MFS - The Other News

                       Morning  Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - June 05. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - June 05. Here (Al-Jazeera). 

• Yemen Live Blog - June 05 . Here. (Al-Jazeera).

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

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 128.Source : Here .

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

• Europe - Latest official Situation Update on E-Coli epidemic. On 05.06.2011 at 03:58 GMT+2
  
  An outbreak of a virulent strain of E. coli has killed 19 people in Europe and infected more than 2,000 in at least 12 countries, the World Health Organization said on Saturday. All but one of the fatalities were reported in Germany, where officials say it's still too early to determine whether the peak of the outbreak has passed. One person in Sweden also died. In Germany, there have been 573 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) -- a form of kidney failure -- in the current European outbreak, according to WHO. That's more cases of HUS than in any other recorded outbreak, worldwide. Twelve patients in Germany have died of HUS, according to WHO, while six died of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, EHEC, a strain that causes hemorrhaging in the intestines and can result in abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea. Reports indicate that an estimated 1,428 people have that E. coli strain so far but do not have HUS, according to the World Health Organization.
  
  Infections have also been identified in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, according to the organization. The European Food Safety Alert Network initially said enterohemorrhagic E. coli was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany and distributed to various countries. But authorities have said that the source of the contamination has not been pinpointed. The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's federal unit responsible for disease control and prevention, has advised German consumers not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce imported from Germany and Spain will be tested and cleared before they are sold in the United States, according to David Elder of the Food and Drug Administration, and those test results will be shared with the European Union. Germany and Spain account for a small fraction of produce that is sold in the United States in a given year.
  
  Two women and a man who traveled last month to northern Germany remain hospitalized in the United States with HUS, Chris Braden of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. A fourth person developed bloody diarrhea, but was not hospitalized, he added. Two U.S. service members in Germany also developed diarrhea, Braden said. "We have no expectation that this will spread in our country," he added.Source.

• Obama-Inspired Ship “Audacity Of Hope” Set To Join Leftist-Islamist Gaza Flotilla II.(INN) — A ship flying US colors and carrying 34 passengers is set to joint this year’s Gaza-bound, IHH-sponsored “Freedom Flotilla 2” in June, the New York Times reported.So-called “peace activists” on the first IHH flotilla in May 2010 ambushed Israeli naval commandos who boarded the ship in accordance with international law, attempted to take them captive, and seriously injuring several. The commandos were forced to kill nine aggressors in order to rescue their imperiled comrades.This year’s American vessel, named The Audacity of Hope after US President Barack Obama’s best-selling book, is being organized by an American group called “US Boat to Gaza.”Obama links to the Audacity do not end there, however. Prof. Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a friend from Obama’s time in Chicago, is among the supporters of an appeal launched by the group last week.“We must raise at least $370,000 in the next month,” a statement on US Boat to Gaza’s Web site read indicating it doesn’t have the money needed to sail yet.“These funds will be used to purchase a boat large enough for 40-60 people, secure a crew, and cover the licensing and registering of the boat. Together we will contribute to the great effort to end the blockade of Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine.”Khalidi, an outspoken critic of Israel, garnered attention in 2008 when his friendship with Obama became a point of controversy during the US presidential campaign.Hmmmm....."The Obama Administration may soon present the Turkish government with a proposition to stop the upcoming flotilla to Gaza".....Yeah whatevah, your actions speak louder than words!Read the full story here.

• Syria - Video emerges of Syria 'shoot-to-kill policy'.(Al-Jazeera).  A Citizen video apparently shows security forces placing fake evidence of insurrection on dead civilians.A new video clip purportedly showing shocking evidence of the Syrian government's brutal crackdown on protesters has appeared on YouTube.The footage apparently shows uniformed security forces fabricating evidence of an armed insurrection by placing ammunitions on a group of dead civilians.Al Jazeera cannot independently verify the veracity of the video because foreign media has been banned from the country.Read and see the full story here.

