CONSERVATIVES EDGE TOWARD MAJORITY IN CANADA

Japan PM enters nuclear exclusion zone By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Chisa Fujioka - APR 2,11

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's prime minister made his first visit to the country's tsunami-devastated region on Saturday and entered a nuclear exclusion zone to meet workers grappling to end the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.Prime Minister Naoto Kan spoke with refugees living in a makeshift camp in the fishing village of Rikuzentakata, decimated by the tsunamis which struck on March 11 when Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake, leaving 28,000 dead and missing.It will be kind of a long battle, but the government will be working hard together with you until the end. I want everyone to do their best, too, Kan told one survivor in a school that was now an evacuation shelter.Despite its tsunami-seawalls, Rikuzentaka was flattened into a wasteland of mud and debris and most of its 23,000 population killed or injured, many swept away by the waves.A person that used to have a house near the coast told me Where am I supposed to build a house after this?, so I encouraged this person and said the government will provide support until the end, Kan told reporters.Unpopular and under pressure to quit or call a snap poll before the disaster, Kan has been criticized for his management of Japan's humanitarian and nuclear crisis and his leadership remains in question.There are some evacuation centers that lack electricity and water. There are people who can't even go look for the dead. I want him to pay attention to them, said Kazuo Sato, a 45-year-old fisherman.Kan later entered the 20 km (12 mile) evacuation zone on Saturday and visited J-village just inside the zone, a sports facility serving as the headquarters for emergency teams trying to cool the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi plant.

ECONOMIC FALLOUT

After three weeks, operators of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are no closer to regaining control of the damaged reactors, as fuel rods remain overheated and high levels of radiation continue to flow into the sea.Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), Asia's largest power company, has seen its shares lose 80 percent -- $32 billion in market value -- since the disaster.Japan is facing a damages bill which may top $300 billion -- the world's biggest from a natural disaster.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday the Japanese economy would take a short-term hit and it could not rule out further intervention for the yen.The IMF is set to cut its 2011 forecast for Japanese growth when it unveils updated figures on April 11 in its World Economic Outlook, said IMF Japan mission chief Mahmood Pradhan.Japan's central bank is expected to revise down its economic assessment when it meets on April 6-7 in the wake of the crisis.The economic fallout in the world's third largest economy has already seen manufacturing slump to a two-year low with power outages and quake damage hitting supply chains and production.

There has been growing talk of a coalition between the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party to deal with the aftermath of the crisis.But there has been no agreement on one and the Yomiuri newspaper said opposition parties would likely insist Kan step down first.The government has already been battling the opposition to get laws in place to make the new budget, from April 1, workable. Kan wants an extra budget soon for post-quake reconstruction which would also need help from opposition parties to function.

RADIATION BATTLE CONTINUES

Hundreds of thousands of Japanese remain homeless, sheltering in evacuation centers, as the death toll from the disaster continues to rise. Thousands of Japanese and U.S. soldiers on Saturday conducted a massive search for bodies using dozens of ships and helicopters to sweep across land still underwater along the northeast coast. The teams hope when a large spring tide recedes it will make it easier to spot bodies.Radiation 4,000 times the legal limit has been detected in seawater near the Daiichi plant and a floating tanker was scheduled to be towed to Fukushima to store contaminated seawater, but until the plant's internal cooling system is reconnected radiation will continue flowing from the plant.We are trying to employ as many measures as possible (to put the plant under control). We are holding high hopes (for this storage), said a TEPCO official.In its attempt to bring the plant under control, TEPCO is looking for jumpers -- workers who, for payment of up to $5,000 a shift, will rush into highly radioactive areas to do a quick task before racing out as quickly as possible.My company offered me 200,000 yen ($2,500) per day, one subcontractor, unidentified but in his 30s, told Japan's Weekly Post magazine. Ordinarily I'd consider that a dream job, but my wife was in tears and stopped me, so I declined.TEPCO was also spraying resin onto radioactive dust in an attempt to stop it from being carried in the wind.We sprayed 2,000 liters over 500 square meters of land. We plan to evaluate the result of the test spraying on April 2nd and 3rd. It takes about 24 hours for this scattering-prevention solution to get dried, said the official.It could take years, possibly decades, to make safe the area around the plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.With its president, Masataka Shimizu, in hospital, an enormous compensation bill looming and mounting criticism of both its handling of the crisis and prior safety preparations, TEPCO may need state help, according to media reports.Kan has all but ruled out nationalizing TEPCO but some sort of injection of public funds looks inevitable.

