MFS - The Other News

                      Morning Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 09. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan  today  no activity. More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 104.
  On 08.05.2011 at 04:32 GMT+2
  
  Radiation levels have dropped inside the No.1 reactor building at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co ( TEPCO), said the drop was due to a ventilator installed in the building on Thursday to filter out radioactive substances. Workers would soon be able to re-enter the site to stabilise the reactor, the company said, adding that it expects radioactivity levels at the plant to stabilise within six to nine months. As soon as radiation drops to permissible levels, specialists will attempt to restart the reactor's cooling system, knocked out by a magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami March 11. The toll due to the disaster has reached 14,877, while 9,960 people were still unaccounted for till Saturday, according to the National Police Agency.Source : Here .

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

• Live Blog on Qsama Bin Laden  Here (Al -Jazeera).

• Israel's national photo collection .For the first time on the internet, in honor of Israel's jubilee, the State of Israel's national photo collection is open and available to the general public!Years of events, people, landscapes, peace and war, industry and culture...Type in keywords and the picture will appear before you.HT:AmnonAndJonathan.See the full thing here.

• Turkey ...Obama's 'Friend and Ally' Thousands attend bin Laden 'funeral'.(Ynet).Mourners gather in Istanbul to give al-Qaeda leader burial rites – even though he was buried at sea. 'US, UK, Israel murdered a martyr,' mourners chant.Thousands participated in a funeral ceremony for assassinated al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Istanbul on Friday, following Muslim burial rites but not including an actual burial.Bin Laden was taken out by Navy SEAL troops last week and was subsequently buried at sea."The US, UK and Israel are the murderers of the martyr," the participants chanted. "The US is the terrorist, bin Laden is the warrior."The mourners carried pictures of bin Laden and signs condemning his assassination, and called the man who planned the September 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans "a beautiful, wise man, a warrior for Islam."The mourners, who gathered near Istanbul's Fatih Mosque, which is located in the area that is considered Turkey's epicenter of Islamic extremism, burned Israeli, American and British flags, and prayed facing a stone bench.Hmmm....Turkey the Nato Ally that never was?Read the full story here.

• Iran "The End Is Near"?(BigPeace).In the increasing tension between Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, supporters of each faction, who have been drawing lines in the sand for the past few days claiming that there will be blood, took their disputes to the streets of Tehran.According to reports from Iran, serious clashes between the rank and file supporters of Khamenei and the supporters of Ahmadinejad erupted on Saturday. Many were severely injured with clubs and machetes. The clashes are said to have been so fierce that the security guards did not intervene and stood aside, watching the brawl.The routes leading into the Imam Hossein Square and Enghelaab Avenue were blocked by the special forces. Civilians were not permitted to enter or exit those city blocks with their cars. The entire area was filled with anti-riot police, plain clothes agents and members of the Basij militia and although one could not tell the difference between the supporters of Khamenei and the supporters of Ahmadinejad, they themselves could tell each other apart!Most of the combatants wore black and traveled as a mob on motorcycles. They went from one section to another, hollering and yelling.In various parts of the area, blood was visible on the street and sidewalks.The streets of Tehran, especially the western and central parts are also said to be chaotic. Members of the Basij militia continue to patrol throughout the city and Revolutionary Guards elements are firmly ensconced in many major squares.Reportedly, a large number of the Vali’eh Amr (Supreme Leader’s) revolutionary forces is situated on Pasteur Avenue and have surrounded the Shaheed Mottahari Complex where both the Supreme Leader and Ahmadinejad’s offices are located.Clerical assemblies located in the Naarmak area of Tehran, which serve as funeral homes, have been turned into a military barracks and members of both gangs are said to be intently occupying the neighborhood.There is no accurate information on the number of injured and killed during the clashes by the two regime factions and so far none of the governmental sites have reported or acknowledged this incident.The amount of security in Ahmadinejad’s residential area, Naarmak, has quite noticeably increased.Also earlier today during Tehran’s book fair, the two factions, pro-Ahmadinejad and pro-Supreme Leader brawled while security guards stood aside and did nothing. Many were injured.The rifts became more intense after the dismissal of the Minister of Intelligence Heidar Moslehi by Ahmadinejad and the ensuing restatement of the minister by the Supreme Leader. Ahmadinejad wants control of the Intelligence Ministry and so does the opposing factions close to Khamenei. In the following days, many hardline clerics announced that not obeying the Supreme Leader would not be tolerated adding that obeying him is mandated by Allah.Over the course of last week, the hardliners, thirsty for power and with the backing of Khamenei, arrested 25 people loyal to Ahmadinejad and Mashaei and have blocked several websites allied with them. Among those arrested is the cleric Abbas Amirifar, the prayer leader of the presidential palace. He has been charged in connection with the production of the movie.In response, the Ahmadinejad supporters, which include many in the Revolutionary Guards and Basij, warned the hardliners (supporters of Khamenei) that there will be blood and that neither Ahmadinejad nor Mashaei will allow this attack without responding.Most significant is that no one from the inside has ever challenged Khamenei to this extent, so his prestige is diminished. One thing is for sure though, regardless of what happens now, the blow to the Iranian leadership will be permanent. If the Islamic Republic of Iran lost its legitimacy over the fraudulent elections of 2009, it has now lost the legitimacy of the power of its Supreme Leader!Read the full story here.

