MFS - The Other News

                      Morning Posting.

• Libya Live Blog - May 02. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Syria Live Blog - May 02. Here (Al-Jazeera). 

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in philippines  today  5.1! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 101.
  Source : Here .

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

• Live blog: Osama bin Laden killed by US forces.(Al-Jazeera).1:57pm The death of bin Laden was greeted with near-silence on Monday from Gulf Arab states, including his birthplace Saudi Arabia.By mid-afternoon, the only official comment from the Arabian Peninsula came from Yemen, bin Laden's ancestral homeland, where an official speaking on condition of anonymity hoped the killing would "root out terrorism throughout the world".Saudi Arabia's official news agency merely noted that the United States and Pakistan had announced bin Laden had been killed in a US military operation in Pakistan but gave no clue to Riyadh's thinking.The foreign ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, attending a meeting of Gulf foreign ministers in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, all declined to comment on bin Laden's death.

10:22am Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said that US soldiers should be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Iraq after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Essam al-Erian, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's governing body, told Reuters:With Bin Laden's death, one of the reasons for which violence has been practised in the world has been removed. It is time for Obama to pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq and end the occupation of U.S. and Western forces around the world that have for so long harmed Muslim countries.For continious updates click here.

• Reactions on the Death of Osama Bin Laden.(Al-Jazeera).Ismail Haniyeh - head of Hamas in the Gaza strip.We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.

P. Chidambaram - Indian home minister

We take note with grave concern that part of the statement in which (US) President Obama said that the firefight in which Osama bin Laden was killed took place in Abbottabad 'deep inside Pakistan'.This fact underlines our concern that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan.Read more reactions here.

• The Greatest Story ever told?(DailyMail).Shootout, no surrender and carried away on foot after U.S. chopper broke down: Dramatic reconstruction of how hit squad finally took out Bin Laden.Almost ten years after the horror of 9/11, Osama bin Laden must have thought he was safe.He had moved from the remote, barren mountains on Afghanistan’s inhospitable border to a comfortable $1million mansion in one of Pakistan’s most picturesque and affluent cities.Abbottabad - named after James Abbott, the British major who founded the town in 1853 - has such a pleasant climate that it is a major hub for tourists visiting the region.And the former home of the Gurkhas is still a major military base so locals have no reason to feel threatened.Behind the walls of his sprawling compound about 60 miles north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Bin Laden had every reason to believe he was way beyond the searching eyes of the Americans he had taunted for so long.

His family was with him and a parade of couriers would bring him everything he needed from the city outside of more than a million people.So confident was he that the huge three-storey house he was living in was eight times larger than most other homes in the area, hardly a low-profile hideaway for the most wanted man in the world.After several run-throughs and the diplomatic blessing of the Pakistani government, a small special forces team of U.S. Navy Seals landed in the compound grounds yesterday with the explicit instruction - get Osama bin Laden, dead or alive.The raid on the compound, which was just 100 yards from a Pakistani military academy, was launched at about 1.15am in the morning, according to witnesses. Four U.S. helicopters took off from the Ghazi air base in northwest Pakistan.

Bin Laden's guards opened fire from the roof and one of the helicopters crashed.During an operation that took just 40 minutes from start to finish, Bin Laden was shot in the head in a firefight as he tried to evade capture. Three of his men were also killed along with a woman they tried to use as a human shield. One of Bin Laden's eleven sons was said to be among the dead.By February, U.S. intelligence officials were confident that Bin Laden and his family were living there and by March, Mr Obama was convening top secret meeting with his senior security staff.The CIA believe that for many years before settling in Abbottabad, Bin Laden moved from village to village in Waziristan. He communicated only about once a month and never used a telephone.

When he reached a village with his bodyguards he would request a meeting with the local tribal leader and a substantial bribe would be paid.Bin Laden would then be the guest of the village, where under Pashtun custom, he must be protected.The main obstacle in finding him was that even if someone wanted to betray him and collect the $25 million reward - there was no one to turn to. The local police would know Bin Laden was there and if anyone tried to report his presence they would quite likely be killed.One local mullah from Waziristan agreed to send information about Bin Laden’s movements and his beheaded body was found several weeks later with a message that his was the fate of spies.Read the full story here.

