MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan 4.9 and 4.9 in Guam ! More info here.

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

• Hurricane Katia : Latest Updates here.

• From the MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Archives: MEMRI Films Presents 'The Arab and Iranian Reaction to 9/11: Five Years Later' – Narrated by Acclaimed Actor Ron Silver.(Memri).Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has been monitoring, translating, and recording statements from the Arab and Iranian media about what took place on that day. Among these statements are conspiracy theories, by prominent journalists, members of academia, leading religious figures, and even Arab government officials, about what "really" happened.To mark the fifth anniversary of the attacks, MEMRI produced a film and a book exposing conspiracy phenomena surrounding these events in the Arab and Iranian media. The MEMRI Films documentary, focusing on the Arab and Iranian reaction to 9/11, includes footage from various television and satellite television channels in the Middle East, was narrated by the late acclaimed actor Ron Silver.

To view the film on the MEMRI website, visit www.memrifilms.org.

To view the entire film, visit http://www.memrifilms.org/9-11-five-years-later.php

Part I, visit http://www.memrifilms.org/videos/9-11-part-1.mpg

Part II, visit http://www.memrifilms.org/videos/9-11-part-2.mpg.

Part III, visit http://www.memrifilms.org/videos/9-11-part-3.mpg.

Read and see the full story here.

• Why Hasn't KSM Been Tried Yet? (Hint: Obama).The Washington Times has a story today about the slow progress in the effort to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a military court. It seems that delays may continue for months or even years.The cause of the latest delays? President Obama.Buried DEEP within the story lies the truth about Obama's meddling:
  
  Retired Brig. Gen. Thomas Hemingway, a former top legal adviser to the commission convening authority, said that while Mr. Holder was mulling the KSM case, President Obama changed the Manual for Military Commissions by executive order in 2010. The change requires that defendants facing capital charges in military tribunals have access to a “learned counsel” — a lawyer experienced in death penalty cases.
  
  “Much of the time since April has been consumed by finding ‘learned counsel’ and going through the process to secure such counsel the requisite security clearance,” Gen. Hemingway said.Source: Washington Times
  He can't hide behind Holder on this one because of the executive order. Hope! Change! Read the full story here.

• MUST READ:: FBI Releases Image of Man Wanted For 911 Threats (SHARE WIDELY).(Vinienco).This is believed to be one of the men counter terrorism chiefs say are plotting a terrorist attack in America on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11. An image of American-born 22-year-old Jude Kenan Mohammad has been posted on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. He has been linked to what officials have called a credible but unconfirmed al-Qaeda threat to set off a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington. Mohammad is among three al-Qaeda leaders that investigators believe pose a particular threat because they have lived in the U.S. Should that mission prove impossible, the attackers have been told to simply cause as much destruction as they can. Mohammad, who was born in Florida, dropped out of North Carolina’s Fuquay-Varina High School in 2006 and left the U.S. two years later to visit Pakistan, his father’s homeland. A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted him and seven other men in 2009 on charges that they conspired to carry out terrorist activities around the world. Two of the men have pleaded guilty, and the trial of four others is set for September 19 in New Bern. Federal authorities have never arrested Mohammad in the case, saying that they believe he has been in Pakistan since the indictment was issued.Hmmmm.....He doesn't look like the guys in the DHS videos(White,middleaged)?Read and see the full story here.

• Obama Using “Jobs” Plan to Pay for Campaigning.By Keith Koffler.This is really so annoying. Obama is campaigning on your dime again.Ostensibly, he’s headed out into the hinterland to “discuss the bipartisan proposals to grow the economy and create jobs as part of the American Jobs Act he unveiled in an address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday,” as the White House puts it.But really he’s using this new “jobs” bill as an excuse to campaign in key swing states. Since the travel is billed as “official business,” taxpayers pick up the tab. So all expenses get added to the national debt.The SOJA – or the Save Obama’s Job Act, aka The American Jobs Act – now serves two main purposes: to put Republicans on the spot to support the bill or risk being stigmatized by Obama as job killers; and to help the president reach voters. It’s effect on the economy will be marginal at best.Today, Obama appeared in Virginia, flying to Richmond, the “Dixie” part of the state where he needs votes to add to the majorities he’ll likely get in Northern Virginia, which is demographically part of the Northeast.On Tuesday he’s off to Columbus, Ohio, supposedly again to urge congressional action on his proposals.And, the White House just announced, he’ll be in the Raleigh-Durham area Wednesday,Virginia + Ohio + North Carolina = 46 electoral votes Obama desperately needs in states where the presidential hand to hand combat will be brutal.Hmmmm...."I Feel your pain"Thanks for paying my bills,Save Obama’s Job .Read the full story here.

