30 Apr 2011

Iraqi MPs approve payouts for Saddam's US victims

Iraqi MPs okayed a $400-million (270 million euro) compensation deal on Saturday for Americans who say they were mistreated by executed dictator Saddam Hussein's regime during the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

saddam gulf war

A total of 226 lawmakers were in the Council of Representatives' main chamber, with a majority approving the agreement, which was originally signed between Baghdad and Washington in September.

MPs loyal to radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr walked out of parliament when the issue was put to a vote, however.

AFP

Gaddafi 'supplies troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape', claims diplomat

One of America's most senior diplomats claimed at the United Nations security council that Muammar Gaddafi is supplying his troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape, according to diplomats.

Susan-Rice

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN made the claim while accusing Gaddafi of numerous human rights abuses. Earlier in the week Rice also claimed, without offering any evidence, that Iran is helping Syria suppress internal dissent.

Foreign affairs specialists expressed scepticism about both claims.

The Viagra claim surfaced in an al-Jazeera report last month from Libya-based doctors who said they had found Viagra in the pockets of pro-Gaddafi soldiers. But it is a jump from that to suggesting Gaddafi is supplying troops with it to encourage mass rape.

More on The Guardian

Shut Up

MadtubeMTV - Madness

Death toll mounts on Syria's 'day of rage'

Dozens of people have been shot dead by Syrian security forces, activists claim, as tens of thousands took part in anti-government rallies dubbed a "day of rage". Activists said at least 50 protesters were killed across the country on Friday, although Al Jazeera cannot independently verify the death toll.

At least 15 people were reported killed near Deraa where security forces fired on thousands of protesters trying to enter the besieged southern city, sources told Al Jazeera's Rula Amin. Deraa has been the scene of regular demonstrations since protests against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's rule began last month, but the city has also borne the brunt of weeks of government repression.

assad-deaf

The government claims its forces are battling "extremist and terrorist groups in the town" and said two soldiers were killed on Friday.

"Deraa has been under siege since Monday morning. Residents from the surrounding villages were trying to break the siege as they tried to get supplies," our correspondent said. "They met with hostile security forces who fired at them and we know that at least 15 people were killed.

Al Jazeera

29 Apr 2011

Rat Race

The Specials - True innovators of the punk era, the Specials began the British ska revival craze, combining the highly danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude, and taking on a more focused and informed political and social stance than their predecessors and peers. The Specials on YouTube

UK Police use section 60 to deter anarchists

Police threw a section 60 cordon around the whole of the royal wedding zone on Friday morning to respond to anarchists masking up at a small gathering in Soho Square in central London. The section 60 order allows police officers to stop and search anyone without discretion. The police also imposed section 60a, which gives them the power to remove masks and balaclavas from anyone within the area.

A-man-is-questioned-by-police

Scotland Yard said the decision was made after individuals were seen putting on masks in Soho Square where a group of anarchists had gathered. At least one arrest was made after a clash in the square between plainclothes officers and one individual after he started singing "We all live in a fascist regime" to the tune of We All Live In a Yellow Submarine.

By 12.45pm police said 43 arrests had been made across the royal wedding exclusion zone. These included one for criminal damage. The arrests took place in and just outside the exclusion zone around Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace.

Guardian.co.uk

Illegal Pre Royal Wedding Arrests:

A professor of Anthropology, his Knight friend and a female companion were arrested for no apparent reason. They were planning on doing a bit of street theatre on the day of the wedding.

Charlie Veitch an activist we all know well. And one thing we also know him for is being PEACEFUL!!! They raided his place and simply took him away. yep he's arrested too.
Charlie Veitch, these three activists, and who knows who else, were all ripped from their basic human rights ...

Bahrain sentences protesters to death

A Bahraini military court has sentenced four Shia protesters to death and three to life jail terms for the killing of two policemen during demonstrations last month, state media has reported. Thursday's verdicts are the first related to the uprising against the Gulf kingdom's ruling family, which began in February. The seven defendants were tried behind closed doors on charges of premeditated murder of government employees, which their lawyers have denied.

bahrain death sentenced

A Shia opposition official named those sentenced to death as Ali Abdullah Hasan, Qasim Hassan Mattar, Saeed Abdul Jalil Saeed, and Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ibrahim. He told the AFP news agency that Issa Abdullah Kazem, Sadiq Ali Mahdi, and Hussein Jaafar Abdul Karim were sentenced to life in prison. Sheikh Ali Salman,  president of Bahrain's Al Wefaq, the largest Shia political group in the country, told Al Jazeera that the punishments did not fit the crime. "I believe that these sentences should be revised and the international community must intervene to stop this," he said.

