MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 17. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - May 17. Here (Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan  today 4.7 activity. More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 112. Source : Here .

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

• Issa: Obama regime Drafts Executive Order to Bypass Congress, Exempts Unions.(BigGovernment).In another developing story Issa went on to say that President Obama is drafting an Executive Order that will allow him to bypass Congress when legislation favored by the Administration fails to pass.Chillingly, he points out that the Executive Order draft proposes to require federal contractors to disclose donations to third-party political groups — an attempt to politicize the procurement process — while exempting unions from doing so as well.Hmmmm......Thugocracy or Democracy?Read the full story here.

• Plea Deal for Somali Muslim Pirates Who Murdered 4 Americans.NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Eight men charged with piracy in the hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead will enter plea agreements, according to court documents.The men are among 15 people from Somalia and Yemen who had previously pleaded not guilty to piracy, kidnapping and firearms charges in the February hijacking of the yacht Quest in the Gulf of Aden.Prosecutors contend the men boarded the boat in an effort to hold its passengers for ransom.The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death several days after they were taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman.The U.S. Navy was using unmanned airplanes and four warships to track the captured yacht and negotiations were under way when the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade, authorities say.Special forces boarded the vessel and found the Americans had been shot, according to the military. Pirates have blamed the deaths of the American hostages on the Navy, saying the pirates felt under attack.Hmmmm....A plea deal is an isult to justice.Read the full story here.

• Issa said "Obama administration is 'one of most corrupt'EVAH!Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district.(DailyCaller).Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama’s administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district.That’s in addition to the 27 new waivers for health care or drug companies and the 31 new union waivers Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services approved.Pelosi’s district secured almost 20 percent of the latest issuance of waivers nationwide, and the companies that won them didn’t have much in common with companies throughout the rest of the country that have received Obamacare waivers.Other common waiver recipients were labor union chapters, large corporations, financial firms and local governments. But Pelosi’s district’s waivers are the first major examples of luxurious, gourmet restaurants and hotels getting a year-long pass from Obamacare.For instance, Boboquivari’s restaurant in Pelosi’s district in San Francisco got a waiver from Obamacare. Boboquivari’s advertises $59 porterhouse steaks, $39 filet mignons and $35 crab dinners.Before hanging up on TheDC, Tru Spa’s owner said new government health care regulations, both the federal-level Obamacare and new local laws in Northern California, have “devastated” the business. “It’s been bad for us,” he said, without divulging his name, referring to the new health care restrictions.But, the spa owner wouldn’t talk about it or the reason his company sought a waiver. He hung up after saying, “I’ve got clients on the other line, good-bye.”Hmmmm....Al Capone would have loved the Obama regime.Read the full story here.

• JFK and Obama = Cuba/USSR and Venezuela/Iran ?? (InfidelBloggers).By Epaminondas. As you read this, think about how nice a missile defense backed by more than republicans would be. Think about how many more INOFFENSIVE policy choices there would be with a missile defense. A missile defense whose ELIMINATION by Barack Obama was a major campaign promise.Die Welt, google xlation:

Iran plans to build a missile base in Venezuela

Both countries strengthen their relationship - at all levels. A secret agreement also provides for common ground-ground missiles. Iran wants on Venezuelan soil as a basis for medium-range missiles up and deepen the strategic cooperation with the regime of Hugo Chávez. How “World Online” learned from Western security sources, an agreement between the two countries during the last visit of the Venezuelan president in Tehran on 19 Signed in October. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela and the joint development of ground-ground missiles. The agreement follows a recommendation of the Supreme Security Council of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei, religious leader a few months ago. According to information of this newspaper, the Security Council had proposed a joint military facility on Venezuelan soil to increase the deterrent power of Iran against the West. The cooperation would be a way for Iran, a strategic base in the South American continent to build - in the backyard of the United States. After “World Online” Information Venezuela has agreed in the agreement, to allow Iran to establish a military base, which should be manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. The base is mainly as a storage location for strategic Iranian weapons serve. In addition, Iran has given permission to be allowed in case of emergency missile shoot down of mobile bases. In return, it says in the agreement that Venezuela can use the basis for “national needs”. This would increase the threat to neighbors like Colombia. Iran also pledged to help Venezuela to expertise in rocket technology, such as intensive training of officers. Also planned is the development of a common ground-to-surface missile, based on the extensive experience of the Iranians. The agreement also provides for Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km)(ALL OTHER SOURCES PLACE SHAHAB3 RANGE AS 2000 KM),Scud-B missile (285-330 kilometers) and Scud-C missiles (300, 500 and 700 km) on the new base to relocate, and four mobile launchers. be found according to information of “World Online” still has a good location for the base. Both sides want the end of 2011 but start building the infrastructure of the military establishment. The intensive training of Venezuelan officers to be held in the coming months in Tehran’s Sharif University. There will be notified of the Venezuelan LNG drives rocket engines, navigation systems and on the analysis of missile performance. Washington is monitoring these developments with growing distrust. When Chavez broke up half a decade for his first visit to Tehran, he was laughed at.Hmmmm......What about the Uranium mined in Venezuela by Iran?Read the full story here.

