MFS - The Other News

                   Afternoon  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - March 24. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And here (BBC). Latest here.

HT: The Big Picture - Libya: UN air strikes aid rebels - 33 pictures here.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world lots of seismic activity in Japan between 5.1 and 5.6 today. More info here.

• Updated : The wind directions over Japan. Here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 58.On 24.03.2011 at 04:17 GMT+2.  Here.

• FLASHBACK !'Glenn Beck:' Soros Poised to Profit?

I showed you last break how strikingly similar the ideas from George Soros and the Center for American Progress are to the agenda items of Barack Obama. Yes, Center for American Progress. Yes, progressive power players stand to make a fortune off of the decisions that this administration is pushing. I like to call it Crime, Inc. because that's what it is. You are getting screwed in the end. For example, Soros is going to make billions if America cuts back on the offshore drilling operation.America cutting back will leave a gaping void that will likely be filled by an already-large producer called Petrobras. Petrobras — one of the top two investments of George Soros. It's the Brazilian — Brazilian oil company.Hmmmm....Can we start the impeachment procedure now?Read the full treason story here.

• French Jets Shoot Down Libyan Warplane as Qaddafi Violates No-Fly Zone.French fighter jets shot down a Libyan warplane, amid allegations that forces loyal to leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi violated the country's UN-sanctioned no-fly zone.The Libyan warplane, a Soko G-2 Galeb, was flying over Misrata prior to being shot down by the French jets, a U.S. defense official told Fox News on Thursday. The incident is believed to be the first time a Libyan jet was sent into Libyan airspace since the coalition bombing began, and the first time a warplane was shot down since the coalition began bombing Libya.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has acknowledged there is no clear end to the international military enforcement of the no-fly zone over Libya, but President Barack Obama said it "absolutely" will not lead to a U.S. land invasion.Hmmmm.....And we all know what the President his promises are worth.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGovernment.Letter to President Obama Regarding Libya.

The Honorable Barack Obama

President of the United States

The White House

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I have read your letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate dated March 21, 2011 concerning your order that United States Armed Forces attack the nation of Libya. You cite the authority of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 and your “constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.The Constitution clearly and unmistakably vests Congress with the sole prerogative “to declare war.” Your letter fails to explain how a resolution of the United Nations Security Council is necessary to commit this nation to war but that an act of Congress is not.”The War Powers Resolution unambiguously defines three circumstances under which the President as Commander in Chief may order United States Armed Forces into hostile action: “(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” Your letter cites none of these conditions.Nor can the power to order an act of war be inferred from the President’s authority as “Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.” The Constitution’s Framers were explicit on this point. In Federalist 69, Alexander Hamilton draws a sharp distinction between the President’s authority as Commander in Chief as “nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces” and the authority of the British king “which extends to the declaring of war and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies ~ all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature.”With all due respect, I can only conclude that your order to United States Armed Forces to attack the nation of Libya on March 19, 2011 is in direct violation of the War Powers Resolution and constitutes a usurpation of Constitutional powers clearly and solely vested in the United States Congress and is accordingly unlawful and unconstitutional.

Sincerely,

Tom McClintock

Member of Congress.Hmmmm.....Start impeachment now ,take your pick for the reason?Read the full story here.

• Israeli aircraft launch retaliatory attacks in Gaza as fears grow for peace deal.Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip today in response to militant rocket and mortar attacks, raising fears that fresh hostilities could destroy an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. The retaliatory action by Israel arrived the country suffered two weeks of attacks - including the deadly bombing of a crowded Jerusalem bus stop which killed a British tourist.Israeli reprisals against Gaza militants included one case where four Palestinian civiliants were killed - as Washington today urged the two sides to take 'bold action' to reach a peace agreement.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the rocket attacks 'repugnant' and defended the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip as legitimate self-defence.But at a news conference in Tel Aviv with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak, Mr Gates said today: 'There is a need and an opportunity for bold action to move toward a two-state solution.'Militants operating near the Israeli border sent at least nine rockets and mortars - including two rockets that reached the city of Ashdod - flying at Israeli communities throughout the day, drawing an Israeli airstrike in retaliation.No injuries were reported on either side.Israel's inability to halt the rocket fire has drawn public criticism, especially since Israel has spent an estimated $200 million developing a system that is meant to shoot down the short-range rockets that militants use.Although officials have repeatedly promised the Iron Dome is ready to be deployed, it so far hasn't been used in the field.Home Front Minister Matan Vilnai, who oversees civil defense, refused to discuss the holdup in an interview on Israel Radio Thursday.With no signs that the two sides are making any progress to resume peacemaking, Abbas is pushing to get the international community to recognize a Palestinian state by fall in the absence of a peace deal.Read the full story here.

