MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• The volatile Lybian situation live streams here.

Hmmm....by the way it seems Al Yazeera is now available on cable in Canada?"If you live in Canada, contact the following cable and satellite providers to subscribe to Al Jazeera English" Bell TV: 516 - Cogeco: 182 - Rogers: 176 - Shaw: 513 - Videotron: 173

• Breaking !HT:IsraelMatzav.Pigs fly: US threatens Gadhafi.Israel Radio has just reported (9:00 am Thursday) that the United States has sent a message to Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi that if he does not stop using planes to attack his own people, he will be the subject of a NATO attack that will target him and not the civilian population. The source for the report is an article in the London-based Arabic daily al-Quds al-Arabi whose source is an unnamed European diplomat.Source.

• Al-Qaeda sets up "Islamic Emirate", Libya deputy FM says.Meanwhile Libya’s deputy foreign minister told E.U. ambassadors in Tripoli al-Qaeda has set up an Islamic emirate in Derna, in eastern Libya, headed by a former U.S. prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, However, residents in the city have told reporters there is no substance to these rumors, which they claim the Libyan government is sowing to "scare Europe.""Al-Qaeda has established an emirate in Derna led by Abdelkarim al-Hasadi, a former Guantanamo detainee," Khaled Khaim said."They have an FM radio station and have begun to impose the burqa" (head-to-toe covering for women) and have "executed people who refuse to cooperate with them."Khaim said Hasadi has a lieutenant, "also a member of al-Qaeda and named Kheirallah Baraassi" in al-Baida.Derna is the capital of a province by the same name in the region of Cyrenaica, some 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) east of Libya's capital Tripoli. Al-Baida lies about 100 kilometers west of Derna.Earlier, Italian Foreign Minister Francesco Franco Frattini said embattled Libyan leader Gaddafi had lost control of Cyrenaica and shared reports that an Islamic emirate had been declared there.Speaking at a meeting in Rome organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Christian organisation, Frattini said here had been recent proclamations in Cyrenaica that it was now an Islamic emirate and calls to break with the West."It is a worrying development if radical Islam is only a few hundred kilometers away from the European Union's front door, but nothing can justify the violent death of hundreds of innocent civilians," he added.Hmmmmm......Thank you for releasing us President Barrack HUSSEIN Obama?Read the full story here.

• Mid-East Expert De Borchgrave: $400 a Barrel for Oil Imminent a.k.a. $15 a Gallon !Award-winning journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave tells Newsmax that the increasingly volatile situation in the Middle East could push the price of oil quickly to $300 or even $400 a barrel.De Borchgrave, who has interviewed Moammar Gadhafi six times, also says the Libyan leader is manic-depressive who is going through a manic phrase where he is “taking on the world.”A 30-year veteran of Newsweek magazine, de Borchgrave now is director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, editor-at-large at United Press International and The Washington Times, and a Newsmax correspondent.In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, de Borchgrave discussed the impact that the uprisings in Libya, Iran, and other Middle Eastern nations could have on the price of oil. Some economists also have speculated that, if oil surged to $400, the pump price for gasoline could hit $15 a gallon.Oil was selling at more than $95 a barrel on Wednesday, and there’s no telling where prices at the pump — currently around $3.17 a gallon — could rise to if per-barrel oil prices soared to those levels, according to de Borchgrave.“This could get pretty bad because of what’s going on in Libya,” he says. “Libya pumps about 1.8 million barrels a day,” some of which is pumped out of the eastern region around Benghazi “which has now in effect seceded.“Libya supplies around 74 percent of Europe’s oil and if that is cut, which it could very well be in the next few days, oil will be spiking again.Reports out of Libya say hundreds of people have been killed in the Libyan government’s crackdown on protesters, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Moammar Gadhafi to stop the bloodshed. Asked whether Gadhafi cares what the rest of the world says about him, de Borchgrave responds: “Not really. The man is not normal mentally.“I’ve interviewed him six times and have no hesitation in calling him a manic-depressive. I’ve seen him through his manic phases and his depressive phases. What he’s going through today would seem to be a manic phase, where he’s taking on the world. He’s talking about thousands of casualties, and his son is on television talking about fighting until the last drop of blood. It’s to be taken seriously.“The man is now in a manic phase and he thinks he’s going to take on the giant, the United States.”De Borchgrave warns about the danger the Muslim Brotherhood poses in the Middle East.“A lot of people are going around saying the Muslim Brotherhood has changed its colors, they’re a totally different political animal, they’re willing to work through the democratic process and fight fairly in elections. I would say, don’t believe that for a second.“We’ve just seen in the past few days some very extreme Muslim Brotherhood leaders showing up in Cairo for the first time in 50 years, in the case of one of them, and speaking about how much they hate the Jews and their American protectors.”Hmmm.....Obama is supporting these "Moderate" Muslimbrotherhood members.Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Planes carrying Gadhafi's daughter, daughter-in-law denied landing rights.Two Libyan planes carrying members of dictator Muammar Ghadafi's family have been denied landing rights in the region.On Tuesday, a private plane carrying ten passengers was denied landing rights at Beirut International Airport. One of the passengers on the plane was Ghadafi's Lebanese daughter-in-law.Al-Jazeera TV correspondent Cal Perry reports that Gadhafi's only daughter, Ayesha, was aboard the plane that sought to land at Malta. Perry, quoting Maltese government sources, reports from Valletta, the capital, that at one point the Libyan ambassador to Malta was brought in to take part in negotiations with the pilot of the plane, who claimed he was running low on fuel. When Maltese authorities declared it an unscheduled flight that would not be allowed to land, the pilot said it was actually the scheduled flight from the previous day that was delayed. Perry says the plane circled for about 45 minutes before turning back.Hmmmm........I agree with Carl that unless the international community sends in troops a much bigger bloodbath is in laying ahead in the future.Read the full story here.

