European Campaign to Boycott Israeli Phone Companies in West Bank .

European Campaign to Boycott Israeli Phone Companies in West Bank.(Fars).Labor Unions of France, Ireland, Britain, Italy, and Sweden signed an agreement to boycott illegal Israeli settlements' products, including telecommunication services in the West Bank, according to a statement by the union.

The agreement, which was signed following a conference organized by the Association France Palestine Solidarity (AFPS) in Paris, discussed the Israeli settlement activities and their effect on economic, political and social life in Palestine.

Palestinian Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Safa' Naser Addin, who attended the conference, spoke of the economic consequences of the settlement activities and called on world unions to support this campaign, which opposes a France Telecom- Orange agreement.

Naseruddin said the telecommunication sector's losses amount to $150 million as a result to five Israeli companies illegally operating in the Palestinian Territory, preventing entry of advanced technology and crippling infrastructure.

The campaign aims to pressure France Telecom into not renewing its contract with the Israeli company, which provides services to settlements and supports occupation of Palestine. Hmmmm......Do these people realize that they have a job because people can call?Read the full story here.

Flickr – Israel no longer 'exist' on the map.

Flickr – Israel no longer 'exist' on the map.(IMRA).Flickr map of Israel shows only 3 cities - no streets (all other countries have details)

[IMRA: You can see for yourself that the map of Israel only has three cities and no street details while there are many cities and street details for every other country in the region by clicking on http://www.flickr.com/map/and looking at Israel.
email for complaining to Yahoo: CorporateSecretary@yahoo-inc.com ]

 Exclusive: Flickr took Israel out of its Maps.Written by Iddo Gennuth at 11/11/2012 19:49. Copied from: http://www.megapixel.co.il/english/archive/35519.

The exclusive story that we are publishing today is bizarre and some might say downright disturbing. flickr – one of the largest social photo hostingservices decided to remove the maps of Israel from its site. Despite numerous e-mails and phone calls, Yahoo! – flickr's parent company – refused to comment on the issue. We bring you the full story.
Taking Israel off the map.
Several weeks ago one of our long time writers, photographer Giora Pinhasi shared with us a bothersome discovery. As a long time user of the flickr photo sharing service he discovered that not too long ago the old maps of Israel (which used to appear on the site, although being relatively old and inaccurate) were removed completely. Only the names of 3 major cities got left – the rest – including cities, towns, villages and streets were all removed leaving practically a blank map of the entire country.
Pinhasi decided to contact flickr himself and try and find out if this is simply a technical glitch. After speaking with one company representative who did not supply any answers he was referred to flickr's costumer service which simply did not answer.
It's important to understand that beyond the principal matter, there is also a strong element of costumer care (or lack of) with the entire story.Israeli flickr users such as Pinhasi and many others simply can't use flickr' Geotagging service on their pictures and this is also true for tourists and anybody else taking pictures inside Israel.

If you take a closer look at the flickr map service you actually realize rather quickly that the maps used are not those of flickr (or Yahoo! for that matter – which suffer from the same issue) but are actually "powered byNokia". The Finish mobile giant has a map service known as Nokia Maps (very similar to Google Maps and other online street mapping services) which covers (almost) the entire world. However as you can see when looking at the maps on the Nokia site – Israel is completely blank (apart from 3 major city names).
Digging a bit deeper we realized something even more strange. flickr map service also uses an open map service called Leaflet (you can see the link on the lower right corner of the flickr map page). Leaflet uses a map database from another site called openstreetmap.org which – to our great surprise – actually does have very detailed street maps of every city in Israel…
Tel Aviv on the openstreetmap.org – every street is present – did flickr/Nokia took them out on purpose?

Not the first time.

This is not the first time international companies set up "virtual borders" for Israel. In 2011 facebook decided that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine (something that was eventually changed after pressure from large groups of facebook users and official Israeli representatives). A similar thing also happened with both Apple and the BBC during 2012. However this is the first time to our knowledge that the entire country was wiped clean from the map by a well known international company.
Current status.

When we here in MegaPixel first got the info about this story we decided to act and contacted Yahoo! – flickr's parent company in order to try and get some official answers. We were promised a response but after about two weeks of wait (including a direct phone call to Yahoo!'s headquarters and another failed promise for an answer) we decided to move forward with the article.
Our next step besides this article (which was published in both Hebrew and English) is to work hand in hand with our content partners on Israeli Channel 2 TV (MAKO/Keshet TV) to help spread the story.
How you can help?

Want to help get Israel back on the map? Here are a number of simple things
you can do which might have a big effect:
•Press Like and share the story with your friends.
•Publish and comment on the story on the Yahoo! page on facbook and the
Nokia page on facebook.
•If you know journalists and people working for the international media send
them the story and ask them to report on it.
•Have other creative ideas on how to spread the word? contact us and we will
be happy to help.
We shall update this article with any new information.
This is an English version of an article originally published on the Israeli
Photography website MegaPixel.co.il

via imra.org.il

Video - Ezra Levant on Buy-Cotting The Boycotters

MP Pierre Poilievre and Ezra share a glass of Israeli wine in tribute to their buy-cott of Israeli products.

Canada's largest Protestant Church poised to boycott Israeli settlement products.

Canada's largest Protestant Church poised to boycott Israeli settlement products.(CH).The United Church of Canada (YNet), the country’s largest Protestant denomination, voted Wednesday in favor of a consumers' boycott of goods produced in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Canadian media reported. According to the Toronto Star, Wednesday’s vote was preceded by nearly six hours of delibertions. The report quoted Bruce Gregersen, a United Church general council spokesperson, as saying that the boycott was "a significant step."
The UCC's general council will vote Friday on whether to make a boycott a permanent part of church policy. Canada's Jewish community was stunned to learn of the decision.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Toronto issues a statement saying that it was "Outraged by the decision by the United Church of Canada to single out Israeli communities for boycott. "The Centre is equally offended by the Church's expression of regret for previously calling for Palestinian recognition of Israel's Jewish character," the group said on its website. "
This decision represents a radical shift in the United Church's policies, betrays the views of the vast majority of its members, and flies in the face of decades of constructive interfaith dialogue. "In choosing this morally reckless path, the United Church has equally dismissed the concerns of the overwhelming majority of the Canadian Jewish community."
David Koschitzky, Chairman of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said: "No mainstream Jewish organization, including Canadian Friends of Peace Now, endorses Boycott. Even the leadership of the American left-wing group J-Street has publicly condemned boycotts as counterproductive. "Support for the boycott tactic is limited to a small fringe. Tragically, the UCC chose to join that fringe, rather than listen to the nearly 100,000 families who are members of Jewish Federations across Canada, and on whose behalf the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs speaks. "The Church equally ignored some 70 Canadian Rabbis of all streams and from every province, representing tens of thousands of Canadian Jewish families, who made their opposition known in writing," he said.
In declaring a boycott, the UCC has "Damaged the Church's standing amongst Canadians and have profoundly compromised the UCC's ability to play any constructive role in making a positive impact for peace," Koschitzky concluded. The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies said they were troubled and saddened. “I don’t know if church members truly understand how utterly offensive and imbalanced this proposal is, or whether a latent anti-semitism within the church is slowly coming back to life,” said Avi Benlolo, president and CEO, in a statement. Read the full story here, more here.