• "Indoctrination 101" : Pictures of a 3rd-Grader's Social Studies Text Book.(DougRoss).Wondering whether elementary school students are truly indoctrinated in the left wing agenda? Well, wonder no more. They are; and it's worse -- far worse -- than you can possibly imagine.Consider, if you will, McGraw-Hill's Our Democratic Heritage, a textbook designed for third-graders and published in 2010. If you'd assume that it was intended to teach kids about America's founding and its institutions of government, you'd assume wrong.The book is a veritable cornucopia of left wing spin.

There is but one sentence devoted to the Bill of Rights. It reads, "These rights [of citizens] are listed in the part of the U.S. Constitution called the Bill of Rights".

• Two pages cover the Declaration of Independence

• Two pages describe the Constitution, all of which are devoted to the three branches of government and separation of powers

• No pages are devoted to James Madison and the authors of the Constitution; there is no mention of federalism

• Six pages are spent describing the background of Paul Revere

• Ten pages are devoted to the history of democracy in ancient Greece.

• George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are mentioned only in passing, almost as if they are immaterial scenery on the road to diversity and social Utopia.

In the section entitled "America's Freedom Fighters":

• Eight pages are spent covering the life of Frederick Douglass

• Five pages on Susan B. Anthony

• Six pages on Mary McLeod Bethune,

• Zero pages are devoted to the life of Abraham Lincoln

In fact, the entire Civil War is described only as a backdrop to the lives of Frederick Douglas and Mary McLeod Bethune.

In the section entitled "The Fight for Freedom Continues":

• Seven pages are spent on praise for FDR (including 2 pages on Pearl Harbor)

• Six pages on Eleanor Roosevelt

• Six pages are devoted to Thurgood Marshall

• Six pages are spent on LBJ's life and the wondrous effects of "Great Society"

• Six pages are spent on Cesar Chavez and the lionization of the labor movement

There is no list of American Presidents.There is no mention of the two-party system, nor the fact that there exists a group called "The Republican Party".And there is no mention of a Republican President other than Abraham Lincoln, who merits but a picture and a single sentence. In fact, you would not know from reading this book that there ever was a Republican President.A total of four paragraphs are spent describing World War II. There is no mention of President Harry S. Truman or of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan to mercifully end World War II.There is, of course, no mention of Ronald Reagan.One of the goals we Constitutional conservatives must have is to regain control of our public school systems, which appear to be -- if this book is any indication -- completely out of control.Hmmmm......Indoctrination 101.Read and see the full story here.

• Congress expands Fast and Furious probe to White House.(LATimes).Congressional investigators reviewing the failed gun-tracking program Operation Fast and Furious have formally asked the Obama administration to turn over copies of "all records" involving three key White House national security officials and the program, other ATF gun cases in Phoenix, and all communications between the White House and the ATF field office in Arizona. The letter signed Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, was sent to National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon, a top aide to President Obama. It marks a significant step in the committee's investigation into the failed gun-tracking operation, as the committee begins to broaden its investigation from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and targets White House and Department of Justice officials. This material, Issa and Grassley said, "will enable us to determine the extent of the involvement of White House staff in Operation Fast and Furious." White House officials, along with those at the Justice Department, said they have been cooperating in the widening probe, begun earlier this year when several ATF whistleblowers alerted Congress that Fast and Furious weapons were found at the scene of the slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. A White House official said that "no one at the White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk." The official, who asked not to be identified Friday because the case is continuing, also said White House staffers and some members of Congress, including Issa, were given Fast and Furious briefings as early as April of 2010, but not about the investigative tactics of the operation. "These e-mail exchanges show nothing more than an effort to give local color to a policy initiative that was designed to give more resources to help with the border problem," the official added. Under the program, ATF agents allowed illegal gun purchases and hoped to track the weapons to Mexican cartel leaders. But most of the more than 2,000 firearms were lost. Hundreds have reportedly turned up in Mexican crime scenes, two at the shooting where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed, and a semi-automatic was used in an altercation and assault with police in Maricopa, Ariz. The congressional letter comes after a series of emails surfaced last week showing that William D. Newell, the ATF field supervisor in Phoenix during Fast and Furious, was in routine contact with Kevin O'Reilly, then the White House director of North American Affairs for the National Security Council. The emails discussed a broad range of gun-trafficking investigations on the Southwest Border, and White House officials have since acknowledged that the cases were part of Fast and Furious. The White House has said that O'Reilly forwarded the emails to two other White House officials – Dan Restrepo, special assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs on the NSC, and Greg Gatjanis, director for Terrorist Finance and Counternarcotics, Counterterrorism Policy, also on the NSC. In their letter, Issa and Grassley discussed a new email in which Newell told O'Reilly about a specific case that ATF agents had been aware of for three months involving a 22-year-old illegal gun purchaser whom the ATF allowed to buy nearly 700 firearms. The purchaser was on food stamps and, Newell said in a follow-up email to O'Reilly, "when a 22-year-old kid on State financial assistance walks into a gun store and plops down $12,000 in cash to buy a tripod mounted .50 caliber rifle that's a clue (even for us) that he's involved in trafficking firearms for a Mexican DTO [cartel].' According to Issa and Grassley, that exchange of information makes it "clear that the case Mr. Newell and Mr. O'Reilly were communicating about was Fast and Furious."The letter requests all emails, documents, briefing papers and handwritten notes involving O'Reilly, Restrepo and Gatjanis during the Fast and Furious period, which ran for 15 months between fall 2009 and January 2011. The committee also wants to personally interview O'Reilly by the end of this month.Hmmmmm.......Gunwalker 'These boots are made for walking,one of these days these biooots will walk all over you'.Read the full story here.