Al Jazeera

The Big Fat Illuminati Wedding


Today, the British public – grinding under massive austerity budget cuts, unemployment, poverty wages, social deprivations and crumbling services – are thrown scraps of feelgood comfort from the much-hyped wedding between Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton. William is the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and son of the heir apparent to the British throne, Prince Charles. Fawning media coverage will present it as a day of romance, nationhood, nostalgia and pride. Full article on globalresearch.ca

Middleton shares many ancestors with Prince William. The closest relationship via William's mother is a common descent from Sir Thomas Fairfax (d. 1520/1) and his wife Agnes Gascoine. The closest relationship via William's father is a common descent from Sir William Gascoine (d. 1487) and his wife, née Lady Margaret Percy. The Daily Mail also contends they both are descended from Sir Thomas Leighton (ca. 1530–1610), Governor of Guernsey from 1570 to 1609, and his wife Elizabeth Knollys (1549–1605), who was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I. (Wikipedia)

The Ritualistic Assassination of Princess Diana

Click to find out the cold blooded truth on the Royals.

Charlie Veitch arrested for 'PreCrime'

Love Police YouTube ChannelThe Love Police Website

Charlie was arrested yesterday evening at his home in cambridge by the thought police for 'PreCrime'

He is in custody at Parkside Police Station, Parkside, Cambridge, CB1 1JG

The eyes of the world are on Britain as it gears up for the royal wedding on Friday and it is not just well wishers who are showing an interest. Those who oppose the British government or its monarchy may see the royal wedding as an ideal target.
Anarchists
Not everyone in Britain is a fan of the monarchy. Take anarchist Charlie Veitch for example. He brought a megaphone to London’s Trafalgar Square and told the public what he thinks about the upcoming royal wedding.
“What I have an issue with is when the state creates the biggest public spectacle the world has ever seen and charges us, the tax payer, millions and millions of pounds to pay for the security, when so many people in this country are against it,” Veitch said.

voanews.com

Freedom


Richie Havens  - Live at Woodstock

Interview with Asmaa Al-Assad

More Disinformation Syrian style

See AlJazeera for news

28 Apr 2011

Zionist backpack squatters evict Palestinian granny from her home

Israel Rejects A Palestinian Unity Government

Israel has ruled out negotiations with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas, just hours after the militant group agreed to join its rival Fatah in an interim administration. Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said the deal marked the "crossing of a red line" and warned the accord could lead to the group's takeover of the West Bank.

palestinian unity

Hamas, which took more than half the seats in the Palestinian parliament after a 2006 election, effectively governs the Gaza Strip. It pushed out security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in bloody clashes a year later. Fatah, led by Mr Abbas, dominates the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank and leads negotiations with Israel.

Fatah delegation chief Azzam al Ahmad said the two factions, which have been in dispute ever since, had agreed to set up a "government of independents". "This government will be tasked with preparing for presidential and legislative elections within a year."

Sky News

Aliens to drop in on Kate and Wills wedding

The royal wedding could be truly out of this world as UFOs are set to drop by, a retired Air Force pilot has claimed.

london-ufo

Major George Filer says it is not just proud Brits and scores of tourists who will swamp the capital to catch a glimpse of Prince William and Kate Middleton's big day — but aliens too.

He claims UFOs are often spotted during big national events. The American, who runs the National UFO Centre, said: "The craft seem to have an interest in anything important. They've been sighted recently over Libya and near the Japanese tsunami."

And he believes they could be even more likely to visit London on April 29 because the royal family have a special interest in UFOs.

The Sun

a

Obama Birth Certificate Scam

More on InfoWars

Missing Words

The Selecter

27 Apr 2011

General Petraeus next head of CIA

Gen David Petraeus, the US head of international forces in Afghanistan, will be nominated as CIA director when its chief moves to head the Pentagon.

CIA director Leon Panetta will be nominated to take over as US defence secretary when Robert Gates retires in 2011, the sources said. The changes will be officially announced on Thursday.

Petraeus

Mr Gates was first appointed as defence secretary by George W Bush in 2006.

BBC News

Into The Fire

By Press For Truth
World leaders and activists from around the world gathered for the G20 Summit. With over 19,000 police officers and security personnel on hand, the results lead to over 1100 arrests, martial law in downtown Toronto, and the most massive violation of civil liberties in Canadian history.

Full Film (More than 2 hours long!) – Also in HD and full screen on YouTube

NSA Releases Messages Received from ET's

First French UFO files, then the British UFO files, the FBI Vault and recently the Kennedy disclosure. And now files from the prominent security agency rediscovered (never been reported in main stream media), the NSA, saying they have received alien messages, could the enlightenment period that the Mayans said would happen in 2012 actual be the revelation that we have visitors. NSA had released to the public domain formerly classified UFO X-files HERE , but which had never got media attention?

seti_scopes

This one small step, yet ‘Giant Leap For Mankind’, is best described as a ‘treasure trove’. Of the documents assessed so far, we are particularly interested in NSA Technical Journal Vol XIV No 1 with FOIA Case number 41472 which has been titled ‘Key To The Extraterrestrial Messages’.The document authored by a Dr. Campaigne, presented a series of 29 messages received from outer space in “Extraterrestrial Intelligence”. The article is described as developing a key to understand these alien messages. If the penny hasn’t dropped yet, This now unclassified document not only confirms the presence of extraterrestrials, but that the US Government has received deep space transmissions from a civilization outside our own solar system! - MINA

Official document on NSA.gov here (PDF)

Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs

26 Apr 2011

Google to amend Rio maps over Brazil favela complaints

Google has agreed to amend its map of Rio de Janeiro, after city officials said it gave too much prominence to favelas, Brazilian media report. Favelas, sprawling shanty towns which are home to tens of thousands of people, are a defining feature of Rio.

