MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• Abbas resists direct talks despite pressure from 'entire world'.Arab League set to vote on whether to endorse direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on Thursday.Abbas told the Voice of Palestine radio that talks would be doomed without a clear framework.

• Iran stoning case lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's relatives arrested.The lawyer defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani himself faces re-arrest as his wife and brother-in-law are held by Iran authorities.Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's office in Tehran was ransacked, and he was interrogated in Evin prison for four hours on Saturday over his human rights activities and involvement in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two who was convicted of adultery and whose plight in Iran has drawn international attention since her children launched a campaign for her release almost a month ago.I guess Obama is to busy playing golf to say anything about human rights in Iran?

• Top U.S. officer warns Afghan war will get worse.More NATO troops will die in Afghanistan as violence mounts over the summer, but Washington's goal of turning the tide against the insurgency by year's end is within reach, the top U.S. military officer Admiral Mike Mullen said on Sunday.

• Afghanistan war logs: Massive leak of secret files exposes truth of occupation.Hundreds of civilians killed by coalition troop.Covert unit hunts leaders for 'kill or capture.Steep rise in Taliban bomb attacks on Nato.

• U.S., Israel sign deal to tackle Iran long-range missiles.Defense Ministry says the Arrow III, which is still in development, could shoot down weapons of mass destruction outside the atmosphere.Israel and the United States have signed an agreement to make the Arrow II ballistic shield capable of shooting down missiles at a higher altitude, the Israeli Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

• Wikileaks Afghanistan files: download the key incidents as a spreadsheet,more here.Key incidents from the Wikileaks Afghanistan war logs selected by Guardian writers. As a spreadsheet, with co-ordinates.

• Two girls, six, 'found at paedophile's flat by friends and family before police swoop'.Police arrested the 56-year-old at his home in Kennington, South London, and charged him with abducting both girls and possessing indecent images.

• Pipes: Netanyahu Should Threaten To Nuke Iran.PIPES: If I were [Israeli Prime Minister ] Netanyahu, I would say to [President Barack] Obama, “Why don’t you take out the Iranian nukes? Or else we will And we will not do it by trying to fly planes across Turkey and Syria or Jordan or Saudi Arabia. We will do it from submarine-based, tactical nuclear weapons. You don’t want that; we don’t want that; but that’s the way we can do this job for sure. You do it your way so we don’t have to escalate to that.” That would be a way of applying pressure. There are so many details which I’m not privy to. But that would be my kind of approach if I were the Israelis.

• Ex-CIA chief: Strike on Iran seems more likely now.A former CIA director says military action against Iran now seems more likely because no matter what the U.S. does diplomatically, Tehran keeps pushing ahead with its suspected nuclear program.

• Chavez warns of US oil cutoff in Colombia dispute.President Hugo Chavez threatened Sunday to halt oil sales to the United States if Venezuela is attacked by its U.S.-allied neighbor Colombia.

• Video:Allen West on Islamic Fundamentalism.

• HT:Infidelbloggers.White House backed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama administration considered compassionate release more palatable than locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.Surprised ?I've said it many times there you have Tony Blair best friend of Bush and suddenly Tony Blair is the best friend of Qaddafi he even becomes his prised advisor and he's by all chances also friends with BP,c'mon what are the odds for this happening by chance?And the same Qaddafi calls Obama his "Son" ?Of course it's Obamaproved!

• Canadian Industry Minister Clement dives into river to rescue woman."We heard this banging," he said. "This young woman was hysterical, screaming that her friend was in the water and drowning." Clement said he rushed outdoors to the Muskoka river that runs by his house while his wife and father-in-law grabbed life-jackets. Once he arrived at the shore, Clement knew he had to act fast.Canada salutes you!Somehow i don't see Obama doing something similar?

• Al-Qaeda in North Africa 'kills French hostage'.Al-Qaeda's North African offshoot has said it has killed a French hostage being held in Mali, in an audio statement broadcast by al-Jazeera.

• HT:WeaselZippers.Fatwa Allows Saudi Men Studying in West to Marry an Infidel With the Intention of Divorcing Them When They are Finished…This is a public service announcement for all you Western women who want to act out against your daddy by dating Muslim men.Islam a religion of deceit?

• A Russian milestone: 1st black elected to office.NOVOZAVIDOVO, Russia — People in this Russian town used to stare at Jean Gregoire Sagbo because they had never seen a black man. Now they say they see in him something equally rare — an honest politician.In a country where racism is entrenched and often violent, Sagbo's election as one of Novozavidovo's 10 municipal councilors is a milestone. But among the town's 10,000 people, the 48-year-old from the West African country of Benin is viewed simply a Russian who cares about his hometown.