• Obama Too Busy To Attend Annual Memorial Service For Fallen Police Officers.(NiceDeb).Sunday, May 15 is the 30th annual Peace Officers Memorial Service. Law enforcement from all over the country gathered in Washington for National Police Week to honor fallen comrades-in-arms. Too bad President Obama couldn’t be there.Despite being invited to speak to the widows, children and friends of the 165 officers recognized this year as killed in the line of duty, he somehow didn’t think it was important to trek the two miles from the White House to the Capitol Building to participate.He did manage to find time to speak at the memorial service, last year, (although the cynics among us might claim that after insulting the Cambridge Police Dept, it was out of political expediency.)You would think that after insulting the police by hosting cop killer fan, Common, at the White House poetry slam last week, the same political considerations would be made, this year.President Bush only missed one Peace Officers Memorial Service during his eight years in the White House. In 2008, he was in Jerusalem making his attendance impossible.So what was so important, yesterday, that it took the place of honoring the men and women who had fallen in the line of duty?Obama Goes Golfing For 7th Straight Week, 68th Round Since Taking Office.Hmmmm.....Hey there's nothing in his scriptures about not golfing each weekend?Read the full story here.

• Shirley Sherrod returns to the USDA.(Politico).Shirley Sherrod, the U.S. Department of Agriculture employee who was forced out after a portion of a videotape was misleadingly used to show her making a racially insensitive remark, will start working for the USDA again, the department told POLITICO Friday. But she’s not getting her old job back. Instead, Sherrod will help the USDA improve its dismal civil rights record.Sherrod will be a contract employee leading one of three field programs designed to bolster relations between the USDA and minority farmers and ranchers. Support for the programs is among several recommendations contained in a sweeping, two-year study released Wednesday that examined decades of discrimination claims by African Americans, Latinos, women and Native Americans.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack commissioned the study shortly after taking office in 2009 — and well before he signed off on Sherrod’s dismissal in July 2010. The three organizations — the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education, the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association and the Intertribal Agriculture Council — will target minority farmers in the Southeast, the Southwest and Native American reservations, said Justin DeJong, USDA deputy director of communications.Hmmmm....Soon to come Compensation for Latino and native American farmers?Read the full story here.

• Obama regime raiding federal pension funds to cover their 'lifestyle'.(WashingtonPost).Treasury to tap pensions to help fund government.The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government lost its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise over the debt.Geithner, who has already suspended a program that helps state and local government manage their finances, will begin to borrow from retirement funds for federal workers. The measure won’t have an impact on retirees because the Treasury is legally required to reimburse the program.The maneuver buys Geithner only a few months of time. If Congress does not vote by Aug. 2 to raise the debt limit, Geithner says the government is likely to default on some of its obligations, which he says would cause enormous economic harm and the suspension of government services, including the disbursal of Social Security funds. Many congressional Republicans, however, have been skeptical that breaching the Aug. 2 deadline would be as catastrophic as Geithner suggests. What’s more, Republican leaders are insisting that Congress cut spending by as much as the Obama administration wants to raise the debt limit, without any new taxes. Obama is proposing spending cuts and tax increases to rein in the debt.In the Senate, freshman Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has said the Obama administration has been exaggerating the effects of hitting the default mark. He says breaching the limit would cause only a partial government shutdown.Other freshman Republicans have said that Geithner could raise money to avoid defaulting by selling investments in private companies. The Republican Study Committee, which represents more than 150 lawmakers, sent a letter to Geithner last week pressing for more details about the Aug. 2 deadline.Hmmmm......Just imagine the uproar if Republicans would have done this?Read the full story here.

