Israel on Tuesday announced that it would be expanding the permitted Gaza sailing zone for the three-month spring fishing season.

Ordinarily, Israel allows Gazan fishermen to operate up to six nautical miles (seven miles) from the coast. Beginning on Tuesday, Palestinian sailors in the southern Gaza Strip will be allowed to travel up to nine nautical miles (10.4 miles) from the shore, the army said.

There will be no change for fishermen in the northern Gaza Strip.

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Though it does not necessarily occur every spring and fall, Israel has regularly expanded the permitted sailing zone during the peak fishing season in recent years.

The announcement came amid increased tensions in the coastal enclave, as Palestinians there have held daily demonstrations along the border. These have often deteriorated to violence, with rioters throwing rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the security fence and the soldiers responding with tear gas and, at times, live fire.

The expansion was scheduled to remain in place until June, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The move was approved by military liaison to the Palestinians Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, Israel Navy commander Maj. Gen. Eli Sharvit, and the head of the IDF’s Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the army said.

Israeli officials from the Coordinator of the Government’s Activities in the Territories liaison unit, along with naval officials, met with representatives from the Gaza fishing industry and Palestinian Agricultural Ministry ahead of time in order to discuss the plans and ensure that Gazan fishermen do not stray from the approved zone.

Fishing serves as a significant source of income for thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has one of the world’s highest unemployment rates.

The military noted that the expansion of the zone for the fall season had increased the fishing yields and lowered the price of seafood in the Gaza Strip.

“This step is part of the civil policy of preventing a humanitarian deterioration in the Gaza Strip and part of the policy of differentiating between terror and the rest of the population,” the army said.

The military said this expansion would only remain in place if Gaza fishermen “respected the agreements.”

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Gazan fishermen were allowed to operate up to 20 nautical miles (23 miles) from the coast. Israel scaled that back considerably once the Hamas terrorist group came to power in 2006.

Israel and Egypt maintain a strict naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel says this is to prevent Hamas and other terrorist group from smuggling weapons into the coastal enclave, as has been attempted many times over the years.

The announcement came less than a week after Israeli security officials revealed that they had thwarted a planned naval attack off the Gaza coast by the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.

The plan was to use three fishing boats to lure in a navy ship, fire a missile at it, and then seize the wounded and slain soldiers, according to a joint statement by the Shin Bet security service and IDF.</s>Baku. 5 August. REPORT.AZ/ Israel Defense Force has completed the destruction of terrorist tunnels and withdraws from the Gaza Strip, Report informs citing ITAR-TASS.

"The Army has finished the destruction of the last known terrorist tunnel and will complete its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip by the time when 72-hour ceasefire comes into force," - the agency interlocutor said.

Earlier, Israel agreed to a proposal made by Egypt to respect the three-day humanitarian ceasefire.

Israeli Defense Force has been holding the campaign titled "Protective Egde" in Gaza from July 8, which is aimed at destruction of the network of tunnels used by Palestinian militants for attacks on Israeli territory.

According to Palestinian information reported on August 4, since launching the campaign in the Gaza Strip, more than 1800 people have been killed, about 9 thousand injured. Israel i military casualties estimated 64 people. Three more Israel civilians were killed during rocket attacks.

According to the IDF, During 29 days of operation titled "Protective Edge" Israeli troops struck 4800 goals in the Gaza Strip and destroyed 32 underground tunnels that were used for the implementation of radical attacks on Israelis, and killed at least 900 terrorists.</s>Critics of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s proposed five-year offshore leasing plan, which would open most of the nation’s offshore acreage to potential energy development, are leaning on two messages to defend their opposition to increased offshore access. First, they insist we don’t need additional offshore oil and natural gas production. And second, they suggest offshore development poses too much of a risk. They couldn’t be more wrong.

The offshore industry has a proven record of safety and has become even more so after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident. While the shale revolution and advances in on-shore energy development have claimed the spotlight over the past half-decade, the offshore industry has quietly continued to produce much of the fuel that’s so critical to both our energy security and economic health. Quietly being the key word.

Even though the offshore industry in the Gulf of Mexico produced 1.66 million barrels of oil and nearly 3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day last year, most Americans didn’t hear about or give a thought to our offshore operators. That’s not a bad thing. Smooth, safe and quiet operations are the industry’s goal.

Over the last several years, the offshore industry has redoubled its commitment to safety. For example, the industry has created or strengthened 100 exploration and production standards since 2010 — covering everything from well design and blowout prevention to safety and environmental management. And these standards carry significant weight. The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement references 96 of them in its offshore regulations.

In 2011, the industry came together to launch the Center for Offshore Safety. The COS brings together the best in offshore operations to help share what’s working so that a rising tide in offshore safety can lift all boats. The COS is a vehicle for collaboration that simply didn’t exist in the past and it has been critical in establishing and improving training and safety protocols as well as industry safeguards.

The industry also has created offshore well intervention and a containment group that can provide technology, expertise and quick-response capabilities in the event a well needs to be capped thousands of feet below the surface. While we hope these groups are never needed, having this capability shouldn’t be overlooked.

