MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Libya Live Blog - April 30. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Syria Live Blog - April 30. Here (Al-Jazeera).

• Live feed and highlights of the Royal wedding from :

"The Royal Channel"  here.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world low seismic activity in Japan  today between 4.9 and 5.0! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 101.
  On 29.04.2011 at 18:40 GMT+2
  
  Pumping radioactive water out of the underground premises of the turbine room at the second reactor of the crippled Japanese Fukushima-1 NPP has been suspended. This was announced by the Tokyo Electric Power company which is the operator of the NPP. The work is to be resumed on the 30th of April and two pumps will be used instead of one used before. The work will last until the middle of May and all in all it is planned to pump 10 tons of radioactive water out of the underground premises. This highly radioactive water will be temporarily placed in special tanks inside the station.Source : Here .

• Japan  : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog

• Baucus Unveils Plan to End Tax Breaks for Largest Oil and Gas Companies, Invest in Cleaner, Cheaper American Energy.Washington, DC – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today released a plan to end billions of dollars in tax breaks for large, multinational oil and gas companies and invest in cleaner and cheaper domestic energy sources. The Finance Chairman called his plan a blueprint for legislation that he intends to craft in the Committee. Baucus said today that with energy prices rising and large oil and gas companies announcing billions in first quarter profits, now is the time to end these subsidies and instead direct that investment to cleaner and more affordable domestic energy solutions.

“High gas and energy prices are hitting folks hard in Montana and across the country,” said Baucus. “Now is not the time to stand idly by while large oil and gas companies get billions of dollars in tax breaks – now is the time to take concrete steps toward cleaner, more affordable, domestically-produced energy. Reducing dependence on foreign oil isn’t easy, but this plan puts us on a path toward a clean, affordable energy future that works for our planet – and our pocketbooks.”Baucus’ clean, domestic energy plan outlines three policy goals: promote demand for domestically-produced energy, encourage the use of fuel-efficient vehicles and invest in clean energy infrastructure. Baucus would pay for these investments by eliminating tax incentives for the largest oil and gas companies and would not add to the deficit. And, his plan would create jobs domestically by increasing alternative energy production here at home. The pillars of the Baucus energy plan follow here. Baucus said today that further details would be released following discussions with his Finance Committee colleagues.Hmmmm.....A dictator forcing his 'vision' on the population,no matter what the cost will be.The 'tyrant' is present here and now.Read the full story here.

• Google and Obama: Joined at the Hip.(BigGovernment).Sources have told the Chicago Tribune that Google’s Eric Schmidt was seen dining with Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign manager Jim Messina at Café Spiaggia in Chicago last week providing further evidence of Google incestuous relationship with the Administration.Democratic sources told the Tribune that the dinner was “part of the Obama team wooing and coordinating with the tech world.” In the case of Google, we are confident it was more about coordinating than wooing.Google and the president are well beyond the wooing stage of a relationship. Schmidt has been named a potential nominee to fill the vacated Secretary of Commerce position. Such a nomination would cement Google’s influence over the Administration – a relationship that has put the company in a position to steer policy and taxpayer funded contracts back into the pockets of Google executives who have funded the president since his initial foray into the presidential arena in 2007.In 2008, Politico detailed the relationship between the newly elected president and the company. “’ From the staff attorney all the way up the line, everybody now knows that Google is close to Obama,’” Politico reported. “And that could subtly affect the policy playing field in Google’s favor.” Subtly was an understatement.The group Consumer Watchdog has detailed some of the way Google has benefited from their relationship with the Obama Administration, including how NASA’s Moffett Airfield has been turned into a subsidized private airport for Google executives. But that is just crumbs off the government largess table. Google has received contracts from NASA, the NSA and other government agencies. At the same time, they have placed key people in policy positions in the White House.Conservatives have little qualm with companies that are successful, hence some reservation about efforts to call for anti-trust review of the behemoth. However, Google isn’t running away from the government – it is running to the government with arms wide open. They are seeking contracts, policy bailouts and taxpayer support to help beef up their bottom line. This spigot of taxpayer support for the company needs to be cut off and conservatives need to lead the charge.Hmmmm......Dictatorship or Democracy"?Who would have computers powerfull enough to influence the election computers in 2012,in case dear leader is loosing?Read the full story here.

