MFS - The Other News

              
                         Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 11. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Middle East Live Blog April 10 here .(Al-Jazeera)

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world increased seismic activity in Japan  today between 5.0 and 7.1! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 82. On 11.04.2011 at 03:22 GMT+2

Japan plans to extend the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high radiation levels, local media reported on Monday, with engineers no closer to regaining control of six reactors hit by a giant tsunami one month ago. Concern at Japan's inability contain its nuclear crisis, caused by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is mounting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's ruling party suffering embarrassing losses in local elections on Sunday and neighboring China and South Korea voicing criticism. Engineers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said on Sunday they were no closer to restoring the plant's cooling system which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control. They are hoping to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean on Monday, days later than planned. Four weeks after the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl quarter of a century ago, the government was moving to extend a 20 km (12 mile) evacuation zone due to high levels of radiation, the Asahi newspaper reported. The government has so far refused to widen the zone, despite being urged to by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)and countries like the United States and Australia advising its citizens to stay 80 kms away from the plant.

The Asahi said the government would extend the zone to 30 kms in certain areas, depending on wind direction, and residents would be given a week to prepare for evacuation. The Japan Times said authorities would soon forcibly close the 20 km zone, stopping people returning to their shattered homes to pick through the rubble for belongings. Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato criticized the evacuation policy, saying residents in a 20-30 km radius were initially told to stay indoors and then advised to evacuate voluntarily. "Residents in the 20-30 km radius were really confused about what to do." Sato told NHK television on Sunday. Media reports said that Sato would refuse to meet the president of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) he visits the area on Monday. It is Japan's worst crisis since World War Two after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a huge tsunami battered its northeast coast, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing and rocking the world's third-largest economy. Source.

• Earthquake - Japan Prefecture of Ishikawa, [About 11 kilometres South East from Ishikawa City] Situation Update No. 2 - On 11.04.2011 at 09:29 GMT+2

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake rattled the northeastern coast of Japan Monday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning, predicting a potential wave of two-meters in Miyagi, Fukushima and Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures. The quake was centered about 164 kilometers (101 miles) northeast of Tokyo, according to the USGS. Residents in Tokyo felt the jolts. Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were asked to evacuate. Source .

• Breaking News.Blast rocks Minsk subway, at least 20 injured.Rescuers, ambulances and police are heading to Oktyabrskaya metro station in the Belarus capital Minsk. At least twenty people are reportedly injured. According to RIA Novosti news agency, the explosion went off at 17:56 local time. No information has been released so far about nature of the blast. Thick fumes are visible in the vicinity, and an evacuation has been launched.Emergency services are evacuating people from underground. So far there been no panic, and traffic on the surrounding streets has not been blocked.Read and see the full story here. Updated here . Updated list of names of 54 injured victims taken to hospital in Minsk here.

• HT:SultanKnish.Palestine is Genocide.On the 11th of March, two Arab Muslim men climbed through the window of a home in the village of Ithamar, and massacred an entire family, killing both parents, stabbing a 4 year old boy twice in the chest, murdering an 11 year old while he sat up reading in bed and slitting the throat of a 3 month old baby girl. A week later, Israeli and Arab pollsters conducted a survey in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem. A third of the Arabs surveyed supported these atrocities. All the justifications for a Palestinian state fall away in the face of this simple fact. That a third of the residents of any Palestinian state favor the murder of Jewish children. Not to achieve any larger goal, but just because they are Jewish children. To call for a Palestinian state in the face of that fact is to advocate genocide.The Arab Muslims who approved of the attack gained nothing from their deaths. The dead children were not soldiers. They were not killed as collateral damage. Their deaths had no strategic value. There was no reason to kill them, but for the sake of killing them.To call for a Palestinian state is to call for genocide. There is nothing peaceful about a call for genocide. It is not possible to peacefully implement genocide. Every mention of a Two State Solution is an encouragement to further violence and murder. A reward for the butchers who have been at this business for some 1300 years. Urge the creation of a Palestinian State and you might as well call for the resurrection of the Third Reich. There are linguistic and cultural differences, but both follow the law of the beast. Let there be no more lies about good intentions and no more self-deceit about the search for peace. The road to Palestine does not lead to peace, but to the cemetery.It is time to stop the lies and tell the truth. The call to peace is the call to death. To promote the creation of a Palestinian state is a violent act. The peacemakers are collaborators in genocide. Their charges are the murderers. Palestine is genocide. It is the cultivated work of an ideology that has successfully turned millions of people into born serial killers or their accomplices. Its two political favorites are Barghouti of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Hamas leadership. Their only accomplishment is the death toll, their house of state is the cemetery and their constitution is the ravings of a bigoted murderer. To stand for them is to stand for murder. To stand against them is to stand for life.Read the full story here.

