MFS - The Other News

                       Morning  Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - June 11. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - June 11. Here (Al-Jazeera). 

• Yemen Live Blog - June 11. Here. (Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan  today 4.6 ! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 129.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 49- Source.

• Obama Dictates to Israel: Jerusalem is Not Your Capital.(TrevorLoudon).Obama Signs Document That Tells Israel Jerusalem Is Not Your Capital

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT: Suspension of Limitations Under the Jerusalem Embassy ActObama signed this on June 3, 2011

– Pursuant to the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 7(a) of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-45) (the “Act”), I hereby determine that it is necessary, in order to protect the national security interests of the United States, to suspend for a period of 6 months the limitations set forth in sections 3(b) and 7(b) of the Act.You are hereby authorized and directed to transmit this determination to the Congress, accompanied by a report in accordance with section 7(a) of the Act, and to publish the determination in the Federal Register.

 This suspension shall take effect after transmission of this determination and report to the Congress.Hmmmm.......Obama signed this on June 3, 2011.Read the full story here.

• Syrian troops lay siege to northern town.(Al-Jazeera).Tanks and troops seal Jisr al-Shughur, raising fears of imminent assault to avenge killing of 120 security personnel.Video - Crops and livestock destroyed.Syrian tanks and troops have sealed the restive northern town of Jisr al-Shughur with activists saying they expect an all-out government assault soon.President Bashar al-Assad sent heavy armour, including tanks and thousands of troops, to the region to crush a nearly three-month uprising against his family's 40-year rule.Saturday's military operation close to the Turkish border is in response to what the government claims were attacks by "armed groups" that killed more than 120 officers and security personnel last week. Syrian state television said troops had arrested several leaders of the alleged armed groups in Jisr al-Shughur.The troops backed by dozens of tanks have been operating in the area for several days, securing towns and villages on their way to the northern Syrian town.Jamil Sadeq, a resident of the town, accused the troops of intermittently opening fire."The army entered with tanks and used heavy weapons on the villagers. They then fled into the mountains," he told Al Jazeera."A second village was also attacked. The regime is attempting to regroup a military brigade there. Elsewhere in nearby villages there are shootings every half hour."To the east, the army stormed villages on the way to Ziyaara with tanks and reached there in the early morning. Residents fled ... either to the north or towards Turkey where the main [refugee] camp is."About 4,000 Syrians have fled into neighbouring Turkey to escape the unrest in Jisr al-Shughur and other towns, according to the UN and Turkish officials.Lebanon, Syria's neighbour to the west, has already absorbed about 5,000 refugees, though the UN says it is a "fluid population" and some of the refugees have already returned home.A UN spokesperson said that Ban Ki-moon had been trying to call the Syrian president all week but was told that he was "not available."Robert Ford, the US ambassador in the Syrian capital, Damascus, has also seen his requests for meetings with Syrian government officials repeatedly denied.Hmmmmm.......The 'reformer' Assad.Read and see the full story here.

• Report: Al-Qaeda's Africa chief killed.(Ynet).Kenya police says Fazul Abdullah Muhammad killed Wednesday in Somali capital of Mogadishu. Muhammad linked to Mombasa attack in 2002. The presumed head of Al-Qaeda in east Africa, Comoros-born Fazul Abdullah Muhammad, was killed Wednesday in Mogadishu, Kenya's police chief said on Saturday, confirming a report from Somali Islamist Shebab rebels."We have received that communication from authorities in Somalia. We have been told that there were two terrorists who were killed in Somalia on Wednesday last week," Kenyan Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere told AFP on Saturday.A US official later confirmed the report, saying his country has "strong grounds" to believe that Muhammad was dead, AFP reported.Iteere said the identity of one of the two had "been given as Fazul Muhammad ... That is what we have been told by our counterparts in Somalia," Iteere said."One of the men that was killed near Mogadishu was Fazul Abdullah, may Allah bless his soul. He is not dead as thousands like him are still in the fight against the enemy of Allah," a senior Al Shebab commander had earlier told AFP on condition of anonymity.In 1998, Muhammad was linked to terror attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which 224 people died.He was also among the masterminds of the November 2002 attack on a hotel and airliner in Mombasa, India that killed 15 people, including Israelis.The United States had placed a $5 million bounty on Muhammad's head.Read the full story here.