• Usama Bin Laden Killed in Firefight With U.S. Special Ops Team in Pakistan.(FOX).Declaring “justice has been done,” President Obama announced late Sunday that Usama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan, marking the end of the worldwide manhunt that began nearly a decade ago on Sept. 11, 2001.The president made the stunning announcement within hours of informing congressional leaders. He said bin Laden was killed Sunday, the culmination of years of intelligence gathering. The news drew a large crowd to the front of the White House, as well as in Times Square, as people chanted “USA. USA.”The president traced the death of bin Laden to a tip received last August. He said he was briefed at the time on the “possible lead,” and that after months of intelligence work it was determined bin Laden was hiding in a compound “deep” inside Pakistan. Obama said, after determining the intelligence was sound, he authorized the operation to bring him to justice last week.At 3:30 p.m. EST, a 40-man Navy Seals squadron raided a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, killing the Al Qaeda leader with a bullet to the head.Four Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters dropped 24 men on the compound. One helicopter suffered a "hard landing" inside the compound after an experiencing a mechanical failure and had to be destroyed on the site, according to one defense official.There was a large shootout. The residents at the compound resisted. The total raid took 40 minutes.No Americans were killed in the mission Sunday. Officials said three adult men other than bin Laden were killed – one was believed to be bin Laden’s son, the others couriers. Two women were also injured, the officials said.Obama said Americans must continue to be “vigilant.” But he said the death of the architect of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil should be welcomed around the world.“Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader. He was a mass murderer of Muslims,” Obama said. “So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”Sources said the vice president informed congressional leaders late Sunday night that the world’s most wanted man had been killed.Officials said bin Laden’s body, which was in U.S. custody, was given a sea burial.Hmmmm.......Great story,but any visual proof of this story would be very welcome.And Bin Laden was a Mass Murder of OTHER people not only Muslims!Great for ratings couldn't have come at a better time?Read the full story here.

• US officials do not want Mr. bin Laden’s burial place to become a terrorist shrine.(Al-Arabia).Jake Tapper of the same network quoted a senior administrator official as saying: “We are ensuring it is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. It’s something we take seriously and therefore it’s being handled in an appropriate manner. ‬”Islamic law mandates a body be washed and buried as soon as possible, usually by the next prayer, in a simple white sheet. However, how Muslims will react to bin Laden’s burial at sea is not known, as there seems to be no provision for burials at sea.Read the full story here.

• Taliban threaten US, Pakistan over Osama.(TheNews).PESHAWAR: Pakistan's main Taliban faction on Monday threatened to attack Pakistan and the United States after the US confirmed that Osama bin Laden had been killed near the Pakistani capital."If he has been martyred, we will avenge his death and launch attacks against American and Pakistani governments and their security forces," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location."These people are in fact the enemies of Islam," he added.The Taliban spokesman said the militia had not itself managed to confirm bin Laden's death, which was announced by US President Barack Obama."If he has become a martyr, it is a great victory for us because martyrdom is the aim of all of us." Read the full story here.

• 'The American people did not choose this fight': Obama's speech in full.Number of times the President used the word  "I" : 10 times.Number of times he mentioned the brave men who actually did the 'job' ...twice..Hmmm.... he was being humble i guess?Read the full text here.

• Senior ISI official confirms bin Laden killed.“Yes, I can confirm that,” one senior intelligence official told Reuters, but declined to give further details.(Dawn).Another security official in Peshawar confirmed it was a joint operation between CIA and Pakistani security forces.“It was carried out on a very precise info that some high-value target is there,” he said.A Pakistani military helicopter crashed near Abbottabad on Sunday night, killing one and wounding two, according to Pakistani media. It was unclear if the crash was related to bin Laden’s death, but witnesses reported gunshots and heavy firing before one of two low-flying helicopters crashed near the Pakistani Military Academy.The police blocked the road leading to Pakistan’s military academy, a Reuters photographer on the scene reported.“I have seen tail and two wings of the chopper,” a labourer told Reuters. The fact bin Laden was apparently living in relative luxury not far from Islamabad could pose awkward questions for Pakistan.“For some time there will be a lot of tension between Washington and Islamabad because Bin Laden seems to have been living here close to Islamabad,” said Imtiaz Gul, a security analyst.“If the ISI had known then somebody within the ISI must have leaked this information. Pakistan will have to do a lot of damage control because the Americans have been reporting he is in Pakistan. This is a serious blow to the credibility of Pakistan.But defence analyst and former general Talat Masood said the fact bin Laden was killed in a joint operation would limit the damage to Pakistan’s image. “There should be a sigh of relief because this will take some pressure off of Pakistan,” said defence analyst and former general Talat Masood. “Pakistan most probably has contributed to this, and Pakistan can take some credit for this – being such an iconic figure, it’s a great achievement.”Read the full story here.

