Oil of War

TOKYO: Seven residents of a nursing home for the elderly in northern Japan died in a fire early Saturday morning, media reported.

The seven, four women and three men aged in their 60s to their 80s, died when the blaze swept through the wooden building in Sapporo on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, Kyodo news reported, quoting local police.

The agency said a female resident and a member of staff were also injured in the fire, which broke out in the early hours.

WASHINGTON: In a rare, sharp rebuke, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday chided Israel for plans to build new settler homes saying it sent a “deeply negative signal” about Israel’’s ties to its top ally.

In unusually harsh words, Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington strongly objected to the announcement made during a landmark trip to Israel by US Vice President Joe Biden.

“The United States considered the announcement a deeply negative signal about Israel’’s approach to the bilateral relationship,” the top US diplomat told Netanyahu in an early Friday morning call.

And she added that it ran “counter to the spirit of the vice president’’s trip,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

It was an unusually strong rebuke from the United States for its main regional ally and came as Israel Friday sealed off the West Bank amid tensions in Jerusalem over the plans.

Israel announced Tuesday during Biden’’s visit that 1,600 new settler homes would be built in predominantly Arab east Jerusalem.

The announcement triggered fury among Arab and Palestinian leaders, just as fledgling indirect talks appeared to have been coaxed back to life by the United States.

Clinton told the Israeli leader that “she could not understand how this happened particularly in light of the US strong interest in Israel’’s security,” Crowley added.

“And she made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words, but through specific actions, that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process.”

UNITED NATIONS: A top UN official on Friday played down risk of renewed fighting between Israel and Lebanon’’s Shiite movement Hezbollah but urged the two sides to refrain from further “inflammatory” words.

Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, told reporters that he briefed the Security Council “on the recent rise in rhetoric and public threats between Israel and Lebanon which have generated concerns of a renewed confrontation.”

“This public rhetoric and brinkmanship contravenes the spirit of (Security Council) Resolution 1701 and is utterly unhelpful,” he noted.

Resolution 1701 ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. It has not led to a permanent ceasefire.

Williams said that in his private talks with Israeli and Lebanese officials, both sides, in contrast to some of their public utterances, “continue to express their commitment to the prevailing cessation of hostilities and to the full implementation of Resolution 1701.”

“I believe that it is these private statements, rather than the public rhetoric, that convey their true intentions and I have called on all relevant parties to desist from inflammatory statements,” he added.

The action prevents Palestinians from entering Israel because of fears of unrest following recent protests. The closure began at midnight Thursday and will end at midnight Saturday.

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A pair of suicide bombers targeting army vehicles detonated explosives within seconds of each other Friday, killing at least 43 people in the eastern city of Lahore and wounding about 100, police said. It was the fourth major attack in Pakistan this week, indicating Islamist militants are stepping up violence after a period of relative calm.

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There have been three deadly earthquakes already this year — in Haiti, Chile and Turkey — and a fourth that caused damage in Taiwan. Is this a coincidence? Seismologists can’t answer that question directly, but they say there’s a growing realization that big earthquakes can trigger other earthquakes many thousands of miles away.

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Suicide bombers targeted the Pakistani military in Lahore Friday. It was the fourth major attack in Pakistan this week, indicating Islamist militants are stepping up violence after a period of relative calm.

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates is wrapping up a week-long tour through Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. A common thread ran through talks in all the capital cities he visited: Iran. U.S. allies are raising concerns ranging from Tehran’s meddling in Afghanistan to its nuclear ambitions.

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