• Police Investigate Weiner's Messages to Teenage Girl in Delaware.(Fox).NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Police here are investigating direct online communications between New York Rep. Anthony Weiner and a 17-year-old girl and are looking for any other young women who may be involved, though the nature of the communications wasn't immediately clear.The police probe comes as Weiner, who is married, fends off calls from both sides of the aisle in Congress for him to quit after he admitted to lying about his inappropriate online and phone communications with a half dozen women.Two officers from the New Castle County Police Department arrived at the high school junior's home around 4:30 p.m. Friday and asked to speak with the girl's mother about the daughter's contact with Weiner, the disgraced Democrat. Another officer appeared at the home a short time later. A FoxNews.com reporter was at the home when the police arrived.The girl, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor, told FoxNews.com, "I'm doing OK."The police left the home after about 30 minutes, followed by the daughter and mother, who left in a separate car. It was not clear if the mother and daughter were going to continue the conversation with police at another location.Sources close the student said the girl followed Weiner on Twitter after seeing him speak during a school trip to Washington on April 1. Weiner, after signing on to follow the girl's Twitter feed, direct-messaged the girl on April 13, the sources said, though it is not clear what other communication the two may have had between or after those dates. Weiner no longer follows the girl on Twitter.Read the full story here.

• IRS Revokes Non-Profit Status of Over 275,000 Organizations.(FedRaw).Local chapters of several high-profile organizations ranging from the National Organization for Women to AARP to AFSCME and SEIU have lost their non-profit status for failing to meet basic Internal Revenue Service reporting requirements.A review of local chapters incorporated in Washington, D.C., under the umbrella of their national offices, indicated that the IRS revoked the non-profit statuses of organizations like: AFSCME, 11 chapters; National Organization for Women, 28 chapters; AARP, 101 chapters; American Society for Public Administration, 111 chapters; and, B’nai B’rith, 150 chapters. For local chapters of national organizations that incorporated in their home state, the number of non-profit statuses revoked include: SEIU, 29 chapters; National Organization for Women, 80 chapters; B’nai B’rith, 85 chapters; American Federation of Teachers, 152 chapters; and, AFSCME, 497 chapters.The failure to meet minimum reporting requirements includes filing a basic annual report with the IRS, known as a “Form 990.” Revoked organizations may be required to file federal income tax returns and pay any applicable income taxes. Furthermore, donations made to these organizations are no longer tax-deductible.Nationwide, over 275,000 non-profits had their non-profit status revoked last month after an Internal Revenue Service review. The IRS will update the “auto-revoked” list on a monthly basis.read the full story here.

• Boy pushing ice cream cart detonates bomb as string of suicide attacks kills 21 people across Afghanistan.(DailyMail).A string of suicide bombings across Afghanistan, including one by a young boy pushing an ice cream cart, has killed at least 21 people today - many of them children.The worst attack took place in the Khakrez district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, where a roadside bomb killed all 16 people travelling in a minibus, including eight children.Provincial police chief Abdul Raziq said the bomb was planted by the Taliban and was intended to kill NATO or Afghan forces.In the eastern province of Khost, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the local police headquarters in the Shai Kali area, killing three policemen and a child.Among the four killed in the blast was police chief, Mohammad Zahir Kahn. It was unclear whether Mr Kahn was specifically targeted.Health director Hedayatullah Hamidi said 25 people were also wounded in the attack.A second suicide bomber, this one pushing an ice cream cart, killed one child and wounded three more in the central province of Ghazni.Eyewitness Asadullah said: 'The suicide attacker was a young boy with a thin beard and moustache wearing a scarf.'He was pushing an ice cream cart. I was just standing 20 metres from him and then he exploded.'It comes as the UN released an interim report on civilian deaths that shows that 368 people were killed in May and 593 were wounded, making last month the deadliest for Afghan civilians since 2007.The UN said insurgents are responsible for 82 per cent of those civilian deaths, while 12 per cent were attributed to the international alliance and Afghan forces.Home-made bombs, such as the roadside device that struck the minibus in Kandahar, were the leading cause of death, according to the report.NATO airstrikes, a frequent cause of tension between the Afghan government and the alliance, were responsible for 3 per cent of civilian deaths in May.The UN, which is preparing a mid-year civilian casualty report for 2011, said it decided to release interim numbers because of the high rate of killings last month.A bomb killed two policemen and wounded nine others who were investigating an earlier explosion last night at a satellite television network office in Mehterlam city, in the eastern province of Laghman.The Taliban announced its spring offensive several weeks ago and has been stepping up its attacks around the country.Read the full story here.