• Jihadists: Bin Laden death will not mute Jihad call.(ArabNews).DUBAI: Members of Jihadist forums said they prayed the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death was not true, and hinted at retaliation if it was, in some of the first Islamist reaction to the Al-Qaeda leader’s death.“Oh God, please make this news not true...God curse you Obama,” said one message on an Arabic language forum. “Oh Americans ... it is still legal for us to cut your necks.”“Osama may be killed but his message of Jihad will never die. Brothers and sisters, wait and see, his death will be a blessing in disguise,” said a poster on another Islamist forum.Hmmmm......well it seems Islam is still at war with us Mr President?Read the full story here.

• Hamas And Palestine mourns bin Laden's death.Gaza government condemns US slaying of 'Arab holy warrior', ask 'God to offer him mercy with true believers, martyrs'. Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by US forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an "Arab holy warrior" while Iran condemned "Zionist terror" and US sources said Saudi Arabia had refused to bury the arch-terrorist's body."We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters. Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden's al Qaeda and Hamas, Haniyeh said: "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs."Iran responded to the killing by saying that the US and its allies had now "lost the excuse to continue their presence in the region with the aim of fighting terror".In a statement Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, "This incident proves that there is no need for a huge war in order to deal with one person." He said Iran, which sees itself as a victim of terror, "condemns all acts of terrorism in the world, including the organized terror of the Zionist regime".Meanwhile the Pakistani Taliban threatened attacks against government leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan army and the United States. "Now Pakistani rulers, President Zardari and the army will be our first targets. America will be our second target," Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.US officials said Monday that bin Laden's country of birth, Saudi Arabia, had refused to accept the body of the arch-terrorist for burial so the country was forced to bury him at sea, CBS reported. Earlier sources in Washington reported that bin Laden's body had been transferred to Afghanistan and then buried at sea for fear that Islamist extremists would turn any gravesite into a holy place. Saudi Arabia refused to comment on the death of bin Laden, saying that it was "too early". Saudi public opinion is divided on the slaying, with some pleased that the organizers of a number of attacks in the country pleased but others, especially on Arab forums, calling him a hero. Saudi Arabia revoked his citizenship in 1994.Issam al-Aryan of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood responded to bin Laden's death by calling on the US to withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq. "With bin Laden's death one of the main reasons for violence in the world is gone," he said."It's time for Obama to withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq and terminate the occupation of the US and Western forces throughout the world, which harms Muslim states deeply."Al-Aryan added that "the uprisings in the Middle East are proof that democracy has its place in the region and it does not require foreign occupation". He also predicted that various terror groups would retaliate for the killing.Hmmmm........How about Hamas and the 'New Palestine" Mr President?Read the full story here.

• Group of 6 senators hones plan to cut US deficits.(Breitbart).WASHINGTON (AP) - A bipartisan group of six senators is closing in on what could represent the best chance for tackling a deficit crisis that has forced the government to borrow more than 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Their plan, still a work in progress, would reduce borrowing by up to $4 trillion over the next decade by putting the two parties' sacred cows on the chopping block. Republicans would have to agree to higher taxes while Democrats would have to accept cuts in popular benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and maybe even Social Security. There is urgency to their work.

Most Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have said they will not vote to increase the government's ability to borrow without some action addressing the nation's long-term debt. The government is expected to reach its borrowing limit of $14.3 trillion by mid-May. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says steps are being taken to delay until July what would be an unprecedented default on the debt. Geithner and a growing number of business leaders say a U.S. default would plunge the U.S., and perhaps the world, into a second economic crisis. Despite opposition from top leaders in both parties, the Senate's Gang of Six is banking on support from many of the 64 senators who wrote President Barack Obama in March urging him to support a comprehensive deficit reduction effort. "There's a huge appetite for a starting point that's bipartisan," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., one of the six senators, three from each party. "I think the conventional wisdom that says, `We can punt all of this until after the next presidential election.' I think there's a growing consensus we may not have that long."