• Ohio Gov. John Kasich Tells Obama To Do His Own Job First.(RightWingNews).Of course, Obama is way too busy enjoying the trappings of the Oval Office, putting his 2012 election campaign into high gear, and getting revenge on reporters who actually report to actually do the job of Chief Executive. Obama was recently in Ohio to do a taped interview with WKYC Cleveland, and said, vis a vis SB5, which “removed sick time, pension benefits and healthcare from negotiations between unions and the government” that “this was blaming public workers for the public problems.”

“The president of the United States has I think a $13 trillion debt. Why doesn’t he do his job? When he does his job and gets our budget balanced and starts to prepare a future for our children, then maybe he can have an opinion on what’s going on in Ohio.”

The problem here is that asking Obama to work is a double edged sword, because when he does actually Do President, things get much, much, much worse. His policies bear no likeness to reality, except in the 1950′s Soviet Union. Of course, what Kasich and Priebus are doing is highlighting Obama’s inability to do the job as President, which should be apparent to everyone who has cognitive abilities.Hmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Justice Dept. Attorney: Obama Administration May Sue States to Stop Them From Banning Sharia Law.(InfidelBloggers).U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Richard Callahan visited the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis last night to address the fears and frustrations of Muslim Americans who worry they are being racially profiled and wiretapped — and to assure them that the Missouri Legislature’s attempts to ban Sharia law from being considered in state courts here could face Constitutional challenges.

Seated in front of a large Muslim audience during a town hall-style meeting at the Ballwin mosque, Callahan anchored a panel that included fellow federal attorneys (one of whom was Muslim American), as well as three members of the FBI.“There is a worse kind of Muslim hatred recently,” said Adil Imdad, one of the event’s organizers. “Especially in the last two years, Islamophobia and fear-mongering have been spreading like wildfire, and it’s causing a lot of stress for our youth.”The problem is now hitting a little closer to home, said Imdad, pointing to three bills currently circulating through the state legislature that seek to limit Sharia law (Islamic law) in Missouri courts. Sharia law could come into play in rulings considering child custody or prisoner rights for Muslims. As we’ve reported, the bills have become a source of controversy.Callahan responded by hinting that, should anti-Sharia legislation get passed by the Missouri Legislature, it could be overturned by the federal courts. “The Department of Justice has a good history of challenging laws passed by state legislatures,” he said. “If some laws are passed, I think you will see challenges by the federal government on the constitutionality of them.”Hmmm......This would be off course against the First ammendment ."Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."Sharia law is Islam!Read the full story here.

• This Week in Government Failure.(Cato).Over at Downsizing the Federal Government, we focused on the following issues this week:

A lot of Americans are aware that their tax dollars subsidize cotton farmers. However, it’s unlikely that many Americans are aware that their tax dollars are now supporting cotton farmers in Brazil.

Chris Edwards released an updated version of his Plan to Cut Spending and Balance the Federal Budget. No sacred cows are spared. Defense, domestic, and so-called entitlement programs are all cut.

The good news in a new Deloitte survey of members of the U.S. business community is that optimism is on the rise. The bad news is that the heavy hand of government is still a dark cloud hovering over the recovery.

In her budgets, in her speeches, and in her strategic plans, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis says that her “vision” for federal action is “Good Jobs for Everyone!”

Some good news for once: President Obama’s dream of connecting 80 percent of Americans to a high-speed rail line appears to be dead.Hmmmm......Dictatorship or Democracy?Read the full story here.

