MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan 5.0 ! More info here.

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

• Barack Obama Twitter Spams The Nation, Loses 30,000 Followers And Counting.(Mediate).You know that friend of yours who’s always the first to get in on the hottest social media trends? The one who had a Tumblr before everyone? The one who first sent you a Google+ invite? Well, remember that one time that your hip friend made a big misstep? Like he joined some online service which lets you tag people in your dream journal or “like” porn videos and he swore that it was gonna be the next big thing even though it clearly wasn’t? Yeah well, today, President Obama’s campaign staff is kind of like that as they’ve initiated a day-long project to tweet out the Twitter names of every Republican Congressmen state by state…in individual tweets.Great idea to help people contact their representation, right? The 30,000 people who have unfollowed Obama in the past few hours seem to disagree.Soon the deluge started as the official Twitter account began to go through each state, listing the names of every Republican representative that has an account themselves. Anyone following the President soon found their Twitter feed filling up with messages that basically had, at best, a one in 50 chance of being relevant to them in anyway.Hey, remember that funny Onion story about Obama sending the entire country a “rambling 75,000-word e-mail” that the Fox Nation reported as true? Well, this is as close as we’re gonna get to it actually coming true.The idea is clearly to get constituents to overwhelm the Twitter accounts of these Congressmen and women with tweets and retweets to force them to see the will of the people. However, didn’t they realize that, to do this, they’d be overwhelming all of the President’s followers first? The idea may be working in that each individual tweet already has at least a hundred retweets, but the huge negative response from Twitter at large is quickly becoming the main story.Over the past few hours, the President’s Twitter account has already lost nearly 30,000 followers. That may not seem like much considering he has nearly 10,000,000 and every day the number changes by a couple grand or so. However, when the number moves, it moves upwards. And that’s always. According to TwitterCounter.com, Obama’s follower count hasn’t ever trended significantly downward in six months.Hmmmm......Obama has lost 36,000 followers as of 6:45 est. You think they report him for spam?Read the full story here.

• Breaking - Iranian Man’s Retribution Acid Blinding Punishment Set for Tomorrow Morning 06.00 AM in Tehran. Acid is set to be dripped in both his eyes.(Persian2English).In November 2008, a court in the Iranian capital Tehran sentenced Majid Movahedi to “blindness in both eyes” by ten drops of sulfuric acid for splashing acid on Ameneh Bahrami’s face in 2004. She had allegedly spurned his marriage proposals. Ameneh Bahrami’s face became disfigured and she lost the sight in both eyes as a result of the injury. The sentence was approved by the Iranian Supreme Court in February 2009.The sentence was scheduled to be implemented on May 14th but was postponed, probably due to the massive international attention the case received.According to Alarabiya, Iranian authorities have decided to implement the verdict before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on August 1st. The news has also been confirmed on the Ameneh Bahrami Facebook page. It stated: “Ameneh’s retribution sentence will be implemented at 6:00am tomorrow.”The sentence was approved by the Iranian Supreme Court in February 2009.Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemned what he called a “barbaric and grotesque” punishment. He said, ”The international community must not let this barbaric punishment to happen.” He added, ”Leaders of the Iranian regime should be held responsible for the barbaric and grotesque punishment of dripping acid in Majid’s eyes. These types of sentences are only meant to spread fear among the people and will, without a doubt, promote even more violence in the Iranian society.”Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam has asked the assigned doctors to not take part in the barbaric act of retribution because, if they do, they will be breaking their professional oath.Regarding the discriminatory laws against women in Iran, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, “By being a woman, Ameneh is also a victim of the Iranian regime’s gender apartheid politics. Iranian authorities encourage violence against women. According to the Iranian laws, a woman who is not covered properly can be lashed up to 74 times, so the authorities are also responsible for the growing violence against women in the Iranian society, like Ameneh’s case.”The Iranian Supreme Court approved the sentence in February 2009. According to the sentence issued by the court, ten drops of sulfuric acid will be dripped into each of Majid Movahedi’s eyes.The punishment is set to take effect on the morning of July 31st.Hmmmm.......No word from the Turkish Human rights commission?Read the full story here.