But the Globo newspaper said their labelling on the map and the absence of wealthier districts and tourist sites gave a bad impression of the city. Google told Globo it would change the way the information was displayed.

Favelas

When viewed in a large-scale format, the maps of Rio pinpoint several of Rio's more than 600 favelas, including some of the less well-known ones. The middle class neighbourhood of Cosme Velho - where tourists take the cable car up to the famous statue of Christ - is not labelled, but the smaller Favela da Villa Imaculate Conceicao is.

Sugar Loaf mountain is also not marked and in Humaita, the favela area is labelled in the same size text as the entire district.

BBC NewsGoogle Maps

The UK government has no idea how many gagging orders are in place to protect the rich

The UK government has no idea how many draconian gagging orders have been imposed by judges to protect secrets of the rich, it emerged yesterday. Incredibly, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke's bungling department does not keep a record of superinjunctions issued. The Chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee said: "When we asked the Ministry of Justice to give us the figures, they said that, whilst the number of applications was collected, the outcomes weren't."

http://www.public-domain-image.com (public domain image)

At least 26 rich and famous people have so far been granted all-encompassing injunctions to hide their shameful behaviour. The Sun revealed yesterday that these celebs are worth £10billion between them. Some orders are so strict they last for a celebrity's entire life and can apply to the world, not just the UK.

More on The Sun

Toll rises as army storms Syrian towns

Syrian troops backed by tanks and heavy armour have stormed the southern town of Deraa and also Douma, a suburb of the capital Damascus, resulting in many deaths and dozens of arrests.

Security forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad, the country's president, have also continued a crackdown in the coastal town of Jableh for a second day.

syria-tanks

An activist said late on Monday that 18 people had been killed in Deraa alone. Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, said the troop deployment was an “unprecedented" offensive against the wave of dissent that has swept the country since the uprising began on March 15.

She reported checkpoints and heavy security in central Damascus. Witnesses in Deraa told news agencies that at least five people were killed when assailants opened fire on a car. The vehicle was riddled with bullets, a witness told AFP. Intense gunfire could be heard reverberating across the town, he said.

Full story on Al Jazeera

Norway Spiral

25 Apr 2011

Mass Lawful Rebellion - Inspiration

New Exposé of Big Oil’s Role in the Iraq War

In fact it has been reported on many occasions before, both during and after the Iraq war, oil was a principal if not the principal reason, for going to war. The reason for thinking this comes from any reading of oil history in the Middle East. The modern industry began in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), which today probably boasts the largest reserves in the world. Current knowledge of oil and the war in large part comes from the work of a researcher in the UK named Greg Muttitt. Among other things, Muttitt has had close contacts with the Iraq oil workers union. Now Muttitt has written a book–released in Britain and India this week, called Fuel on the Fire–that makes crystal clear the role of big oil. His research had turned up hundreds of pages of heretofore secret documents and is further backed up by interviews with executives of the international oil companies.

Papers show that Lady Symons agreed to lobby the Bush administration on BP’s behalf because the oil giant feared it was being “locked out” of deals that Washington was quietly striking with US, French and Russian governments and their energy firms.

IRAQ OIL

There is more:

Minutes of a meeting with BP, Shell and BG (formerly British Gas) on 31 October 2002 read: “Baroness Symons agreed that it would be difficult to justify British companies losing out in Iraq in that way if the UK had itself been a conspicuous supporter of the US government throughout the crisis.”

The minister then promised to “report back to the companies before Christmas” on her lobbying efforts.
The Foreign Office invited BP in on 6 November 2002 to talk about opportunities in Iraq “post regime change”. Its minutes state: “Iraq is the big oil prospect. BP is desperate to get in there and anxious that political deals should not deny them the opportunity.”

After another meeting, this one in October 2002, the Foreign Office’s Middle East director at the time, Edward Chaplin, noted: “Shell and BP could not afford not to have a stake in [Iraq] for the sake of their long-term future… We were determined to get a fair slice of the action for UK companies in a post-Saddam Iraq.”

BP was concerned that if Washington allowed TotalFinaElf’s existing contact with Saddam Hussein to stand after the invasion it would make the French conglomerate the world’s leading oil company. BP told the Government it was willing to take “big risks” to get a share of the Iraqi reserves, the second largest in the world.

Full story on This Can't Be Happening

WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed

The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America’s own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world’s most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website.