• Saleh is not stepping down but will return to Yemen, Saudi official says.(Al-Arabia).Yemen's beleaguered President Ali Abdullah Saleh, wounded in shelling of his compound in the capital Sana’a, arrived late Saturday in Riyadh for treatment but has not stood down, a Saudi official said."President Saleh has arrived in Riyadh for treatment, but he will return to Yemen," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.In Sana’a, a presidential palace source confirmed his departure but refused to say any more.Under Yemen's constitution, Mr. Saleh will be replaced during his absence by Deputy President Abdel Rabbo Mansur Hadi.But uncertainty about whether his sons and nephews would try to maintain a grip on power following months of protests against Mr. Saleh's rule meant the risk of further turmoil remained.Mr. Hadi met with US ambassador to Yemen Michael Feierstein and was slated to meet members of the military and Mr. Saleh's sons, Al Arabiya television said citing sources. It was the first indication Mr. Saleh's powerful sons had not left the country.Mr. Saleh has refused to give up the power he has held for nearly 33 years despite four months of angry and violent protests against his rule.He notably refused to sign a plan worked out by the Gulf Arab monarchies, headed by Saudi Arabia, for a peaceful transfer of power.Mr. Saleh, 69, arrived aboard a Saudi medical aircraft while a second plane carried members of his family, the Saudi official said.Mr. Saleh was immediately taken to the Saudi capital's military hospital, the official said.Mr. Saleh was wounded on Friday when a shell hit the presidential palace's mosque during prayers, killing 11 and wounding 124 people, according to a government official.In an audio statement broadcast on state television late Friday as he was being treated at the defense ministry hospital in Sana’a, Mr. Saleh said he was "well, in good health."The embattled leader suffered "burns and scratches to the face and chest," an official said after the ruling General People's Congress said he was "lightly wounded in the back of the head."His regime has blamed the attack on powerful dissident tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, whose fighters have been battling government forces in the Yemeni capital since a truce crumbled on Tuesday.Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar and four other senior Yemeni officials wounded in the shelling of the presidential compound were also transferred to Saudi Arabia for treatment, Yemen's state news agency Saba reported.A source close to Sheikh Sadiq said the powerful tribal chief was "committed to a ceasefire based on mediation efforts led by Saudi King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz despite the continuous shelling" by Saleh forces.Meanwhile protesters celebrated what they said was the fall of the Yemeni regime."Today, Yemen is newborn," sang dozens of youths in Sanaa's University Square -- dubbed "Change Square" -- the epicentre of anti-regime protests that have raged against Saleh's rule since January."This is it, the regime has fallen," others chanted.In Yemen's second-largest city Taez, a flashpoint of anti-regime demonstrations south of Sana’a, hundreds also celebrated, chanting: "Freedom freedom, Ali has fled."Mr. Saleh, in power in Sana’a since 1978, hit out in his broadcast at "the sons of Al Ahmar" -- Sheikh Sadiq and his brothers -- and urged "the security forces to purge state institutions of these gangs."Washington condemned the violence, including the palace attack, and called for Mr.Saleh to transfer power.Read the full story here.