• HT:SheikYermani.The Latest Pic’s from Occupied France.Read and see the full story here.

• A picture of defiance: Two arrested for flouting burka ban as France bars wearing of veils in public.The first arrests have been made of women flouting France's burka ban as a Muslim tycoon today pledged to sell his £2million property to fund court fines.Anyone who appears veiled in public can be fined 150 euros (£130) and ordered to attend re-education classes under the new law. People who force women to wear a veil are subject to a much larger fine.Rachid Nekkaz, a property dealer, has urged women in France to engage in 'civil disobedience' by continuing to wear the veil if they so wish, and called on supporters to hold a silent prayer in protest of the ban in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today.Early this morning, Kenza Drider - a staunch opponent of the ban on 'concealing the face in a public space' - was photographed wearing a veil at Avignon station on her way to that protest in France's capital in which two women were arrested.'It's not an act of provocation,' said Drider, a 32-year-old Muslim convert who said she would be prepared to contest the legislation at the European Court of Human Rights.'I'm only carrying out my citizens' rights, I'm not committing a crime ... If they (police) ask me for identity papers I'll show them, no problem.'While French women face the fines and ‘civic duty’ guidance if they break the law, men who force their wives or daughters to wear burkas will face up to a year in prison, and fines of up to £25,000.Posters have already gone up in town halls across France reading: ‘The Republic lives with its face uncovered.’Widely criticised by Muslims abroad as impinging on their religious freedom, the law has provoked a limited backlash in France where a strict separation of church and state is seen as central to maintaining a peaceful civil society.Hmmmm......."Religion does not require women to veil their hands, feet and faces or enjoin any special type of veil. Tribal custom must not impose itself on the free will of the individual."Amanullah Khan - King of Afghanistan (1919-1929).The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, head of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world.“The niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam,” said Sheikh Tantawi, vowing to ban it in Al-Azhar schools.After the girl complied he insisted she should not wear it any more.“I tell you again that the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and it is only a mere custom. I understand the religion better than you and your parents.” The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar imam vowed to issue a ban against the face-veil in all schools linked to Al-Azhar.“Read the full story here.

• An Israeli Prisoner in Gaza.German Mediation in Shalit Affair Faces Failure.German efforts to negotiate the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was captured by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas in 2006, appear to have failed. Palestinian leaders have blamed the German mediator of siding with the Israelis, a sign that Shalit's imprisonment won't likely end soon.Noam Shalit is sitting on a white plastic chair in a tent in Jerusalem, looking not unlike a Swedish tourist with his straw-blonde hair. He is wearing rimless glasses, jeans and a fleece sweater. "Unfortunately, I'm not very optimistic," he says.Shalit is referring to his son Gilad, 24, probably the best-known prisoner in the Middle East and something of a national hero in Israel. Almost five years ago, on a Sunday in June 2006, a Hamas commando attacked an Israeli army post, kidnapped Shalit and took him hostage. He is likely being hidden somewhere in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian group Hamas.For more than one-and-a-half years, an envoy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been mediating between Hamas and the Israeli government. His name is Gerhard C., and he is a senior official at the German Federal Intelligence Service, the BND. Noam Shalit respects the German envoy and has confidence in him, more confidence, in fact, than in his own government. Shalit points to a white plastic chair in the tent. A note on the chair reads: "Reserved for Gilad Shalit." The tent stands in the middle of Jerusalem, in front of the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where Shalit has been camping out since July 8. The tent has become a magnet for Israelis and tourists, a sort of temporary memorial. The father says that he will not leave until his son has been returned to him. Blinking over the edge of his glasses, he says: "The German intermediary is very professional. He is trying everything."Read the full story here.

• US blocks 350 suspected terrorists.WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has prevented more than 350 people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups from boarding U.S.-bound commercial flights since the end of 2009, The Associated Press has learned.The tighter security rules — imposed after the attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas 2009 — reveal a security threat that persisted for more than seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.Until then, even as commercial passengers were forced to remove their shoes, limit the amount of shampoo in their carry-on luggage and endure pat downs, hundreds of foreigners with known or suspected ties to terrorism passed through security and successfully flew to the United States each year, U.S. officials told the AP. The government said these foreigners typically told Customs officers they were flying to the U.S. for legitimate reasons such as vacations or business.After the attempted Christmas attack, the intelligence community took a closer look at the names on the terror watch list and set new standards for adding names. The watch list and no-fly list are constantly reviewed, and names are added and removed each day. There are about 30,000 people on the no-fly list and a companion list for people who must receive extra screening at airports, a counterterrorism official told the AP.The more expansive terror watch list includes about 450,000 names of people the U.S. intelligence community believes are, or could be, a threat to national security because of terrorist ties. Some of the people on the watch list are still being investigated, and there is not enough information for the government to arrest them.The new policy has not turned the 450,000-person terror watch list into the no-fly list. Simply being on the terror watch list does not mean a person won't be allowed to enter the U.S., McAleenan said. When CBP reviews passenger lists and matches someone on the terror watch list, CBP will review information available on the person before it recommends to the airline whether the person can board the plane, McAleenan said. In most cases, if CBP recommends against allowing the passenger to board, it's because the person would be turned away upon arrival inside the United States due to security concerns.Most people on the watch list are foreigners. About 6,000 are U.S. citizens. Read the full story here.