• Officials investigate missing ammo at Fort Bragg.(Fox).FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Officials at Fort Bragg say an investigation is under way into the disappearance of nearly 14,000 rounds of ammunition at the Army base. Staff Sgt. Joshua Ford, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, says the ammunition went missing from the 1st Brigade Combat Team at Fort Bragg. The Fayetteville Observer reports that Ford believed the ammunition was taken overnight on Tuesday. The 1st Brigade team was placed on lockdown for a few hours Wednesday night while officials conducted a search. The missing ammunition can be used in an M-4 or M-16 assault rifle. Ford says the 82nd Airborne Division and military police are taking the matter seriously and that "any amount of ammunition that goes missing" has "got to be accounted for."Hmmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Report: Islamists Drive 75 Percent of Plots Against U.S.(IPT).Three-quarters of post 9/11 plots targeting the United States at home and abroad are associated with radical Islamists, a new study finds.The study, which analyzes 176 failed terrorist plots against U.S. targets, was conducted by Erik J. Dahl, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Cal., in conjunction with the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) program at the University of Maryland.The remaining 25 percent, according to the paper, are plots by right wing, anti-government groups.The study concludes that many plots have been successfully prevented because of basic law enforcement efforts and increased intelligence collection. It finds that 45 jihadist plots against U.S. soil since 9/11 were foiled by the work of law enforcement authorities."When it comes to domestic attacks and securing the homeland," Dahl told Daily Beast contributor John Avlon, "what works is really good, old-fashioned policing-law enforcement, tips from the public, police informants – and not so much spies overseas or satellites run by three-letter government agencies."But Dahl said that the government's success in foiling terrorist plots doesn't mean the United States can rest easy. "Everyone in American national security is amazed that we haven't had another 9/11 within America since 9/11," he said. "That's the good news.""But the bad news," he told Avlon, "is that we do see this continuing, steady drumbeat of smaller-scale plots and attempted terrorist attacks. So the threat is definitely not gone."In the days leading up to the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, U.S. officials have said they are particularly worried about smaller-scale, lone wolf attacks."We are concerned about the lone actors that are out there, we are concerned that al Qaeda or others may try to take advantage of the 9/11 anniversary events," White House terrorism advisor John Brennan said Wednesday.President Obama agreed. "The risk that we're especially concerned over right now is the lone wolf terrorist, somebody with a single weapon being able to carry out wide-scale massacres…" the President said in an interview with CNN.Reports surfaced Thursday that authorities had been alerted to a "credible" but unconfirmed three-person 9/11 anniversary plot targeting Washington, D.C. and N.Y. The plot appears to break the lone wolf trend. U.S. officials are now saying that al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri initiated the plot.Read the full story here.

