German judge declares Al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour's arrest legal, extradition to be assessed

German judge declares Al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour's arrest legal, extradition to be assessed.(AA).

A judge in Berlin Sunday formally evaluated the case of Ahmed Mansour and declared his arrest legal, ordering the well known Al-Jazeera journalist to be kept in detention pending enquiries into his possible extradition to Egypt.

Mansour was detained by German police at Berlin's Tegel Airport Saturday as he was about to board a plane to Qatar. Mansour was detained based on an international arrest warrant issued by Egypt.

The charges against Mansour are still unclear, with the German police not listing any specific accusations so far. His lawyer, Fazli Altin, told AP that he is accused of harming Egypt's reputation and of committing torture, while Al-Jazeera has claimed that abduction and rape are among the charges.

The prosecutor general of Egypt, meanwhile, reportedly called on Interpol Sunday to hand over Mansour to Egyptian authorities. A formal extradition request has been submitted to the German authorities as well.

The Berlin high court, or Kammergericht (KG), will evaluate this request Monday, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports. According to the paper, obstacles to extradition would include the possibility of applying the death penalty or torture in this case, as well as strong hints of political motivations behind the case.

The fact that Egypt and Germany do not have an extradition treaty is not a major hindrance, an Egypt foreign ministry spokesman told AP.

In practice, German courts assess extradition requests by examining the political situation in the country concerned. The German foreign ministry, the justice ministry and occasionally the chancellory are also asked to provide statements.

Even if the KG approves extradition, the German government could still veto the procedure for various "overriding" reasons, FAZ noted. Read the full story here.

Video: Al-Jazeera’s Ahmed Mansour in the torture video of a lawyer in 2011?

Hmmm....A Voice analysis would quickly determine if it is Ahmed Mansour in the video below, this is up to the courts.

VID #Mansour is seen complicit in interrogation of a lawyer in 2011 #MB #Egypt http://t.co/AdnVdpK60Z pic.twitter.com/ASUSk6nMbT Journalist??

— Karina Loren (@miskelayla) June 21, 2015

@Muschelschloss looks pretty similar to me, but courts have to decide this ----> http://t.co/4gmM9JZVhc

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) June 22, 2015

Ahmed Mansour

INTERPOL hatte #Mansur noch vor 6 Monaten informiert, dass der ägyptische Haftbefehl ungültig ist cc @mathieuvonrohr pic.twitter.com/CrPQq7VBcb

— Tilo Jung (@TiloJung) June 21, 2015

US, South African hostages killed in Yemen rescue bid.

US, South African hostages killed in Yemen rescue bid. (Yahoo).

American journalist Luke Somers and a South African hostage were killed on Saturday during a failed attempt by US forces to rescue them from Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen.

Somers's death was announced by US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, who said the raid was carried out because the photojournalist's life was believed to be "in imminent danger".

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had on Thursday threatened to execute Somers, 33, who was kidnapped more than a year ago in Sanaa.

"Both Mr Somers and a second non-US citizen hostage were murdered by the AQAP terrorists during the course of the operation," Hagel said in a statement released during a visit to Kabul.

South African hostage Pierre Korkie was also killed in the raid, according to a charity that had been negotiating his release.

The Gift of the Givers said that Korkie's death came a day before he was due to be freed after more than a year in captivity.

South African Yolande Korkie, a former hostage and wife of Pierre Korkie, holds a press conference i … "The psychological and emotional devastation to (his wife) Yolande and her family will be compounded by the knowledge that Pierre was to be released by Al-Qaeda tomorrow," it said. Read the full story here, more here.

Video - Kurdish reporter for Rudaw news agency walks up to ISIS for interview, Bravery or Madness?

U.S. presses Syria to confirm detention of journalist Austin Tice.

U.S. presses Syria to confirm detention of journalist Austin Tice.(AA).The United States urged Syria on Friday to confirm it is detaining an American freelance journalist who has been missing in the country for more than two weeks. Austin Tice, 31, is believed to be held by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to The Washington Post and McClatchy Newspapers, who called this week for his release. “We have seen news reports that Mr Tice in Syrian custody,” said Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesman. “However, the Syrian government has yet to confirm these reports with our protecting power. We urge the Syrian government to respond... as soon as possible.” Ventrell said Washington was “concerned” about Tice’s safety and well-being, and was working through the Czech mission, which has overseen US interests in Syria since the US embassy was closed in February, to get information about the reporter's location and well-being. The Washington Post said Thursday that Tice was detained near the Damascus suburb of Daraya where activists say forces loyal to the Syrian president massacred hundreds of people last week. McClatchy, a newspaper group, said Tice entered Syria in May without a visa, a common practice for journalists seeking to report on the war as Damascus issues few press visas. Many correspondents have crossed the border independently. He then traveled throughout Syria with rebel forces, and reached the Damascus area in late July, setting up base in Daraya, which was pounded for days by Assad regime forces. McClatchy said Tice last communicated with his colleagues on August 13, though he did not indicate how he planned to leave Syria. Several foreigners, including at least one other American, have been detained by Syrian forces, the Post said. Ten journalists have been killed since the Syria uprising began in March 2011, including five foreigners, according to the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. At least 30 Syrian citizen-journalists have also been killed.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                        Afternoon Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 08. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Middle East Live Blog here .(Al-Jazeera)

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan between 5.1 and 6.0 today. More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 76.

• HT:The Blaze.Live Blog: Will the government shut down tonight? Read and see everything here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.What Wisconsin's Judicial Election Means.The ballots in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race show a relatively small difference between Justice David Prosser, the "conservative" incumbent, and JoAnne Kloppenburg, the leftist challenger. Yesterday, previously uncounted votes in Waukesha County swung the victory to Prosser by over 7,000 votes (out of almost a million and a half cast), though Kloppenburg earlier claimed victory by a much smaller margin.In this case, of course, the term "conservative"means an impartial jurist who follows the rule of law without political bias. As for the "liberal" candidate, Ann Althouse, a University of Wisconsin law professor, noted Kloppenburg's lawn signs indicating that the latter had made up her mind about the state's new collective bargaining law.Regardless of the ultimate result, there are vital lessons we should take from the race. We grasp what is happening. We have stopped listening to the chatterbox phonies of the leftist establishment media. We see the inner workings of the left and its minions. We know now that a senator who votes for cloture on a bad bill but votes against the bill on the Senate floor (where it passes easily) is trying to trick us -- but we will no longer be tricked. We comprehend that the dreaded "government shutdown" means nothing when Congress and the White House before the election never even passed a budget. We see from our children's textbooks and the unruly behavior of their teachers that the regime of public school reeducation must be defeated and reformed.The left has been winning because we have not fought the battles which we must fight. Now, we are fighting back. That ultimately is the key. We were unwilling soldiers at first, preferring to live in a civil society in which we could live in friendly peace. The Wisconsin judicial election, which forces the highest notions of impartiality -- judges -- into the war of ideology, and our response to players like Kloppenburg show that we are now fighting the war that we must fight, and the fight which we shall win.Hmmm.....Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
  Martin Luther King, Jr.Read the full story here.

• Want to know the 2012 election result?Here's a sneak preview!High-profile lawyers retained for possible Supreme Court recount.Twenty-four hours ago challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg was looking at an all but certain recount of her razor-thin victory over incumbent Justice David Prosser in the Supreme Court race. Now that it's come to light that Prosser might take a thin but substantial lead due to a computer error in Waukesha County, Kloppenburg could be the one to trigger a recount. But one thing hasn't changed: both camps are lawyering up and have brought in the big guns.Kloppenburg's campaign is working with Marc Elias, an attorney with Perkins Coie, a Washington D.C.-based firm with an office in downtown Madison. Elias is the same attorney who represented Democratic challenger Al Franken in his eight-month epic recount battle with incumbent Republican Norm Coleman. Franken eventually prevailed, winning his U.S. Senate seat by 312 votes.Prosser has hired Ben Ginsberg, a Washington-D.C. attorney who played a prominent role in the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential recount effort in Florida. He was also part of the team that represented Coleman in his recount effort. Prosser has also retained Madison attorney Jim Troupis, and Dan Kelly, who is based in Milwaukee.Melissa Mulliken, Kloppenburg's campaign manager, said the campaign first hired Perkins Coie months ago to file an amicus brief in a suit lodged by Wisconsin Right to Life over the state's new judicial campaign public financing law, which Right to Life says stifles free speech. Mulliken said Thursday the campaign "plans to continue to work with him (Elias)."Hmmmm....A computer is only as smart as the one who 'programs' it!Read the full story here.

