Back to the future-Met’s 125th annyversary Gala
January 30, 2009
The Met will pay tribute to its first 125 years with a gala celebration on March 15. Conducted by James Levine, a host of Met stars will be heard in some of their most acclaimed roles, as well as in excerpts from operas they’re scheduled to sing in upcoming seasons. The gala will recreate classic productions from Met history–but this visual exploration of the company’s past will look anything but dated.
That’s because Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, the minds behind last season’s hit production of Satyagraha, will be creating innovative video projections to reimagine such productions as the 1883 Faust that opened the Met, Tyrone Guthrie’s 1952 Carmen, and the first Parsifal outside Bayreuth (1903), in a decidedly up-to-the-minute way. McDermott and Crouch recently told the Met’s Charles Sheek how they’ll bring the past into the present.
This legendary image of Enrico Caruso in the first La Fanciulla del West in 1910
will be recreated with Plácido Domingo in the role of Dick Johnson.
How did your approach to the 125th Anniversary Gala develop?
Phelim McDermott: When Peter Gelb first approached us he said he wanted to create an event that wasn’t just a series of arias from different operas but something that gave a sense of theatrical continuity. We talked about the history of the Met and found a lot of old photos in the Archives that are very evocative and exciting. But we didn’t just want to honor the wonderful singers who have been part of this company–we also want to honor the history of the building. So it becomes that whole journey from the beginning to the present day.
How will the physical space of the Met influence your staging?
PM: I see the building itself is a character–a place where all these amazing singers have appeared. Julian Crouch: This is our first Met production that has been created exclusively for this theater. So we wanted to be sure to use the lifts and wagons that are built into the stage that have helped make this opera house such a unique and impressive venue.
You’re recreating scenes from classic Met productions through the use of projections. How does that work?
JC: In some cases we actually project the original scenery onto a variety of surfaces. But overall, our attempt is not to be a slave to realism. Rather, we are focusing on things that have a historic importance and a theme.
PM: In one section, which is dedicated to the productions of Franco Zeffirelli, we’re using some of his original design drawings. I think the audience will be delighted to see something that is familiar but a bit different. To make this happen, we’re working again with Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer from Fifty Nine Productions, who created the projections for Satyagraha and Doctor Atomic.
But it’s not all projections.
PM: No, the scenic department has also recreated some of the original drops and scenic elements. It’s very exciting to see because one might think these old sets would look out of date. Actually they look really fantastic in the space.
Marc Chagall designed the Met’s 1967 Zauberflöte (above). His painting,
The Triumph of Music, which hangs in the Met lobby, will be recreated at the gala
in an animated sequence (a few frames of which are seen below), accompanying
the overture to Mozart’s opera.
The gala will include excerpts from more than 20 operas in various languages. How will you tie it all together?
JC: The program has been arranged to have a musical flow, and we are following that lead visually. There will be recurring themes and motifs to give shape to the entire evening.
PM: The opening sequence of the second half will be an animated projection of The Triumph of Music, the Chagall painting that you see when you enter the Met, to the overture from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. In the chronological order of the program, this sequence takes us to the new Met. The entire program mirrors the journey from that first performance of Faust in 1883 through the different operas that have been staged over the following 125 years, ending with a celebration of all the singers who have appeared at the Met–including the ones who are singing at the gala.
How many people are involved with the staging and design?
PM: Blimey, a lot. Costumes, sets, singers, stagehands, extras… It’s going to be a really challenging event. And we have to bring together all those singers!
One of them will be Plácido Domingo, whose 40th anniversary with the Met is also being celebrated with this gala.
PM: He will be singing in a number of things, but what I’m most excited about is the recreation of the Met’s 1910 world premiere of La Fanciulla del West. There’s this famous picture with Caruso in the center, and we’ll recreate that with Plácido, who will be standing in the ghost of Caruso, as it were. There’s something very touching and exciting about the idea of this old production being recreated and these two singers becoming connected through the years. I think it’s going to be really beautiful.