• Egypt declares state of alert as Israel ambassador leaves Cairo for Tel Aviv.(Alarabiya).Egypt declared a state of alert Saturday after protesters stormed the building housing Israel’s embassy and clashed with police, while Israel said six of its staff were escorted to safety by Egyptian commandos.Israel flew its ambassador home on Saturday after Egyptians stormed its mission in Cairo, plunging Egypt’s ruling army deeper into its toughest diplomatic crisis since taking over from former President Hosni Mubarak.On Saturday, the Jewish state’s radio confirmed that the ambassador and his senior staff were now in Tel Aviv, but one Israeli official said that the consul will remain in Cairo to maintain the evacuated embassy.The diplomat, identified as the consul for state affairs and Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon’s deputy, will remain in Egypt while Israel weighs a response to overnight demonstrations during which the Cairo office tower housing the mission was overrun, the official said.The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, voiced concern about the violence after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from windows. Police fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd. Protesters lit tyres in the street and at least two vehicles were set alight near the embassy, located on the upper floors of a residential apartment block overlooking the Nile.Demonstrators had used hammers, large iron bars and police barricades to tear down the wall outside the embassy building, erected this month by Egyptian authorities after protests over the killing of the five Egyptian border guards in Sinai.Egyptian commandos rescued six Israelis to safety from their Cairo embassy as protesters stormed the building and threw diplomatic papers from a balcony, an Israeli official said on Saturday.“Six people were actually trapped in the embassy and there was a real concern for their lives,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “In the end they were successfully rescued by Egyptian commandos.”Israeli public radio said the six rescued men were security officers.The official said that protesters were elsewhere on the embassy premises while the men were holed up.“There was one wall between them,” he said, adding that Levanon, other staff and dependants had left Egypt earlier.“When the violence got out of hand, some 80 (Israelis) were taken out” of Egypt, he said. “All our people are safe and sound.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a brief statement on Saturday morning that the six had also arrived back in Israel and were well.Meanwhile, on Saturday Israel also tightened security around the Egyptian embassy in the Jewish state.Three people were killed in clashes between police and protesters outside the Israeli embassy and a fourth died of a heart attack, Egyptian hospital sources said on Saturday.It is estimated that around 448 people were injured, according to state television; protesters torched police trucks and attacked regional police headquarters.A senior Israeli official said the attack on his country's embassy in Egypt is a “grave violation” of diplomatic norms and a “blow to peaceful relations” between the two countries.One senior Israeli official said the attack on the embassy in Egypt is a 'grave violation' of diplomatic norms. The official said all the embassy staff except the deputy ambassador left Egypt by Saturday morning. Their departure followed a night of violence during which a mob broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo after tearing down a cement barrier around the building.As dawn broke, about 500 demonstrators remained. Some hurled stones at police and army vehicles and personnel.It was the second big eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month during an Israeli operation against gunmen. That incident prompted Egypt briefly to threaten to withdraw its envoy.Levanon left Cairo for Tel Aviv with staff and their families in the early hours of Saturday, an airport source said. Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called a cabinet crisis meeting for early on Saturday.Pulling Israeli diplomats even temporarily out of Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state, would shake Israel’s confidence. It is already embroiled in a bitter feud with Turkey, formerly the closest of its few Muslim allies, over treatment of Palestinians.“This action shows the state of anger and frustration the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers,” Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah told Reuters.Some politicians and activists criticized the violence, even if they backed the anti-Israel demonstration.Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a “serious stance matching the public anger” towards Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt’s uprising.Last month, a man climbed up a flagpole on the building, took down Israel’s flag and replaced it with Egypt’s. Regular protests with such violence followed until the latest flare-up.In response to daily protests, the authorities erected a wall around the building which was quickly defaced with anti-Israel slogans and then painted in Egypt's national colors.Hmmmm......First you give them a bridgehead in the Sinai...than they kick you out.Next Erdogan calls in Cairo for war against israel mission accomplished?Read the full story here.