• HT:IMRA.Egypt warns of the implementation of a new aggression on Gaza.Cairo WAFA 23/03/2011 - Egypt's Foreign Minister Dr. Nabil el-Arabi warned on Wednesday, the risk of any escalation could be played by Israel in Palestinian territory, stressing that the escalation of violence will not be in the interest of either party or the peace and stability.The ambassador said a grant of Bochum, Spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, 'the Arabs demanded that Israel show restraint and warned of a rush to a military operation in Gaza, which will not only lead to more tension'.She added: 'The minister emphasizes the need to not give a pretext for Israel to exercise violence, stressing that the policy of Egypt's steadfast refusal to condemn the targeting of civilians'.Read the full story here.

• Rockets hit near Rishon Lezion after IDF tanks strike Gaza.No casualties as Grad lands 10 mi. south of Tel Aviv; Ya'alon: We will not tolerate any escalation, Hamas will pay the price; eight rockets launched since morning; IDF strikes multiple targets in Gaza. Rockets were launched towards Rishon Lezion, 10 miles south of Tel Aviv, and Ashdod on Thursday afternoon, and sirens were heard in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gedera and Gan Yavne. Another rocket landed in the Eshkol Regional Council, the eight rocket attack since Thursday morning.IDF tanks shot into Gaza on Thursday, injuring one man, according to Palestinian sources, following five rockets launched from Gaza into Israel.The strike came after the IAF struck four targets in Gaza Strip in the early morning, after Palestinians fired about a dozen rockets and mortars across the border, striking deep into Israel. The tanks were aimed at a Hamas facility in Gaza City, which reportedly burst into flames.Earlier Thursday, the IAF bombed terrorists that were attempting to shoot rockets into Israel.Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Thursday that Israel "will not be tolerant of any escalation."Speaking in the US, Ya'alon said that Israel will not tolerate "terrorist attacks or shooting rockets at our citizens."He said that the war against terror "requires a long battle, but it will not stop us from taking care of whoever shoots at Israel, as they have in the last few days or sends terrorists to the center of cities.""Whoever does this will not be immune to a decisive attack," Ya'alon said. "Hamas is responsible for everything that is shot out of Gaza and if it does not take responsibility, it will pay the price."Authorities announced that schools would be closed in Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon on Thursday as a result of the security situation.Also Wednesday, seven mortar shells containing white phosphorous hit the Eshkol region, followed shortly after by three more near a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev region. The IAF later destroyed the launcher that was used to fire the rocket into Ashdod.The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the missile fire, which came after Israel killed four terror operatives in a missile strike on Tuesday night. The four were behind the firing of two Katyusha rockets into Beersheba in late February, the IDF said.Fearing a further escalation, the IDF Home Front Command ordered residents in Beersheba, Ashkelon and Ashdod to stay close to their homes and near bomb shelters, out of concern that additional rockets will be fired in the coming days from the Gaza Strip.On Wednesday, the IDF’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration coordinated the transfer of an 8-year-old Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip to Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot after he was injured in an Israeli mortar attack on Tuesday.The boy was injured after IDF troops fired mortar shells into an open field in northern Gaza and accidentally hit a number of civilians nearby, killing four members of a family and wounding several others, including the boy, who was transferred Wednesday to Israel for medical treatment.Hmmmm.......Of course no condemnation from Hussein"they don't trust me because of my middle name"?Read the full story here.

• Sarah Palin slams President Obama for interfering in Israeli 'zoning issue'.Hours after a terror attack in Jerusalem, Sarah Palin on Wednesday night hammered President Obama for not standing strongly enough behind Israel, conceding too much to the Palestinians, and interfering in a local “zoning issue” – settlement building on the West Bank.“I think there are many in Israel who would feel even more comfortable knowing that there is an even greater commitment from those who presently occupy the White House that they are there on Israel's side, and that our most valuable ally in that region can count on us,” Palin told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren in an interview in Naples, Florida.Palin spoke after a deadly bombing in at the central bus station in Jerusalem that killed one woman and shattering a nearly seven year period since the last major bombing in the city.Palin struck a pro-Israel tone saying, if she were president, she would take an opposite approach to Obama and stay out of Israel’s way regarding settlements in the West Bank, and take a harder line with Palistineans.“President Obama was inappropriate to intervene in a zoning issue in Israel,” she said, referring to settlement building on the West Bank. "Let Israel decide their zoning issues themselves.”Palin said the current administration concedes too much to Palestinians.Hmmmm......No really,why would she think that?Read the full story here.

