UPI NewsTrack TopNews

Hamas: Rockets won't stop

GAZA, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A senior Hamas official says the Palestinian militant group has no intention of ending its rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

Mahmoud Zahar, speaking Monday in a televised address from an undisclosed location in Gaza, said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have bestowed "legitimacy" to Hamas' continued firing of Qassam rockets, CNN reported.

"We salute the resistance men," Zarah said in the address. "They (Israeli forces) shelled everyone in Gaza … they shelled children and hospitals and mosques and in doing so, they gave us legitimacy to strike them in the same way."

Zahar, who co-founded Hamas and served as the Palestinian foreign minister under the Hamas-led government before it was dissolved by President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, said Israel's massive airstrikes and military incursion into Gaza were the real issue, CNN said.

"Our demands are clear: The problem is not in the Qassam rockets," he said. "The problem is in the aggression and the troops and the siege imposed on us."

Obama 'chokes up,' says goodbye to Chicago

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- An emotional Barack Obama said goodbye to his Chicago home and hello to Washington and what awaits him as the 44th U.S. president.

The Obamas' home for the next 10 days will be the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, before moving to Blair House on Jan. 15, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday. The family flew to Washington during the weekend -- wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha left Saturday and Obama Sunday -- so the first daughters could begin school Monday.

But leaving the Windy City was tough, Obama told reporters.

"Malia's friend had dropped off an album of the two of them together," Obama said Sunday before boarding a military aircraft used by the vice president. "They had been friends since pre-school, and I just looked through the pages, and the house was empty, and it was a little tough -- it got me. I gotta say I choked up a little bit leaving my house today."

Obama said he was looking forward to life in Washington -- even living in a hotel, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"Although living in a hotel for two weeks, we kind of did that for two years," he joked.

The inauguration is Jan. 20.

Sides vow fight seating Obama's successor

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The man appointed to fill President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat vowed to fight efforts Senate leaders may use to block his joining the chamber.

Senate leaders said they want to block Roland Burris from being seated, saying his appointment is tainted by the corruption scandal surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Senate Majority Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said Sunday Senate Democrats have the legal right to bar Burris from the session that convenes Tuesday, The New York Times reported Monday.

While Senate leaders weighed their options against Burris, the one-time Illinois attorney general's allies stood behind him, saying he has served the public for 40 years, They expressed belief that the seat given up by Obama, the only black U.S. senator, should go to another African-American.

"The U.S. Senate must reflect all of America," said Bishop Simon Gordon.

During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Reid said it would be "very difficult" for Burris to become a senator, but added he was open to negotiations.

Reid said he will meet with the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in hopes of reaching a bipartisan decision. He said he planned to meet with Burris on Wednesday.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the second-ranking Senate Democrat, said on ABC's "This Week" Blagojevich may be within his rights to appoint Burris, but the Senate is within its rights to investigate the appointment.

Burris has threatened to sue if his appointment is not recognized, telling The Washington Post, "I am a U.S. senator. I will act calmly and, if refused entry, move away from the chamber and take the next step."

Contenders wanting to lead GOP to debate

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A second round of Republican electioneering began in earnest Monday among the six candidates vying to lead the Republican National Committee.

The intense but largely unseen race moves into the public spotlight in a debate sponsored by the Americans for Tax Reform, USA Today reported.

The RNC's 168 members choose a new chairman Jan. 28.

Challenging current RNC Chairman Robert "Mike Duncan" are South Carolina Republican Chairman Katon Dawson, former Tennessee Chairman Chip Saltsman, one-time Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis.

Saltsman generated controversy by mailing RNC members a holiday CD that included the parody "Barack, the Magic Negro" to the tune of "Puff, the Magic Dragon," and Duncan surprised many by seeking re-election, the newspaper said.

John Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College near Los Angeles and a former RNC researcher, told USA Today that Saltsman's gesture was "flat-out stupid" and should disqualify him, although Blackwell, who is black, said the mailing was of minimal concern.

Pitney called Duncan's campaign to be re-elected "highly unusual. At the end of an administration, usually the chairperson leaves. That's especially true if an election has gone bad."

Besides losing the White House, the GOP lost 21 House seats and at least seven Senate seats, with Minnesota's seat still undecided.

While blaming Duncan for a disastrous election cycle isn't fair, Mississippi GOP Chairman Brad White said the GOP needs "leadership that would come in with a new face and new ideas and better translate our principles into policy."

Maliki moves to develop Iran relations

TEHRAN, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he has established a committee to develop the country's relations with Iran.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran Monday after wrapping up meetings with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other officials, Maliki said his visit to Tehran has resulted of the formation of a supreme joint committee for bilateral relations development, Iraqi broadcaster Al Sumaria reported.

Maliki said an agreement was reached to form a reconstruction services company with Iran that would come into play after Iraq has gained more stability.

The prime minister said Iraq will also cooperate with other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, in bids to accelerate Iraq's redevelopment. Maliki also told Iranian State Television that his government would not allow the use of Iraqi territory as a threat against its neighbors.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Maliki that the "treacherous" United States habitually breaks pacts such as the Status of Forces Agreement signed with Iraq, which calls for all U.S. troops to exit the country by 2011, Al Sumaria said.

Ethiopian troops enter Somali rebel area

GARBAHAREY, Somalia, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Ethiopian troops have entered parts of Somalia's Gedo region near the borders with Ethiopia and Kenya, forcing Islamist rebels to retreat, witnesses say.

Area residents said insurgents with al-Shabaab, a fundamentalist militia with reported ties to al-Qaida, have retreated in the face of an advance by Ethiopian troops allied with Somali clan chieftains in at least three Gedo districts, including the provincial capital Garbaharey, Radio Garowe reported Monday.

Al-Shabaab, however, is reportedly still in control of the key Gedo city of Bardhere it has ordered an around-the-clock curfew starting midday Sunday.

Somali militia commander Col. Warfa Sheikh Aden told reporters that local clan militias had taken over the districts from al-Shabaab without a fight. Gedo, a region along the Somali-Ethiopian border, has seen an upsurge in insurgent activity in recent weeks, Garowe Online reported.

The Somali broadcaster Shabelle Media Network said Col. Barre Hirale, a former warlord-turned-lawmaker who was forced out of the port city of Kismayo four months ago by al-Shabaab insurgents, was leading the Somali clans in Gedo.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
All Rights Reserved.