• TSA has not proved full-body scanners are safe, say scientists calling for independent tests.(DailyMail).Scientists have accused the Transport Security Administration of failing to prove that their full body scanners are safe. Five professors in radiation imaging say the devices should be made available for independent testing in a letter sent to the White House. They say that the testing data on the machines made public by the TSA is unreliable. John Sedat, a professor emeritus in biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF said: 'There's no real data on these machines, and in fact, the best guess of the dose is much, much higher than certainly what the public thinks.'The TSA insists that the scanners are safe and says the dose of radiation received is equivalent to that received in two minutes of flying. But last month the agency admitted that there was a flaw in tests it conducted on the machines after the results showed passengers were exposed to ten times more radiation than expected.Now the group of experts lead by Professer Sedat say there are more flaws in the radiation tests conducted by the Food and Drug Administration , the National Institute for Standards and Technology and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.The experts say that the Johns Hopkins test didn't use the same model of machine used in airports and say that the resulting report is so heavily censored that there is no way to repeat any of the measurements. Researchers from the university who conducted the tests are also not named on the report.There are concerns that because the TSA's backscatter full body scanners bounce radiation off the skin, the skin may absorb more radiation that the overall average dose represents. The experts were also concerned that a device used to measure the radiation in from the scanner may have been overwhelmed by the short sharp burst of radiation from the scanners. However most scientists agree that the risks from the scanners are trivial.Read the full story here.

• AP sources: Raiders knew mission a one-shot deal.(Yahoo).WASHINGTON – Those who planned the secret mission to get Osama bin Laden in Pakistan knew it was a one-shot deal, and it nearly went terribly wrong.The U.S. deliberately hid the operation from Pakistan, and predicted that national outrage over the breach of Pakistani sovereignty would make it impossible to try again if the raid on bin Laden's suspected redoubt came up dry.Once the raiders reached their target, things started to go awry almost immediately, officials briefed on the operation said.Adding exclusive new details to the account of the assault on bin Laden's hideout, officials described just how the SEAL raiders loudly ditched a foundering helicopter right outside bin Laden's door, ruining the plan for a surprise assault. That forced them to abandon plans to run a squeeze play on bin Laden — simultaneously entering the house stealthily from the roof and the ground floor.Instead, they busted into the ground floor and began a floor-by-floor storming of the house, working up to the top level where they had assumed bin Laden — if he was in the house — would be.They were right.The raiders came face-to-face with bin Laden in a hallway outside his bedroom, and three of the Americans stormed in after him, U.S. officials briefed on the operation told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a classified operation.U.S. officials believe Pakistani intelligence continues to support militants who attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and actively undermine U.S. intelligence operations to go after al-Qaida inside Pakistan. The level of distrust is such that keeping Pakistan in the dark was a major factor in planning the raid, and led to using the high-tech but sometimes unpredictable helicopter technology that nearly unhinged the mission.Pakistan's government has since condemned the action, and threatened to open fire if U.S. forces enter again.Hmmmm......"When the SEAL team met President Barack Obama, he did not ask who shot bin Laden. He simply thanked each member of the team, two officials said. "Read the full story here.