Will Iran be barred from taking part in 2012 London Olympics, after claiming to "refrain from competing against Zionist regime’s representatives."?

Will Iran be barred from taking part in 2012 London Olympics, after claiming to "refrain from competing against Zionist regime’s representatives."? (IRNA).Tehran, June 22, IRNA -- IRI sports minister said here Friday Iranian athletes will just as always refrain from competing against Zionist regime’s representatives if in drawing lots they would have to do so, as Iranians do not recognize legitimacy of forged Zionist regime. Islamic Republic of Iran Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Mohammad Abbasi made the comment on the sideline of attending a practice session of the Iranian National Wrestling Teams in an interview with an IRNA Sports Desk reporter. He added in response to IRNA, “Not competing with the Zionist athletes is one of the values and prides of the Iranian athletes and nation.” On possibility of deprivation of the Iranian athletes from gaining their deserved medals if they would refrain from competing against Zionist regime representatives, he said, “God willing such a thing will not happen, but if it does we would definitely find a way to solve the problem.” The sports and youth affairs minister referring to the sports clubs deprivation of subsidies this year, said, “No money has been paid by the government to the sports clubs this year, as their expenses can be covered only in accordance with the national budget articles.” He also expressed dissatisfaction over the soccer players’ transfers among sports clubs, arguing, “The high contrast between the contracts signed with the soccer players and the athletes in other sports fields is unreasonable.” Abbasi reiterated, “Concerned officials in soccer players’ transfers must find a way to decrease the high amount of money transferred in this field.”He reiterated, “It has been arranged that those who would bring home medals from the London Olympics would have life time salaries, whose amount would be announced later, and their family members, too, would be benefitted from those salaries.” In many worldwide competitions, where Israel does take part, such as the Olympics, some Arab and Muslim competitors avoid competing against Israelis. Iranian athletes have ever since the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution been boycotting entire competitions against the Zionist regime athletes and athletic teams, even at cost of losing valuable medals, to protest to the illegitimate occupation of Palestine by that usurper regime and the sixty year massacre, deportation, and siege of its real owners, the Palestinians.Read the full story here.

RELATED....IOC Warns Against Boycotting Israeli Athletes.(JTA).The International Olympic Committee warned that a refusal by any participant in next month's Games to compete against an athlete from a particular country is against the IOC's Code of Ethics. The warning came Thursday in response to an Algerian kayaker who withdrew last month from a World Cup event after learning that he would be competing against an Israeli. “Refusing to participate in an Olympic event because of a fellow athlete/team’s religion or nationality would not only be unsporting behavior but a serious breach of the IOC’s Code of Ethics, the principles of the Olympic Charter and the Athletes Oath,” IOC spokesman Emanuelle Moreau said in a statement. Moreau advised athletes who object to competing against participants from other countries to "stay at home."Following the World Cup incident, the head of the Algerian Olympic committee told the Times of London that all Algerian Olympic competitors may refuse to compete against Israelis at the London Olympics in July. “There is an obligation to ask our government if we have to meet Israel in sport,” Rachid Hanifi told the paper last week.Read the full story here.

S. Africa: W. Bank products won't be labeled Israeli, will have ‘made in Palestinian territories’ labels.

S. Africa: W. Bank products won't be labeled Israeli, will have ‘made in Palestinian territories’ labels.(JPost).Pretoria – South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry is preparing a policy change mandating that products originating from West Bank settlements not be labeled as Israeli products. In a statement published last week in the governmental gazette, Trade Minister Rob Davies declared that consumers in South Africa should not be misled into believing that products originating from the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” originate from Israel. The minister specified in his note some “misleading labeled products” as “Ahava products, and other cosmetic brands, technology and soft drinks.”“For now, there is no decision but people should know that South Africa recognizes Israel inside the 1948 U.N. borders,” Macdonald Netshitenzhe, the trade ministry’s director for trade policies and legislations, told AFP.“Now coming to the issue of Palestine and Israel, a product from Israel has to be manufactured or produced within the borders of 1948,” he said.Any territories taken over by Israel in the wake of the war which accompanied its independence in 1948 -- such as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which were occupied in 1967 -- would not be included in that definition.

“Therefore, for the goods or vegetables which are grown in the area where Israel invaded other Arab countries, South Africa says, you better say these products are grown in Palestine or Occupied Palestinian Territories,” Netshitenzhe added. Israel reacted furiously to the South African announcement, which the Foreign Ministry said was the first of its kind in the world. Spokesman Paul Hirschson said the ministry would call in the South African ambassador to protest the move. “The singling out of one side of one conflict out of all the conflicts in the world is verging on racism,” he said, adding that “this is sad coming from South Africa, which should know better.” Open Shuhada Street, a Palestinian international organization focusing on the issue of “rules of origin,” has been campaigning in South Africa for several months against products manufactured by Israelis in the West Bank. It has been threatening legal action whose goal would be to require the South African government to declare the labeling of these products as “illegal” and “consumer misleading.” The Palestinian lobby group specifically targets Dead Sea beauty products made in Mitzpe Shalem.The Israeli Embassy in Pretoria criticized the proposal on Saturday, saying, “We regret the decision to adopt this notice, which carries an unpleasant scent of singling out Israel on a national and on a political basis.”Ben Swartz, the spokesman of the South African Zionist Federation, said the Jewish community in South Africa was deeply concerned about the proposal. Swartz said that the content of the notice is “highly political and politicized, and has been prepared without proper public debate and discussion.” He added that he did not believe that this proposal reflected the policy of all governing parties in South Africa, nor of the African National Congress as a whole.Read the full story here, more @ IsraelMatzav and here.

Co-Operative Group, UK's fifth-largest food retailer, to boycott Israeli settlements goods.

Co-Operative Group, UK's fifth-largest food retailer, to boycott Israeli settlements goods.(AJ).The Co-Operative Group, a British supermarket chain, is extending a boycott of goods from illegal Israeli settlements and will now shun any supplier known to source from these areas, a statement has said. "Following an audit of the Group's supply chain, it will no longer do business with four companies, accounting for £350,000 ($560,000) worth of sales, as there is evidence that they source from the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories," the statement said. The UK's fifth-largest food retailer has not bought goods from the settlements since 2009, it said, but does trade with about 20 Israeli businesses that do not source from the settlements. "The Group will also continue to actively work to increase trade links with Palestinian businesses in the occupied territories," it added. The UN Human Rights Council in March passed a resolution ordering a first investigation into how Israeli settlements may be infringing on the rights of the Palestinians. Israel approved another three settlements in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a move that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said left him "deeply troubled". The three outposts will now join some 120 settlements dotted across the territory that are home to more than 342,000 people.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.
• Updated !Aftershocks between 5,1 and 6 epicenters of four of them near nuclear plants more info here.MFS: Watching the chart of the last 24 hours i would say another mayor quake (7 Magnitude) might happen ,the chart indicates an increase of strenght of the tremors!

