UPDATE 3-Five Gaza militants and Israeli killed in violence

Reuters: [2008-05-09 23:55:00]

(Adds air strike, updates casualties)

KFAR AZA, Israel, May 9 (Reuters) - A Palestinian mortar attack from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip killed an Israeli civilian on Friday, a police spokesman and ambulance workers said.

After the mortar attack, two Israeli air strikes killed five Hamas security men in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical officials and Hamas said.

Palestinian militants from the Islamist group Hamas, who regularly fire rockets and mortars into Israel from Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Kfar Aza collective farm in southern Israel.

Such attacks rarely cause death or injury but sow panic in border towns. Ambulance workers said the dead Israeli civilian was a middle-aged man and three other people were wounded.

The last time an Israeli civilian was killed by cross-border fire, on Feb. 27, the attack was followed by days of Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip which left more than 120 Palestinians dead. Many of them were civilians.

Palestinian medical workers said four other Hamas security men were wounded in the Israeli air strikes on Hamas outposts in the southern Gaza towns of Rafah and Khan Younis.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the air strikes were in response to continued cross-border attacks.

Israel frequently conducts raids in Gaza which it says are aimed at curbing the rocket fire. More than 1,950 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza at Israel this year, the army said.

Separately, a Palestinian gunman was killed in a clash with Israelis in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Palestinian security sources and Israeli emergency workers said.

Israeli and Palestinian sources offered differing accounts of the incident near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestinian security sources said the gunman was killed by Israeli soldiers.

Israel's ZAKA emergency service said the gunman was killed by armed Israeli settlers who had come under attack.

The Israeli army said it was investigating the incident. (Reporting by Yehuda Peretz and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; editing by Andrew Roche) ((rebecca.harrison@reuters.com; +972 2 632 2202; Reuters Messaging: rebecca.harrison.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: PALESTINIANS ISRAEL/VIOLENCE

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Reuters: [2008-05-09 23:48:00]

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WRAPUP 13-U.N. launches Myanmar appeal, resumes aid flights

Reuters: [2008-05-09 23:41:00]

* U.N. appeals for $187 million in aid

* U.N. agency resumes relief flights after food impounded

* U.S. says it has approval to send one aid flight

* Myanmar envoy says aid can come from "any quarter"

(Recasts with U.N. appeal, adds U.S. and Myanmar officials)

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON, May 9 (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed for $187 million in aid on Friday to help 1.5 million victims in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar and said it would resume relief flights despite the military government's seizure of food supplies.

U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said initial pledges totaled about $77 million to provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other supplies to survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which killed tens of thousands of people.

"I think more pledges will follow," Holmes told reporters after he addressed representatives of the 192 member states, saying he was confident the appeal for $187 million would be met. "The important thing is that the response is there."

While Myanmar's reclusive junta has had little direct contact with the outside world, it stated its preference through state-run media to accept "relief in cash and kind" -- but not foreign aid workers, many of whom are waiting for visas in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

The generals approved one U.S. aid flight, due to arrive as soon as Monday, nine days after driving winds and a wall of water swept across the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta.

The U.N. World Food Programme initially said it was suspending aid flights after the military rulers of the former Burma impounded food shipments on Friday.

During an emergency meeting of member states about the U.N. appeal, dozens of envoys voiced concern at the difficulties aid workers were having getting in. But Myanmar's envoy insisted food and other aid were being sent where needed upon arrival.

"We are ready to cooperate fully," Ambassador Kyaw Tint Swe told the meeting. "Regarding access, we hear you and I will certainly report back to the authorities."

'FROM ANY QUARTER'

Earlier, Myanmar's envoy said the country would accept aid "from any quarter" and confirmed it approved the U.S. flight.

"We're going to make as effective use of that flight as we possibly can," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. While the permission was "positive," he said, many more relief runs would be needed to cope with the disaster.

U.S. officials did not know who would distribute the aid from that plane once it lands, McCormack said. They were still trying to get visas for the U.S. team waiting in Bangkok.

Myanmar has not updated the official toll since Tuesday, when it said nearly 23,000 were dead and 42,000 missing. Even those numbers, predicted by Western aid workers to rise sharply, make Nargis the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991.

U.S. charge d'affaires Shari Villarosa has said the death toll could reach 100,000.

The United States, long strongly critical of Myanmar's junta and the delays allowing in relief, was urging other countries to use what leverage they had with the generals.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by telephone on Friday with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. A day earlier she spoke with China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, McCormack said.

Ban urged the junta to accept aid and humanitarian workers "without hindrance," saying the survival of Myanmar's people was at stake. He said he had so far not been able to contact Myanmar's senior general, Than Shwe, to ask him in person.

The prime minister of neighboring Thailand, asked by Britain and the United States to try to persuade the junta to admit foreign aid workers, canceled a visit planned for this weekend after Myanmar made its opposition clear.

The World Food Programme said it had decided to send in two relief flights as planned on Saturday, "while discussions continue with the government of Myanmar on the distribution of the food that was flown in today, and not released to WFP."

The impounded WFP shipments contained 38 tonnes of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 95,000 people. Planes loaded with food and equipment from several Asian countries have also landed in Yangon in the past few days.

FENDING FOR THEMSELVES

Survivors have been mostly fending for themselves after winds of up to 190 kph (120 mph) whipped up a massive wall of seawater, inundating the delta.

The saltwater has not only destroyed homes but ruined freshwater wells, grain stores and rice fields. The survivors are desperate.

"There are no NGOs here. No U.N. Only me," farmer Tei Lin told Reuters near the town of Labutta.

