MFS - The Other News

                      Morning  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 01. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

• Sirya live blog - March 30  here.(Al -Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan between 4.3 and 5.1 today. More info here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 69. Source .

• Up to 1,000 bodies left untouched near troubled nuke plant.Radiation fears have prevented authorities from collecting as many as 1,000 bodies of victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami from within the 20-kilometer-radius evacuation zone around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, police sources said Thursday.One of the sources said bodies had been ''exposed to high levels of radiation after death.'' The view was supported by the detection Sunday of elevated levels of radiation on a body found in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, about 5 km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.The authorities are now considering how to collect the bodies, given fears that police officers, doctors and bereaved families may be exposed to radiation in retrieving the radiation-exposed bodies or at morgues, according to the sources.They initially planned to inspect the bodies after transporting them outside the evacuation zone, but the plan is being reconsidered due to the concerns over exposure.Local residents have been forced to leave the zone since the current nuclear crisis began unfolding at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant, which is leaking radioactive materials as its cooling systems for its reactors and nuclear spent-fuel pools have been knocked out by the disaster.Even after the bodies are handed over to the victims' families, cremating them could spread plumes containing radioactive materials, while burying the victims could contaminate the soil around them, according to the sources.The authorities are considering decontaminating and inspecting the bodies where they are found. But the sources said that cleansing decomposing bodies could damage them further.Victims can be identified through DNA analysis of nail samples, but even then considerable time and effort must be taken to decontaminate the samples, according to experts.Elevated levels of radiation detected on the victim in the town of Okuma last Sunday forced local police to give up on retrieving the body.''Measures that can be taken vary depending on the level of radiation, so there need to be professionals who can control radiation,'' said an expert on treating people exposed to radiation. ''One option is to take decontamination vehicles there and decontaminate the bodies one by one.''Read the full story here.

• Alert Issued After Security Incident On Camp Pendleton.3 Middle Eastern Men Tried To Enter Base Without Proper Authorization, Base Alert Says.SAN DIEGO -- One of the nation's largest military bases is reportedly under tighter security after three Middle Eastern men tried to enter without proper authorization.10News learned the three men -- 40-year-old Afghani Ahmad Rahmani Naeem, 41-year-old Iranian Vahik Petrossian and 27-year-old Iranian Sengekdi Norvik Avanosian -- attempted to get into Camp Pendleton last weekend under what was considered suspicious circumstances.On Wednesday, base officials said there was no threat, but others on the base told 10News security has been stepped up.

Investigators at Camp Pendleton said the men asked the attendant for directions on how to get to Camp Pendleton before they left the gas station.

According to the alert, shortly after midnight Sunday, a rented silver Toyota Corolla driven by Naeem attempted to enter Camp Pendleton through the main gate. As it was being searched, Petrossian and Avanosian drove up in a black Mercedes, but were told to wait. Instead, they continued past the gate and onto the base. Following a short pursuit, the Mercedes was stopped and searched.No weapons or contraband were found in the Mercedes, but base security noticed the air bag in the steering wheel of the Mercedes had been pulled out and re-attached with duct tape and had wires hanging free, the alert said.(Electrical wires for explosives?)

According to the alert, Naaem told base security he was lost and was trying to go to Glendale. When interviewed, Petrossian and Avanosian said they were lost and trying to go to Glendale. The three men claimed not to know each other, the alert said.Naaem, Petrossian and Avanosian were photographed and released after questioning, and a warning about the trio was posted to law enforcement.However, later that morning about 8:30 a.m., Naeem returned in the Toyota and tried to get on the base again, saying he made a mistake and was trying to enter Interstate 5, the alert said. After his vehicle was searched, Naeem was issued a letter of debarment from the base and escorted to the freeway.

Since the incident, 10News learned high-ranking Camp Pendleton officials have notified other military bases and law enforcement of a potential threat.According to a local security expert, that comes with good reason."I think after 9/11, anybody on any government facility should be worried," local expert John told 10News.John, who does undercover security and anti-terrorism work for Eagle Eye Security Solutions, did not want to be identified.