• Updated : Reuters . Japan agency: Onagawa plant functioning properly.- Japan's nuclear safety agency said on Sunday there was no problem with the cooling process at Tohoku Electric Power Co's (9506.T) Onagawa nuclear power plant and that a rise in radiation levels there was due to radiation leakage at another plant in a neighbouring prefecture.The agency said a report from Tohoku Electric shows that cooling systems at all three reactors at the Onagawa complex, which were automatically shut after a massive earthquake and tsunami on Friday, are functioning properly.Cooling systems at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (9501.T) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were damaged by the quake and tsunami, forcing the power utility to let out air from reactor container vessels to reduce pressure built inside.Hmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Workers scramble to cool reactors; official says 2nd blast possible.Japanese efforts to prevent a nuclear meltdown by flooding reactors with seawater are a last-ditch attempt, but do not mean that a nuclear tragedy is imminent, experts said Sunday. Nuclear experts who have followed the developments at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan say that despite several setbacks, the possibility of massive radiation exposure remains low -- at least for now. Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared at a nuclear power plant in Onagawa, Japan, where excessive radiation levels have been recorded following Friday's massive earthquake, the United Nations' atomic watchdog agency said Sunday. Authorities have told the agency that the three reactor units at the Onagawa plant "are under control.""I don't think we're really close to a meltdown," said Dale Klein, vice chancellor for special engineering projects at the University of Texas, referring to the Daiichi plant.The use of seawater shows that authorities are giving up future use of the Daiichi plant and are focusing solely on protecting people and the environment, experts said. "If they are (using seawater), it's because they have no other choice," said James Walsh, a research associate at the security studies program at MIT. "The last thing you want to do is pump seawater and boron into a reactor."The salt and boron will corrode the reactor, he said. "Essentially, they are saving the white flag and saying, 'This plant is done,' " Walsh said. "This is a last-ditch mechanism to try to prevent overheating and to prevent a partial or full meltdown." In addition, danger from any radiation that escapes would vary on a number of factors, including the type of radiation, the amount and geography, he said. A major explosion of a reactor at the Daiichi plant is "almost inconcievable," he said. "I think that worst-case outcome is unbelievably unlikely in this case."At the Daiichi nuclear plant, workers have been scrambling to cool off fuel rods at both reactors after the massive earthquake and tsunami disabled their cooling systems. Japanese authorities have said there is a "possibility" that a meltdown has occurred in the reactors.A meltdown is a catastrophic failure of the reactor core, with a potential for widespread radiation release.But Japanese officials stressed that there were no indications of dangerously high radiation levels in the atmosphere around the two reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan. They said they were unable to confirm whether a meltdown had occurred because they cannot get close enough to the reactors' cores."We are continuing to monitor the radiation, but it is under control," Edano told reporters.The Tokyo Electric Power Company has been instructed to conduct three-hour rolling blackouts as the country faces a 10 million kilowatt shortage, officials said. Edano said doctors were examining nine people who tested positive for high radiation levels on their skin and clothing.Meanwhile, he said authorities were responding under the presumption that meltdowns had taken place in both reactors.If the effort to cool the nuclear fuel inside the reactor fails completely -- a scenario experts who have spoken to CNN say is unlikely -- the resulting release of radiation could cause enormous damage to the plant or release radiation into the atmosphere or water. That could lead to widespread cancer and other health problems, experts say."The bottom line is that we just don't know what's going to happen in the next couple of days and, frankly, neither do the people who run the system," added Dr. Ira Helfand, a member of the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility. What we do know, he added, is that Japan's nuclear facilities are "way out of whack."Hmmm.....Bottomline "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst"?Read the full story here.

• Factbox: Experts on explosion at Japan nuclear plant.Japan was fighting to stop fuel rods in two earthquake-damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant from overheating after some controlled radiation leaks into the air to relieve pressure.The government said a building housing one reactor was at risk of exploding after a blast blew the roof off the first the day before at the complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.The fear is that if the fuel rods do not cool, they could melt the container that houses the core, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the wind.Here are comments from experts:"If there is a meltdown, which basically would mean the fuel inside the reactor becomes so hot that basically the cladding that holds it in place ... melts, that can release the radioactivity that comes from the fission cells.""That could only be released into the environment if that material gets out of the main pressure vessel of the reactor."He said there were only two ways that could happen; the first would be if a small amount of pressure in the vessel was vented to stop it exploding."The second one is if you had a really severe enormous over pressure that it blew the top of the reactor off the main vessel."That's what happened at Chernobyl that is not what has happened in the first reactor here," he said, adding the explosion there was caused by a build-up of super hot heated steam."That explosion is what blew away the outside of the first reactor but left the core of the main reactor effectively ... untouched. If that is the same for the second reactor, then (it) shouldn't be a huge problem."Hmmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Very Good article from BBC - Japan crisis 'worst since WWII'.The official line is that the reactor 1 explosion was caused by a build-up of hydrogen originally produced in the reactor, though this remains to be confirmed.Although visually spectacular, these explosions are not necessarily dangerous in terms of releasing radioactivity. The buildings are an external shell, with the task of sealing radioactive materials falling to a metal containment vessel constructed inside the concrete shell."The explosion... wasn't a terribly important event," according to Malcolm Grimston from the Energy Policy and Management Group at Imperial College, London."The building was designed to fall outwards" - preventing damage to the thick steel containment vessel inside.Meanwhile, monitoring around the site was picking up higher levels of radioactivity than expected, above safety limits; hence the evacuation of an estimated 170,000 people.What materials were involved in this is not yet entirely clear, although earlier reports referred to isotopes of caesium and iodine; and the company's bulletin also suggests the route out of the stricken reactors is not known."We will continue to monitor in detail the possibility of radioactive material being discharged from exhaust stack or discharge canal," it reads.Hmmmmm.............Read the full story here.

