MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• Wikileaks 2010-12-03: Censorship watch, continued.United States: The Office of Management and Budget today directed all federal agencies to bar employees from accessing the Wikileaks web site. Talking Points Memo obtained a copy of letter sent out by OMB, which "directed the agencies to immediately tell their employees to 'safeguard classified information' by not accessing Wikileaks over the Internet.Classified information, the OMB notes, 'remains classified ... until it is declassified by an appropriate U.S. Government authority.' Employees may not view classified info over a non-classified system (i.e., the Internet), the OMB says, 'as doing so risks that material still classified will be placed onto non-classified systems.'"AFP, The Guardian and CNN have more on the story.

• Senate rejects million-dollar tax-cut compromise in Saturday session.United Senate Republicans joined a small handful of Democrats on Saturday to defeat a pair of proposals to extend some of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts signed into law by President George W. Bush.Voting nearly identically, the Senate twice failed to meet a 60-vote threshold necessary to move forward on both proposals. Meeting in a rare Saturday session after agreements fell through for a Friday vote, the results were widely expected. They were also somewhat premature, as the White House is still negotiating with congressional leaders on an alternative compromise proposal.Alluding to last year's Christmas Eve votes on the healthcare reform bill, Reid said he planned to adjourn the chamber on Friday, Dec. 17, for Christmas recess."We all know where we were last year on Christmas Eve," Reid said. "We don't want to be in the same place this Christmas Eve."Read the full story here.

• Was President Obama endangered by premature news reports of his arrival in Afghan warzone?A growing flap -- and concerns -- over President Obama's personal safety and security in the Afghan war zone tonight, given that some American news outlets reported he was there nearly a half-hour before Air Force One actually landed.The concern is not just factual. Thus alerted, an enemy with a shoulder-fired missile near Bagram Air Base outside Kabul could have fired on the president's plane or its decoys.The president is over the Atlantic Ocean now on a 15-hour return trip following a three-hour-25-minute stay at Bagram and a refueling stop in Germany. He'll return to the White House early Saturday morning and is expected to make a statement about the newly-completed U.S.-Korean trade agreement, which had stalled during his recent visit to Seoul.According to news pool reports from Air Force One, already White House officials are investigating how the news embargo was dangerously broken first by ABC News and then CNN and MSNBC.Some details of the president's plans in Afghanistan were also reported incorrectly initially, and his helicopter trip into Kabul to meet President Hamid Karzai was canceled due to weather concerns.Hmmm...we don't want anything happening to the President after his damaged lip,do we?That includes him getting wet!Read the full story here.

• Natural forest fire started at several centers in Nazareth.Another fire began in Nazareth, near Route 77, south of Beit Rimon Junction. Natural wood burning raging in several locations. Police are investigating the case, and check for suspected arson. (News 10).Two brothers from Isfiya, arrested on suspicion of negligence causing the "Mega fire" on Mt. Carmel. Two suspected of negligence that led to the huge fires on Mt. Caramel were arrested, and taken for questioning. The two are brothers from Isfiya. Coast Region police commander, Brigadier General Roni Atiya, updated the journalists on the development and said that the investigation team continues to work on and made great efforts in recent days.He added that the main effort now is directed to the Caramel communities in Nir Etzion, Ein Hod Yemin Orde Boarding School, and asked the residents of these communities not to return to their homes.JNF Director:- This year,there were 1620 forest fires. 70 percent of them due to arson ! This is ecological INTIFADA !Now ( 14:46 ), there are 20 fires in Israel CAUSED BY ARSON !!!Hmmm....That peaceplan of yours and outreach to Muslims really,really improved things a lot Mr President.Read the full story here.

• NATO: Cop Shared Tea before Killing U.S. Troops.Afghan Border Policeman Gunned Down Six Americans during Training Drill.The Afghan border policeman who killed six U.S. troops this week in eastern Afghanistan shared tea with his coalition partners before gunning the Americans down during a training drill, NATO said Friday. The alliance said in a statement that Afghan and coalition investigators have determined that Monday's shooting happened after the American troops, partnered with Afghan National Army soldiers, climbed a mountain in Nangarhar province for an artillery drill. After customary tea was served by an Afghan border police unit manning the outpost, the coalition forces fired the first artillery shell as part of the practice drill, NATO said. Immediately after impact, one of the Afghan policemen opened fire, killing all six U.S. troops. Two other American soldiers returned fire, killing the policeman.Read the full story here.

