Video - US importing food from Japan that’s considered unfit to eat there?

The difference between Japan and the United States is kind of startling. In Japan, at this point the permissible level of radioactivity in food is 100 becquerels per kilogram [...] In the United States the permissible level is 1,200. So Japan’s limits are 12 times stronger than ours, which means that we could very certainly be importing food from Japan that’s considered unfit to eat there.HT: InvestmentwatchBlog.

Michigan - Dearborn'istan' pharmacist makes ‘halal’ vitamins for American Muslims.

Michigan - Dearborn'istan' pharmacist makes ‘halal’ vitamins for American Muslims.(AA).As a pharmacist in the Detroit area, Sam Alawieh, was baffled by a question a patient asked him about the vitamins she was about to take. “She asked me, does this have anything that’s not halal in it?,” Alawieh said. “I told her, ‘ honestly, I don’t know’.” Alawieh then began a search into the matter. He discovered that the majority of vitamins in the market were not “halal” as most of them had pork derivatives, such as the gelatin used in capsules or in gummy vitamins. “That threw me way back, so I thought, now what? how do we give patients the option to be healthy and be halal at the same time?” Alawieh said. Through his Michigan based pharmaceutical lab “Rxtra” he set out to create a line of “halal” vitamins that contain no animal by-products and is in the process of obtaining a “halal” certification for them. He currently sells them in an Arab American supermarket in Dearborn and is in the process of setting up a website to take orders. Muslim American organizations, like the Council on American Islamic Relations, CAIR, say there are about seven million Muslims in the united States.

 “Their income is higher than the national average end they have a larger numbers of professionals as heads of households,” CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper said.

The New York based Center for American Muslims Research estimates that the annual purchasing power of U.S. Muslims is about $12 billion. [So why would Obama's Commerce Department considers labeling Arab Americans a disadvantaged minority?]
Hmmmm........."Unlike medications and prescription drugs, the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, does not have to approve or even inspect vitamins sold" Read the full story here.

In June 2007, FDA established dietary supplement "current Good Manufacturing Practice" (cGMP) regulations requiring that manufacturers evaluate their products through testing identity, purity, strength, and composition."http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/vita…

New Disability Regs Require Businesses to Admit Mini Horses as Guide Animals.....even in Restaurants.

New Disability Regs Require Businesses to Admit Mini Horses as Guide Animals.....even in Restaurants.(CNSNews).Although the Justice Department has extended the deadline for America’s hotels to comply with regulations regarding handicap access to swimming pools, new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines are already being applied at miniature golf courses, driving ranges, amusement parks, shooting ranges and saunas. Among the provisions in the "Revised ADA Standards for Accessible Design," which went into effect on March 15, is one requiring businesses to allow miniature horses on their premises as guide animals for the disabled. Another limits the height of slopes on miniature golf holes. “The new standards, for the first time, include requirements for judicial facilities, detention and correctional facilities, and recreational facilities,” Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said during a conference in Baltimore on June 7. “We expect the implementation of these accessibility standards to open up doors for full participation in both the responsibilities, such as jury duty, and the benefits, such as playing at city parks, of civic life for people with disabilities,” he said.
A section of the guidelines regulating commercial facilities states that, “a public accommodation shall make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures to permit the use of a miniature horse by an individual with a disability if the miniature horse has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of the individual with a disability.”
A public accommodation is defined as “a private entity that owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.”
“Miniature horses were suggested by some commenters as viable alternatives to dogs for individuals with allergies, or for those whose religious beliefs preclude the use of dogs,” the rules state. Also mentioned as a reason to include the animals is the longer life span of miniature horses – providing approximately 25 years of service as opposed to seven years for dogs.
“Some individuals with disabilities have traveled by train and have flown commercially with their miniature horses,” the Justice Department notes.“Similar to dogs, miniature horses can be trained through behavioral reinforcement to be ‘housebroken,’” it adds.However, “Ponies and full-size horses are not covered.”
A business owner can deny admission to a miniature horse that is not housebroken, whose handler does not have sufficient control of the animal, or if the horse’s presence compromises “legitimate safety requirements.”
The miniature horse addition has come under the scrutiny of at least one member of Congress, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who offered an amendment that passed the House, banning funding to implement the provision. Chaffetz penned an editorial last month in opposition to the rule entitled, “Horses in the Dining Room?”Hmmmm.......As i said before "Has ANYONE ever SEEN a 'miniature guide horse' in an ISLAMIC COUNTRY?Any picture of this 'unicorn' in it's 'natural habitat' will be posted right away!Read the full story here.

Freedom watch: Not a single Democrat voted in favor of ending FDA raids on raw milk farmers.

Freedom watch: Not a single Democrat voted in favor of ending FDA raids on raw milk farmers.(NaturalNews).Here's some news for those who still somehow believe the political left in Washington cares about the People. After U.S. Senator Rand Paul introduced an amendment that would have ended armed FDA raids on raw milk farmers
(http://www.naturalnews.com/035966_Rand_Paul_FDA_censorship.html) and legalized free speech about the curative properties of medicinal herbs, nutritional supplements and superfoods, are you curious how many Democrats voted in favor of this?

Zero.

Big fat zero, to be exact.


Not a single Democrat in the United States Senate believes in fundamental food freedom, farm freedom or the principles of liberty. Every single Democrat in the Senate is a Big Brother sellout who supports the FDA having more guns pointed in the faces of raw milk farmers, arresting them and throwing them in prison, criminalizing real food and destroying America's small family farms.
Every single Democrat in the U.S. Senate believes that telling the truth about the beneficial effects of Chinese Medicine, or medicinal herbs, or nutritional supplements should be a crime that can also get you raided, shut down and imprisoned by the FDA. 

There is not a single Democrat who sees anything wrong with the government sending herbal product formulators to prison. 

There is not a single Democrat who believes that an Amish farmer has the right to milk a cow and sell that milk to their neighbor without being threatened by the government.


This is an astonishing milestone in U.S. history. When those in Washington who pretend to represent the People openly and publicly vote to crush the very liberties and freedoms they claim to protect, you no longer have a real Democracy. You have a police state.

Only 15 Senate Republicans believe in liberty.

The Republicans are only slightly better on this issue, by the way. Most Republicans also voted against this amendment.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Kyrgistan 5.2 !More info here.