The disclosures are set to spark intense debate around the world about the establishment of Guantanamo Bay in the months after 9/11 – which has enabled the US to collect vital intelligence from senior Al Qaeda commanders but sparked fury in the middle east and Europe over the treatment of detainees.

guantanamo-inmate

The files detail the background to the capture of each of the 780 people who have passed through the Guantanamo facility in Cuba, their medical condition and the information they have provided during interrogations.

Only about 220 of the people detained are assessed by the Americans to be dangerous international terrorists. A further 380 people are lower-level foot-soldiers, either members of the Taliban or extremists who travelled to Afghanistan whose presence at the military facility is questionable.

At least a further 150 people are innocent Afghans or Pakistanis, including farmers, chefs and drivers who were rounded up or even sold to US forces and transferred across the world. In the top-secret documents, senior US commanders conclude that in dozens of cases there is “no reason recorded for transfer”.

However, the documents do not detail the controversial techniques used to obtain information from detainees, such as water-boarding, stress positions and sleep deprivation, which are now widely regarded as tantamount to torture.

More on the Telegraph

Also see The Guantanamo Files on The Guardian

24 Apr 2011

Bahrain military prosecutor demands death penalty for 7 Shiite protesters on trial

Look at this Bahrain billboard: It says: “We demand from the government…the maximum punishment. No to Amnesty…for the heads of fitnah and the misguided element.”

bahrain-poster
(image from A New Worlds in Birth)

Bahrain's state news agency says a military prosecutor has demanded death penalty for seven anti-government protesters on trial in the Gulf kingdom for the killing of two policemen during protests.

The Bahrain News Agency says the prosecutor presented evidence during a hearing Sunday that showed the opposition supporters attacked the policemen "on purpose and called for inflicting the capital punishment."

The seven were charged in a military court with premeditated murder of government employees. The defendants' lawyers denied the charges, the report said.

The next hearing is set for Thursday. Hundreds of protesters calling for greater rights and freedoms have been detained since Bahrain declared martial law last month.

Winnipeg Free Press

A FOURTH detainee has died in Bahraini custody, the country's Shi'ite opposition claims, as Human Rights Watch urged the Gulf kingdom to investigate the deaths of arrested activists.  Read more at news.com.au

Color Revolution's Mystery Gunmen

Bangkok, Thailand April 24, 2011 - Imagine you are an embattled regime fighting against a rising tide of foreign-funded protesters. The entire world is watching, one nation is already under creeping foreign invasion for "waging war against his own people," your nation has been warned that it is next and has been on a 20 year waiting list for regime change, and your opposition is gathering to bury dead protesters from a recent clash with security forces. What do you do?

mystery-gunmen

Stage concealed snipers in multiple buildings and randomly shoot at mourners ensuring a very public, internationally sensationalized bloodbath that will unequivocally escalate both the protests and international pressure? Bashar al-Assad's regime hasn't ruled Syria for so long because they were careless or foolish. And while regimes could stay in power decades ago through unyielding brutality, often sanctioned by tacitly complicit western partners, regimes today realize the value of finesse and accountability in a new age of humanitarian-justified imperialism.

damascus

AlJazeera's article, "'Nine killed' at Syria funeral processions," once again relies solely on eyewitness accounts, many of which are claimed to be "anonymous," to tell the story of a brutal Syrian government crackdown. After AlJazeera's blatant lies and exaggerations during the Egyptian protests, rivalled only by BBC's intellectual dishonesty, these reports must be taken with a grain of salt. However, as with the recent massacres in Yemen and previous funeral processions in Syria, protesters cited mysterious snipers, assumed to be government forces, on rooftops randomly shooting at mourners gathered around the country. The government maintains that "an unknown "armed group" on rooftops shot at protesters and security forces."

Full story (with video) by Tony Cartalucci - Black Listed News Contributing Writer

Sathya Sai Baba bye bye

Sathya Sai Baba was a popular Indian guru, spiritual figure and educator. He is described by his devotees as an Avatar, godman, spiritual teacher and miracle worker.

sai-baba

The apparent materialising of vibuthi (holy ash) and other small objects such as rings, necklaces and watches by Baba has been a source of both fame and controversy – skeptics consider these simple conjuring tricks, while devotees consider them evidence of divinity. Sathya Sai Baba claimed to be the reincarnation of the spiritual guru, Sai Baba of Shirdi, whose teachings were an eclectic blend of Hindu and Muslim beliefs.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ali Abdullah Saleh Agrees to Cede Power

Yemen’s embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said Saturday that he accepted a proposal by Arab mediators that would shift power to his deputy 30 days from the signing of a formal agreement and grant him and his family, who occupy key positions in Yemen’s security apparatus, immunity from prosecution.

Ali Abdullah Saleh

Mr. Saleh is a wily political survivor, and it was unclear whether his offer to step down was a real attempt to calm the political turmoil and growing demonstrations that have rocked his country for months or a way to shift blame for a stalemate to the opposition. His offer follows days of unrelenting pressure to step aside from Saudi Arabia and other neighboring states fearful of more instability in the region.

