Overnight music video - The Lion Sleeps Tonight -The Tokens

Obama : there was no evidence that Iran has the "intentions or capabilities" to wage attacks on US soil, Flashback: Nov 2011- US ties Iran to plot to kill Saudi ambassador!

'Israel has not made decision on Iran attack'.(JPost).WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Israel has not yet decided how to respond to concerns about Iran's nuclear program and said there was no evidence that Iran has the "intentions or capabilities" to wage attacks on US soil.Asked in an NBC interview whether Israel was set to attack Iran, Obama said: "I don't think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do. I think they, like us, believe that Iran has to stand down on its nuclear weapons program," adding Israel and the United States would work "in lockstep" on Iran.Obama, who is up for re-election in November, has ended the US war in Iraq and is seeking to wind down combat in Afghanistan amid growing public discontent about American war spending at a time when the economy remains weak.The Democrat made clear on Sunday that he would not like to see more fighting in the oil-producing Persian Gulf region."Any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us. It could have a big effect on oil prices, we've still got troops in Afghanistan, which borders Iran, and so our preferred solution here is diplomatic," he said.Hmmmm....."there was no evidence that Iran has the "intentions or capabilities" to wage attacks on US soil" is this for real? A while back they where claiming Iran was about to murder the Saudi ambassador in the US...!More concerned with his own reelection than the lives of 7,6 Million Jews.Read the full story here.

PA to submit Israeli sites to World Heritage List

PA to submit Israeli sites to World Heritage List.(YNet).Failure to make progress during the latest round of talks between the Palestinians and Israel led the Palestinian leadership to examine new ways in which to gain recognition in the international arena.
One such effort is focused on submitting nominations of heritage sites – both on Palestinian and Israeli territory – for inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The Palestinian Authority was admitted as a full member of UNESCO in October 2011, which enables it to make bids for historic monuments and locations to be classified as World Heritage Sites. The list of sites submitted to the organization includes the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Old City of Nablus, Sebastiya, the ancient port of Gaza, Hisham's Palace and Tel al Sultan in Jericho, Mount Grizim, the monasteries in Judea Dessert and Rehan Forest.
In addition, the Palestinians considered adding Jerusalem to the list, but Jordan beat them to the punch, and east Jerusalem has already been declared as a World Heritage Site.
Along with the list of sites under the PA's control, the Palestinians are also considering submitting heritage sites that are under Israeli control such as Qumran Caves and the Dead Sea.
Officials in Ramallah told Ynet they see nothing wrong with the PA proposing to recognize these sites on behalf of Palestine "It's very simple – according to the international law, the entire West Bank is occupied territory and therefore all of the countries who recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders will support this." Read the full story here.

Europe Rises Up Against ACTA.Widespread Protests Are Starting to Turn the Tide Against Anti-Democratic Bill

                                    The number of ACTA protests in Europe is overwhelming

Europe Rises Up Against ACTA(WB).Widespread Protests Are Starting to Turn the Tide Against Anti-Democratic Bill
The widespread protests against the anti-democracy bill ACTA by the Polish people have forced Poland’s prime minister to stall – or perhaps even back out – of the treaty. As TechDirt notes:

Following the growing protests about ACTA in Europe, as well as signs of US meddling, Poland’s prime minister is making it clear that Poland will not ratify ACTA for the time being, leading to speculation that the EU may not actually join ACTA.

Tusk’s backtracking could spell the end of ACTA for the entire European Union. If Poland or any other EU member state, or the European Parliament itself, fails to ratify the document, it becomes null and void across the union. As it stands, there are already five member countries that have not even signed ACTA.
“I share the opinions of those who from the beginning said that consultations were not complete,” Tusk said, according to a report in Wirtualna Polska. The 54-year-old prime minister added that a Polish rejection of ACTA is now on the table, and admitted that he had previously approached the agreement from a “20th century” perspective, due to his age.