Standard & Poor's on Friday cut its long-term rating on TEPCO by three notches to BBB+, in its second downgrade on the electric utility in as many weeks.We expect TEPCO's operating performance to remain weak, and we believe it will take a prolonged period of time for it to recover, the credit ratings agency said in a statement.(Additional reporting by Terril Jones in Tokyo, Damir Sagolj in Rikuzentakata and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

EU travel advice gives insight into Arab revolutions
ANDREW RETTMAN 01.04.2011 @ 18:01 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Yemen in considered the most at risk of violent upheaval according to travel advice from EU foreign ministries. Syria is lower down the list, while Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are considered the most safe.A list of travel advisory warnings from the 27 EU countries as published on Friday (1 April) on a recently-launched European Commission consular website shows a clear ranking of the current levels of volatility in Arab countries. Yemen tops the list of unsafe countries for EU citizens, coming ahead even of war-torn Libya in second place and followed by Iraq, Bahrain, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Israel.The rest of the ranking - put together by EUobserver on the basis of advice from different member states - covers places where only some areas are considered at-risk or where general caution is advised. The ranking continues with Morocco, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, Oman and - the most safe - the UAE.

Tens of thousands of people came out onto the streets of Yemen on Friday calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. More than 100 people have been killed in recent weeks of unrest, with both France and the UK issuing fresh warnings for citizens to leave if possible due to a rapid deterioration in the security situation.
Fresh protests also erupted in Damascus, Deraa, Qamishli and Hassakeh in Syria on Friday, with reports of three people shot dead in Damascus, bringing the recent death toll to over 60.Analysts believe Yemen is much more likely to see a revolution than Syria, and point out the dangers to Western travelers from al-Qaeda-affiliated groups on top of the political unrest. In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad is being propped up by Iran and has been assured of non-intervention by the US and France, while European visitors are normally welcomed by local people. Bahrain, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia come surprisingly high in the league table, given the efficiency with which security forces have kept down dissent or given the absence of any recent unrest in the case of Lebanon.Daniel Korski, a near East analyst for the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, said: There is a large foreign [Saudi and Qatari] force in Bahrain putting down Shia unrest and nobody knows where this is going to go.On Lebanon, he added: If Assad is toppled in Syria, it would put [Lebanon-based militants] Hezbollah under extreme pressure. It would increase the risk of a border conflict with Israel. But it's quite safe to go there for now.An EU official dealing with consular safety matters said on Saudi Arabia:There is a risk that terrorist attacks could happen at any minute. There is also a risk that if you do something that you consider perfectly normal at home, like taking photographs, you could get into serious trouble with the authorities.The risk of Syria contagion, as well as recent skirmishes with Hamas in Gaza and a bomb in Jerusalem, see Israel rate high, the experts said. Iran is in a similar position to Saudi Arabia, with a high risk of terrorist attacks and police harassment.

Korski explained that travel warnings should not be used as a substitute for political analysis because they relate to a mixed bag of issues, including old conflicts (the Sahel in Morocco, Iraq) or residual anti-Western feeling and lawlessness (Algeria), as well as current affairs.Returning to Europe on Friday from a trip to eastern Libya and post-revolutionary Egypt on Friday, he added that the travel advice is not always up to date. I wouldn't go to Libya as a tourist but you would be quite safe away from the conflict zone. I would recommend a holiday in Cairo to anybody just now, he said. He added that the UK and Denmark, due to heightened sensitivity following the Mohammed cartoons affair, give the best advice on near East travel.The EU expert noted that EU members who have large expat populations in third countries tend to have the best intelligence but tend to downplay dangers because if they raise the alarm they could spark a mass exodus. The intelligence culture in the Union today is such that no country would keep information about a clear and present danger to itself. It would have far-reaching consequences if they did,the contact said.The source added that there is a class of traveler which flocks to conflict zones rather than fleeing them: It's like a gold rush. They think that in a risk period they can really do business, that anything is possible because people are desperate for money and outside help. Like the Chinese, they go especially in periods where there is instability.Speaking on the safest country on the list, the UAE, Korski noted: There's not even a flicker of unrest there. It has the feeling of a post-prandial nap ... But you never know.