• 27 rifles stolen from Southern California military base.. but ATF didn't tell public for two weeks.(DailyMail).More than two dozen assault rifles have been stolen from a Southern California military base, it was today reported.But the incident, in which 26 AK-74 assault rifles and one Dragunov sniper rifle were stolen from a supply warehouse at Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County, happened two weeks ago.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives couldn't say why the public hadn't been told about the theft earlier, but decided to issue a news release because of the potential danger the loose weapons posed.ATF spokesman Special Agent Christian Hoffman, said: 'We determined that there was a public safety issue with the guns getting out on the street.'Some arrests have been made and one rifle has been recovered, but the agency is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to further arrests, according to an ATF statement.'Community participation is necessary to improve the likelihood that ATF and our law enforcement partners will track down the firearms as well as the criminals who have sought to destabilise our community through illegal activity,' ATF Special Agent in Charge John A. Torres said.Read the full story here.

• Church Web sites hacked to push conversion to Islam.(Toledoblade).A computer hacker took control of more than a dozen church Web sites hosted by a Perrysburg designer this week, replacing their regular content with an appeal that Christians convert to Islam.The Rev. Vinnie Dauer of Fallen Timbers Community Church in Waterville said he received a text message from a church member at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday telling him someone had posted "Muslim propaganda" on the church's Web site.The cyber attack surprised church leaders there, who wondered why anyone would target their small congregation's Web site."It was unnerving, but I think also it was an indicator to me of the different world we live in," said Mr. Dauer, the assistant pastor at Fallen Timbers. "No one could walk into this church building and put up propaganda that's contradictory to our belief system, but yet our Web site is a representation of who we are."The Fallen Timbers site was quickly taken down by Ryan Leisure, whose Web company, R Leisure Enterprises, designs and hosts sites for about 60 churches across the country. Of those, 18 came under attack, some as far away as Texas and California.The hacker, who identified himself as a Muslim hacker and signed his work "Mr. HAiL," somehow gained access to Mr. Leisure's entire portfolio of sites, though only the church sites were altered."It seemed like he was clearly trying to convert people. I don't see how he could actually be successful with this, but he was talking about Christians converting to Islam," Mr. Leisure said.The hacker deleted the church Web sites and replaced them with a photograph of Mecca, a few paragraphs about Islam, and a list of 12 other Web sites purportedly containing more information about the faith. The postings didn't include any inflammatory language against Christians."It's a little alarming that just the churches were getting targeted by it," Mr. Leisure said. "The churches that did contact me were panicking a little bit."After he took down the hacked Web sites, Mr. Leisure called the FBI's Toledo office to report the offenses. He said he was directed to file a report on ic3.gov, a Web site used by the FBI to gather information on and track cyber crimes."I can't confirm we've opened a case, but certainly if he made that complaint they'll review it and take whatever action they deem appropriate," said Special Agent Scott Wilson, a spokesman for the FBI in Cleveland.Mr. Wilson said he was not aware of any similar incidents reported within the Cleveland district's jurisdiction, though hacking and online scams have become an almost daily issue for the FBI. Cyber crimes, he said, are the bureau's third priority behind terrorism and foreign counter-intelligence.Hmmmm.......It aint Islamophobia when they hack the churches their websites!Read the full story here.

• "It's A Zionist plot!"Report: Israeli Jet Fighters in Qatar.(AlexanderMunch).Hizbullah television says IAF fighter jets landed in Qatar.Fighter jets belonging to the Israeli Air Force landed last weekend in military bases in Qatar, Hizbullah’s Al Manar television network reported on Friday.The report, which was attributed to “informed sources,” has not been confirmed elsewhere. According to Al Manar, the sources pointed out that this is “a most dangerous development and one which was planned in advance between Qatar and Israel and the United States.”The Lebanese news network claimed that Qatar and Israel have had close military coordination for a long time and added that “officials from both countries hold meetings to promote relations between the two countries in many fields, be it politically, militarily, or economically.”Despite being an Arab country, Qatar has tried to brand itself as a peaceful neutral world power.In recent months, Qatar has been one of the countries that tried to broker a deal to ease Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power. It is also reportedly mediating talks between the Taliban and the United States, as well as between the Taliban and the Karzai government in Afghanistan.Qatar has also taken what can be seen as bold moves against other Arab countries. These include joining the international allied effort against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and indefinitely closing its embassy in Damascus, after it was attacked by pro-Assad demonstrators.Hmmmm......Closer to Iran?Read the full story here.

