Jerusalem, March 21 (IANS) The Israeli military on Wednesday acknowledged its involvement in airstrikes that demolished a suspected nuclear facility in Syria 11 years ago.

Israel said the air raid in the eastern Deir-al-Zour region in 2007 had removed “an emerging existential threat to Israel and the entire region”. It said the reactor was close to being completed.

Previously, Israel never admitted it was involved in the strikes. On Wednesday, the Israeli censor’s office lifted a long-held prohibition on publishing information on the attack, the BBC reported.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that in the assault, dubbed “Operation Out of the Box”, Israeli fighter jets attacked and destroyed an undeclared nuclear facility in Deir-al-Zour on September 6, 2007.

Several months after the strike, the US announced that intelligence indicated the site was a nuclear reactor with military purpose.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in the past that the site was “very likely” to have been a nuclear reactor. It also suggested that it was being built with the help of North Korea.

Syria, which has joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has denied this.

The attack was a result of an extensive intelligence effort. The collection of information began in 2004 and included cooperation with “parallel security forces”, the Israeli military statement said, hinting at top-level coordination between the Israeli government led by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the George W. Bush administration ahead of the strike.

Commenting on the operation, Israel’s then Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said the Army feared the strike would spark a war in the region and took steps to prevent an escalation as part of the preparations for the operation.

Israel’s Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, who served as commander of the Northern Command during the operation, said: “The lesson from the 2007 attack on the reactor is that Israel will not accept the establishment of a capability that constitutes an existential threat to Israel. This is the message to our enemies in the near and far future.”

The issue recently resurfaced after Olmert compiled a memoir during his time in prison, where he served a 16-month corruption sentence.

The manuscript, which included a chapter about the attack and Olmert’s part in leading to the decision to execute it, was sent for review to the censor’s office.

(IANS)

People who are less emotionally stable and suffer from anxiety and depression are more likely to be addicted to their smartphones, according to a research.

Emotional stability is characterised by being emotionally resilient. The study found that being less emotionally stable was associated with problematic smartphone behaviour.

People who struggle with their mental health are more likely to intensively use their smartphone as a form of therapy and that the less conscientious individuals are, the more likely they are to be addicted to their phones.

As levels of anxiety increase, problematic smartphone use also increases, the findings showed.

“Problematic smartphone use is more complex than previously thought and our research has highlighted the interplay of various psychological factors in the study of smartphone use,” Zaheer Hussain, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby in Britain, said in a statement.

“This is because people may be experiencing problems in their lives such as stress, anxiety, depression, family problems, so in that state they are emotionally unstable, meaning they may seek respite in very excessive smartphone use. This is worrying,” Hussain said.

For the study, a team of psychologists conducted an online study with 640 smartphone users, aged between 13-69 years, to find out the association between smartphone use and personality traits.

The results showed that people who are “closed off” or less open with their emotions are more likely to have problems with smartphone use.

“They may be engaging in passive social network use, where you spend a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, browsing other peoples’ comments, pictures, and posts, and not posting anything of your own and not engaging in discussion with others, so there is no real positive social interaction while social networking,” Hussain noted.

(IANS)

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen on Thursday lifted a widely denounced state of Emergency after a period of 45 days, stating that the situation in the atoll nation had returned to normal.

“Upon the advice of the security services and in an effort to promote normalcy, the President has decided to lift the state of Emergency,” President Yameen’s office said in a statement.

The President’s international spokesperson Ibrahim Shihab said all departments had been notified.

The state of Emergency was declared by Yameen on February 5 for a period of 15 days due to a “threat to the national security” following a Supreme Court ruling ordering the release of detained opposition leaders including self-exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed.

It was extended via a resolution of Parliament on February 20 for 30 days following a request by the President.

During the 45-day state of Emergency, the government said day-to-day activities of the citizens had not been affected and tourists could continue to visit the island nation.

Meanwhile, several members of Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) detained under Emergency powers were released without charge, the Maldives Independent reported.

MDP Vice President Mohamed Shifaz, former MP Ilyas Labeeb and several council members were arrested in the build-up to the March 16 mass protest after police alleged there were plans to overthrow the government by inciting unrest and violence in the capital.

With constitutional due process rights suspended, the detainees were not informed of charges or taken against them. Their release came ahead of the expiry of the 45-day state of Emergency on Thursday night.

According to the opposition, around 60 people were arrested since the declaration of Emergency on February 5. The Emergency was widely condemned internationally including by the US and India.

(IANS)