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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Israel delays Silwan park plan


Jerusalem's mayor has decided to put off his plans for redeveloping the district of Silwan that would have seen many Palestinian homes demolished in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood. Nir Barkat's decision came after Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, asked him to allow more time "for efforts to reach an understanding with the residents". "The prime minister asked me to speak and negotiate with the residents," Barkat told reporters on Tuesday. "I of course agreed, and I am delaying submitting the programme to the planning committee while we continue to talk to residents," he said. Barkat had intended to announce the building of a new park in the Silwan neighbourhood outside the Old City known as al-Bustan to its mostly Arab residents. But Netanyahu warned that, while the city should do as it sees fit, going ahead with the project now would serve "interest groups that want to cause disputes and show Israel in a distorted light at home and abroad."

Chile struggles to prevent looting


Chilean authorities have rushed thousands of more troops to earthquake-ravaged towns across the country in a bid to contain mass looting and unrest triggered by Saturday's devastating earthquake. Michelle Bachelet, the country's president, has doubled the number of troops patrolling the worst hit areas to 14,000. Chile was hit by another aftershock on Tuesday morning, frightening many people already traumatised by Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake. Bachelet met with her cabinet ministers and said authorities were flying hundreds of tonnes of food, water and other essential items into the areas devastated at the weekend. She rejected criticism of the government's handling of the disaster, which has so far officially killed at least 723 people. "We understand your urgent suffering, but we also know that  these are criminal acts that will not be tolerated," Bachelet said. Her comments came amid growing anger that in some areas troops were standing guard over stores laden with supplies. Meanwhile, the death toll looks set to rise sharply as relief teams reach more isolated areas.