The Slovenian ambassador to Japan has apologized to her country and her children for signing ACTA, saying she signed it because her government told her to, and “out of civic carelessness” in not bothering to understand what ACTA meant before signing it.Bulgarian and Polish MPs wore Guy Fawkes masks to protest ACTA. Again, from TechDirt.
European Parliamentarian Marietje Schaake writes:

As a Member of the European Parliament, I very much welcome the increased attention the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has received in the past weeks. It has taken a while for massive outcry to emerge, but we are seeing protest voices getting louder and louder.

As Pirate Party found Rick Falvinge reports:

Just look at this map. I’ve never seen anything like it in terms of people all across Europe demanding their freedom of speech and being angry against backroom corporativist deals that steals their most basic civil liberties.
***
This is not Hollywood versus Silicon Valley, as oldmedia likes to frame it. This is Hollywood versus The People. For decades, they have trained us to think in black and white, in good versus evil fighting for domination of the free world. And now, they’ve gone and put themselves in the role of evil villain.
The copyright cartel thought they were battling Google.
They’re not.
They’re waging war against the people, with the help of the politicians.
And we’re not standing for it. We can’t change the copyright cartel, but we can send a clear message to the politicians that 250 million Europeans sharing and preserving contemporary culture is not a problem. It is a power base of 250 million voters that will kick you out of office if you dare so much as touch the net.
And there are visible cracks in the façade, especially seeing Poland falter and the copyright cartels visibly shaken from the SOPA defeat in the US, with the politicians having started to pay attention to what the Internet wants. We can win this.Read the full story here.

NGO workers, including 19 Americans, sent to criminal court in Egypt

NGO workers, including 19 Americans, sent to criminal court in Egypt.(BM).By Joseph Mayton.Cairo: At least 40 NGO workers in Egypt have been referred to a Cairo criminal court and have been charged with “illegal funding of a civil society organization,” judicial sources told Bikyamasr.com on Sunday afternoon.Among those sent are 19 Americans, 5 Serbians, two Germans, three Arabs and the remaining Egyptians. Sam LaHood, the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has made headlines recently after being barred from leaving Egypt, was among those charged.The spat over American citizens being barred from leaving Egypt has left a diplomatic row between the military junta here in Egypt and the American government.A senior State Department official said Sunday that a “handful of US citizens have opted to stay in the embassy compound in Cairo while awaiting permission to depart Egypt.”The official, who was not allowed to discuss the matter on the record, would not say whether Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, was among those at the embassy.LaHood said last week that he fears he could be jailed for up to five years after being barred from leaving the country earlier this month.LaHood and a number of other Americans were banned from leaving Egypt little over a week ago.The younger LaHood told Fox News via telephone last Friday that an Egyptian judge claims he, along with the other Americans stopped, worked for an unregistered non-governmental organization and took a salary.“We’re kind of expecting the worst,” LaHood said.Read the full story here.

MFS -The Other News - What the main papers don't say.

  Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Kyrgyzstan 5.3 - 5.2!More info here.

• Newt Gingrich Suggests Obama Is A Muslim-Appeasing Traitor.(NH).By Ellen.Newt Gingrich visited the Hannity show last night where he predictably spewed venom against President Obama. But Gingrich outdid himself when he repeatedly suggested that Obama is a traitor who “appeases” our enemies - such as Iran and the Taliban - and double-crosses our allies and troops.Both Hannity and Gingrich have been lusting for war against Iran for years – though neither has ever suited up in a military uniform. Hannity cited Leon Panetta’s recently-stated concern that Israel may attack Iran – almost certainly knowing that Gingrich would launch his own chickenhawk attack on Obama.“It tells you a lot about what’s wrong with this administration. Instead of worrying about the Iranians getting a nuclear weapon, they’re worried about our ally. It strikes me that we ought to be helping our ally and making sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.”Gingrich accused the Obama administration of “living in a fantasyland” at that point.“The great threat in the Middle East is not Israel, it’s Iran. The great problem in Afghanistan is the Taliban and yet you have an administration which is apparently gonna release a number of Taliban terrorists… as a faith-building measure. These guys must be breaking up laughing… If I were a young American serving in Afghanistan, and I thought that I had a Commander in Chief who was currying favor with the people trying to kill me, I would find that very, very upsetting.Read the full story here.