The Met’s 125th Anniversary Gala is on March 15, 2009. For information on gala tickets, please contact the Met box office at 212-362-6000.
Some of the stars scheduled to appear in the 125th Anniversary Gala include Roberto Alagna, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Stephanie Blythe, Joseph Calleja, Natalie Dessay, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Angela Gheorghiu, Marcello Giordani, Maria Guleghina, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Maija Kovalevska, Mariusz Kwiecien, Waltraud Meier, James Morris, René Pape, Sondra Radvanovsky, John Relyea, and Deborah Voigt.
Photos: Metropolitan Opera Archives. Animation Stills courtesy of Fifty Nine Productions.
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/interviews/detail.aspx?id=6592
9/11 Memorial To Open On 10th Anniversary
January 30, 2009
The “Tribute in Light” memorial shines behind the Statue of Liberty on March 11, 2002 on the six-month anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks in New York City. The two light beams served as a temporary memorial, but a permanent reminder is scheduled to be in place in the next few years.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/911-Memorial-To-Open-On-10th-Anniversary.html
Jose Villa Soberon,cuban sculptor, beyond chisel carvings
January 30, 2009
Cecilia Crespo
• THE great sculptor Constantin Brancusi once said that one reaches simplicity as one approaches the real meaning of things. Today, I am taking his words for my own on referring to the work of the most recent winner of our National Visual Arts Prize: José Villa Soberón.
Born in Santiago de Cuba 58 years ago, this artist presents to us his representative three-dimensional universe, using diverse materials, of pieces that are both imposing and simplistic at the same time. Beyond his well-known sculptures of John Lennon, the Gentleman of Paris and Mother Teresa of Calcutta – to mention just a few of his tangible and corporal sculptures – Villa uses the twists and turns of abstraction as his preferred discursive strategy.
With an elegant simplicity, he presents us with an art that is measured, perhaps even a touch laconic, without affecting his expressivity and lacking superfluous affectations, and with harmonic combinations of space and volume.
His pieces are usually monochromatic even though they occasionally combine the full gamut of the materials with which they were created. Figurative, lavish and life-size portraits, they are characterized by smooth contours and a masterly care of proportion; while the abstracts, those we appreciate when the artist feels that in reality his chisel is crying out with its own voice, demonstrate an alternation of undulating and sharp lines, a fondness for large-scale formats and a sober air, without the harshness and refinement of formal variegation.
His sculptural language functions as a prolongation of himself and his creative impression has placed him among the most representative contemporary figures of the unfortunately-named “Cinderella of Cuban Art”.
Despite the fact that he is better known for his commemorative sculptures and, in particular, for his popular portraits, Villa considers himself an abstract artist. He always wanted to be a sculptor. He was very clear about that from the age of 15 when he began at the National Art School (ENA), even though it was in a municipal school in Guantánamo that he discovered his vocation early on. A significant number of years have passed since that stage of revelations; a lot of things have occurred to this tireless creator and he has journeyed far along his path.
Using the presentation of the award as a fundamental pretext, we spoke with the artist about certain determining aspects of his career.
Have you ever felt the need to make a foray into other branches of the visual arts?
As a creator, I feel that I’m a sculptor. I think it’s almost the only thing that pleases me and that I know how to do. Since I graduated, I’ve been permanently working as a sculptor and I’ve never seriously experimented with other art forms. Among other things because I’ve always had a lot of conflict in terms of time and the little that I do have for creation, I prefer to devote it to sculpture because it’s my favorite and the one that provokes my necessity to create.
From your fundamental perspective as a creator, how would you describe your work?
My work fundamentally comes from the urban school. I have tried to produce pieces that could be situated in an urban space, on the street, in a building. I’ve never worked much with galleries or museums in mind. I’m interested in planning work that speaks directly to spectators in a determined site which, as an idea, determines a group of strategies in order to work, and also between the work itself and the environment. A lot of the time, they are pieces that I cannot produce by myself because they need the cooperation of institutions. Then they end up being tailor-made pieces, providing responses to needs of this kind that have determined projects. As you know, I have a fondness for abstraction, despite being better known as a figurative artist and it is, without doubt, what interests me most. When I was young, I tried to undertake this portrait project, this commemorative sculpture that is much more humane. I wanted to avoid creating those statues that are characterized by very theatrical poses; these are more natural, less artificial, life-size pieces that are incorporated into the environment.