New York Times

Yemen leader Ali Abdullah Saleh says he will stand down – in his own time – The Guardian

Did aliens establish a primitive postcode system in ancient Britain?

Every single location in the UK is at the convergence of three or more ley lines between ancient monuments. As I type this, the line formed by the ancient Brill Earthworks and the Southam Holy Well crosses the line running through Morden Park Mound and the Leydene Ditches, pinpointing my precise current location. Not only that, but the ley line that crosses Small Down Knoll and the most renowned of all ancient sites, Stonehenge, also goes right through my house.

britsh stone

It's as though prehistoric Britons built monumental sites as a form of "ancient postcode".

In fact, all modern postcodes mark the convergence of three or more prehistoric ley lines, one of which will always include Stonehenge. If you want to look up your home's ancient monumental alignments, just enter your postcode into this site built by programmer Tom Scott.

The "ancient postcodes" theory is very similar to the work of Tom Brooks, who believes the locations of ancient monuments in England and Wales form such precise isosceles triangles that prehistoric Britons must have built them as a form of ancient satnav. Mr Brooks has been back in the news recently as he has just reissued his press release from 15 months ago to help promote his new book, Prehistoric Geometry in Britain: the Discoveries of Tom Brooks.

Full article by Matt Parker on guardian.co.uk

22 Apr 2011

Syria Freedom

Facebook page of Syria-Freedom

Concern over Myanmar's Irrawaddy dam

Chinese companies are funding a multi-billion dollar project to dam the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar. The river, the longest one left undammed in southeast Asia, is important to the Kachin people, and millions of people up and down its length would be affected by the changes, experts say. When it is dammed, it will leave an area the size of New York City submerged.

There are now concerns over who is to benefit from the river's riches. Our special Al Jazeera correspondent in Myanmar, who we cannot name for security reasons, filed this report.

Kachins together with Shan, Naga and Burman achieved Independence from British Colony but the taste of that meaning has never been experienced by Kachin People due to bigotry and oppression thereby Kachin Arm Struggle Started in 1961 to restore political self-determination. The Kachin State

Litter

litter

Patricia Piccinini - Litter, 2010 (silicone, fibreglass, steel, fox fur, 16 × 46 × 41cm) Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

See Patricia Piccinini Website for all her work.

Bill Hicks on JFK

Dancing Cop Again

From Russia this time. We already had a Swedish colleague.

Libyan rebels pay a heavy price for resisting Gaddafi in Misrata

The war in Misrata is now two months old. The graveyards are filling up and the hospitals are overflowing. In their attempt to end the uprising, Gaddafi's forces have killed at least 1,000 people. Around 90% are civilians who have died because of indiscriminate shelling or shooting, doctors here say.

libya-hondros-2

Fighting has been so heavy that parts of the city centre are now almost completely destroyed. Buildings, homes and mosques are pockmarked with bullet holes. Walls have been completely blown away, or are blackened by fire. Entire suburbs near the front lines are empty of families, who have crammed into other parts of the city, closer to the sea. Communications have been completely cut. Burnt-out cars and tanks litter the streets, alongside effigies of the dictator who has ruled Libya for 42 years.

112296437CH043_REBELS_ENGAG

The resistance from the rebels – from all the people in Misrata – seems remarkable given their limited armoury and experience. That they have managed to keep Gaddafi's forces to one side of the city seems a miracle, or at least a masterclass in guerrilla warfare. But this is a siege, and while the rebels can defend their lines, they do not have the means to fight their way out, or to send their families to safety. And despite significant losses, Gaddafi remains determined to fight his way in.

The cost is huge. Besides the dead, more than 3,000 people in this city have been injured since the conflict began. Many have been hit by shrapnel from indiscriminate shelling by Gaddafi's forces. Others have been picked off by snipers, including Mohamed Hassan, 10, who was hit in the head when he opened his front door last Saturday. He now lies in Misrata's hospital, screaming for his father and uncle or jabbering incomprehensibly. His mother, Zeinab, touches his forehead. Her tears have run dry. She tries to speak but then shakes her head and looks down.

From The Guardian

The Secret World of Toenail Messages

A formula for invisible ink used by spies during the First World War and espionage techniques involving messages etched on toenails are among classified documents released by the CIA.

Spy_poster_ww_I

Six of the oldest files held by the agency, which predate it by several decades, were made public this week.

One paper from 1918 lists the chemicals and techniques used to create "secret writing". Another from 1914 and written in French gives the formula the Germans were believed to have used for their invisible ink.

"When historical information is no longer sensitive, we take seriously our responsibility to share it with the American people," said Leon Panetta, the CIA director.

