Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The impoverished Gaza Strip is a "powder keg" at risk of exploding, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday during a visit to the war-torn territory.

The German minister, who arrived in the region on Saturday and held talks with top Israeli and Palestinian officials, called for efforts to rebuild the shattered enclave which was ravaged by a 50-day war last summer, the third in six years.

But he said it would only be possible if there was a halt to Palestinian rocket fire on southern Israel.

"I came out of all my discussions yesterday in Jerusalem and in Ramallah with the hope that all parties are mindful that here we are sitting on a powder keg here and that we must ensure that the fuse does not catch light," Steinmeier said.

"We shall only be able to decisively reduce the risks of a fresh escalation if we allow economic development in the Gaza Strip in addition to humanitarian aid and reconstruction," he said on a visit to Gaza City's fishing port.

That would only be possible "with open borders" -- a reference to the tough restrictions on the movement of goods and people that have been imposed by Israel and Egypt.

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German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2-R) looks on during a press conference at the sea …

"But none of this will succeed until it is certain that there will be no further rocket attacks from here, when it is no longer a launch pad," he said.

During his visit, Steinmeier toured a German-funded girls school in the beachfront Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.

But he did not meet any officials from Hamas, the de facto power in Gaza that is designated by the European Union as a "terrorist organisation".

Last year's deadly conflict claimed the lives of more than 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 people on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.

A World Bank report published in May said Gaza's unemployment rate of 44 percent was "probably the highest in the world" which, coupled with its soaring poverty levels, was "very troubling".

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Israel on Tuesday denounced as "outrageous" a UN decision to recognise a London-based Palestinian non-governmental organisation it says is affiliated with the militant Islamist Hamas movement.

In a decision late on Monday, the UN committee on non-governmental organisations voted in favour of recognising the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) as a permanent NGO with access to the world body's many forums.

The vote passed by 12 votes to three, with three abstentions.

The move was roundly denounced by Israel which outlawed the group in 2010, accusing it of being involved in "terror-affiliated activities" and serving as "the organisational and coordinating wing of Hamas in Europe".

But the PRC flatly denied it was affiliated with any Palestinian party including Hamas, calling Israel's claims "false and unfounded".

"The decision to add an organisation that belongs to Hamas to the list of UN organisations is outrageous," said Israel's newly appointed deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely in a statement.

"Admitting an organisation that identifies with Hamas to the list of UN organisations is handing a prize to terror and its operations -- there is no other way to interpret this decision."

Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, said the move amounted to the UN giving "Hamas a welcoming celebration at its main entrance, allowing it to be a full participant".

In December 2010, then defence minister Ehud Barak banned the group from operating in Israel, accusing it of "initiating and organising radical and violent activity against Israel in Europe".

It said its members were "senior Hamas leaders who promote the movement's agenda in Europe", and were involved in organising conferences hosting Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood activists.

On its website, the PRC describes itself as an independent consultancy which offers expert advice on the question of Palestinian refugees and their right to return to homes they fled or were forced out of during the 1948 war which accompanied Israel's creation.

The group said it would send a letter of protest to the UN over "the false allegations circulated by Israel... (which) blatantly accused PRC of adopting terrorism and violence as a tool".

The United States, Uruguay and Israel voted against recognising the PRC as a permanent NGO, while Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey and Venezuela were among the nations that supported its application.

Last summer, Israel and Hamas -- the de facto power in Gaza -- fought a 50-day war which killed about 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.

BEIJING (AP) — Divers on Tuesday pulled two people alive from inside a capsized cruise ship and prepared to rescue at least four more, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said, giving some small hope to an apparently massive tragedy with well over 400 people still missing on the Yangtze River.

Only 18 people are known to have survived the capsizing of the ship, which held 458 people, most of them elderly passengers. At least seven swam ashore, but others were rescued more than 12 hours after the ship went down, after search teams climbed aboard the upside-down hull and heard people calling out from within.

Footage from the broadcaster showed rescuers in orange life vests climbing on the upside-down hull, with one of them lying down tapping a hammer and listening for a response, then gesturing downward.

Divers pulled out a 65-year-old woman and, later, a man who had been trapped, CCTV said. It said four additional survivors had been found and were being rescued, but did not say whether they were still inside the overturned hull.