• NATO helicopter attacks Pakistani army post.(HurriyetDaily).A NATO helicopter attacked a Pakistani army post near the Afghan border Tuesday, injuring two soldiers in an incident that could further increase tensions following the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistani officials said.NATO coalition spokesman Lt. Col. John Dorrian confirmed to the Associated Press that there were helicopters flying near the Pakistani border and that there was “an incident.” The alliance was investigating, he said.“Two NATO helicopters committed the airspace violation and shelled an army checkpoint, injuring two soldiers,” a senior local security official told Agence France-Presse.A Western military official told AP that the incident started before dawn, when a NATO base in Afghanistan received intermittent direct and indirect fire from the Pakistani side of the border.Two helicopters flew into the area to provide support, one of which fired across the border after twice receiving fire from the Pakistani side, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.The attack took place Tuesday morning in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region, injuring two soldiers, said Pakistani intelligence officials. Washington considers the tribal belt a hotbed of the al-Qaeda terror network and it has been targeted repeatedly by covert U.S. drone strikes.Pakistani troops responded to Tuesday’s attack with machine-gun fire and deployed two helicopter gunships over the army post, but the NATO helicopter had already left, said the Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.It was not yet clear if the NATO helicopter crossed into Pakistani airspace, the Western military official said.“We’re investigating the incident to determine a flight path by examining GPS waypoints in the helicopter computer, to construct a sequence of events and ultimately determine what led to the exchange of fire,” said Dorrian, the NATO spokesman.He declined to say which coalition country was involved. But most of the helicopters that fly in that part of Afghanistan are American.Hmmmm.....Read the full story here.

• Dutch FM says he’ll work to stop funding estimated at 10m. euros organizations calling for divestment, boycott, denying Israel's right to exist.(JPost).BERLIN – According to a ground-breaking report obtained by The Jerusalem Post last week from The Haguebased Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), the Dutch Foreign Ministry has allocated at least 10 million euros over a five-year period to organizations urging a boycott of Israel.Uri Rosenthal, the Dutch foreign minister, wrote to CIDI last month, saying “Intervention will occur in cases of organizations acting against Dutch policy.”The Foreign Ministry under Rosenthal has begun to institute sweeping reforms to stop Dutch charities from funding anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activities and NGOs that deny Israel’s right to exist.The 15-page CIDI report named Palestinian and Dutch NGOs that were dependent on subsidies from the Dutch Foreign Ministry, including the Ramallah-based NGO Development Center (NDC) and the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO), Oxfam Novib Cordaid and IKV Pax Christi in the Netherlands.In the letter to CIDI Executive Director Ronny Naftaniel, Rosenthal wrote, “I would like to thank you for drawing my attention to the report by CIDI entitled ‘Dutch government unknowingly funding Israel-boycott and one-state solution initiatives,’ which lists Palestinian NGOs which are active in the Palestinian Territories and which are supported [financially] by the Dutch government.I would like to begin by saying that I share your concerns regarding BDS activities.”Rosenthal further noted in his letter to Naftaniel, “This message has been conveyed to Palestinian and Israeli partners, the Dutch aid organizations active in the Palestinian Territories and NDC in Ramallah, and during your meeting on March 22, 2011, with the director of the Dutch Foreign Ministry’s North Africa and Middle East department.“The department, the Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv and the Dutch representative office in Ramallah are acutely mindful of the political sensitivities connected to the funding of NGOs operating in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.A meticulous reappraisal of subsidy applicants remains necessary,” Rosenthal said.The Dutch ICCO charity – which was revealed last year by the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor watchdog organization to have funded events by the radical pro-Palestinian website Electronic Intifada (EI) and its Executive Director Ali Abunimah – was also the subject of the CIDI report.NGO Monitor president Prof. Gerald Steinberg told the Post earlier this year that “EI is a leader in the demonization of Israel, including the anti- Semitic BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaign, and frequently compares the Israeli military to Nazis. EI executive director Ali Abunimah labels Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as ‘collaborators,’ and PA participation in peace talks as ‘collaboration.’” CIDI’s new investigation of ICCO showed “that ICCO had more than funded the front office, but actually set up its website, and is possibly paying the salary of the front’s chief coordinator, who is actively involved in boycott promotion.The northern European countries, said CIDI, are also funding the same NGOs as the Dutch Foreign Ministry.Norway, Denmark, Sweden are key financial providers of anti-Israel groups. Switzerland was also cited by CIDI.Read the full story here.