• Video : Navigating Libya's tribal maze.Intricate tribal structure plays a crucial role in both Libyan politics and the current pro-democracy opposition.Libya's complex tribal structure plays a crucial role in its politics and now in the pro-democracy opposition movement.Muammar Gaddafi has, for four decades, been at the helm of a country that is described as one of the most intricate tribal nations in the Middle East.Analysts say most of the major tribes are represented in the military, but Gaddafi has long relied on his own tribe, the Qathafa, to staff elite security brigades.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:WND.Obama's mystery links to Gadhafi uncovered.Gadhafi has been tied to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's spiritual adviser for more than 23 years. Prez fails to call for dictator's removal despite reports of attacks on citizens.JERUSALEM – As pressure mounts on the White House to intervene to stop Moammar Gadhafi's bloody crackdown in Libya, many commentators have been wondering why Barack Obama has been cautious in his criticism of the dictator after the U.S. president so fervently supported the removal from office of U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. But Gadhafi has been tied to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's spiritual adviser for more than 23 years. The Libyan dictator also has financed and strongly supported the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan. Obama has ties to Farrakhan and his controversial group.Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of Obama's longtime Chicago church, went with Farrakhan to visit Gadhafi in 1984.During the 2008 presidential campaign, Wright himself noted the trip could cause problems for Obama. "When [Obama's] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit [Gadhafi] with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell." Farrakhan, a close friend and associate of Wright, has been financed by Gadhafi, including with a $5 million interest-free loan in 1985. Later that year, Gadhafi spoke by satellite to Farrakhan's Saviour's Day Convention in Chicago, and reportedly told Farrakhan supporters he was prepared to provide weapons to a black army in the U.S. to destroy "white America." In October 1995, Gadhafi reportedly called Farrakhan with congratulations on the success of the Million Man March. Gadhafi was said to have assured Farrakhan that together "we will unite our capabilities and efforts to achieve this." According to reports in 1996 from Libya's news agency, JANA, Farrakhan and Gadhafi agreed to work together to mobilize "oppressed blacks, Arabs, Muslims and Red Indians" to help reshape U.S. foreign policy. Gadhafi said that until his alliance with the Nation of Islam, "our confrontation with America was like a fight against a fortress from outside." He asserted his alliance with Farrakhan provides him with "a breach to enter into this fortress and confront it." Farrakhan went to Libya for multiple other events. He was the recipient in 1996 of the Gadhafi Human Rights Award, which came with a $250,000 prize. Farrakhan accepted the prize despite U.S. sanctions on Libya.Wright and Obama reportedly attended the Million Man March on Washington, which was led by Farrakhan and other prominent black leaders such as Al Sharpton. Rev. Willie Barrow, a member of the Obama campaign's official Faith Outreach Team and an Obama superdelegate, is a close friend of Farrakhan's and a staunch Nation of Islam supporter. Farrakhan stated in a 2002 interview he met with Barrow to devise his Nation of Islam platforms. Marxist activist Cornel West, an adviser to Farrakhan, also had been an adviser to Obama’s 2008 campaign and is a close Obama associate and personal friend. During the period of Obama's attendance at Wright's Trinity United Church, which practices controversial Black Liberation Theology ideology, the Chicago church was openly allied with Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.Obama has appeared at least three times on the cover of Trumpet magazine, founded by Wright. The magazine, to which Obama last year granted a lengthy, exclusive interview, regularly hails Farrakhan. Obama's face was featured on the cover of a 2006 issue of Trumpet alongside Farrakhan's image. Another Obama connection to supporters of Farrakhan comes from David Axelrod, Obama's chief political strategist. Although he is Jewish, Axelrod sits on the finance committee of St. Sabina, the Chicago Catholic parish that was led by controversial pastor Michael Pfleger, an outspoken Farrakhan supporter who hosted the Nation of Islam chief at his parish several times. The Archdiocese of Chicago temporarily removed Pfleger from his duties at St. Sabina in 2008 following a well-publicized guest sermon at Trinity church in which Pfleger claimed Hillary Clinton cried in public because she thought being white entitled her to the Democratic presidential nomination.Hmmmm.....Impeachment is the only possible action to take with this Presidents conduct.Read the full treason story here.