• Obama Thinks Veterans Are Only Good For Menial Jobs.(RWN).By William Teach.We’re finally going to get, after, what, a year? of talking about jobs for military veterans, his plan to get them work. And it’s as pitiful as you’d expect. (Fox News) In an effort to cut the unemployment rate among veterans, the Obama administration is calling for a new conservation program that would put veterans to work rebuilding trails, roads and levees on public lands.Of course, much like with his Stimulus, the jobs probably do not exist. Furthermore, the idea, like most of his ideas, isn’t particularly original. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the Civilian Conservation Corps that operated during the 1930s could be viewed as a model for what the administration will try to accomplish through its “Veterans Jobs Corps.” He said that the administration will propose spending $1 billion that would be used to put an estimated 20,000 veterans to work restoring habitat and eradicating invasive species, among other activities. So now the Obama admin. is looking towards Depression era make-work programs that failed to stimulate the economy, and helped keep the USA mired in depression for a decade.Hmmmm......The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments.The CCC operated separate programs for veterans and Native Americans.Read the full story here.

• Europe's cold snap claims more victims, travel hit.(Yahoo).Transport networks were also badly hit as the chilling weather moved west, prompting severe weather warnings to be issued across much of France and Britain.London's Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, said it had cancelled about half of its normal services as more than 15cm (6 inches) of snow fell in parts of England overnight and temperatures dropped to almost -10 Celsius.Many of Britain's other airports were forced to shut runways overnight and warned of further disruption, while rail services were affected and motorways near London were brought to a standstill, forcing some divers to abandon their vehicles.In Paris, the Eiffel Tower received a coating of snow and more downfalls were expected to bring problems to the French capital's main airports.Meanwhile in Belgium, police found that overnight temperatures of about -10 Celsius were so low that machines to test motorists' alcohol levels did not work.Read the full story here.

• Former DEA Chief: Hezbollah Eyeing Southwest Border, ‘Hell to Pay in the Not Too Distant Future’.(CNSNews).By Penny Starr.The Iranian-supported Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah has spread its influence all the way to the U.S. border with Mexico, a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Iran’s influence in the Western Hemisphere heard on Thursday.Michael Braun, a former chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Agency, said Hezbollah had developed relationships with the powerful Mexican drug cartels to “move their agenda forward.” He cited a plot, recently uncovered by the DEA, involving an Iranian operative in Mexico allegedly planning to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C.“Hezbollah are absolute masters at forming close relationships with existing organized crime groups around the world that helps them facilitate what they need to do to move their agendas forward,” Braun told CNSNews.com following the hearing. “And if anyone thinks for a moment that they don’t have their eye on the southwest border and all of our country, then they couldn’t be more wrong.”Read the full story here.

• 'World’s ability to limit Iran missile program fading'.(JPost).By Hillary Leila Krieger.WASHINGTON – Iran’s missile program is becoming increasingly self-reliant, lessening the ability of the international community to limit its capabilities, the architect of Israel’s missile defense system warned on Friday.As Iran’s technological know-how and its skill at constructing its own components grows, Western countries have fewer opportunities to delay its program by refusing to sell Tehran equipment or by supplying faulty parts, said Uzi Rubin, who founded the Defense Ministry’s Israel Missile Defense Association.“It is less and less dependent on outside skill,” Rubin told the Foundation for Defense of Democracies before heading to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers later in the day.“Today Iran can avoid all those export controls quite easily,” he continued, adding that currently, despite the economic sanctions, the country’s access to money is sufficient to “buy all they want.”Rubin wouldn’t offer a timetable for how long it would take Iran to not only develop a nuclear weapon, but produce it in a form suitable for putting on a warhead, and then constructing the warhead itself. But he did say the time is “very short.”Producing an intercontinental ballistic missile might take longer, but Rubin assessed that the Islamic Republics’s interest would be satisfied simply by posing a credible threat to the US homeland rather than in actually deploying an ICBM.“Iran would love to be in a deterrent situation with the United States. That makes it a superpower,” said Rubin, who now heads a defense consulting firm.He urged US political leaders to work to secure missile stocks in Middle East countries roiled by the Arab Spring.He described missiles held in countries such as Syria as “really capable” and ones that could pose a grave challenge to the West.“If you don’t take care of them, those missiles will end up in places that are bad for Israel and bad for the US,” Rubin said.Read the full story here.

