car had "tried to avoid the convoy of four white SUVs of the foreigners, but it came close to the last vehicle, which then opened fire immediately".

Jabar confirmed that two women were killed, but said a third woman in the back seat had been wounded in the shoulder and one of the children had been struck by flying glass.

Reining in 'gangsters'
A policeman who heard the shots and came running to the scene said that after the shooting the security guards "rode away like gangsters".

The Iraqi government said on Monday it was determined to rein in private security contractors following the Blackwater shooting.

"We have set strict mechanisms to control the behaviour of the security companies and their conduct in the streets," Abdul Karim Khalaf, an interior ministry spokesman, said.

The role of private security companies operating in Iraq has been under investigation since September 16, when Blackwater guards escorting a convoy of US diplomats opened fire in Baghdad's Nisoor Square.

An Iraqi government probe of the incident, which it said killed 17 civilians, found that the guards were not provoked and accused them of a "deliberate" crime.

"Employees of the company violated the rules governing use of force by security companies. They have committed a deliberate crime and should be punished under the law."

The Iraqi government would now take "judicial measures to punish the company", the statement added.

Blackwater, one of the biggest security firms working in Iraq with around 1,000 employees, is employed to protect US government personnel in the country.

It maintains its men were legitimately responding to an ambush while escorting a US state department convoy.

Iraqi and US officials have set up a joint commission

Israel admits air attack on Syria

Until now, Israel had refused to confirm or deny that any air attack had taken place [GALLO/GETTY]

Israel has confirmed that its air force carried out an air raid inside Syrian territory in September - after remaining silent on the issue for nearly a month.

Israel said on Tuesday that its warplanes had conducted the attack deep inside Syrian territory on September 6, saying it attacked a "military target".

Israeli radio reported: "The military censor has authorised for the first time the publication of the fact that Israeli combat planes attacked a military target deep inside Syrian territory on September 6."

David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "The [Israeli] military censors had no other option but to admit the attack took place because the Syrian president yesterday went on record to say the Israelis had indeed attacked a target in northern Syria - what he described as an unused military base."

Chater reported: "No other details about the scale of the mission, the intent or what intelligence it was based on have been released."

Israeli military censors continue to withhold details, but Damascus says

at least four Israeli warplanes crossed into Syria in the incident.

Syria says its air defence systems confronted Israeli aircraft, which subsequently bombed an area inside the country.

Media speculation

With the Israeli blackout on information in place, most of the speculation on the raid has come from foreign media.

Some US officials have linked the raid to suspicions of secret nuclear co-operation between Damascus and North Korea.

Chater said: "Press speculation - in the foreign press, not in the Israeli press - has said perhaps there was nuclear technology imported from North Korea."

A North Korean ship was reported as docking in Syria a few days before the attack happened.

"This kind of speculation is bound to increase now," said Chater.

Both Damascus and North Korea have denied any nuclear ties, with Syria accusing Israel of spreading what it describes as false reports as an excuse for war.

Faruq al-Shara, the Syrian vice-president, said on Saturday that the raid was meant to provide justification for future aggression against his country.

"Those who continue to talk about this raid and to invent inaccurate details are aiming to justify a future aggression [against Syria]," he said at a press conference.

Some earlier reports had suggested that the raid may have targeted Iranian arms bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syria has filed a formal complaint with the UN over the air raid, which has raised tensions between the two countries which are still formally at war.

Peace talks between the two powers collapsed in 2000 over the scope of an Israeli pull-out from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

Paying the price in Baghdad

James Bays in Baghdad

Despite talk of progress in Iraq by General David Petraeus, the top US commander in the country, residents say innocent civilians are still being killed by US troops. Amar Kadim weeps as he recalls the day he lost his family.

His father, his mother and his sister - herself a mother of four young children - were killed, he says, by US marines.

When they came to this street, the Americans may have been looking for those they call "insurgents" and "terrorists".

Frequent raids

But by the time they had left, an elderly couple and a 30-year-old woman were dead.

"When I turned to my mother, she asked me: 'Where is your father?' I told her he is dead," Amar told Al Jazeera.

"She screamed and ran to the front gate [because] his body was just one metre in front of the gate. When my mother got there the American soldiers opened fire again [and] she was shot dead."

The family live in Sadr City, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Baghdad.

For the last four years, the Americans have mounted frequent raids here looking for armed fighters - supporters of the Shia cleric Muqtadr al-Sadr.

'Enemy forces'

It is easy to see on the streets of the neighbourhood what is left behind after one of those raids - lines of cars mown down by American armour.

"Seeking compensation is useless," one man tells Al Jazeera.

"The US troops are enemy forces [and] there's no way they will offer compensation when they come to hurt people.