• IS JAPAN LYING ?The word "meltdown" goes to the heart of the big nuclear question - is nuclear power safe?The term is associated in the public mind with the two most notorious accidents in recent memory - Three Mile Island, in the US, in 1979, and Chernobyl, in Ukraine, seven years later.You can think of the core of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), such as the ones at Fukushima Daiichi, as a massive version of the electrical element you may have in your kettle.It sits there, immersed in water, getting very hot.The water cools it, and also carries the heat away - usually as steam - so it can be used to turn turbines and generate electricity.If the water stops flowing, there is a problem. The core overheats and more of the water turns to steam.The steam generates huge pressures inside the reactor vessel - a big, sealed container - and if the largely metal core gets too hot, it will just melt, with some components perhaps catching fire.In the worst-case scenario, the core melts through the bottom of the reactor vessel and falls onto the floor of the containment vessel - an outer sealed unit.This is designed to prevent the molten reactor from penetrating any further. Local damage in this case will be serious, but in principle there should be no leakage of radioactive material into the outside world.But the term "in principle" is the difficult one.Reactors are designed to have "multiply redundant" safety features: if one fails, another should contain the problem.However, the fact that this does not always work is shown at Fukushima Daiichi.The earthquake meant the three functioning reactors shut down. But it also removed the power that kept the vital water pumps running, sending cooling water around the hot core.Diesel generators were installed to provide power in such a situation. They did cut in - but then they cut out again an hour later, for reasons that have not yet been revealed.In this case, redundancy did not work.Whether a partial meltdown is under way at Fukushima Daiichi is not yet clear. The most important factor is summed up in a bulletin from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) that owns the facility: "Control rods are fully inserted (reactor is in subcritical status)."Meanwhile, a visually dramatic explosion in one of the reactor buildings has at least severely damaged the external walls.In principle, this should not cause leakage of radioactive material because the building is just an outside shell; the job of keeping dangerous materials sealed in falls to the the metal containment vessel inside.Chief cabinet secretary Chief Yukio Edano confirmed this was the case, saying: "The concrete building collapsed. We found out that the reactor container inside didn't explode."He attributed the explosion to a build-up of hydrogen, related in turn to the cooling problem."If any of the fuel rods have been compromised, there would be evidence of a small amount of radioisotopes in the atmosphere [such as] radio-caesium and radio-iodine," says Paddy Regan, professor of nuclear physics at the UK's University of Surrey."The amount that you measure would tell you to what degree the fuel rods have been compromised."It is an important question - but as yet, unanswered.HMMMMM........Hellooooo :"It was confirmed that radioactive caesium, one of the elements released when overheating causes core damage, had been detected around the plant."!Read the full story here.Much more details in the TRUTH : Emergency Core Cooling System ECCS failure predicted in 1971 here.

• Japan quake-tsunami death toll likely over 10,000.TAGAJO, Japan – The death toll in Japan's earthquake and tsunami will likely exceed 10,000 in one state alone, an official said Sunday, as millions of survivors were left without drinking water, electricity and proper food along the pulverized northeastern coast.Although the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000, it seemed overwhelmed by what's turning out to be a triple disaster: Friday's quake and tsunami damaged two nuclear reactors at a power plant on the coast, and at least one of them appeared to be going through a partial meltdown, raising fears of a radiation leak.The police chief of Miyagi prefecture, or state, told a gathering of disaster relief officials that his estimate for deaths was more than 10,000, police spokesman Go Sugawara told The Associated Press. Miyagi has a population of 2.3 million and is one of the three prefectures hardest hit in Friday's disaster. Only 379 people have officially been confirmed as dead in Miyagi.The nuclear crisis posed fresh concerns for those who survived the earthquake and tsunami, which hit with breathtaking force and speed, breaking or sweeping away everything in its path."First I was worried about the quake, now I'm worried about radiation. I live near the plants, so I came here to find out if I'm OK. I tested negative, but I don't know what to do next," Kenji Koshiba, a construction worker, said at an emergency center in Koriyama town near the power plant in Fukushima.The U.S. Geological Survey calculated the initial quake to have a magnitude of 8.9, while Japanese officials raised their estimate on Sunday to 9.0. Either way it was the strongest quake ever recorded in Japan. It has been followed by more than 150 powerful aftershocks.Public broadcaster NHK said around 380,000 people have been evacuated to emergency shelters, many of them without power.Hmmmm.....Pray God this is the end of their ordeal and no more heavy quakes happen.Read the full story here.More here .

• Israel approves 500 new homes in West Bank settlements in response to Itamar attack.Ministerial committee on settlements with participation of Netanyahu and Barak approve further settlement building as response to the fatal stabbing in West Bank settlement in which family of five were slain.The approval of further settlement building follows several long months wherein no construction was approved. The move involves measured construction of several hundred housing units within settlement blocs.The prime minister's office notified the White House on Saturday night of Israel's intention to approve new settlement construction. A government official said that this was a strategic decision to build in settlements that will remain in Israel's control in any possible peace agreement with the Palestinians. Hmmmmm.....GOOD !Read the full story here.Yishai: Israel must build 1,000 new units in settlements for every person murdered full story here.

• IDF hunting for perpetrators of brutal Itamar killings. A mother, father and three of their children were stabbed to death late Friday night by at least one suspected terrorist who infiltrated the Itamar settlement southeast of Nablus.The killings occurred shortly after 10 p.m., when one or two attackers jumped the fence that surrounds Itamar and broke into the home of Ruth and Udi Fogel, aged 35 and 36, respectively. The attackers went room to room, stabbing the parents, a three-month-old girl, Hadas, and two boys, Elad, three, and Yoav, 11.Two other children – aged two and eight – were in a side room but were not attacked.The family’s oldest child, 12- year-old Tamar, was out of the house at the time.The IDF immediately launched searches in nearby Arab villages as Palestinians reported that a faction of Fatah’s al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade had claimed responsibility.Several dozen suspects were arrested in Awarta, Sanur and Zabada as soldiers conducted searches with the aid of unmanned aerial vehicles that provided surveillance from above.As the attackers used knives rather than rifles or pistols, and because of other characteristics of the killings, the IDF believes it was not carried out by an organized terrorist infrastructure but more likely was the work of one or two people who could, though, be affiliated with one of the larger Palestinian terrorist groups.The army urged the settler community to demonstrate restraint in the coming days.The IDF and the Israel Police deployed large forces in the area to prevent clashes between settlers and Palestinians.The suspected terrorists infiltrated the settlement close to 9:30 p.m. but did not carry out the attack until around 10:15.“The children were literally slaughtered,” an IDF officer said, describing the scene, including the children’s toys spilled out on the floor and covered in blood. “This is one of the most brutal attacks we have ever seen.”Defense Minister Ehud Barak convened top military and security chiefs on Saturday and urged them to take all necessary action to apprehend the killers.“This is a horrible attack that makes my blood boil, but I have no doubt that the perpetrators will be captured,” Barak said during a meeting with IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. Benny Gantz and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin. “We need to do everything so security and quiet can return to the area."OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi expressed condolences following the attack.“An entire family was killed by despicable and cowardly murderers who murdered children and parents for no reason,” he said.Mizrahi hinted that the IDF had a lead on the identity of the terrorists: “We are in the midst of pursuing the terrorists and I believe we will catch them very soon,” he said.Hmmmm....."Vengeance is mine says the Lord, the Bible also says that men are the tools of God."Read the full story here.More here .

• Netanyahu : " I noticed that some of the states that rushed to the Security Council to condemn Israel, the Jewish State, for planning to build a home somewhere, are slow in issuing a harsh condemnation over the murder of Jewish babies,"Officials at Prime Minister's Office may hand over shocking photos of Itamar massacre aftermath to foreign media.The images in questions are ones not usually published in Israel following terror attacks. Should officials decide to go ahead with the move, Israel's Government Press Office will hand over the photographs to global media outlets. According to sources familiar with the discussions, the purpose of publishing such photos would be to shock the world and prompt condemnation of the Palestinian Authority over its responsibility for incitement against Israel. "There' is no justification whatsoever, no excuse and no forgiveness for the murder of babies," the PM said. Hmmmm.....Where's Obama now?....Ah yes he can only bash Israel in favor of the Palestinians."They don't trust me because of my middle name".Read the full story here.