The group includes four members of Obama's deficit commission, and its recommendations are expected to closely track the commission's plan for $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax revenue increases over the coming decade. Its other two Democrats are Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democratic leader, and Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the Budget Committee chairman. The Republicans are Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Mike Crapo of Idaho and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. The six have met in private for several months, even as House Republicans and Obama developed more partisan plans that have little chance of being enacted into law because of Washington's divided government.Obama has shied away from tackling Social Security's problems and top Democrats in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, have ruled out cuts in benefits, including changes that would only affect future retirees, such as raising the retirement age.

The plan by Obama's deficit commission, which the president did not endorse, would have nearly frozen the Pentagon's budget and cut spending at most domestic agencies. It called for gradually raising the retirement age for full Social Security benefits to 69 and curbing future cost-of-living increases. The full retirement age is currently 66, and is gradually increasing to 67 for people born in 1960 or later. Income tax rates would fall, paid for by scaling back dozens of popular tax breaks, including deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Premiums for employer provided health insurance, which are now tax exempt, would be taxed eventually.The Gang of Six supports changing the tax law, though senators have not decided whether they will offer a detailed plan or a series of targets for Congress to meet, with automatic spending cuts or tax increases if lawmakers fail, said a Senate aide familiar with the negotiations. Reid endorsed such a mechanism this past week. The senators are discussing similar spending targets for defense and domestic agency budgets, Medicare and Medicaid. "We want to make sure there's not an ability to punt," Warner said.Hmmmm....There's no plan to stop Obama's spending?Because the more he spend the more the US taxpayer is going to bleed!Read the full story here.

• Trump: I’ve Decided “In My Mind” to Run For President.(Bloomberg).New York real estate developer Donald Trump says he has decided “in my mind” to run for president, yet won’t make an official announcement before the season finale of his reality television show later this month.“In my mind, I have already decided,” Trump, 64, said in a telephone interview today. “I am going to announce. But I can’t do anything until the show ends.”Trump said he will focus on “making our country rich and respected,” by creating jobs, boosting the economy and stopping China and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries from taking advantage of the U.S.“The OPEC nations will be acting much differently, and fuel prices will go down and the economy will become strong again,” Trump said. “They may like me or not like me, but nobody will be ripping us off.”Some recent polls have shown Trump at or near the top of a large field of potential Republican candidates. In an April 26 Rasmussen Reports poll, Trump led with support from 19 percent of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters nationwide. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.Read the full story here.

• Imam's Call to Add Crescent Moon Symbol to Russian Emblem Met With Alarm.(Fox).Was it a call to bring the revolts and violence of the “Arab Spring” now sweeping the Middle East to Russia? That is the question that swirled throughout Moscow when a top imam called for the addition of the Islamic crescent moon symbol to the Russian emblem. The surprise call by Talgat Tadzhuddin during an interview with a leading Russian newspaper was met with alarm because the imam heads the Central Spiritual Association of Muslims of Russia, a major regional Islamic association. As quickly as the word of the proposal became public it ignited a wave of condemnation. “According to this logic,” Georgiy Vilinbakhov, head of Russia’s Heraldry Service argued, “we must change the name of Russia, put a green stripe on or flag and move the capital city from Moscow to somewhere on the border between Europe and Asia.” In his interview, Tadzhuddin said, “We are asking for one of the heads (of the Russian state emblem, a double-headed eagle) to be topped with a crescent moon and the other to be topped with a Russian Orthodox cross. All the crowns on the coat of arms -- two on the heads of eagles and one above the middle -- are topped by crosses. But Russia has 20 million Muslims. That is 18 percent of the population.” Tadzhuddin also said that he had presented a sketch of the proposed change to both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has not commented on the issue.Hmmmm.....Do they really think Russia forgot Beslan?Read the full story here.

• New insights on the 'Palestine Papers' (also known as Palileaks).(IsraelMatzav).The attached is an interesting new study of the Palestine Papers. It shows conclusively that the 'Palestinians' never responded to Olmert's offer, and that they never agreed to surrender the "right of return" -- running counter to the spin that's been all over the media. It's an interesting document that's worth perusing. Read and see the full story here.