• HT:TheFoundry.Morning Bell: Commander-in-Chief Turns His Back on America’s Military.The American military is engaged in multiple conflicts and humanitarian missions around the world, yet President Obama promised to veto legislation funding the troops for the remainder of 2011. This is a reprehensible political stunt, and it comes at the expense of our servicemen and women and the families they support.Yesterday, as efforts to resolve the debate on 2011 government funding continued, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) introduced yet another temporary bill designed to keep the government operating for one more week during negotiations, and in this case, ensure the military portion of the budget is appropriated to eliminate the economic uncertainty facing our troops.Before a vote was even taken, President Obama issued a Statement of Administration Policy that offered no policy, and merely called Speaker Boehner’s efforts a “distraction”, with the promise to veto the legislation. In fact, Speaker Boehner’s goal was to aid our armed forces by removing the distraction of a looming government shutdown for our troops. The House went on to pass the bill 247-181 with 15 Democrats joining nearly all Republicans.The American public has clearly spoken that it is demanding budget cuts, but so far nothing has happened in the Senate—not one serious alternative to the budget with $61 billion in cuts the House passed nearly two months ago. That Harry Reid is even allowed at the negotiating table before completing the prerequisites is a mystery, and this latest episode of defense funding angst by he and Obama continues the drama.United States military personnel are actively supporting the Libyan rebellion. Navy sailors and Marines are providing humanitarian relief to our ally Japan. American soldiers are still working to rebuild Iraq often in hostile conditions. They are engaged in active combat in Afghanistan. Some are being wounded daily; some maimed; some even killed. Others are doing their jobs around the globe keeping sea lanes open, on patrol, standing a post, and training for whatever conflicts lie ahead. Yet incredibly, their Commander-in-Chief vows to veto their paychecks.The House-passed bill is essential to ensure military forces deployed around the world will get the equipment they need to succeed. Even it will fund defense at levels significantly below President Obama’s request, unfortunately, which is causing strain across the military right now.The drawn-out budget fight to fund the government for 2011 is reaching a crescendo with a potential government shutdown now hours away. President Obama chose to finally engage the negotiations this week, yet still deflected leadership saying: “I shouldn’t have to oversee a process in which Congress deals with last year’s budget…”Absent a deal today, President Obama should actively press Congress to fund the troops, and withdraw his threat to veto their funding. Let our soldiers get back to work without threats to their safety and their families’ finances. It’s time for President Obama and Senator Reid to show that kind of leadership.Hmmmm...Sadly dictators hardly ever show leadership qualities.Read the full story here.

• HT:WhitehouseDossier.Is Michelle Planning Some Pricey Shopping in Williamsburg?It appears the Obamas may be headed down to Colonial Williamsburg this weekend for more than a history lesson. Mrs. Obama, it seems, wants something much more up to date.According to the Daily Press, which covers southeastern Virginia, the first lady has shopping on the brain. And we’re not talking about the Williamsburg Walmart.Rather, Mrs. Obama has been quietly investigating from afar the wares at Binns of Williamsburg, an upscale shop for uptown gals who want to look fabulous.Indeed, Mrs. Obama has been looking into the lifestyle, ordering catalogues and dispatching envoys to the store itself to see what’s good for the gettin’. Perhaps the first lady can also pick up another $1,000 handbag when she’s there.According to Tom Smith, assistant CEO of Binns of Williamsburg, the First Lady has expressed interest in his store in the past.“We have been contacted by different assistants of the family,” he says.Representatives have visited the store in the past, and Smith knows that Michelle has brochures from his store. He also has sent some accessories to the White House for her consideration.“Our gown department is a big area that she would probably end up looking at,” he says.Well, now we know better what the White House means by a “long planned” vacation that the Obamas might be loathe to cancel.If there is a government shutdown, the president will almost certainly have to stay at the White House. But Michelle has shown in the past she doesn’t mind traveling without him.If the White House communications team allows her to be seen browsing he bins at Binns while government workers are getting furloughed, they need to be impeached on charges of PR malpractice.Thanks to Nelly, one of our readers, who alerted me to this and who also noted that Mrs. Obama probably is seeking some stunning new items for her trip to Europe next month!Hmmmm......"Let them eat K Rations"?Read the full story here.

• UN: Scores of bodies found in Cote d'Ivoire. UN reports that more than 100 bodies, some burned alive, have been found over the past 24 hours across the country. More than 100 bodies, some burned alive and others thrown down a well, have been found in the past 24 hours by United Nations staff in Cote d'Ivoire.Rupert Colville, the UN human rights spokesperson, told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday that about 60 bodies were found in Guiglo, 15 bodies in the western town of Duekoue and about 40 in Bloloquin.The announcement comes as Allasane Ouattara, the claimant president, said in a speech late on Thursday that he would seek to restore security and basic public services in the country following fierce fighting between his forces and those of Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president."I have asked that European Union sanctions on the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro and certain public entities, be lifted," Ouattara said in the speech broadcast on French television."I have also asked the central bank BCEAO to reopen its branches in Ivory Coast, to ensure a resumption of operations in all banks so as to enable the payment of salaries and arrears in the shortest possible time," he said on television channel LCI.In Brussels, the European Commission said it hoped to be able to begin easing sanctions soon.Diplomatic and military efforts to oust Gbagbo this week were met with fierce resistance and Ouattara said his rival's residence had been sealed off to protect the area.The Reuters news agency reported on Friday that as a direct response to Ouattara's request, the EU planned on lifting the sanctions on all Ivorian port authorities and exports by Tuesday next week.A commander for the French military force in Cote d'Ivoire, Licorne (Unicorn), also said on Friday its troops would carry out mixed patrols with police and gendarmes loyal to Ouattara to restore security and rebuild infrastructure.Gbagbo remained defiant on Thursday, even after air strikes hammered his military bases and the palace, where he is holed up with his wife inside a subterranean tunnel.Ouattara won the November presidential poll by eight percentage points, according to UN certified results, but Gbagbo rejected the outcome citing fraud, and accused the United Nations of meddling in Ivorian affairs.The poll was meant to draw a line under Ivory Coast's 2002-3 civil war, but the dispute over results rekindled it, turning Abidjan into a war zone.Via a spokesman in Europe, the ruler continued to insist he'd won last November's election and stressed he would never leave the country he has ruled for the past 10 years."I reached the head of state and his wife less than an hour ago and no - he will not surrender. President Gbagbo will not cede," said his adviser Toussaint Alain by telephone from Paris. "It's a question of principle. President Gbagbo is not a monarch. He is not a king. He is not an emperor. He is a president elected by his people."Gbagbo has refused to accept defeat even though he was declared the loser of the November election both by his country's electoral body and by international observers including the United Nations.Hmmmm.....Read the full story here.

• Missile From Gaza that Hit School Bus was deliberatly aimed at the bus!JERUSALEM — A 16-year-old Israeli boy was critically wounded on Thursday when an antitank missile fired out of Gaza struck a school bus in southern Israel, according to military officials, setting off a new round of hostilities along the Israel-Gaza border. This was the first time that an antitank missile had hit a civilian target in southern Israel, sharply raising the stakes for residents of the area. It also prompted one of the most intensive Israeli retaliatory bombardments of Gaza in the past two years, killing five. The military wing of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus, saying it had specifically aimed at the target as a response to Israel’s killing of three Hamas commanders last Saturday. Israel said the three had been planning to kidnap Israelis.“This is an initial response to the occupation’s crimes,” Hamas said in a statement on Thursday, referring to Israel, “the latest of which was the assassination of the three holy fighters.” In the hours after the strike on the bus, Gaza militants fired 45 rockets and mortars at southern Israel, hitting one house but causing no more injuries. Hmmmm....What kind of 'poor excuses for a human being' target a schoolbus?Read the full story here.