"They have no respect for humanity, the civilian population, Islam or Muslims."

Al Jazeera has spoken to other people who, like the Khadim family, have claimed that innocent relatives have been killed by Americans raids.

However, they were too scared to appear on camera.

But more than two months after their relatives were killed and despite approaching the US military, the Kadim family have still received no apology and no compensation for their loss.

UN warns Israel [ After getting US support ...]

The UN has urged Israel to reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip as an "enemy entity", warning that cutting vital services would violate international law.

The Israeli move to cut off the power, water and fuel supplies on which Gaza is almost entirely dependent was backed by the United States on Wednesday.

The Israeli prime minister's office said Ehud Olmert's security cabinet had approved the "enemy entity" classification and there would be "limitations on imports to the Gaza Strip and a reduction in the supply of fuel and electricity".

The move is seen as retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said Wednesday's declaration intended to interrupt essential services could exacerbate the Palestinians' difficult conditions.

"Such a step would be contrary to Israel's obligations towards the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law," he said on Wednesday.

Ban said 1.4 million people in Gaza, including the old, the very young and the sick were already suffering and "should not be punished for the unacceptable actions of militants and extremists".

At the same time he said continued rocket fire from Gaza into Israel was unacceptable, calling "for it to stop immediately".

"I understand Israel's security concerns over this matter,'' he added.

US backing

Rice assured "innocent Palestinians in Gaza" the US would not abandon them [AFP]

Israel's move on Gaza was backed by the US on Wednesday, with Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, saying the Hamas was "a hostile entity to the US as well".

Speaking in a joint press conference with Livni in occupied Jerusalem, she said the US, however, would not "abandon the innocent Palestinians".

"We will not abandon the innocent Palestinians in Gaza and indeed will make every effort to deal with their humanitarian needs," she said.

Rice is on a visit to the Middle East in preparation for a US-led peace conference between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Israelis and Palestinians, however, have very different expectations of the talks.

Israeli leaders are seeking a softer joint declaration rather than a binding deal while the Palestinians are pushing for a firmer "framework agreement" on core issues of borders, the status of Jerusalem and refugees.

'Declaration of war'

Tensions have been on the rise in the area since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June. Hamas responded to the Israeli government's announcement saying the move amounted to a "declaration of war".

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, said the Israeli cabinet "made this decision according to our legal advisers, so it is according to international law".

But Saeb Erekat, the senior Palestinian negotiator and spokesman for the West Bank-based government, told Al Jazeera the Israeli move was "illegal and null and void".

"I believe Gaza and West Bank are still under Israeli occupation. Under no circumstances can Israel view it as an 'enemy entity'. Gaza is not an independent state, Gaza is under occupation," he said.

Erekat said Israel was in "total violation of international law" and described the move as "a collective punishment and a preparation for further military escalation against the 1.5 million people of Gaza".

"At the end of the day, it will not end the cycle of violence but complicate matters and breed more violence," he added.

Dozens die in tourist jet crash

Death toll rises to 88.

The aircraft crashed just off the runway at Phuket airport [EPA] A passenger jet that crashed on landing at the airport in Phuket, Thailand, has killed 88 people and left 42 others wounded. Vorapot Rajsima, the deputy governor of Phuket, said that 130 passengers and crew had been on Sunday's flight from Bangkok, and not 128 as originally reported. A hospital official said at least five of the survivors were seriously hurt. Aljazeera's Owen Fay said those wounded in the crash are now being treated at a number of the island's hospitals. At the crash site, efforts are now under way to identify everyone onboard. The cause of the crash has not yet been identified, Fay reported. The aircraft was an MD-82, operated by budget airline One-Two-Go, and was carrying foreign holidaymakers, many of them Europeans, to the island. The aircraft attempted to land during heavy rain, but broke into two and burst into flames on the runway. Thai television broadcast images of its crumpled fuselage. Foreign casualties Hospital officials said eight Britons, eight Thais, five Germans and two Australians were among the survivors. The MD-82 aircraft was flying to Phuket from the capital, Bangkok Chiasak Angkauwan, a civil aviation official, told Thai television: "The first part of the plane is dug into the ground. The tail section is stuck on the runway. "The airplane asked to land, but due to the weather in Phuket - strong wind and heavy rain - maybe the pilot did not see the runway clearly." Lieutenant-Major Sokchai Limcharoen, a police chief in the Phuket area, said the aircraft crashed at 3:35pm (0835 GMT). "The plane was landing and slid off the runway. We are rescuing people and carrying injured people to hospitals," he said. Survivors Relatives gathered at the airport waiting for news. Nong Khaonual, a Thai who survived the crash with his wife, said he believed the aircraft had descended too quickly. "The airplane was landing in heavy rain. It landed too fast. I have never seen anything like this. It descended very fast," he told Nation Television in hospital. "Just before we touched the runway we felt the plane try to lift up, and it skidded off the runway. "My wife was half conscious and I dragged her out of the emergency exit. There was a man behind us and he was on fire." Another survivor, an Irishman named John, described the attempts to land in atrocious conditions. "You could tell there was a problem. The plane was flying around trying to land. It was making some noises and it was bad rain," John, who was travelling with a friend who also survived, told Thailand's ITV television channel. "The plane was on fire, but I managed to get through."