Other survivors include the captain and chief engineer. Five people were confirmed dead in the accident in Hubei province Monday night during a cruise from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing, the broadcaster and the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The overturned ship had drifted about 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) downstream before coming to rest close to the river shore, where choppy waters made the rescue difficult. The location is about 180 kilometers (110 miles) west of the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan.

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A man grieves for his missing parents as his aunt calls on her phone outside a travel agency which w …

The fact that the capsized ship drifted downstream was a good sign for rescuers because it meant there was enough air inside to give it buoyancy, and could mean there are enough air pockets for survivors to breathe, said Chi-Mo Park, a professor of naval architecture and ocean engineering at South Korea's Ulsan University.

"It all depends how much space there is inside the vessel," Park said.

Xinhua quoted the captain and chief engineer as saying the ship sank quickly after being caught in a cyclone. The Communist Party-run People's Daily said the ship sank within two minutes. CCTV said the two were under police custody.

CCTV said the four-level ship had been carrying 406 Chinese passengers, five travel agency employees and 47 crew members. The broadcaster said most of the passengers were 50 to 80 years of age.

Many of the ship's passengers started out in Shanghai, taking a bus to Nanjing for the departure to Chongqing. Relatives of passengers gathered in Shanghai at a travel agency that had booked many of the trips, and they later headed to a government office to try to get more information about the accident.

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A man grieves for his missing parents next to his aunt outside a travel agency which was involved in …

Huang Yan, 49, an accountant in Shanghai, wept as she told a reporter that she believes that her husband, 49, and his father, who is in his 70s, were aboard the boat. But she said she couldn't be sure because she hadn't seen an official passenger list yet.

"Why did the captain leave the ship while the passengers were still missing?" Huang shouted. "We want the government to release the name list to see who was on the boat."

A group of about a dozen retirees from a Shanghai bus company were on the trip, said a woman who identified herself only by her surname, Chen. Among them, she said, were her elder sister and her elder sister's husband, both 60, and their granddaughter, 6.

"This group has traveled together a lot, but only on short trips. This is the first time they traveled for a long trip," Chen said.

The ship sank in the Damazhou waterway section, where the river is 15 meters (about 50 feet) deep. The Yangtze is the world's third-longest river and sometimes floods during the summer monsoon season.

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Rescue workers stand on the capsized ship, center, on the Yangtze River in central China's Hubei …

Several rescue ships were searching the waters, and divers had been deployed. The broadcaster said rescue personnel were trying to determine whether they could right the sunken ship.

More than 50 boats and 3,000 people were involved in search efforts.

The Eastern Star measured 251 feet long (76.5 meters) and 36 feet wide (11 meters) and was capable of carrying a maximum of 534 people, CCTV reported. It is owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corp., which focuses on tourism routes in the popular Three Gorges river canyon region. The company could not be reached for comment.

CCTV reported that 6 inches (150 millimeters) of rain had fallen in the region over the past 24 hours. Local media reported winds reached 80 mph (130 kph) during the accident.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is reported to be traveling to the accident site. Xinhua reported that President Xi Jinping had ordered a work team of the State Council, the country's Cabinet, to rush to the site to guide the rescue work.

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This story has been corrected to show that four survivors were still waiting to be rescued.

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AP writers Jack Chang and Ian Mader and news assistant Yu Bing in Beijing, news assistant Fu Ting in Shanghai, and writer Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul contributed.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani leaves after delivering a speech at plenary session during the Asian African Conference in Jakarta April 22, 2015. REUTERS/Beawiharta/Files

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will back Syria's President Bashar al-Assad until the end, Iranian news agencies quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying, signaling undimmed support for Tehran's Arab ally following major gains by armed opposition factions in recent weeks.

Syria's military is under some of the toughest pressure it has faced in the four-year conflict. Last month, Islamic State forces seized control of the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria, which sits on major roads leading to Homs and the capital Damascus.

"The Iranian nation and government will remain at the side of the Syrian nation and government until the end of the road," state news agency IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying on Tuesday in a meeting with Syria's parliament speaker in Tehran.

"Tehran has not forgotten its moral obligations to Syria and will continue to provide help and support on its own terms to the government and nation of Syria."