• Obama Admin Training Thousands of Arab “Activists” to Evade Security Forces.The United States is training thousands of cell phone and Internet pro-democracy campaigners worldwide to evade security forces in what it calls a “cat-and-mouse game” with authoritarian governments.The US government is sponsoring efforts to help activists in Arab and other countries gain access to technology that circumvents government firewalls, secures telephone text and voice messages, and prevents attacks on websites.“This is sort of a cat-and-mouse game and governments are constantly developing new techniques to go after critics, to go after dissenters,” said Michael Posner, the assistant US secretary of state for human rights and labor.“We are trying to stay ahead of the curve and trying to basically provide both technology, training, and diplomatic support to allow people to freely express their views.”Posner told a small group of reporters that the theme of Internet freedom will be “peppered” throughout the State Department’s annual report on human rights for 194 countries that is scheduled for release on Friday.Hmmm....Arab 'activists' is this the new term for Al-Qaida?Read the full story here.

• Holder Declares Obama’s Libyan Adventure is Completely Legal.President Obama had the constitutional power to lawfully launch military strikes in Libya without permission from Congress because he “could reasonably determine that such use of force was in the national interest,” the Justice Department concluded in an internal memorandum released on Thursday.The 14-page document, addressed to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., was signed by Caroline D. Krass, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the executive branch about whether proposed actions are lawful.The memorandum laid out in detail the thinking of the administration’s legal team about the scope of Mr. Obama’s power to initiate hostilities unilaterally under his authority as commander in chief – confirming, as The New York Times has reported, that the administration’s argument centers on the idea that hostilities of limited nature, scope and duration do not rise to the level of a “war” that would trigger Congress’s powers under the Constitution.Much of the memorandum recites the facts of the lead-up to the Libyan strikes and Mr. Obama’s statements about them, as well as precedents involving other unilateral military interventions by recent presidents of both parties – and quotations from previous Justice Department memorandums approving of such deployments.Hmmmmm...... Louis XIV "L'Etat c'est moi"?Read the full story here.

• Turkey 'world leader' in imprisoned journalists, IPI report says.Turkey has more journalists in prison than any other country in the world, including China and Iran, according to a press release issued Monday by the International Press Institute.The group based its release on a report published by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE, that said 57 journalists are currently in prison in Turkey. As of December, Iran and China each had 34 journalists behind bars.“While Iran and China topped lists in December by reportedly jailing some 34 journalists each, Turkey, a candidate for membership in the European Union, has nearly doubled that number five months later, raising questions about the country’s commitment to freedom of the press and the legitimacy of its democratic image,” IPI Press Freedom Adviser Steven M. Ellis wrote in an article featured on the institute’s website.“These journalists are in jail because of Turkey’s anti-terror Law. This law threatens the freedom of press, and investigative journalists live under its menace. We find this unacceptable. We made a request to the government to change this law, but unfortunately the government does not lend an ear to professional journalist associations,” said Ferai Tınç, the chair of IPI’s Turkey National Committee and an IPI board member.“Turkey, at the crossroads between East and West, is a major regional power with an ancient cultural heritage. The country is also often held up as an example of a healthy Muslim democracy,” said IPI director Alison Bethel McKenzie, who warned that moving away from this history and imprisoning more journalists than any other country is damaging.McKenzie also called on the Turkish government to respect press freedom and release all journalists who have been detained because of their work.Hmmmm....Get Turkey out of NATO NOW!Read the full story here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Terrorists Slip By TSA Behavior Detection Officers on at least 23 occasions.Years after implementing a costly passenger screening program, the Homeland Security agency responsible for protecting the nation’s transportation system failed to detect terrorists at U.S. airports on nearly two dozen occasions. As a result the terrorists slipped right through “security” checkpoints and boarded commercial airplanes, according to a government report that's difficult to swallow nearly a decade after the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history. Unfortunately, it’s true and, not surprisingly, it involves the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was created after 9/11 mainly to prevent terrorists from using planes as weapons of mass destruction.

The agency’s perpetual blunders have been well documented by Judicial Watch over the years, but this seems to be the icing on the cake for an agency with unlimited resources and unconditional support from Congress and the White House. A heavily-touted and quite expensive TSA program that targets terrorists by observing their behavior has failed miserably, according to a congressional probe conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Known as Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT), the innovative project was implemented with great fanfare to enhance aviation security after Islamic terrorist slammed commercial jets into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In 2010 SPOT cost taxpayers nearly $212 million and the Obama Administration wants $232 million for it this year.

But on at least 23 occasions its highly specialized Behavior Detection Officers failed to stop terrorists from boarding planes, investigators found. At least 16 people who were later charged or pleaded guilty to terrorism charges slipped through eight different U.S. airports with SPOT programs, according to the GAO’s findings.It gets better. Most of the airports where terrorists boarded planes rank among the top 10 highest risk on the TSA’s Airport Threat Assessment list. For instance, an individual who subsequently pleaded guilty to providing material support to Somali terrorists boarded a plane at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport en route to Somalia an another who later admitted providing Al Qaeda with material support took a plane at Newark Liberty International Airport to participate in a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.Before pouring more taxpayer dollars into this dubious security program perhaps the Obama Administration should consider a point made by congressional investigators in their report; “the TSA deployed its behavior detection program nationwide before first determining whether there was a scientifically valid basis for the program.”Hmmmm.....It's all about control?Read the full story here.

• Netherlands to vote on law banning slaughter of meat by halal and kosher methods.One of Europe's first countries to allow Jews to practice their religion openly could pass a law banning centuries-old traditions on the ritual slaughter of animals.An unlikely alliance of an animal rights party and the Freedom Party is behind a ban on kosher and halal slaughter methods in the Netherlands.They claims the practices inflict unacceptable suffering on animals.The far right's support of the bill, which is expected to go to a parliamentary vote this month, is based on its strident hostility towards the Dutch Muslim population.The Party of Animals, the world's first such party to be elected to parliament, said humane treatment of animals overrode traditions of tolerance.But Jewish and Muslim groups have called the bill an affront to freedom of religion.Most Dutch are believed to favour a ban.If the bill is passed, the Netherlands will join New Zealand, Scandinavian countries and Switzerland which have had bans for decades.The Netherlands has a proud history of tolerance and was one of the first countries in Europe to allow Jews to live openly with their religion in the 17th century.The country has around one million Muslims out of a total population of around 16 million. There are estimated to be around 50,000 Jews after 70 per cent of their community died in Nazi concentration camps in World War Two.Read the full story here.

• Hamas: Commander killed in Gaza.'Our aim is to get message across to Hamas,' says IDF official, adding retaliatory strikes in Gaza could increase. Meanwhile army kills two gunmen belonging to Hamas's military wing, who fired rockets at Ashkelon.The IDF continued Friday evening to bomb targets in the Gaza Strip in response to unceasing projectile fire by terror groups.Air Force craft attacked a rocket-launching cell that fired four rockets at Ashkelon, three of which were intercepted by Iron Dome. Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, announced that one of its commanders was killed in the strike along with an additional gunman. In addition, Palestinian sources reported two killed and 10 injured from IDF tank fire on Sajaiya neighborhood. The commander killed by the IDF was 27-year old Rayid Shehadeh, Hamas said. The IDF had announced after the strike that it had identified a direct hit. More than 24 hours after beginning to bomb Gaza heavily, IDF officials said the army has no plans of stopping, and that the intensity of the strikes may be intensified until terror organizations understand the message. "Our aim is to get a message across to Hamas, to clarify that we will not accept incidents the likes of which occurred yesterday," one official said, referring to an attack on a school bus that critically wounded a 16-year old boy. "They understand their situation and are thinking on it," one official said. "They are beginning to understand that the anti-tank fire (at the school bus) wasn't worth it. "They don't want to cause an increased Israeli response, but we are determined to continue operating against targets as well as rocket-launching cells. We will not hesitate to increase (military action). This operation will end when Hamas understands the price of its actions." Hmmmm....Sigh.....This isn't a 'game' to get a message through.The only way to dictate peace is through victory!Read the full story here.