The junta broadcast a message on Friday, urging citizens to do their patriotic duty and vote on Saturday for a constitution drafted by the junta. It made no mention of the cyclone or even that voting in the affected areas has been postponed.

The junta's opponents have suggested the reason for the delays in allowing in aid workers could be that the generals do not want an influx of foreigners before the referendum.

Chris Beyrer, a medical doctor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health in Baltimore and an expert on health care and human rights in Myanmar, said some local aid workers managed to reach the disaster site and were reporting they most needed cash to help victims buy supplies from military commanders.

"The issue is that there are food and relief supplies and medicines to some degree available and people are being charged for them," Beyrer told a think-tank panel in Washington.

"The regime does not fundamentally have the interests of its people as its primary concern."

The U.N. weather agency forecast more strong winds and rain for the coming week, adding more urgency to the international drive to start a full-blown disaster relief effort of the kind that was seen after the Asian tsunami in 2004.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France was sending a naval ship with 1,500 tonnes of aid and capable of carrying heavy-lift helicopters, even as it waited for visas and authorization.

The navies of France, India and Britain are conducting exercises off the east coast of India and the U.S. Navy is taking part in joint exercises in Thailand.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, welcomed approval of the U.S. flight -- a day after saying he was "outraged" by the junta's lack of cooperation.

"We hope this is the beginning of a broader effort between our governments," he said, adding the U.S. Navy had several ships in the Gulf of Thailand, including one with 23 helicopters that could be used to fly aid to remote areas.

U.S. officials said the junta seemed to be taking a pragmatic approach to the crisis but did not appear to have the infrastructure to distribute aid, raising the risk that supplies could remain on the airport tarmac. (Additional reporting by Ed Cropley and Darren Schuettler in Bangkok, Phil Stewart in Rome, Paul Eckert and Susan Cornwell in Washington, Louis Charbonneau and Charlotte Parsons at the United Nations; Editing by John O'Callaghan) ((For more stories on Myanmar cyclone click on [nSP152717] or follow link to Reuters AlertNet http:/www.alertnet.org)) ((Bangkok newsroom, darren.schuettler@thomsonreuters.com, +66 2 637 5610; Reuters AlertNet e-mail: alertnet@reuters.com; +44 207 542 5791)) Keywords: MYANMAR CYCLONE/

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Reuters: [2008-05-09 23:37:00]

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UPDATE 2-Libya, Italy patch up Mohammad T-shirt row

Reuters: [2008-05-09 23:26:00]

(Recasts after Libya accepts apology)

By Gavin Jones

ROME, May 9 (Reuters) - Libya accepted on Friday an apology from an Italian minister whose T-shirt offended Muslims in 2006, and withdrew threats of "repercussions" against Italy over the anti-immigrant party politician's inclusion in a new government.

Roberto Calderoli of the Northern League was named this week as a member of the new administration of Silvio Berlusconi, who was installed as prime minister for a third term.

A statement from the Libyan embassy in Rome said Libya noted "with satisfaction" the "public statement of regret" by Calderoli and, after further contacts with the Italian authorities, considered that "the case is closed".

Berlusconi, facing a diplomatic clash -- and possible energy sanctions -- after Libya made clear its anger at his choice of minister, said earlier he was "confident we will be able to clarify and calm down the situation with Libyan authorities".

Calderoli quit Berlusconi's last government in 2006 after wearing a T-shirt with a Danish cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad that angered Muslims worldwide. He was blamed for rioting that broke out at Italy's consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

Libya had warned of "catastrophic consequences" if Calderoli became a minister again and reacted to his swearing-in on Thursday by saying it would no longer cooperate on preventing illegal immigrants from Africa landing on Italian shores.

The Libyan government was reported to be preparing sanctions against Italy such as shelving an agreement to extend the activities of Italian energy company ENI in Libya.

ANGRY RESPONSE

Returning as minister for "simplification" -- a new post without a full ministerial portfolio -- Calderoli was asked by Italian television about Libya's angry response to his appointment, and whether he regretted the T-shirt incident.

"Mine was a message of peace and rapprochement between the monotheistic religions but was misunderstood," he said. "I hope there aren't any problems today linked to something in the past that should be considered water under the bridge."

The Libyan embassy's statement said Calderoli had had further talks with the ambassador "during which he clarified the sense of the declarations he had already made to the media of the two countries."

New Foreign Minister Franco Frattini earlier on Friday called Libya "a friend" and said Italy "is committed to helping to develop those initiatives of strong collaboration with Europe that Libya wants."

Italy is Libya's main trading partner in Europe and ENI's Libyan assets are the subject of negotiations in the company's landmark cooperation deal with Russia's Gazprom.

Earlier on Friday Libya had demanded that Calderoli either step down or apologise for the 2006 episode.

"If the Italian government does not adopt one of these two options, it has to prepare itself for confronting the repercussions from its choice," the Gaddafi International Foundation said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The Foundation is chaired by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, widely thought to play a major role in Libya's diplomacy with Western states.

Since the T-shirt incident, Calderoli has continued to offend Muslims in Italy by protesting at the construction of new mosques and threatening "pig day" protests to defile them. He once walked his own pet pig over a site intended for a mosque.

The Northern League, a long-standing ally of Berlusconi, is know for its vehement anti-immigrant rhetoric. The party made surprise gains in mid-April's election and was rewarded with four cabinet posts, including the Interior Ministry.

(Additional reporting by Stephen Brown and Lamine Ghanmi; Editing by Charles Dick) ((gavin.jones@reuters.com; +39 06 8522 4351; Reuters Messaging: stephen.brown.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: ITALY LIBYA/