• Gates in Israel: No State Would Tolerate This.United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrived in Israel Thursday and spoke to reporters alongside his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak."No sovereign state can tolerate having rockets fired at its people," said Gates, after Barak voiced similar sentiments. Gates is in the Middle East assessing the situation in the region as a wave of uprisings shakes the Arab world.He was scheduled to meet President Shimon Peres later Thursday and to meet Friday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.Gates, who has said this is his last year in his post, arrived from Cairo, where he met with the interim military leadership in Egypt that assumed power after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted.The escalation in missile attacks from Gaza may reflect a growing sense of confidence that terrorists in the Hamas-ruled entity feel, after the upheaval in Egypt. Egypt's interim foreign minister, Nabil Al-Arabi, has expressed support for opening the border with Gaza. This could allow weapons to flow into Gaza unchecked.Hmmmm......Genius Obama "Israel may benefit from the Arab uprising".Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Wikileaks: Over two million potential terrorists in Turkey. A cable released by Wikileaks warns of over two million potential terrorists in Turkey .A leading Turkish national security analyst told U.S. diplomats that seven percent of Turkish citizens support “radical forms of Islam.”He said that “even if half a percent of the population supports al-Qaeda-type terrorism in a country of 70 million [people], this would mean 350,000 potential terrorists,” Hurriyet Daily News reported quoting according Taraf newspaper, a Turkish partner of Wikileaks, which released the diplomatic cable.The Sunni Islamic doctrine has changed so little since the Middle Ages that there is not much difference between the Taliban in Afghanistan and Turkey, the Religious Affairs Directorate’s research office director, Niyazi Kahveci, told U.S. officials during a visit on Nov. 14, 1996, according to another recently leaked cable, Hurriyet reported.A June 27, 2003, diplomatic cable released by Taraf, also claimed the country’s Religious Affairs Directorate “is suppressing Islamic beliefs that do not fit the official version.”The Turkish version of secularism is “180 degrees opposite” of the U.S. version as it is not one embraced by the people and protected by the Constitution but “divinized” by the Constitution and forced on the people, the cable said. Hmmmmm......Obama's best friend.....Turkey....their best friend....Iran!Can't wait to see the Olympics in Sochi with no visa duty between Turkey and Russia.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Gulf States To Expel Lebanese Shi'ites.Arab sources in London have told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa that the GCC countries are planning to expel all Lebanese Shi'ites with ties to Hizbullah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), due to intelligence regarding their involvement in running the protests in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. On the same subject, the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily reported that the Bahraini airlines has announced that it is stopping flights to and from Lebanon, and suspending its flights to and from Iraq and Iran until the end of the month.Source.

• HT:Persecution.Christians in Fear after Qur’an Burning.Christians in fear after Qur’an burning ICC Note “Violence against minorities is increasing after the Qur’an burning; this is very dangerous. The effects of Jones’ doing are now showing up. The reaction is expected to be strongest after Friday prayers.”Tension continues to spread in eastern Punjab province where police struggled to control a mob attempting to raid a Full Gospel Assembly church in Lahore.Two separate mobs headed to the Christian slum on March 22 after different mosques announced that the “church members deliberately burnt the Qur’an transcript in garbage on a US pattern.”Chanting anti-government and pro-Islamic slogans, they burned tyres before the Church authorities called police to disperse the crowd.The latest clashes follow an incident on March 20 when a US pastor, Terry Jones, oversaw the burning of a Qur’an in a Florida church. A mock “trial” was conducted in the church which found the Qur’an guilty of crimes against humanity.Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the act and Islamic groups have announced a countrywide protest to take place on March 25.In Lahore, ash still covers the road fronting the double story building, with the Church and the pastor’s house, located in an alley. Two policemen now guard its gate, which is topped with barbed wire. Most of the 250 Christian families in the slum have sent their daughters to relatives for fear of further violence.Banners stating “Christians respect all divine books” and “Pakistani Christians, together with our Muslim siblings, condemn Qur’an burning” have been erected in Churches around Pakistan.In Hyderabad, hundreds of Christians staged a night-long protest on March 22 after two Christians, aged 24 and 45 were shot dead and two more injured in front of a Salvation Army Church. Vicar General Father Samson Shukardin and another priest led the demonstration in front of the central jail.The protestors placed the dead bodies on road and demanded the arrest of the culprits and justice for the families. The post-mortem was conducted during the protest which continued till 5:30 am.The incident had at its background a brawl between Christians and Muslims one day earlier, which resulted in the deaths of the pair. Three Muslims have been arrested so far.Read the full story here.