• Islamists Flood Square in Cairo in Show of Strength.(NYTimes).CAIRO — Tens of thousands of Egyptian Islamists poured into Tahrir Square on Friday calling for a state bound by strict religious law and delivering a persuasive show of force in a turbulent country showing deep divisions and growing signs of polarization.The shape of Egypt five months into its revolution remains distinctly undecided, and Islamists have long been the best organized political force in this religiously conservative country. Some activists speculated that their show of strength would serve as a jolt to the secular forces who helped to start the revolution but who remain divided, largely ineffectual and woefully unprepared for coming elections. After days of negotiations between the rival factions, the demonstration Friday had been billed as a show of national unity, but adherents to a spectrum of religious movements — from the most puritan and conservative, known as Salafists, to the comparatively more moderate Muslim Brotherhood — vastly outnumbered other voices in a sun-drenched Tahrir Square. The numbers of Salafists, in particular, represented the most definitive declaration yet that they represent a formidable force in Egyptian politics, riding an ascent since the revolution that has surprised and unnerved many secular and liberal activists — and poses new challenges to the Muslim Brotherhood. “It’s simple,” said Mohammed Awad, a 28-year-old accountant. “We’re stronger than any other force in the country, and we’ve made that clear on this day.” Though the rally was peaceful, the few secular activists who attended contended that they were silenced; some said they were escorted from the square. Most of them decided to boycott the event, in protest of the demonstration’s tone, ceding the square to the more religious. “They’ve come to show their muscles,” said Amr Hamza, a 25-year-old secular activist who has camped out in the square for weeks. With a hint of awe, he looked around the square, dominated by people in conservative dress. “There sure are a lot of them.” Around a dozen liberal activists huddled in a tent they pitched in the square three weeks ago, their faces gloomy. Occasionally, they chanted, “The people want the fall of the field marshal,” a reference to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who leads the ruling body of 19 generals. But their slogans were soon drowned out. “We will keep our ground,” said Salma Said, one of the activists in the tent, who promised to continue the sit-in. “They will leave by the afternoon, and we will continue.” In terms of turnout, one of the largest since the revolution, the demonstration on Friday evoked past scenes in Tahrir Square. But many of the similarities stopped there. Cries for national unity and coexistence between Christians and Muslims made way for familiar religious chants and demands that Egypt adhere to Islamic law, known as Shariah. “Islamic law is above the Constitution,” one banner read.Hmmm.......welcome to Egypt ......Iranian style.Read the full story here.

• “Four-star earthquake.”“They tried to create the impression that the Turkish Armed Forces was a criminal organization". (AlArabiya).Turmoil in Turkey: Secularist military vs. government rooted in Islamist sensibility.Turkey faced turmoil within its military on Saturday after the country’s four most senior commanders quit in protest over the detention of 250 officers on charges of conspiring against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government.The military police chief of the country was named acting chief-of-staff and the commander of land forces late Friday, in a quick move to contain the crisis.“The president has approved the assignment of military police chief General Necdet Ozel as the land forces commander. General Ozel is deployed as acting chief-of-staff,” it said in a statement.Turkish President Abdullah Gul, commander-in-chief under the constitution met with Mr. Erdogan and General Ozel on Friday evening, leading analysts to speculate that General Ozel was likely to become the new chief-of-staff.According to previous army practice, an officer should serve as commander of land forces before becoming chief-of-staff, media reports said.Chief of General Staff General Isik Kosaner stepped down on Friday evening along with the army, navy and air force commanders, plunging NATO’s second largest armed forces into uncertainty shortly before a senior promotions board convenes.General Kosaner stepped down after several meetings with Mr. Erdogan in recent days ahead of an early August meeting of the army’s high command, which decides on promotions for senior officers.Media reports blamed tensions between the military and Mr. Erdogan over army demands for the promotion of dozens of officers being held on suspicion of involvement in an alleged anti-government plot.In a farewell message to “brothers in arms,” General Kosaner said it was impossible to continue in his job as he could not defend the rights of men who had been detained as a consequence of a flawed judicial process.Relations between the secularist military and Mr. Erdogan’s socially conservative Justice and Development Party (AK) have been fraught since it first won power in 2002, due to mistrust of the AK’s Islamist roots.“They tried to create the impression that the Turkish Armed Forces was a criminal organization and ... the biased media encouraged this with all kinds of false stories, smears and allegations,” General Kosaner’s statement said.Forty-two generals and dozens of officers are currently in jail in a probe of alleged plots to unseat the government.Hmmmm.......The End of the Attaturk legacy.Read the full story here.