• HT:MichelleMalkin.Video: CWA union thug strikes young female FreedomWorks activist.This is Tabitha Hale, a young conservative activist/original Tea Party organizer/blogger who works for Washington, D.C.-based FreedomWorks. I know her from her great grass-roots work with Smart Girl Politics when the Tea Party movement was just emerging.Today, Big Labor groups took their Grievance March to the offices of FreedomWorks.Among the groups protesting: the Communications Workers of America. They’re one of the heavyweight labor biggies that have received a coveted Obamacare Waiver for Favors. CWA facts here.This is one of the CWA t-shirt-wearing goons who showed up at the protest at FreedomWorks today:Thankfully, Hale tells me she wasn’t hurt. But there is no doubt from this video that the CWA t-shirt-wearing goon should be prosecuted for assault.They said it: “Get a little bloody.” It’s the union way.Civility police, where are you now?Hmmmm.....Obama"Get in their faces"Sounds familiar?Reminds me of 1934 brownshirts "Sieg Heil" und der Führer.Read the full story here.

• HT:Newstime.(Extremely Graphic photo) Journalist Michael Mannheimer “The hidden reality: Global Persecution of Christians by Islam!Google translate The left photo shows the incredible suffering faced by the victims subjected by the hatred of Islam against all non-Islamic, before they are redeemed from their suffering by death are.“The picture expresses exactly the brutality and the perverse and cynical and inhuman hate on Christians.This hatred reigns today in the minds of many Muslims to be whispers and suggests legitimacy of so-called Islamic scholars and imams. In view of such violence against Christians should slowly begin to wake up the Christian flock, which ill virus ideology. That should give food for thought.Hmmm......This could come straight out of a horror movie ,only this is reality !Is this what awaits Christians all over the world thanks to "Outreach to Muslims"?Read and Witness the full story here.

• HT:EuropeNews.Psychologist: Western Quran schools are "terrorist factories".How to turn normal human beings into murderous and hateful psychopaths who blindly obey their totalitarian systems and its authorities suppressing and killing innocent people? In short: How to create a terrorist?Violent and murderous political, ethnic and religious regimes have used the same effective methods throughout history all over the world. The procedure consists of two simple steps that are repeated again and again:

1. You force a person to repeat the system's doctrine again and again for months and years until he or she knows every word by heart and it pervades his or her whole way of thinking and it is the only truth they believe in.
2. You beat and scare the person (best if this is done randomly and severely), thus forcing him or her to become insensitive and unempathic in order to be able to bare the physical and psychological suffering and in order to increase feelings of anger, frustration and fear - feelings that are then directed against the system's enemies.In this way you will create a person whose whole being is pervaded by the system's doctrine and who has lost the ability to feel both his own and others’ pain. You will have an emotionally cold person that blindly follows his authorities and their political or religious doctrine. If you use this method on a child who is in the process of developing its personality, the learned doctrine will simply become a part of the child's personality. The psychological impact of the physical abuse will also be deeper. As children and youth are dependent on acceptance from adults, they are easier to influence.Being a child psychologist I was shocked to realise that this is exactly what is done to millions of Muslim children in both the Muslim world and the West. Tens of thousand of madrassas and Quranic schools all over the world are making their students repeat the Quran and the Hadiths again and again, until they know them by heart. They are told to believe every word and never to question neither the way nor the goal.It is normal in these schools that the defenceless and innocent children are randomly beaten and humiliated by the teachers and older students - who themselves are emotionally destroyed beings who have been abused the same way as they now use against their pupils. They personify the goal: The abused becomes the abuser.This also includes changing a central pattern of the Muslim culture - child raising - and the Muslim cultures massive failing of integration into non-Islamic cultures has proven that changing basic cultural values and behavior within the Muslim communities are almost impossible. Should we in spite of the emmense challenges be able to remove the wide spread abuse, the children are still learning the Quran by heart and are taught to take every word at face value, which is exactly what Islamic terrorists do. Millions of children attend the madrassas and when they and their subsequent generations grow up, the consequences will be big.Hmmmm...."Telling the truth after proper investigation is the height of courage." - Wafa Sultan.Read the full story here.

• Lawyer: US faces moral test over Furkan’s death in Israeli raid.The lawyer of the youngest Mavi Marmara victim, Furkan Doğan, who was shot dead by Israeli commandos on May 31 last year, said Doğan’s death will be a moral test for the US and show whether the country’s perception of law changes based on the ethnic roots and beliefs of citizens.Lawyer Ramazan Arıtürk, who is in the US with Furkan’s father, Ahmet Doğan, to observe first-hand the ongoing investigations regarding Furkan’s death, told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that he had talks with the advisers of Senator John Kerry and Representative Barbara Lee and that he will also talk to officials at the White House and the justice and state departments. Arıtürk said he would request that US officials appeal to the International Criminal Court for this “crime against humanity.”Hmmmm.....Obama and Erdogan have now something extra to talk about."Your enemy is my enemy"?Read the full story here.

• Emine Erdoğan carries tragedy of women to UN session and blames Israel.Emine Erdoğan, wife of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, addressed a session at the United Nations on Tuesday, largely focusing on the tragedy of women in Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Gaza Strip, Iraq and Pakistan. Mrs. Erdoğan addressed the 55th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women as an honorary guest. She appealed to participants’ consciences, drawing attention to the economic injustices between rich and poor countries. “We can watch the incidents occurring in all parts of the country through our hearts, and not our eyes,” she stated.Mrs. Erdoğan traveled to New York earlier this week with State Minister for Women and Family Affairs Selma Aliye Kavaf to participate in the session, which took place at the UN headquarters.“In Bangladesh I saw mothers looking for pieces of bread in dumpsters in the middle of the night for their disabled children. I witnessed the loneliness of poor women who lost all of their family members after the disastrous floods in Pakistan. I saw women whose honor had been cruelly stained in Sarajevo. And in Iraq, I saw women who had lost their husbands, children and future. In Gaza, Jerusalem and Ramallah, I saw women whose hope, voice, breath and rights were stolen and whose children were killed by phosphorus bombs. I am sure that you all saw those women, too,” she stated.Hmmmm......How about the women and childeren slaughtered by the Turks during the Armenian Genocide?We saw them also !Read the full story here.

• Ahmadinejad outraged by Libyan repression.Mideast unrest will reach US, Europe: Iran president.Iran's president said Wednesday he is certain the wave of unrest in the Middle East will spread to Europe and North America, bringing an end to governments he accused of oppressing and humiliating people."The world is on the verge of big developments. Changes will be forthcoming and will engulf the whole world from Asia to Africa and from Europe to North America," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference Wednesday.The tone of the remarks seemed to draw on the belief by Shiite Muslims that a revered ninth century saint known as the Hidden Imam, will reappear before judgment day to end tyranny and promote justice in the world.Ahmadinejad, whose own country resorted to violence to disperse an opposition rally earlier this month where two protesters were killed, also condemned Libya's use of force against demonstrators, calling the repression "unimaginable." "It is unimaginable that someone is killing his citizens, bombarding his citizens," Ahmadinejad said on state television when asked about the situation in Libya."How can officers be ordered to use bullets from machine guns, tanks and guns against their own citizens?"Hmmm.....The pot blaming the kettle"?Read the full story here.