• Turkey on religious freedom watch list for 3rd year in a row.(TodaysZaman).Turkey remains on a US panel’s watch list of 11 countries for the third year in a row for its violations of religious freedom, according to the annual country report released by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). This year, according to the USCIRF report, 14 countries were designated as countries of particular concern (CPC) since “those governments have engaged in -- or tolerated -- particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” Burma, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam are on the CPC list.

According to the report, USCIRF also maintains a watch list of countries where the serious violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the governments do not meet the CPC threshold but require close monitoring. This year, along with Turkey, Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan and Venezuela will all be on the watch list.“Turkey was first placed on the USCIRF watch list in 2009, and the commission notes with concern that conditions have deteriorated further since then, underscoring the need for continued vigilance in monitoring,” the report states. According to the report, the Turkish government continues to impose serious limitations on freedom of religion or belief, thereby threatening the continued vitality and survival of minority religious communities in Turkey. The USCIRF report recognizes that Turkey has a democratic government and an energetic civil society and media, and that the country’s Constitution protects the freedom of belief and worship as well as the private dissemination of religious ideas, but it also criticizes the Turkish government’s formal and longstanding efforts to control religion by imposing suffocating regulations by denying full legal status to religious institutions, resulting in serious violations of religious freedom.

Moreover, according to the said report, the government in Turkey has failed to take decisive action to correct the climate of impunity against religious minorities and to make the necessary institutional reforms to reverse these conditions.The report says it is concerning that there is a rise in anti-Semitism in Turkish society and media. “Due to these concerns, and others set forth in the related chapter, USCIRF continues to place Turkey on its watch list in 2011,” the report notes.The report points to state secularism as being significantly restrictive on religious freedom, especially for religious minority communities, including the Greek, Armenian and Syriac-Orthodox Churches; the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches; and the Jewish community, but also for the majority Sunni Muslim community and the minority Alevis as well.The USCIRF report recognizes the fact that the United States regards Turkey as an important strategic partner and continues to support Turkey’s EU accession process. But the report sends a message to US policymakers that the latter should place greater emphasis on Turkey’s compliance with its international commitments regarding freedom of religion or belief.Hmmmm.......Obama's closest ally .....Turkey.The compagny a man keeps says a lot about him?Read the full story here.

• Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria to create common visa system?(Al-Arabia).Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria are to establish a common visa system, the Russian agency Regnum quoted the Iranian vice-minister of tourism as saying on Tuesday.The four states are preparing to install a “Schengen-like” regime, Shahbaz Yezdi said, in reference to Europe’s Schengen Zone. Under the system, one visa is issued and travelers can move between 25 of the European Union’s 27 countries without needing a visa for each country. The United Kingdom and Ireland do not subscribe to the Schengen systemMr. Yezdi also said that the initiative was based on an idea of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.“Putting into place uniform visas for the four countries will actively boost the development of tourism,” Mr. Yezdi said.In 2010, the currently embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad proposed a visa-free travel region for Syria, Iran, Turkey and other neighboring countries, and he said that he was the first to advent the issue starting with a visa-free travel between Turkey and Syria.The fact that former foes Iraq and Iran would share a common system would be quite remarkable, especially in view of their bitter history. Iraq has fought Iran for eight years from 1980 to 1988.But Iraq has since mended relations with Iran as both now have Shiite-dominated governments. Just like Iran, Iraq raised its concern over troops from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia going to Bahrain as unrest by the Shiite-led opposition escalated. Iraq has joined Iran in describing the move as interference and against Bahrain’s sovereignty. But the Gulf countries see the threat against one Gulf country as a threat on all six.Prior to the current unrest in Yemen, Turkey boosted its trade ties with the Qaeda-beleaguered country and lifted the visa requirement for the Yemeni nationals entering Turkey. With the AKP conservative party winning election in 2002, it re-shifted Turkey’s foreign policy to look eastward toward the Middle East, but held its promise to help the country join the European Union.Hmmm....Turkey .....Iran....The NATO ally that never was!Get Turkey out of NATO NOW!And what's Obama's role in all this?Read the full story here.