• Turkish warships shell narrow water between Israeli and Cypriot gas fields.(Debka).Cypriot President Demetris Christofias has warned Turkey to stop its warships shelling the strip of water dividing the Cypriot and Israeli gas exploration zones in the eastern Mediterranean.debkafile's military forces report that Wednesday, Dec. 21, Turkish warships began turning their guns on the strip dividing Israel's Leviathan gas field from Block 12 of Cyprus's Exclusive Economic Zone-EEZ, where a large gas field was recently discovered.Neither Israel nor Cyprus reported the Turkish attacks which are staged in international waters, but both reinforced their naval units around the gas fields. It was the Cypriot president who broke the silence Friday, Dec. 23 with a warning: "If Turkey does not change its gunboat diplomacy and stop playing the part of regional police officer, there will be consequences which, for sure, will not be good - either for the whole region or the Turkish people and first and foremost for Turkish Cypriots," he said.On Dec. 22, Israel canceled the $90 million sale to the Turkish Air Force of Elbit's hi-tech LOROP-Long Range Oblique Photography military surveillance system.Israeli defense sources said the transaction was cancelled lest SAR radar or LOROP technology find their way into the hands of Israel's enemies, such as Iran.According to our military sources, Israel timed the deal's cancellation as a warning to Ankara to back off from its campaign of harassment in and around Israel's gas fields. Jerusalem, Athens and Nicosia are economic and security partners in the exploration and development of eastern Mediterranean gas resources. The same firm, Noble Energy Inc of Houston, Texas, is working both Cypriot and Israeli fields. Shares in the US company are held in Cyprus by the Cypriot national energy company and in Israel by Delek Drilling LP and Avner Oil Exploration LLP.The recent discovery that the gas fields are much bigger than first believed has raised the stakes around them. The three governments involved are looking forward to becoming major gas suppliers to Europe and so reducing the continent's dependence on Russian and Turkish gas pipelines.Noble Energy's latest estimate published Monday, Dec. 19, added 6.3 percent to the Leviathan well's untapped potential, raising it from the previous estimate of 16 to 20 trillion cubic feet.Nicosia too will shortly issue an upwardly revised estimate of its gas field. According to debkafile's energy industry sources, the new figure is cautiously estimated as 10 trillion cubic feet.Both expect Ankara to escalate its nuisance offensive after the new Nicosia bulletin. As a precaution, Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis was dispatched to Washington Tuesday, Dec. 19, to talk the situation over with administration officials and obtain US support for the continuing gas enterprise and the Cypriot stance against Turkish threats.According to our Washington sources, the advice from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to go full steam ahead with gas drilling and ignore Turkish harassment. After their meeting, Kozakou-Marcoullis said the prospects for gas development have already dramatically increased her country's strategic importance.In a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she called Turkey "the neighborhood bully," adding that a Turkey "whose foreign minister once promoted a policy of 'zero problems' with its neighbors is now pursuing a policy of 'only problems.' "Read the full story here.

• Tens of thousands mass in fresh Russia vote protest.(RaiNovosti).Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Moscow Saturday to press demands for new parliamentary elections and wholesale liberalizing reform in Russia, turning the temperature up on Vladimir Putin and his plans to return to the Kremlin.Police put the number of protesters within the space authorized for the rally at 29,000 but a far larger crowd was massed behind a long line of metal detectors set up on the street as would-be participants were screened through them one by one. Rally organizers and RIA Novosti correspondents on the scene estimated the turnout number at several times higher than the police figure.As the demonstration swelled, the Kremlin moved to respond in real time, with a spokeswoman for President Dmitry Medvedev announcing that reforms to ease restrictions on political parties could be enacted quickly.The atmosphere on Moscow’s Sakharov Avenue, named for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning late Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was calm but determined as citizens with a wide range of political views turned out to express their opposition to December 4 legislative elections in particular and to Russia’s political status-quo in general.“Our votes were stolen!” Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption whistleblower and activist, who has become a driving force in the Russian protest movement, shouted to the crowd from a massive stage installed at one end of the avenue.“We came here to get them back! Give them back right now!” Navalny said to cheers from the crowd.Boris Nemtsov, a long-time Putin critic and former deputy prime minister, also addressed the demonstrators, appealing to them to go to the polls in presidential elections scheduled for next March 4 “but not to cast one single vote for Putin.”“Let’s keep Putin out of the Kremlin!” he said, after which the crowd began chanting: “Russia Without Putin! Russia Without Putin!”Read and see the full story here.

• Updated - Video: Moscow Protests Continue Amid Freezing Temperatures.(RaiNovosti).During the second round of mass protests, demonstrators and opposition leaders called for new parliamentary elections and the resignation of top officials.Read and see the full story here.

• U.S. Report: Border Fence Threatens Illegal aliens , potential Democrat voters Bear Population.(JW).The department of homeland security (DHS) will soon get unsolicited advice from a group of U.S. government scientists that claim fencing along the Mexican border threatens the potential Dem voter black bear population. The esteemed researchers recently published a study warning that the border wall erected to protect the country from illegal immigration and drug smuggling is an obstacle that blocks bears in migration. This may threaten the illegal aliens black bear population in parts of Arizona, they say. The findings were published recently in a science research journal so it didn’t get much publicity until a mainstream newspaper picked it up this week.The newspaper article goes into considerable detail about how the probe was conducted, mainly by using pieces of barbed wire to capture genetic samples of “foraging” bears. This helped scientists track various bear populations in Arizona. The population density of the border bears was substantially lower than the bears living farther north, which had a wider habitat that was less vulnerable to development, the researchers found.The bear study is simply the latest of many to make a case against the southern border fence in the name of preserving wildlife. A number of others have made similar arguments, some even claiming that the barrier will lead to the extinction of certain species of wildlife. One example is a University of Texas study that found more than 300 species of amphibian, reptile, and mammals are threatened by the border barrier.Another accuses the U.S. government of ignoring scientific research and historical evidence of the border fence’s negative effects to wildlife and conservation lands. A fence is slated to traverse important ecological areas, including the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and Sanctuary, according to this particular university paper.Other studies, less publicized by the mainstream media, have exposed how the constant traffic of illegal immigration (where there is no fence) has destroyed hundreds of acres of national forests and their habitat. Illegal immigrants have devastated national parks by leaving mountains of trash and human waste, with recurring fires and by despoiling natural springs and vandalizing historic sites. The migrants have also created damaging illegal trails and roads that destroy sensitive and federally protected vegetation.The bear researchers will conveniently omit this sort of information when they meet with DHS officials and other state and federal agencies to “generate innovative solutions” that take bears into consideration when border security is discussed. They want the well-being of all Democrats large carnivores to be considered when crafting border security policies.Read the full story here.