• HT:TheJawaReport.Looming Budget Showdown: Feck the Troops but Dems Saved Google!It pays to be Google CEO Eric Schmidt, now serving on Obama’s President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).Update: Hey, who says the federal government isn’t efficient? The deal got announced a few minutes ago : The Justice Department said on Friday it has approved Google’s $700 million acquisition of ITA, an online travel company specializing in airline ticketing software, with several conditions.Eric Schmidt must be proud!Whew! Never mind that military families will have to do without pay; at least they’ve taken care of Eric Schmidt. Our long national nightmare is over.Now, about Google's JihadTube, where does Obi One admin stand? Do they approve of terrorist propaganda and stuff? I mean, there are thousands and thousands of terrorist supporters videos.Inquiring minds wanna know..Hmmmm.....Is there anything the Obama regime doesn't control?Read the full story here.

• 'Massacre' at Camp Ashraf: Iranians call for international help as Iraqi soldiers run down refugees in armoured trucks, killing 25.Iranian refugees have called for international help to prevent a massacre at Camp Ashraf after Iraqi forces invaded the compound and killed at least 25 people. A full state of alert has been declared by the Iranian group after 65 Iraqi vehicles carrying soldiers entered Ashraf late yesterday, with reports that they are running down and shooting the refugees. Videos have emerged seemingly showing Iraqi troops firing on Iranian refugees and one instance appears to show an Iraqi vehicle ramming a resident and trapping him under its wheels.Muzzle flashes of gunshots are also visible as the vehicles chase residents around the compound at speed. Another six-minute video posted on YouTube that the exiles claim was taken of the offensive, shows Humvees flying the Iraqi flag chasing down around 100 stone-throwing masked people in an open area. At least one Iraqi soldier was seen firing from his AK-47 machine gun, but his target was not clear. The video also shows at least six people lying on a the ground, and a dozen of blood-soaked men being treated by doctors. Camp Ashraf resident Shahriar Kia said the dead include six women and said 325 had been wounded in the violence. Behzad Saffari, who has lived at Ashraf for nine years and acts as the camp's legal adviser, said: 'This is a massacre, a catastrophe. 'They came inside the camp and attacked people with grenades and tear gas, and then they started to shoot people.'When people saw the attack was about to begin, they lined up to defend their homes.'Neither his claims or the videos could be immediately be verified because access to the camp is restricted.A hospital in Baqouba has reported three dead and treated 13 wounded, and treated five injured Iraqi soldiers. However, a memo from the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran called on 'American forces in Iraq and the United Nation to immediately intervene to prevent the killings of Ashraf residents.'Iraqi Lt. General Ali Ghaidan confirmed a conflict took place overnight at Camp Ashraf but denied anyone was killed and said his men did not use live rounds. He acknowledged that there were people injured but said he did not know how many. Iraqi forces have reported their own casualties.Ghaidan said his troops were responding to two days of provocation by exiles who, armed with shovels, have been throwing stones at Iraqi guard positions.He also claimed the refugees had been throwing themselves in front of soldiers' trucks over the last few days.'One hundred members of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran attacked our security and military forces,' said al-Dabbagh. 'Our forces did not use weapons. The situation is calm now. Our forces are trying to redeploy themselves inside and outside the camp. 'The Iraqi government is warning of violating the Iraqi laws in that area.'However, Ashraf residents and their supporters are calling the event a 'massacre'.The UN mission in Baghdad, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. military in Iraq all declined immediate comment.Hmmmmm......Iraq.....Turkey......Iran...Follow the dots.Read the full story here.

• Witnesses: 13 killed in Syria.Thousands protests Baath Party's rule in several Kurdish regions. Security forces said to be using live ammunition on masses.Syrian security forces opened fire Friday on thousands of protesters in the southern city of Daraa, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, witnesses said. Mass protests against autocratic Baath Party rule erupted on Friday in several Kurdish regions in eastern Syria, a Kurdish activist said, a day after President Bashar Assad offered Kurds Syrian nationality. Protest organizers called for demonstrations against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in several provinces in what they called a “Friday of Steadfastness.” "The citizenship gesture only helped fuel the street (protests). The Kurdish cause is one for democracy, freedom and cultural identity," Hassan Kamel, a high-level member of the Kurdish Democratic Party, said. SANA said a police officer and an ambulance driver were killed Friday in Daraa. The report blamed "armed men" for the violence. The government has blamed much of the unrest in recent weeks on armed thugs. It was not clear if the state-run agency and the eyewitness were counting the same people. One witness said he helped ferry the dead and wounded to the city's hospital, where he counted 13 corpses. "My clothes are soaked with blood," he said by telephone from Daraa, adding that he was among thousands of people at the protest and he witnessed security forces shooting live ammunition. Read the full story here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Special Parole Pushed For Illegal Immigrants With Kids.The Illinois congressman charged with crafting President Obama’s amnesty bill has embarked on a national tour to promote a special program that allows illegal immigrants with children to remain in the United States.Launched by Democrat Luis Gutierrez, the "Campaign For American Children and Families” aims to grant a special parole to illegal aliens who have relatives in the U.S. so that families can remain together in the land of opportunity. The measure is essential to help those “whose lives are being turned upside down by deportation,” according to the veteran lawmaker who authored a bill to give the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants amnesty.Gutierrez estimates that around 4 million U.S. citizen children (“anchor babies”) have a deportable mother or father and all live in fear that they’ll lose a parent at any moment. His national tour will visit at least 20 cities and feature heartbreaking testimony from illegal immigrant families torn apart by deportation. Children and spouses of removed illegal aliens will take the microphone to tell their sob stories at the various rallies, Gutierrez promises.The goal is to pressure Obama into using his executive power to halt deportations while a broader amnesty bill is being considered by Congress. Immigration reform is necessary in the long run, Gutierrez says, but in the meantime the government must ensure that it doesn’t “needlessly deport” those who are working, raising families and “contributing to our nation and economic recovery.” Obama must “provide relief” from deportation, the congressman asserts.Hmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Ban on Skype, Hotmail and Gmail proposed.Federal Security Service says their "uncontrolled use" could threaten security.The Federal Security Service (FSB) is "increasingly concerned" by the mass use of these services, which use foreign-made encryption technology, said head of the FSB's information and special communication centre Alexander Andreyechkin, RIA Novosti agency reported."Uncontrolled usage of these services may lead to massive threat to Russia's security," he said at a meeting of the government's communication and technology committee.Control of Internet traffic through these services is done from servers outside Russia, and so they are often used by extremist organizations, Andreyechkin was reported as saying before the meeting continued without the press.Deputy Minister of Communications Ilya Massukh later said that recommendations regarding regulation of mass usage of encryption technology will be given to the government by October 1.The FSB would like to ban these services in Russia because "security authorities cannot access them," Massukh was reported as saying.The secretive FSB, which is a successor to the Soviet KGB, has denounced the popular non-Russian services in the past.Read the full story here.

• HT:TheRightScoop.Video : Levin blasts Obama for not funding troops. Obama is pledging to veto a one week CR, offered by Boehner since they can’t agree on the current CR, that would fund defense for the rest of the year. Even Mike Pence, who is frustrated at another short-term CR, said that the troops must come first and therefore he will support this one week CR. Obama feels differently and Levin has a few words for him.Levin : “This Is What Saul Alinsky Marxists Do”.Hmmm....Exactly:"How does this 'man' looks at himself in the mirror?Napoleon said "an army marches on its stomach" he valued his troops!You can't have a dialog with an dictator!Read and see the full story here.