It was a project that I was never able to undertake at that time, particularly because this kind of work requires resources and support and people’s belief in you. Then came an artistic project which, on a personal level, was very important and that’s all my abstract work, very much related to the expression of the material, searching for expressions relative to the space such as how the material is integrated into diverse special relationships. Later, by pure chance, and almost as an experiment, when the contest to create the statue of Lennon was announced, I took part and won the prize with an idea that was quite old and, to my amazement, I was successful.
This project had not been well-received prior to this because everyone thought that it was not good to depict these personalities in such a familiar way. They said that it was minimizing the magnitude of their stature. But it has amazed me that after creating the Lennon statue, many other opportunities and possibilities have emerged, not just for me, because other artists have searched for other artistic solutions that are similar to these. I had the same kind of doubt about this project, I’ll say it again, if I had to label my work, I would say it was abstract. Figurative sculpture has given me a tremendous relationship with the public. Generally-speaking, visual artists are not accustomed to these kinds of repercussions; we deal with a more elitist public, critics and other artists, but this work has been extremely popular and recognized by everyone.
How have you been able to carry out so many roles at the same time without it affecting your work?
I’ve shared my life with other work, I’ve been a teacher, and in the cultural leadership, but the secret is to undertake all these tasks from the perspective of an artist. People have always been able to see the sculptor who lives inside me because it is precisely what interests me most in life. Being a teacher has been the least traumatic of the three because we nourish ourselves on mutual opinions. The work of artists and, particularly, sculptors is very solitary and there is a tendency to isolate oneself and, for this reason, having a relationship with students is a magnificent thing. I believe that this fragmentation of my time is possible because I have a great vocation that leads me to participate in projects of a social nature, such as those at UNEAC and the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), but always conserving the artist that I am.”
What does winning the National Visual Arts Prize mean to you?
I was very surprised. I’ve lost count of the times that I’ve been nominated but I never expected that it would be my turn this year. Prizes have always confused me a great deal…I still have not been able to take it what this means. I hope it will help me to defend my space in order to be able to continue creating and not that it marks the end of my artistic work.”
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/diciembre/juev4/Jose-Villa.html
picture from reuters
By Michael Stott
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Raul Castro, the first Cuban president to visit Russia since the Cold War, signed a partnership pact with Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev on Friday intended to revive the once flourishing alliance between the two countries.
Castro, wearing a dark suit and white shirt rather than the battle fatigues beloved of his brother Fidel, opened a meeting with Medvedev by recalling the long-standing ties between Moscow and Havana — a constant irritant to the United States.
“We are old friends, we have known each other in good (times) and bad, the ones when you really get to know friends best,” the 77-year-old Raul said. “This is an historic moment, an important moment in relations between Russia and Cuba.”
Medvedev congratulated Cuba on the 50th anniversary of its communist revolution and sent his best wishes to Raul’s 82-year-old brother Fidel, who led Cuba since 1959 but retired as president last February due to ill health.
“Your visit to our country opens a new page in the history of Russia-Cuba relations and will mean their elevation to the level of strategic partnership,” the Russian president said.
The formal meeting, which lasted under an hour, was followed by the signing of agreements giving Russian food aid and a $20 million loan to Cuba to buy Russian construction, energy and agricultural equipment.
Financing was agreed for the delivery of Tupolev 204 civilian aircraft and Russia will donate at least 25,000 tons of grain to help resolve food problems on the island.
Russian power company Inter RAO signed an agreement to build a power station in Cuba, and Russian vehicle manufacturers Kamaz, Avtovaz, Zil and Gaz are interested in operations in Cuba, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Igor Sechin added.
No figures were disclosed.