The Montreal Gazette

First step towards 'directly elected EU president'

Come its next elections in 2014, the parliament's constitutional affairs committee wants voters across the 27 European Union states to pick 751 constituency MEPs in essentially national contests, but now also 25 super MEPs from an EU-wide list of candidates.

use

The bill's sponsor, Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff, told AFP on Tuesday that his plans are based in no small part on experience in Scotland, where a second, regional list effectively decides the identity of its head of government.

"It will scare the Brussels machine," Mr Duff conceded, "but in the end they will buy into it because it only takes one to see the potential for a directly-elected EU president."

More on Telegraph

21 Apr 2011

Secret Space

From The Enigma Channel - A Google video (almost two hours long), watch while you still can.

This video will be removed on April 29, 2011. Learn more. However, you can save videos to your hard disk here!

“I'm as baffled as the next guy about the proposed shuttering of Google Video. Why is Google doing it? And why now?

Google video began as an experimental service on the side and as a stop-gap measure to compete with YouTube. It never had any of the social mechanisms of YouTube, and I couldn't figure out why Google didn't just copy YouTube's social aspects.

Instead, Google bought YouTube and left Google Video as a vestige. Google Video ended up as the de facto site for long format video—with a lot of cool documentaries and other obscure "real" productions rather than amateur productions. The classic "The World According to Monsanto" is stored on Google Video and is otherwise hard to find.

The shutdown raises a number of questions. Is this the way Google is now going to operate under Larry Page? This is the way Yahoo does things. It abandons its own sites out-of-the-blue for no apparent reason.”

John C. Dvorak on PCMAG.COM

Pentagon Seeks Death Penalty Against USS Cole Bombing Suspect

The Defense Department announced Wednesday that it is seeking the death penalty against a Guantanamo Bay detainee in connection with the USS Cole bombing in Yemen more than a decade ago.

uss cole

Military prosecutors have re-filed terrorism and murder charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, of Saudi Arabia, the first case to move forward since President Obama ordered military trials to resume at Guantanamo Bay. The charges allege that Al-Nashiri led the planning and preparation for the USS Cole attack that blew a hole in the ship, killing 17 sailors and wounding another 40.

Al-Nashiri was first charged in 2008, but those charges were later withdrawn after President Obama took office, as his administration undertook a sweeping review of the Guantanamo Bay detention program. Al-Nashiri had been waterboarded during the Bush administration.

FoxNews.com

Former CIA agents have confirmed rumours that the agency tortured terror suspects at a detention center in Poland. One agent allegedly held a drill to a prisoner's head while he was naked and hooded.

Abd-al-Rahim-al-Nashiri

Former CIA agents have confirmed for the first time that the agency tortured prisoners at a "black site" detention center in north-eastern Poland at the height of the war on terror. According to the Associated Press, a former CIA agent identified only as "Albert" tortured the terror suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri multiple times with an electric drill at the converted Stare Kiejkuty military base near Szymany in the Masuria region of Poland.

Al-Nashiri is the suspected mastermind behind one of the first large al-Qaida attacks, which targeted the US destroyer USS Cole in the Gulf of Aden in October 2000. According to former CIA agents who preferred to remain anonymous, Albert tortured the suspect for two weeks in December 2002. The claim is backed up by a review by the CIA's inspector general, which reads: "The debriefer entered the detainee's cell and revved the drill while the detainee stood naked and hooded."

Spiegel Online

US army 'wikileaker' swaps prisons amid torture fears

Bradley Manning accused of passing thousands of secret government documents to Wikileaks is to be transferred to a new prison.The US soldier has been held at a marine base in the US state of Virginia for the past 10 months. The decision to move him follows growing criticism that he's been held in conditions that amount to torture. For more on this, RT is joined by Professor Lawrence Davidson who's in Pennsylvania. RussiaToday

20 Apr 2011

Photographers killed in Libya

Photographer Tim Hetherington has been killed covering the escalating violence in the Libyan city of Misrata while three other western journalists have been injured.

infidel

Hetherington, 40, the British photographer and co-creator of Oscar-winning documentary Restrepo, was killed in Misrata on Wednesday. Hetherington is believed to be the first western journalist killed covering the Libyan conflict.

Hetherington posted on Twitter on Tuesday: "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO."

Chris Hondros, 41, a US Pulitzer nominee who works for Getty Images, was also killed. His work has appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world. His awards include World Press Photo honours and the Robert Capa Gold Medal, one of the highest prizes in war photography.

The British photographer Guy Martin, who works for the Panos agency, was critically injured. The fourth man was reported by the New York Times to be photographer Michael Christopher Brown, but his condition was not said to be life-threatening.

guardian.co.uk

US Congress Fails To Pass A Single Oil Spill Law

In the year since the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history, Congress hasn't adopted any major laws on oil and gas drilling -- despite introducing more than 150 bills to improve the safety and oversight of offshore drilling and holding more than 60 hearings to discuss the spill's causes and consequences with regulators, oil company officials, grieving relatives and Gulf-area fishermen.

fish

"Nothing has happened," said Jones, who’s son Gordon died in the Deepwater Horizon explosion , speaking by phone from his law office in Baton Rouge. "When oil was still gushing out of the Gulf, everybody wanted to do everything right, to do whatever they could to keep that from happening again. But that was then. Now, everybody is back to drilling more, making more money and not worrying about safety. That attitude is what cost the lives of 11 men and caused the biggest environmental disaster in our history," he said.