• Israel Leader Outlines Points Before U.S. Trip.(NYTimes).JERUSALEM — Days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with President Obama, he laid out his principles Monday for accepting a Palestinian state, showing greater flexibility on territory but still pursuing a far more hawkish approach than any Palestinian leader is likely to accept.He also made clear that if the recent reconciliation accord between Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian parties, led to Hamas becoming part of a Palestinian government, no peace would be negotiated. “A government, half of whose members declare daily their intention to destroy the State of Israel, is not a partner for peace,” he said, speaking at the opening session of Parliament. Mr. Netanyahu spoke a day after an unprecedented wave of Palestinian protesters marched toward Israel’s borders from four directions and Israeli troops responded with gunfire, killing more than a dozen people. The occasion was Nakba Day, when Palestinians mark Israel’s creation and mourn the expulsion and flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948. Commentary in newspapers and on airwaves in both Israel and the Palestinian areas suggested that what took place Sunday might serve as a dress rehearsal for the coming year, posing a serious challenge to Israel. While Palestinians and critics abroad questioned the killing of protesters, many Israelis focused on why the military was not prepared for the breaching of the border fence in the Golan Heights. Mr. Netanyahu said in Parliament that those who sought to enter Israel on Sunday were not clamoring for a Palestinian state but for Israel’s destruction. “We must stop beating ourselves up and blaming ourselves,” he said. “The reason there is no peace is that the Palestinians refuse to recognize the State of Israel as the Jewish people’s nation-state.”He added: “As for those who orchestrated these riots, 63 years of our independence has not changed a thing. They yelled that they want to return to Jaffa, to the Galilee. And the head of Hamas in Gaza yelled that they want to see the end of the Zionist enterprise, repeating the words voiced by his Iranian patron.”Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Mr. Obama at the White House on Friday, address a large gathering of American supporters on Monday and then a joint meeting of Congress next Tuesday. His aides have indicated that since the Hamas-Fatah accord, he believes the likelihood of negotiated peace has declined and he is less obliged to make a strong offer to the Palestinians. After he spoke in Parliament, the head of the opposition, Tzipi Livni of the center-left Kadima party, accused Mr. Netanyahu of having failed. “If you do not initiate, decisions will be made for Israel,” Ms. Livni said. “You have missed your opportunity to provide Israel with a vision. You are going to the United States without initiatives for peace.”Hmmmm.....Israel's biggest ennemy sits in the White House.Read the full story here.

• NATO Traitor sometimes 'ally' Turkey refuses to expel Russia, China from defense competition.(HurriyetDaily).Turkey's bid to acquire long-range missile and air defense is triggering hot debates as the NATO member country includes Chinese and Russian options on the list of probable buyers. Western experts insist the Russian and the Chinese systems are not compatible with NATO systems.“The two systems [Russian and Chinese ones] will stay among our options; there’s no need to exclude them,” Murad Bayar, the head of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, Turkey’s procurement agency, told the Hürriyet Daily News.Turkey’s choice on this large program is expected to be announced late this year or early next year. Bayar said Turkey would probably not issue a short list before its final decision is made.One of the competing companies in the ongoing contest for Turkey’s national contract is the U.S. partnership between Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, with their Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, systems. Russia’s Rosoboronexport is marketing the S300 and S400 while China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp., or CPMIEC, is offering its HQ-9. The Italian-French Eurosam, maker of the SAMP/T Aster 30, is also trying to market its product.Some Western experts say that since the Russian and the Chinese systems are not compatible with NATO systems, their victory could provide them with access to classified NATO information, and as a result may endanger the alliance’s procedures.“If, say, the Chinese win the competition, their systems will be in interaction, directly or indirectly, with NATO’s intelligence systems, and this may lead to the leak of critical NATO information to the Chinese, albeit inadvertently. So this is dangerous,” one Western expert said.“There are technical ways to prevent the Chinese and the Russians from getting access to NATO information, but this would drastically raise the price,” the expert said. “One explanation is that Turkey itself doesn’t plan to select the Chinese or Russian alternatives, but is still retaining them among the options to put pressure on the Americans and the Europeans to curb their prices.”Hmmm......Another is that Eventually Turkey will betray the US and NATO and they are preparing for it .GET TURKEY OUT OF NATO!Read the full story here.

