Top army generals defect in Yemen

Three top Yemeni army generals have declared their support for anti-government protesters seeking the resignation of the country's president, Ali Abudullah Saleh.

Brigadier Ali Mohsen Saleh, the head of the north western military zone and the head of the first armoured division, said on Monday that he had deployed army units to protect the protesters. Two more generals rallied behind Brigadier Saleh soon after.

Addressing a news conference, Brigadier Saleh said: "Yemen today, is suffering from a comprehensive and dangerous crisis and it is widespread. "Lack of dialogue and oppression of peaceful protesters in the public sphere, resulted in crisis which has increased each day. "And it is because of what I feel about the emotions of officers and leaders in the armed forces, who are an integral part of the people, and protectors of the people, I declare, on their behalf, our peaceful support of the youth revolution and their demands and that we will fulfil our duties."

The announcement came days after scores died when armed men fired at an anti-government protest in the capital Sanaa.

Al Jazeera

Filmmaker Michael Moore Rips President Obama Over Libya

Anti-war filmmaker Michael Moore tore into President Obama for taking military action in Libya on Saturday.

Moore, a frequent critic of President Bush for launching the Iraq War, unleashed a string on tweets comparing the U.S. military's mission in Libya to Iraq and Afghanistan, using a mantra coined by Charlie Sheen:

- It's only cause we're defending the Libyan people from a tyrant! That's why we bombed the Saudis last wk! Hahaha. Pentagon=comedy
- And we always follow the French's lead! Next thing you know, we'll have free health care & free college! Yay war!
- We've had a "no-fly zone" over Afghanistan for over 9 yrs. How's that going? #WINNING !
- Khadaffy must've planned 9/11! #excuses
- Khadaffy must've had WMD! #excusesthatwork
- Khadaffy must've threatened to kill somebody's daddy! #daddywantedjeb

Moore also suggested that Obama should return the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 2009:

- May I suggest a 50-mile evacuation zone around Obama's Nobel Peace Prize? #returnspolicy

TheHill.com - Twitter

Missile strike destroys Gaddafi 'command centre'

A missile strike has destroyed a building in Libya's capital, Tripoli, which Western officials say was one of Col Muammar Gaddafi's command centres.

Libyan government spokesman Ibrahim Musa said the strike had targeted an 'administrative building'. Journalists were shown the wrecked building but it was not clear if there were any casualties.

Countries including the US, UK and France are continuing strikes after the UN authorised action to protect Libyan civilians from government forces. Col Gaddafi has been fighting a rebellion that broke out last month.

US officials have said Col Gaddafi himself is not a target of the air strikes, which they say are aimed at his armed forces and air defence systems. A Libyan official said 64 people had been killed in strikes at the weekend, but the figure could not be verified.

BBC News

The Killing Moon

Echo & The Bunnymen

Is Anonymous The New WikiLeaks?

After defending WikiLeaks late last year, hactivist collective Anonymous may have just scooped it.

At midnight last night an Anonymous member who goes by the Twitter handle OperationLeakS released a series of e-mails with an employee at a Bank of America subsidiary, who is accusing the bank of fraud through inappropriately tracking loan documents. (WikiLeaks claimed last year that it had a trove of damaging, and as-yet-unreleased data about Bank of America that could take the bank down.)

The e-mails, between OperationLeakS and the Balboa employee, claim among other things that the bank is run “like a cult.”

How damning is the leak? Forbes’ Wall Street writer Halah Touryalai has taken a look and says it’s “tough to tell if there’s anything truly damning” about them. Meanwhile some of the leaks from bankofamericasuck.com have been removed, and a Bank of America spokesman told Reuters that the bank is “confident that [the former employee's] extravagant assertions are untrue.”

However inconclusive the e-mails may be, the leak may have wider implications for Anonymous as it gradually proves itself a source of comeuppance for disgruntled employees with damning information about a company or institution. “A lot depends on the impact of this week,” says Gabriella Coleman, a professor at NYU who is researching Anonymous, adding that the online collective could go in a similar direction to WikiLeaks.