• Convert from Islam Escapes Egypt with Daughter,but is refused visa to the US.When the plane carrying Maher El-Gohary and his daughter, Dina Mo’otahssem, took off from Cairo International Airport last month, they both wept with joy. After spending two-and-a-half years in hiding for leaving Islam to become Christians, they were elated by their newfound freedom. They also felt secure that once they arrived in Syria, they would quickly obtain visas to the United States and start a new life. That hope soon proved unfounded.After spending more than a week and a half unable to obtain a visa to the United States or to any country in Europe, they realized they may have traded in the reality of being prisoners in their own country for being refugees in another. And as El-Gohary watches the weeks pass and his resources dwindle, he said the stress is almost unbearable. “I feel like we’ve stepped out of a prison cell and into a fire,” he said. “We are in very, very bad conditions … My daughter and I divide the bottles of water to live, because there is no income.”Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary, 58, gained notoriety in Egypt after he sued the government in August 2008 to gain the right to change the religion listed on his state-issued ID card from Islam to Christianity. In Egypt, ID cards play a critical role in a person’s life, being used for everything from opening a bank account and renting an apartment to receiving medical care. Hmmmm......Is this the 'change' Obama applauded?Read the full story here.

• HT"AsiaNews.Christian woman lawyer told she cannot represent people before Malaysia’s Islamic courts.Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A Christian woman lawyer in Malaysia was unsuccessful in her bid to obtain a permit to practice law before Shari’a courts. Victoria Jayaseele Martin said she wanted to represent non-Muslims. Malaysia has a dual legal system, a secular system for non-Muslim Malaysians and a religious one for Muslims, who constitute the country’s majority. Ms Jayaseele Martin objected to a decision by a religious council to bar non-Muslim lawyers from Shari’a courts, but a judge in Kuala Lumpur rejected her claim. She said however that she would appeal to a higher court to argue that the ruling against her was unconstitutional.Victoria Jayaseele Martin’s lawyer, Ranjit Singh, said that it is hard to find Muslim lawyers willing to represent non-Muslims before Islamic counts because they usually do not like to take cases that might run counter to their faith.Hmmmm.....Sharia law anyone?Read the full story here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.Muslim Brotherhood: "It Is Permissible for the Husband to Forbid His Wife from Visiting a Specific Woman".Translated from the Muslim Brotherhood-linked European Council for Fatwa and Research, 22 August 2009:

Title: Is it permissible for the husband to forbid his wife from visiting a certain woman?Date: 22 Aug 2009

Answer: It is permissible for the husband to forbid his wife from visiting a specific woman--Muslim or non-Muslim--if he fears that there is mischief behind it, or harm for the woman or his children, or for the life of their marriage.The man is the head of the family and its guardian, and he must protect it from anything which may expose it to danger, even if it is only a likely danger. One of the established rules of Islam is the following: preventing evil takes precedence over obtaining one’s interests. Our counsel is this: the man should not act arbitrarily in these matters, nor be suspicious where no suspicion is warranted, and confine his wife to isolation, like a prison, and forbid her from contacting anyone she knows, as a result of suspicion and conjecture. The Most High said: “O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin” [Qur’an 49:12]. Also (the Prophet) (peace be upon him) said: “Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false speech.”Read the full story here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.Hezbollah Calls Burning the Qur'an a "Crime".No comment yet from Hezbollah on Iran burning hundreds of Bibles.Translated from al-Manar, 22 March 2011:Hezbollah Calls on Churches to Take the Appropriate Position on Pastor Jones' Crime of Burning the Qur'an Ahmad Shi'itu Commenting on Pastor Terry Jones' crime of burning a copy of the Noble Qur'an, Hezbollah issued a statement which points out that, "The crime of burning the Noble Qur'an by Pastor Terry Jones in the United States comes as part of a campaign which, through its various forms, expressions, personalities, and times, expresses hostility towards religion and divine laws." Hezbollah expressed its "Sharp condemnation of this abominable crime," regarding it as "a call to fitna and religious strife, and a masking of the true conflicts between the arrogant and the oppressed." Hezbollah held the American adminisration "Responsible for this crime, for it serves their arrogant designs in fomenting conflict and sectarian divisions, at a time when Muslims and Christians need cooperation and integration." Hezbollah also called on "Every religious institution to push aside these nefarious acts which serve the designs of sowing fitna in the world," appealing for "churches to take the appropriate position in regards to what was done, which serves the wicked purposes of the great conspiracy."Read the full story here.