• 'Emperor' Obama Issues Signing Statement Overriding Ban on White House Czars In Spending Bill.(TheHill).— President Obama said Friday he will not be bound by at least 20 policy riders in the 2012 omnibus funding the government, including provisions pertaining to Guantanamo Bay and gun control.After he signed the omnibus into law Friday, the White House released a concurrent signing statement saying Obama will object to portions of the legislation on constitutional grounds.Signing statements are highly controversial, and their legality is disputed.“I have advised the Congress that I will not construe these provisions as preventing me from fulfilling my constitutional responsibility to recommend to the Congress’s consideration such measures as I shall judge necessary and expedient,” Obama said in a statement as he signed the bill into law.The signing statement says that on the issue of accused terrorist detainees, Obama will interpret and apply provisions that bar the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “in a manner that avoids constitutional conflicts.”Obama also objected to Defense provisions in the bill that limit the president’s ability to put troops under foreign command and require 30 days advance notice to Congress for any use of the military which would involve more than $100,000 in construction costs.The president also objected to a section aimed at blocking health, climate, auto policy and urban affairs “czars” from being employed by the White House and a provision that bars health officials from advocating for gun control. The signing statement also objects to a portion of the omnibus that limits funding for the Copyright Office.Hmmm......I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes. ~ Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776.Read the full Story here.

• Bank Of America Dumps $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval.(BLN).Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.Derivatives are highly volatile financial instruments that are occasionally used to hedge risk, but mostly used for speculation. They are bets upon the value of stocks, bonds, mortgages, other loans, currencies, commodities, volatility of financial indexes, and even weather changes. Many big banks, including Bank of America, issue derivatives because, if they are not triggered, they are highly profitable to the issuer, and result in big bonus payments to the executives who administer them. If they are triggered, of course, the obligations fall upon the corporate entity, not the executives involved. Ultimately, by allowing existing gambling bets to remain in insured retail banks, and endorsing the shift of additional bets into the insured retail division, the obligation falls upon the U.S. taxpayers and dollar-denominated savers.Even if we net out the notional value of the derivatives involved, down to the net potential obligation, the amount is so large that the United States could not hope to pay it off without a major dollar devaluation, if a major contingency actually occurred and a large part of the derivatives were triggered. But, if such an event ever occurs, Bank of America's derivatives counter-parties will, as usual, be made whole, while the American people suffer. This all has the blessing of the Federal Reserve, which approved the transfer of derivatives from Merrill Lynch to the insured retail unit of BAC before it was done.Read the full story here.

• Iran Launching "Massive" Ten Day War Game Tomorrow In Close Proximity To CVN-74 John Stennis.(ZeroHedge).As the rest of the world enjoys Festivus or whatever celebration one indulges in, Iran is launching a "massive" 10 day war games naval exercise right in the belly of the beast. From Xinhua: "Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on Thursday announced the upcoming launch of ten-day massive naval exercises in the international waters, the local satellite Press TV reported. Sayyari said at a press conference on Thursday that the naval maneuvers dubbed Velayat 90 will start on Saturday and will cover an area of 2,000 (1,250-mile) km stretching from the east of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden, the report said. This is the first time that Iran's Navy carries out naval drills in such a vast area, he was quoted as saying. He said that the exercises will manifest Iran's military prowess and defense capabilities in the international waters, convey a message of peace and friendship to regional countries and test the newest military equipment among other objectives, said the report. He added that the newest missile systems and torpedoes will be employed in the maneuvers, adding that the most recent tactics used in subsurface battles will also be demonstrated. Iranian destroyers, missile-launching vessels, logistic vessels, drones and coastal missiles will also be tested, said the Iranian commander, according to the report." And while conventional wisdom is that the market is focused on what the upcoming closure of the Straits of Hormuz means for tanker routs and oil prices, there is another more disturbing possibility: with all those Iranian canoes, and soapboxes floating around, one wonders if one is bound to have a close encounter with USS CVN-74 John Stennis, which as the updated naval map from Stratfor shows, will be smack in the middle of the action.Read the full story here.

• Seafood 10,000 Times Over Safe Limit for Carcinogenic Contamination, FDA Says to Eat it Anyway.(BLN).By Mike Barrett.Activist Post. Despite seafood showing extremely high levels of contamination, the FDA still deems the food safe for consumption.The FDA not only falsely softened the risk of seafood consumption due to carcinogenic contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the seafood supply, but also ignored individual FDA staff members who called for higher levels of contamination protection.The oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was one of the largest offshore oil spills in history. One recent study conducted by researchers at the Natural Resources Defense Council found that FDA Gulf seafood “safe levels” actually allowed 100 to 10,000 times more carcinogenic PAHs in seafood than what is safe. This move by the FDA is not only only irresponsible for environmental and human safety, but puts those who are more vulnerable at a higher risk, such as pregnant women and children.
  FDA Says Yo Don’t Need to Remove Your Overly-Contaminated Seafood.Researchers who conducted the study, which was published in the top peer-reviewed environmental health journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found the information from snatched internal emails and unreleased assessments from the FDA under the Freedom of Information Act. The FDA argues that the reason they downplayed the risk is biased on the side of safety.The director of the FDA has been reported stating “overly conservative estimates would lead you [to] remove a great deal of food from our refrigerators and pantries than is needed”.Seeing as consuming highly contaminated seafood is completely opposite of safe, this kind of response of course suggests that the FDA’s decision had little to do with safety, and was likely driven by political factors.This wouldn’t be the first time that the FDA falsified or presented manipulated data. The agency also ignored the fact that mercury, an element that is highly toxic in all forms, was found in a large number of brand-name processed foods. But instead of addressing this major public health concern, the FDA decided to focus their time on crushing beneficial supplements through ridiculous NDI regulations that threaten the entire infrastructure of the nutraceuticals industry.In addition, the Food and Drug Administration has known for years that asthma drugs actually kill more patients than asthma itself, but they simply ignored this information. Similarly, data indicates that through the combination of rays from the sun and ingredients found in sunscreen, the skin can be damaged so much that lesions and tumors can be the end result. But of course the US Food and Drug Administration has allegedly been aware of this critical information for the past ten years, but has done absolutely nothing to warn people about it.Hmmmm......Bon Appetit?Read the full story here.