• HT:InfidelBloggers.FDR opposed repealing anti-Jewish Vichy laws in North Africa.I came upon a shocking article in the Jewish Journal (via Point of No Return and Emet m'Tsiyon) revealing some very telling details about FDR.Among the more remarkable documents of the Holocaust is a scroll, created in North Africa in 1943, called “Megillat Hitler.” Written in the style of Megillat Esther and the Purim story, it celebrates the Allies’ liberation of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, which saved the local Jewish communities from the Nazis. What the scroll’s author did not realize, however, was that at the very moment he was setting quill to parchment, those same American authorities were actually trying to keep in place the anti-Jewish legislation imposed in North Africa by the Nazis.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different!'Huge Asteroid' to Pass Near Earth in November.Mark your calendars for an impressive and upcoming flyby of an asteroid that’s one of the larger potentially perilous space rocks in the heavens – in terms of smacking the Earth in the future.It’s the case of asteroid 2005 YU55, a round mini-world that is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) in diameter. In early November, this asteroid will approach Earth within a scant 0.85 lunar distances.Due the object’s size and whisking by so close to Earth, an extensive campaign of radar, visual and infrared observations are being planned.Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered by Spacewatch at the University of Arizona, Tucson’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory on Dec. 28, 2005.En route and headed our way, the cosmic wanderer is another reminder about life here on our sitting duck of a planet.“The close Earth approach of 2005 YU55 on Nov. 8, is unusual since it is close and big. On average, one wouldn’t expect an object this big to pass this close but every 30 years,” said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.Asteroid 2005 YU55 is a slow rotator. Because of its size and proximity to Earth, the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., has designated the space rock as a “potentially hazardous asteroid.”Hmmmm......Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• The volatile Lybian situation live streams here.

Live Blog Libya - Al Jazeera. here.

• PA seeking to remove Hamas from US, EU terror lists.The Palestinian Authority is working toward removing Hamas from the US and EU list of terror organizations so as to pave the way for the Islamist movement to join a Palestinian unity government, PA negotiator Nabil Sha’ath revealed on Monday.Sha’ath, who was speaking to reporters after meeting in Cairo with Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa, said he raised the issue with a number of governments during a recent tour of EU capitals.“This is a question that every Palestinian and Arab should be asking,” he stressed. “My fear is that Hamas’s calculations about the Arab revolts are different than ours. We see that these revolutions’ main demand is unity and support for Palestinian rights.”Sha’ath, a former PA foreign minister, said that a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation would embolden Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.The Quartet, Palmor said, clearly laid down the three conditions Hamas needed to abide by in order to gain recognition: recognizing Israel, forswearing terrorism and accepting previous agreements.“Hamas has consistently rejected this platform to join the political process,” Palmor said. “A solution has been on the table for years, but Hamas still prefers to be the problem.”Hmmmm......Why do i suddenly think that 'the peacemaker in chief' will go for it ?Read the full story here.

• Car bomb rocks east Pakistan city.At least 20 people killed after car bomb explodes at gas station in Faisalabad, a key textile hub in Punjab province.At least 20 people have been killed in a car bomb explosion outside a gas station in the eastern Pakistani city of Faisalabad.The bomb went off on Tuesday in a neighbourhood full of government buildings including police offices, and it severely damaged an office of Pakistan's state-run airline as well as a local gas station.More than 100 people were wounded in the explosion, and many remain trapped under the rubble, authorities said."It was a car bomb blast. The explosive was planted in a car. We are investigating whether a suicide bomber was involved or not," police chief Aftab Cheema told the AFP news agency.Pakistani television stations showed piles of bricks and chunks of twisted metal from cars, strewn across the wrecked gas station.Our correspondent said security forces are searching for clues behind the blast and have cordoned off the gas station area."The police are saying that this was indeed a bomb. They have no evidence that this was a suicide attack. But they say the device appears to have been planted in a vehicle close to that compressed natural gas station and therefore the explosion wreaked havoc, because the pump itself blew up," he said."There was quite a bit of opposition to the fact that this station should not have been there in the first place, but the station was allowed to function in a highly sensitive area."And there was of course apprehension that in case of an accident, it would pose a threat, so the target [was] obviously very carefully chosen."Hmmmm......Now who would do this?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Libyan rep is UN expert on mercenaries.Remember Muammar Gadhafi's representative to the United Nations 'Human Rights Council,' Najjat al-Hajjaji, who got a little surprise from UN Watch in the videos here? Well, now we have a story about Hajjaji herself: It seems that she's the UN expert on the use of mercenaries. This is from a press release I received via email from UN Watch. With the Libyan regime deploying hired guns to massacre its own people, the UN Human Rights Council was urged today to fire Najat Al-Hajjaji, a long-time mouthpiece of Col. Muammar Qaddafi, from her post as a council investigator on human rights violations by mercenaries.“Every day she stays with the UN Human Rights Council is an insult to the victims of Qaddafi’s murderous regime,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights group that initiated the successful campaign to suspend Libya as a member of the 47-nation council.Hmmmm.......The 'wolf' guarding the sheep?Read the full story here.

• Despite openness pledge, President Obama pursues leakers.The Obama administration, which famously pledged to be the most transparent in American history, is pursuing an unexpectedly aggressive legal offensive against federal workers who leak secret information to expose wrongdoing, highlight national security threats or pursue a personal agenda. In just over two years since President Barack Obama took office, prosecutors have filed criminal charges in five separate cases involving unauthorized distribution of classified national security information to the media. And the government is now mulling what would be the most high-profile case of them all - prosecuting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. That’s a sharp break from recent history, when the U.S. government brought such cases on three occasions in roughly 40 years. The government insists it’s only pursuing individuals who act with reckless disregard for national security, and that it has an obligation to protect the nation’s most sensitive secrets from being revealed. Anyone seeking to expose malfeasance has ample opportunity to do so through proper channels, government lawyers say. But legal experts and good-government advocates say the hard-line approach to leaks has a chilling effect on whistleblowers, who fear harsh legal reprisals if they dare to speak up. Not only that, these advocates say, it runs counter to Obama’s pledges of openness by making it a crime to shine a light on the inner workings of government – especially when there are measures that could protect the nation’s interests without hauling journalists into court and government officials off to jail.Jesselyn Radack, a former Justice Department attorney now with the Government Accountability Project, said it’s “very destructive and damaging to be going after people for leaks that embarrass the government.” The policy, she said, is “a disturbing one particularly from a president who got elected pledging openness and transparency — and someone who also got elected thanks to a lot of [Bush-era] scandals that were revealed by whistleblowers.”Still, leak prosecutions brought under Obama amount to “almost twice as many as all previous presidents put together,” noted Daniel Ellsberg, who changed history and helped set a legal precedent when he handed the Pentagon’s top-secret assessment of the Vietnam War to New York Times reporters four decades ago. “The campaign here against whistleblowers is actually unprecedented in legal terms.”Hmmmm......What i say and what i do are two different things altogether.Wherever freedom of speech disappears,shortly after freedom itself disappears,welcome to dictatorship.Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina.Christian Copts in Egypt Protest Muslim Attacks.Thousands of Christians, joined by many Muslims, have been staging sit-in since March 5 in front of the Egyptian TV building on the Nile Corniche in Cairo, protesting the attack on the church in the village of Soul and the inaction of the Egyptian armed forces in preventing the Muslims from torching and demolishing the church and terrorizing the Christian Copts and forcing them to evacuate the village.The church, which has been completely demolished, has been used by Muslims to pray there to humiliate the Copts said the protesters.The protesters were joined by 15 priests, including priests from the demolished St. Mina and St. George's church in Soul, Atfif in Hewan, 30 kilometers from Cairo, blocked the path to the main October and May 15 bridges. Some of the Coptic youth lay in the middle of the roads to prevent cars from passing, which brought traffic in this busy area of Cairo to a stand still for hours.The demonstrators accused government officials of complicity and silence to the exposure of Copts to violence and looting and demanded the recovery of their church, which was razed and taken over Muslims while under the sight of the Egyptian army. They held banners and chanted "We want our rights" and "Demolish our churches or our homes, the Coptic voice will not abate."Father Filopareer Gamil of Giza Coptic Dioceses read the Coptic demands on behalf of protesters. "Since yesterday (March 5) we have been crying out in vain to the armed forces to issue a statement to protect our rights and our homes." Coptic Demands are mainly for the church to be rebuilt on the same location and same dimensions (now an empty plot of land,) as well as the torched affiliated community services building; Christians to be allowed from immediate effect to pray again there even in a tent until the new church has been built; to secure the return of more than 7000 Copts who were terrorized and forcibly displaced from the village; compensation for all Copts affected by the incident; prosecution of the perpetrators and inciters of the church attack.To pacify the Copts, Field Marshall Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, issued a statement that the torched church would be rebuilt by Easter, at the expense of the army.Father Yosha, the priest who was inside the Church, escaped the fire which destroyed the church, along with three deacons who were with him, through the roof of the burning church, leaping to the roof of the neighboring house, owned by Muslims, who helped and protected him from being assaulted by the mob as he left.The village residents, priests and the Bishop appealed in vain to the armed forces, stationed only 7 km away from Soul in the village of Borombol to intervene. In an interview with Freecopts, Bishop Theodosius, Bishop of Giza, said "We called the commanders of the army in charge of the region of Helwan and Borombol, and the leaders of the national security. They subsequently sent the army. When the army arrived at the village of Soul, it fired in the air and the Muslim mob dispersed. However, about half-an-hour later, the mob reassembled and began to burn the church in presence of the army. The army sent a fire truck that extinguished the fire, but thereafter the army began to protect the Muslims who were destroying the church. Meanwhile, the army prevented the Christians from reaching the church, when they attempted to extinguish the fire and end the destruction of their church. Thus, the Muslims were allowed to destroy the church under the protection of the Egyptian army."A delegation of priests met on Sunday midnight with Prime Minister Dr. Essam Sharaf in his home, who promised to contact Field Marshall Tantawi on Monday morning to make sure that his promises regarding the torched church will be kept.Hmmmmm........Off course no word from the defender of the oppressed,the selfconfessed 'Christian'.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:DougRoss.Photographic Proof that the President's National Security Advisor is Right: 'Many Different Faiths' Really Do Turn to Terrorism.At first blush, the statement by President Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor, Denis McDonough, seems like just another bizarre bit of propaganda.Denis McDonough, Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor, who said that members of many different religions "succumb to terrorist ideologies." McDonough said this in an address given on March 6 at the Islamic ADAMS Center in Sterling, Virginia.With his remarks at the headquarters of this Muslim organization, McDonough proved that he simply refuses to recognize reality concerning radical Islam and is even willing to minimize that threat by pretending that all religions contain "terrorists.""For example," McDonough said, "we know there are many different reasons why individuals -- from many different faiths -- succumb to terrorist ideologies."Obviously this is an idiotic contention. No Christians are perpetrating acts of terror throughout the world. No Hindus are blowing up trains in Spain. No Jews are fostering suicide bombings in England or the United States. No Buddhists have flown jetliners into high-rise buildings. Islam is responsible for the bulk of the world's acts of terror. To use such rhetorical conventions is dangerous because it disarms us from the real threat.McDonough and Obama both show that they are dangerously uneducated in the dangers of radical Islam. This speech certainly proves that Obama and his minions simply don't get it. They don't get it at all.Hmmmm....."The Twin Towers were not brought down on 9/11 by Jews screaming 'Mazle Tov'!Neighter were it Amish in their horse drawn buggies who attacked the USS Cole.Read the full story here.More here.