The visit by speaker Mohammad al-Laham is the latest in a series of high-level visits between Damascus and Tehran, reflecting close coordination as the pressure on Assad has mounted.

Shi'ite power Iran has backed Assad and his father since long before an uprising in 2011, which grew into a civil war along sectarian lines after government forces cracked down on initially peaceful protests against Assad.

As Sunni jihadist factions have become more prominent in the conflict, Assad's government and Iran have portrayed the Syrian opposition as terrorists backed by regional Sunni countries.

"Unfortunately some countries in the region have miscalculated and think they can use terrorist groups to pursue their goals, but sooner or later terrorism will be upon them," Rouhani said.

Government forces and allied militia also last week lost control of most of the northwestern province of Idlib to a range of insurgent factions including al Qaeda's Syria wing.

Latakia is home to many members of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam to which Assad and much of the ruling elite belong.

(Reporting by Sam Wilkin; Additional reporting by Sylvia Westall in Beirut, Editing by William Maclean and Dominic Evans)

Associated Press Videos
FBI Behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at times, cellphone surveillance technology — all hidden behind fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The Associated Press has learned.

The planes' surveillance equipment is generally used without a judge's approval, and the FBI said the flights are used for specific, ongoing investigations. The FBI said it uses front companies to protect the safety of the pilots and aircraft. It also shields the identity of the aircraft so that suspects on the ground don't know they're being watched by the FBI.

In a recent 30-day period, the agency flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states across the country, an AP review found.

Aerial surveillance represents a changing frontier for law enforcement, providing what the government maintains is an important tool in criminal, terrorism or intelligence probes. But the program raises questions about whether there should be updated policies protecting civil liberties as new technologies pose intrusive opportunities for government spying.

U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed for the first time the wide-scale use of the aircraft, which the AP traced to at least 13 fake companies, such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services.

Even basic aspects of the program are withheld from the public in censored versions of official reports from the Justice Department's inspector general.

The FBI also has been careful not to reveal its surveillance flights in court documents.

"The FBI's aviation program is not secret," spokesman Christopher Allen said in a statement. "Specific aircraft and their capabilities are protected for operational security purposes." Allen added that the FBI's planes "are not equipped, designed or used for bulk collection activities or mass surveillance."

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In this photo taken May 26, 2015, a small plane flies near Manassas Regional Airport in Manassas, Va …

But the planes can capture video of unrelated criminal activity on the ground that could be handed over for prosecutions.

Some of the aircraft can also be equipped with technology that can identify thousands of people below through the cellphones they carry, even if they're not making a call or in public. Officials said that practice, which mimics cell towers and gets phones to reveal basic subscriber information, is rare.

Details confirmed by the FBI track closely with published reports since at least 2003 that a government surveillance program might be behind suspicious-looking planes slowly circling neighborhoods. The AP traced at least 50 aircraft back to the FBI, and identified more than 100 flights since late April orbiting both major cities and rural areas.

One of the planes, photographed in flight last week by the AP in northern Virginia, bristled with unusual antennas under its fuselage and a camera on its left side. A federal budget document from 2010 mentioned at least 115 planes, including 90 Cessna aircraft, in the FBI's surveillance fleet.

The FBI also occasionally helps local police with aerial support, such as during the recent disturbance in Baltimore that followed the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who sustained grievous injuries while in police custody. Those types of requests are reviewed by senior FBI officials.

The surveillance flights comply with agency rules, an FBI spokesman said. Those rules, which are heavily redacted in publicly available documents, limit the types of equipment the agency can use, as well as the justifications and duration of the surveillance.

Details about the flights come as the Justice Department seeks to navigate privacy concerns arising from aerial surveillance by unmanned aircrafts, or drones. President Barack Obama has said he welcomes a debate on government surveillance, and has called for more transparency about spying in the wake of disclosures about classified programs.

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In this photo taken May 26, 2015, a small plane flies near Manassas Regional Airport in Manassas, Va …

"These are not your grandparents' surveillance aircraft," said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, calling the flights significant "if the federal government is maintaining a fleet of aircraft whose purpose is to circle over American cities, especially with the technology we know can be attached to those aircraft."