Forbes Blog

World's Ugliest Buildings

Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool, England:
Cathedrals like this one, officially named Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, should conjure up thoughts of heavenly repose. But here, congregants look up and imagine getting impaled on those unfriendly spires—that, or they plan their next camping trip, inspired by buttresses that recall a fancy beige tent.
The Ugly Truth:
Well, it was the ’60s. Plus, architect Frederick Gibberd was charged with getting the cathedral up on a tight schedule and budget. Result: not long after the 1967 opening, mosaic tiles started popping off, and the roof began leaking.

14 more architectural monstrosities on Travel + Leisure

Operation Odyssey Dawn

Western allies unleashed a series of dramatic air and missile strikes against Muammar Gaddafi's military as international leaders mounted the biggest intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

As night fell the United States launched Tomahawk missiles at Libyan targets from a warship stationed in the Mediterranean, in what the Pentagon called "Operation Odyssey Dawn." At the same time Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that British forces were in action "over Libya".

The strikes took place barely 48 hours after the UN Security Council passed a resolution authorising the use of "all necessary force" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's military surge. The patience of the international community finally ran out when Gaddafi's troops pounded the rebel stronghold of Benghazi early yesterday, hours after the Libyan dictator had promised a full ceasefire and invited foreign officials into his country to monitor it.

The Guardian

French warplanes attack tanks and US launches cruise missiles, as international military intervention begins – Al Jazeera

Dutch working minors to pay for unemployed parents

Youngsters aged 16 and 17 who live with parents claiming welfare benefits will have to pay towards their family’s upkeep if they earn more than €413 a month, according to new draft legislation, the Volkskrant reports.

The social affairs ministry wants to cut welfare benefits to families with children who have an income. Plans to stop welfare for parents who live with adult children in work have already leaked out.

Families with youngsters who earn more than €1,240 a quarter already lose their right to child benefits. The minimum wage for a 17-year-old is €562,65 or just under €26 a day

DutchNews.nl

ADHD drugs given to four-year-olds

UK children as young as four are being given Ritalin-style medication for behavioural problems in breach of NHS guidelines, the Guardian has discovered, prompting the leading psychological society to call for a national review.

Family-based therapy is recommended for treating children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), with prescription drugs used only for children over six years old and as a last resort.

The figures, based on data from 479 GPs, show prescription rates were highest for children aged six to 12, doubling to just over eight per 1,000 in the five years up to 2008. Children aged 13 to 17 had the second highest rate at six per 1,000, while those aged 25 and over had less than one per 1,000.

Concern is greatest over children under six who should not be receiving drugs at all, says the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

More on the The Guardian

'Nuclear Ninjas' Suicide Mission

A handful of "heroes" working to avert a total meltdown at Japan's crippled nuclear plant have told loved ones not to expect them to return home.

The Japanese media have dubbed the elite squad of 180 technicians the "Samurai Warriors" and even the "Nuclear Ninjas" as they try to save their country.

Police officers wore protective suits as they drove near the nuclear plant.

One man, having already been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, told his wife: "Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while." Nuclear experts have said the men are on a suicide mission and that not even their airtight suits can save them from contamination. And if they survive, they will face a lifetime of health problems.

More on Sky News

Mid-East Destabilization

The globalist war drum keeps beating. Since the faux peoples revolution could not topple the crazed Libyan dictator, the U.N. voted to institute a no fly zone. That report was immediately updated and the no fly zone turned into a British and French bombing campaign which is scheduled to start on Friday (3-18-2011). While the world is focused on the meltdown in Japan the elites are continuing their plan of mid-east destabilization which will eventually turn into a showdown with Iran.

