Update from Viva Palestina aid convoy

Immigrants riot in Italy amid racial unrest

Source: Reuters
* Worst episode of Italian racial unrest in years

* Cars burned, road blocked, some 15 immigrants arrested

* Southern town still tense, thousands protest

(Recasts, changes dateline from ROME, adds violence, arrests)

By Ilario Filippone

ROSARNO, Italy, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Thousands of immigrants protested against racism in a southern Italian town on Friday, after a night of rioting that was sparked by an attack on African farm workers by a gang of white youths.

In one of Italy's worst episodes of racial unrest in years, dozens of Africans in Rosarno, in the Calabria region, smashed car windows with steel bars and stones and set cars and rubbish bins on fire late into Thursday night.

Police said at least one car was attacked while passengers were inside -- several of whom were injured.

The immigrants, who also blocked a road, clashed with police in riot gear. Some 15 were arrested and 20 were injured.

The incidents took place after white youths in a car fired air rifles at a group of African immigrants returning from work on farms, injuring two of them.

On Friday morning some 2,000 immigrants demonstrated in front of the town hall to protest against what they said was racist treatment by many locals. Some shouted "we are not animals" and carried signs reading "Italians here are racist".

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Police use drones to spy

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He visits the world's biggest arms exposition and travels to Iraq to see how one prison is attempting a new strategy with its inmates.

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Last year, Barack Obama, the US president, called Afghanistan the new frontline in America's fight against al-Qaeda linked groups.

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~ AlJazeeraEnglish ~


Wolffe: Intelligence failure may have been deliberate



Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Obama Approves $30 Billion in Military Aid to Israel Over Next Decade

As the single largest expense of the 2010 foreign aid budget, President Obama approved $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel, the first payment in a decade-long commitment that will reach at least $30 billion.

Last year, Israel’s military budget amounted to $13.3 billion, so the US funding is a significant portion of their overall expenditure. The US formerly provided both military and civilian aid, but it has since been folded entirely into military aid, at Israel’s request.

The money is not a blank check, however. The US requires that Israel spend at least 75% of the money given in military aid with US military contractors, effectively using the foreign aid budget to subsidize domestic weapon-makers.

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