During the past few weeks, the AP tracked planes from the FBI's fleet on more than 100 flights over at least 11 states plus the District of Columbia, most with Cessna 182T Skylane aircraft. These included parts of Houston, Phoenix, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis and Southern California.

Evolving technology can record higher-quality video from long distances, even at night, and can capture certain identifying information from cellphones using a device known as a "cell-site simulator" — or Stingray, to use one of the product's brand names. These can trick pinpointed cellphones into revealing identification numbers of subscribers, including those not suspected of a crime.

Officials say cellphone surveillance is rare, although the AP found in recent weeks FBI flights orbiting large, enclosed buildings for extended periods where aerial photography would be less effective than electronic signals collection. Those included above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

After The Washington Post revealed flights by two planes circling over Baltimore in early May, the AP began analyzing detailed flight data and aircraft-ownership registrations that shared similar addresses and flight patterns. That review found some FBI missions circled above at least 40,000 residents during a single flight over Anaheim, California, in late May, according to Census data and records provided by the website FlightRadar24.com.

Most flight patterns occurred in counter-clockwise orbits up to several miles wide and roughly one mile above the ground at slow speeds. A 2003 newsletter from the company FLIR Systems Inc., which makes camera technology such as seen on the planes, described flying slowly in left-handed patterns.

"Aircraft surveillance has become an indispensable intelligence collection and investigative technique which serves as a force multiplier to the ground teams," the FBI said in 2009 when it asked Congress for $5.1 million for the program.

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Graphic shows three distinct flight paths over major U.S. cities conducted by the FBI; 0 1/2c x 6 in …

Recently, independent journalists and websites have cited companies traced to post office boxes in Virginia, including one shared with the Justice Department. The AP analyzed similar data since early May, while also drawing upon aircraft registration documents, business records and interviews with U.S. officials to understand the scope of the operations.

The FBI asked the AP not to disclose the names of the fake companies it uncovered, saying that would saddle taxpayers with the expense of creating new cover companies to shield the government's involvement, and could endanger the planes and integrity of the surveillance missions. The AP declined the FBI's request because the companies' names — as well as common addresses linked to the Justice Department — are listed on public documents and in government databases.

At least 13 front companies that AP identified being actively used by the FBI are registered to post office boxes in Bristow, Virginia, which is near a regional airport used for private and charter flights. Only one of them appears in state business records.

Included on most aircraft registrations is a mysterious name, Robert Lindley. He is listed as chief executive and has at least three distinct signatures among the companies. Two documents include a signature for Robert Taylor, which is strikingly similar to one of Lindley's three handwriting patterns.

The FBI would not say whether Lindley is a U.S. government employee. The AP unsuccessfully tried to reach Lindley at phone numbers registered to people of the same name in the Washington area since Monday.

Law enforcement officials said Justice Department lawyers approved the decision to create fictitious companies to protect the flights' operational security and that the Federal Aviation Administration was aware of the practice. One of the Lindley-headed companies shares a post office box openly used by the Justice Department.

Such elusive practices have endured for decades. A 1990 report by the then-General Accounting Office noted that, in July 1988, the FBI had moved its "headquarters-operated" aircraft into a company that wasn't publicly linked to the bureau.

The FBI does not generally obtain warrants to record video from its planes of people moving outside in the open, but it also said that under a new policy it has recently begun obtaining court orders to use cell-site simulators. The Obama administration had until recently been directing local authorities through secret agreements not to reveal their own use of the devices, even encouraging prosecutors to drop cases rather than disclose the technology's use in open court.

A Justice Department memo last month also expressly barred its component law enforcement agencies from using unmanned drones "solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment" and said they are to be used only in connection with authorized investigations and activities. A department spokeswoman said the policy applied only to unmanned aircraft systems rather than piloted airplanes.

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Associated Press writers Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Joan Lowy and Ted Bridis in Washington; Randall Chase in Wilmington, Delaware; and news researchers Monika Mathur in Washington and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

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View documents: http://apne.ws/1HEyP0t

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Follow on Twitter: Jack Gillum at https://twitter.com/jackgillum, Eileen Sullivan at https://twitter.com/esullivanap and Eric Tucker at https://twitter.com/etuckerap