• Guess who is suing Coca Cola? As if it wasn't bad enough for The Coca-Cola Co that the closely-guarded secret recipe for its flagship brand was revealed last week, the company is now being sued over the discovery that the soft drink purportedly contains alcohol.According to Israel Business Arena, an Israeli Muslim has filed a NIS1.2bn (US$332.8m) class action suit against Israeli Coca-Cola franchisee The Central Bottling Co for compensation for "mental anguish and infringing the independent choices of the individual".The recipe, it seems, contains 8oz or "1 qtr" of alcohol, and given that alcohol is forbidden by Islam law, the claimant believes he has been "unwittingly drinking alcohol for years". Subsequently, the class action suit is seeking NIS1,000 for each of the 1.2m Muslims living in Israel.Given that The Coca-Cola Co has denied the recipe is the same as the one for its cola beverage, which is kept in an Atlanta bank vault, the claimant might want to try cracking that one first.Hmmmm...Could coca Cola get compensation for having to put up with jokers like that?Read the full story here.HT:AlwaysOnWatch.

• HT:InfidelBloggers.Spain: Muslims Don't Want Dogs In The Streets.Islamic associations have called on the Lleida City Council to enact local legislation to prohibit the presence of dogs in city buses and in some areas frequented mostly by Muslims, to be considered "unclean" in Islam.Hmmmm......Obama "Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• HT:BarracudaBrigade.Obama/Holder Refuse to Enforce/Defend, "Defense of Marriage Act." Impeach Now !!!WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration says it will no longer defend the constitutionality of a federal law that bans recognition of same-sex marriage. In a statement Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder says President Obama has concluded that the administration can no longer defend the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. The Justice Department had defended the Defense of Marriage Act in court until now.Megyn Kelly Rips Holder/Obama. Points out, "It's Federal Law."WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration said Wednesday it will no longer defend the constitutionality of a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.Attorney General Eric Holder said President Barack Obama has concluded that the administration cannot defend the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. He noted that the congressional debate during passage of the Defense of Marriage Act “contains numerous expressions reflecting moral disapproval of gays and lesbians and their intimate and family relationships – precisely the kind of stereotype-based thinking and animus the (Constitution’s)Equal Protection Clause is designed to guard against.”The Justice Department had defended the act in court until now.The move quickly drew praise from some Democrats in Congress but a sharp response from the spokesman for Republican John Boehner, the House Speaker.“While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the president will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation,” said Boehner’s spokesman Michael Steel.Holder’s statement said, “Much of the legal landscape has changed in the 15 years since Congress passed” the Defense of Marriage Act. He noted that the Supreme Court has ruled that laws criminalizing homosexual conduct are unconstitutional and that Congress has repealed the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said Obama himself is still “grappling” with his personal view of gay marriage but has always personally opposed the Defense of Marriage Act as “unnecessary and unfair.”Hmmm....Anything go's to push America towards civil war so that the great leader can become ruler for life?Read the full story here.

• Mass Dem Rep. Mike Capuano: Hey, Sorry I Called on My Union Goons to Draw “Blood”…[While pointing to Tea Party activists]!U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano expressed regret Wednesday for his choice of words at a Tuesday rally to support Wisconsin workers, after national and local Republicans pounced on him for “over-the-top and inflammatory rhetoric.”“Congressman Mike Capuano must have lost the memo from President Obama and Democratic leaders who were demanding more civility in our political discourse and a toning down of incendiary rhetoric after the massacre in Tucson on January 8,” the Massachusetts Republican Party wrote in a Wednesday statement. “Yesterday, at a rally on Beacon Hill, Capuano couldn’t resist the urge to stir up a crowd of union members with a call for blood in the pursuit and protection of their political agenda.”During the Tuesday rally — a gathering of more than 1,000 union supporters protesting a proposal by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to diminish the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers in that state — Capuano, speaking in front of the State House, fired up the crowd by saying, “I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.”After Republicans took aim at his rhetoric, Capuano issued a statement expressing regret for his language, although at the time it drew wild applause and cheers from the throngs of union supporters.Capuano also referred to a vastly outnumbered throng of Tea Party counter-protesters as “a couple of nuts in the background who want to take it all away from you,” waving his hand dismissively in their direction. Throughout the three-hour rally, rank-and-file union members traded heated barbs with the Tea Party backers. Some clashes nearly escalated into violence and resulted in police intervention. In one case, a pro-union rallier spit in the face of one of the counter-protesters, who set up camp near the rally.Capuano’s comments quickly drew contrasts with the call for a more civil tone in national political rhetoric by President Barack Obama and politicians across the country after a mass shooting in Tucson that injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Capuano was reportedly among those who agreed with Obama’s call, telling the Boston Globe in January, “Everybody knows the last couple of years there’s been an intentional increase in the degree of heat in political discourse . . . If nothing else good comes out of this, I’m hoping it causes people to reconsider how they deal with things.’’Hmmmm.......The new 'civil' way of politics.Read the full story here.