Samaria: Bibi's Gesture is Mockery
by Maayana Miskin APR 1,11

The Samaria Regional Council, which represents Israelis in Samaria, has expressed disappointment with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's gesture to the town of Itamar. Weeks after the massacre of five members of a local family at the hands of PA terrorists, Netanyahu has promised to authorize part of a city plan for Itamar, allowing for the construction of school buildings, including a permanent home for the yeshiva in which Rabbi Udi Fogel was a teacher.The promise was made in a conversation with MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), who met with Netanyahu this week.The rest of the city plan for Itamar will not be authorized, such that any new residential structures would continue to face illegal status.The gesture is nothing more than a repetition of promises Netanyahu has made in the past, said council head Gershon Mesika. This is a mockery, it's approaching fraud. It's recycling a small portion of the building plan, that relates to just some of the educational facilities in the town, Mesika explained.Mesika has spent the past several days in Knesset, pushing the authorization of the town plan for all of Itamar. Forty-five MKs from both the coalition and opposition, including several from the left-leaning Kadima party, have expressed support for its authorization, he said.

Mesika described the current situation. The Defense Minister refuses to sign the town plan for purely political reasons, then prevents the construction of homes, the establishment of effective security and healthy town development, arguing that the town plan has not been signed... Residents of the town, which was established with the government's agreement, are sentenced to a life of deprivation due only to the lack of an authorized town plan.The Samaria Council, backed by many MKs, is also demanding that the government immediately provide funding for Itamar's security. The goal is to put an end to the intolerable situation in which legalism and bureaucracy lead to unbearable loss of life, and in which the residents are forced to fund the high cost of their own defense.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Storm officials say 9 tornados raked Tampa Bay
APR 2,11

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The National Weather Service has confirmed that nine tornados raked through the Tampa Bay region on Thursday.As many as 18,000 residents remained without power Friday, a day after the vicious storms destroyed dozens of homes, flooded road and toppled trucks and small planes.The weather service says the tornados struck Polk, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties Thursday packing winds from 86 to 110 mph.In Lakeland, a tent collapsed and injured seven people gathered for the annual Sun n Fun aviation festival. A few small planes had flipped over at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport.There were multiple reports of small tornadoes across the region. Strong winds blew a Carnival cruise ship from its dock at Cape Canaveral.

NATO says its forces repel attack on Kabul base
APR 2,11

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO says its forces have successfully repelled an attack on one of its bases on the outskirts of the Afghan capital and killed at least two insurgents firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.The coalition told The Associated Press in an email that three of its soldiers were wounded in Saturday's attack, but that their injuries were not serious. NATO said at least one attacker was possibly wearing a suicide vest. It added that the attack had ended.Kabul provincial Police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi said there were reports of three attackers involved and that two died when their vests detonated. He said a third was shot.

Ireland wants to hit bank creditors, ECB says no By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press – Fri Apr 1, 9:53 am ET

DUBLIN – Ireland still wants to force foreign bondholders to bear losses in debt-crippled banks but is being blocked by the European Central Bank, which has the lenders on life support, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Friday.Ireland's bank-bailout bill officially surged Thursday by euro24 billion to euro70.5 billion ($100 billion) as part of a new round of ECB-ordered stress tests. Ireland then unveiled plans to slash its largely nationalized banking sector down to just two: Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks.Ratings agency Standard & Poor's the next day said the tests' assumptions were robust, that the worst was over, and the economy is now set to recover gradually.Although it downgraded Ireland's credit rating by one notch, citing increased risks for bondholders under new EU rules to come into effect in 2013, it expects the country to recover faster than Greece or Portugal — Europe's other two worst debt offenders.It added it didn't expect any more downgrades soon, though S&P rival Fitch warned soon after that it may cut its own BBB+ rating on Ireland soon as it assesses the stress tests and other developments since its last downgrade in December.In stock markets, traders reacted to the stress tests by chasing higher the shares of the two bank survivors, while shares of Ireland's only other publicly listed bank, Irish Life & Permanent, plunged to a record low on news it will be broken up.But as experts digested the test results, the issue of how far to push losses on the banks' bondholders remained the focus.