• ‘France should drop out of Minsk group if genocide bill is ratified’.(TodaysZaman).The Turkish president has suggested France should withdraw from the Minsk Group in case a bill approved on Thursday by the French Assembly aiming to penalize denial of “Armenian genocide” becomes law, as he said he regarded that president's refusal to return his calls as a sign of his “prejudice against Turkey.”Speaking to reporters on Friday, a day after the approval of the highly controversial bill in the French assembly despite strong Turkish opposition, President Abdullah Gül said France should withdraw from the Minsk Group if the bill is approved by the Senate and becomes law since that would mean that France has lost its impartial position in the settling of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia. France currently co-chairs the Minsk Group, an international initiative that has been active since the 1990s with not many significant results so far. Gül also criticized President Nicolas Sarkozy for “being prejudiced against Turkey.” Recalling that he has not responded to Gül's phone calls for days, Gül complained that “heads of state talk to each other even during war time.” He said Sarkozy's stance reveals his prejudices against Turkey. Meanwhile, Turkey's top officials continued to slam France following the French National Assembly's approval of the denial bill, as Ankara urged Turkish diplomats overseas to speak to Armenians around the world and tell them of the foreign “instigation” that tore Turks and Armenians apart.Following his initial announcement of Turkey's measures against the French on Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asserted that the French decision was “a clear sign of the hostility” against Muslims in France and Europe on Friday.“The vote in France, where there are nearly 5 million Muslims, clearly showed that the extent of racism, discrimination and anti-Muslims sentiments has reached dangerous levels,” Erdoğan said at a conference on “Change in Muslim Societies and Role of Women” in İstanbul.Accusing Sarkozy of “trying to win [April’s presidential] elections over hostility towards Turks and Muslims,” Erdoğan was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying, while he noted that Thursday’s vote was all the more meaningful in that the bill was approved with only 55 lawmakers in attendance.The prime minister also read excerpts from a 1526 letter sent by Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent to French King Francis I in response to the French king’s request for help after being captured by Spanish King Charles V during the Battle of Pavia. The Ottoman sultan said in the letter he would help the French king, but the letter is written in a tone that looks down upon the French King, as Sultan Süleyman describes himself with multiple adjectives, hinting that Francis I is only “a king.” Erdoğan said he had earlier presented a copy of Süleyman’s letter to Sarkozy. “I think he did not read it,” he said.Hmmm....Erdogan "Muslims don't commit genocide"......Meaning only who does?Read the full story here.

• "The war on Christianity" - Christmas trees 'make non-Christians feel excluded'.(Telegraph)Christmas trees should be removed from public places to avoid making non-Christians feel “excluded”, scientists have suggested.Researchers at Simon Fraser University in Canada, found non-Christians feel less self-assured and have fewer positive feelings if a Christmas tree was in the room.The scientists conducted the study using 77 Christians and 57 non-believers, including Buddhists and Sikhs.The participants did not know the survey was about Christmas, and were asked to fill in questions about themselves both when a 12-inch Christmas tree was in the room and when it was not."Non-celebrators" reported fewer positive feelings and less self-assurance in the Christmas room. Christians were mostly cheered by the tree.Christians, however, did report feeling more guilt when a tree was in the room, which, claim the researchers, suggests the holidays can be stressful. Michael Schmitt, a social psychologist behind the research, decided to carry out the study after controversy over whether Christmas should be celebrated in public in case it offends non-Christians.He said: "Simply having this 12-inch Christmas tree in the room with them made them feel less included in the university as a whole, which to me is a pretty powerful effect from one 12-inch Christmas tree in one psychology lab."I don't think it's really going to undermine anyone's experience of Christmas to tone it down."We're not suggesting 'no Christmas' or 'no Christmas displays at all,' but in contexts where we really do value respecting and including diversity in terms of religion, the safest option is not to have these kinds of displays."I understand why it might feel threatening to people. "But I think if people do care about making a whole range of different kinds of people feel included and respected, then we can make some small changes that would go a long way toward creating a more multicultural or inclusive society."The researchers published their results in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.Read the full BS story here.

• Egypt - Islamists win 65 percent of votes in Egypt’s second round of parliamentary election.(AlArabiya).Egypt’s main Islamist parties won 65 percent of votes for party lists in the second round of a historic election for a new parliament after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, the electoral committee said Saturday.The election commission chief, Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, has announced the results from the second round, in which nine provinces with nearly seven million voters cast their ballots. The Freedom and Justice Party won 36.5 percent of the vote for party lists, with 4,058,498 out of 11,173,818 votes, according to figures provided by the electoral committee for the second round which was held on December 14.The al-Nour Party, the political arm of the ultraconservative Salafi movement, won 28.78 percent, with 3,216,430 votes.The results mirror those from the first round of voting, held in late November, when the two blocs together won nearly 70 percent.Meanwhile, the Islamists’ liberal rivals fared badly again in the second round, with al-Wafd − the country’s oldest party − winning 9.6 percent of the party list vote and the Egyptian Bloc, the main liberal coalition, just seven percent.The third round of the election will start on January 3, followed by another three-round poll for the senate.The FJP has said it would have the right to form the next government, but the ruling military and the prime minister it appointed have said parliament could not appoint ministers.The military, which has faced down days of deadly protests in November and this month, says it will transfer power to civilians after a presidential election is held by the end of June next year.Read the full story here.