• Saudi king back home, orders $37 bln in handouts. Saudi King Abdullah returned home on Wednesday after a three-month medical absence and unveiled benefits for Saudis worth some $37 billion (23 billion pounds) in an apparent bid to insulate the world's top oil exporter from an Arab protest wave.The king, who had been convalescing in Morocco after back surgery in New York in November, stood as he descended from the plane in a special lift. He then took to a wheelchair.Hundreds of men in white robes performed a traditional Bedouin sword dance on carpets laid out at Riyadh airport for the return of the monarch, thought to be 87.Abdullah left his ailing octogenarian half-brother, Crown Prince Sultan, in charge during his absence.Before Abdullah arrived, state media announced an action plan to help lower- and middle-income people among the 18 million Saudi nationals. It includes pay rises to offset inflation, unemployment benefits and affordable family housing.Saudi Arabia has so far escaped popular protests against poverty, corruption and oppression that have raged across the Arab world, toppling entrenched leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and even spreading to Bahrain, linked to the kingdom by a causeway.Significantly, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa was among the princes thronging the tarmac when Abdullah flew in.King Hamad freed about 250 political prisoners on Wednesday and has offered dialogue with protesters, mostly from Bahrain's Shi'ite majority, who demand more say in the Sunni-ruled island.Riyadh would be worried if unrest in Bahrain, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week, spread to its own disgruntled Shi'ite minority in the oil-rich east.Hundreds of people have backed a Facebook call for a Saudi "day of rage" on March 11 to demand an elected ruler, greater freedom for women and the release of political prisoners.Saudi analysts said the king might soon reshuffle his cabinet to inject fresh blood and revive stalled reforms.Saudi stability is of global concern. A key U.S. ally, the top OPEC producer holds more than a fifth of world oil reserves.The king announced no political reforms such as municipal council polls demanded by opposition groups. Saudi Arabia has no elected parliament or parties and allows little public dissent.Jeddah-based Saudi analyst Turad al-Amri welcomed what he called "a nice gesture" from the king, saying the measures were not unprecedented or prompted by Arab protests elsewhere.But other Saudis were critical. "We want rights, not gifts," said Fahad Aldhafeeri in one typical message on Twitter."They are under pressure. They have to do something. We know Saudi Arabia is surrounded by revolutions of various types, and not just in poor countries, but in some such as Libya which are rich," said Mai Yamani, at London's Chatham House think tank. "Basically what the king is doing is good, but it's an old message of using oil money to buy the silence, subservience and submission of the people," she said. "The new generation of revolution is surrounding them from everywhere."Read the full story here.