Noonan said Ireland intends to force at least euro5 billion ($7 billion) in losses on the most junior class of bank bondholders as part of its surging bailout bill. That represents a small concession by the ECB, which had until this week opposed such a move.But Noonan said hopes of forcing billions more in losses on senior bondholders — chiefly British, German and American banks — were again vetoed by a majority of ECB governors during negotiations that ran right up to Thursday's announcements.Noonan said Ireland would not act unilaterally against the orders of the ECB, which along with the European Commission has been against forcing losses on bondholders since Ireland's banking crisis erupted in 2008. European financial chiefs made protection of senior bondholders a condition of its November bailout agreement with Ireland's previous government, which was ousted from office three weeks ago amid voter fury over the terms of the deal.Noonan expressed frustration with Europe's plans to introduce burden-sharing — forcing the creditors of failing banks to cover some debt-restructuring costs — under new rules after 2013, too late for Ireland. He contrasted that with U.S. policies that hit bondholders early in its own banking crisis.The American way of doing things is to have burden sharing and to make creditors share in the pain. The European way is different, Noonan said.Noonan said a minority of governors at the Frankfurt-based ECB, notably Germany's Axel Weber, agree with the Irish and American position, and he still hoped it would prevail in the medium term. But he said Ireland had to give up its hopes of greater burden-sharing for now because the ECB is the key source of short-term funds for all of Ireland's banks, none of which is able to borrow on open markets.The bank in Frankfurt is supplying almost euro200 billion ($280 billion) of liquidity to the Irish banking system. We said we wanted burden-sharing but we would not do it unilaterally. We would only do it with the agreement of Frankfurt and we didn't get the agreement,Noonan told Irish state broadcasters RTE.

He said if Ireland burned any bondholders against ECB instructions, it would risk a loan cut-off and financial chaos. He said, instead, Ireland received the best we could hope for when the ECB pledged Thursday night to keep loaning Ireland's banks money regardless of whether their credit ratings are slashed further.Did we risk the liquidity flow of 200 billion (euros) being cut off, particularly when we expect a downgrade of Irish bank paper? he said.The ECB has already permitted Ireland to impose heavy haircuts on the junior bondholders at Ireland's most disastrously managed bank, Anglo Irish. It was the first to be nationalized in 2009, has cost the state more than euro25 billion ($35 billion), and is being dismantled.In October, Anglo offered its creditors holding euro3.5 billion in subordinated bonds a deal that they could be repaid a fraction of their investment, between 5 percent and 20 percent — or refuse the offer and forfeit even more. The Central Bank of Ireland last month said Ireland's six banks still have nearly euro7 billion in outstanding subordinated bonds, which is debt that gets repaid in the event of bankruptcy only after senior bondholders get their money back.Those bondholders are next in line for brutal haircuts, according to Noonan.But ECB policy means Ireland cannot impose cuts on euro16.4 billion in senior bonds that are unsecured and outside the scope of Ireland's bank insurance. Nor can the Irish prune any of the euro19 billion in secured but unguaranteed bank bonds.Secured bonds are debt backed by collateral that can be handed over in case the debt goes unpaid.Noonan said Ireland reserves the right to push the ECB for approval to discount all remaining bonds at Anglo and Irish Nationwide, should any major bondholders there seek to cash in their positions early.Like Anglo, Irish Nationwide has already been fully nationalized, forced to transfer its deposit base to surviving banks, and is being wound down. The Educational Building Society is also fully state-owned and will be merged into Allied Irish.In midafternoon trade on the Irish Stock Exchange, Bank of Ireland was 40 percent higher at euro0.31 ($0.44), Allied Irish 16 percent higher at euro0.22 ($0.31). Irish Life & Permanent fell to an all-time low of euro0.11 before rebounding to euro0.18 ($0.25), still down 54 percent on the day.