• Video - U.S. Bridges, Roads Being Built by Chinese Firms.Read and see the full story here.

• FM Lavrov Explains Russia’s Veto on Syria Resolution in UN.(RN).Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday explained why Russia had vetoed a resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council, saying that without Russia's latest amendments, the draft would be unilateral and would harm Syria if adopted.Lavrov said he had on Friday sent Russian amendments to the draft resolution to U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Russia’s envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin so that all partners could get familiarized with them.“The rationality and objectivity of these amendments should not cause anyone’s doubt,” Lavrov said.Some Western countries have been trying to persuade Moscow to support a resolution effectively authorizing a military operation, but Russia has repeatedly insisted that the Western drive for a stronger crackdown on Syria is preparation for a “Libyan scenario.”In Libya, rebels ousted and killed long-standing dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 after a months-long military standoff in which they received assistance from NATO forces.Although UN Security Council diplomats had toned down the latest draft in an apparent move to overcome Russia’s opposition, Lavrov said the Morocco-submitted plan was “unilateral.”The Russian foreign minister said extremist groups that provoke violence in Syria should be assessed in a proper way, which has not been done. He said the resolution did not set enough demands on anti-government armed groups, and that Russia was concerned it could jeopardize Syria’s national political dialogue.Besides, he said, the draft resolution contained a demand that all Assad’s forces should withdraw from cities and towns.“This phrase, without being linked to a simultaneous termination of violence on the part of armed extremist groups, is absolutely provocative, as no president with self-respect, no matter how treated, will agree to surrender inhabited localities to armed extremists without resistance,” he said.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Saturday she was "disgusted" by the Russian and Chinese veto on the draft, and that “all further bloodshed” that could follow will be on the two countries’ conscience."For months this council has been held hostage by a couple of members. These members stand behind empty arguments and individual interests while delaying and seeking to strip bare any text that would pressure Assad to change his actions,” Rice said.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the veto, and his statement distributed through his spokesperson called it “a great disappointment to the people of Syria and the Middle East, and to all supporters of democracy and human rights.”“It undermines the role of the United Nations and the international community in this period when the Syrian authorities must hear a unified voice calling for an immediate end to its violence against the Syrian people,” Ban said.Read the full story here.

• Israeli minister says Assad's end may be "long and bloody".(TZ).Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, facing an 11-month-old uprising, will fall from power eventually but the process could be "long and bloody" as he has outside support from Iran, Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said on Friday. In remarks to Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Germany, Ayalon said that support in the UN Security Council could also prolong Assad's rule. He did not name any country but appeared to refer to longtime Syria ally Russia. "Assad has no real challenge unfortunately from the international community as his case is being barred from discussion in the Security Council because of some members of the Security Council, and because he continues to get material financial and military help from the Ayatollahs in Iran and Hezbollah." "So with having these two political assets in the Security Council and military assets in Iran, unfortunately he can stay for a long time, although he lost his legitimacy and sometimes at the end he will fall, but it may be a long and bloody process." Ayalon said Russia should avoid supplying arms to Syria as this could destabilise the situation further.Assad has used troops and tanks to try to crush a popular revolt and thousands of people have been killed. Ayalon said the bulk of the Syrian military was still intact "notwithstanding a few defections". Read the full story here.

• IMF wants to blow up Greek economy.(Capital).(Via: KTG).The members of the technical IMF team, which the government had asked in October to provide technical assistance in view of the tax reforms, suggest irrelevant proposals that could blow up the Greek economy. According to protothema.gr, in a mammoth report of over 100 pages, they suggest among other things, a doubling of VAT and tax on deposits, bonds and rents. Specifically, the IMF recommends: transfer of all goods and services from 6.5% to 13%. The IMF report proposes "abolition of the minimum rate of 6.5% which includes only hotels, medicines, books, magazines and theater tickets. This measure could generate about 360 million euros. Imposition of single VAT rate 19% -21% on all goods and services (other than hotels and tour packages that may be subject to a reduced 9% or 11%). This represents an increase from 13% to 19% or 21% VAT burdening food, medicines, electricity, water and gas bills, public transport tickets, taxi fares, medical visits and examinations, medical care etc.Elimination of the 30% reduced VAT rates applicable to the Aegean islands. This means an increase in tax for residents of the islands by 5% or 9% to 13% and from 16% to 19% or 21% for all other goods and services.The long list of new taxes just go's on.Read the full story here.