The Alex Jones Channel

Bahrain police killing people by drive by shootings

Police killer brutality. They are massacring the peaceful protesters . This happened today Sitra 16th March

Investigator/91177info

Dozens dead in Yemen protests

At least 30 people are believed to have been killed in Yemen after pro-government troops reportedly opened fire on protesters in the capital, Sanaa. According to witnesses, the shooting started after security forces tried to prevent anti-government worshippers from marching after prayers near the protest base at Sanaa University.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis have gathered in the capital for competing prayers and protests.

Yemen has been rocked by weeks of demonstrations that have undermined President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s grip on power. Several allies of the President have recently defected to the opposition, calling on him to step down immediately and criticising rampant corruption and soaring unemployment.

euronews

Libya declares immediate ceasefire

Libya's government has announced it will halt all military operations in the country hours after the United Nations Security Council backed a no-fly zone over the country.
Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign secretary, said his government was interested in protecting all civilians and foreigners, in a statement televised on Friday.

"We decided on an immediate ceasefire and on an immediate stop to all military operations," he said, adding "[Libya] takes great interest in protecting civilians".
Koussa said because his country was a member of the United Nations it is "obliged to accept to UN Security Council's resolutions".

But Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tripoli, said the statement was "very carefully crafted ... very deliberate, almost forensic. Clearly the Libyans have been pouring over their United Nations charters to decide which bits to disagree with and on the whole they can't find very much."

Al Jazeera

Massive Government Crackdown in Belarus

The Belarusian authorities arbitrarily detained and abused hundreds of people following a rally protesting President Aliaksandr Lukashenka's re-election on December 19, 2010, and have since carried out a campaign to stifle civil society and free expression across the country, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The 31-page report, "Shattering Hopes: Post-Election Crackdown in Belarus," documents the human rights violations that have occurred since the election - including persecution of opposition candidates and activists, abuse of detainees, trials behind closed doors, and raids on human rights organizations. The report also details allegations of extremely poor conditions in detention, denial of access to defence counsel, and government pressure on lawyers representing those facing criminal charges related to the post-election protest.

"For well over a decade the Belarusian government has steadily tightened its grip on civil society," said Anna Sevortian, Russia director at Human Rights Watch. "Now, the new wave of persecution is a crisis that requires a strong UN response."

Human Rights Watch - Office for a democratic Belarus - Free Belarus!

The Guardian: Belarus protests: more than 600 charged and opposition leaders in jail

Bahrain unrest: UN rights chief criticises crackdown

The UN human rights chief has condemned the "shocking" use of force by security forces against protesters in Bahrain.

Navi Pillay said reports of a military takeover of hospitals was a blatant violation of international law. She urged the authorities to rein in their forces, citing reports of people being beaten and detained or killed.

At least six opposition figures have reportedly been detained in overnight raids in Bahrain, and soldiers are back on the streets of the capital, Manama. The crackdown on anti-government protesters in the city's centre left at least three civilians and three police officers dead on Wednesday.

More on BBC News

Bahrain protester shot in cold blood - The Sun

More cold blood shooting:

US spy operation that manipulates social media

The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media using fake online personas designed to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with the US Central Command (Centcom) to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities at once.

The contract stipulates each persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 controllers must be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".

The project has been likened by web experts to China's attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet.

More on The Guardian

Rare public protest quashed in Syria

Anti-government protesters have taken to the streets of the Syrian capital Damascus for a second day running but their demonstration was quickly quashed by security forces, witnesses said.

Around 100 people, mainly relatives of political prisoners, gathered in Marjeh Square on Wednesday calling for the release of their loved ones and an end to emergency laws.

Government supporters and police armed with batons urged the demonstrators to go home, before arresting four people, witnesses told the Reuters news agency.

On Tuesday some 40 to 50 people gathered after midday prayers in the Al Hamidiya area near the city's Umayyad Mosque in a rare show of dissent against Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Al-Assad, who succeeded his father as president in 2000, has said there is no chance of unrest elsewhere in the region spreading to Syria. The country has been ruled by al-Assad's Baath Party since 1963.

Al Jazeera - Freedom for Syria!