And while industry has done much to improve safety, regulations have been tightened, and continue to be tightened, as well. For example, in March the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced the implementation of a new risk-based inspection program aimed at focusing regulatory resources on those operators and facilities needing the most attention. Smart, focused regulation will always play a key role in ensuring safe offshore operations.

The offshore energy safety record speaks for itself. But do we need more oil and natural gas production? Absolutely.

Just a few years ago the United States was experiencing growing dependence on overseas energy. While the shale revolution has since made the United States the world’s largest combined producer of oil and natural gas, today’s abundance could become tomorrow’s scarcity if it is taken for granted.

Oil and natural gas remain irreplaceable to our economic well-being. Oil provides more than 90 percent of the energy we use for transportation. And natural gas heats half of our homes, is now our leading fuel for electricity generation and is a key feedstock to heavy industry. These fuels are essential today and will be for the foreseeable future.

Any responsible energy policy looks ahead. Now is the time to expand exploration offshore. While new offshore discoveries are happening off the coasts of Africa and South America, many of them made by American companies, we have had a self-imposed embargo on much of the offshore. Up until Zinke’s proposal, 94 percent of federal offshore acreage was off-limits to development.

Offshore exploration and production are safe and necessary. It’s past time for logic, reason and facts to replace tired or simply inaccurate talking points.

Bill O’Keefe is the founder of Solutions Consulting and former CEO of the George C. Marshall Institute. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.</s>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - At first glance the video looks like a promotion for a luxury offshore development, a Dubai Palm-style project on the Mediterranean. Then it becomes clear it's about Gaza and the future of the impoverished and fenced-in Palestinian enclave.

 Israel's intelligence and transport minister has long pushed the idea of an artificial island off the coast of the Gaza Strip, with plans for a port, cargo terminal and even an airport to boost the territory's economy and connect it to the world.

 But now the minister, Israel Katz, has released a slick, high-production video setting out his proposal in more detail, complete with a dramatic, English-speaking narration, colorful graphics and stirring music. [ Video here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6apf052p5kiym5o/Island_En_HD_Will.wmv?dl=0 ]

 "The artificial island initiative is aimed at providing an answer to a reality that is bad for the Palestinians and not good for Israel," says the narrator, acknowledging that the aim is in part to change the view that Israel is to blame for the deteriorating circumstances of Gaza's two million people.

 The Islamist militant group Hamas has controlled Gaza for the past decade, during which time Israel and neighboring Egypt have maintained a tight blockade, restricting the flow of goods and people in and out, in part to pressure Hamas. 

 While Israel withdrew its soldiers and settlers in 2005, it still limits Gaza's access to the sea and controls its airspace.

 "Today, Israel continues to be perceived as being responsible for the Gaza Strip and is to a large extent the only lifeline to it, even though it withdrew from the strip over a decade ago," says the narrator.

 To challenge that perception, and tackle the broader humanitarian and economic problems that beset Gaza - it is currently receiving less than three hours of electricity a day and has unemployment exceeding 40 percent - Katz's plan calls for a $5 billion investment over five years.

 It envisages an international consortium building the 1,300-acre island (525 hectares) some three miles offshore, connecting it to the mainland via a causeway, which would have a bridge in the middle that could be raised, cutting off access. 

 Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since it seized control of Gaza from the rival Palestinian movement Fatah, has long called for a sea port and wants the airport in Gaza, destroyed by Israel in 2001, rebuilt. 

 It has not commented directly on Katz's island plan, but Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the group, said: "Building a sea port for Gaza is a right of its people to alleviate their suffering and end the blockade."

 

 GAS, WATER WORKS

 The projected island would hold vast infrastructure, including cargo and passenger ports, a marina, gas and electricity terminals, a desalination plant and space for an airport in the future. 

 While Israel would retain control of security in the sea around the island, and would carry out inspections at the port, an international policing force would be responsible for security on the island and at checkpoints on the bridge.

 "In addition to its humanitarian and economic importance, and distinct security advantages, the artificial island initiative will strengthen the cooperation and relations between Israel and the countries in the region," says the video.

 While at one level the idea sounds pie-in-the-sky, Katz has presented it internationally and raised it consistently for discussion. He showed his video to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet this month, where it met with widespread approval, according to Katz's spokesman. 

 But Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has responsibility for Gaza policy, remains unconvinced and has not endorsed the proposal. He has said Gaza does not deserve any development project as long as Hamas runs the territory.

 Katz's hope is that if the Israeli government does get fully behind it, it can then be presented to international partners as a potential, if ambitious, project to finance.

 

 (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mugrabi in Gaza; editing by Mark Heinrich)</s>Teekay Offshore Partners (NYSE:TOO) was upgraded by ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday, April 2nd.

TOO has been the subject of several other reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Teekay Offshore Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Teekay Offshore Partners from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $3.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $3.19.

TOO stock opened at $2.44 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1,004.61, a PE ratio of 244.00, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Teekay Offshore Partners has a 52 week low of $1.65 and a 52 week high of $5.72.