• HT:Giyus.Org.Boycott Israel? Actually, It’s Against the Law.For all the noise the Boycott Disinvestment Sanctions (BDS) movement is making lately it seems they are (intentionally?) forgetting to mention a tiny fact – it is illegal for US firms to boycott Israel and you could face up to 10 years in prison for violating the anti boycott laws.The antiboycott laws were adopted to encourage, and in specified cases, require U.S. firms to refuse to participate in foreign boycotts that the United States does not sanction. The law prohibits U.S. persons from taking certain actions in support of an unsanctioned foreign boycott against a country that is friendly to the United States.Those laws discourage, and in some circumstances, prohibit U.S. companies from furthering or supporting the boycott of Israel sponsored by the Arab League, and certain Muslim countries, including complying with certain requests for information designed to verify compliance with the boycott.US corporations are required by law to report foreign calls to join a boycott or divestment campaign against a friendly country. Corporations are additionally required to file form 5713 with their IRS tax forms declaring international boycott associated taxes and income. The form even has specific reference to boycott of Israel.While the antiboycott laws apply to all boycotts imposed by foreign countries that are unsanctioned by the United States, the main boycott relevant today is the Arab league boycott of Israel.To that regard here is a clarification of what does the law prohibits:

Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies.

Agreements to discriminate or actual discrimination against other persons based on race, religion, sex, national origin or nationality.

Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about business relationships with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies.

Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about the race, religion, sex, or national origin of another person.

While the law above relates to US corporations, the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) requires any US person to report quarterly requests they have received to take certain actions to comply with, further, or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott.It seems that anyone involved with the BDS campaign against Israel should be aware of these legal requirements. We in Giyus.org call on the BDS movement to educate its followers and ensure they comply with US laws and regulations.They can use this video as reference.Read and see the full story here.

• For battered Japan a new threat: nuclear meltdown.170,000 people ordered to evacuate area covering Fukushima plant near Iwaki as Partial meltdown likely under way at second nuclear reactor, number of troops pressed into search and rescue work doubled.A partial meltdown was likely under way at a second nuclear reactor, a top Japanese official said Sunday, as operators frantically tried to prevent a similar threat from a nearby unit at the same facility following a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that may have killed 1,000 people.Some 170,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the area covering a radius of 12 miles (20 kilometers) around the plant in Fukushima near Iwaki. A meltdown refers to a very serious collapse of a power plant's systems and its ability to manage temperatures. A complete meltdown would release uranium and dangerous byproducts into the environment that can pose serious health risks. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that a partial meltdown in Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is "highly possible." "Because it's inside the reactor, we cannot directly check it but we are taking measures on the assumption of the possible partial meltdown," he said.Edano said cooling operation at Unit 1 was going smoothly after sea water was pumped in. He expressed hope that it would keep the plant under control. Operators released slightly radioactive air from Unit 3 Sunday, while injecting water into it as an effort to reduce pressure and temperature to save the reactor from a possible meltdown, Edano said. He said radiation levels briefly rose above legal limits, but that it has since declined significantly. Also, fuel rods were exposed briefly, he said, indicating that coolant water didn't cover the rods for some time. That would contribute further to raising the temperature in the reactor vessel. Meanwhile, the government doubled the number of troops pressed into rescue and recovery operations to about 100,000 from 51,000.Read the full story here.

• HT:PajamasMedia.Addressing Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood and Democracy.By N.M. Guariglia.There is one silver lining to the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: it will eventually force the United States to adopt an international policy on Islam itself. Given his Cairo speech in 2009, littered with historical inaccuracies and undue politically correct praise of Islam, we shouldn’t expect President Obama to take upon himself this task. Perhaps another statesman will. But that it must be done — alas, ten years after 9/11 — is no longer a matter of debate.The national discourse is petty. Policymakers talk as though the problem were merely 500 terrorists cave-hopping around Waziristan. This is not so. The issue is societal. Europe is on the precipice of cultural implosion. The issue is also imminent. The entire Persian Gulf and Arab Levant is up for grabs. Atomic bombs are in question. Radical Islamists have entrenched themselves in the West’s political mainstream — even into the U.S. government. For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood has had more power within the United States than in Egypt.finally, we ought to devise a foreign policy whereby we officially oppose the inclusion of fascist theocratic movements in new democratic governments — whether Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt — and proclaim our support for true freedom. As with Hitler’s Germany, democracies can easily be destroyed in their infancy through the tactic of “one man, one vote, one time.”There’s no need to be bigoted or mean-spirited. We can do this, as Reagan did with Soviet communism, with the confidence of a happy heart. Good humor, in fact, might go a long way. We should distinguish a doctrine from its adherents and respect the world’s Muslims enough to be honest with them. But first, we must be honest with ourselves. They’ll respect that more.Hmmmm......"If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. But, if you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat."Sun Tzu.Read the full story here.