Castro did not give a news conference and details of his agenda in Moscow over the weekend were not available, even to the Cuban press pool traveling with him. Castro was to meet Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Defense cooperation was not mentioned.
Moscow closed its last military installation in Cuba, a radar base which Washington said was used to spy on the United States, in 2002 as a cost-cutting move.
There was been no sign of any fresh attempts to establish facilities on the island.
Asked afterwards by a reporter about possible military cooperation between Moscow and Havana, Sechin responded: “Why are you interested in that ?
reuters.com
Gulf News-UN seeks $613 million in aid for Gaza war victims
January 30, 2009
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By Francis Matthew, Editor At Large |
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Davos: The United Nations on Thursday launched an emergency appeal for $613 million (Dh2.3 billion) to help Palestinians recover from Israel’s attack on Gaza. “Help is indeed needed urgently,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “As a father of two children, I share the trauma I saw in Gaza,” he said during a powerful and very personal launch of the new UN Flash Appeal for humanitarian aid for Gaza victims. “I gave the people of Gaza my word. I promised that the UN would do all in its power. I appeal to the world to keep my word,” said Ban.
The Gaza Flash Appeal intends to provide basic life saving aid, remove the debris of war – including unexploded ordinance – provide emergency infrastructure help and start the rebuilding of the economy, Ban Ki-moon said. Sitting beside him, Sir John Holmes, Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, made clear that the UN is calling for an end to the blockade and the full re-opening of all border posts, so aid can get through and the economy can be rebuilt. “We can only get 150 trucks a day through at the moment, and we need to get 500 to 600 trucks a day. We want to use all the border posts,” said Holmes. “Hundreds of thousands of people have no power or sanitation, and this is not just because of the recent war, but also to 18 months of blockade.” He added; “We need to both deliver the humanitarian help and also stop the deprivation of livelihood to the population”, explaining how the plan will help the people of Gaza recover from the total devastation. The Israeli attacks on the UN compound were “unacceptable and terrible” said Ban Ki-moon. “I saw the UN compound destroyed, and I was frustrated and angered. There are allegations of violations of humanitarian laws and we want a full explanation” he said. “I met Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign Minister Livni and they promised they will get back to me. But I will set up our own UN investigation into what happened.” Ban Ki-moon he is “very much encouraged” by Obama’s cooperation with the UN and his efforts in the first 10 days of his presidency to spur the Middle East peace process. Ban Ki-moon said he spoke with Obama by phone about the Middle East and told him the new administration “should take this as a matter of priority,” the UN chief said during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland yesterday. He praised Obama’s move in sending Middle East envoy George Mitchell. “That’s very encouraging,” Ban said in the interview. “The United States can lead this Middle East peace process. Diplomacy Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s new Mideast envoy turned his attention to the Western-backed Palestinian government in the West Bank yesterday, seeking to prop up a Gaza ceasefire and restart broader peace talks even as rockets thudded into southern Israel and Israeli warplanes attacked new targets. George Mitchell said on Thursday that opening the Gaza Strip to commercial goods would help to choke off the smuggling that Israel fears could replenish Hamas’s weapons stocks. But he said the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas must help to supervise the border posts, a demand that has been a major sticking point in Egyptian-brokered negotiations with the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers for a long-term ceasefire. But a flare-up of Gaza violence underscored the more immediate priority – shoring up the 10-day-old ceasefire. Palestinians fired a rocket into Israel early yesterday, and residents of the south Gaza town of Khan Younis said an Israeli airstrike wounded a man riding a motorcyle and five passers-by, among them children walking home from school. http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10280087.html |
German-owned oil tanker hijacked in Gulf of Aden
January 30, 2009
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Agencies |
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Nairobi: Somali pirates hijacked a German-owned tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas on Thursday, the first ship seized in the Gulf of Aden in nearly four weeks. A decline in the rate of successful attacks since foreign navies rushed to the busy sea lane has raised optimism among shippers that the menace was being curbed, but pirates have been seeking ways to evade the warships. The Longchamp was hijacked with a crew of 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian as it was headed from Europe to the Far East, Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, told reporters. Hamburg-based ship operator Bernard Schulte Shipmanagement confirmed the hijacking. It said no demands had been made.