• Cold war heats up between Hezbollah and Washington.(AlArabiya).A war of words is heating up between Hezbollah and Washington, with allegations and counter-allegations flying between the two foes as the crisis in Syria takes its toll on the Shiite militant group. The cold war between Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah and the United States ─ which blacklists the Lebanese group as a terrorist organization ─ runs back decades.But with political upheaval in the Arab world at a peak, tensions between the two are skyrocketing.“This year was not the first time Hezbollah has exposed intelligence networks, whether working for the United States or others, and the United States criminal case against Hezbollah goes back months,” said Paul Salem, head of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center. But there’s no doubt that, given what’s happening in Syria along with the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq ... we.re in a phase of high tension in which everyone’s raising the pressure on their opponent.”The feud began to deepen earlier this year, when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused the Central Intelligence Agency of planting spies within his party’s ranks.Nasrallah’s announcement in June, which the party hailed as a “victory” over the United States, marked the first acknowledgment of infiltration by the movement founded in 1982.The United States filed a criminal lawsuit against a string of Lebanese financial institutions with alleged ties to Hezbollah on the grounds they were complicit in a massive scheme to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars.U.S. federal authorities say the companies were part of a scheme to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from narcotics dealing and other criminal activities in order to fund Hezbollah’s activities.But Hezbollah has staunchly denied the charges, with the group’s second in command, Sheikh Naim Qassem, accusing Washington this week of waging a smear campaign against a Shiite Muslim group which, he said, would never follow a path “prohibited by religion.” Hezbollah upped the stakes by accusing the “terrorist” United States of being behind twin bombings in the Syrian capital on Friday which left 44 dead and 166 wounded, according to officials.“These bombings which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of people, mainly women and children, are the specialty of the United States, the mother of terrorism,” read a statement released by the movement Friday.It said the timing of the bombings, which ripped through two security service offices in the Syrian capital, clearly signaled they were a “cowardly, bloody act of revenge” over the U.S. “defeat” in Iraq.Analysts say the crisis in Syria, which provides Lebanon with its only open border, has dealt a blow to Hezbollah which must now face the possibility of a future without a key regional ally.And as power structures shift in the Middle East, experts say Western pressure on the Lebanese militant movement will continue to mount as the group risks losing the support provided by the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “The latest U.S. accusations against Hezbollah are ... part of a wider campaign against the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis,” said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, author of the forthcoming “The Iran Connection: Understanding the Alliance with Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas.”“We’re only going to see more of these accusations,” Saad-Ghoryaeb told AFP.“The United States is aware that ... Hezbollah has already lost some support in the region because of Syria, so now's the time to tarnish its reputation, to move from labeling the group as terrorist to actually criminalizing it.”Read the full story here.

• Midnight Masses canceled in Iraq because of growing security concerns.(CN).London -- Chaldean Catholic officials have canceled traditional Christmas Eve midnight Masses because of security risks.Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk in northern Iraq told the agency Aid to the Church in Need that Christians will spend Christmas in "great fear" because of the risk of new attacks.All services and Masses have been scheduled for daylight hours, he said in an interview with Rome-based AsiaNews."Midnight Christmas Mass has been canceled in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk as a consequence of the never-ending assassinations of Christians," he said, citing the Oct. 31, 2010, attack on the Syrian Catholic cathedral that left 57 people dead in the Iraqi capital.Archbishop Sako also expressed concern over the growing conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims vying for political power. He said the conflict has led to growing instability, especially in the days since the pullout of U.S. military troops in mid-December.The archbishop's concerns follow a series of incidents in the northern province of Kurdistan, which had been considered safe haven for Christians.In Erbil, Kurdistan's capital, Christian Sermat Patros, 29 was kidnapped Dec. 12. Between Dec. 2 and Dec. 5, at least 30 Christian-owned businesses were torched in Zakho near the Turkish border. A Christian couple also was found shot dead in their car Dec. 13 in Mosul.Hmmmmm......Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a 'Success'...Like Iraq!Read the full story here.

• Russia successfully test fires Bulava missiles.(RaiNovosti).Russia successfully test launched two Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles on Friday, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Igor Konashenkov said.The missiles were launched from the Borey-class Yury Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea and hit designated targets at the Kura test range on Kamchatka, some 6,000 kilometers to the east.This was the troubled Bulava’s 18th test launch. Only 11 launches have been officially declared successful.But some analysts suggest that in reality the number of failures is considerably larger. Russian military expert Pavel Felgengauer said that of the Bulava's first 12 test launches, only one was entirely successful.Despite several previous failures, officially blamed on manufacturing faults, the Russian military has insisted that there is no alternative to the Bulava.The Bulava (SS-NX-30) SLBM carries up to 10 MIRV warheads and has a range of over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles). The three-stage ballistic missile is designed for deployment on Borey-class nuclear submarines.Read the full story here.

• Looming Saudi Energy Crisis?(CrossroadArabia).By John Burgess.Chatham House, the UK’s top think-tank, has a new report saying that Saudi domestic demand for energy (primarily in the form of electricity) threatens Saudi Arabia’s place in the world oil market. The report (59-page PDF) says that demand is outstripping the Kingdom’s ability to produce enough oil and natural gas AND to continue its programs of social welfare at the same time. The report says that there are some steps the Saudis can take, such as introducing conservation measures, that could postpone a crisis, but that the crisis will hit.Below is an abstract of the article…

Burning Oil to Keep Cool: The Hidden Energy Crisis in Saudi Arabia
Glada Lahn and Paul Stevens, December 2011

» Domestic energy demand growth in Saudi Arabia is cause for international concern. If it continues at the current rate, it could jeopardize the country’s ability to stabilize world oil markets. » Given Saudi Arabia’s level of dependence on oil revenues, excessive consumption will cause economic and social pressures long before oil exports end – within a decade if nothing changes. » Current policies are not enough. Planned additions of renewable power supply would help maintain the fiscal balance for an additional two to three years; given the lead times nuclear power would have little or no impact. » Huge economic, social and environmental gains from energy conservation are possible in Saudi Arabia but the long period of low prices and the bureaucratic structure of the state present several challenges to implementing effective pricing policy and regulatory measures. » Fear of confronting these challenges has deterred meaningful government action in the past. However, some immediate, targeted investments could produce effective results even in the absence of price reforms. » Raising prices is politically difficult but international experience can help in preparing society through a range of efficiency, educational and infrastructure adaptation measures to smooth the transition. This must be done within a package of measures that increase private-sector employment for Saudi nationals.

