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Updated 6.45pm
ISRAEL HAS AGAIN denied claims it sabotaged ships trying to breach its sea blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The Irish Ship to Gaza group claimed that the Irish ship the MV Saoirse was damaged earlier this week while it was docked in the Turkish port of Gocek. Another boat moored in the Greek town of Piraeus was also damaged.
The boats are part of a flotilla attempting to reach the Palestinian territory. Efforts were further stalled yesterday when Greece prevented ships from sailing.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor has again dismissed the sabotage charges as “ridiculous,” calling them “sad conspiracy theories.” Palmor had previously said that the activists should “come out of the film world and start getting real. This is not Hollywood and Israel is not the bad guy”.
Meanwhile Turkish police have said that the upon initial inspection it appears that the damage to the MV Saoirse was done before it docked in Gocek. Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports that “the breakdown of the ship might not have been a result of sabotage”.
The Irish Ship to Gaza Group has said that the Turkish investigation cannot be taken at face value. In a statement today the group said that it has “very strong doubts regarding a report published in the Turkish press”. Spokesperson Laurence Davis said:
It is important to remember that Turkey and Israel, under the watchful eye of the United States, are currently attempting to heal the rift created when Israel ordered an attack on last year’s Freedom Flotilla, killing eight Turks and one Turkish-American. These diplomatic manoeuvres cast doubt on the impartiality of both the Turkish investigation into the apparent sabotage of the Irish ship MV Saoirse, and the forthcoming ‘Palmer Report’, commissioned by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to investigate the events surrounding the attack on last year’s Gaza Flotilla.
The group says that it is “beyond coincidence” that both the MV Saoirse and the Juliano suffered almost identical damage. The group provided photos of what it says is sabotage:
A spokesperson for the Irish Ship to Gaza group has also told TheJournal.ie that the remaining members of the Irish crew have now decided to return to Ireland in the wake of the Greek ban on the boats leaving for Gaza.
Greek authorities have arrested the captain of the American boat The Audacity of Hope. The 60-year-old is being held at Piraeus police headquarters and while remain there until a court hearing on Tuesday.
Greece’s coast guard said the captain of the “Audacity of Hope” faces charges of trying to leave port without permission and of endangering the lives of the boat’s passengers. The latter charge is a felony.
The “Audacity of Hope” was carrying 36 passengers, four crew and about 10 members of the media. Its attempt to sail on Friday night from the port of Perama, near Athens, was thwarted by coast guard speedboats.
- Additional reporting by AP
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iOS might be using the Mars maps instead of Earth
Google Sky Map is a great app for the astronomy nerds out there..
Nah, starwalk is better
Google sketchup for building 3d models
Sketchup wasn’t developed by google. They bought it 4 years ago and sold it off 2 years ago, so not in their portfolio anymore.
Cool
As per above. Sketchup is an amazing tool. It helped design the house we now live in for free!
Problem with the Google products is that once you start to rely on it they go and scrap it ala Google Reader and iGoogle.
Google notepad was awesome as well
Also Lively.
What’s really galling about Notepad is that they’ve now introduced a similar service called “Keep”. I won’t be switching back from Evernote.
A very good sub for google reader is greader and greader pro, available in app store.
I can see my surface rover from here…:)
I would be happy if they could just fix the bugs in Chrome, Like Flash Player using all the CPU.
It’s Groundhog Day! Saw this on twitter and LinkedIn this week. Does anybody credit the real originators of articles anymore?
It says Business Insider right there at the bottom of the article.
Right beside “about the author”
Google Encrypted is now default for all logged in Google users (note the HTTPS in the address bar when logged in)
This was in response to the allegation that the Chinese government hacked the GMail accounts of some activists because they weren’t using HTTPS.
Agreed. Google Encrypted doesn’t count as a service, it really should have been standard from the beginning.
Check out ChromeMaze
It’s a game for chrome turns any website into a ‘marble madness-esq’ maze
Another similar service to Google Art Project is Google Business Photos: a very cool new service that allows people to take virtual throughs of shops and businesses. A couple of examples here: http://niallleechphotography.com/portfolio-2/google-business-photos-my-tours/
That’s amazing! Great work Niall Leech!
Sound search is not available in Ireland for some reason. Pity, I’d prefer ab alternative to shazam and soundhound
Very interesting
Is image labeller still around? Very addictive!
Edmodo is a great google product for teachers – it’s a social media platform for schools. Powerful and very safe.
Using edmodo for college. .. great idea but can’t access lectures from my mobile so useless unless @ a pc
Just had a look at your google business virtual tours there, Niall Leech. Impressive work. Is that service available all over?
Tried to dl google sound.. not available in my country. Wtf
What browser are you usuing? There are ways around that – firefox actually have an add-on that let’s you download stuff which isn’t availabke in your country. Can also be used to view youtube vids not available in country.
The Niantic Project?
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