Shipping information service Lloyd’s List put the Longchamp’s size at 4,316 deadweight tonnes, over 70 times smaller than the Saudi supertanker held in November and released on Jan. 9 after the world’s biggest ship hijacking. Liquefied petroleum gas, a fuel, is highly flammable. Somali gunmen have been causing havoc in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, hijacking dozens of ships last year. The attacks have raised insurance costs, prompted some owners to go round South Africa instead of via the Suez Canal and triggered an unprecedented deployment by naval forces from the United States, European Union, China, India and others. http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10280087.html |
The European Union will need time to solve the difficult issue of whether to help President Barack Obama shut the Guantanamo
January 29, 2009
picture from google
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will need time to solve the difficult issue of whether to help President Barack Obama shut the Guantanamo jail by taking in inmates, the bloc’s anti-terrorism chief said on Thursday.
“President Obama said he will need a year to close Guantanamo, it shows how difficult it is,” EU anti-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove told reporters.
“So we should not ask the EU to answer in 15 days, that would not be serious … the ministers will discuss it again,” he said after the bloc’s foreign minister were split on this issue when they first discussed it at a meeting on Monday.
A day after being sworn in last week, Obama ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where prisoners have been detained for years without charge, some subjected to interrogation that human rights groups say amounted to torture.
Analysts say helping shut Guantanamo would be a good way for the EU to mend transatlantic ties, damaged over the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
“We are not at a point where we can say this country takes in three (inmates) and that one five, we are not there yet … it is a very complex issue, it is not yes or no, black or white,” de Kerchove said, pointing to complex legal and security implications.
He recalled that under the Bush administration, Washington tried in vain, for years, to persuade its allies in the 27-nation EU to take in detainees who cannot go back to their home country and whom the United States does not want either.
EU foreign ministers said on Monday they expected the new U.S. administration to contact them quickly with the same demand.
De Kerchove said things were different now because Obama’s decision to shut the prison, widely viewed as a stain on the U.S.’s human rights record, was part of an overall shift in U.S. anti-terrorism policy, including giving up on water-boarding practices.
There are about 55-60 “cleared for release” detainees, including Chinese Muslim Uighurs, together with Libyans, Uzbeks and Algerians, who it is feared could face persecution if they were sent back home.
De Kerchove said it would be up to each EU state to decide if it wanted to take in inmates but that the bloc would discuss whether it could at least coordinate these efforts and if it could give financial help to non-EU countries to help them take in some inmates too.
Obama’s decision to shut Guantanamo has been widely welcomed across the world. Even the Taliban, toppled in the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan, said on Tuesday that this plan was “a positive step.”
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
reuters.com
French crowds march for job security, pay rises
January 29, 2009
pictures from reuters
By Estelle Shirbon
PARIS (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of teachers, nurses, factory workers and plumbers marched through French cities on Thursday to demand pay rises and protection for jobs.
The demonstrations were the high point of a nationwide one-day strike called by France’s eight main trade unions to try to persuade President Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to do more to help ordinary people overcome the economic crisis.
But the stoppage, billed as a “Black Thursday,” did not bring France to a halt as previous strikes have done. Public transport continued to run, albeit on a reduced and erratic schedule.
“The government has taken measures for banks but today it is the workers who are suffering,” said Charles Foulard, a technician at a refinery run by energy giant Total.
“This crisis comes from the United States, it’s the financial bubble that is bursting. It’s not for the workers to pay for that,” he said as crowds gathered at the Place de la Bastille in Paris, birthplace of the French Revolution.
In a rare show of unity, the unions drew up a joint list of demands for the government and companies, demanding that Sarkozy drop reforms that they see as a threat to public services and aim stimulus measures at consumers rather than companies.
Specific demands included better pay and conditions for public transport workers as well as dropping plans to reform the health sector, cut 13,500 jobs in education this year and change the status of the state-owned post office.