• Egyptian Christians Occupy Cairo Square to Protest Muslim Violence.(Aina).Thousands of Coptic Christians protesting Egypt's latest round of deadly sectarian violence are calling for the removal of the country's top military ruler, and are vowing not to leave a sit-in outside the state television building in Cairo.By late Sunday, demonstrators were demanding that Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi step down and that the arsonists who burned two Coptic churches be brought to justice. Protesters also want to make it a crime to instigate religious violence. Earlier in the day, fighting broke out when Muslim youths attacked the protesters.State media have reported that 12 people were killed and more than 220 wounded during two days of sectarian clashes that began late Saturday in the poverty-stricken Cairo slum of Imbaba. Medical sources said 65 of the injured were shot.Witnesses say a group of about 500 conservative Salafist Muslims converged on a Coptic church in response to rumors that a Christian woman was being held there to prevent her from converting to Islam. Other reports said the crowd believed the woman had already converted and was being prevented from marrying a Muslim man.Egypt's civilian leaders have promised a swift response to the clashes, including more security at houses of worship and a new ban on demonstrations outside churches and mosques. Military leaders said Sunday that 190 people detained in connection with the violence will face trial in a military court.Hundreds of heavily armed riot police deployed to Imbaba Sunday, stationing military vehicles near churches and blocking access to the Church of St. Mina, where the fighting began.Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf canceled a tour of neighboring Gulf states and called an emergency Cabinet meeting in response to the clashes.Reports say members of the crowd began throwing firebombs and stones, setting some nearby buildings aflame. Security forces fired shots in the air and used tear gas to separate the two sides.Members of Egypt's extreme Salafi movement have been blamed for other recent attacks on Christians that have met with little interference from the country's military rulers.Interfaith relationships are a source of tension in Egypt, where Coptic Christians comprise about 10 percent of the country's population of 80 million.Hmmmm.....Obama regime rewarding the Muslim Brotherhood with extra money.Read the full story here.

• Pakistan army knew about operation against Osama bin Laden.(GlobalPost).ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani officials have told GlobalPost that the Pakistani army had full knowledge of the U.S. raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden and that it played a larger role in the operation than previously acknowledged.The statements run counter to the public position taken by officials in both Pakistan and the United States who have so far downplayed the role Pakistan’s military and intelligence community had in the attack, saying that it was limited to a small amount of information sharing.One senior military official, who asked not to be named because he is not permitted to speak to the press, said that Pakistani army troops were in fact providing backup support when the United States began its operations inside the compound where bin Laden had been staying, including sealing off the neighborhood where the compound was located.Officials interviewed scoffed at the idea that Pakistan could have been unaware of the American operation.“It’s a no-fly zone,” said a Pakistani intelligence official, referring to the area around bin Laden’s mansion and the nearby military compound. “It is impossible for U.S. helicopters to fly over there without our knowledge and permission.”A Pakistan Air Force official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, rejected reports that U.S. special forces had jammed Pakistan’s radar system in order to circumvent the no-fly zone.“This is totally untrue. Neither our radars were jammed nor was any scrambling of any air force plane recorded,” the official said, referring to the practice of launching aircraft in the event that the airspace has been breached. Some observers said the helicopters may have been equipped with stealth technology, but that has not been confirmed.Residents in the area confirmed that the Pakistan army appeared to have at least some knowledge of the operation well before it began. Several residents said that two hours before the United States launched its attack, Pakistani army personnel ordered them to switch off their lights inside and outside their homes and remain indoors until further notice.“The army personnel cordoned off the entire area long before we heard the sounds of helicopters hovering over the area,” said Zulfikar Ahmed, who lives in the Abbottabad neighborhood of Bilal Town, where bin Laden’s compound is located. Locals interviewed by the BBC and several other local and international media outlets made similar statements.Several meetings leading up to the attack, when viewed in sum, also indicate that Pakistan might have known of the operation beforehand.“Gen. David Petraeus paid an extraordinary visit to Islamabad on April 25,” said a senior military official said. The official said Petraeus held a one-on-one meeting with Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan’s army chief of staff, in which they discussed the details of the operation.The next day, Pakistan’s top military body — the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee — held its quarterly session, which was attended by Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the country's intelligence chief, who is not a regular member of the body. Pasha had visited the United States to meet with the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, on April 11.Analysts in Pakistan said that the Pakistani government likely wanted to hide its role in the operation to avoid a backlash from the public, which has grown increasingly impatient with the United States and the growing presence of the Central Intelligence Agency inside their country.Experts and analysts here in Islamabad said that the Pakistani government itself, which is concerned about appearing overly friendly with the United States and angering its citizens, is likely encouraging the United States to downplay Pakistan’s involvement in finding bin Laden and the eventual operation against him.In fact, analysts said, the Pakistani government has long been trying to compose a storyline that it is actively working against the United States — an effort that is aimed at keeping the country’s population from rising up against the political leadership. Pakistanis have grown tired of U.S. involvement in its affairs in the last decade and ongoing drone attacks in its northern tribal belt that have killed numerous civilians.“If Pakistan or U.S. officials do not publicize the cooperation between the two sides in the operation against bin Laden, Pakistan will be in serious trouble on the diplomatic front,” Sethi said.Salim Safi, a security analyst based in Peshawar, said it seemed clear that there had been a significant amount of cooperation between the two sides — a reality that should be made public, even if Pakistani officials think it might hurt them politically in the short-term.“The Pakistani government and the military establishment must not hide the facts from their own people,” he said. “They must come forward with the truth.”Read the full story here.