[Temporarily Offline]

Children killed in Israeli firing

Sara Ghazal, 10, was critically wounded and died later in hospital [AFP] Three Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli gunfire after soldiers shot at them near a rocket-launching site in the northern Gaza strip. A doctor at the Palestinian health ministry said cousins Mahmoud Ghazal, 10, and Yehiya Ghazal, 12, were killed on Wednesday. Their cousin, Sara Ghazal, 10, was injured and died later in hospital. An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops hit unidentified figures spotted near rocket launchers that were aimed at Israel. She voiced regret at the deaths of children. The children lived in the area and were members of the same extended family. Witnesses said they were playing and collecting scrap metal in the area, which could have included rocket launchers left by armed Palestinian groups. A relative of the children, Wasfi Ghazal, said he heard the sound of an explosion and then children screaming. He held both Israel and the militant rocket squads responsible. "We are victims of the occupation and victims of the misbehaviour of some of the fighters who are randomly choosing our area to target Israel," he said. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, also an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said the killing of children is unjustifiable, and condemned it in the "strongest possible terms". "I think violence breads more violence, and hatred. This will add to the complexities and feed the fire," he said. In Gaza, Taher Nunu, a Hamas spokesman, called the Israeli attack a "war crime" and called on Abbas to halt his meetings with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister. The two met on Tuesday.

Blackout in most of Gaza City

An Israeli army spokesman said that deliveries of fuel had been stopped for security reasons [AFP]

The electricity company said earlier on Friday that it will cut production by 6:00 pm (1500 GMT).

"We are forced to stop three out of the station's four generators," Rafiq Maliha, the director of the electricity company, said.

Gaza has a single 140-megawatt power plant that provides some three quarters of the territory's needs. All of the fuel for the plant comes from Israel.

The rest of Gaza's electricity needs is supplied by Israel, Egypt and private electricity generators.



Several districts in Gaza City and in the north of the strip lost their power after 6:00 pm, but witnesses said the current continued to flow in the south.


"We have not received fuel since Thursday morning," Maliha said. "We didn't receive any today and tomorrow is Shabat [Saturday] for the Israelis, so there won't be any. The situation is difficult."


He warned that if fuel was not delivered to the impoverished territory before Sunday morning, "electricity production will stop entirely".



Security conditions

Maliha said Israel had stopped fuel deliveries because of security conditions at the Nahal Oz crossing between the coastal strip and the Jewish state.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed to AFP that deliveries of fuel had been stopped "for security reasons".


"More than 1.4 million litres of fuel crossed from Israel into the Gaza Strip through Nahal Oz" between Sunday and Wednesday, the spokesman said.


Maliha urged "the European Union and the Palestinian Authority to intervene quickly as this will have negative consequences for Gaza, especially for hospitals."

Home to some 1.5 million people, Gaza is one of the world's most densely populated cities.


Israeli raids



Israeli troops killed two Palestinians and wounded six others during a raid near the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, Palestinian sources said.



Palestinian security officials said that a gun battle broke out between Israeli troops and local gunmen in the village of Kafr Dan. Nour Marey, a 16-year-old boy and one gunman were killed in the attack.



An Israeli army spokesman said that "several gunmen were identified during an activity against terror infrastructure. The troops fired at them and identified hitting them."



The Abu Amar Brigades, an armed group linked to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President's Fatah faction, said that the gunman killed was one of its leaders.



Meanwhile and in a separate raid, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at Palestinian rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas forces said on Friday.



The missiles missed the launching squad that was on its way back from firing rockets toward Israel and caused no injuries, the forces said.



The army confirmed that aircraft had fired at Palestinian fighters who launched rockets.



More than 15 rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel on Friday, some from the area of the air strike, the army said.