1. Wikileaks - Update 1: Gawker reports that "U.S. soldiers in Iraq who try to read about the Wikileaks disclosures—or read coverage of them in mainstream news sites—on unclassified networks get a page warning them that they're about to break the law.[...]A tipster wrote to tell us that 'the Army's unclassified, NIPRNET network in Iraq has blocked every major news website because of the Wikileaks issue,' going on to say that Foxnews.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, the Huffington Post, and a variety of other sites are blocked on the Army's unclassified network."
2. Update 2: US corporations are getting in on the censorship game too. We are informed that HP sent out a letter to all employees warning them not to visit the WikiLeaks website. Will HP censor The New York Times as well?
3. Update 3:Canada - The Montreal Gazette reports that "Defence Department staff have been warned against using government computers to sift through secret documents released by WikiLeaks. An email dubbed 'Wikileaks Notice' in the subject line says military computers are 'not to be used to visit the Wikileaks site or any other websites containing such information.'"

1. Update 4: Australia: We were also informed that a letter was sent out on the Australian defence network yesterday, warning employees not to access WikiLeaks, which would be considered a security breach.Hmmm.....we're watching you?A pity they can't protect their own "Transparency'coverup to begin with?Source.

• Cablegate: Censorship and freedom in unlikely places.France: The French minister for industry, energy and digital economy, Eric Besson, wrote to CGIET, the body governing internet use, to ask that hosting for WikiLeaks in France be terminated, reports Libération. WikiLeaks has been partly hosted by French provider OVH since December 2nd, after Amazon cancelled its hosting service under political pressure from Sen. Lieberman's office.Besson wrote that "The situation is unacceptable. France cannot host websites that violate diplomatic relations secrecy and endanger persons protected by diplomatic confidentiality. We cannot host sites that have been called criminal and rejected by other countries on the basis of harm to national rights." One would be tempted to ask Mr. Besson whether he is suggesting that Le Monde cannot be hosted in France either, seeing as how the paper has published exactly the same material as WikiLeaks.OVH however did not bow to the pressure, responding in a letter that it will refer the issue of the legality of hosting WikiLeaks to a judge, and that "it was not up to the politicians or OVH to request or decide the closure of the site."More from - Pakistan - Russia andthe USA.Read the full story here.

• HT:JIDaily.Why Menorahs?Menorahs In Jewish Art.From 40 B.C.E. to the Knesset, the long history of an artistic symbol.Why is the menorah such a powerful and long-lasting symbol of the Jewish people? After all, its lure ostensibly originates in a relatively minor rabbinic festival, Hanukah. No disrespect intended, but how can Hanukah compare to the great pilgrimage festivals, Passover, Shavous and Succos or the Days of Awe with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Of course it is not the Hanukah menorah that captivates us, rather it is the Temple menorah that carries such an awesome power. Originating in the Torah commandment in Exodus 25:31 "you shall make me a menorah of pure gold " Rashi explains that so wondrous and complex was the menorah that is was finally fashioned with a miracle; "throw a kikar of gold into the fire and it will be made by itself."Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different......State media: China passenger train hits 302 mph (486 kph) on test run, breaking record.The Xinhua News Agency said it was the fastest speed recorded by an unmodified conventional commercial train. Other types of trains in other countries have travelled faster.A specially modified French TGV train reached 357.2 mph (574.8 kph) during a 2007 test, while a Japanese magnetically levitated train sped to 361 mph (581 kph) in 2003.State television footage showed the sleek white train whipping past green farm fields in eastern China. It reached the top speed on a segment of the 824-mile (1,318-kilometre) -long line between Zaozhuang city in Shandong province and Bengbu city in Anhui province, Xinhua said.The line is due to open in 2012 and will halve the current travel time between the capital Beijing and Shanghai to five hours.Read the full story here.