I think the authors overestimate the time it would require Saudi Arabia to construct and put on line nuclear reactors. The Kingdom does not have a massive regime of regulation, of environmental impact statements and the like, or of worry about finding funding and insurance for a nuclear power plant. In fact, I think the Saudis could, starting from scratch, construct a reactor and have it producing electricity within three years… if it chose to do so. Saudi Arabia also doesn’t have to undertake extensive R&D efforts: it can buy a nuclear power plant almost off-the-shelf. Further, I think GCC efforts to establish a regional power grid will buy time, if not an outright solution, until nuclear power generation becomes standard. Saudi solar power investments will help, but they will not replace other power sources until solar technology becomes much more efficient.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                      Afternoon Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 09. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan  today  no activity. More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 104.
  Source : Here .

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

• Live Blog on Qsama Bin Laden  Here (Al -Jazeera).

• Obama regime continues to grab power.Senate Seeks to Create Caesar Obama.(NoisyRoom).

Senatus Populusque Romanus — Imperius Rex et Populusque Americanus.

• While all of America is distracted and focused on the death of Osama bin Laden, our President and his minions have been fast at work laying the groundwork for S. 679: Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011 to speed through the Senate and then make its way into the House and then to the President to sign. Yes, the other hand is quickly forming into a dictatorial fist that is about to smash our Constitution.As you will recall, the beginning of the end of liberty in Rome commenced with Augustus Caesar who compromised the authority of the Senate through the force of arms and basically the Senate became a facade. America is poised with this proposed bill, to morph immediately from a Republic into an empire with the privileged eunuchs of the Senate as window dressing and a dictator – the first American Caesar – at the country’s helm.And leading the progressive charge is Chuck Schumer (D-NY). No big surprise there. Schumer is an elitist Marxist and a first class progressive who hates America almost as much as he loves power. He introduced S. 679 on March 30th, 2011. He was joined by a gaggle of progressives from the left and the right. This is something I have been warning Americans about for a long time. If we are to survive as a nation, we must rid ourselves of ALL progressives or our nation is doomed and freedom will be swept into the dustbin of history.From The Heritage Foundation, here is a succinct explanation of the bill:

"The bill reduces the number of presidential appointments that require the consent of the Senate and establishes within the executive branch a Working Group on Streamlining Paperwork for Executive Nominations. Individuals nominated to senior executive offices suffer slow and detailed background investigations and mounds of duplicative paperwork before a President sends their nominations to the Senate. After nomination, many nominees suffer time-consuming inaction or time-consuming and excruciating action as the Senate proceeds (or does not) with consideration of the nomination. The sponsors of S. 679 have identified a valid problem, but proposed the wrong solution. Congress should not enact S. 679."

In essence they want to give the President the sole power to appoint people to positions of his choosing within our government. Obama would be free to do this without the approval of the Senate. Senate approval of such positions is mandated by the U.S. Constitution in Article II, Section 2 under the “Appointments Clause”:

"… shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. (emphasis added)"

More from The Heritage Foundation:

When the delegates of the states gathered in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and wrote the Constitution, they distributed the powers of the federal government among two Houses of Congress, a President, and a judiciary, and required in many cases that two of them work together to exercise a particular constitutional power. That separation of powers protects the liberties of the American people by preventing any one officer of the government from aggregating too much power.

The Framers of the Constitution did not give the President the kingly power to appoint the senior officers of the government by himself. Instead, they allowed the President to name an individual for a senior office, but then required the President to obtain the Senate’s consent before appointing the individual to office. Thus, they required the cooperation of the President and the Senate to put someone in high office.

I know Americans have not forgotten about Obama’s string of Czars. Czars that he was supposed to downsize or get rid of. Czars, which in my personal viewpoint, were and still are illegal under the Constitution. But progressives never go away, they just shift… As has done so many of Obama’s Czars. With this sweeping bill, over 200 positions will no longer require Senate approval. Obama will dictate who are his powerful lieutenants and who will control America. The Senate will merely be a sham to parrot Obama’s dictates. With this bill, checks and balances will be effectively nullified.What does that portend you say? One day, your right to own a gun will be gone, just regulated away. Businesses will be nationalized even more than they are now. Heavy regulation will ensue concerning communications and the Internet. Many, many private businesses will whither and die. You will be told what and how much to eat – food and gas rationing will become the norm. Poverty and squalor will become equal for all as wealth is redistributed to other nations. If there are elections, they will be a joke and pointless. There will be a few powerful elites and then the masses. Guess which camp you and I will be in?Our best hope at this juncture is that this abomination will be stopped in the House. We must weed out the progressives and we must win in 2012. This country will not survive another four years of progressive policies. Not as a Republic and not as a free entity anyway.The bitter irony on display here, is that the same jackals that have barked and snarled and feigned horror at “American Imperialism,” are the very ones who now howl their support for a true American empire. All hail Caesar!Hmmmm...... Finally the masks come off and Dictatorship reveals it's ugly face.Read the full story here.

• Morning Bell: Obama’s Attack on Private Industry.(TheFoundry).You might think that a U.S. company’s decision to expand its manufacturing facilities and create 1,000 new jobs here at home — rather than overseas — would be hailed by the Obama Administration as a step in the right direction, especially with nine percent unemployment. You’d be wrong. Instead, President Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is doing all it can to throw a wrench in the machinery of private industry.The story begins with Boeing Corporation’s decision to build a new assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, in order to produce the 787 Dreamliner, the company’s fastest selling airliner. (To date, Boeing has 800 planes on order.) The NLRB, which is charged with remedying unfair labor practices, got wind of the decision and last month filed a complaint against Boeing, alleging that the company decided to build the plant in South Carolina out of retaliation for union strikes at its Washington state facilities.The NLRB’s actions are drawing strong criticism from Republicans in the U.S Senate. ”It’s clearly outside of the authority of this federal government to be threatening and bullying and trying to intimidate companies like Boeing who should have the freedom to locate their plants anywhere they want. It’s intimidation,” Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Wednesday. DeMint joined with 18 senators in writing a letter to the president last week condemning the NLRB’s complaint:

We consider this an attack on millions of workers in 22 right-to-work states, as well as a government-led act of intimidation against American companies that should have the freedom to choose to build plants in right-to-work states.

If the NLRB prevails, it will only encourage companies to make their investments in foreign nations, moving jobs and economic growth overseas. America will not win the future if Washington penalizes workers in states that have discovered winning economic strategies.