• House where Bin Laden was staying was raided before in 2003.Pakistan PM to address bin Laden debacle.(Al-Jazeera).Gilani to "take nation into confidence" as Obama speculates al Qaeda leader may have had Pakistani "support network".Pakistan's prime minister is set to brief parliament on the US operation that killed Osama bin Laden, his first public statement since the attack embarrassed the country and raised fears of a new rift between Islamabad and Washington.Yusuf Raza Gilani is expected to "take the nation into confidence" in parliament on Monday, an official told the AFP news agency, amid deepening suspicion in the US that Pakistani officials may have had ties with the al-Qaeda leader.Pakistanis have expressed anger at the perceived impunity of the American raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad - apparently conducted without Pakistani knowledge - but also questioned whether their military was too incompetent to know bin Laden was in the area, or conspired to protect him.Pakistan's government has adamantly denied the allegations, pointing to the fact that the US could not have conducted the raid without key intelligence provided by Pakistan.The debacle has embarrassed Pakistan's powerful military establishment and left the civilian leadership reeling."Gilani will speak in detail on various aspects of the operation, Pakistan's sacrifices in the war against terrorism and its future strategy to deal with the menace," the senior official told AFP.Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, said the big question was how Gilani would apportion blame for the episode."The question is, will he do the unthinkable? Will he point the finger at the military for not being aware that the US was able to carry out this operation in the early hours of Monday morning last week?" he asked."Will he do the surprising, by pointing the finger at the ISI, the spy agency, for not being aware that bin Laden was living here, accusing them of incompetence?"Or will he do the risky and point the finger at the US for breaching Pakistan's sovereignty?"Shaukat Qadir, a retired military brigadier, told Al Jazeera that the blame rested with "all parties" because the house bin Laden was reportedly living in should have been under surveillance since it had a history of being an al-Qaeda hideout."When the particular house bin Laden was living in was under construction in 2003, it was first raided by the ISI to catch a senior al-Qaeda leader."So if this was under suspicion in 2003, how could it not remain under surveilance now?"Hmmmm.........Yes indeed.Read the full story here.

• Cheney: Justice Probe of CIA Interrogators an 'Outrage'.(FoxNews).Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday it's an "outrage" the Obama administration continues to investigate CIA agents who interrogated terror suspects, claiming they did nothing wrong and expressing concern about the precedent it sets. Cheney weighed in on the probe after several Republicans and other ex-officials have renewed their call for the Justice Department to drop the investigation -- launched nearly two years ago by Attorney General Eric Holder -- in light of the killing of Usama bin Laden. Though it's unclear what role so-called enhanced interrogation played in finding bin Laden, Cheney told "Fox News Sunday" the techniques probably "contributed" and suggested the circumstances make the Justice probe all the more unsettling. "It's unfortunate," Cheney said. "These men deserve to be decorated. They don't deserve to be prosecuted."Cheney noted there was a "complete investigation" during the Bush administration that concluded the agents had not violated the law. He said the decision by Holder to reopen that case and hand it over to a special prosecutor sets a "terrible precedent.""These are government employees. They did nothing wrong, as best as any of us knows," Cheney told "Fox News Sunday." "It is an outrage that we would go after the people who deserve the credit for keeping us safe for seven and a half years." Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also said Sunday that the Obama administration should set the CIA probe "aside" and move on, calling it a "most unfortunate thing." "These people were operating at the direction of the president. They were doing things that had been approved by the Department of Justice," Rumsfeld said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "And it sends a chill throughout the government." The investigation has been kept under wraps since Holder first announced it, and it's unclear how far along it's come. The sister of a Sept. 11 victim said Thursday that President Obama turned down her request to advise Holder to drop the probe. Asked about the investigation Sunday, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told "Fox News Sunday" he could not comment on the probe itself. But he praised the work of the intelligence community in helping track bin Laden.Still, Cheney gave Obama "high marks" for his handling of the bin Laden raid. "I think you've got to give him a lot of credit for making the decision to have the SEAL team 6 conduct the raid that got bin Laden," Cheney said. "It's no question that was his responsibility and I think he handled it well."Hmmmm.....Given the fact that Obama had no other choice,i would say don't over rate the whole thing!What else could he have done?Could he have bombed the compound located in an 'allied' nation without warning?Read the full story here.

• After the 'Pigford'Black farmers scam now the 'Hispanic Farmers' scam?(OrlandoSentinel).Minority farmers have complained for decades that the U.S. Department of Agriculture denied or delayed giving them farm loans because of their ethnicity or gender, costing them their crops and land.Now, the USDA has acknowledged the discrimination. It is urging Hispanic and female farmers who can prove they were wronged to apply for settlements of up to $50,000.Frederick Pfaeffle, the department's deputy assistant secretary of civil rights, recently met with farmers and ranchers in Kissimmee and South Florida to promote the program.The settlement, which some Hispanic farmers have criticized for offering too little and placing the burden of proof on them, will provide at least $1.33 billion to resolve discrimination claims dating from 1981 to 2000. It also sets aside $160 million for debt forgiveness on USDA loans that, because of discrimination, were delayed or offered with unfavorable terms or for an amount lower than applied for, Pfaeffle said.
  