US and Israel agree $30 billion arms deal

Ridiculous

The US has agreed to provide Israel with $30bn in defence grants over the next decade, a 25 per cent boost aimed at countering a "resurgent" Iran and its allies. At a signing ceremony in Jerusalem on Thursday, Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, said the US would help Israel to maintain a military advantage over its enemies. Burns said these enemies include Iran and Syria to groups within Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories. He added that the "Middle East is a more dangerous region now even than it was 10 or 20 years ago and that Israel is facing a growing threat." "The United States faces many of the same threats from the same organisations and countries as Israel does, and so we felt this was the right level of assistance." A statement from the office of Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, who met the US envoy on Wednesday, said the deal "illustrates the depth of the relationship between the two countries." The agreement represented "the commitment of the United States to the defence of Israel and preserving its qualitative superiority," the statement said. Gulf arms deal The aid deal will raise the US defence aid given to Israel from $2.4 billion to $3 billion a year over 10 years. Israel has pledged to stop Iran developing nucelar weapons [AFP] The Bush administration said last month that it would also offer weapons worth $20 billion to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Egypt stands to get $13 billion in defence assistance over the next decade, similar to present levels. The package - which awaits approval in the US Congress - is designed to reassure Israel and Gulf nations of Washington's commitment to the Middle East despite its problems in Iraq. It will also well as to strengthen them in the face of the growing power of Iran and its nuclear programme. Israel has been overhauling its armed forces since it suffered setbacks in last year's war against Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. It is the only recipient of US defence aid allowed to spent some of the money - 26.3 per cent - on its domestic arms industries. The rest must spent using US defence suppliers. Israeli officials say the funds are vital for developing technologies that are used to upgrade US-supplied military hardware and guarantee a "qualitative edge". Iranian 'threat' Assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, Israel has vowed to prevent Iran acquiring the bomb. Iran denies its nuclear programme has military aims. "We have an exceptionally heavy defence burden," said Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, Burns's co-signatory. "The fact that the United States is willing to share a significant part of that burden ... is a critical element in the budget." Burns and Fischer said the sides had not finalised details on what weaponry would be supplied to Israel under the new deal.

Six killed in Israeli raids on Gaza

The Israeli army said the raid was to find a suspected tunnel network [AFP] Israeli forces have killed six Palestinians during clashes with Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip, after Israel's army launched a raid on the Hamas-controlled area. Hospital officials said on Tuesday that two Hamas fighters and a 40-year-old bystander were killed during the raid on the southern villages of Qarara and Abassan. Hamas said another of its fighters and his mother were shot dead as they emerged from their home in the area. Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian group, also said one of its fighters was killed during the Israeli raids. At least 16 Palestinians were wounded in the fighting, which pitched Palestinian fighters against Israeli troops backed by attack aircraft. Palestinians arrested Hamas said its fighters fired rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at the Israeli troops in the largely residential area, while Israeli snipers fired at Palestinian fighters. Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera's Gaza correspondent, said that up to 80 Palestinians have also been detained by the Israeli army. An Israeli army spokesman had said the operation was carried out to try to find a suspected tunnel network and prevent cross-border Palestinian rocket fire. The spokesman said: "During the operation, our forces encountered gunmen and fired on them, hitting at least four." He did not say whether any tunnels were found during the operation. The Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, said in a statement that they would fight against Israel "until either victory or martyrdom". Israel has tried to isolate Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which the group seized by force in June in fighting with Fatah, the secular faction led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

US soldiers cleared in Haditha case

Marines cleared in Haditha massacre

Lance Corporal Sharrat will not face a court-martial in connection with the events in Haditha [Reuters] A US marine general in Los Angeles has dropped all charges against two marines in the shooting deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha, scene of what Iraqi witnesses said was a massacre by American troops. The dismissal on Thursday of the charges means neither Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt nor Captain Randy Stone will face a court-martial in connection with the events at Haditha, which have brought international condemnation of US troops. Five marines still face charges in the November 19, 2005, shooting of two dozen unarmed men, women and children in Haditha, which prosecutors say came in retaliation for the death of a comrade, Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, who was killed by a roadside bomb. Sharratt, 22, had been charged with three counts of premeditated murder and Stone, 35, with dereliction of duty for failing to properly report the civilian deaths. Chaotic clashes Defence attorneys conceded that civilians were killed at Haditha but said they died during chaotic clashes with anti-government fighters after the roadside blast. Captain Stone and Sharrat were among eight marines originally charged [Reuters] In dismissing the charges against Sharratt and Stone after what he said was an exhaustive review, Lieutenant-Genereal James Mattis cited the difficult battle conditions and a "shadowy enemy" whose forces hid among civilians. Sharratt and Stone were among eight US marines originally charged in the Haditha case in December 2006. Four of the defendants were charged with murder and four others with dereliction of duty. Murder charges were dismissed in April against Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz, who has been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony in the case. Dela Cruz told a military court in May that he watched his squad leader, Sergeant Frank Wuterich, shoot down five Iraqi civilians who were trying to surrender. Later this month Wuterich, the accused ringleader in Haditha, will face a hearing to determine if he should face a court-martial.