He told 10News the Camp Pendleton incident sounds like a possible probe or dry run and said their visits raise a few red flags."Number one: they went on base twice. Their stories didn't stick, kinda wishy washy. Number two: the vehicle, the condition of the vehicle," said John. "They could have been probing the security, not just cameras, sensors, individual security from MPs. Three: [they] could have wanted to know what background checks would have produced."

A criminal background check on the trio conducted by the Department of Homeland Security found no "derogatory records" for the men. Additionally, the U.S. Border Patrol said the immigration statuses for the three men were confirmed and they did not appear on any terrorist watch databases.Hmmmm.....My guess they should have called Wal-Mart at least then homeland security might have gotten involved?Read the full story here.

• HT:NewsRealBlog.Obama: The Enemy’s Hope.Barack Hussein Obama is the only former Muslim I know of who has nothing but good things to say about Islam, but he waited only until after he became president to speak about his Muslim heritage openly, and he accordingly did so in the first televised interview he gave as president for the Muslim/Arab TV station, Al Aribiyya.If he only felt about America the way he feels about Islam.But he doesn’t, and so he constantly puts our interests below the interests of our enemy. His latest tribute to Islam is his siding with “the rebels” in Libya, “rebels” who are linked to Al Qaeda. Under Obama, the Muslim world is becoming more Islamic and the enemy is becoming more emboldened, as if it’s his job to make it so. Barack Hussein Obama, a man in love with all things Islam, has given our enemy great reason to believe that they can actually achieve their goals, and do so sooner than they even dreamed of. The enemy understands that the one man in all the world who is supposed to be their worst enemy is actually their greatest hope.Hmmmmmm.......When will Congress start to impeach the enemies of 'We the people"?Read the full story here.

• 10 Reasons Why President Obama Has Failed As An Effective Leader.According to a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released Wednesday, President Barack Obama’s approval ratings have reached a new low at 42%. His disapproval rating was 48%. Half of those surveyed for the poll do not think that the president deserves a second term in office.On the “O’Reilly Factor” last night, Bill O’Reilly posited that Obama’s declining poll numbers reveal Americans’ doubts about his leadership skills and where he is leading our country. Here are just a few examples of Obama’s leadership failures.President Obama has failed to convince many Americans that he truly believes the United States is an exceptional country with a noble purpose. He tried in his Libya speech Monday night to invoke his understanding of American exceptionalism as the justification for his belated decision to use military force against Qaddafi. However, he has made apologies abroad for America on several occasions. For example, in France of all places, he said : there have been times America’s shown arrogance.Most Americans want a president who leads by making firm decisions with moral clarity and common sense and who puts his country first. Barack Obama has failed this leadership test.Hmmmm.....Why stop at ten,that's just the tip of the iceberg?Read the full failure story here.

• HT:RightWingNews.Obama’s Stealth Globull Warming Adaption Executive Order.As the Republican led House, and many Republicans, and some Democrats, in the Senate look to keep the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, Mr. Obama has quietly implemented his own rulesOn March 4th, in a move surely designed to side-step Congress, Obama’s Council on Environmental Quality issued instructions to all federal agencies on how to adapt to climate change. All agencies, from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Defense, will be required to analyze their vulnerabilities to the impacts from climate change and come up with a plan to adapt. Thousands of governmental employees will be trained on climate science, like it or not.The changes aren’t limited to just federal agencies. Countless numbers of private businesses that sell, build, provide logistics or maintenance, or anything else to the government will be forced to comply with new Federal climate adaptation guidelines—all because of Presidential Executive Order 13514. Got that? Any company that has dealings with the Federal government will have to implement all the requirements of EO 13514.No wonder Obama has avoided most talk about “climate change”: he’s stealthily implemented the Warmist idiocy.Say, I wonder if this would apply to anyone paying taxes?It also “requires Federal Agencies to set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target within 90 days; increase energy efficiency; reduce fleet petroleum consumption; conserve water; reduce waste; support sustainable communities; and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies.”So, the power of the federal government will be used to push one product over another. So much for a fair and impartial government.Hmmmm.......Democracy?How about calling it Dictatorship?Read the full story here.