• Maan News Agency: Haniyeh meets renowned Egypt Muslim Brotherhood sheikh al-Qaradawi in Qatar.(CA).(Maan) GAZA CITY – Influential Egyptian Muslim theologian Yususf al-Qaradawi on Friday stressed the necessity that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip should be open completely.During a meeting with the premier of the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, al-Qaradawi said, “It is unusual that closure of the Rafah crossing continues barring movement of people and goods.” He added that the Gaza Strip expected support from the Arab and Islamic nations. Al-Qaradaqwi applauded the emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, for his support to Palestine and to Gaza.“In light of what the triumphant revolutions in the Arab world achieved, I can assert that Palestine will achieve victory because Palestine is rightness and rightness always wins, while occupation is falseness and falseness will eventually vanish.”For his part, Haniyeh applauded Qatar and Sheikh Al Thani for the support to Palestine and the Palestinian cause. He highlighted that the emir of Qatar responded positively to calls for reconstructing the war-torn Gaza Strip. Hmmmm......Hamas...who's your daddy?Read the full story here.

• Muslim Brotherhood will determine future of Hamas.(TZ).Hamas, which has left its mark on Palestine’s political life, embarked on a quest for both a new leader and a new policy.The Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt is expected to be the driving force of change in Hamas, which will affect the region as well as Palestine.Samir Ghattas, director of Maqdis Center for Political Studies in Gaza, says Hamas is definitely attached to the Muslim Brotherhood, and so the role the Muslim Brotherhood will have in the political life of Egypt in the same way will deeply affect Hamas.The wind of change within Hamas started after the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal, which took place in Cairo last May and Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu also attended. Hamas leader Khalid Mishal, just like Palestine’s leader Mahmud Abbas, supports the establishment of a Palestine state within 1967 borders.However, at the time of this reconciliation, many inner conflicts within Hamas were revealed. Mahmoud Zahar, one of Hamas’ big guns, caused deep cracks within the organization to be unearthed when he severely criticized Mishal.Stressing that the most important reason behind change in Hamas is the developments in Syria, Ghattas points out the existence of Hamas in Syria leads to heavy oppression of the organization, as tens of people are dying there everyday.Saying that, on the other hand, Hamas getting out of Syria may cause serious problems, Ghattas adds: “First of all, the country where Mishal and the organization will deploy is vague. Qatar and Jordan are the countries that are discussed most. Secondly, Hamas has a serious asset in Syria, and there is a great amount of money in their banks. Therefore, if the organization retreats from this country, it will leave all its wealth behind.”According to Ahmed Mousa, head of the political section at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo, whether or not Hamas will get out of Syria isn’t known. Pointing out that there are no concrete developments that indicate whether or not there will be a serious change within Hamas, Mousa states that the organization establishing itself in Egypt is beside the point.Ghattas also says Hamas’s settling in Egypt seriously distresses the Muslim Brotherhood, which is expected to establish the government in Egypt, and therefore it isn’t very possible.Read the full story here.