• Islamist taking over Turkish army? Turkey's military chiefs resign.(Ynet). Top Turkish generals resign, plunging NATO's second largest army into disarray.The head of the Turkish armed forces General Isik Kosaner along with the heads of the ground, naval and air forces have resigned, broadcaster CNN Turk reported on Friday, apparently plunging NATO's second biggest military into disarray. The reason for the generals' resignations was not immediately clear, but tensions between the secularist military and the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have run high in recent years. However, CNN Turk also quoted the prime minister's office as saying the generals were not resigning but going into retirement. State-run Anatolian news agency reported Kosaner as resigning "as he saw it as necessary." The Turkish lira weakened sharply on the news to 1.6964 against the dollar from an interbank close of 1.6805 on Friday.Friction between the government and military has been fuelled by an ongoing trial targeting dozens of senior military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The "Sledgehammer" case, arising from an alleged coup plan presented at an army seminar in 2003, is one of several setting Turkey's secularist establishment against Erdogan's ruling AK party, which critics suspect of having a secret Islamist agenda. The AK party denies this.The Supreme Military Council is due to hold a major meeting next week to discuss key appointments and President Abdullah Gul and Erdogan met Kosaner on Friday to discuss the matter.Hmmmm......Rise of the "Sultan".Read the full story here.

• 'Hezbollah preventing police from probing Beirut blast'.(JPost).Hezbollah security forces prevented Lebanese police from investigating the scene of an explosion Friday overnight which rocked Hezbollah's headquarters in a south Beirut suburb, DPA reported Saturday.The blast, which took place inside an apartment on the tenth floor of a building in the the Roueiss neighborhood, killed at least one person and injured another, DPA said.Immediately after the explosion, the area was blocked off by Hezbollah security forces who. A Lebanese security source told DPA that Hezbollah forces fired into the air to disperse curious crowds who gathered at the site.The circumstances behind the blast were unclear, but DPA cited some Lebanese newspapers as saying that a small bomb or hand grenade could have been the cause of the blast.Lebanese website Lebanon Files also reported that Samir Kuntar, a terrorist previously jailed in Israel, was injured in the explosion. The report could not be confirmed, however it is believed that several Hezbollah members live in the Roueiss neighborhood.Read the full story here.

• Al-Qaeda head in Yemen calls for killing of Saudi rulers.(Telegraph). Al-Qaeda's military leader in Yemen called for Saudi rulers to be killed as "apostates," in an audio tape released on Friday, SITE Intelligence Group reported."To the scholars ... of the family of Saud ... I say to you, your King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and his crown prince, his interior minister and his son Mohammed, are considered by us to be apostates and must be killed," said Qassim al-Rimi.In the almost seven-minute tape, the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander said Saudi authorities had arrested a group of women who had protested outside the interior ministry on February 5 to call for the release of relatives."In the north of the country and its south there are wounded women who are requesting the release of their sons and daughters from the prisons of oppression," said Rimi, according to the English translation provided by SITE.Saudi authorities "tricked them by putting them into buses in order to meet the criminal (Deputy Interior Minister Prince) Mohammed bin Nayef in order to release their captives, then they dragged them to prisons to remain there for more than 10 days," he said.Witnesses said in February that women, men and children asked to meet with ministry officials to call for the release of family members.Read the full story here.

• Fukushima - Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama of Tokyo University Tells the Politicians: “What Are You Doing?” (Fukushimanewsresearch).Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama is the head of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo. On July 27, he appeared as a witness to give testimony to the Committee on Welfare and Labor in Japan’s Lower House in the Diet.Remember Professor Kosako, also from the University of Tokyo, who resigned in protest as special advisor to the prime minister over the 20 millisievert/year radiation limit for school children? There are more gutsy researchers at Todai (Tokyo University) – the supreme school for the “establishment” – than I thought. Professor Kodama literally shouted at the politicians in the committee, “What the hell are you doing?”He was of course referring to the pathetic response by the national government in dealing with the nuclear crisis, particularly when it comes to protecting children.Even if you don’t understand the language, take a look and listen. He sounds sincere, and his voice is literally shaking with anger.Aside from his anger, he also gave some very interesting and disturbing information.“In other words, we should recognize from the start that just like Chernobyl, Fukushima I Nuke Plant has released radioactive materials equivalent in the amount to tens of nuclear bombs, and the resulting contamination is far worse than the contamination by a nuclear bomb.”Read and see the full story here.