  Farmers often rely on the USDA loans to survive disasters and to buy seeds and equipment needed to replant and stay in business.
  
  "We're committed to closing this sad chapter of the USDA," Pfaeffle said.
  
  The settlement comes a decade after Hispanic farmers from states such as New Mexico and Texas filed a lawsuit against the USDA alleging discrimination. The USDA previously settled similar claims with black and Native American farmers.No farmers in Florida have come forward with discrimination allegations, Pfaeffle said, but the USDA is interested in the state because of its high number of Hispanic farmers, the fastest-growing group in agriculture. Florida has a total of 47,500 farms, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture. Of those, 3,100 list Hispanics as the principal operators."We don't know how many [had] businesses in that time frame, and we don't know how many were discriminated [against]," Pfaeffle said.Many farmers are dissatisfied with the program, said Stephen S. Hill, a Washington attorney. He is representing Hispanic farmers who are suing the USDA and the Justice Department over the settlement, which the farmers call unfair.The lawsuit, filed in March in U.S. District Court in Washington, says the government is continuing its discrimination toward Hispanics and female farmers by offering them smaller amounts than were offered to black and Native American farmers.Hmmmm......"Redistribution of wealth in motion?"Read the full story here.

• Noam Chomsky Attacks Israel's 'Expansion Over Security' at UCLA Lecture on 'Palestine in Crisis'.(AmericanPower).I experimented with video blogging, and this clip captures more of Chomsky's comments on U.S. policy than his remarks on Israeli expansionism. Here he argues that from Washington's perspective democracy and freedom in the Middle East are antithetical to American interests. The U.S. and Israel allegedly fear the Arab Spring because the revolutions threaten American hegemony in the region. Chomsky spouts a lot of disinformation, which is his trademark. He says at 40 seconds that "about 90 percent of Egyptians view the United States as the main enemy" and that "about 80 percent in the region wanted to be sure Iran had nuclear weapons".Another term Chomsky used repeatedly was "illegal" --- as in Israel "illegally" occupying Gaza and now "illegally" occupying the West Bank with its "illegal" settlements that form the basis for its policy of "expansion over security." That theme, which was essentially the thesis of the night, was that, according to Chomsky, never has Israel been about peace in the Middle East. He cited a number times when Israel allegedly rejected accommodation with the Palestinians, and instead the Jewish state was alleged to be bent in expansion into the territories it claimed in its numerous wars of conquest. Chomsky laid out a vision of either a future two-state accommodation on the basis of peace (not likely) or Israel's complete decimation of Palestine resulting in a one-state domination. A third option was "what's happening right now." Israel will continue to expand the "illegal" settlements, and the U.S. will continue its "hegemonic" role of regional domination in the Middle East.At the conclusion of the event, Chomsky responded to questions and went off on his familiar rant about how those who proclaim themselves pro-Israel are actually working feverishly for its moral degeneration and ultimate destruction. Chomsky then returned to the comparison of Israel to apartheid South Africa, and while he admitted key differences, he argued that in one key similarity the time will come when Israel's crisis of legitimation becomes overwhelming, and forces upon it a reckoning for the survival of the Jewish state.I note here at the end that Chomsky concluded the question and answer session by arguing that Osama Bin Laden was assassinated, "murdered," so that the U.S. could avoid putting Bin Laden on trial, because "they have no evidence against him."That final jab at the U.S. went over extremely.Read and see the full story here.

• The Obama administration would love to talk to the three widows of Bin Laden.....after 'dumping' them in Pakistan.(NYTimes).The White House national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, called Sunday for Pakistan to grant the United States access to Osama bin Laden’s three widows, who are in Pakistani custody following the secret American raid that killed the Qaeda leader last week. In addition to possibly learning more about Al Qaeda, American officials hope the women could help answer whether any Pakistani government or security officials were complicit in hiding Bin Laden.Mr. Donilon called the volume of data and intelligence confiscated during the raid the “equivalent to a small college library.” He also acknowledged that President Obama had received “divided counsel” over whether to carry out the mission — using the phrase on Fox and ABC. “At the end of the day, we ask our president to make the decision,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” President Obama similarly addressed U.S. ties to Pakistan, saying officials “think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan. “But we don't know who or what that support network was,” he said in remarks to be broadcast on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” “We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government, people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate, and more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate.” Mr. Donilon, in his series of appearances on the Sunday talk shows, underscored the delicate tightrope the Obama administration has been walking with Pakistan. While praising Pakistan for its role in fighting terrorism, Mr. Donilon called for an investigation into how Bin Laden had been concealed in the northwestern city of Abbottabad, just 35 miles from Islamabad, the country’s capital.Pakistan took custody of Bin Laden’s family after the May 2 raid of his hide-out, in which the Qaeda leader and four others were killed. But the Foreign Ministry has thus far not given the C.I.A. access to the wives, according to The Associated Press.Asked on ABC’s “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” whether the United States would inform Pakistan if it decided to target Aymen al-Zawahri, the Egyptian surgeon considered the second in command in Al Qaeda, Mr. Donilon said it would depend on “the specifics of the operation.” “This really wasn’t a matter of trusting or not trusting; it was a matter of operational security,” he said, referring to the secrecy surrounding the raid and the decision not to inform the Pakistani government. But he called for Pakistani officials to provide the Obama administration with additional intelligence it might have gathered from the compound, while also granting access to Bin Laden’s three wives. While he declined to comment on the specifics of the raid, Mr. Donilon said that the world view was that the raid justified. “The messages that have come back to us from around the world, and I study this fairly closely, is that this was a just action, that in fact this was a just action against a man who had committed murder, not just in the United States but around the world.” Mr. Donilon said that the White House had put together a special task force to comb through the data and that it would work under Mr. Obama’s direction to pursue any leads the information yielded. Hmmmm......'under Mr.Obama's direction',why do i get the picture of Hitler in his command bunker in my mind?One man to 'judge'what's Islamic terrorisme and what not?Read the full story here.