• North Korea's Food Shortage.'We Cannot Leave the Children to Die'.(Spiegel).Yet another hunger crisis is taking shape in North Korea. The government in Pyongyang has asked for help and aid groups have already begun shipments. Bernd Göken, from the German group Cap Anamur, described for SPIEGEL what he saw on a recent visit to the country.At the invitation of Pyongyang's embassy in Berlin, the head of the German relief organization Cap Anamur, Bernd Göken, 45, recently visited two provinces and four cities in North Korea, which is facing new food shortages and a dramatic hunger crisis. "With every visit and every discussion, the enormous scale of the shortages was confirmed," said Göken. "The people are starving. They have nothing left to eat. For the rural population and orphans, the shortage of food will become a real threat during the coming weeks." Cap Anamur experts say that only 20 percent of North Korean land is farmed. And by its own admission, the North Korean regime has said it is lacking 1 million tons of food needed to provide for its people and has issued an appeal for foreign aid. Cap Anamur said it has already dispatched its first shipment of 200 tons of rice to the country. North Korea has depended on foreign food aid since a devastating famine killed around 2 million people during the mid-1990s. Some countries have delayed decisions to provide aid to the country because of North Korea's nuclear tests and deadly attacks on a South Korean warship in March 2010. Following an appeal by the United Nations and the accusation one month ago by former President Jimmy Carter that the United States was committing a "human rights violation" by not providing relief, Washington said this week it would decide within days whether or not to send a mission to look into the the food shortage situation in the country.Hmmmm.....At which point does hunger become a weapon?Read the full story here.

• Watch: Syrian army beats students.(Ynet).(Video) Human rights group claims Assad's agents chase, beat down 2,000 students protesting against cruel regime in Aleppo. Daraa residents discover mass grave, now blocked off by authorities. Recently there have been many reports of demonstrations at the Aleppo University against Assad's cruel regime. Osso recalled another incident in which Syrian security forces dispersed a protest of 3,000 people in the city of Homs. Some Syrian-based human rights organizations claimed Assad's violent oppression has cost the lives of at least 850 people since the national uprising began in March.Read and see the full story here.

• Thousands of Kurds detained by Turkish regime in eastern Turkey since March.(HurriyetDaily).A staggering 2,506 people were taken into custody over the past 50 days since the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or the BDP, launched its “Democratic Solution Tent” initiative in mid-March. Some 400 of those taken into custody were arrested, while the police have been most actively rounding people up in the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakır, Batman, Mardin and Hakkari.“Ninety percent of the evidence is comprised of visuals. There was only one photograph attached to the file of my client, Şahin Akkan. In the image, Akkan is seen throwing a rock. And the sentence is 13.5 years. Even PKK members who lay down arms and surrender receive a sentence of only six years and three months,” said Serkan Akbaş, a lawyer from the Diyarbakır Bar Association, who argued some detentions and arrests were essentially arbitrary. Akbaş also claimed there were people detained solely for whistling, or dancing the traditional “Halay” dance. According to reports published by nongovernmental organizations and the media, some 2,000 people were detained between March 24 and April 29. During this intense period, two protesters were killed and 308 were injured in demonstrations.According to a report published by the Human Rights Association, or the İHD, some 7,718 people were detained and another 1,923 were arrested in 2009. Some 3,706 were taken into custody in the eastern and southeastern regions alone in 2010.  Emin Aktar, the chairman of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, also claimed the Diyarbakır D-type Prison had exceeded its capacity and some detainees had to sleep on the ground.Hmmmm.....Human rights in Turkey?You got to be joking!These are the Obama regime best friends?Keep Turkey out of the European union!Read the full story here.

• Erdoğan lashes out at birth control in campaign rally.(TodaysZaman).Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at his chief rival party for promoting birth control for years, reiterating his call for at least three children.Erdoğan, who has long claimed that for a healthy and vibrant society people must have at least three children, said the Western societies are now collapsing because of aging and urged his supporters in a campaign rally in Ankara on Monday not to “trap into this game.”“They [CHP] have inspired this nation with birth control for having aging population on the world stage,” Erdoğan told at the rally, adding that if population continues to increase at this level, Turkey will be among aging nations by 2038.“[Turkish families need to have] at least three children. We as a state have already taken necessary steps and we continue to do so,” Erdoğan said.Observers say Erdoğan meant family planning promoted by some politicians and ongoing campaign of having less children to match economic capability of families when referring to birth control.Hmmmm.....Hitler also advocated more children "Das Vaterland" needed young dead hero's.Read the full story here