• Sheriff: Gov't Agents Told To Reduce Border Arrests.An Arizona sheriff says U.S. Border Patrol officials have repeatedly told him they have been ordered to reduce -- at times even stop -- arrests of illegal immigrants caught trying to cross the U.S. border.Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever told FoxNews.com that a supervisor with the U.S. Border Patrol told him as recently as this month that the federal agency’s office on Arizona's southern border was under orders to keep apprehension numbers down during specific reporting time periods.“The senior supervisor agent is telling me about how their mission is now to scare people back,” Dever said in an interview with FoxNews.com. “He said, ‘I had to go back to my guys and tell them not to catch anybody, that their job is to chase people away. … They were not to catch anyone, arrest anyone. Their job was to set up posture, to intimidate people, to get them to go back.”“I took an oath that I take very seriously, and I find it insulting that anyone, especially a fellow law enforcement officer, would imply that we would put the protection of the American public and security of our nation’s borders in danger just for a numbers game," he said. "Our mission does not waiver based on political climate, and it never will. To suggest that we are ambiguous in enforcing our laws belittles the work of more than 6,000 CBP employees in Arizona who dedicate their lives to protect our borders every day.”“Janet Napolitano says the border is more secure than it’s ever been. I’ve been here for 60 years, and I’m telling you that’s not true,” he said.Mark Hanna, CEO of Real Life Enterprises, a Phoenix-based technology integration and security company, has testified before the Arizona Senate about what he called Homeland Security’s flawed methodology used to compile border security statistics. Hanna maintains the numbers are dangerously misleading.“It is a very dangerous condition for the secretary of Homeland Security to be using incomplete data to form such a conclusion, and then repeatedly announce these conclusions as fact,” he said.The Department of Homeland Security did not return repeated requests for comment on Hanna’s specific challenges to the agency’s methodology.Whatever the methodology, Dever said the numbers don’t accurately describe what’s happening on the ground.“We do not know who’s crossing that border, but that anyone who wants to can. That’s the message our nation needs to hear, that anyone who wants to can, and is. And our own Department of Homeland Security does not have clear definition of what securing the border even means," Dever said.“People are disgusted, the smiles are gone off their face, their general sense of welfare been taken away from them and until that’s returned you can throw all the numbers on the board. … I’ll tell Napolitano, in spite of all of your declarations and efforts to the contrary, things are not safe. No, they are not secure.“You can use your numbers to say it’s more secure, but it does not define a sense of safety or well-being. You can say it’s more secure, but it’s more dangerous than ever.”Hmmmm.......You can't fool all the people,all of the time!Read the full story here.

• HT:RealClearPolitics.Video : Kucinich: U.S. Involvement In Libya An "Arrogant Violation Of The Constitution".In an epic 40-minute speech on the House floor this afternoon, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) denounced U.S. operations in Libya."This is a clear and arrogant violation of our Constitution. This is war. Even a war launched for humanitarian reasons is still a war. And - only Congress can declare war," Kucinich said.Hmmmm....An honest man,a species threatened with extinction these days.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:PajamasMeida.NATO’s now threatening to bomb Libya’s rebels.Well, this is one way to guarantee that no matter which side wins, we lose.“We’ve been conveying a message to the rebels that we will be compelled to defend civilians, whether pro-Qaddafi or pro-opposition,” said a senior Obama administration official. “We are working very hard behind the scenes with the rebels so we don’t confront a situation where we face a decision to strike the rebels to defend civilians.”The warnings, and intense consultations within the NATO-led coalition over its rules for attacking anyone who endangers innocent civilians, come at a time when the civil war in Libya is becoming ever more chaotic, and the battle lines ever less distinct. They raise a fundamental question that the military is now grappling with: Who in Libya is a civilian?Aren’t the rebels mostly, scratch that, all civilians by definition?Start with muddled, unclear principles and goals, end up with muddy, unclear directives. Somebody in this administration really needs to pick up The Art of War Kinetic Military Action and do a powerpoint on it for the rest of the team.At least a future scapegoat has re-emerged.On March 21, in a briefing with reporters, Tom Donilon, the national security advisor to President Obama, appeared not to distinguish between armed rebels and other citizens of Libya who opposed the Qaddafi government.PJM has examined Donilon’s role in this before. If there’s a head that should roll over this mess, it’s his.Hmmmm.....Another Obamination hits the fan?Read the full story here.

