For more than seven weeks, the international aid group Mercy Corps has been trying to send 90 tons of macaroni to the isolated Gaza Strip as part of a global campaign to help the 1.4 million Palestinians there rebuild their lives after Israel's recent devastating 22-day military operation.
Israel, which controls most of what goes into and out of Gaza, has said no repeatedly.
Israel blocks pasta shipment to Gaza, and tensions boil
Army manual raises emphasis on electronic warfare
For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the Army is updating its plans for electronic warfare, calling for more use of high-powered microwaves, lasers and infrared beams to attack enemy targets and control angry crowds.
Carbon dioxide emissions could last millenniums, expert says
Until now, most discussion of climate change has been about what scientific evidence shows is likely to happen between now and 2100. However, scientific research shows that the carbon dioxide gas released from burning fossil fuels lasts in the atmosphere much longer than mere decades.
David Archer, a leading climate researcher who teaches at the University of Chicago, has written a new book that looks at carbon dioxide's "long tail" and what it means for changes on Earth in the future.
Report critical of sex education in Texas schools
The overwhelming majority of Texas schools use scare tactics and spread myths in place of teaching basic sex and health information that students can use to protect themselves and others, according to a report released Wednesday by watchdog group Texas Freedom Network.
TFN's two-year study of education materials from 990 Texas school districts showed that about 94 percent of public schools use abstinence-only programs that usually pass moral judgments while either downplaying or ignoring contraception and health screenings.
Bailout Bank Blows Millions Partying in L.A.
A bank that received $1.6 billion in bailout money just spent a fortune last week in L.A. hosting a series of lavish parties and concerts with famous singers ... and TMZ cameras caught it all.
Northern Trust, a Chicago-based bank, sponsored the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Country Club in L.A. We're told Northern Trust paid millions to sponsor the PGA event which ended Sunday, but what happened off the golf course is even more shocking.
Newly homeless Gazans lament otherwise valuable rainfall
Palestine’s long-awaited rainfall, called a blessing from heaven by Palestinians in the West Bank, was described as a curse for homeless families in the Gaza Strip.
Israel completely destroyed at least 2,000 Palestinian homes and left as a many as 12,000 damaged during its 22-day assault on Gaza.
46,000 people were displaced, according to the United Nations.
According to the official Palestinian Authority news agency, Wada, the rains are “adding to the suffering of homeless people in Gaza,” despite the blessing to farmers.
CONGRESSMAN WANTS MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL REASSESSED
A US congressman plans to brief fellow members of Congress and the Obama administration about his recent trip to Gaza, saying the US should pressure Israel regarding border closures and reassess its military support for the Jewish state.
Rep. Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, visited Gaza last week with fellow Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and was struck by “the level of destruction, the scope of it, specifically the civilian targets - schools, hospitals, industry.”
Baird also said Israel had “apparently willfully destroyed any capacity of the Palestinians to rebuild their own infrastructure.”
Amnesty International: Gaza white phosphorus shells were US made
White phosphorus bombs used by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip were produced and supplied by American arms manufacturers, according to an Amnesty International report that called for a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel.
The report documented dozens of weapons used by Israel and Hamas during the three-week offensive, concluding that both groups had carried out attacks on civilians constituting war crimes punishable by international law.
The human rights group said that weapons experts in Gaza found white phosphorus artillery shells marked M825 A1 – a US-made munition – throughout the coastal strip. The Times published photographic evidence that Israel was using the M825 A1 shells on January 8. At that time, Israeli military spokesmen denied that the weapon was being used, saying: "This is what we call a quiet shell – it has no explosives and no white phosphorus".
TVNL Comment: What the hell is a "quiet shell?" Look it up; there is no such thing. The term was simply made up to answer the question posed about the illegal weapons used by Israel.
FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds spills her secrets.
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