• How Europe Has Evolved From A Democracy To A Bankocracy And Why Austerity Will Lead To Chaos.(ZeroHedge).In one of the clearest (and most optically pleasing) discussions of recent months, David McWiliams (of Punk Economics) succinctly explains how Europe has evolved from a democracy to a bankocracy, the implications of which lead to austerity for the people and a Franco-German imposition (the 'fiscal compact') that can only lead to social unrest and chaos. In this brief (and expertly illustrated) video, the Irish economist clarifies Europe's 'dirty little secret' where economic policy is being run almost exclusively for the banks which, as we see in Greece and Ireland, means the political elite are becoming more and more detached from the people. The terror of the r-word (referendum) looms large as McWilliams analogizes the two ways out of a debt crisis (squeeze the debtor or forgive the debtor) with the catholic and protestant perspectives on sin and forgiveness. While falling short of calling for governments to go full-Keynesian (everyone knows you never go full-Keynesian), he (focusing on the problems of the current hopeful solution) summarizes the fiscal union as envisaged by France and Germany (which actually penalizes countries that are in trouble, rather than help them) as not a friendly-union but a vindictive strait-jacket put in place to help banks, not countries. It comes as no surprise to him that the price of Gold (and Bunds) is firm as the 'example' that Greece is likely to set (or face extreme social upheaval) will domino-like stumble across the other troubled nations and as he points "we have been warned". Our view remains that austerity works if countries manage to cut expenses while keeping a balance. Alas, the balance is out of skew due to 30 years of runaway full-Keynesianism, which leads indeed to the problems that McWilliams so well espouses.Read and see (Video) the full story here.

• Russia vetoes anti-Assad UN motion after preparing Special Forces for Syria.(Debka).The West and Russia had a major showdown Saturday Feb. 5 over the Arab League resolution calling on Bashar Assad to step down and allow the formation of a national unity government. US President Barack Obama demanded a UN stand against the Syrian president's "relentless brutality" and a vote before the end of the day. It was put to the vote and defeated by Russian and China vetoes.Moscow sources charged that the motion had been intended to pave the way for war in Iran and a bid to overthrow the Tehran regime.debkafile's military sources report that the Russians backed their hard line against the West by putting Rapid Reaction Force (aka Spetsnaz) units in Black Sea bases on the ready to set out for Syria and defend Damascus. A Cold War dimension has been injected into the Syrian crisis, which is fast descending into a sectarian war between Syria's ruling Alawites (Shiites) and the majority Sunnis. The regional dimension is provided by pitting Iran and Syria against Turkey and the Gulf Arabs.The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's earlier announcement that he would visit Damascus next Tuesday, Feb 7, with Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov was meant to buy Bashar Assad another three days' grace to polish off the opposition before a possible UN-ordered ceasefire.However, the US and Western powers refused to wait for further Syrian excesses to take place after various sources reported earlier Saturday that Syrian troops had shelled the Homs district of Khaldiyeh, killing an estimated 350 people there and injuring some 1,500, in the worst military bombardment of nearly 11-month-old uprising,.Syrian government officials denied the charge accusing "gunmen" of killing civilians.Aside from a few Turkish brigades strung out along the Syrian border, the West maintains no troops on in the vicinity of Syria since the American military withdrew from Iraq last December.The United States presented a tough front at the UN Security Council Saturday, with President Obama insisting that the council vote on a Arab League text without further delay or changes to accommodate Moscow and that its president step down over his "unspeakable assault" on Homs.Read the full story here.

• Saudi Lawyer wants Genie to Testify in Court.(Emirates24/7).A Saudi defence lawyer has asked court to summon a jinn (genie) claimed to have possessed a judge who has been arrested on corruption charges, the Saudi Arabic language daily Okaz reported on Saturday.The lawyer, Salim bin Atteyya, told court that the jinn must be present in court to testify in the case of the corrupt judge in Madina, Islam’s second holiest shrine after Makkah, the newspaper said.“The case of the corrupt judge in Madina has taken a new turn and witnessed new developments as the lawyer of an absent defendant has asked court to summon the jinn to testify,” the paper said.“If what the accused judge said about the jinn, then this jinn could be bad and blasphemous…this jinn could have been sent by a bad sorcerer because witchcraft is bad and non-Islamic.”Okaz quoted the lawyer as saying he had made that demand on the grounds any sentence must not be based on “jinn’s allegations”, presented by an exorcist.“This Raqi (Koran reciter and exorcist) has not presented any real evidence that the accused judge has been possessed by jinn,” the lawyer said.In a report on the case early this week, Okaz said the accused judge told court he was under a magic spell by jinn when he was involved in such practices.The paper said the court summoned Fayez Al-Kathami, a well-known cleric and Raqi who is believed to have the powers of speaking to jinn.It said the court summoned Kathami after the arrested judge said he was possessed by jinn through another defendant, who is a sorcerer.Kathami told the judge later that he managed to “question” the jinn that had possessed the judge and would present a report to the court.“The judge also asked me to question the jinn about all the offences committed by the accused judge and other defendant who is at large,” Kathami said.“The jinn told me all I want through the accused judge…I have written all what the jinn said about the judge’s life and the other defendant….I will write a full report and present it to the court, proving this judge has been under a spell.”According to Okaz, the corrupt judge had told investigators that the other defendant had “taken control of his thoughts and made him rule on cases without being conscious of committing any illegal act.Read the full story here.