• HT:BusinessInsider.What Not To Say When You're Running A War.Mead notes that Wilsonian wars have a tendency of ending badly, in large measure because Jacksonians -- Americans who believe, like Andrew Jackson, that the only acceptable outcome of an American military venture is the enemy's unconditional surrender -- tend to withdraw their support the moment they sense that the US is not waging war to win. For the moment, President Obama's military venture in Libya enjoys Jacksonian support because Jacksonians have long memories. They remember Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Locherbie, Scotland in 1986. Col. Qaddafi was the author of that horror, which killed all 259 people on board, plus 11 people on the ground in Locherbie. A lot of Americans died on that plane. Jacksonians think Col. Qaddafi deserves whatever US cruise missile has his name on it. And if we're going to war with Libya, they expect their president to deliver that missile to settle the matter.Today, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney had this to say about that:"Does the United States have the capacity, unilaterally, with military force, to produce regime change in Libya or another country? It probably does. We probably do. Is that a desirable action to take? ... No. It's best to pursue the policy the president has chosen to pursue.”You could almost feel the Jacksonians fleeing the room as he spoke.Hmmmm......Incoming?Read the full story here.

• 11-year-old Muslim boy terrorizes school.Girl attacked for wearing a veil says 11-year-old bullied, beat her for months with another student.A 13-year-old Muslim girl whose head scarf was yanked by an 11-year-old punk told Thursday how fellow students on Staten Island terrorized and beat her."They just attacked me," she said outside her home in a hushed voice. "They called me 'terrorist.' They called me 'Muslim.' I'm afraid they might come back and beat me again."The girl, an eighth-grade honors student at Berta Dreyfus Intermediate School 49 in Stapleton, said she was tormented for three months.She said her harassers were an unidentified girl and Osman Daramy, the 11-year-old hit with hate-crime charges this week.The most vicious attack was the first, a January ambush that left her with a busted lip and a tattered religious headdress.The girl said she was on her way to pick up her younger brother at a nearby school when the bullies jumped her."They kicked and punched me," she said."I said, 'Leave me alone.' And he said, 'I won't.' He tried to pull off [my head] scarf, but I grabbed it and it didn't come off."The girl said she reported the attacks to school officials in January, but backed off after they asked her for names.After she was harassed again this weekend, she decided she'd had enough and identified the pint-size perp to an assistant principal on Monday.A meeting was held with her parents, and her mother reported the attacks to cops on Wednesday, officials said."I was really scared to go to school," the girl said.She spoke out hours after Daramy was tossed in juvenile jail on charges of felony assault as a hate crime. Cops are looking for his alleged cohort.Daramy's eyes welled with tears as Staten Island Family Court Judge Helene Sacco ordered him held without bail.The scrawny hell-raiser was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, wearing a puffy black vest and blue jeans.Prosecutor Theresa Wilson described Daramy as a preteen terror."It was not one incident," Wilson said, noting that Daramyot one incident," Wilson said, noting that Daramy had been suspended three times this year, once for 30 days. "It was a continued course of behavior."Daramy was charged with third-degree assault as a hate crime.The boy's dad - who had bought a ticket to send his son to stay with relatives in Sierra Leone - was furious his boy was kept behind bars.Earlier, Davies, 32, said Daramy couldn't be responsible for a hate crime because he's Muslim."How could a Muslim have another hate crime against another Muslim?" Davies asked. "[Osman] is a Muslim. ... He's just a regular African kid. That's why they are out to get him."Hmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon expects inflation.U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. operations warned Wednesday.The world's largest retailer is working with suppliers to minimize the effect of cost increases and believes its low-cost business model will position it better than its competitors.Still, inflation is "going to be serious," Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said during a meeting with USA TODAY's editorial board. "We're seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate."Along with steep increases in raw material costs, John Long, a retail strategist at Kurt Salmon, says labor costs in China and fuel costs for transportation are weighing heavily on retailers. He predicts prices will start increasing at all retailers in June."Every single retailer has and is paying more for the items they sell, and retailers will be passing some of these costs along," Long says. "Except for fuel costs, U.S. consumers haven't seen much in the way of inflation for almost a decade, so a broad-based increase in prices will be unprecedented in recent memory."Consumer prices — or the consumer price index — rose 0.5% in February, the most since mid-2009, largely because of surging food and gasoline prices. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose a more modest 0.2%, though that still exceeded estimates.The scenario hits Wal-Mart as it is trying to return to the low across-the-board prices it became famous for. Some prices rose as the company paid for costly store renovations."We're in a position to use scale to hold prices lower longer ... even in an inflationary environment," Simon says. "We will have the lowest prices in the market."Major retailers such as Wal-Mart are the best positioned to mitigate some cost increases, Long says. Wal-Mart, for example, could have "access to any factory in any country around the globe" to mitigate the effect of inflation in the U.S., Long says.Still, "it's certainly going to have an impact," Long says. "No retailer is going to be able to wish this new cost reality away. They're not going to be able to insulate the consumer 100%."Hmmmmm......"Thank God for Wal-Mart"?Read and see the full story here.