• Embassy riots: Israeli envoy leaves Egypt - Video.(Ynet).Night drama: Friday's violent clashes at the Israeli Embassy in Cairo continued into the night, leading to a particularly dramatic decision. Israel's Ambassador to Egypt Yitzhak Levanon, some 80 diplomats, their family members and other Israeli staying in Cairo were transferred to the Egyptian capital's airport in a secret operation, under tight security. A special Israel Air Force flight returned the Israeli representatives to the Jewish state, where they landed early Saturday. Another plane, carrying six security guards and embassy staff who were stranded in the embassy, landed in Israel several hours later. The evacuation of the six Israelis by an Egyptian commando force took place early Saturday with a live broadcast to the Foreign Ministry's situation room in Jerusalem. The six reportedly maintained their composure throughout the incident. After the evacuation, Egyptian officials drove the six to the Cairo airport, where they boarded an IAF plane to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the Israelis stranded in the embassy building three times overnight, praised them and promised to do all in his power to have them rescued safely. "The mob attack on the Israeli Embassy in Egypt is a serious incident, but could have been worse had the rioters managed to get through the last door and hurt our people," Netanyahu said after the rescue."I'm glad we managed to prevent a disaster and would like to thank US President Obama for his help. I would also like to congratulate all the intelligence officials who helped in the rescue for their excellent work. "The fact that the Egyptian authorities acted with determination and rescued our people should be noted and we extend them our thanks," the prime minister added. "However, Egypt must not ignore the severe injury to the fabric of peace with Israel and such a blatant violation of international norms. We will hold consultations later on." Jerusalem sources defined the attack on the embassy as "a serious incident", and the Foreign Ministry launched opened an emergency headquarters, which was visited by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The ministry is said to be in close contact with the Egyptian authorities. The United States was also involved in efforts to calm tensions in Cairo, with President Barack Obama calling on Egypt Friday to protect Israel's embassy from demonstrators in Cairo, as he spoke by telephone to Prime Minister Netanyahu, officials said. Obama expressed "great concern" over the incident and explained steps Washington was taking in response, including a call on Egypt "to honor its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli Embassy.""The president expressed his great concern about the situation at the Embassy, and the security of the Israelis serving there," a White House statement said. "The President and the Prime Minister agreed to stay in close touch until the situation is resolved."US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later called Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr to urge Egypt to meet its Vienna Convention obligations to protect diplomatic property, a senior State Department official said.Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and with Dennis Ross, President Obama's emissary to the Middle East. Barak, who discussed the situation in Cairo with Netanyahu and heads of the defense establishment, asked the American officials to help defend the Israeli Embassy against the protestors.Egyptian protesters earlier tore down a security wall outside the embassy before one of them scaled the high-rise building and tore down its flag. Earlier, thousands of protesters had massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand reforms and an end to military trials of civilians. After listening to the weekly Muslim prayer at which they were told it is shameful for Egyptians to "forget their revolution," about 1,000 of them broke off and marched to the Israeli embassy.Hmmmm.......Who's organizing all this violence....The Muslim Brotherhood that Obama supports?Read the full story here.

• Report: Israel may offer military aid to PKK to punish Turkey.(TodaysZaman).Israel's hawkish foreign minister is planning a series of measures to retaliate against Turkey in an apology row, including military aid to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a news report said on Friday.Other planned measures are cooperation with the Armenian lobby in the US in its efforts to win recognition for Armenian claims that 1.5 million Armenians were victims of a genocide campaign in the late Ottoman Empire during the First World War years and to issue a travel warning urging all Israeli military veterans to refrain from traveling to Turkey, according to the report in Yedioth Ahranoth. The travel advisory will also urge Israelis to refrain from boarding connections in Turkey, the report said.The planned measures apparently came out of a meeting attended by senior Israeli Foreign Ministry officials on Thursday, which the report said was held in preparation for a meeting on Saturday that will be attended by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a harsh critic of efforts to restore relations with Turkey after Ankara announced a set of sanctions against Israel for its refusal to apologize for the killing of eight Turks and one Turkish American on an aid ship trying to break the blockade of Gaza on May 31, 2010.Accordingly, Lieberman insists that the Israeli efforts should focus on ways to respond to Turkey's sanctions, not formulating an apology for the 2010 incident, because what Turkey is interested is not an apology but exploiting the dispute with Israel so as to boost its regional standing.Saturday's meeting will reportedly focus on those ways to respond to Turkey.The Turkish government announced last Friday that it downgrades diplomatic relations with Israel and suspends military agreements. It also promised to take measures to ensure freedom of navigation in the eastern Mediterranean, where the 2010 incident took place, without elaborating. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared on Thursday that Turkish warships would escort future convoys to the Gaza Strip to prevent a repeat of the deadly Israeli raid last year.Yedioth Ahranoth said Lieberman plans meetings with PKK leaders in Europe in order to find ways to cooperate with them “in every possible area.”In these meetings, the PKK leaders may ask Israel for military aid in the form of training and arms supplies, the report said.Lieberman is also planning active Israeli participation in efforts worldwide to report Turkey's “violations of human rights” in treatment of minorities in Turkey.“We'll exact a price from Erdoğan that will prove to him that messing with Israel doesn't pay off. Turkey better treat us with respect and common decency,” Lieberman was quoted as saying.Read the full story here.