• Non-Muslims demand equal citizenship rights in new constitution.(TodaysZaman).The new constitution of Turkey should embrace all of its citizens and elevate individual rights and freedoms equally for all as opposed to the 1982 Constitution, which reinforced state and military authority and introduced substantial restrictions to the exercise of individual rights and freedoms, non-Muslim Turkish citizens indicate.When asked by Sunday's Zaman if Turkey needed a new constitution, most of the non-Muslim “minority” citizens of Turkey were no different than the majority of the voices in Turkey in their demands for a new, democratic and civilian constitution, and they always made references to the 1982 Constitution, which was drafted in the aftermath of the Sept. 12, 1980 military takeover.“Instead of the 1982 Constitution, which blesses and protects the state and also says that rights can be restricted, a new constitution should be made to put emphasis on human rights, provide social justice and give people rights to live in accordance with their identity,” said Arus Yumul, a professor of sociology and a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin.Laki Vingas, representative of several minority foundations and a Turkish citizen of Greek origin shares the same opinion. “Making a new constitution is important for every Turkish citizen. It is utterly disturbing that we still have the constitution of the 1980 military coup,” Vingas says.Researcher and writer Nail Güleryüz, a Turkish citizen of Jewish background, is of the same opinion, and Zeki Basatemir, a member of the board of directors of the Syriac Catholic Church Foundation in Turkey, added that Turkish citizens of Syriac origin also demand a constitution which would emphasize individual rights and freedoms.“For the constitution not to be an arena of power-sharing among the powerful, citizens’ participation into the process is essential, especially in societies that have a tendency to resort to violence,” Yumul said, adding that no matter how well-written, no constitution would provide equal citizenship for non-Muslims if it doesn’t go hand-in-hand with a general understanding for the meaning of equal citizenship.In that regard, Basatemir stressed that non-Muslims will feel their “equality” if de facto practices disappear.“Although there are not written rules, I am not allowed to have a career in the police, military and in high levels of the bureaucracy because I am a Christian,” he said. “We appreciate recent reforms in Turkey but we should have an understanding that non-Muslims are Turkish citizens, too.” In addition, Güleryüz emphasized the prevention of the hate crimes.Some civil society groups have been raising their voices against hate speech and hate crimes, which are serious problems in the country, and emphasizing that there is a need for legislation to combat them. The cases they give include the 2007 murder of journalist Hrant Dink, who was the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos; in Malatya, the Zirve murders of 2007 when three people who had sold Christian literature were brutally killed; and the murder of Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro in Trabzon.Hmmmm.......Welcome to Turkey.......Iranian style.Read the full story here.

• Terrorists 'could lace British food with poison': Government's terrifying warning to supermarkets.(DailyMail).The government has warned supermarkets that terrorists could poison food supplies in Britain. Security advisers have highlighted the vulnerability of the country's food chain and how quickly bacteria can spread.Manufacturers and retailers have been told they could be at risk from groups looking to cause widespread casualties and disruption.Across the board, food and drinks producers, suppliers and supermarkets have been told to tighten security throughout their food production processes and target weaknesses in their supply chains.In the past the biggest risk to food has been from criminals attempting extortion or people with a grudge. However, Al Qaeda, dissident republicans in Northern Ireland and animal rights activists are being identified as potential risks.An official from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure spoke at a meeting of food safety experts.He said: The UK suffers from a low level of malicious contamination of food by the bad, the mad and the sad.'Now it has to consider the possibility of food supplies being disrupted by politically motivated groups.' Fears have been exacerbated by the outbreak of a highly virulent strain of E.Coli in Germany which is believed to have been caused by poor hygiene at a farm, in transit or at a food outlet.A senior German doctor last night called for an investigation into the possibility that the bacteria had been spread deliberately.Klaus-Dieter Zastrow, chief doctor for hygiene at Berlin’s Vivantes hospital, said: 'It’s quite possible that there’s a crazy person out there who thinks "I’ll kill a few people or give 10,000 people diarrhoea".'It’s a negligent mistake not to investigate in that direction,' he told the Sunday Telegraph. Potential attacks include the possibility of contaminating prepared food or drink with bacteria and chemicals or targeting basic ingredients used in large numbers of foods.The dairy industry is one of the biggest markets at risk because just a few grams of ricin in a tanker could kill thousands of people.Foreign food presents an even higher risk, the CPNI said, because its security cannot be guaranteed and such attacks could cause severe economic harm.Read the full story here.