• Bob Brown told to rein in anti-Israel senator Lee Rhiannon.GREENS leader Bob Brown is under mounting political and diplomatic pressure to pull his hard-left senator-elect Lee Rhiannon into line as she intensifies her support for a radical boycott of Israel. Ms Rhiannon, who will take her Senate spot on July 1 when the Greens take the balance of power in the upper house, yesterday drew condemnation from Labor and the Coalition after expressing regret that the NSW Greens did not campaign harder for a boycott of Israeli goods and services at last weekend's state election.Trade Minister Craig Emerson said last night the policy was disgusting and he feared it represented an extremism that would make its way to Canberra.Dr Emerson told The Australian: "Confirmation by senator-elect Rhiannon of this disgusting policy is reprehensible."He applauded voters in the inner-western Sydney seat of Marrickville, who returned erstwhile Labor deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt to parliament over Greens candidate Fiona Byrne, a supporter of an Israeli boycott."Good on the people of Marrickville for rejecting this Greens extremism, and I am confident that the rest of Australia will too."Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the Gillard government did not condone nor support any boycotts or sanctions against the Jewish state.Senator Brown's office said an Israeli boycott was not Greens national policy, but Coalition figures said they were concerned Ms Rhiannon would influence the party's platform when she arrived in Canberra.An Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce spokesman warned yesterday that boycotts on Israeli goods could prevent access to potentially groundbreaking water-saving technology and telecommunications switches that may be picked up by the National Broadband Network.Ms Rhiannon refused to return The Australian's calls yesterday, as did all federal Greens MPs.Tony Abbott denounced her position, calling on Julia Gillard to distance Labor from Ms Rhiannon's views. "The Coalition completely rejects any campaign designed to weaken Israel and can't understand why a supposed environmental party are involved in this nonsense," the Opposition Leader told The Australian."Given the Greens are Labor's political bedfellows, I call on the Prime Minister to pull her alliance partner into line."Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.Cell Phone Surveillance: Some Cell Phones Record Your Location Hundreds Of Times A Day.Do you own a cell phone? Do you think that it is private and secure? You might want to think again. The truth is that there is virtually no privacy when it comes to cell phones. In fact, the amount of cell phone surveillance that goes on is absolutely staggering. For example, one German politician named Malte Spitz recently went to court to force Deutsche Telekom to reveal how often his cell phone was being tracked. What he found out was absolutely amazing. It turns out that in just one 6 month period, Deutsche Telekom recorded the longitude and latitude coordinates of his cell phone 35,000 times. Not only that, in the United States cell phone companies are actually required by law to be able to pinpoint the locations of their customers to within 100 meters. Most cell phone carriers are able to track their customers far more accurately than that. The truth is that your location will never again be truly "private" as long as you are carrying a cell phone.And your conversations will not be private either. A whole host of people could be listening in on your cell phone calls. In fact, your cell phone can be used to spy on you even when you don't have it on. For example, as one CNET News article noted, if law enforcement authorities are investigating you they can remotely activate the microphone on your cell phone and listen in on your conversations....The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.Not only that, but all phone calls (whether made with a cell phone or not) are monitored by the U.S. government in the name of national security. For years this was kind of an open secret, but now even mainstream news outlets such as USA Today have reported on the NSA's goal "to create a database of every call ever made"....When George Orwell's "1984" was written, most people believed that nothing like that could ever happen to the United States of America.Well, it is happening to us. Every single day our nation moves a little bit more in the direction of becoming a Big Brother police state control grid.Hmmmmm.......Personally i don't use a cellphone and use only cash......call me old fashion!Read the full story here.