• 20 Canadians have joined Somalian terror group: official.TORONTO — About 20 Canadians have travelled to Somalia to join Al-Shabab, a federal official said two weeks after a Toronto man was arrested as he was allegedly leaving to enlist in the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group.As many as three of the Canadians may have been killed so far, the official added, although such deaths are hard to verify because of the armed conflict and the lack of a diplomatic corps in Somalia.The figures suggest the scale of Canada’s problem with Al-Shabab recruitment is comparable to that experienced by the United States and Europe, which also have sizable populations of ethnic Somalis.Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, said he was only aware of about a dozen cases, including two Ottawa men and a Toronto youth who trained with Al-Shabab and has since returned to the city.“I haven’t run into those kinds of numbers,” Mr. Hussen said. “It seems a little high … but you know what, we’re always behind the security guys, they’re always ahead of us in terms of information. I wouldn’t rule it out, I wouldn’t put it past these guys to recruit 20 people or more.”Al-Shabab, which means The Youth in Arabic, has been using a mix of terrorism and insurgency to impose Taliban-like Islamist rule in Somalia, which has been without an effective government for more than two decades. The group’s tactics — suicide bombings, roadside bombs, political assassinations and a pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden — have landed the group of international terrorist lists, including Canada’s. Using an Internet propaganda campaign, Al-Shabab has attracted hundreds of foreigners, among them Canadians, who have flocked to Somalia to join what they claim is a global jihad against the West.“Islamist extremists are radicalizing and recruiting Somali-Canadian youths within Canada to travel to Somali for jihad training,” reads a de-classified 2010 Canadian intelligence report released under the Access to Information Act.The RCMP is concerned about the potential for violence in Canada should the Al-Shabab recruits return home with the indoctrination and the weapons training necessary to carry out terrorist attacks. A Canadian Security Intelligence Service report recently obtained by the National Post under the Access to Information Act calls foreign travel an “important part in the radicalization process” of Islamist extremists.Read the full story here.

• America’s Arab comeback.AMMAN -- Without much fanfare, the past few months have seen no anti-American demonstrations and no burning of American flags across the Arab world. Arabs seem increasingly willing to accept -- and even applaud -- the Obama administration’s policy toward the region. Of course, Arabs are still unhappy with the United States’ continued bias toward Israel. Its inability to end the 44-year military occupation of Palestinian lands has not gone unnoticed. But many Arabs nowadays prefer to give the US a break. With the exception of the Obama administration’s lack of resolve in denouncing the treatment of protesters by the US-allied regimes in Bahrain and Yemen, America’s position on the Arab revolts has been welcomed.Arabs, especially young Arabs, who comprise the majority of the region’s population, look up to America for its global power when it upholds democratic morals and values. There is high respect for the concept of rule of, by and for the people, as well as for the US constitution’s guarantee of freedom of expression. It is precisely the failure to apply these values in areas such as Palestine and Iraq that has made -- and can still make -- countless Arabs vehemently anti-American.After gaining UN Security Council support, the US, Europe and some Arab countries began doing exactly what should be expected of the international community when a government is preparing to butcher its own citizens: prevent the slaughter.Of course, America’s problems with Arabs and its challenges in the Middle East are far from over. Obama must still fulfill his promises to celebrate with Palestinians their full membership of the UN this fall and to draw down its forces in Afghanistan.But, for the moment, Arabs are not demonstrating against America. Instead, with America’s help, they are enjoying the first blush of freedom.Hmmmm....."I will stand with my Muslim brothers".Read the full story here.

• Hillary Clinton to Address U.S.-Islamic Gathering in Washington.(CNSNews.com) – At a time of dramatic change in the Arab world, senior figures from more than 30 Arab and other Muslim-majority countries will be in Washington, D.C., this week for the annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum, the first to be held in the United States.For the second consecutive year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will play a prominent role at the forum. On Tuesday evening, she will be the guest speaker at the highlight of the three-day event, an invitation-only gala dinner.Earlier in the day, the forum will be opened by Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Turk who heads the Saudi-based bloc of 56 Islamic states. An OIC statement said Ihsanoglu would use the occasion to review relations between the U.S. and the Islamic world.“This year’s discussions will focus on the rapid, turbulent change in the Middle East and implications for Muslims around the world,” the organizers said in a statement.Hmmmm....."Change"?Read the full story here.