News Briefs
BY Wire Reports
Monday, November 12, 2012
11/12/12 at 2:47 AM
Dublin: Ireland votes to bolster rights for children
Voters have approved an amendment to insert stronger rights for children into Ireland's constitution with a narrower-than-expected 57.4 percent "yes" vote, official returns showed Sunday.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny said the amendment approved in Saturday's referendum will allow his government to pass laws making it easier for Irish children to be adopted, for courts to remove children from abusive homes and for children to testify in court.
Jerusalem: Israel, Gaza militants trade fire in escalation
Israeli forces struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing one Palestinian and wounding more than 30 others as militants launched dozens of rockets in some of the heaviest fighting the area has seen in months.
The flare-up increased pressure on the Israeli government to put an end to the violence, which escalated over the weekend and could turn into a major conflagration just two months before the country's general election.
Israeli leaders quickly amped up their rhetoric, warning Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers they will pay a heavy price should they allow rocket fire toward Israel to continue.
Lagos, Nigeria: African leaders agree to send troops to north Mali
West African nations have agreed to send 3,000 troops to stabilize Mali, the Nigerian state-run TV said Sunday.
The decision came at the end of an emergency ECOWAS bloc summit in Nigeria's capital.
Military experts from the U.N., ECOWAS, Europe and the African Union have drafted a plan to recapture northern Mali from militants, but it would need final approval from the African Union and the U.N. Security Council before it could be carried out.
Mutinous soldiers overthrew Mali's democratically elected president more than seven months ago, creating a power vacuum that paved the way for Islamists to grab the north.
Security analysts and diplomats say that even if the deployment of troops to north Mali is approved by the U.N. it could take months to implement.
Kabul, Afghanistan: Man in Afghan uniform kills U.K. service member
A gunman wearing an Afghan army uniform on Sunday shot and killed a member of the U.S.-led coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan - the latest in a spate of insider attacks that are fracturing the trust between NATO and Afghan forces.
Separately, officials said 11 Afghan civilians were killed by land mines on Sunday.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense confirmed that the insider attack in Helmand province had claimed the life of a British soldier from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Dubai, United Arab: Emirates Dubai says huge cache of illegal ivory seized
Customs authorities in Dubai have seized ivory worth as much as $4.1 million from more than 100 poached elephants, the UAE's state news agency WAM reported Sunday.
The agency reported that authorities at the Jebel Ali Port seized the ivory hidden in a shipment of green beans. They said it came from an unnamed African country and did not say where it was headed.
Conservationists say poaching, especially in central Africa reduces elephant numbers by 60,000 every year. Port cities such as Dubai are key transport hubs for ivory, most of it destined for China.
Guatemala City: Another quake rattles coast of Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY - A 6.5-magnitude earthquake shook Guatemala's Pacific coastline on Sunday, just four days after a major quake killed dozens and left thousands without homes in the region.
People fled buildings and homes in panic in cities along Guatemala's coast near its border with Mexico on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of deaths or major damage. Locals were further panicked by four aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 4.5 to 5.0.
Associated Images:
Veterans, relatives and service members hold a moment of silence Sunday during an Armistice Day ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. British and Commonwealth soldiers often passed through the "Menenpoort" on their way to the front lines, and some 300,000 of them were killed in the Ypres Salient. Approximately 90,000 of those soldiers have no known graves, and their names are now inscribed on walls of the gate. GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT / Associated Press
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