Car bomb kills at least 5 Yemeni soldiers in Aden, witnesses say

Above, local militias man a checkpoint against Houthi rebels. More than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen’s conflict since the Houthis advanced on Aden. (Reuters)
Updated 05 November 2017
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Car bomb kills at least 5 Yemeni soldiers in Aden, witnesses say

ADEN: A suicide car bomber killed at least five soldiers in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday, residents and a security official said.
The attack took place at a checkpoint outside the main security headquarters in Aden’s Khor Maksar district, they said.
Sunday’s bombing was heard across the city and a plume of smoke could be seen from miles away, residents said.
Clashes erupted in the area immediately, they said. It was unclear who was behind the attack or the clashes that followed.
The port city of Aden is the interim headquarters of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which had to move there when Houthi rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, in 2015 during Yemen’s civil war.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen’s conflict since the Houthis advanced on Aden, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi him to flee and seek help from Saudi Arabia.
Aden is dominated by Yemeni forces backed by the UAE, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen’s war to restore Hadi.
Saudi Arabia’s air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen over the capital, Riyadh, on Saturday, state news agencies reported.
The missile was brought down near King Khaled Airport on the northern outskirts of the city and did not cause any casualties.


Clashes in the West Bank kill a 19-year-old Palestinian-American, Palestinian officials say

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Clashes in the West Bank kill a 19-year-old Palestinian-American, Palestinian officials say

TEL AVIV: Clashes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man late Wednesday night, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The ministry said Nasrallah Muhammad Jamal Abu Siyam was shot by settlers in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said soldiers responded to a violent confrontation in the area and attempted to disperse a riot. The military said that suspects shot at several Palestinians, who were evacuated for medical treatment.
Abu Siyam’s mother told The Associated Press that he also held American citizenship. The US Embassy did not respond to requests for comment Thursday,
Violence in the West Bank from extremist settlers has soared in the past few years.
Palestinians and rights groups say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. Under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, investigations into settler attacks have plummeted, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
In a rare move earlier this week, Israeli prosecutors announced they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video.
More than 3.4 million Palestinians and 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Report finds Palestinian journalists imprisoned in Israel were tortured
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that dozens of Palestinian journalists who were detained in Israel during the war in Gaza experienced terrible conditions, including physical assaults, forced stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence and medical neglect.
CPJ has documented the detention of at least 94 Palestinian journalists and one media worker during the war in Gaza. It covers 32 journalists and one media worker from Gaza, 60 from the West Bank, and two from Israel. Thirty of the journalists are still in custody, CPJ said.
The report found that half of the journalists detained were never charged with a crime and were held under Israel’s administrative detention system, which allows for suspects deemed a security risk to be held for six months and can be renewed indefinitely.
Israel’s prison services did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report, but had rejected a similar report in January about conditions for Palestinian prisoners as “false allegations,” contending it operates lawfully, is subject to oversight and reviews complaints.
UN development chief says removing Gaza rubble will take 7 years
The vast destruction across Gaza will take at least seven years just to remove the rubble, according to the United Nations Development Program.
Alexander De Croo, the former Belgian prime minister who just returned from Gaza, said that the UNDP had removed just 0.5 percent of the rubble and people in Gaza are experiencing “the worst living conditions that I have ever seen.”
De Croo said 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million people live in “very, very rudimentary tents” in the middle of the rubble, which poses health dangers and a danger from exploding weapons.
He said UNDP has been able to build 500 improved housing units, and has 4,000 more that are ready, but estimates the true need is 200,000 to 300,000 units. The units are meant to be used temporarily while reconstruction takes place. He called on Israel to expand access for goods and items needed for reconstruction and the private sector to begin development.