TEACHERS AND RAILWORKERS
One in three schoolteachers and rail workers and one in four workers at the post office and the electricity company EDF walked off the job, according to management.
Private sector participation was lower. Workers from the carmaker Renault marched in Le Havre while one in six employees at bank LCL were on strike, management said.
For its part the government vowed to press ahead with its reforms.
“The government will not stop reforming a country that needs it,” Education Minister Xavier Darcos said on LCI television.
France’s economic woes are less severe than Spain’s or Britain’s but its jobless rate is rising, hitting 2.07 million in November, up 8.5 percent on the year. Unions say Sarkozy’s 26 billion euro ($34 billion) stimulus plan is not enough.
“I am protesting against wages that are stagnating, demands on workers that are constantly increasing, and understaffing. It’s my first strike in the 20 years I’ve been on the job,” said Malika Youcef, who works at a state school canteen in Paris.
Unions reported big turnouts at demonstrations in the main cities and smaller towns. More than 100,000 took to the streets of Marseille.
reuters.com
picture from google
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – Three activists stormed an office of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s political party in St Petersburg on Thursday to accuse him of ignoring the plight of ordinary people in the economic slowdown.
Two members of the banned National Bolshevik Party handcuffed themselves to a radiator while another set off fireworks, closing a United Russia office in Russia’s second city for 30 minutes, a party official said.
The protesters demanded the government stop spending billions of dollars to bail out “banks and oligarchs” and instead freeze tariffs for electricity and public transport, National Bolshevik official Andrei Dmitriyev said.
“We demanded a meeting with Putin,” Dmitriyev said. “I have not doubt that our demands will be put on Putin’s desk.”
Police detained all three protesters.
(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
picture from reuters
By Andrew Hammond
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – U.S. envoy George Mitchell said on Thursday that opening the Gaza Strip to commercial goods would help to choke off the smuggling that Israel fears could replenish Hamas’s weapons stocks.
But he said the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas must help to supervise the crossings, a demand that has been a major sticking point in Egyptian-brokered negotiations with the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers for a long-term ceasefire.
“To be successful in preventing the illicit traffic of arms into Gaza, there must be a mechanism to allow the flow of legal goods, and that should be with the participation of the Palestinian Authority,” Mitchell said after meeting Abbas.
Abbas’s Western-backed Palestinian Authority holds sway only in the West Bank after Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from his Fatah movement in fighting in 2007.
Rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli air strikes over the past two days have threatened to undermine Mitchell’s efforts to consolidate a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas that went into effect on January 18, ending 22 days of fighting.
Militants launched one rocket from Gaza into Israel late on Wednesday — the first since the January 18 ceasefire — and another on Thursday. No one was hurt.
Israeli aircraft then struck in the southern Gaza Strip, attacking a metal workshop that the military called a weapons factory, causing no casualties; and a motorcycle, wounding two militants and 10 youths passing by, medical workers said.
While Israel said ending rocket fire at its towns was the main aim of its assault on Gaza, Hamas insists there can be no lasting truce until Israel ends a near-total blockade of goods traffic into Gaza, tightened when Hamas came to power.
U.S. President Barack Obama dispatched Mitchell on his week-long mission in an early signal of the new administration’s commitment to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Speaking on Al Aqsa TV, Haniyeh cited Obama’s campaign pledge to bring change after the Bush presidency.
“We are hopeful that there will be a full review by the president and his administration regarding the Middle East and specifically the Palestinian case,” Haniyeh said.
But with an election approaching on February 10, Israeli leaders have been talking tough on security, a main voter concern.
They have pledged a strong response to a blast that killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza border on Tuesday and to the rockets. Palestinian militants said the rockets were payback for Israel’s killing of three Palestinians since the truce began.
Some 1,300 Palestinians, including at least 700 civilians, were killed during Israel’s Gaza offensive, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the territory. Israel put its losses at 10 soldiers and three civilians.
Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who tops opinion polls ahead of the election, saw more violence ahead.
reuters.com