• California, the state built on gold prospecting, is set to outlaw ... gold prospecting.(DailyMail).There's gold in them thar hills, but pretty soon you won't be allowed to touch it.In California, the state built on gold, the time is up for prospectors who are about to see their way of life declared illegal.Just 162 years after history's biggest gold rush, diggers - or dredgers as they now are - are losing a long-running battle with environmentalists.The reason for this mammoth fight is ... salmon.At the centre of the battle is suction dredging, today's mechanised version of gold panning.Up to 4,000 people in California use suction dredging to extract gold.It involves motorised rigs which act like giant vacuum cleaners, sucking up mud and gravel from the bottom of a watercourse and then using gravity to sort tiny quantities of gold from the rocks and dirt.Environmentalists say the technique disturbs riverbeds where fish such as pacific salmon lay their eggs.The salmon population has fallen steeply in the Golden State.The environmentalists also say the dredging releases poisonous mercury into the water.They persuaded California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to agree to a two-year moratorium on suction dredging in 2009 while scientists compile an impact report.The 800-page report has been finished at a cost of $1.5million.It recommends that the dredging can carry on, but under a strict set of conditions dictating the size of the machines and when they can be used.It says that dredging should be banned in some ecologically important rivers and streams.A paragraph in the document was changed to ensure that the Department of Fish and Game cannot spend any money reissuing dredging licences until 2017.People in the gold business are not too happy about the amendment.Rachel Dunn, an amateur prosector who runs Gold Pan California in Sacramento, said: 'It's crazy. It's a circumvention of due process, in which a cheap political manoeuvre has been used to circumvent science.'They should be ashamed. Gold is the industry that built California. What they are doing is just total lunacy.'Gold prices are currently at a record high of more than $1,500 an ounce.With California's unemployment rate at ten per cent, critics say the state cannot afford to criminalisea potentially lucrative industry.Many communities in remote areas rely on income from the prospectors who visit each year, the Independent on Sunday reports.Bruce Johnson, who owns a campground in Seiad Valley in the heart of gold country, said: 'We are holding on for dear life out here and the gold miners could immediately help ease the burden. Is the legislation intentionally dysfunctional?'Read the full story here.

• Fogel family murderer 'proud of what I did'.(Ynet).Amjad Awad said he has no regrets over butchering family of five in Itamar, even if it means he'll get death sentence."I'm proud of what I did," so declared Amjad Mahmad Awad, 19, on Sunday just moments before an indictment against him and his partner Hakim Awad was filed before the Judea and Samaria Sector Military Court, over the murders of five members of the Fogel family two and a half months ago. "I don't regret what I did, even if it means I'm sentenced to death," Amjad said ahead of the indictment hearing.A month after the attack elite IDF forces succeeded in capturing the murderers. A few soldiers arrived at Amjad's house in the village of Awarta near Itamar in the middle of the night. "He was sleeping and surprised by our arrival. He was very frightened. In spite of his young age he carried out these monstrous acts," said Captain N, commander of the Duvdevan (cherry) unit.According to N, "since the attack we were on high alert to arrest those responsible for this horrific murder. It was clear to us that this was an important case and that we needed to be prepared. Our preparations included many scenarios…When it was all over I told my soldiers that they did a great thing." Read the full story here.

• Watch: Iranian jet crashes in mid flyby.(Ynet). Rare footage of Iranian jet crash during military flyby in 2009 posted online, goes viral. Rare footage of an Iranian fighter jet crash was posted on the Internet Saturday and went viral almost instantaneously.The footage, which was apparently filmed during an Islamic Republic military parade in 2009, documents the jet spiraling out of control and crashing during a formation flyby. The footage, which was also aired on CBS, shows the jet as it fumbled in mid-air before crashing into the ground in a great ball of fire. According to reports, seven people were killed in the crash. The footage was reportedly taken by a C-130 aircraft participating in the flyby.Read and see the full story here.

• Saudi actress held for driving car.(Emirates247).Saudi police arrested a well-known actress for driving a car in a public place in defiance of a long-standing ban on female driving in the conservative Gulf oil producer, a newspaper reported on Sunday.Wajnat Rahbini was seized while driving through the streets of the western Red Sea port of Jeddah, the second largest Saudi city. She was taken to a police centre for possible imprisonment, the Arabic language daily 'Okaz' said.“The actress was arrested because she violated existing rules in the kingdom...She was taken to a police centre where the necessary measures will be taken against her,” the paper said.Another daily, Saudi Gazette, said Rahbini was to be released on Sunday but her car would be impounded.Rahbini has performed in many Saudi TV episodes, including the popular sitcom 'Tash Ma Tash', which is broadcast annually during the fasting month of Ramadan.Several other Saudi women have defied the driving ban over the past few weeks and some of them have been arrested. Saudi female activists have launched a Facebook campaign to press for an end to the driving ban. Read the full story here.