• Oil falls 2.8 percent on expected Saudi extra production.(TodaysZaman). Saudi Arabia is still the boss when it comes to oil.Prices sank 2.8 percent Friday afternoon on reports that the world's biggest oil exporter will increase production 13 percent from May levels to 10 million barrels per day. The move, reported by a Saudi Arabian newspaper, comes just days after OPEC snubbed its request to raise production quotas. Analysts see it as a bold step by the Saudis to reassert their dominance over the cartel. "They're reminding everyone who the sheriff is in town," independent analyst Jim Ritterbusch said. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery lost $2.85 at $99.10 per barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. If Saudi Arabia makes good on the new production level, it will pump into the market another 1.14 million barrels per day above May levels. That will come close to covering a shortfall in global oil supply expected in the third quarter. OPEC says world demand will exceed supply by 1.45 million barrels per day in the third quarter. The US Energy Information Administration puts the shortfall at 1.81 million barrels per day. Saudi oil ministers had called for higher production from OPEC members. But its attempt to boost quotas was rejected by Iran and several other countries. Friday's report in al-Hayat newspaper gave investors a glimpse at how the Saudis will respond. "They're going to unilaterally decide for themselves when to supply the market," analyst Andrew Lipow said.J.P. Morgan analyst Lawrence Eagles noted the 10-million barrel increase would raise production by 500,000 barrels per day from current levels. The increased production is expected to cool off a 26 percent price rise in oil and a 27 percent increase in gasoline this year. Average gasoline pump prices in the US have been sliding since May and are expected to drop as low as $3.50 per gallon (92 cents a liter) this month. Hmmmmm.......Something tells me Iran won't like this move at all.Read the full story here.

• Ghosts of Soviet repression return as Putin's personal guards put in order for secret police-style leather coats.(DailyMail).Their image invokes a deep trepidation in many Russians, who recall accounts of neighbours vanishing after Stalin's henchmen came knocking.But now the long black leather coats which were part of the dress code for Soviet secret police appear to be making a comeback. The security forces who guard president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Vladimir Putin are holding a state tender for 60 such coats and 60 shorter jackets.The website for state tenders showed the Federal Guards Service order is worth 3 million rubles ($108,000). The tender closes June 15.Stalin's secret police, named NKVD after its Russian acronym, was primarily responsible for carrying out the dictator's repression and purges of the 1930s. Its officers executed hundreds of thousands of people and ran forced labour camps - known as gulags - in the chilly north of Siberia.Bringing the coats back into official use would fit into a wider push by Russian authorities to reintroduce imagery associated with Stalin.In recent years, old Soviet national anthem lyrics praising Stalin were restored to a rotunda in a Moscow subway station. His portrait has also been put on public buses in St. Petersburg and the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.Rights activists have voiced concern that he is being quietly rehabilitated as memories of his reign of terror fade.The Kremlin couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the purchase.Hmmmm.......At least it's not Ivan the terrible his "Oprichniki".Read the full story here.