• HT:EmergingCorruption.Activists in 23 States Coming Together in Texas to ‘True The Vote’.Patriots and activists from 23 states are about to gather together on March 25 and 26 in Houston, Texas to attend the True The Vote Summit, an effort to make “true” the electoral system in every polling place in the country, to stop voter fraud, and to quash the intimidation of voters. Organizers hope to make sure that we again have free and fair elections.A local Harris County activist group named The The King Street Patriots built the True The Vote Summit upon their experiences of attempting to “true” the 2010 election in Harris County, Texas.Back before the recent election, the KSP got together to try and find out what sort of shape the voting rolls were in Harris County, Texas were. What they found was shocking. Due to its investigation, an ACORN organizer was exposed for having registered over 23,000 fake voters in the county. The story made national news.Naturally the floodgates of hate were opened upon them. Leftist agitators let loose a smear campaign against these patriotic folks calling them haters, racists, and worse. The Black Panthers even came out in force to intimidate both the KSP and the voters they were observing.The attacks on the True The Vote Summit have also continued unabated by the left today. So we know how the left is worried about this movement. Vote fraud is almost exclusively practiced by Democrats and left-wing activists in this country, so an effort like this threatens their operations.Despite all the attacks they underwent, the King Street Patriots were buoyed by their success in stopping vote fraud during the 2010 elections and with that experience to guide them they now want to offer their assistance and to relay the tools they’ve developed to stop vote fraud to any and every state in the union. The result is the True The Vote Summit to be held March 25 and 26 in Houston, Texas.If you are ready to do your duty as an American to, as in Ben Franklin’s warning, “have our Republic and keep it” make haste to sign up to join the True The Vote Summit this month.Hmmmm.....And abolish electronic voting,it's way too easy to manipulate the outcome of the votes!Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes."I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us," the doomed man said, staring straight into the video camera. "And I am ready to die for a cause." Shahbaz Bhatti had no hesitation in his voice as he responded to a question about threats from the Taliban and al-Qaeda. "I'm living for my community ... and I will die to defend their rights." It was his last answer in a four-month-old self-produced video that was to be broadcast in the event of his death. But the radicals had the final say. On March 2, Bhatti, Pakistan's Minister for Minority Affairs, was shot dead in Islamabad. Pamphlets scattered on the ground claimed the act for a new alliance of "the organization of al-Qaeda and the Punjabi Taliban" and asserted that other infidels and apostates would meet the same fate.Within hours of Taseer's death, telephone text messages celebrating his assassination made the rounds. "Justice has been done," read one. "If you love the Prophet, pass this on." A Facebook fan page for assassin Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri garnered more than 2,000 members before site administrators shut it down. Even the leaders of state-funded mosques refused to say funeral prayers for the slain governor. When Qadri was transferred to a local jail, he was garlanded with roses by hundreds of lawyers — the vanguard of a movement that in 2008 helped unseat a military dictator — offering to take on his case for free.When a nation rises up in support of a murderer instead of his victim, it's hard not to believe it is heading down a dangerous path. "What is happening now won't matter in five years," says Shehrbano Taseer. "It will matter in 25 years. What we are seeing now is the fruit of what happened 30 years ago. If people had stood up against [Zia-ul-Haq], we would not be here today. Because of that silence we have madrasahs spewing venom, a true Islam threatened by the same people who claim to serve it, and a cowed majority too afraid to speak."President Asif Ali Zardari, an old friend of Taseer's, condemned the murders but didn't go to either funeral. After paying his respects to Taseer's family, Interior Minister Rehman Malik gave an impromptu press conference outside Taseer's house during which he announced that he too would kill any blasphemer "with his own hands." A few days later, the Prime Minister announced that he would drop the issue of the blasphemy laws altogether. Meanwhile, the government is under pressure to go through with Aasia's sentence, and now her two champions are dead. (Read: "In Pakistan, Christianity Earns a Death Sentence.")But is it? Two weeks after Taseer's murder, I visited Qari Muhammad Zawar Bahadur, the head of one of Pakistan's mainstream religious groups and a co-signer of a statement that advised Muslims not to show "grief or sympathy on the death of the governor, as those who support blasphemy of the Prophet are themselves indulging in blasphemy." For more than an hour, he justified his group's stance, telling me that the Koran was clear on the issue. I asked Bahadur to show me the exact verse that detailed the punishments for blasphemy. He mumbled that "there are several passages," as if there were so many, he couldn't decide which one to quote. When pressed further, he consulted a Koran and read aloud a passage that spoke of killing a man who had once harmed the Prophet.That verse has routinely been dismissed by leading Islamic scholars as referring to a specific case and having nothing to do with blasphemy. They say there is no definition of blasphemy in the Koran, nor any prescription for its punishment. "Nobody challenges these mullahs, and that is our problem," says Omar Fazal Jamil, who runs a p.r. firm in Lahore. "We can't invoke liberal secular values anymore. I have to have the knowledge to contradict these men who distort our religion for their own political gain. I have to be able to say, 'No, this did not happen, this is not right, and show me where it says in the Koran that blasphemers should be shot on sight.' "The Sin of Silence:In the absence of such challenges, those favoring religious intolerance will continue to have things go their way. In late 2007, Benazir Bhutto released an updated manifesto for her father's party. "The statutes that discriminate against religious minorities and are sources of communal disharmony will be reviewed," it said. Less than a month later she was dead, killed in a bomb attack just 13 km from where both Taseer and Bhatti were murdered. Her death was an opportunity to rally the nation against the forces of extremism. Instead the party focused on consolidating power. The manifesto remains an empty promise, and two more voices of tolerance have been silenced. For evil to prevail, goes the old aphorism, all that is required is for good men to do nothing.Hmmmm....."The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict."Martin Luther King, Jr.Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.India, Pakistan test nuke-tipped missiles on same day.Balasore/Islamabad, March 11 (IANS) India Friday successfully test-fired its homegrown nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles Prithvi-II and its naval version Dhanush from different locations off the Orissa coast, on a day Pakistan too tested its nuclear-capable Hatf-II ballistic missile.The Prithvi-II was fired from complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore district, about 230 km from state capital Bhubaneswar at 10.50 a.m.The Dhanush was launched at 10.03 a.m. from a warship anchored off the Puri coast in the Bay of Bengal.'Both were fantastic missions, 100 per cent successful' ITR director S.P. Dash told IANS, adding that the tests were carried out as part of training exercises of the armed forces.The two almost simultaneous user-tests come a week after India successfully tested its ballistic missile interceptor on March 6, as part of its efforts to develop a shield against enemy missiles.Prithvi II, a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 350 km, is a variant of India's first indigenously-built ballistic missile. It is one of the five missiles being developed under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.The missile, with a flight duration of 483 seconds reaching a peak altitude of 43.5 km, has the capability to carry a 500 kg warhead.Prithvi, which has features to deceive anti-ballistic missiles, uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring capabilities and reaches its target with a few metres of accuracy.Dhanush, with a range of 350 km, is a single-stage ship-based missile with a 500 kg pay-load and capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.The naval missile, with a liquid propellant, is designed to target both sea and shore-based targets. Though Dhanush had failed in its first test at take-off stage on April 11, 2000, its subsequent trials were successful. It was last successfully flight tested on March 27 last year from Indian warship INS Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal.Pakistan too successfully test-fired the Hatf-II (Abdali) short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile. The missile, with a range of 180 km, can carry nuclear and conventional warheads to the target.The test-firing was conducted at an undisclosed location and was witnessed by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Shamim Hyder Wyyne, according to Xinhua. It is the second test of this kind by Pakistan in two months.Hmmmmm......All that is needed is Obama to sell more weapons to them as he already does to the Middle East?Read the full story here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.European Council for Fatwa and Research: Women Can't Speak and Remember at the Same Time.The below translation comes from a section of a 2006 Arabic-language essay entitled "Women and Political and Democratic Participation" (see page 21), produced by the European Council for Fatwa and Research, which is presided over by the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi. This is in the context of explaining some of the differences between men and women. This idea was also previously put forth by al-Qa'ida-linked Yemeni cleric 'Abd-al-Majid al-Zindani. And of course it's all based on Qur'an 2:282, as you'll read below, which stipulates that a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man under Islamic law.Try this one on your wife or girlfriend: "Honey, just slow down and think for a second before you tell me, because I know you can't speak and remember at the same time." Let me know how that goes...[...] Time magazine, in its 31 July 1995 (pg. 39) publication, presented the results of a scientific study which displayed the image of a woman’s brain when she was engrossed in speaking and conversing. At that moment, both sides of the brain were completely occupied, being used to process speech. It also showed the image of a man’s brain when he was speaking, and only one side was being used. This makes him more precise (in speaking), because he uses the second side of his brain to remember, while the woman occupies both sides of her brain just to speak. This -- Allah knows best -- is the secret of the saying of Almighty Allah: “If there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her” [Qur’an 2:282].Hmmmm..... "Woman's identity cannot consist in being a copy of man, since she is endowed with her own qualities and prerogatives, which give her a particular uniqueness that is always to be fostered and encouraged... To all in our age who offer selfish models for affirming the feminine personality, the luminous and holy figure of the Lord's Mother shows how only by self-giving and self-forgetfulness towards others is it possible to attain authentic fulfillment of the divine plan for one's own life."Pope John Paul II (1995) .Read the full story here.

• Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted Earth's axis.The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis."At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).The temblor, which struck Friday afternoon near the east coast of Japan, killed hundreds of people, caused the formation of 30-foot walls of water that swept across rice fields, engulfed entire towns, dragged houses onto highways, and tossed cars and boats like toys. Some waves reached six miles (10 kilometers) inland in Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's east coast.Read the full story here.

• Did ‘supermoon’ cause the tsunami...And should we still be worried?Japan’s devastating earthquake comes just days after a warning that an extreme "supermoon" would spark chaos across the globe. On March 19, the moon will loom be at its closest distance from the Earth in 18 years. Weather bloggers noted there was a supermoon just before the last monster tsunami in Asia on Boxing Day 2004. Conspiracy theorists on the internet have made catastrophic predictions of tidal waves, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Next week the moon will pass a mere 221,567 miles from our planet and some amateur scientists have been predicting extreme conditions all over the world. The event — known as a lunar perigee — happens when a full or new moon comes within 90 per cent of its closest approach possible. Those that come nearest to Earth are called extreme supermoons, just like the one expected next week. Blogger Daniel Vogler wrote on weather website AccuWeather: "The last extreme supermoon occurred on January 10th, 2005, right around the time of the 9.0 Indonesia earthquake. Previous supermoons were sighted in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005 — all years that had extreme weather events. The tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia happened two weeks before the January 2005 supermoon.Japan was struck by the catastrophe just three weeks after the earthquake which devastated Christchurch in New Zealand and killed hundreds.Hmmmm......Once is a coincidence,twice is unlucky ,but so many times i would say it's linked.Read the full story here.

• Poppy-burning Muslim’s father served 14 ‘proud’ years in the Navy.The father of a Muslim extremist who burned poppies on Remembrance Day served in the Royal Navy as a police officer for 14 years, relatives have claimed. Mohammed Gouse Miah, 85, is said to be devastated by the actions of his estranged son Emdadur Choudhury, who was fined a paltry £50 by a judge for setting light to poppies and yelling ‘British soldiers burn in hell’ during the two-minute silence on November 11 last year. Choudhury – who claims almost £800-a-month in State handouts – laughed off the fine, claiming he would pay more for a parking offence. Prime Minister David Cameron said Choudhury’s behaviour ‘has no place in a tolerant society’, while war veterans labelled it ‘disgusting’.In contrast with Choudhury’s apparent hatred for British troops, Mr Miah is said to be ‘proud’ of his time in the British military, as a Naval police officer in Singapore in the Fifties. A relative said: ‘He is very upset by it. He thinks what his son has done is crazy. He thinks his son has been brainwashed by extremists.’Relatives said that Mr Miah, who has three sons and a daughter, became concerned about Choudhury after he was radicalised by extremists. Choudhury left home two years ago after arguments with his father and lives in a nearby council flat with his wife and two young children.Relatives said that Choudhury, 26, is estranged from his extended family, whom he views as ‘kuffar’ (infidels) because they do not believe in his brand of radical Islam. His cousin, Azad Choudhury, 54, said: ‘This poppy-burning incident has not only shamed his family, but has shamed the whole Bangladeshi community and all those from the Indian subcontinent. This sort of actions can lead to racists launching violent acts against Asians.’Hmmmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Palestinians pass out sweets to celebrate the slaughter of an Israeli Family.Gaza celebrates; Fayyad condemns.Rafah residents hand out candy following murder of parents, three children in West Bank settlement of Itamar. Palestinian PM denounces act, says “we categorically oppose violence and terror, regardless of victims’, perpetrators’ identity”Gaza residents from the southern city of Rafah on Saturday poured out on the streets to celebrate the terror attack in West Bank settlement of Itamar, in which five family members were murdered in their sleep.Residents handed out candy and sweets, one resident saying their joy “is a natural response to the harm settlers inflict on the Palestinian residents in the West Bank.”"The report of five murdered Israelis is not enough to punish someone," said Hamas Spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, adding, "However; we in Hamas completely support the resistance against settlers who murder and use crime and terror against the Palestinian people under the auspices of the Israeli occupation soldiers." Hmmmm......These are the "people" that want to be 'recognised' by the UN?read the full story here.

• Is Turkey training a religious teachers 'army' to indoctrinate European Muslims even at 'kindergarten' level?Turkish students from abroad study theology in İstanbul.Semra Doğan is one of Polat’s classmates, and like him, was also born and raised in Belgium. She graduated with a degree in preschool education, but later thought about the idea of enrolling in the International Theology Program in Turkey, while searching for ways to become a teacher of religious culture in Belgium. In fact, it was with the encouragement of her father that she set out for Turkey. She will also be graduating from the program this year as well. Her greatest dream is to open up a crèche that offers religious instruction for the children of Muslim families.Another one of the Turkish students here at Marmara University who grew up in Europe is İbrahim Polat. He was born in Belgium and loves to read religious books and think about Islam from an intellectual perspective. In fact, he has been involved in voluntary efforts to help close the gap created by deficiencies in religious services in Belgium. One of these was to form a group connected to the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs that would sponsor activities that would help people, especially young people, become closer to their religion. After a while, this group managed to become influential not only in Turkish circles in Belgium, but with Muslims living in this country. This same group also formed a group in which religious topics could be discussed. It was later, while Polat was a student at Marmara University studying international communication-management that he decided to pursue an education in theology.Kürşat Karbaki is 21 years old. He is a first-year student at the International Theology Program and comes from Germany. He is incredibly excited to be here. He is also full of joy, seemingly incapable of standing still, and bursting to tell his story. He explains: “I was born in Germany. I grew up there. My mother is a very religious person and so she raised me to be religious, too. I received my religious education by regularly going to the mosque. In fact, I was even a muezzin for a while when I was in high school, since my voice was good. That’s when I decided to study theology. One day, the Düsseldorf religious attache came to our mosque, and told us about the international theology project. He said, ‘You should do it, you would be perfect for it.’ I started to research it. And since I knew that there is a lack of people who know about Islam in Europe, I said, ‘I will do this.’ In the end, I am here. The part of all of this that really excites me is that my religious education is composed of a Turkish-Islam synthesis.”Hmmmm......Keep Turkey out of the European Union and get them out of NATO!Read the full story here.