• HT:Memri.Video :Pakistani Actress Veena Malik Defies Mullah Accusing Her of Immoral Behavior on an Indian Reality TV Show, and States: Mullahs Are Raping Children in Mosques.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:Memri.'Abbas: It Is Time for the Palestinian State to Become a UN Member.PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas called to grant Palestine the status of a permanent UN member this September, as an independent state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. He added that, by that date, he also hoped to see the completion of the infrastructure for the Palestinian state.Hmmmmm......"When crows wear Stiletto pumps"Read the full story here.

• Something rotten about the state of press freedom in Turkey.Apropos of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we don’t know if something is still rotten in the state of Denmark, but it certainly is in Turkey as far as press freedom is concerned. The latest spate of arrests of well-known, respected journalists, for ostensibly being “members of the Ergenekon terrorist group,” has even the president of the Republic, Abdullah Gül, “concerned.”And so he should be because - as he told daily Milliyet’s Fikret Bila over the weekend - the present state of affairs relating to the media and journalists in this country is not just bothering the public conscience, but also “harming Turkey’s image, which everyone has come to appreciate.”Gül was naturally referring to the fact that many reforms have been made in Turkey in the name of democracy, a fact that is also the reason behind why Turkey is being pointed to as a “model” for countries such as Egypt as they try to democratize. All of this had, as Gül suggests, increased the country’s international profile in a positive manner.But that situation now faces the risk of changing rapidly since Turkey is once again under international scrutiny for trying to prevent journalists from doing their job, and for incarcerating those who report about things unfavorable to the government or the authorities.The prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the “Ergenekon terrorist group,” which is supposed to have conspired to overthrow the government by illegal means, argued in a written statement on Sunday that the journalists arrested last week - who by the way include Nedim Şener, an internationally renowned and awarded investigative reporter from Milliyet - were taken in not for what they wrote, but for their illegal activities.He refused, however, to say what these illegal activities were, indicating instead that this was classified information. Those in the government-friendly media, who have clearly sold their sense of solidarity with their colleagues, as well as their professional commitment to the freedom of the press, down the river in an effort to propagandize for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, are trying now to stand behind the prosecutor and the government.But genuine journalists, who are more interested in carrying on with their jobs rather than being a spokesperson for this or that political or ideological group, are extremely doubtful about this claim of the prosecutor’s, given that even the president of the Republic is “concerned” about the latest developments. It appears from their strong reactions that international press organizations are also doubtful about the claims against the arrested journalists.If, however, the government wanted it could introduce bills that prevent the incarceration of journalists for what they write or for the information they gather in pursuing their jobs. Instead it prefers to watch the arrest of journalists it does not like, even if it says it is not directly behind these arrests.Neither does the AKP administration appear to be too concerned about the illegality of some of the methods of the prosecutor in going after journalists. It transpires now, for example, that Nedim Şener’s phone was tapped for nearly two years, and that his private conversations listened to. But this kind of phone tapping is illegal under Turkey’s current laws. Neither the prosecutor’s office, nor the minister for justice, nor for that matter Prime Minister Erdoğan himself appear too bothered about this fact.There is indeed something rotten in the state of Turkey and one just has to look at how press freedoms are being treated now to understand this. At this rate, let alone Turkey being a model for Egypt, or any other country for that matter, it is could very well be that Egypt will become a model for Turkey in terms of freedom of the press.Hmmmmm.......Or Turkey who takes Iran as a 'role model'?Read the full story here.

• £50 insult to Britain's war dead: Veteran's fury as poppy burner enjoying a life on benefits gets paltry fine and mocks soldiers.As a British citizen, Emdadur Choudhury enjoys benefits including a free council flat and almost £800 a month state handouts.Yesterday he laughed at justice as he was handed a paltry £50 fine for setting light to poppies on Remembrance Day and yelling ‘British soldiers burn in hell’.After hearing his penalty, which outraged war veterans, the 26-year-old father of two declared: ‘I don’t have any respect for British soldiers, and if they lose a limb or two in Afghanistan then they deserve it. You expect me to feel sorry for them? Of course I don’t.’ Choudhury, from Bethnal Green, East London, was found guilty of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour by District Judge Howard Riddle, following a one-day trial last month.The maximum fine possible was £1,000, plus legal costs, and Judge Riddle said he had no doubt Choudhury had set out to shock and offend. Yet he fined him only £50, plus a £15 victim surcharge. Although Choudhury sneered that he would have been fined more than £50 for a parking offence, he is refusing to pay. However the bill will be picked up by his ‘good friend’ Anjem Choudary, the notorious firebrand preacher.Asked if he would do it again, he replied laughing: ‘You’ll have to find out next time, won’t you? The only reason I even got a fine is cos it’s politically motivated. I would have got a bigger fine for a parking ticket than this.‘It’s my freedom of speech and I’m exercising that. I’m being persecuted for it. This fine, I will wear it as a badge on my shoulder. I did it for Allah. I did it to raise awareness that these so-called soldiers are the criminals. They are the ones who should be tried for war crimes.’Sinisterly he promised that he had ‘2,000 youths who will follow me and do whatever I tell them – you don’t want another Afghanistan here do you? We want Sharia law in this country, and Inshallah [God willing] we will get it’.Shaun Rusling, of the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, said: ‘I think the British people would be disgusted with the sentence handed out. Remembrance Day is very special for those in the Armed Forces, when we remember those who have lost their lives for freedom and fighting for their country.Hmmmm......"Brittain the country where parking offences are punished harsher then insulting their veterans"Defenders of England From Richard Lion heart to Sir Winston Churchull must be turning in their graves.Read the full story here.