• Erdoğan lashes out at Israel over Nakba arrests, killings.(TodaysZaman).Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lashed out at Israel over Nakba killings and said Israeli policies fed by violence concern Turkey.Erdoğan, speaking at the 66th General Assembly of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) on Monday, said Palestinians again had to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of Nakba with bloodshed and tears.Erdoğan recalled that on the anniversary day, Israel detained and arrested hundreds of people in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, fired at demonstrators in Lebanon-Israeli border.Marking the anniversary, called the “Nakba," Arabic for "catastrophe," Palestinian organizers bused hundreds to Lebanon's border with Israel and to the Syrian frontier in the Israeli-held Golan Heights. Surprised and overwhelmed, Israeli troops fired to keep the crowds from breaching the borders. Four Palestinians were killed in the Golan and 10 in Lebanon, while a 15th was fatally shot as dozens rushed Israel's border wall with the Gaza Strip.Erdoğan said as Israel is insisting on policies fed by violence and even extending this violence to the Mediterranean to target ships with piracy, it undoubtedly increases Turkey’s concerns.“Problems created by Israel continue to be the biggest obstacle to peace in the region,” Erdoğan concluded.Hmmm....Obama's 'buddy' Erdogan.How about the Armenian Genocide?Ah yes:" Muslims don't commit Genocide".Read the full story here.

• Turkish government officials not participate in Israel's Independence Day reception.(TodaysZaman).Israeli Embassy has celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its independence in Ankara but no single Turkish government official participated in the event.Former minister Kürşad Tüzmen, former Energy Minister Hilmi Güler, head of the Higher Education Board (YÖK) Yusuf Ziya Özcan, the former head of the Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV) Ömer Faruk Eminağaoğlu, US Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone participated in the reception that was hosted by Israeli Ambassador to Turkey, Gaby Levy, on Monday. Asked by reporters about a participation by the Turkish government, Levy said the embassy had extended invitations to the government officials but it is up to them not to attend. The Israeli diplomat said this is a reflection of relations between the two countries. “But there is a good saying in Turkish: Godwilling it will be better,” Levy said.Hmmmm.....Turkey....Obama's best buddy and we have to believe Obama 'likes' Israel?Read the full story here.

• Iranian Regime Marks 'Nakba Day'.Ahmadinejad: The Presence of Israel, the "Cancerous Growth," Is Keeping the Region from a Better Future.(Memri). This year's Palestinian Nakba ("Catastrophe") Day, May 14-15, 2011, marking the establishment of the State of Israel, was noted in Iran by a presidential declaration, a conference against global terrorism, and attention from the state media. The following are several examples of the "Nakba Day" activity in Iran. In a May 15 interview with Iranian state television, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the killing of Palestinians by the "infected cancerous growth" Israel on Nakba Day this year had exposed its "terrorist essence." Ahmadinejad declared that Israel's presence on even a single centimeter of the land of Palestine was keeping the region from a better future, and noted that Tehran maintained that the Palestinians should actualize the right of return and go back to their homes In Palestine.Read the full story here.

• Hizbullah Leader Nasrallah To Palestinians: Your Return Is Closer than Ever.(Memri).Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah said to Palestinians marking Nakba Day, "We should bow in respect for the courage, bravery, and faith of all those who protested yesterday on the Lebanese and Syrian borders with Palestine and inside of Palestine. Those who proudly confronted the tyranny and arrogance of the enemy’s army until tens martyred and hundreds got injured, and made the world hear their decisive stance that does not fear massacres, passage of time, or the lack of supporters and the abundance of conspirators." Nasrallah praised the "Return to Palestine" rallies, saying "You honorable ones have changed the Nakba day into another day, and replaced its symbols with new ones. You proved to Israel and to the ally that your adherence to your right will not be compromised upon; it will not be forgotten or neglected, and your return to your homes is a definite right that all sacrifices shall be made to achieve it".In a statement released by Hizbullah Media Relations, Nasrallah emphasized "Your strong message to your ally is that you shall not accept any homeland as a replacement for Palestine, let no one fear naturalization, as your firm decision is to return."His eminence indicated that "your clear message to the enemy is that you insist on liberating your land no matter how great the sacrifices were; and that this entity is destined to vanish and neither initiatives, conventions, nor borders will protect it."He further said: "Your return to Palestine is a definite right, and it is closer to being accomplished than ever."Read the full story here.