Bradley Manning's military doctors accused over treatment

A leading group of doctors in the US concerned with the ethical treatment of patients has questioned the role of military psychiatrists in Quantico, Virginia, where the suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning is being subjected to harsh treatment that some call torture.

The advocacy body Physicians for Human Rights has sounded the alarm over the role of psychiatrists at the brig in the marine base where Manning has been in custody since last July.

The group sees the psychiatrists as trapped in a situation of "dual loyalty", where their obligations to the military chain of command may conflict with their medical duty to protect their patient.

Christy Fujio, author of a forthcoming report on the issue, said the main concern was that psychiatrists were allowing Manning's continuing solitary confinement.

"Even if they do not officially approve it, by continuing to examine him and report back to the government on his condition, they are effectively taking part in security operations. Their failure to call it what it is, cruel and inhumane treatment, constitutes a violation of their ethical duties as doctors."

The Guardian

When the Criminals Control the Cameras

James Corbett of corbettreport.com with the last word on CCTV.

Inside Undercover In North Korea

Go undercover with National Geographic correspondent Lisa Ling as she journeys into mysterious and reclusive North Korea. Posing as part of an international medical team, Lisa and her camera crew reveal the extraordinary, hidden face of this insular, little-known place, from the powerful control Kim Jong Il exerts over his people to the military powder keg of life along the heavily armed demilitarized zone.

YouTube

Understanding Saudi Arabia

This documentary highlights the history of the Saudi Arabia which was founded by King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud In 1902 with the help of British Government and spies who armed and financed the rebellions against the Ottoman Empire. The video discusses the present day’s affairs between the Saudis and the America and highlights how the Al-Saud family relies upon the America to control the country. An eye opening video for anyone who is interested in the world current affairs.

Is Azerbaijan Ready For Its Own Revolution?

Inspired by last month's Egyptian uprising, young activists in Azerbaijan were calling for anti-government demonstrations today -- and using Facebook to spread the word.

Originally planned as a "virtual protest," in which supporters could express their solidarity with a simple click of the mouse, the March 11 movement has since morphed into calls for a flesh-and-blood demonstration of growing disenchantment with the country's autocratic regime. It is a move that has rattled Baku.

But it was uncertain what size or shape the protests would take -- or even if they'd take place at all, with organizers being intentionally vague about locations. As of March 10, nearly 4,000 people had used Facebook to signal their intention to mark the day of protests. Protest organizers have stressed the peaceful nature of the initiative, but have not minced words when it comes to their goal -- bringing an end to the country's "dictatorial regime."

The Azerbaijani government does not take such phrases lightly. In the past several days, authorities have arrested a number of activists tied to the March 11 events and the country's Musavat opposition party, which is planning a subsequent day of rallies on March 12. (Members of another opposition force, the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, are planning yet another protest in the coming days.)

More on EurasiaNet.org

Japan earthquake and tsunami in video

Watch the most dramatic footage of the worst natural disaster to hit Japan since records began, from the moment the earthquake struck to the ensuing tsunamis and nuclear meltdown. Telegraph

Gulf soldiers enter Bahrain

Troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council, including soldiers from Saudi Arabia, moved into Bahrain, a lawmaker said, after more than a month of political unrest in the island nation.

The first contingent of GCC forces entered the country to protect "vital installations in Bahrain and maintain stability and security," Jamal Fakhro, the first deputy chairman of the Bahrain Shura Council, said yesterday in a telephone interview.

Al-Watan newspaper earlier reported some Saudi troops reached Bahrain last night and more from other Gulf countries would follow. It didn't say how it obtained the information.

Mainly Shiite protesters have been demonstrating since February 14 for free elections and political change, inspired by movements that have swept the region in the past two months and unseated longtime rulers in Tunisia and Egypt. Many Shiites say they face discrimination over jobs and housing from the ruling Al Khalifa family, which is Sunni, and their supporters. Shiite's comprise as much as 70 percent of the population.

Gulf soldiers enter Bahrain to keep the peace