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Obama visits Bethlehem’s Nativity Church attributed to Jesus’ birth
US President Barack Obama on Friday visited Bethlehem’s Nativity Church built on the site where tradition says Jesus was born, at the end of a three-day trip to Israel and the West Bank.
The visit took place later than expected because of an unexpected sandstorm which forced the president to travel by motorcade from Jerusalem rather than by helicopter as planned.
Israeli police immediately sealed off major roads across the Jerusalem, allowing the convoy to quickly move along the seven kilometres from the King David Hotel to Manger Square in Bethlehem, passing through the towering West Bank security barrier along the way.
When the motorcade reached the barrier, Israeli police vehicles peeled away, leaving the convoy to pass through the eight-metre-tall (26-foot) wall, as Palestinians and Israeli security forces stood either side, an AFP correspondent said.
As the huge motorcade wound through the steep, narrow streets of the biblical hillside town, shops were closed and small crowds of onlookers watched in silence, with no sign of the enthusiasm which usually greets the convoy.
Some held up signs of protest, one reading “No return no peace” and another saying “Gringo, return to your colony.”
Strong winds whipped through Manger Square as Obama got out of the motorcade and was greeted at the Basilica door by Abbas.
Entering through the “Door of Humility” which, with its very low lintel, forces most adults of normal height to stoop, Obama looked around the cavernous, darkened interior of the church, examining ornate gold icons as a priest read out a blessing.
In the courtyard outside, a group of Palestinian children holding US and Palestinian flags had their picture taken with the US leader before he hopped back into his vehicle and the motorcade made a hasty exit and returned to Jerusalem.
Georgia mom shot in leg and baby killed in stroller by kids with gun
A woman in coastal Brunswick, Georgia was shot in the leg and her 13-month-old son murdered in his stroller, allegedly by a pair of boys with a handgun. According to CNN, Sherry West was out walking her son Thursday morning when a pair of juveniles, one around 13 or 14 years of age and the other possibly as young as 10, approached her with a weapon and demanded her money.
“He said, ‘I am going to kill you if you don’t give me your money,’” said West.
When she replied that she wasn’t carrying any money, the older boy reportedly said, “Well, I am going to kill your baby.”
West tried to shield her child with her own body and was shot in the leg. The boy with the gun shot the infant in the head, then he and the other suspect fled on foot.
West’s son died at the scene. No witnesses have come forward and no weapon has been recovered. The boys are still at large.
Obama Gets Diplomatic Coup Before Heading To Jordan
Jerusalem (CNN) — President Barack Obama arrived in Jordan on Friday after scoring a diplomatic coup just before leaving Israel when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned his Turkish counterpart to apologize for an Israeli commando raid in 2010 that killed eight Turks and an American of Turkish origin in a Gaza-bound flotilla.
The apology, long sought by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, brought a restoration of normal relations between Turkey and Israel, two vital U.S. allies in the Middle East, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
It happened in the phone call during a final meeting between Obama and Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv minutes before Air Force One departed for Jordan.
Source: CNN
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/22/world/meast/mideast-obama-trip/index.html?hpt=po_c1
Plan to hike H-1B cap to 300,000 seen dead; 130,000 cap still possible
The U.S. Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill is expected to include an H-1B cap hike and a higher fee structure aimed at offshore outsourcers.
Work on the bill is continuing, and a snapshot of its various components were shared by three independent sources, each familiar with the discussions.
The eight senator-team, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), working on the comprehensive bill has rejected the graduated 300,000 cap proposed in the so-called I-Squared Act introduced earlier this year by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Chris Coons (D-Del.).
Instead, the legislation may seek to double the current 65,000 H-1B cap, or to set it in the low l00,000-range.
Source: Computerworld
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