• Now Muslim militants target Prince Harry: Outrage after extremists post chilling online hate video.(DailyMail).Third in line to throne, 26, labelled as the 'British royal Nazi' by fanatics

Prince William also told to 'watch your back' by extremist group

'May Allah destroy him,' posts one extremist below the video

Muslims Against Crusades protested on Friday outside U.S. Embassy.An extremist group is believed to be targeting Prince Harry after a propaganda hate video has come to light following the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.The 26-year-old, third in line to the throne, is the subject of a three-minute video posted last week by an organisation calling itself Muslims Against Crusades.It is believed that Harry is being targeted to avenge the death of the Al Qaeda leader, who was shot by American commandos last Sunday, as six years ago he dressed as a Nazi and has served the British Army in Afghanistan.The video, entitled 'Harry the Nazi', shows the young royal - who was best man to his elder brother William just over a week ago - serving for the British Army against Taliban forces in 2007 and 2008, saying that 'all my wishes have come true'.It begins with the Muslims Against Crusades sign looming large and imposing, and then sounds of soldiers marching are accompanied by Arabic voices.Originally posted on the group's jihadist website, the video continues to show snippets of Prince Harry talking to the media while in action in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.It also shows the royal - who spent 10 weeks in Afghanistan and joked that he is a 'bullet magnet' - using derogatory Asian terms 'Paki' and 'Raghead' in videos taken while he was in the Middle East, and exposed by the News of the World.The film is designed to incite hatred against Harry - who has recently been promoted to captain in the Army - and it appears to have worked. Below the video, posted on YouTube, people have written aggressive, threatening messages in response to it.One person wrote: 'May Allah curse and destroy him.' Another, calling himself Brother Younis, said: 'May he rot in hell.' And a third poster pointed out that both Harry and Hitler begin with the letter H, and added: 'Harry the royal British Nazi.''Prince Harry is inevitably at risk,' a security source told the News of the World. 'As risks go up then the protection capability has to be increased.'Muslims Against Crusades's website claims that their members are 'raising the banner for Islam' and reveals why Prince Harry - and William - are targets.In the Frequently Asked Questions section they write: 'It would seem fitting and appropriate to condemn individuals, who sympathise with such a brutal mob (referring to the British Army who are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya), or who promote their literature or glorify their cause.'William and Harry are not exempt from accountability, and their conscientious decision to enrol in an army that engages in the aforementioned crimes, cannot be taken lightly.'The extremist organisation today claimed that the video was not meant to be inflammatory, and inist that it is not a call to arms for terrorists to target Harry.The group's spokesman, Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary did admit, however, that the video was designed to direct Muslim anger towards the Royal Family's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the video was created to promote the group's aborted attempts to protest at the Royal Wedding. While the Metropolitan Police refused to answer questions about the extremist group asked by MailOnline directly, a 'police source' told the News of the World: 'The Met are constantly monitoring activity by Muslims Against Crusades.'If a direct threat is made we will respond.'Hmmmm......I wonder what Churchill would have done?Read the full story here.

• BORN IN THE USA?Hawaii detective charges 'birth certificate' a fraud.Claims phonies created by state in order to 'screw with birthers'.(WND).HONOLULU, Hawaii – A private investigator claims employees of the state Department of Health forged three Hawaiian birth certificates for Barack Obama to "screw with birthers." Takeyuki Irei told WND one document placed the birth at Kapiolani hospital, another at Queens Medical Center and a third in Kenya. The 57-year-old detective, who has been a P.I. since the 1980s, said he was stunned when he discovered that the purported copy of Obama's original birth certificate released by the White House was more or less an exact image of one of the forgeries.Irei said he was provided a copy of the document indicating a Queens birthplace but ascribed no importance to it. He explained that he was focused on finding evidence that Obama was born in Kenya, which he thought would provide a financial windfall.He also said a likeness of the certificate indicating a Kenyan birthplace was published more than a year ago by a website that presented itself as a Hawaiian news organization. Later, it spread virally even though it was rejected as fraudulent by investigators, because the purported signature of Obama's maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, was misspelled.The image released by the White House was trumpeted as "proof positive" Obama was born in Hawaii in an announcement accompanied by a rare presidential statement on the issue. However, few other officials were talking. Hawaii authorities ordered WND not to contact the state employee identified as the source of the phony certificates. Also, WND learned the state's employees had been ordered not to respond to WND questions.Among other things, the "Certificate of Live Birth" on the Reporter page says the birthplace was "Kenya; Registered Honolulu HRS 338-17-8 per Grandmother." The document lists the race for the father, "Barack Hussein Obama Sr.," as "Negro-African." But it was the document released by the White House April 27 that stunned Irei. He said the document indicating Obama's birth as Kapiolani looks just like the Queens Medical Center document he had previously possessed, except the hospital name and the doctor's name were different. "When I saw the birth certificate the White House released, I realized the story had changed from Obama being born at Queens, to him being born at Kapiolani," the detective told WND. "In 2008, when I first got the birth certificate, all the news reports [were] that Obama had been born at Queens." Hmmmm......And along came Bin Laden after 'watching' him for 6 months,now was the time to act!Read the full story here.