• Syrian troops take Deraa mosque, killings of protesters continue in Assad crackdown.(Al-Arabia).Syrian army troops backed by tanks and three helicopters on Saturday took a prominent mosque that had been controlled by residents in Deraa, killing at least four people in and near the religious sanctuary, a witness said. The Omari mosque, located in Deraa’s Roman-era old town, had served as a gathering place for Syrians protesting against the authoritarian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.Among those reportedly killed on Saturday was Osama Ahmad, the son of the mosque’s imam, Sheikh Ahmad Sayasna. The other three were a woman and her two daughters who were killed when a tank shell hit their home near the mosque, according to the witness.The Deraa operation came a day after President Assad unleashed deadly force to crush a revolt that started six weeks ago, killing at least 65 people in Deraa, a border town of 120,000 people near Jordan.Deraa resident Abdullah Abazeid said the assault on the mosque lasted 90 minutes during which troops used tank shells and heavy machine guns. Three helicopters took part of the operation dropping paratroopers on to the mosque itself, he said.In the early hours of the morning, military reinforcements poured into Deraa, including 20 armored personnel carriers, four tanks, and a military ambulance, a resident of the city told The Associated Press.“Since dawn, we've been hearing a heavy exchange of gunfire that is echoing across the city and you do not know what's happening,” Abu Tareq, a resident, told Reuters by phone. “I saw more than 15 tanks that had entered from the Damascus highway heading in the direction of the Old City.”The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said 65 people were killed Friday, with 36 deaths in the Deraa province, 27 in the central Homs region, one in Latakia and another in the Damascus countryside. Total civilian deaths since the uprising began have reached 535, he said.The latest deaths came as the United States slapped three top officials in Mr. Assad’s regime—including his brother Maher—with sanctions, and the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council agreed to launch an investigation of Syria’s crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.Meanwhile, diplomats say the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is setting the stage for potential UN Security Council action on Syria as it prepares a report assessing that a Syrian target bombed by Israeli warplanes in 2007 was likely a secretly built nuclear reactor meant to produce plutonium.Hmmmmm......But,but ....Assad is a reformer.Read the full story here.

• Taliban declares 'spring offensive'.(Al-Jazeera). Afghan fighters announce a fresh assault targeting foreign troops as well as local security forces and top officials.The Taliban has announced the launch of a spring offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan as well as Afghan security forces and government officials.Saturday's declaration comes a day after high-ranking US military officers predicted such a move from the group.Dubbed the "Badar" offensive, the fresh onslaught "will target foreign forces, high-ranking officials of President Hamid Karzai's government, members of the cabinet and lawmakers, as well as the heads of foreign and local companies working for the NATO-led coalition," the Taliban said in a statement.The statement warned Afghan citizens to stay away from public locations that could be targeted as part of Badar, "so that they will not become harmed during attacks of Mujahideen against the enemy"."Operations will focus on attacks against military centres, places of gatherings, airbases, ammunition and logistical military convoys of the foreign invaders in all parts of the country," the statement said.Senior US officers and western diplomats said they recently obtained credible intelligence showing that the Taliban - with the support of the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network - plans to conduct a series of high-profile attacks such as suicide bombings, the Associated Press news agency reported.A Pentagon report, released on Friday, painted a more positive picture of the situation on the ground saying that the US-led coalition has made "tangible progress".However, NATO said Taliban's announcement of their spring military offensive is a sign of the insurgents' desperation over recent setbacks.A NATO official in Brussels also said Taliban will try to gain a propaganda victory through coordinated attacks and that the US-led international forces already has tightened security.Read the full story here.