• HT:DerSpiegel.'You Are No Longer My Son'.French 'Refuge' Helps Muslim Gays.For many gay and lesbian young people in France, Le Refuge is a lifesaver -- literally. Since 2003, the organization has helped hundreds of desperate youths, most of them from Muslim families, who have been rejected by their families and forced onto the streets. But the charity is overwhelmed by the number of people seeking assistance.Amine (not his real name) cannot forget the last words he heard from his father. Six words that destroyed his life. "You are no longer my son."Amine's father had rejected him because he is gay. There was no way back.For up to six months, 18- to 25-year-olds can live in one of Le Refuge's homes in Paris, Lyon and Marseille, complete with educational, medical and psychological support. Here, they can finish their schooling, search for jobs and start to build a new life.Since its founding in 2003, Le Refuge has cared for about 200 young people, including 80 in the last year alone, says Nicolas Noguier, 33, who is the organization's founder. About 70 percent of the people living there are young men. Most come from Muslim families. While French society has become more open and liberal, homosexuality remains a taboo topic in many Muslim families. "It is exactly in this environment that homophobia is the most brutal for young people," says Nicolas Noguier from Le Refuge. "They expect support from their family, not rejection." The consequences are serious. Many young people withdraw from their surroundings, have low self-esteem or even become suicidal. "The suicide rate among homosexual young people is 13 times higher than among heterosexuals of the same age," says Noguier.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGovernment.Clearing-up Obama Energy Lies.The President of the United States tried one again to mislead the public about domestic oil production and how much untapped oil is left in the ground. He said that domestic oil production is at the highest level in seven years and he indicated that American reserves are not adequate to help the US reduced its dependence on foreign oil. If Congressman Wilson was in the audience he might have repeated his famous shout “You Lie.”Domestic Oil Production.Obama commented that US oil production was at its highest point in seven years. That was both incorrect and misleading. Daily average production of oil last year 5,361,000 barrels/day the best since 2005’s 5,419,000/day. The real misleading fact about his statement, is that neither year is even close to levels seen only ten years before when production was 20% higher.The President mentioned 35 offshore contracts were awarded, hiding the fact that off shore oil production has been way down since 2005, and that production took a big drop as soon as Obama took office (even before BP).Domestic Supply The President grossly undersold America’s oil supply saying that we only have 2% of the worlds supply. OK he didn’t undersell, he lied big time. The number is America’s proven reserves where we are already drilling. It does not include the 10 billion barrels available in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It does not include most of the 86 billion barrels available offshore in the Outer Continental Shelf, most of which President Obama has placed under an executive drilling ban. And it does not include the 800 billion barrels of oil we have locked in shale in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Those shale resources alone are actually three times larger than the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia, so the claim that the U.S. only has 2% of the world’s oil is clearly false.A 2009 study by the non partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) sheds light on America’s energy resources. It shows show the U.S. supply of recoverable oil to be 167 billion barrels of oil, the equivalent of replacing America’s current imports from OPEC countries for more than 75 years. And that’s just the oil, when you include gas and coal, the U.S. has energy reserves the equivalent of 1.3 trillion barrels.Oil Companies Are Not Using The Leases They Have.The President said the “Industry holds leases on tens of millions of acres both offshore and on land where they aren’t producing a thing.” and he said he wants to “encourage companies to produce [on] the leases they hold.”If Obama is telling the truth, those oil companies must be run by idiots, paying for leases but not getting the product out of the ground so they can make money. Thankfully for those who hold stock in big oil, it isn’t that the oil companies are run by idiots its that the President thinks the American people are idiots and will believe that particular pack of lies.A lease is for exploration and production, not just production, and because oil is not equally distributed across the globe, one parcel of leased acreage may not hold any oil. Moreover, due to government red-tape, which has gotten more complected under the Obama administration, it can take years for companies who own a lease to complete their exploration activities. To get to the production phase, it could take as long as ten years. Ironically, President Obama wants to tax companies for not producing on their leases, even if the federal government’s refusal to grant permits is the reason why those companies are not drilling.The truth is, ever since Barack Obama took office the President has been making it more difficult to exploit our own energy resources, one of his first actions was having the Secretary of the Interior cancel leases to exploit our shale oil reserves in Utah. It seems as if President Obama’s energy policy consists of making America more dependent on foreign oil.Hmmmm......All this has nothing to do with the President's dream to sell every American an electric car who go's a full 47 Miles in winter and then only needs a FIVE hour 'quick' recharge?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Pakistan's Jewish Problem.By: Tufail Ahmad.This paper examines : 

a) the history of Jews in Pakistan.

 b) violence against Jews and their synagogues following the creation of the Islamic nation of Pakistan in 1947.

 c) contemporary protests by Pakistani Muslims against Jews and Israel; and d) Pakistani political and religious leaders' penchant for blaming most problems facing Pakistan on a U.S.-India-Israel axis.Looking at Pakistani media reports over the past few years, this paper outlines how Pakistani opinion makers – barring a small segment of liberal intelligentsia – are deepening the anti-Jewish mindset that is typical across the Islamic world. For the purposes of this analysis, this paper does not include statements, protests, editorials, cartoons or viewpoints of Pakistani leaders and the government that are deemed to be justified criticism of Israel over its policies regarding the Palestinian problem and the occupied territories.This paper does discuss the narrative of antisemitism in Pakistani society, examining how Israel is seen by Islamic scholars and political leaders in Pakistan as representing the Jews rather than the state and government of Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In the context of this paper, a definition of antisemitism means political/religious/cultural attacks on Jews and Israel that are not related to the Palestinian problem but over supposed Jewish-Israeli involvement in international conspiracies.Read the full story here.

• Pakistan - Death threats for Pakistan actress.Veena Malik has incured wrath of clerics for intimate scenes on Indian reality TV show.A well-known Pakistani actress on Saturday said she had received death threats from militants after appearing on the Indian equivalent of hit reality television show "Big Brother".Veena Malik, 27, incurred the wrath of hardline Islamic clerics for her performance on "Big Boss", during which she indulged in several intimate scenes with Indian actor Ashmit Patel that included massaging his head and neck.Clerics accused her of shaming Pakistan in rival India and she also received a letter threatening to "punish" her."I am quite shocked after receiving this letter. First I got only verbal threats but now it is in writing," Malik told AFP by telephone from India, where she is hosting cricket World Cup show "Big Toss"."Security is a concern and the Pakistani government is responsible for my and my family's security. I hope that the government will provide me that security," Malik said.The actress said people with tight security details had been killed in Pakistan, referring to the January assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer over his opposition to a draconian blasphemy law."What can I say except that I have firm belief in God and life and death is in his hand," she said.Malik said she would return to Pakistan despite the threats.Sohail Rashid, Malik's media manager, said she had received a letter from the little-known Maulana Ahmed Masood, who claims to be a leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban, or the Taliban movement."The letter says that Tehreek-e-Taliban has taken a decision as a Muslim to punish Veena Malik soon," Rashid told AFP."We want our daughters and sisters in our homes only and Veena Malik, who is humiliating Pakistan's name in India, will be punished soon," Rashid quoted from the letter."We are soon going to punish Veena Malik so that our future generations may be afraid of going to India. It is the responsibility of all Pakistanis and Muslims, but now we are going to accomplish it," Rashid quoted the letter as saying.Hmmmm......Why in Gods name is the Obama Administration supporting Pakistan?Read the full story here.