• Obama regime Rewards Muslim Brotherhood for killing and persecuting Christians in Egypt.(WashingtonPost).The Obama administration has decided to provide about $1 billion in debt relief for Egypt, a senior official said Saturday, in the boldest U.S. effort yet to shore up a key Middle East ally as it attempts a democratic transition.The aid would be part of a major economic aid package that also includes trade and investment incentives, officials said.While the Obama administration has been preoccupied of late with the war in Libya and protests in Syria, it sees Egypt as even more critical for U.S. interests. Washington has long regarded Egypt as a moderating influence in the Middle East. With one-quarter of the world’s Arabs, Egypt could emerge as a democratic model in the region — or, if its revolution fails, a locus of instability or extremism.Economic assistance for Egypt and Tunisia is “fundamental to our capacity to support their democratic transitions,” a senior State Department official said on the condition of anonymity. He said that officials were in the midst of “intense policy formulation” but that the economic package wasn’t finished. Parts of it will need congressional approval.The largely peaceful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have battered the countries’ economies. Tourism has collapsed; interest rates have jumped. Economic growth in the two countries is expected to plunge as much as four percentage points from last year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The squeeze comes as those nations’ interim governments are trying to create jobs to satisfy the young protesters’ demands.“We are at a crossroads here,” said an Egyptian official who has been involved in talks with Washington, and who spoke recently on the condition of anonymity. “If we go wrong, it will be too late [for the United States] to come later and say, ‘We’ll start helping now.’ ”The Egyptian finance and planning ministers visited Washington last month to seek forgiveness of the country’s $3.6 billion debt. Egypt pays about $350 million a year to service the debt, which it incurred buying American farm products. In recent weeks, Egyptian officials have been frustrated by the lengthy U.S. interagency process to consider economic aid, and a cool reaction from a Congress ensnared in a budget-cutting battle. On Saturday, Ambassador Sameh Shoukry said through an aide that Egypt appreciated the U.S. efforts but would not react to news of the debt relief until his government was formally notified.Hmmmm......Rewarding the enemies of Israel and the US?Read the full story here.Related : Muslim Brotherhood to Obama : "Go to Hell".Egyptian Government Rejects US Conditional Aid. Here.

• Good News: Radical Muslim Separatist Groups Now Actively Trying to Undermine Border Security Between Canada and Michigan.(DougRoss).The U.S. government has launched an investigation into allegations that federal agents at several U.S.-Canada border crossings in Michigan repeatedly harassed, jailed and body searched Muslims because of their background or appearance... The investigation comes in response to complaints filed in March by the Council on American-Islamic Relations with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security....every time Wissam Charafeddine of Dearborn has crossed the border into the U.S. from Canada in the last three years, he says he has been detained, fingerprinted and body searched... One time, he said, he was separated from his family and jailed in a cold cell for five hours as his 1-year-old daughter cried for milk....One of the 10 complaints by local Muslims involves Imam Ali Suleiman Ali, head of the Canton Mosque, one of the larger Islamic centers in metro Detroit... He described a recent border crossing in which he says agents handcuffed and detained him while asking him, "Where's your mosque?" and "What Islamic organizations do you belong to?" Ali described several other similar situations at borders or airports in the past five years."Why do I have to be treated like a terrorist?"The theme of undermining border security measures is a consistent one for this particular Imam.Saying that body scanners violate Islamic law, Muslim-American groups are supporting a fatwa — a religious ruling — that forbids Muslims from going through the scanners at airports. The Fiqh Council of North America ... issued a fatwa last week that says going through the airport scanners would violate Islamic rules on modesty......Two members of the Fiqh Council are from Michigan, Imam Hassan Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, and Imam Ali Suleiman Ali of the Canton Mosque. “Fiqh” means Islamic jurisprudence......The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has a chapter in Michigan, says it endorses the fatwa. “We support the Fiqh Council’s statement on full-body scanners and believe that the religious and privacy rights of passengers can be respected while maintaining safety and security,” said Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR.Their actions make it clear that CAIR and "the Fiqh Council" are dedicated to weakening America's security posture.And it doesn't have a bit to do with religion. It has to do with promoting a political system -- Sharia law -- that just happens to be conveniently wrapped in the protective coating of a religion.It seems perfectly obvious that Sharia is what CAIR and the other radical Muslim separatist groups are after. And with terror defenders and apologists like Eric Holder in charge of the DOJ, they're likely to get much of what they want.Hmmmm.....What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"don't they understand it's obvious that one religion is being favored here.Read the full story here.