• Farrakhan defends Libya's Gadhafi as 'brother'.Warning that destruction could be on America's doorstep because it oppresses “God's chosen people,” Minister Louis Farrakhan, the controversial Nation of Islam leader, defended Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi today, calling the U.S. action in Libya hypocrisy.

Speaking from the pulpit of Chicago's Mosque Maryam, the Nation of Islam's international headquarters, purchased 40 years ago with a $3 million loan from Gadhafi, Farrakhan blamed demons for altering President Barack Obama's moral conscience and driving the assault on Gadhafi, who he calls a brother.“It is a terrible thing for me to hear my brother called all these ugly and filthy names when I can't recognize him as that,” Farrakhan said to the crowd assembled at the mosque on Chicago's South Side. “Even though the current tide is moving against him … how can I refuse to raise my voice in his defense? Why would I back down from those who have given so much?”Though they haven't spoken since 2005, Farrakhan and Gadhafi have been allies for decades. In 1996, around the time Gadhafi shifted from pan-Arab to pan-African ambitions, Farrakhan was criticized for traveling to meet the leader in Tripoli.The following year, Gadhafi addressed Nation of Islam members via satellite, lauding Farrakhan for being a “courageous freedom fighter” who galvanized African-Americans at the Million Man March in Washington, D.C., and Muslims in nations around the world. During that speech, Gadhafi panned America for taxing poor people, who the Libyan leader said do not benefit from space exploration or support of “a Hebrew state.”“Consequently,” he said, “the voice of Louis Farrakhan will be heard among the simple people louder than the president of the United States.”On Thursday, Farrakhan said scenes from an earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged Japan inspired him to warn the American people about an impending natural disaster that will punish them for their arrogance.“A major earthquake is on the way to you and me and us,” he said. “Death and destruction is at the door of all of us, and we are worse prepared than the Japanese.”Farrakhan cautioned Obama that he was being used as a pawn to oppress his own people in Africa. He insisted several times that Jews controlled the media and pressured Obama to take so-called humanitarian action in Libya, but not in other places such as the Gaza Strip.He commended former White House correspondent Helen Thomas for her honesty and candor in recent controversial remarks about Israel and the Palestinians and blamed the Jewish-run media for ousting her. Hmmmmm.......How long before Obama start bashing Israel....again?Read the full story here.

• HT:NewZeal.Al Qaeda Magazine Praises Middle Eastern Revolutions - Warning to the West."Inspire" is an English language online magazine reported to be published by the organization Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The English language glossy magazine is extremely well produced and is aimed at U.S. and European audiences.The magazine is thought to be the work of Anwar al-Awlaki, an English-speaking cleric and al-Qaeda leader based in Yemen. Awlaki is currently on the United States' "kill or capture" list.The editorial in Inspire's March 2011 issue, signed by one Yahya Ibrahim, analyzes recent turmoil in the Middle East, and consequences for Al Qaeda, Israel and the West.Al Qaeda sees the recent uprisings across the region as opening up new opportunities to attack Israel. Al Qaeda and the Arabic community or "ummah" plan to "meet" in the sacred Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.The editorial does not make comforting reading, for those who think "democracy" is "sweeping the Arab world".I hope this editorial is widely circulated. Western military resources are being risked and tax money being wasted to "liberate" Libya. The West has stood by, even offered encouragement, while Islamic and socialist extremists have toppled or endangered several pro-Western, or moderate regimes in the Middle East.These revolutions are not about "democracy". They are about bringing anti-Western extremists to power in every nation in the region. Israel, and other Western nations could suffer horrendous consequences if this madness is not reversed. We should take our enemy at his word.Hmmmm.....Obama"Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• Al Qaeda Declares Southern Yemeni Province An "Islamic Emirate".Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has declared Yemen's Abyan province an "Islamic Emirate" and banned women from going outside, according to Eurasia Review and accounts from Yemeni journalists. AQAP, which has established full control over the southern province, made an online statement Wednesday declaring Abyan an Islamic Emirate governed by Shariah.The statement said women in the province should not go out except under necessary circumstances, "and she who urgently needs to go out, should be with one of her male relatives, and should have ID with her."AQAP's announcement comes just a few days after jihadists looted an ammunition factory in Ja'ar, a city in Abyan province, killing 150 people in an apparently accidental explosion. Al Qaeda militants have also taken control of local communications facilities in the province.Hmmmmm.......Welcome to A.D. 620?Read the full story here.