• Obama, The Nation Killer.The worst is yet to come because the end of the Bush tax cuts on December 31, 2010 will generate major increases in taxation that will affect all but the appalling 40% who pay no taxes at all. This isn't redistribution of wealth. It is a penalty levied on investors, entrepreneurs, and those who still have jobs.One of those policies, the president's shut-down of drilling in the Gulf, twice rejected by the courts, will add thousands more to the ranks of the unemployed without any justification.

• HT:HinduIDF.Video: Contentious debate: Pamela Geller vs Hip Hop Rapper from "Palestine Center" on Staten Island Mosque and "Mosques in America".

• Jordanian police nab lettuce lady during protest.An animal rights activist has caused a stir in Jordan's capital by covering herself in lettuce in a quirky attempt to persuade Middle Eastern meat lovers to go vegetarian.Tarek says she wanted Jordanians "to turn over a new leaf."

• US Insists 'No Change in PA Status' Despite Flag Waving.Crowley said that the Obama administration “recognized its importance’ to the PLO and granted the request but insisted that “their status as a mission has not changed.”Change you can see?

• Video:Stranded Chinese flood ship blown-up.Chinese soldiers have blown-up a stranded ship that was on a collision course with a hydro-electric dam in Sichuan province.

• Video:On board USS George Washington in S Korea navy drill.The US and South Korea have begun a major military exercise in the Sea of Japan, despite threats of retaliation from North Korea.

• "There she blows"...Again?Report: Arab States Would Support Israeli Strike on Iran.Arab officials from the Persian Gulf region have again been making comments to international media suggesting that they would support an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Speaking at a media panel in Aspen, Colorado earlier this month, Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to the US, explained that “a military attack on Iran by whomever would be a disaster, but Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a bigger disaster.”

•  BP boss 'will resign within 24 hours' as oil firm expected to announce £6.5bn profits despite spill.Mr Obama and others in the federal government will pore over any details for signs that Mr Hayward, 52, has been ‘rewarded for failure’. If the details can be agreed, Mr Hayward will be paid at least £1.045m, equivalent to a year's salary, on leaving BP but is almost certain to demand more in compensation for agreeing to go for the good of the company where he has worked for 28 years.

•  Video:The Truth About the Flotilla.Activist when we went on the first convoy i wanted to be a Martyr.

• Geithner favors allowing some tax cuts to expire.Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that allowing tax cuts for the wealthy to expire would be "the responsible thing to do."More here. 

• Putin rides Harley Davidson at motorcycle show.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides Harley Davidson Lehman Trike decorated with Russian and Ukrainian national flags as he arrives for the meeting with motorbikers at their camp near Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula on Saturday, July 24, 2010.

• Obama Names Medicaid Chief Who Backs Anti-Israel Doctors.Republicans, and some Democrats, are in an uproar over President Barack Obama’s naming a Medicare chief who backs socialized medicine-and an anti-Israel physicians’ group. The appointment of Donald Berwick, who is heavily involved in the anti-Israel Physicians for Human Rights organization, was made without going through the usual process of securing confirmation by the Senate.

• HT:PajamasMedia:Iran and the Plot to Blow Up JFK Airport.You may recall that back in 2007, some arrests were made in New York City in connection with a terrorist plan to blow up fuel tanks at Kennedy Airport. Now, three years later, the trial is on, and you can read about it – indeed you must read about it — in the — get this! — local news section of the New York Times.But it’s tucked away under local news instead of appearing on the front page, for reasons best left to the editors (although I have a pretty good guess about the main reason).

• Love Parade is permanently cancelled after drama in Duisburg,more here.The Love Parade will never be organized, as has one of the organizers of the event explained.A day earlier nineteen were killed when a panic arose in the crowd during the festival in Duisburg.Meanwhile, the prosecutor opened an investigation against unknown persons for "manslaughter".

• Heat wave and storms continue amid flood cleanup.Large parts of the United States faced extreme weather on Sunday, with temperatures in the capital and Southeast coastal areas forecast to be near or above 100 degrees F (38 degrees C) and strong thunderstorms likely in the mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley regions.

• Missing U.S. Sailor Is Dead, Taliban Says.Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, says a massive search is under way to find the two U.S. Navy sailors missing since Friday, but declined to comment on reports that the Taliban has killed one and is holding the other.

• Big Fight Ahead on Expiration of Bush Tax Cuts.An epic fight is brewing over what Congress and President Obama should do about the expiring Bush tax cuts, with such substantial economic and political consequences that it could shape the fall elections and fiscal policy for years to come.

• HT:Eye on the World.Jordanian machine-guns his 16-year-old niece after she was sexually assaulted.Cleansing the family's "Dishonor" Jordanian style.

•  A must read !Settled science: Can everyplace really be warming much faster than everyplace else?