• Egypt to stop issuing tourist visas on arrival.(Emirates24/7).Egypt is to stop issuing visas to tourists on arrival, a government official said on Friday, although allowances will be made for those travelling in groups.The new regulations have not yet come into effect, and the cabinet is still fine-tuning them, spokesman Mahmud Higazi told AFP.Tourists "will have to apply at embassies and consulates for visas," he said.Tourists from many states, especially Western countries whose nationals contribute the bulk of Egypt's vital tourism revenues, are still allowed to obtain visas on arrival until the new regulations are in place."We want to regulate entry," said Higazi, adding that he could not say when the new instructions will be passed on to airport officials."We are asked for visas everywhere and it is our right to ask for visas. No airport in the world would give me a visa on arrival," he said.Higazi said that tourists travelling in groups will be exempt from the new regulations.Tourism to Egypt's beach resorts and ancient sites is a key money earner and source of foreign currency, but it declined after a January and February revolt that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak.Hmmmm.....coverup the Sfinx , no more bikinis allowed....Who needs tourists?Next.....No Jews allowed?Read the full story here.

• Hundreds injured in clashes after Egypt’s protesters smash wall protecting Israel embassy.(AlArabia).More than 180 people were injured in clashes between protesters and security forces near the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday, Egypt's state TV reported citing the Health Ministry. The clashes came shortly after demonstrators partly destroyed a wall recently built outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protect the building, an AFP correspondent witnessed.Some protesters attempted to sneak into the Israeli embassy through the balcony, while others managed to seize documents from a store affiliated to the embassy, Al Arbiya correspondent said. Around 1,000 people had gathered outside the building housing the mission and attacked the wall with hammers and a large metal bar, as military police nearby did nothing to stop them.They chanted: “Lift your head, you are Egyptian,” according to AFP.One protester took down the Israeli flag from the embassy in a Cairo high-rise, the second such incident in a month, Al Arabiya correspondent said.He threw the flag down to the street some 20 storeys below as thousands of protesters cheered him on.The wall, about two meters (6.5 feet) high, consists of prefabricated cement slabs that were recently installed around the building that houses the embassy overlooking a bridge in Cairo.The Egyptian army hindered an attempt by protesters to break into the Israeli embassy in Cairo, according to Al Arabiya correspondent.Last month, outraged Egyptians staged huge protests outside the embassy and called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador over the border deaths of Egyptian policemen killed as Israel hunted militants. Egypt has asked Israel for an official apology and demanded a probe into the deaths of the five policemen.During one of the anti-Israeli protests, an Egyptian man scaled the building housing the mission, removed the Jewish state’s Star of David flag and replaced it with Egypt’s colors, as the crowds cheered him on.Egyptian officials said the wall was intended to protect residents of the high-rise embassy building, not the Israeli mission, according to Reuters.The move against the embassy wall came as thousands of Egyptian activists demonstrated in central Cairo demanding faster reforms, ending military trials for civilians.Egyptian police stood aside as activists tore down the concrete wall to the cheers of hundreds of demonstrators.“It is great that Egyptians say they will do something and actually do it,” Egyptian film director and activist Khaled Youssef said, standing among the protesters outside the embassy.“They said they will demolish the wall and they did ... the military council has to abide by the demands of the Egyptian people,” he said, according to Reuters.Israel Radio cut into its Sabbath programming with bulletins about the Cairo demonstrations. Citing Foreign Ministry sources, it said the ambassador was safely at his official residence and that Israel was in contact with Egypt, the United States and European powers about the incident.“Police will not do anything to the protesters and they will be left unharmed to continue demolishing the wall,” one security source said.Hmmm.....Europe and America should cut all financial aid to Egypt.Read the full story here.