Teekay Offshore Partners (NYSE:TOO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The shipping company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $295.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $279.56 million. Teekay Offshore Partners had a positive return on equity of 3.87% and a negative net margin of 28.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. analysts forecast that Teekay Offshore Partners will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Teekay Offshore Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $391,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Teekay Offshore Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at $118,000. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in Teekay Offshore Partners by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 114,872 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 39,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Teekay Offshore Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at about $279,000. Finally, Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Teekay Offshore Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $383,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.87% of the company’s stock.

COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: This news story was posted by Macon Daily and is the sole property of of Macon Daily. If you are viewing this news story on another publication, it was illegally stolen and reposted in violation of U.S. & international trademark & copyright laws. The correct version of this news story can be read at https://macondaily.com/2018/04/10/teekay-offshore-partners-too-upgraded-by-valuengine-to-buy-updated.html.

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. provides marine transportation, oil production, storage, long-distance towing and offshore installation, and maintenance and safety services for the oil industry. It operates in six segments: Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO); Shuttle Tanker; Floating Storage and Off-Take (FSO); Unit for Maintenance and Safety (UMS); Towage; and Conventional Tanker.

Receive News & Ratings for Teekay Offshore Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Teekay Offshore Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.</s>India has issued a call for expressions of interest to develop 1GW of offshore wind farms off the coast of Gujarat.

The National Institute of Wind Energy issued the call for global companies that have experience of developing at least 500MW of offshore projects.

Indian onshore wind manufacturers and developers with 500MW or more installed are also invited to bid, as long as they have tie ups with global counterparts with offshore experience of 500MW or over.

Interested parties must also have an annual turnover of Rs500 crores (€62m) over the last three years.

The deadline to submit an expression of interest is 5pm local time on 25 May.</s>The sickening video of an Israeli sniper apparently filming himself gunning down a Palestinian protester across the fence in Gaza then rejoicing and praising his "success" with other soldiers has been widely spread and condemned. A week before, another video documented the shooting of another Palestinian protester in the back. This video has also received wide condemnation.

We must transfer all our rage and disgust into joining a growing movement that works beyond a machinery of words and short-term clicktivism to stop Israel's crimes.

However, for Palestinians what is most worrying about these videos from the recent Gaza Great Return March is that while these horrible scenes will trigger a wave of rage, it will only last for a short period until the next crime happens.

The world has forgotten Gaza and the decade-long blockade imposed by Israel on its people. It takes the killing of 31 Palestinians to remind the international community of the biggest open-air prison in the world that has become Gaza.

While these videos present a potential archival material for human rights organisations and the International community, it is important that they, as well as hundreds of others, should not be just an "archive".

The commercial-digitalised world which we live in ensures that such videos get lost and buried under the heaps of information we consume every day. We are shocked by a video until we get used to such images and get prepared for more shocking images.

Moreover, people's struggles, resistance and sacrifices are often tailored for consumption, victims turn into trendy images and solidarity becomes a click through a keyboard. Distant and forgotten, Gaza has now become trendy again, only to receive another wave of short-term empathy.

Gaza has now become trendy again, only to receive another wave of short-term empathy.

It is also frightening that we know already by heart the arsenal of terms that is used each time Israel commits a crime against the Palestinians. The media equates between the victim and the attacker, calling it "clashes" and "confrontation"; the international community calls for "restraint", they express their "concern" and if they can afford to be harsher, they call for an "inquiry". This would probably be inquiry number one thousand, to join all those before it in a cold dark basement somewhere.

.And while any goodwill fades in the face of a well budgeted Israeli propaganda machine that terrorises media and politicians, the right to lecture the Palestinians on how to conduct their resistance becomes a practice of insolence

The root causes of violence

This is especially annoying when the world has lectured Palestinians for so long on how they should resist and, in other words, "be nice to their oppressors". Instead of pointing to the root cause of violence, the Palestinians are the ones put behind bars and ordered to prove to the world how "non-violent" they are.

This attitude is not only patronising, but also disregards the rich Palestinian culture of resistance, past and present, and their right to decide for themselves. Since the Zionist colonisation started in Palestine, there has been resistance, and it will continue as long as the colonisation continues.

Gaza protests are just a continuation of a long Palestinian history of popular protest. Not only in Gaza, but in other Palestinian cities and areas, popular resistance has been happening on a daily basis and in so many ways, through direct actions, culture, art, BDS, campaigning, creating independent economical project and so on.

Many Palestinian villages have been protesting weekly and facing the same brutality. No mainstream media attention, support or protection have been given to those taking part in the protests. Ahed Tamimi, for example, had to lose her childhood innocence so the world could take note of the struggle of a small Palestinian village, Nabi Saleh, where Tamimi hailed from, that paid a heavy price for demanding freedom and justice.

Israel, again, knows it will get away with its crimes, and therefore it keeps on committing them. We have the responsibility first to know where to point our fingers - it is certainly not against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which, according to a UN report, will not be livable by 2020 - and second to transfer all our rage and disgust into joining a growing movement that works beyond a machinery of words and short-term clicktivism to stop Israel's crimes.
Israel extends the area fishermen from southern Gaza are allowed to operate in from six miles offshore to nine miles offshore for three months. Restrictions remain unaffected in northern Gaza.