But in a White House where the cozy relationship between big labor and big government couldn’t be any closer, the NLRB’s moves are just the Obama administration’s latest effort to come to the defense of the union machine. And it’s also a direct shot at private industry’s freedom to make fundamental business decisions, which has serious consequences for the U.S. economy. Hederman and Sherk write:

If the Obama Administration succeeds, it will chill business investment. Unions raise business costs and discourage employers from investing and expanding. Studies consistently show that unionized employers create fewer jobs than non-union employers. Forcing businesses to invest in states with bad business climates will cause them to scale back their investments. It might create a few more jobs for union members, but will mean fewer jobs and higher unemployment in the economy overall.

President Obama has remained silent on the issue, with a White House official maintaining that the NLRB’s complaint is an “independent agency’s enforcement action.” Governor Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) isn’t satisfied and has a pointed question for the president, as National Review Online reports.

I want to ask him why he is allowing unelected bureaucrats to come in and do the unions’ dirty work on the backs of our businesses . . . It’s hurting the jobs in South Carolina and every other right-to-work state. He owes us an answer.”The answer to Haley’s question can be found in the Obama-big labor alliance. If the Obama NLRB prevails, it will have struck a significant blow against right-to-work states by significantly expanding labor’s ability to dictate where companies do business, all while solidifying their base of political power. The losers, unfortunately, will be private industry, job seekers and the U.S. economy.Hmmmm......The 'Chicago Mob' on steroids?Read the full story here.

• More White House/Obama/Hilary Cover Up for Assad Basher.(ZionTruth).As bloody, murderous repression continues in Syria, the Obama gang continue to cover up for Assad the Basher. Hilary gave an asinine interview to La Stampa, saying things which even a sixth grade teacher would be ashamed to tell her class, so silly and unbelievable they were. She needed an excuse as to why the USA was attacking Qaddafi in Libya but would not attack Basher Assad in Syria, or call on him to give up power. Here are main points of the interview as quoted in Corriere della Sera:The USA -- "We don't have certain data, but we know that Syria can still pass reforms. On the other hand, no one believed that Qaddafi would have done it." Thus the American secretary of state Hilary Clinton stressed the differences between the situation in Libya and that in Syria, during an interview given to the daily La Stampa. "People believe that there is a possible path [of dialogue & cooperation] with Syria. For that reason, we continue, together with our allies, to exert pressure" [on Syria, that is, on Assad's regime], the chief of America's diplomacy added, also referring to the sanctions that were passed against Damascus.To conclude: Isn't Hilary ashamed to sound so stupid --or so disingenuous? Obama has no shame, as we know. These people are a disgrace to America and very dangerous to Israel, the rest of the world, and of course to America.Hmmmm.....Why is the Obama regime appeasing Iran's henchmen and bashing Israel?Why does the Obama regime seem to hate Israel so much/Read the full story here.

• FDA Claims Power To Seize Food Without Evidence Of Contamination.A few days ago, the Food and Drug Administration declared it no longer needs credible evidence to seize food that may be contaminated.Ignoring the Fourth Amendment entirely, the FDA claims that based on mere suspicion that a food product has been contaminated or mislabeled, and that serious illness or death will result, it can hold the food for 30 days while it then looks for evidence.It claims this power under the Food Safety Modernization Act, which President Monsanto, I mean, Obama, signed in January.On May 4th, the FDA stated:

Previously, the FDA’s ability to detain food products applied only when the agency had credible evidence that a food product presented was contaminated or mislabeled in a way that presented a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.Beginning July, the FDA will be able to detain food products that it has reason to believe are adulterated or misbranded for up to 30 days, if needed, to ensure they are kept out of the marketplace. The products will be kept out of the marketplace while the agency determines whether an enforcement action such as seizure or federal injunction against distribution of the product in commerce, is necessary.Credible evidence no longer applies, it seems.

The Fourth Amendment states:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

FDA thinks it can engage in search and seizure willy nilly. They’ve already been doing this, of course — but only at natural food facilities. Factory farms like DeCosta Eggs can sicken thousands of people over a period of years, without ever being shut down or having its product seized or destroyed.But, if you raise natural foods without pasteurizing them or adulterating them with drugs and genetically modified ingredients, even though no one becomes ill from your product, then be assured, the FDA will seize your products, your computers, your paperwork, and shut you down.Another rule announced by the FDA requires importers to declare if any nation refused their food or feed product for any reason, and to give the reason. Both rules go into effect July 3, 2011.Hmmmm........Step ,by step closer to dictatorship.Read the full story here.Read the new FDA rules here.

• Iran helping Syrian regime crack down on protesters, say diplomats.(Guardian).Claim comes as four women shot dead by security forces in first use of violence against an all-female demonstration.Iran is playing an increasingly active role in helping the Syrian regime in its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, according to western diplomatic sources in Damascus.The claim came as Syria's security forces backed by tanks intensified operations to suppress unrest in three new flashpoint towns on Sunday and it was confirmed that four women had been shot dead in the first use of force against an all-female demonstration.A senior western diplomat in Damascus expanded on assertions, first made by White House officials last month, that Iran is advising president Bashar al-Assad's government on how to crush dissent.Human rights groups suggest more than 7,000 people have been detained since the uprising began. More than 800 people are said to have died, up to 50 during last Friday's "day of defiance". Last night two unarmed demonstrators were reportedly killed during a night rally in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor."Tehran has upped the level of technical support and personnel support from the Iranian Republican Guard to strengthen Syria's ability to deal with protesters," the diplomat said, adding that the few hundred personnel were not involved in any physical operations. "Since the start of the uprising, the Iranian regime has been worried about losing its most important ally in the Arab world and important conduit for weapons to Hezbollah [in Lebanon]," the diplomat said.The Assad family, from the Shia Muslim minority Alawite sect, is likely to be nervous about appearing to be helped by its Shia-dominated ally to crush protesters drawn from the 75% Sunni population.Regime forces backed by tanks were in action over the weekend in Homs, in the town of Tafas north of Deraa, and in the coastal city of Banias, activists said. Violence was also reported in the Damascus dormitory town of Zabadani.Along with arbitrary detentions, shootings have continued.Hmmmm.....Hillary "Assad is a reformer' yup that's pretty obvious with all the 'reforming' he's doing lately.Read the full story here.

• 64% of Palestinians would not object to Bin Laden burial in "Palestine".(PalWatch).A Palestinian polling institute surveyed Palestinians in the first week of May 2011, apparently before it was known among Palestinians that Bin Laden's body had been buried at sea, and found that:

"64% of respondents stated that they would not object to Bin Laden being buried in Palestine, were such a possibility raised."