Jones traces the inaction to political gridlock and to the nation’s fading attention span. He claims that as soon as the gushing undersea well was capped and the nonstop TV coverage slowed to a trickle in July, he no longer commanded the same attention.

Full article on Huffington Post

Bradley Manning moved to Ft. Leavenworth

US Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today issued the following statement in response to a report by the Associated Press that the Department of Defense will move Private First Class Bradley Manning from Marine Corp Base Quantico to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, a maximum security prison.

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“Absolutely nothing the Department of Defense has done so far with respect to Pfc. Manning provides any assurance that his basic human and constitutional rights are being protected. The Department of Defense has refused to provide timely answers to even the most basic questions and have thus far refused to allow me to meet with him.

“Any move of Pfc. Manning does not change the underlying fact, which has not been disputed by the Department of Defense, that he has been held under conditions which may in fact constitute ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ in violation of the 8th amendment.

“I will demand assurances in writing from the highest levels of the Department of Defense that moving Pfc. Manning will ensure his rights are better protected than they were when he was at Marine Corp Base Quantico and he will be kept safe under all circumstances.”

Bradley Manning Support Network

No protests in any form, warns Syria

The government in Syria tried to placate protesters with declarations of reform Tuesday while bluntly warning its people to end more than a month of demonstrations, a now-familiar strategy in one of the Arab world’s most repressive countries.

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The mix of concession and coercion came hours after police, army and the other forces of an authoritarian state were marshalled to crush one of the biggest gatherings yet by protesters bent on staging an Egyptian-style sit-in in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city. At least two people died as security forces cleared the main square, protesters said, but there were conflicting accounts on casualties.

The warning by the Interior Ministry — forbidding protests “under any banner whatsoever” — suggested that the government was prepared to escalate a crackdown, even as the promised repeal of emergency law, in place since 1963, went far in meeting at least some of the demands of protests that have mirrored uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. The repeal must still be formally approved by Parliament or the president, but that amounts to a formality. (Indian Express)

19 Apr 2011

UK Royal wedding: Police consider pre-emptive arrests

Police cannot rule out pre-emptive strikes against anarchists plotting to disrupt the royal wedding, Scotland Yard has said.

In one of the biggest security operations in the history of the Metropolitan police, just under 5,000 police officers - including armed and undercover teams - will be on duty on 29 April in the city of Westminster and around the centre of London.

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So far, two groups have indicated that they wish to protest: Muslims against Crusades, who asked to demonstrate outside Westminster Abbey but were refused permission, and the English Defence League. The EDL indicated it would mount a demonstration if Muslims against Crusades did so.

Sixty individuals who have been arrested at past demonstrations, such as the TUC anti-cuts protest and the student demonstration against the introduction of fees, have been banned from the city of Westminster as part of their bail conditions. Action will be taken against them if they enter the city on the day.

In addition, the Met is working with forces across the country and is using "spotters" to identify those within the so-called "black bloc" of anarchists intent on causing trouble.

More on The Guardian

The Moon (The Next Step Down The Rabbit Hole)

David Icke Website

Activists Rescue Hundreds Of Dogs Crammed In to Trailer Bound For The Slaughter House China

Malaysia sends 66 teen boys to anti-gay counseling

Malaysian authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay, an official said Tuesday.

Gay rights advocates decried the measure as a symptom of widespread homophobia in this Muslim-majority country where gay sex is illegal.

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The boys between 13 and 17 years old reported Monday for what is officially being called a "self-development course" after their schoolteachers in Terengganu state identified them as students who displayed effeminate mannerisms, said Razali Daud, the state's education director.

They will undergo religious and motivational classes and physical guidance, Razali said. He declined to give further details. The camp is meant "to guide them back to the right path in life before they reach a point of no return," Razali told The Associated Press. "Such effeminate behavior is unnatural and will affect their studies and their future."

BellinghamHerald.com

Syrian forces fire into crowds as protesters defy warnings in Homs

Syrian forces fired shots at hundreds of protesters who had gathered overnight in Homs city, defying a warning by the authorities to halt what they called an insurrection.

A member of the security police addressed the protesters at Clock Square through a loudspeaker asking them to leave before forces opened fire, according to a human rights campaigner in contact with protesters in the square.

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Tear gas was also used. At least one protester was injured, the activist added. Two residents of Homs also reported hearing the sound of gunfire coming from around the square.

Several hours earlier, Syrian state television broadcast an interior ministry statement that described the wave of unrest in Syria as an insurrection, pointing specifically to Homs as one of two cities where "armed groups belonging to Salafist organisations" were trying to terrorise the population. The Guardian

President Assad announced on Saturday that he would end nearly half a century of emergency rule next week - a key demand of the demonstrators. But Syria's unprecedented wave of protests shows no sign of abating, says the BBC's Kim Ghattas in Beirut, neighbouring Lebanon.