• Americans, Everything You Do Is Monitored.(Shtf).When President Obama talked about a transparent administration during the run up to the 2008 election most Americans assumed he was talking about openness in government dealings. Obviously, this is not the case, as evidenced by the administration’s handling of the universal health care legislation which was passed without a single American having had a chance to read it for 72 hours before a vote as the President promised would be the case with all legislation, refusal to release photographic evidence of the Osama Bin Laden raid, the President’s own birth certificate which has taken two years to be made public, and the many secret meetings held with Congressional members behind closed doors.It should be clear by now that Big Government’s domestic surveillance policies under Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush are being furthered expanded by Mr. Obama. Transparency, it seems, had nothing to do with making government more visible. It did, however, have everything to do with making your life more transparent.While we often hear protests from privacy advocates about government intrusion into the lives of Americans, what many fail to understand is that it’s not just the government. Private businesses like Aaron’s, as well as large corporate conglomerates, are themselves engaging in the surveillance of Americans with the development of products and services specifically for this purpose – and often without the consent of their customers, or, through terms of services agreements that include dozens of pages of unintelligible fine print.As modern technology continues to advance at breakneck speeds, just as the merger of the corporations and the state are occurring within political circles, so to are they becoming more prevalent in the intelligence sphere.Fellow Americans, everything you do is being monitored.With respect to the government, it’s not by choice. However, when dealing with private businesses, we have readily accepted our own fate by accepting into our lives the very technologies that make it all possible.Hmmmmm....You think you're being monitored,chances are you're right.Read the full story here.

• THAILAND: Muslims behead a 9-year-old boy. Then they hanged or beheaded the rest of his family.(BarenakedIslam).More than than 4000 people from police and teachers to monks and children have been killed in the past 7 years by Muslims in southern Thailand, but hardly a word in the mainstream media. In Southern Thailand Muslim gunmen continue killing and threatening innocent citizens. The Muslim insurgents have threatened to kill 20 teachers and have distributed fliers that said, “WANTED: 20 Deaths of Buddhist teachers.” Muslim terrorists object to the education system which teaches Buddhist culture that is not acceptable in Islam. Yet another example of Muslim on Buddhist violence in a country where Muslims are only a small minority.(WARNING: extremely Graphic Images).Read and see the full story here.

• ID cards to commemorate Shoah dead.(Ynet).New serial numbers to begin at 6,000,000 – number of Jews who perished in Holocaust – and include six Stars of David, representing six million victims. Israel is unveiling new identity cards for its citizens that will commemorate the Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. The serial numbers will begin at 6,000,000, the number of Jews who perished in the genocide. The new cards, to be introduced in the coming months, will also include six Stars of David, representing the six million victims.Baruch Dadon, head of the new ID card project in Israel's Interior Ministry, said a government committee tasked with planning the updated, biometric cards came up with the idea to incorporate Holocaust symbolism into the design, a sort of honorary citizenship for the six million victims. "We haven't forgotten them," said Dadon of the Holocaust victims. "They are with us ... and they will be with us in the future." The numbers serve a purely technical function for indexing the number of cards printed. But Dadon said the symbolic numbering was not trivial. "We are the state of the Jews," said Dadon. "I think this was necessary." All Israelis are required to carry their ID cards with them.Dadon said he hoped Israel's president would get the first card – numbered 6,000,001.Read the full story here.

• Islamic intolerance rising in Turkey,couple removed from bus for kissing.(HurriyetDaily).Religious high school students are engaged in an online debate about a potential counter-protest to people who held a “kiss-in” on an Istanbul city bus after a driver kicked two passengers off for allegedly being too intimate.“Now, ladies and gentlemen, my apologies to anyone opposed, but we will not allow people to have sex in the middle of the street. That driver is not alone,” one person going by the online nickname “Mechul-x” wrote on the İHL Dictionary, a website used by imam-hatip (religious vocational high school) students, daily Milliyet reported Friday.“Let us determine a time and date to board that bus together with our [Muslim prayer] caps on our heads, and then we could get off at the nearest mosque and start praying, God willing,” the user wrote.On April 17, a fight broke out between an Istanbul bus driver and a couple he accused of being too intimate onboard after he allegedly warned the pair, saying, among other things, “This is not a place for sex.” Young writers from the popular website Ekşi Sözlük (Sour Dictionary) gathered on a bus April 24 to hold a kissing protest following the incident.Another İHL Dictionary writer who calls himself “Dictionary Pharmacy” suggested washing the bus with sacred zam-zam water, which comes from a well in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is believed by Muslims to have been miraculously generated.While a large majority of the writers on the conservative website lent their support to the proposed act of protest, some also voiced their opposition.“This will divide society into factions and draw away potential believers,” wrote one contributor who identified himself as “Fonveton.”Hmmmm....How long before 'Islamic police' starts patrolling the Turkish streets?Read the full story here.

