Militant attacks have killed at least three US-led soldiers in southern Afghanistan as foreign forces are experiencing some of their deadliest days in the country.

The Western military alliance says the soldiers died in two separate attacks, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday. No further details have been made available. - Taliban attacks on US-led foreign troops have been on the rise across Afghanistan. With a death toll of over 710, 2010 was the deadliest year for foreign military forces deployed in war-wrecked Afghanistan. At least 170 foreign troops have been killed in the war-ravaged country so far this year. According to official figures, at least 2,451 US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the invasion of the country in 2001.

A May report issued by Israeli rights group B'Tselem reveals that Israel used political and military means to take control of 77.5 percent of the land in the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area.

The Hebrew state has maintained an illegal occupation of the West Bank since 1967. The report clearly states that Israel's intent is to annex the area to the occupation state of Israel. The significance of the area is that it has the largest land reserve in the West Bank. Over 15,000 Palestinian Bedouins live there in dozens of tiny communities.

Some of the land was taken after the departure of refugees, and more than half was usurped by ”legal manipulation” and declared ”state land”, B'Tselem reported. Most of the water resources in the area have been set aside especially for the some 9,400 Jewish settlers living in the 37 settlements, that include seven outposts. The report highlights that the water taken from there, most of which is allocated for the settlements, amounts to almost one-third of the water allotted to Palestinians in the West Bank.

AFP: Israel exploits Jordan Valley, says rights group - Israel has systematically exploited the resources of the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, favouring settlers over Palestinians, a report by Israeli rights group B'Tselem found on Thursday. Entitled "Exploitation and Dispossession", the report found Israel dominated the land, water resources and even tourist sites along the strip of land which runs along the eastern flank of the West Bank, in what appeared to be a prelude to a de facto annexation of territory. "Israel has instituted a regime that massively exploits the resources of the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, far more than elsewhere in the West Bank, demonstrating its intention: to de facto annex the area to the state of Israel," the rights group said.

B'Tselem: Dispossession and Exploitation: Israel's Policy in the Jordan Valley & Northern Dead Sea

Milad Said Ayyash, 17, was shot in the stomach on Friday during violent clashes near Silwan days before planned demonstrations to commemorate the Nakba.

Milad Said Ayyash, 17, was hospitalized in critical condition in East Jerusalem Al-Mukassad hospital shortly after he was shot in the stomach. The doctors said he had no pulse when he arrived, and had already lost a great deal of blood. A Palestinian activist told Haaretz that Ayyash was allegedly shot by a security guard near Beit Yonatan in East Jerusalem. Leftist actvists said the guard shot him after a Molotov cocktail was hurled in the direction of the neighborhood which has been the site of growing tension over the last few years. Activists added that the bullet removed from his wound during surgery came from a gun and not a rifle, which is predominantly used by security guards, as opposed to Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

PIC: Boy killed as Third Intifada kicks off
PIC: IOF troops killed 7000 Palestinians in past ten years

Turkish premier Recep Erdogan has renewed his belief that Hamas was not a terrorist organization but rather a political party with official and popular legitimacy.

He said in an interview with the American CBS TV network on Thursday night that Hamas was defending its occupied country and has won elections on an anti occupation agenda. Erdogan said he was pleased the Palestinians signed a reconciliation agreement, adding that this was what his country had been working for, for years.

A demonstration has been held outside of the offices of the Australian Defense Department to protest the Australian government's arms trade with Israel.

A large part of Australia's trade with Israel is made up of contracts to buy or sell military equipment, and the two countries also share military technologies, the Press TV correspondent in Sydney reported during the on Friday. “On the subject of boycotting the arms trade with Israel, Minister for Defense Jason Clare recoiled in horror and said, 'That will cost jobs.' But they are prepared to lose a thousand jobs from their own defense department, civilian jobs, to support the arms trade,” Denis Doherty of the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign told the protesters. In 2010, then Prime Minister Kevin Michael Rudd's government signed a $300 million purchase with the Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit. These purchases were for BMS, or Battle Management Systems, complex electronics that permit integration of modern warfare technology.

The Libyan Government has claimed at least 18 civilians have been killed in a NATO attack in the eastern town of Brega, reports Sky News.

Mussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for the government of Colonel Gaddafi told Sky News that religious leaders were among the dead.

"This is the most horrendous, terrible attack so far." he said. "Last night Libyan TV were broadcasting live from a religious gathering of over 100 people in Brega town.

"After the gathering the religious leaders and civilians left and stayed in a guest house in Brega. Nato attacked the guest house at dawn today." "We are still counting and identifying the bodies but the dead are in the dozens." Graphic video has been broadcast on government-run state television.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Friday that he would seek arrest warrants on May 16 for three people considered most responsible for crimes against humanity in Libya. It is understood he will name the three individuals. Colonel Gaddafi is likely to be on the list.

Bill Van Auken: NATO air raid kills Libyan civilians in Brega
Jason Ditz: NATO air strike has hit a peace delegation in Brega, Libya

Libyan state television said NATO warships hit a Red Crescent Society building when they shelled the rebel-controlled city of Misrata on Friday.

"Barbaric naval NATO shelling targets Red Crescent centres in Misrata," al-Libiya television said in a caption. The satellite channel showed footage of medics and nurses wearing uniforms and Red Crescent insignia attending to wounded people with blood stains on their legs at a building it said was that of a Red Crescent Society. "This the result of the NATO shelling of the Libyan Red Crescent in Misrata," a caption said, as it showed one medic crying.

NATO attack Red Crescent on Missuratah . الناتو المجرم يقصف الهلال الاحمر في - VIDEO

ISLAMABAD: Parliament adopted a 12-point unanimous resolution calling upon the government to appoint an independent commission on the Abbottabad operation, fix responsibility and recommend necessary measures, including blocking of Nato supplies, to ensure that such an incident does not recur in the future. It also called upon the government to revisit and review its terms of engagement with the United States. The composition/modalities of the agreed upon independent commission will be settled after consultations between the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition.

[The resolution] strongly asserted that unilateral actions, such as those conducted by the US forces in Abbottabad, as well as the continued drone attacks on the territory of Pakistan, are not only unacceptable but also constitute the violation of principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and humanitarian norms and such drone attacks must be stopped forthwith, failing which the government will be constrained to consider taking necessary steps, including withdrawal of transit facility allowed to Nato/Isaf forces.

Raw Story: Pakistan demands no repeat of bin Laden raid, end to drone attacks
Jason Ditz: Pakistan Air Force Chief: Forces Ready to Shoot Down US Drones