• Indonesia: Extremist group recruits students to target Christians and introduce shariah.Jakarta (AsiaNews) - An emerging Islamic terrorist group recruits followers among university students and, through brainwashing, prepares them for suicide bombings or bomb attacks against sensitive targets, including Christian churches. It has been confirmed by the Indonesian police that the former separatist movement "NII or Negara Islam Indonesia" - the Islamic state Indonesia - has now turned into an extremist group in the network of terror. It recently orchestrated an attack on a Protestant church that only by accident, did not result in a bloodbath.The acronym NII in the decades has become the symbol of the Muslim separatist struggle, which aims to impose Islamic law - Shariah - in Indonesia and introduce a full range of behaviors, lifestyles and patterns derived from the Arabic culture such as the beard, jilbab or the burqa. Today it has changed the face, becoming involved in the fundamentalist terror network, its leaders have adopted techniques like brainwashing to recruit young people in universities and train them to carry out attacks or bombings.Police spokesman Amar Boy Rafly reports that the NII terrorist group arose five years ago and promotes the recruitment in schools, propagating an extremist vision of Islam. Among the objectives of the recent attack on the Christ Church Cathedral - a modern, luxurious building - at Gading Serpong, in the city of Tangerang, Banten province, about 20 km west of Jakarta. The mastermind of the massacre is 31 year old Fernando Pepi, a former student of the Islamic State University (Uin) and originally from West Java. The police stopped him on April 27 last, with his wife and seven other members of the NII.The attackers wanted to place explosive charges in the property that is located not far from a state-owned pipeline. In recent days, a small charge exploded, but the real objective was a larger explosion capable of causing hundreds of casualties in the celebration of Easter. The material for the assassination plot was bought on the black market - at least 120 km of explosives - and, according to the terrorists, would have led to a massacre.President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has alerted the Indonesian civil society as a whole, noting that the terrorist group constitutes a real threat for the country. However, the majority of citizens are skeptical of the claims of the Head of State regarding extremist movements: empty words without any decisive action.Read the full story here.

• Iran sends 14th fleet of warships to Gulf of Aden.(Tehrantimes).TEHRAN - Iran has dispatched the 14th fleet of the its warships to the Gulf of Aden in order to protect vessels sailing in the area, Kamran Farhang of the Navy said on Sunday. The dispatching took place following the return of the previous fleet of warships to the country, Farhang stated. The 14th fleet includes a submarine and a destroyer, which will patrol the areas with the message of peace and friendship, he explained. The 13th fleet of Navy warships was dispatched to the Gulf of Aden and international waters in March in order to protect the trade vessels and oil tankers sailing in the region.Read the full story here.

• Castrate serial rapists, says Indian judge.(NDTV).New Delhi: Serial or child rapists should be castrated - this is what Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau recommended as she heard a case where a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her stepfather for four years."The Indian legislatures are yet to take notice of this alarming situation and address the issue with all seriousness by exploring the possibility of alternative sentences of surgical castration or chemical castration, particularly in cases of minors, serial offenders and child molesters," she said.Now that the issue is back in the headlines, women's rights activists are divided."I think it's an option worth exploring...and this comes from a woman judge, who is obviously passionate and feels the case. I am not from the legal community am only a citizen so I can react as one and say, yes, we need some stern action," said Sadia Dehlvi, a women's rights activist and an author.The judge has sent a copy of the order to the ministry of law and also to the national commission for women for their opinion. Read the full story here.

• Israeli targeting pod leading bombings in Libya.(JPost).Technology developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is assisting NATO launch accurate missile strikes against Gaddafi forces in Libya. While Israel is not actively participating in NATO military operations against Libya, technology developed by Israeli defense giant Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is assisting the Western military alliance in launching accurate missile strikes against the embattled Col. Muammar Gaddafi.The British and Swedish air forces have been using Rafael’s Litening targeting pod on their Typhoon and Grippen fighter jets, which is fitted under the fuselage of an aircraft, and provides air crews with precision strike capabilities.The Israel Air Force uses the Litening on its F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, and the pod has been credited with improving the force’s level of accuracy in recent years.Last October, government-owned RADS announced that it sold its 1,000th targeting pod. The pod is used by more than 20 countries, and is also manufactured in the US by Northrop Grumman.The pod integrates a high-resolution infrared sensor that displays images of a target for the pilot and navigator, as well as a CCD camera. The pod also comes equipped with a laser designator for precise delivery of laser-guided bombs.Read the full story here.