• U.S. government unveils staggering $223bn deficit for February - the largest one-month shortfall in history.The federal government has revealed a whopping $223billion deficit for February – the largest monthly budget shortfall in U.S. history.The staggering one-month figure dwarfs even the most sweeping cuts being debated on Capitol Hill.And critics claimed it underlined just how out of control government spending has become in the aftermath of the recession.The monthly deficit tops last February’s record of $220.9billion and marks the 29th consecutive month the government has run in the red.It is also nearly four times as large as the spending cuts Republicans passed in the House of Representatives and more than 30 times the $6billion cuts suggested by Democrats in the Senate.If a budget deal isn’t agreed within the next two weeks, the White House and Congress will have to approve another short term measure or face the prospect of a partial government shutdown.'We are only seven months away from the end of this fiscal year, and we don't have a budget, which is kind of ridiculous,’ said the President’s new chief-of-staff William Daley.But he added: ‘I'm very optimistic that there will not be a shutdown,' insisting the two sides were already about halfway towards a deal.Hmmmm....How about this for a deal : Congress impeaches this walking,talking doomsday machine?Read the full story here.

• 'I thought I was going to die': Muslim documentary film maker 'racially abused and beaten' after wandering into house party.A film-maker shooting a documentary about the treatment of Arabs in the U.S. claims he was attacked and called racial epithets after he wandered uninvited into a house party, and police are treating the case as a hate crime after officers found him with a bloody face.Usama Alshaibi claimed he was repeatedly punched and kicked by four men after he arrived at the party in the early hours of Sunday in Fairfield, an Iowa city of about 9,500 residents where he moved with his wife last year. The 41-year-old, who was born in Baghdad but grew up in Iowa City, said the men called him an epithet used to refer to Arabs as well as 'Osama bin Laden' and assaulted him before he managed to escape.Alshaibi is producing a film called American Arab for Chicago-based Kartemquin Films about discrimination against Arabs in the U.S. and there had been some suspicions that the 'attack' was a publicity stunt.'This isn't how I would promote my film,' Alshaibi said. 'I thought I was going to die.'A Fairfield police report says a video store manager called police to report a man in his parking lot crying and screaming at 12:19am on Sunday. Police found Alshaibi bleeding from his forehead and nose, with some scratches on his hands as if he had fallen to the ground. Alshaibi said he went to the hospital later on Sunday, was treated and released.Fairfield Police Chief Julie Harvey said yesterday that officers believe Alshaibi's claims are credible because he was clearly assaulted, and they continue to search for the alleged assailants. She said Alshaibi has been unable to pinpoint the home where the assault allegedly occurred because he was intoxicated when he arrived and disoriented when he left.Hmmmm......Chicago......the homebase of Obama,and come to think of it are Muslims not forbidden to drink?Read the full 'story' here.More on Alshaibi here.Of course he also blogs.

• Scores dead in south Sudan clashes.Increasing violence comes as the south prepares to declare independence from the north in July.More than 50 people have been killed in two days of clashes between rebel groups and soldiers in south Sudan's Upper Nile state, an army spokesman said.Philip Aguer, spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), said on Monday that militia forces loyal.to the rebel leader George Athor clashed with military forces, killing 56 people.Aguer did not specify which side the deaths were on.The fighting comes just four months before the region is due to become independent.The south is expected to secede on July 9 after southerners overwhelmingly voted to declare independence from the north in a January referendum – a vote promised in a 2005 peace accord that ended decades of civil war between north and south.But a wave of mass killings in recent weeks has raised fears for the stability of Sudan's oil-producing south and the contested Abyei border region.Aguer repeated accusations that Sudan's northern government was arming rebel groups to try and disrupt the region ahead of its split and keep control of its oil.He said the rebel group was linked to the area's Shilluk tribe based near the village of Owach."They have received new weapons. We suspect they all acted in co-ordination with Khartoum ... I think things are going to continue escalating," he said.However, Sudan's dominant National Congress Party (NCP) in the north denied having any involvement.Rabie Abdelati, an NCP party official, said on Monday: "If we really wanted to go back to war, we would not have signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (the 2005 accord) or accepted the referendum."We are hoping for a strong south after secession. If the south is not stable the north will not be stable."Hmmmm......."Islam the religion of Peace".Read the full story here.

• HT:WashingtonMonthly.How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam.There aren’t nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of America’s police.So we got these guys instead.On a bright January morning in 2010, at Broward College in Davie, Florida, about sixty police officers and other frontline law enforcement officials gathered in a lecture hall for a course on combating terrorism in the Sunshine State. Some in plain clothes, others in uniform, they drifted in clutching Styrofoam cups of coffee, greeting acquaintances from previous statewide training sessions. The instructor, Sam Kharoba, an olive-skinned man wearing rimless glasses and an ill-fitting white dress shirt, stood apart at the front of the hall reviewing PowerPoint slides on his laptop. As he got under way, Kharoba described how, over the next three days, he would teach his audience the fundamentals of Islam. “We constantly hear statements,” Kharoba began, “that Islam is a religion of peace, and we constantly hear of jihadists who are trying to kill as many non-Muslims as they can.” Kharoba’s course would establish for his students that one of these narratives speaks to a deep truth about Islam, and the other is a calculated lie.Kharoba belongs to a growing profession, one that is ballooning on the spigot of federal and state dollars set aside for counterterrorism efforts since the attacks of September 11, 2001. He is a counterterrorism instructor to America’s beat cops, one of several hundred working the law enforcement training circuit. Some are employed by large security contractors; others, like Kharoba, are independent operators.Kharoba was born in Jordan, and he likes to intimate that members of his family are important tribal leaders. This lends a veneer of insider credibility to classroom remarks that might otherwise seem like off-color jokes. He showed the class some photographs taken in the Gaza Strip. “This is the Arab version of a line,” Kharoba told the students, gesturing to a photo of Palestinians rushing toward a passport agency. Then he showed a YouTube video of two uniformed men beating a nameless prisoner. “This is what Miranda rights are in the Arab world,” he said.“When you have a Muslim that wears a headband, regardless of color or insignia, basically what that is telling you is ‘I am willing to be a martyr.’” There were other signs, too. “From the perspective of operational security, there are two things I am always looking out for: a shaved body and moving lips,” he explained. “Some of the Pakistani hijackers shaved their whole bodies in a ritual of cleanliness. If their lips are moving, these guys are praying. As they are walking through an airport, every second they’re going to be praying.” America today is too politically correct to acknowledge the reality of Islamic fanaticism, Kharoba said. “Would Islam be tolerated if everyone knew its true message?” he asked the class. “From a Muslim perspective, do you want non-Muslims to know the truth about Islam?” “No!” came the audience reply. “So what do Muslims do?” Kharoba demanded. “Lie!” Kharoba strode forward to the front of the room, his voice slower now, more measured. “Islam is a highly violent radical religion that mandates that all of the earth must be Muslim.”Hmmmmm......."There can only be one".Read the full story here.