Fighting flares in Libya as Kadhafi spurns truce
by Imed Lamloum - APR 1,11

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Fighting flared around the rebel-held city of Misrata and air strikes were reported elsewhere in Libya late Friday, after Moamer Kadhafi's regime rejected a rebel offer of a ceasefire.The US military was poised to withdraw its combat jets and Tomahawk cruise missiles from the air campaign against Libya's regime starting this weekend, as NATO allies take the lead in bombing Kadhafi's forces.The move follows pledges by President Barack Obama to quickly shift command of the operation to NATO, with the US military playing a supporting role -- providing planes for mid-air refueling, jamming and surveillance.Coalition forces, meanwhile, strafed positions held by loyalist forces in the Al Khums and Al Rojban regions east and southwest of the capital Tripoli late Friday, according to Libyan state television.An Al Khums resident told AFP he heard explosions coming from a local naval base, about 120 kilometres (70 miles) east of the capital, which had been bombed by coalition forces earlier.Al Rojban is southwest of Tripoli and several towns in the mountainous area are controlled by rebel forces.Forces loyal to Kadhafi also attacked the rebel-held city of Misrata with tanks and rocket fire, a rebel spokesman said.In the rebel bastion of Benghazi, Transitional National Council leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the opposition was ready for a truce, provided Kadhafi's forces end their assaults on rebel-held cities.But government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim rejected the offer, saying Kadhafi's forces would not withdraw from towns they control.The rebels never offered peace. They don't offer peace, they are making impossible demands, Ibrahim told reporters, calling the truce offer a trick.

We will not leave our cities. We are the government, not them, he said, adding however that the government was always ready to negotiate and wanted peace.Asked about the truce offer, White House spokesman Jay Carney appeared to indicate that President Barack Obama's administration did not want the conflict in Libya to end with Kadhafi still in power.Abdul Jalil's offer came two days after rebels were driven out of a string of key oil terminals in eastern Libya they had twice seized during the weeks-old revolt aimed at toppling Kadhafi's 41-year-old regime.We agree on a ceasefire on the condition that our brothers in the western cities have freedom of expression and that the forces besieging the cities withdraw, he told reporters after meeting UN special envoy Abdul Ilah Khatib.He added, however, that the revolution still aimed to topple the regime.Khatib said he had met top officials of Kadhafi's government in Tripoli on Thursday to call for a ceasefire, lifting the siege of the western cities and access for humanitarian aid.He called for a real ceasefire that must be credible, effective and verifiable.After weeks of near anarchy, the Benghazi-based leaders of the insurrection appeared intent on cleaning up their act -- keeping civilians and raw recruits away from the frontlines in an attempt to combat the better-organised Kadhafi loyalists. At the western entrance to Ajdabiya, 54-year-old reservist Abdelkarim Mansouri explained the new tactic.We don't want any more kids to die. War is not a game. These are the orders of the military council, he said.

Since the conflict began, the rebel ranks have been a motley crew of undisciplined brawlers, held together only by the lone desert highway.One rebel said that since Thursday night, vital reinforcements and heavy weaponry from all over eastern Libya have been heading for the frontline.Rebels prevented reporters and civilians from leaving the strategic town of Ajdabiya for Brega, a key oil town about 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the west where fighting erupted early Friday, but it was unclear exactly where the frontline was or who controlled the refinery town.Three days of fighting around Brega have left 11 people dead, including eight civilians, according to estimates.A doctor and a manager at the hospital in Ajdabiya reported five civilians killed on Wednesday, three more on Thursday and three rebels died on Friday.The rebels had been beaten back by heavy shelling from Kadhafi's forces when they launched a counter-offensive at Brega in a bid to resume their march on Tripoli, started soon after the uprising began on February 15.Rebel commanders called for more air strikes by coalition forces enforcing a UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya, but the US military's top officer said bad weather was hampering the air campaign.Without air support, the ill-equipped rebels were pushed back 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the key oil hub of Ras Lanuf on Wednesday all the way east of Brega, where they regrouped on Thursday for the counter-offensive.The rebels' call for heavy armaments to match the superior firepower of Kadhafi's army, meanwhile, have been greeted with little enthusiam by western powers.US Defence Secretary Robert Gates asserted the rebels needed training more than guns but suggested other nations do that job.His French counterpart Gerard Longuet said providing weapons was not part of the UN mandate, and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen also ruled out such a move.We are there to protect the Libyan people, not to arm people, Rasmussen said.