• Qaddafi forces caught mining Misrata port: NATO.(Arabnews).BRUSSELS: NATO warships have intercepted several boats laying anti-shipping mines outside the harbor of the Libyan city of Misrata, a senior military officer said Friday.Alliance air strikes, meanwhile, had also destroyed or damaged 600 targets in Libya since NATO’s aerial operations were launched a month ago, said British Brig. Rob Weighill, director of NATO operations in this North African country.Misrata has been under siege by forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi for several weeks, and though rebels have managed to expel regime forces from the city itself, the enclave is isolated and remains dependent for much of its food and other supplies on the sea link with the rebel capital of Benghazi. It appeared to be the first time sea mines have been used in the Libyan conflict.“We have just seen Qaddafi forces floating anti-ship mines outside Misrata harbor today,” Weighill said.“It again shows his complete disregard for international law and his willingness to attack humanitarian delivery efforts,” he said speaking via teleconference from the operation’s headquarters in Naples.Under international law, nations laying naval mines must alert shipping about their general locations to avoid accidents.Weighill said NATO crews were disposing of the mines.It has been a month since NATO assumed control of the US-led military operation in Libya, under a UN mandate to protect civilians from attack.Since then, alliance warplanes have conducted 4,242 sorties of which 1,766 were strike sorties — which does not necessarily mean they identified their targets and deployed their weapons. In addition, 19 NATO ships are patrolling the central Mediterranean.Weighill said the target hit during the aerial onslaught include 220 tanks and armored personnel carriers, 200 ammunition facilities and 70 surface-to-air missile systems.“NATO has already demonstrated the extent to which we are versatile and able to switch focus depending on where the major threats to civilian populations are,” he said, adding that the alliance is now also focusing on Zintan and Yefrin, two towns southwest of the capital Tripoli where pro-Qaddafi forces were conducting offensive operations.NATO said its warplanes had already destroyed a dozen tanks in the region earlier this month.Meanwhile, a NATO spokeswoman said rebel chief of staff Abdel-Fatah Younes met Thursday with Martin Howard, the North Atlantic alliance’s assistant secretary-general for operations, and a representative of the international military staff in Brussels. Carmen Romero said there had been “an exchange of views on Libya,” but declined to elaborate.Younes, a former Libyan interior minister who defected to the opposition, called on the international community to supply heavy weapons to the rebels.Romero said NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen had submitted a report to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “making clear that NATO’s action has stopped attacks on civilians and enabled the delivery of humanitarian aid to Misrata.”Read the full story here.

• French Air traffic Controller who was stabbed to death at Mulhouse airport tower allegedly killed by his Muslim ‘friend’ and colleague.(Lefigaro).The suspect is a friend of the victim.The victim was stabbed 8 or up to 10 times,three of them deadly two piercing the lungs and one cutting the coronary vein.On Friday, police issued a search warrant against Karim Ouali Aderfi, 34 years for stabbing Jean Meyer , 34, also on Thursday while the latter would take his place in the control tower.The man, unknown to police, worked for 18 months EuroAirport. On sick leave for three months Karim – or “Aderfi” as he calls himself – Ouali was seen coming out of the control tower in a rush , tower which he had entered with his service badge.According to the french authorities there's no link to terrorism.Hmmmm... The idea of an failed terrorist plot seems more likely?Read the full story here.(Google Translate).

• Islamic Jihad not joining Palestinian unity govt.(ArabNews).RAMALLAH: A senior Islamic Jihad member on Friday said that his movement will not join the Palestinian national unity government the rival Fatah and Hamas movements will form to end their internal split.Mohammed Al-Hindi, a member of Islamic Jihad politburo, said in a press statement that the movement “will not participate in the unity government in accordance with the Cairo announcement” since the Islamic Jihad “does not join any of Palestinian Authority’s institutions that were established in accordance with Oslo Accords."“Ending the differences between Fatah and Hamas on the government, elections and security is an important move. But the deal does not form a national reference that the Islam Jihad calls for,” Al-Hindi said.Hmmmmm......Don't you love how they all get along?Read the full story here.