• Related - Egyptians storm Israeli Embassy building, remove flag.(YNet).Hundreds of Egyptian activists on Friday demolished parts of the wall erected around a building housing the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protect it against demonstrators.Some of the protesters then stormed the embassy premises and tore down the flag from the building for the second time in less than a month. Eyewitnesses reported that the protesters threw the flag on the street, prompting loud cheers from the mass crowds gathered outside the embassy. Israeli officials stated that the Egyptian protesters broke into the building and managed to reach the floor on which the embassy is located. However, they have not managed to break in through the fortified doors. Sources in Jerusalem called the incident a "grave event," and noted that it is still unclear whether the Egyptian security officers who guard the building fled the scene. The Foreign Ministry opened an emergency command post and is constantly being updated by Egyptian and Israeli authorities in Cairo. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman arrived at the command post and is being briefed on the latest developments.Israeli officials also reported that no embassy personnel have been injured. Al- Arabiya network reported that at least 180 Egyptians were injured during the clashes outside the embassy building. Al-Jazeera network reported that the Egyptian army is using tear gas canisters in order to disperse the crowds. According to eyewitnesses, crowds climbed the embassy security wall, pummeled it with hammers and tore away large sections of the barrier, which Egyptian authorities erected after daily protests last month sparked by tensions over the death of five Egyptian security personnel in Sinai which Cairo blamed on.The attempt to demolish the wall came after an Egyptian Facebook group called activists to gather outside the Israeli delegation in Cairo and "urinate on the wall." Egyptian groups also called activists to spray graffiti slogans against Israel on the wall and erect a memorial for the soldiers killed during the attack in south Israel.Eyewitnesses said policemen and soldiers stood by as the activists hammered away at the roughly 2.5 metres (8-foot) high wall. Egyptian officials said the wall was intended to protect residents of the high-rise embassy building, not the Israeli mission.The move against the embassy wall came as around 4,000 Egyptian activists demonstrated in central Cairo demanding faster reforms, ending military trials for civilians. Since Mubarak's fall, calls have grown in Egypt for ending the historic 1979 peace treaty with Israel, a pact that has never had the support of ordinary Egyptians.Hmmmm....Again Facebook plays an ugly role in riots, a compagny close to the Obama administration.Perhaps it's time for new rules on the use of Facebook?Read the full story here.

• Hamas considering relocating HQ to Cairo.(Ynet).Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar announced Friday that the movement is consierjung relocating its headquarters from Damascus to Cairo. It is the first time a senior Hamas official openly admitted such a plan. "All the Palestinians in Syria are in distress, not just Hamas. There are many options in terms of the organization's headquarters and Egypt is one of them," he said. Al-Zahar also addressed the possibility that other senior Hamas officials will return to Gaza and noted this depended on each of them personally. "Gaza is open to all," he stressed. "There are leaders who may return to Gaza and some may not. " He chose not to respond to recent reports in the London-based al-Hayat newspaper suggesting that progress has been made in the Shalit deal negotiations. Hamas' political wing has been operating out of Damascus for more than a decade after being forced to leave Jordan in 1999. Damascus is also home to Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Shallah, head of the PFLP – General Command Ahmed Jibril and representatives of other Palestinian terror groups.The issue of the group's activities in Damascus has created major difficulties in negotiations between Israel and Syria over the years. Jerusalem has often demanded they be banished from Syria, but was met with refusal. Last April, al-Hayat reported that Hamas' political leadership was planning to relocate to Qatar, which reportedly agreed to host politburo chief Khaled Mashaal but not the group's military echelon. Hmmmm....."Come to Papa?"Only normal considering Hamas came out of the Muslim Brotherhood.Only question where does Obama's support for the Muslim Brotherhood fit in all this?Read the full story here.

• Muslim Persecution of Christians: August, 2011.(Aina).
  Attacks on Christian Symbols: Churches and Bibles
  Indonesia: Two churches were set aflame; officials downplayed these atrocities by arguing that the buildings were "only made of board" and not real churches. A mayor also proclaimed that churches cannot be built on streets with Muslim names, even as Muslim majority regions reject the building of any churches.
  Iran: Officials launched a Bible burning campaign, confiscating and destroying some 7,000 Bibles, many publicly burned. Likening their tiny Christian minority to the "Taliban and parasites," the regime also "cracked down" on Christians (who make up less than 1% of the entire population), arresting many, the whereabouts of which remain unknown.
  Iraq: Two churches were bombed: the first damaged the church and wounded 23; the second damaged the church (a third church was targeted but the bomb was defused before going off).
  Nigeria: Two churches were bombed, including a Baptist church no longer in use due to previous Muslim attacks; when officials arrested Islamist leaders, a third Catholic church was torched.
  
  Apostasy and Forced Conversions
  
  Eritrea: It was revealed that at least eight Christians have died in prisons, most under severe conditions and torture, simply for refusing to recant Christianity.
  