The rebels said they have signed a deal with Qatar to market their crude oil abroad in exchange for food, medicine and -- they hope -- weapons.Ali al-Tarhoni, a senior member of the Transitional National Council in charge of oil and finance, said that under a barter deal aimed at circumventing international sanctions, Qatar would market the oil and buy humanitarian supplies for the rebels.The rebels hoped to use oil revenues to procure weapons -- any kind of arms we can get to, he added.

Hamas warns Israel of consequences after air strike
- APR 2,11

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Hamas on Saturday warned Israel of consequences after its latest air strike on Gaza killed three members of the radical Islamist group's armed wing.Medical staff and witnesses said earlier one Palestinian was also wounded in the air strike in the southern Gaza Strip.They said the target was a car driving between the town of Khan Yunis and the Deir al-Balah refugee camp.

Witnesses said they saw three charred bodies dragged from the burnt-out vehicle.An Israeli military spokesman said the raid, planned jointly with the Shin Bet domestic security agency, was a preemptive strike against militants planning to kidnap Israelis during the coming Jewish festival of Passover.An Israel Air Force aircraft hit a Hamas terror cell... planning to carry out kidnapping attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and in Israel during the Passover holiday, he told AFP.The Sinai coast of neighbouring Egypt is a popular destination for Israelis during the week-long holiday which begins on April 18 and commemorates the biblical Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.Hamas said in a statement the three dead were members of the Islamist group's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.Hamas identified them as Ismael Lubbad, Abdallah Lubbad and Mohammed Eldayah.The air strike is a serious escalation and Israel will bear all the consequences, the Brigades warned.Israeli public opinion is still inflamed over the capture by militants of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid into Israel in 2006.Shalit is still missing, believed held somewhere in the Gaza Strip.On Wednesday an Israeli air strike on southern Gaza killed an Islamic Jihad militant and wounded another, but generally the past few days have seen a return to relative calm after a spate of Palestinian rocket attacks into Israel and Israeli counterstrikes on Gaza.

The spate of tit-for-tat violence began on March 16 when a rocket fired from Gaza landed in an open area in southern Israel, without causing casualties or damage.
Within hours, the Israeli air force hit back, killing two militants from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, in what some saw as a disproportionate response.Two days later, Hamas militants responded, firing a barrage of around 50 mortar shells at the southern Israeli city of Beersheva in the fiercest bombardment in two years.On Sunday the Israeli military made a trial deployment outside Beersheva of the first batteries of its Iron Dome short-range missile defence system.But officials said that the multi-million dollar system, the first of its kind in the world, could not yet provide complete protection from all the rockets and mortar bombs fired from Gaza into Israel. Each battery comprises detection and tracking radar, state-of-the-art fire control software and three launchers, each with 20 interceptor missiles, military sources said.Despite the spike in tensions, both Israel and the militant Islamic Hamas, which rules Gaza, appear reluctant to be dragged into another bloody confrontation along the lines of the December 2008-January 2009 war, which killed more than 1,400 people, the vast majority Palestinians.

Conservatives edges closer to majority
– Fri Apr 1, 7:54 am ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – Support for the Conservative Party edged closer to a coveted majority before the May 2 federal election, according to a poll released on Friday.

The Nanos Research tracking poll of results over three days of surveys put support for the Conservatives at 39.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage points and 7.7 points ahead of the opposition Liberals. Liberal support slipped 1 point from Thursday's tracking poll to 31.7 percent.Under Canada's electoral system, a party needs around 40 percent of the vote to win a majority of the 308 seats in the House of Commons.
Among the other parties, the left-leaning New Democrats garnered 16.1 percent support, a 0.2 percentage point gain, while support for the Bloc Quebecois was at 8.5 percent, marginally down from 8.7 percent. The Green Party held 4.4 percent of support, up from 3.7 percent.The poll was a random telephone survey that Nanos conducts daily throughout the campaign, with the latest coming from a random sample of 953 decided Canadians surveyed between March 29 and March 31, with an accuracy of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.Support for all the parties has generally stayed within the margin of error, Nanos said.(Reporting by Solarina Ho)