Activists say that checkpoints have been set up around the square to ensure that people coming in are unarmed civilians. BBC News

Oh, eh:

Secret diplomatic cables released by the website WikiLeaks indicate that the US has conducted a long campaign to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.  Press TV

18 Apr 2011

No One Is Illegal

“We reject any idea there can be "fair" or "just" or "reasonable" or "non racist" controls, and the distinction between "economic migrants" and "refugees", and between the "legal" and the "illegal". We support free movement and equal rights for all, and unity between all.”

THE LOVE POLICE - No One Is Illegal

FDA Claims No Need To Test Pacific Fish For Japan Nuclear Radiation

The US Food and Drug Administration claims there is no need to test Pacific fish for Japan nuclear radiation reports the Anchorage Daily News but when drilled on details by the reporter refuse to answer questions and give the reported the run around. The FDA says there will be no testing of fish until NOAA testing finds cause for alarm but NOAA refuses to answer questions on what kind of monitoring has been done.

Alexander Higgins Blog

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North Pacific fish are so unlikely to be contaminated by radioactive material from the crippled nuclear plant in Japan that there's no reason to test them, state and federal officials said this week.

Even with dangerous levels of radiation reported recently just off the coast from the Fukushima reactor complex, the ocean is so huge and Alaska fisheries so far away that there is no realistic threat, said FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey. The Food and Drug Administration has oversight of the nation's food supplies.

adn.com

Gagging order could send British journalists to jail for asking questions

An MP who is launching an inquiry into excessive and possibly unlawful court secrecy says a new type of gagging order is hampering the work of investigative journalists. John Hemming said the new breed of injunction, which was used in relation to a case in the high court in London last week, meant journalists could face jail simply for asking questions.

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"This goes a step further than preventing people speaking out against injustice," said Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley and a longtime campaigner against secrecy. "It has the effect of preventing journalists from speaking to people subject to this injunction without a risk of the journalist going to jail. That is a recipe for hiding miscarriages of justice."

Hemming has labelled the new gagging order the "quaero injunction" after the Latin word "to seek". "It puts any investigative journalist at risk if they ask any questions of a victim of a potential miscarriage of justice … I don't think this should be allowed in English courts."

There has been growing concern over the use of gagging orders in UK courts. It is not known precisely how many superinjunctions have been issued, but an informed legal estimate is that as many as 20 have been granted in the UK over the last 18 months.

More on The Guardian

Footballers arrested by Bahrain regime

Two Bahraini footballers have been arrested and more than 200 sportsmen suspended for taking part in anti-government protests that threaten the Gulf kingdom's ruling family. The move could leave Bahrain in breach of international rules separating politics and sport. All the men suspended are Shia Muslims. At least 28 people have died and hundreds have been injured in the Sunni regime's efforts to suppress the pro-democracy movement spearheaded by the country's Shia majority.

aala Hubail

A'ala and Mohammed Hubail, stars of the national soccer team, were arrested during training with their club, al-Ahli, on Tuesday, local time, after state television broadcast footage of the brothers attending a pro-democracy rally in Pearl Square, in Manama.

A'ala Hubail, 28, was joint top scorer in the 2004 Asian Cup. A paramedic before he turned professional, he worked as a volunteer nurse during the protests.

The Australian

Symbolism in Logos

RedIceRadio YouTube Channel - Red Ice Creations

17 Apr 2011

WEST vs CHINA: A New Cold War begins on Libyan Soil

The question as to why US-led NATO forces are determined to engineer a regime change in Libya is now becoming clear. While media pundits and political experts still argue over whether the Libyan rebel gangs are actually being backed and directed by US, UK and Israel intelligence agencies, broader long-range Western policy objectives for Libya are being completely ignored.

One only has to read the strategic briefings in U.S. AFRICOM documents to realise the true endgame in Libya: the control of valuable resources and the eviction of China from North Africa.

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When the US formed AFRICOM in 2007, some 49 countries signed on to the US military charter for Africa but one country refused: Libya. Such a treacherous act by Libya’s leader Moummar Qaddafi would only sow the seeds for a future conflict down the road in 2011.

According to Bejing’s Ministry of Commerce, China’s current contracts in Libya number no less than 50 large projects involving contracts in excess of 18 billion USD. What is even more revealing here is that due to the recent instability in the North African region, China’s investments have taken a serious hit. The recent political turmoil in the region has caused China’s foreign contracted projects to drop with new contracts amounting to $ 3,470,000,000, down 53.2%. Among them, the amount of new contracts in Libya, down by 45.3%, 13.9% less turnover; to Algeria, the amount of the contract fell 97.1%, turnover decreased by 10.7% – all within the first 2 months of this year.

Much more on 21st Century Wire