 Other findings of the polling institute Near East Consulting as reported in the official Palestinian Authority daily:

"A survey of Palestinian public opinion on the death of Bin Laden shows that most Palestinians (85%) believe that Al-Qaeda will avenge Bin Laden's death.

86% stated that terror activities around the world will not decrease or be otherwise affected following his death...

56% of those questioned said that they were certain that he had been killed, while 44% believed that he was still alive...

42% of Palestinians still believe that Al-Qaeda will be strengthened following the death of Bin Laden, while 22% believe that it will be weakened; 36% said that its situation will not change."Hmmmm....It's nice to see that the people that the Obama regime supports are 'right behind them'.Read the full story here.

• PA says can't pay salaries in May.(Ynet). Palestinian PM Fayyad says government unable to pay wages to 150,000 workers for first time since 2007 because of Israel's decision to halt transfer of funds, which has put his government in 'very difficult' financial position.The Palestinian Authority said on Monday it had not been able to pay salaries for the first time since 2007 because of Israel's decision to halt the transfer of funds it collects on its behalf.Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Israel's decision, a move driven by Israeli concern over a Palestinian unity deal including Hamas, had put the Ramallah-based government in a "very difficult" financial position.Fayyad said the PA had paid salaries to its 150,000 employees promptly on the fifth day of every month since mid-2007. "We are now on the ninth and we have not been able to meet this obligation," he said. The Palestinian prime minister said that the salaries would be paid as soon as Israel transferred the tax funds. He added that the PA had turned to donor countries and Arab states for help. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government decided on May 1 to halt the transfers which make up 70% of PA revenues, citing fear that the money would go to Hamas, a militant group hostile to Israel.Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz addressed the decision again on Sunday. "I decided, immediately after the announcement on the Hamas-PA merger, to temporary halt the transfer of funds until we receive clarifications. "This is also a warning that if a Hamas state is established, we won't be able to fund it as a government," he added.Fatah Central Committee member Saeb Ereket denounced the Israeli decision last week, calling it "financial piracy.""This reflects Israel's dangerous intentions," he said, adding that Jerusalem had no right to interfere with internal Palestinian affairs.Hmmmm....I thought it was a crime to finance Terrorist organisations?Read the full story here.

• British Islamist Anjem Choudary in Interview on Bin Laden's Death: Bin Laden 'Is the First... of a Whole New Generation... Who Believe Very Firmly In Their Hearts in the Concept Of Jihad' – And Obama Is 'At the Head of the Camp Of Disbelief'."This Jihad Will Not Begin and End with Sheikh Osama Bin Laden; Every Mother Will Want To Give Birth Now To a Sheikh Osama Bin Laden"(Video transcript)

(Memri).Interviewer: "Everybody knows Osama bin Laden's time as an operational figure had passed. I think that's a reasonable thing to say. To what extent did he retain his importance as a current motivating figure, or had he been in some way superseded by someone like Anwar Al-Awlaki or other religious figures. I'll refer to you, Anjem – how do you see his influence?"

Choudary: "You can see very well that when Sheikh Osama bin Laden issued a statement, the whole of the world would listen to that statement. It would be played on every single media channel. In fact the leaders of the Western and the Eastern world would have to make a comment. Now that he's passed away, his mere death has meant that all leaders, all people who are important politically, must have their say on his death despite the fact that he was in hiding and he was in fact at the back of the front – meaning there were many people in the front line, in Tora Bora, in Afghanistan and Iraq, who are actually doing the fighting, but he is such an important figure that his videos, his statements resound all around the world and people continue to play them. They hang on his every word.

"So he is someone phenomenally important to the struggle. But then again, we can say the same thing about Sheikh Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, and as well about Abd Al-Aziz Al-Muqrin, Abu-Hajer, who are former leaders of the jihad on various fronts, so he would be one of many people who have been in the struggle and that have passed away, and other generations have come forward. I do believe that in terms of Al-Qaeda, he is the first generation, and behind him are second, third, fourth, and fifth generations. This struggle to liberate Muslim land is only beginning. I think the Americans have tasted what it means to be at war with Islam and Muslims with leaders like Sheikh Osama bin Laden [unclear] left behind, and the people who will now come forward, I think, will be the biggest nightmare for America because no longer would they have this... if you like... running roughshod over the Muslims and dictating to them, because now the Muslims have a point to prove – that this jihad will not begin and end with Sheikh Osama bin Laden.

"Every mother will want to give birth now to a Sheikh Osama bin Laden so he can be on the front line as well like this great man and people can remember them for years to come."Man No. 4: "Of course. I mean, someone who stands up against injustice and oppression... obviously, everyone is going to come towards him, and everyone is going to follow him, and do what he did. "At the end of the day, if you have evil, you will always have someone good to fight against that evil. Allah – He would never put someone evil on this earth to take over the whole earth. He will always put someone to stand against that evil person, and we see that He was [unclear] with Sheikh Osama bin Laden, and there will be more coming after him."Hmmmm........“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” Pope Benedict XVI .Read the full story here.

• "The Great Patriotic War" or as we know it World War II remembered in Russia.(RaiNovosti).Victory Day celebrations in Moscow will culminate on Monday with a grand fireworks display consisting of 30 salvoes from 18 guns and 72 launchers.Read the full story here.Picture gallery here.

• Bin Laden dead before U.S. raid - Iranian Intelligence Minister.(RaiNovosti).Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said Tehran has evidence that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died of disease long before the United States' alleged raid on the terrorist, FARS Iranian news agency said.Bin Laden was killed on May 2 in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, north of the capital Islamabad, during a raid by U.S. Navy Seals."We have accurate information that bin Laden died of illness some time ago," Moslehi said.Bin Laden's body was buried at sea less than 24 hours after the operation."If the US military and intelligence apparatus have really arrested or killed bin Laden, why don't they show him (his dead body) why have they thrown his corpse into the sea?" Moslehi continued.A DNA test proved that the corpse of the dead man belonged to bin Laden, who has topped the FBI's most wanted list for the past decade.White House spokesman, Jay Carney said on Wednesday that Washington would not release bin Laden's postmortem photos to avoid instigating propaganda and possible violence.Read the full story here.