Israelis arrest Palestinian leader
Israeli troops early today arrested the Palestinians’ deputy prime minister, the highest-ranking official to be seized since Israel began arresting Hamas members who are figures in the Palestinian government.
Nasser Shaer was taken into custody after troops surrounded his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn, the army said. No shots were fired during the raid, according to the military, which said Shaer was picked up for being a member of a terror organization.
Shaer had mainly been in hiding since Israel arrested more than two dozen Cabinet members and lawmakers nearly two months ago, shortly after the start of an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The arrests are thought to be part of a campaign to pressure the Hamas leadership to bring about Shalit’s release. Israel has also bombed Palestinian government ministries in Gaza and threatened to target Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Palestinian officials, including those from the Fatah-run executive branch, have condemned the arrests.
Toronto
S. Africa blasted at AIDS conference
South Africa came under withering attacks at the closing of the weeklong global AIDS conference on Friday, with some of the world’s leading AIDS experts accusing the government of ignoring the epidemic and promoting inadequate prevention methods.
As the 16th International AIDS Conference concluded, Stephen Lewis, the U.N. special envoy for AIDS in Africa, said that of all the things that have infuriated him in his AIDS work, “South Africa is the unkindest cut of all.”
“It is the only country in Africa whose government continues to promote theories more worthy of a lunatic fringe than of a concerned and compassionate state,” he said.
South Africa’s contentious minister of health, Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, promotes nutrition and natural remedies as key weapons against AIDS and has questioned, along with South African President Thabo Mbeki, the effectiveness of antiviral drugs.
The South African government last year estimated that 5.5 million South Africans have HIV, accounting for more than one-eighth of the estimated cases worldwide. UNAIDS estimates that more than 19 percent of people aged 15 to 49 in that country are infected.