• Pakistan: Mentally Ill Christian Charged with 'Blasphemy'.(Compassdirect).LAHORE, Pakistan, May 6 (CDN) — Police in Chichawatni, Sahiwal district have charged a mentally ill Christian with “injuring religious feelings” under Pakistan’s widely condemned blasphemy laws.Three families related to 25-year-old Babar Masih – the only other Christian families in the area – have fled their homes after a Muslim mob threatened to harm them, relatives of the accused told Compass.Police in Chichawatni, Punjab Province registered the blasphemy case against Masih on Monday (May 2) after arresting him at about 10 p.m. that night. Son of Iqbal Masih in Shakir Colony, Chichawatni Bypass, the young man’s own family handed him over to police because a large number of Muslim clerics had gathered outside their house and demanded that he be turned over to them so that they could “do justice” by killing him, relatives said.A Muslim neighbor, Rana Sardar, had told Masih’s family that the police should be called so that he could be taken into custody, “otherwise he would be killed by the Muslim clerics who were getting more charged up with every passing moment,” a relative said. With a large number of people gathered at the house when police arrived, Babar Masih was handed over from another gate and immediately put into a police van.When the clerics saw Masih being put into the police van, they rushed toward it and tried to take hold of him. They continued chasing after the vehicle as it carried him away, giving the three families related to Masih’s immediate family the opportunity to flee from their homes, relatives said. At press time they were still in hiding.Masih’s brother, Amjad Masih, said that after fleeing from their home, he talked with neighbors who told him that several other neighbors had been pressured by Muslim clerics to go to the police station to provide testimony against the accused.“These neighbors were of the opinion that they could not refuse to give evidence after the Muslim clerics forced them, telling them that they were coming out of the mosque after prayer when Babar Masih used abusive language against the prophet Muhammad,” Amjad Masih said. “They told me, ‘It is such a sensitive matter that we could not refuse.’”He said Babar Masih has suffered a mental illness for the past six or seven years typified by fits of unprovoked rage. He said that his brother’s loss of mental balance was reflected in abusive language and lack of concern for food and clothing.Amjad Masih told Compass that he had learned from witnesses that Babar Masih was walking by the Canal Mosque looking upward and calling out names as the mosque leader was coming out and heard him using abusive language about Muhammad. He said he did not learn about the alleged incident until he had returned from an area bazaar.“When I reached home I saw a large number of Muslim clerics that had gathered outside our house,” he said. “I believe they had come from other cities, because I cannot identify them and they were not of our area.”When he asked why they had gathered there, he said, the clerics told him that Babar Masih had used insulting language about Muhammad, which can be punishable by death in Pakistan. His older brother James Masih, he said, had locked the accused in a room. He confirmed that neighbors believed that the clerics would kill Babar Masih unless police were informed.Police were not available for comment at press time. Representatives from a human rights organization have met with Babar Masih in Sahiwal Central Jail, where he has been since Tuesday (May 3).Masih was charged under Section 298 of Pakistan’s blasphemy statues for “uttering words . . . with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings” and Section 298-A for “use of derogatory remarks . . . in respect of holy personages.”Attorney Khurram Shehzad Maan of the European Center for Law and Justice’s office in Pakistan said that the complainant in the case was not the cleric who allegedly saw Babar Masih speaking ill of Muhammad and other Islamic figures, but rather a dairy farmer named Zeeshan Arain whose property is on the same street as Babar Masih’s. He said the police should have examined him to confirm whether he was insane, as Babar Masih’s family had informed them.With tensions running high in the area, on Thursday (May 5) there was a meeting known as a panchayat in which Islamic clerics from all major mosques of the local and surrounding areas gathered with Christian representatives. Christians argued that Babar Masih was insane, and that in any event the Christian families were not responsible for whatever he may have done and should be allowed to return to their houses.Muslims at the meeting, however, were reluctant to allow the three families to return home, saying they needed three days to consider it. Sources said the situation was still tense and that the government should be aware that attacks on other Christians was possible.Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have drawn condemnation across the world, and two senior government officials – Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, a liberal Muslim, and Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, have been assassinated this year for demanding a review of the legislation.Read the full story here.

• Saudi Women on Facebook: We Shall Exercise Our Right to Drive.(Memri).A group of Saudi women have announcement on Facebook that, on June 17, they will drive their cars in public places around the country. The women stressed that they do not mean to demonstrate or to disturb the peace, but only to exercise their right to freedom of movement.Read the full story here.

• İHH protests Israel's participation in LDC conference.(TodaysZaman).The Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) has staged a demonstration in İstanbul to protest Israel's participation in the 4th UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC), accusing the Jewish state of being the primary source of poverty. The İHH was the chief sponsor of an aid flotilla that became the victim of a lethal Israeli raid in which Israeli soldiers killed nine civilians on May 31 of last year. The group is planning another, larger flotilla with its partners in European states to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza in breach of what it calls Israel's “illegal naval blockade.”Also gathered in front of the Harbiye Military Museum in İstanbul, İsmail Yılmaz, the founder of the Mavi Marmara Freedom and Solidarity Association, said the group is concerned about how Israel could positively contribute to eradicating poverty in neighboring countries. “The Zionist state of Israel, which has filled the world with bloodshed for the sake of its interests all around the world, is the chief party responsible for poverty and tears in the world,” Yılmaz said.Pointing to the blockade of Gaza, Yılmaz said this embargo is a black spot in world history. “All Gazans are being kept in an open-air prison. The top priority of the UN is to lift the embargo,” he said.The İHH urged Turkish authorities to cancel Israel's invitation and requested the government to expel any Israeli official who comes to the conference.The Turkish Foreign Ministry said last week that Israel and Armenia, two countries that have problematic relations with Turkey, will not attend the UN Conference on the LDCs in İstanbul.Israel and Armenia, both invited by the UN to attend the summit, said they would not send political delegations to the gathering, Foreign Ministry spokesman Selçuk Ünal told a news conference on Friday. The two countries would, however, attend the summit, due to take place on May 9-13, only at the technical level, he added.“If they had any honor, they would not come to a country whose citizens they have killed,” Yılmaz said.Hmmmmm.......Are they talking about the Armenians they killed in the Armenian Genocide?Read the full story here.