• Helicopter gunships fire at Syria protest.(Al-Jazeera).Activists say at least 23 people have been killed, most of them after the army shelled town in northern Idlib province.A Syrian opposition figure told the AP news agency by telephone that tanks shelled had Maarat al-Numan on Friday, after thousands of protesters overwhelmed security officers and torched the courthouse and police station.Syria's state-run television appeared to confirm at least part of the report, saying gunmen had opened fire on security headquarters in the town, in Idlib province, causing casualties among security officials.Witnesses said helicopter gunships fired machineguns to disperse a large pro-democracy protest in the town, in the first reported use of air power to quell protests in Syria's uprising.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said no killings were reported in the assault by the helicopters."At least five helicopters flew over Maarat al-Numaan and began firing their machineguns to disperse the tens of thousands who marched in the protest," a witnesses giving his name as Nawaf told Reuters by telephone."People hid in fields, under bridges and in their houses, but the firing continued on the mostly empty streets for hours".Maarat al-Numan is located near the Turkish border, 40km from Jisr al-Shughur, where state television earlier said the army had begun operations.Reports in the last days of an imminent military operation in the town have prompted an exodus of refugees to nearby Turkey.She said "a lot of citizens" had asked the army to intervene and that there was "a state of absolute terror" in the area.More than 2,800 Syrians have fled into the neighbouring country to escape the unrest in Jisr al-Shughur and other towns, according to the UN and Turkish officials.Most refugees are being housed at a camp in Yayladagi, a town about 10km from the border and 25km from Jisr al-Shughur.Dozens of white tents have been set up in the camp, and ambulances have been carrying wounded people to hospitals in Antakya, the capital of Turkey's southern Hatay province.The Turkish government has largely barred journalists from interacting with the refugees. Police guard the entrance to the camp, and local officials have been instructed not to talk to the media.Turkish officials say they are preparing for the possibility of more refugees in the coming days.Hmmmmm......Freedom of the press in Erdogan's Turkey is still at the same level as in Saddat's Syria.Read the full story here.

• "The War On Christianity".Pakistan - acquittal for 70 Muslim extremists on trial for the Gojra massacre.(AsiaNews).In August 2009, ten people died, eight burnt alive. Four churches were destroyed. Threats against Christian witnesses force them to flee to avoid further violence. Lahore  – Pakistan’s fundamentalists are rejoicing following the acquittal verdict. The country’s Christian minority is “under shock” because, this time as well, the massacre of innocent victims done in the name of the infamous blasphemy law will go unpunished. The justice system also shows its powerlessness vis-à-vis extremists who can carry out heinous crimes with total impunity, whilst the government remains silent. Meanwhile, a Muslim religious leader publicly says that Christians “deserve” to be murdered. A Pakistani anti-terrorism court acquitted 70 people who, in various roles, were involved in the Gojra massacre of August 2009 .The anti-Christian violence broke out following blasphemy allegations. During a wedding, a group of Christians supposedly burnt pages of the Qur‘an, a pretext used to strike at the religious minority.During the attack by hundreds of extremists (brought in by bus and trucks), ten people died, eight burnt alive. Four churches and various homes were also set on fire.Following the Gojra attack, instead of arresting the culprits, police, twisting the facts, took into custody a number of Christians for attacking the “other group”. The unjustly jailed Christians were eventually released but after several months.According to the court, the acquittal last Tuesday was due to the absence of Christian witnesses in the courtroom and the lack of evidence against the accused.Sources close to the Catholic Church in Lahore, on condition of anonymity, said, “Christian witnesses were under constant threats meant to force them to withdraw their accusations”.Two of the 70 people acquitted were released the day before the sentence. The other 68 had already been released on bail some time ago. The main complainant, Phanias Masih, had to flee Pakistan last year along with his family, fearing more violence.Fr Yaqoob Yousaf, vicar at Gojra’s Sacred Heart parish, told AsiaNews that “Masih and a couple of other key witnesses fled before February” when community leaders “reached a compromise to have the case withdrawn”.Fr Habib Xavier, from the Diocese of Lahore, the verdict is “shocking”, similar to the Shanti Nagar affair in 1998 when a Muslim mob burnt 25,000 houses. At the time, the accused were also released on bail. “Today, we see the people who burn homes and kill the innocent go free. It was supposed to be fair trial,” he said. “Will minorities ever get justice?”However, to understand the madness and power of the extremists, it is sufficient to listen to the words of Maulana Kashmiri, a Muslim leader in Punjab.“There are no witnesses because they [the Christians] know that they are wrong. We got justice. Even though none of us did it, Christians still deserve it [death], because they are blasphemers.”Hmmmm....."The Religion of Peace".Read the full story here.