• Signs of an axis shift in EU's turst in Turkey's ruling party.Trust in Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, appears to be diminishing among European circles due to growing concerns about fundamental freedoms, particularly in connection to the ongoing Ergenekon coup-plot case.The views of EU institutions vis-a-vis Turkey have seen a clear shift, according to Demir Murat Seyrek, a senior policy adviser for the European Foundation for Democracy.“There is an erosion of confidence in the AKP’s democratic rhetoric,” he said, adding that up until now some backpedaling on democratic reform had gone largely ignored by the EU.Even six months ago, the AKP still enjoyed the image of a political party pursuing democratic reform, but the tide is now turning against the ruling party, Seyrek said.Recent developments linked to the Ergenekon case seem to have been instrumental in changing the mood in Brussels. The arrests of journalists such as Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener, followed by police raids to confiscate copies of Şık’s unpublished manuscript on the religious Gülen community, have rung alarm bells in Europe.She added, however, that the change in the EU’s perception is reflected in the European Commission’s progress report as well as the European Parliament’s recent resolution on Turkey. Adopted March 9, the resolution said the European Parliament is concerned about the deterioration in freedom of the press in Turkey and called on the government in Ankara to uphold the principles of press freedom.The resolution is one of the harshest adopted on Turkey in the past couple of years, said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of the European Parliament. He said this is due to increasing concerns among those who favor Turkey’s membership in the EU. “Those who are supporting Turkey’s membership are deeply worried about the developments there,” he said.The existence of a strong opposition to Turkey’s entry into the EU forces those who are supportive of the Turkish bid to be very careful in voicing criticism of the Turkish government, however, lest they strengthen the hand of those opposing Turkey’s bid.Hmmmm....Keep Turkey out of the European Union and get them out of NATO now!Read the full story here.

• Clash of the tech titans: Microsoft orders EU monopoly probe after accusing Google of trying to 'entrench its dominance'.Technology giant Microsoft has waged war on Google after it accused the search engine of monopolising the internet.Microsoft reported the search engine to the European Commission on the grounds that it had sought to 'entrench its dominance' over the web.The firm, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, claims that in branching out into other media forms Google has stifled its competitors across the technology industry.Google already commands 95 per cent of the European search engine market.Microsoft executive Brad Smith wrote in a blog post that Google has 'engaged in a broadening pattern of walling off access to content and data that competitors need to provide search results to consumers and to attract advertisers.'Smith goes on to list a raft of examples detailing Google's 'anti-competitive' measures.They include stopping its search engine, named Bing, from indexing content on Google-owned YouTube; blocking Microsoft Windows smartphones from 'operating properly' with YouTube; blocking access to content owned by book publishers; and limiting the flow of ad campaign information back to advertisers, making it more expensive to run adverts with rivals.He went on: 'We readily appreciate that Google should continue to have the freedom to innovate. 'But it shouldn’t be permitted to pursue practices that restrict others from innovating and offering competitive alternatives.'That’s what it’s doing now. And that’s what we hope European officials will assess and ultimately decide to stop.'Read the full story here.

• Poll: Anti-Semitism among US Latinos.National survey finds nearly half of American Latinos believe US foreign policy too supportive of Israel.A new national survey finds more than half of America’s Jews and Latinos believe anti-Semitism exists within the Latino community. The study, commissioned by The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (www.ffeu.org) and conducted by Latin Insights, also finds nearly half of all Latinos believe US foreign policy is too supportive of Israel.“These findings are a wake-up call to both communities and highlight the importance of this conference taking place in San Antonio,” said Rabbi Schneier. “We need to understand how real anti-Semitism is within the Latino community and how we can counter it as well as find more effective ways to communicate the value of Israel to bolster Latino empathy for the Jewish state. "This is truer than ever as Latinos now number more than 50 million in the US. One out of every six Americans is Latino. It therefore behooves the Jewish community to reach out and foster an alliance with this significant ethnic group.”Read the full story here.