• High oil prices risk for global economic recovery: IEAOil producers, users sign charter as prices spike.Energy producer and consumer states signed a charter in Riyadh on Tuesday aimed at limiting price volatility and stabilizing the market, even as Middle East turmoil propelled prices to two-year highs.The non-binding charter was signed by 87 countries, representing 90 percent of global oil production and consumption, said Saudi Arabia's deputy oil minister, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman."We are here today to formally and officially confirm the approval of the IEF (International Energy Forum) charter," Prince Abdul Aziz said at the opening meeting of the IEF extraordinary ministerial meeting.The host country's oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said the charter aims to create a "global energy market characterized by transparency and stability" and to "strengthen cooperation for the benefit of future generations."On the eve of the forum, Prince Abdul Aziz said the one-day meeting would also tackle the key issues of short-term price volatility and long-term demand and supply of crude oil and gas.IEF's secretary general, Noe van Hulst, has said the group's ministers agreed that sharp fluctuations in the market were harmful.Oil prices soared to near $93 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi struggled to maintain his grip on power in the OPEC nation amid violent protests calling for his resignation.Concern among traders is growing that some of Libya's crude exports of 1.0 million barrels a day could be affected as foreign oil companies evacuate staff from the country. Traders are also eyeing protests in Iran, the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries."Unlike Egypt, Libya is a significant producer of crude and we may be seeing the largest disruptions since the start of the second Gulf War," energy consultant The Schork Report said.Analysts are also worried the jump in energy costs could hurt consumer spending and stymie a fragile recovery in developed countries. The crisis in the Middle East and North Africa - which has brought down governments in Tunisia and Egypt and sparked protests in Yemen, Bahrain, Iran, and Jordan - has added about $10 to the price of crude, according to Capital Economics."An additional $10 on the price of oil is not insignificant, particularly for weaker economies in Europe facing a major fiscal squeeze," Capital Economics said in a report. "Given the pace at which events are unfolding it would be daft to rule out a spike to $140 or beyond in the coming weeks if the unrest disrupts output from the larger oil producers."Oil companies, including Italy's Eni, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, U.K.-based BP and Germany's Wintershall, a subsidiary of BASF, were evacuating their expat workers or their families or both. BP and Wintershall said they were temporarily suspending operations; Eni said production continued normally.Libya is one of the world's biggest oil producers and has the largest proven oil reserves in the whole of Africa. Eni, Italy's largest natural gas and oil company, has operated there for more than 50 years and is the biggest foreign player in Libya.Hmmmmmm......Dammed that "Outreach to Muslims" policy has yielded great rewards Mr President.Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Syriac  4Th century Christian monastery to be included in Muslim Faith Park.The thousands-of-years-old Syriac Mor Yakup Monastery complex in Mardin’s Nusaybin district is being restored. The historic monastery and a nearby tomb of a 13th-generation grandchild of the Prophet Mohammed will be united and opened to tourism as a Culture and Faith Park Complex. Mardin Gov. Hasan Duruer says the project will emphasize the beauty of living together.The Mor Yakup complex, which dates back to the year 326 and belongs to a Syriac community foundation, will be united with the 12th-century Zeynel Abidin complex and open to tourism as a “Culture and Faith Park” in the coming months.“We hope to contribute to the economy by reviving faith and culture tourism in Nusaybin,” Mardin Gov. Hasan Duruer told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. He said their aim was to strengthen the dialogue between cultures. “Polarization between cultures and faiths increases in our daily lives. This project to build a culture and faith park aims to emphasize the beauty of brotherhood and living next to one another.”The thousands-of-years-old church has recently come up due to the increasing number of attacks on it.The governor said the monastery complex was abandoned prior to the restoration. “A place for a metropolitan bishop, which was constructed in 1872, was used as a house by a Muslim family. The part of the monastery that was underground was forested; that’s why no obvious trace of the monastery was visible.”Duruer said the works in Nusaybin would not be limited to the Mor Yakup Church and the Zeynel Abidin complex. The restoration of the fourth-century Mor Evgin Monastery, which still lies within the borders of Nusaybin, will also start in the near future. “Nusaybin will have an important tourism potential once these historic renovations are done.”Hmmmm....."You shall have no other Gods before me".Read the full story here.

• Michelle Obama has Personal Shopper.Wearing black and a beaded headband, Goldman, 43, cheerily accepted double-cheek Fashion Week salutations, posed for a few pictures and gabbed with Linda Fargo, fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman. The music began to thump, and the acclaimed stylist went to work, eyeballing each geometric print that sailed down the catwalk.Having Michelle Obama as a mega-client earned Goldman this spotlight, but according to several people with knowledge of her White House arrangement, she is no longer the shopper in chief.That coveted role is now played by Goldman's former protegee and current White House employee, Meredith Koop. The ascent of the 29-year-old personal assistant has caught the imagination of Fashion Week gossips, East Wing obsessives and "All About Eve" fans for weeks. A former Vanderbilt University sorority sister, Koop learned fashion gospel at the altar of Ikram, Goldman's eponymous Chicago boutique. Two years ago, when Michelle Obama left for Washington, Goldman dispatched Koop as an emissary, attending to the first lady's dressing needs inside the family residence. Koop has taken full advantage of proximity to power. Her portfolio has expanded, at the expense of her mentor. This season Koop is in, and Goldman is out.Hmmmm....."We all have to make sacrifices"?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Video : Cancer and Cell Phones: Study Finds No Link.Hmmm... at the end of the clip he says"As long as we don't know longterm effects"........It can't hurt????Read and see the full story here.