• UK - Afghan Muslim converts to Christianity,subsequently gets attacked by Muslim armed with wooden plank.(ThisisNothingham).A MAN has been locked up for attacking another man in the street with a plank of wood.Nottingham Crown Court heard that Sher Ahmadzai, 20, hit his victim with a metre-long plank, causing him to fall over during the attack in Radford.Another man then started punching and kicking the fallen man in the face.The victim escaped without serious injury but was left with a sore jaw and leg pain.The court heard Ahmadzai knew his victim and both were members of the Afghan community.The man was of Muslim faith but converted to Christianity after claiming asylum here."This did not sit well with the defendant," said prosecutor Paul Stimson."That culminated in the assault in October last year in Hartley Road."When police questioned Ahmadzai, of Magdala Road, Mapperley, he said there had been a feud but would not elaborate.He did not admit any cultural or religious motivation, the court heard.He admitted assault causing actual harm and a separate offence of arson.The court heard that Ahmadzai set fire to a partner's garden fence twice in an hour in the same month.Fire crews attended the woman's home and put out the first blaze but within an hour Ahmadzai had gone back and started the fire again. This time, the blaze was more serious and spread to a neighbouring fence but was eventually brought under control.CCTV captured Ahmadzai buying petrol at the Total petrol station in Sherwood Rise at 8pm and 9pm.Judge Michael Stokes QC gave him 12 months for the assault and nine months concurrently for the arson.The new offences meant he was in breach of a suspended prison sentence for two offences of assault causing actual bodily harm.Hmmmm.....The religion of Peace.Read the full story here.

• 14-year-old took her life because of group rape.(TundraTabloids).A 14-year-old girl in Trondheim took her own life after being assaulted and raped by three teenage boys. Only four weeks after she reported the rape at Kristiansten fortress, ninth grader could not bear to live any longer.The girl’s mother believes the group rape is the direct cause of why her daughter chose to take her life two weeks ago:

- This shows how brutal consequences of such a serious crime can get, “said her mother through her daughter’s counsel, Sigrun Dybvad.

Her mother has consented to the Adresseavisen’s mentioning the tragic incident, and she has provided information to the case. The incident has shaken many in Trondheim. Address newspaper has in recent days received emails and phone calls from desperate and upset parents. Over 1300 people have joined in a memorial group for 14-year-old online community Facebook. Tuesday this week met with 245 people up to say goodbye when she was buried in the Lutheran Free Church.Police in Trondheim is worried after five unsolved assault rapes or attempted on the same page 1 April. In three of the five cases , several perpetrators, all of which are described as African or Middle Eastern men. Police believe that the rapes have been planned in advance.The evening before 1 May facilitate the ninth grader for her friends when she was stopped by a young man of foreign origin. According to 14-year-old’s explanation, he tried to stay around and kiss her. When she responded that she would meet a friend, he said he knew this friend. This thought ninth grader, and went with the man. Shortly after the assault began:Ninth graders noticed that two other teenage boys came walking, and thought at first that they came to help. Instead, they have helped to keep her down. The girl told that she tried to shout for help, but that there was so much noise that no one heard her.While peers attached very close, and while both the police and about 50 night owls patrolling the area, the 14-year-old testified that two of the perpetrators managed to rape her, before she got loose from the third. Then she ran from the scene, and away in the direction Nonnegata. There, she met a couple who should have immediately understood that something had happened and helped her home.The girl has described the perpetrators as teenage boys in 16-17-age of foreign origin.Read the full story here.