Former Member of Russian Joint Chiefs of Staff Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov: Russia Is Ready to Use Military Power to Defend Iran and Syria; Attack on Syria or Iran Is Indirect Attack on Russia; US in Libya Like Hitler in Poland

Interviewer: Dr. Leonid, do you think that these preparations and very large maneuvers, which will soon be conducted by Russia, are meant as preparation for war, or rather, a military strike against Iran?
Leonid Ivashov: These maneuvers and training will demonstrate Russia's readiness to use military power to defend its national interests and to bolster its political position. The maneuvers will show that Russia does not want any military operations to be waged against Iran or Syria. I assume that the people in the West and in Israel who design the schemes for a large geopolitical operation in the greater Middle East region draw a direct connection between the situation in Syria and in Iran. Indeed, these two countries are allies, and both are considered guaranteed partners of Russia. The only question, therefore, is who they will try to destroy first as a stable country: Syria or Iran.

A strike against Syria or Iran is an indirect strike against Russia and its interests. Russia would lose important positions and allies in the Arab world. Therefore, by defending Syria, Russia is defending its own interests.

In addition, Russia is thus defending the entire world from Fascism. Everybody should acknowledge that Fascism is making strides on our planet. What they did in Libya is nearly identical to what Hitler and his armies did against Poland and then Russia. Today, therefore, Russia is defending the entire world from Fascism.Source Memri.

Obama submits to all of Taliban’s pre-conditions for talks.

Obama submits to all of Taliban’s pre-conditions for talks.(TN).KARACHI: Tayyab Agha, Special Assistant to Mulla Omar, had begun talks with the United States with the mandate of the Taliban Shoora and after the acceptance of the Talibanís six conditions by the US; the talks now stand suspended.The conditions are:
(1) The talks would not be held in any neighbouring country of Afghanistan;
(2) the talks will not be held in any country allied with Nato;
(3) the talks will be held in the country that has not been hostile to Taliban during the last 10 years;
(4) no ceasefire will be demanded before, during or after the talks;
(5) Taliban will not accept any condition contrary to Shariah;
(6) whenever desired, the Taliban will disassociate from the talks.

Under the circumstances, the US will force the acceptance of its conditions contrary to the fact that Taliban were not ready to accept even a single condition. Having accepted these points, Pakistan agreed that the talks may not be held through them.
The Taliban sources said the agenda of their talks with the US comprised three points:

(1) Five important Taliban held at Guantanamo may be released and a swap may be held between the prisoners of allies and Taliban.
(2) There shall be no ceasefire, and
(3) All allied forces shall leave Afghanistan.

The source said that Nato and US had thrust war over Afghanistan, and they had to pay war damage. The source said there was an active Taliban government in Afghanistan, including finance, foreign affairs and war ministries. Their foreign ministry is supervising the talks with the US, he said.
Taliban sources added that the Karzai government is nowhere active in Afghanisan and even the suburbs of Kabul are being supervised by the Taliban/ In the northern provinces of Mazar-e-Sharif, Taliban are active and governors appointed by Karzai are confined to their houses.Hmmmm.....Perhaps the President can start singing 'I Did It My way"for the elections?Read the full story here.

Paper cut out of Khomeini roams Tehran amid Iranians’ pointing out the idolatry aspect.

