Hamas won’t stop rocket attacks on Israel

Full Story At CNN.com

GAZA CITY (CNN) — Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into southern Israel on Monday despite a 10-day Israeli military campaign that reportedly has left more than 500 Palestinians dead.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar says rocket attacks on Israel will continue.
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Neither Israel nor the Hamas leaders in Gaza showed any sign of considering a cease-fire in the face of continuing international pressure to do so.

Israeli forces bisect Gaza, surround biggest city

Full Story At Yahoo! News

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, bisecting the coastal territory and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against Hamas gained momentum.

Thousands of soldiers in three brigade-size formations pushed into Gaza after nightfall Saturday, beginning a long-awaited ground offensive after a week of intense aerial bombardment. Black smoke billowed over Gaza City at first light and bursts of machine gun fire rang out

After 50 years, what’s next for U.S.-Cuba ties?

Full Story At msnbc.com

WASHINGTON — As Cuba marks the 50th anniversary of its Communist revolution this week, it is looking to Washington and wondering how Barack Obama, the 11th U.S. president to face the Castro regime, will change the stormy relationship with Havana.

On Jan. 1, 1959, revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro overthrew the U.S.-backed government of President Fulgencio Batista.

Ship owners want military to stop Somali pirates

Full Story At  CNN.com

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A shipping body and tanker owners from around the world on Monday called for a military blockade along the coast of Somalia to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea.
Russia has already said it will send more ships to patrol the area off the coast of Somalia.

Russia has already said it will send more ships to patrol the area off the coast of Somalia.

Peter Swift, managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, said stronger naval action — including aerial and aviation support — is necessary to battle rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.

Some 20 tankers sail through the sea lane daily but many tanker owners are considering a massive detour around southern Africa to avoid pirates, which will delay delivery and push cost up by 30 percent, he said.

The association, whose members own 2,900 tankers or 75 percent of the world’s fleet, opposes attempts to arm merchant ships because this may escalate the violence and put crew members at risk, he said.

Veterans in focus: Brothers fighting brothers

Full Story At CNN.com

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — World War II didn’t just divide the world. It also divided four brothers.
Ken (left) and Harry Akune served in the U.S. military during World War II.

Ken (left) and Harry Akune served in the U.S. military during World War II.

Not long after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Harry and Ken Akune were sent to live in an internment camp in Amache, Colorado. When the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Service came to their camp to recruit Japanese-speaking volunteers as interpreters, they joined so they could prove their loyalty to their country.

Across the world in Japan, their father Ichiro was raising the rest of his large family — which had returned to his home country after the death of his wife — in a fishing village, Kagoshima, on the island of Kyushu. The youngest brothers, Saburo and Shiro, were just teenagers when they were drafted into the Imperial Japanese Navy.

The brothers, four of the Akunes’ nine children, had all been born or raised in the United States; Ichiro Akune owned a grocery business before moving back to Japan. Harry and Ken had been sent back to America to work and earn money for the family. Video Watch how brother fought brother during the war »

Harry and Ken graduated from language school in 1942 and were dispatched to the Pacific Theater. Ken served in Burma at the Office of War Information. His job was trying to create propaganda to persuade the Japanese to surrender rather than sacrifice their lives on the battlefield. Harry served in New Guinea and the Philippines.

Stealth Destroyer is Largely Defenseless, Admiral Says

More at Wired.com

Two weeks ago, the Navy canceled plans to build the rest of its hulking stealth destroyers. At first, it looked like the DDG-1000s’ $5-billion-a-copy price tag to blame. Now, it appears the real reason has slipped out: The Navy’s most advanced warship is all but defenseless against one of its most common threats.

We already knew that the older, cheaper, Burke-class destroyers (pictured) are better able to fight off anti-ship missiles — widely considered the most deadly (and most obvious) hazard to the American fleet. Specifically, the old Burkes can shoot down those missiles using special SM-3 interceptors; the new DDG-1000 cannot.