  India: A female who was formerly stripped and beaten by a Muslim mob for converting to Christianity, continues to receive severe threats to return to Islam or die; likewise, Muslims held three Christian women "threatening to beat and burn them alive if they continued worshipping Christ."
  
  Iran: A Christian pastor in Iran remains behind bars, where he is being tortured and awaits execution for refusing to recant Christianity.
  
  Malaysia: Religious police raided a church when they "found evidence of proselytisation towards Muslims" and "receiving information that there were Muslims who attended a breaking-of-fast event at the church"; a Facebook campaign created to support the raid and to "prevent apostasy" has already drawn support from 23,000 people.
  
  Norway: A Muslim convert to Christianity was tortured with boiling water and told by fellow Muslim inmates "If you do not return to Islam, we will kill you"; if deported, he risks death by stoning for leaving Islam.
  
  Pakistan: Muslims openly abducted a 14-year-old Christian girl at gunpoint saying she had to convert to Islam; another Christian woman who was abducted, drugged, and tortured for two years--all while being informed she had converted to Islam--happily made her escape. In both cases, the police, as usual, are siding with the Muslim abductors. Most recently, two Christians returning from church were attacked by Muslims and beaten with iron rods for refusing to convert to Islam or pay "protection" (jizya) money.
  
  Sudan: A 16 year old Christian girl finally escaped from her Muslim kidnappers, who "beat, raped and tried to force her to convert from Christianity to Islam"; whenever she tried to pray, she was beaten again and called an "infidel"; when her mother went to the police, they told her to convert to Islam before they returned her child.
  Uganda: In accordance to Islam's Hanafi School of law, a Muslim father locked his 14-year-old daughter in a room for several months without food or water, simply because she embraced Christianity; when rescued, she weighed 44 pounds.
  
  
  General Oppression, Violence, and Murder of Christians
  
  Bangladesh: Church leaders, including an elderly pastor, were severely beaten in a police station for protesting that Muslims had illegally seized and occupied a Christian home. A previously tortured Christian activist is in hiding in Honk Kong, even as his wife and children face death threats from surrounding Muslims.
  
  Egypt: Soon after breaking their Ramadan fast, thousands of Muslims rampaged a predominantly Christian village, firing automatic weapons, looting and throwing Molotov Cocktails at several homes; they beat a priest, plundering and torching his home; another Copt was murdered in his home, which was also ransacked. Separately, a Copt was savagely attacked by seven Muslims in front of a police station; he lost one eye and required 20 stitches in his head. And girls leaving church were sexually harassed by Muslim who hurled stones at the church shattering five windows.
  
  Nigeria: In what is being called a "silent killing," ten Christians were slain by Muslims seeking to expunge Christianity from northern Nigeria; eyewitnesses insist that the army is assisting and enabling the slayings.
  
  Pakistan: A Christian family consisting of 26 people, including women and children, lived in slavery for over 30 years, forced to labor on a farm belonging to a wealthy Muslim landowner; they only recently managed to regain their freedom, through the aid of the Catholic Church. Separately, a Muslim mob attacked a group of Christians watching a Jesus movie, destroying the projector. A Christian man was beaten unconscious for celebrating Independence Day, told by Muslims "How can you celebrate when you are Christian? Convert to Islam if you want to join the celebration."
  
  Somalia: Al-Shabab ("the youthintentionally preventing food aid from reaching the nation's miniscule Christian minority: "Any Somali that the Islamists suspect to be a Christian, or even a friend of Christians, does not receive any food aid."
  
  Sudan: A "humanitarian crisis is unfolding" in Sudan's border region where Christians and their churches are being targeted in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by North Sudan's Islamist regime.
  
  United Kingdom: A Muslim family was terrorized and threatened with death because their daughter married a Christian, a crime according to Sharia.
  
  Uzbekistan: Authorities continue to pressure churches and Christians, fabricating evidence to punish or limit Christians' ability to practice their faith, and subjecting them to excessive fines, false accusations, and confiscating their Christian literature.
  
  These were just some of the stories of Christian suffering under Islam that made it to a few non mainstream media last month.
  
  Then there are the countless atrocities that never make it to any media--the stories of persistent, quiet misery that only the victims know--such as the recent revelation that a 2-year-old girl was savagely raped in Pakistan because her Christian father refused to convert to Islam: it took five years for this story to surface. How many are the tales of woe that never surface?Read the full story here.