• Tarek Fatah: Some death threats don’t count.Has radical Islam covered up Canada's lady justice's ears as well?I had just woken from surgery when the first death threat arrived.“This is an open threat to Xaar Boy @Tarek Fatah,” read the first Twitter posting, with its vulgar Somali adjective. “I know where you live & and where your office is.”The sender signed herself as Mariama AnnaLitical and pictured herself wearing a purple hijab in the style of Toronto’s radical young Islamists. Other Twitter followers denounced the threat and urged that AnnaLitical be reported, even arrested. At one point she withdrew the warning, then repeated it later the same morning.“He was also the 1 to propose banning the Niqab in Quebec… (and he) supports homosexuality,” she wrote, reiterating again: “This is an open threat. I know where you live/work @TarekFatah.”Her fellow Islamists joined in, calling me a bad Muslim for opposing the hijab and supporting equality for gays. Other posters said I had brought the threats down onto myself.I contacted Toronto police. Within hours, two uniformed policemen from 51 Division came to interview me in hospital. However, barely one minute later, we were interrupted. Two men entered the room and told everybody else to leave. They did not identify themselves, but five minutes into what amounted to a two-hour interrogation, I realized they were police intelligence officers. One of them, I recognized by reputation – a Muslim officer who had shut down a previous investigation into a death threat against me in 2008, and another one against a partner in liberal Islam, Tahir Gora.I have since informed Toronto Police Services chair Alok Mukherjee and Police Chief Bill Blair. Mukerjee assured me he will look into the matter. Chief Blair has not replied.The Toronto police, in their wish to promote an image of diversity and outreach, have dedicated themselves to serving and protecting the the radical Islamist elements within our city. Meanwhile, Muslims like myself, who do their best to promote the equality and respect that the police claim to cherish, are left without legal protection when radicals explicitly and publicly threaten us with violence. In Toronto, anybody can issue an “open threat” against a man laying helpless in a hospital bed and be assured they will not face charges, so long as the person making the threat is a black Muslim woman wearing a hijab.I’m hopeful that the police may yet make the right decision, now that I have gone public with this disgrace. If not, I will know the city I love is lost.Hmmm.....I think PM Harper has a lot of work ahead if he wants to preserve Canada the way it was.Read the full story here.

• HT:WestToTheWestWing.Churches into mosques, American style.At least two Protestant churches have recently opened their facilities to Muslim groups whose own buildings are either too small or under construction. From Fox News:Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tenn., let members of the Memphis Islamic Center hold Ramadan prayers there last September. And Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Va., allows the Islamic Circle of North America to hold regular Friday prayers in their building while their new mosque is being built.Diane Bechtol of Aldersgate says this is something Christians are called to do: Be neighborly and develop relationships – even [with] those who don’t share your beliefs.“I think it’s a tenet of our Christian faith, and that is that we extend hospitality to the stranger,” said Bechtol.This is so problematic on so many levels, it’s hard to even know where to begin.But leaving that consideration aside, ponder these very practical questions posed on the Epistoli blog:

1. Would Muslims allow Christians to hold services in their mosques? I doubt it. I couldn’t even get into the Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem last year, [because] I wasn’t a Muslim.

2. Why are Muslims around the world destroying Christian churches?

3. Would Democrats allow Republicans to use their campaign offices in the off-shifts during an election campaign?

4. Didn’t Jesus throw money-changers out of the temple? And they were only money-changers, not an organization that wants to conquer the world for its own religion and is prepared to destroy those that remain unbelievers.

Then, there’s the problem of who these particular Muslims are affiliated with, and what their agenda is.Mohamed Elsanousi, who, according to the Fox story, advocates Christian churches sharing their worship spaces with Muslims, is the National Community Outreach Director of none other than the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). You may recognize the ISNA as being one of the villains in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas-funding trial. According to the landmark report Shariah: The Threat to America, in the course of that trial,thanks to evidence of financial transactions between ISNA and Hamas that the government introduced, along with scores of MB [Muslim Brotherhood] documents, it became clear that the Islamic Society of North America directly supports Hamas and its operations. [emphasis added]Hmmmm....."I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Do not have any other gods before me."Read the full story here.

• HT:TheDailyCaller.House Oversight Committee likely to investigate White House for treating non-union employees worse than unionized after GM bailout.Republican Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Dan Burton of Indiana are asking House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, California Republican, to dig into the Obama administration’s decision to cut more than 20,000 private-sector workers’ pensions and eliminate their health and life insurance plans during the General Motors (GM) bailout in 2009.A spokesman for Issa’s committee told The Daily Caller the committee “remains interested” and is “looking forward” to findings from an ongoing Government Accountability Office investigation, which is expected to come out within the next couple of months. What Turner and Burton are saying happened during the GM bailout is that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner decided to cut pensions for salaried non-union employees at Delphi, a GM spinoff, to expedite GM’s emergence from bankruptcy. The problem with that, according to the congressmen, is that Geithner decided to fully fund the pensions of union workers involved in the process – including workers associated with United Auto Workers, Steelworkers and the IUE-CWA.“This is a terrible injustice. This is a political decision, not a legal or financial decision,” Turner said in a phone interview with TheDC. “There were people who were penalized and people were chosen as winners and losers. The White House, the administration and the Auto Task Force (ATF) decided who were going to receive their pensions and who were not.”Bruce Gump, one of the workers who lost most of his pension and his health and life insurance plans, said what really disappoints him is how Geithner justified his decision. “Mr. Geithner justified that by saying in the press that there was no commercial necessity to do anything for those people,” Gump told TheDC. “So, to him, we were just ‘those people’ and he thought that commercial necessity was a justification to out certain groups.”Turner said he wants to know “what conference room in the administration were people sitting around the table deciding who was going to win and lose,” and expects to get another opportunity to question Geithner in a formal setting on how and why he made those decisions. Turner said he’s asked Geithner about it before in previous hearings, but was never able to get an answer out of him.Hmmmm.....A question of protecting your 'troops'?Read the full story here.

• US Jews oppose circumcision ban. Jewish groups up in arms over an attempt to outlaw male circumcision in San Francisco by putting issue to a popular vote. 'It's a painful and irreversible surgery,' says self-described 'intactivist'.Jewish groups and others are up in arms over an attempt to outlaw male circumcision in San Francisco by putting the issue to a popular vote. Self-described "intactivist" Lloyd Schofield has been collecting signatures for a voter initiative that would criminalize infant circumcision in the Californian city.After two months of collecting names, he claims to be more than half way toward getting the 7,168 signatures he needs by late April to put the matter on the November ballot.Schofield and a growing community of anti-circumcision activists say that infants should not be forced to participate in what is essentially culturally accepted genital mutilation.They claim that the procedure can cause health risks and diminished sexual function and compare it to the clitoridectomies performed on girls in parts of Africa."This is a human rights issue," he said. "What you're doing is you're taking an infant and removing the most sensitive part of their body."Jewish organizations have pledged to fight the measure should it be placed on the ballot. Anti-Defamation League director Daniel Sandman called Schofield's effort discriminatory and misguided."This is hurtful and offensive to people in the community who consider this a coveted ritual," he said.If the ban is approved, those caught cutting the foreskins of infants and other minors would face up to a year in jail and up to $1,000 in fines.The ban would certainly face legal challenges, and could be found in violation of the First Amendment right to Freedom of Religion.San Francisco resident Mark Reiss, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home, is among a vocal community of circumcised men who say they struggle with the emotional and physical effects of circumcision.He runs a website that lists rabbis nationwide who will preside over a naming ritual similar to the one performed at Jewish circumcisions but with no cutting.Hmmmm......sounds to me that 'Herr' Mark Reiss should study the Torah a bit more or else he has serious memory problems?Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Indonesia: Human rights Watch Group to File Report on Ahmadi Killing to UN.HRWG to File Report on Ahmadi Killing to UN -"The meeting is scheduled to take place on 10th of March 2011"VIVAnews - Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) will be filing report on the brutal attacks against Ahmadi members in Cikeusik, Banten, to the UN Human Rights Council in no time."The Cikeusik case is a caution of dire problems which pose threat over freedom of religion and belief," said Executive Deputy Director of HRWG, Choirul Anam, today in Jakarta.HRWG also plans of filling in accounts on any acts of violence committed against Indonesia's Ahmadiyya since 2005. "Ahmadiyya suffer from more systematic acts of violence. If no efforts of prevention are made, we fear that more serious threats will be posed in the days to come," said Choirul Anam.Written reports and oral presentations will be brought before a session with special UN rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief. "The meeting is scheduled to take place on 10th of March 2011," he said.Granted that the report is ready, HRWG expects the International community will urge the Indonesian government to assure for protections over Ahmadi members.The Cikeusik attack was ignited on February 6, 2011, by hundreds of angry crowd toward a group of Ahmadis who were at that time gathering in the home of an Ahmadi cleric, Suparman. Three men were slaughtered during the assault and seven others were severely injured.Police have named 16 suspects from the case, one of which is a member of Ahmadi.Hmmmm......There can only be one?Read the full story here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.Exclusive: Transcript of Qaradawi's Speech in Cairo.Here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.Fatwa: "It Is Permissible to Have Sexual Intercourse with Prepubescent Girls"Here.