Paper cut out of Khomeini roams Tehran amid Iranians’ pointing out the idolatry aspect .(Alarabiya).In commemoration of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a paper model of Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini was paraded in the streets of the capital Tehran amid sarcastic remarks by Iranians and indignation on the part of several officials.The “paper Khomeini,” as the model came to be called, first came down a plane to reenact the supreme leader’s return from exile in France after the toppling of the Shah.Officers and clerics then took paper Khomeini to the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran and where the late leader gave his first speech after coming back. Officials attending the ceremony played a recording of the speech then started talking to the paper model about current problems in Iran like the nuclear program, economic sanctions, oil exports and others.The model then roamed the streets of Tehran accompanied by a group of officials while army helicopters started spraying rose water and throwing flowers at the procession. Creating a paper model of Ayatollah Khomeini was met with disdain on the part of hundreds of thousands of Iranians, especially on social networking websites. Many of the scoffing remarks focused on the idolatry aspect of the process and some even accused the regime of going back to pagan times.Read the full story here.

NATO implementing a drone-based high-altitude surveillance project.

NATO implementing a drone-based high-altitude surveillance project.Source: Reuters. The Alliance Ground Surveillance project (AGS) project, which is scheduled to come into use from 2015, will have its main base at Sigonella in Italy and several associated command-and-control base stations.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that under an agreement reached at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, a group of nations would acquire five Global Hawk RQ-4B reconnaissance drones produced by U.S. firm Northrop Grumman and powered by Rolls-Royce engines.
Northrop Grumman ISS International is the main contractor, while the German arm of EADS, Italy’s Galileo Avionica — a unit of Finmeccanica — and the Canadian arm of General Dynamics are also involved.The 13 countries participating in the project are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United States.U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta welcomed the deal.“It’s good deal, big deal, done deal,” he was quoted as saying in a Twitter message posted by the U.S. ambassador to NATO.
Rasmussen, who has been a champion of such cooperative defence projects, said NATO’s operation in Libya last year had shown the need for such a capability.“This will give our commanders the ability to see what is happening on the ground, at long range, over periods of time, around the clock, in any weather,” he said.The drones fly at 60,000 feet and can stay aloft for over 24 hours.Read the full story here.

And as a topping for the Drone cake: In case you guys haven’t seen this video, it’s awesome. It shows a swarm of tiny quadrotor UAVs flying in numerous formations, performing figure eights with each other and even flying around obstacles. Talk about sense and avoid!More here.

Congress Calls for Accelerated Use of Drones in U.S.

Congress Calls for Accelerated Use of Drones in U.S.(DougRoss).Via Fas   By Steven Aftergood

A House-Senate conference report this week called on the Administration to accelerate the use of civilian unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or “drones,” in U.S. airspace.
The pending authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration directs the Secretary of Transporation to develop within nine months “a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.”
“The plan… shall provide for the safe integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system as soon as practicable, but not later than September 30, 2015.”
The Department of Defense is pursuing its own domestic UAS activities for training purposes and “domestic operations,” according to a 2007 DoD-FAA memorandum of agreement. (“Army Foresees Expanded Use of Drones in U.S. Airspace,” Secrecy News, January 19, 2012.)
In the recently enacted FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act (section 1097), Congress mandated that “the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall establish a program to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system at six test ranges.” This new test range program is supposed to be established within 180 days.Read the full story here.

The "Perfect Solar Storm" Could Lead to Atomic Armageddon.

Bestselling Author/Environmentalist Matthew Stein Says Solar Storm-Caused Grid Collapse Could Lead to Atomic Armageddon.(FC).Solar flares are all over the news as we head towards the next solar maximum in 2012-2013. With recent brilliant displays of northern lights, scientists are concerned that this "solar max" could deal a devastating blow to America's electronic power grid and communications systems."If a super solar storm of such intensity were to strike today, it would massively disrupt modern electronics, wipe out communication satellites, and collapse the electric power grid over much of the industrialized world for months and possibly years," says bestselling author and environmentalist Matthew Stein. "What most people don't realize is that a long-term grid collapse would also start a chain of events leading to a nuclear Armageddon caused by hundreds of simultaneous Fukushima-like nuclear meltdowns occurring in reactors around the world."
The last extreme geomagnetic solar storm occurred in 1921, The largest solar storm on record, known as the Carrington Event, occurred just 62 years earlier in 1859.

These storms were decades before the advent of nuclear power, microelectronics, and the widespread electrical power grid, which are extremely vulnerable to storms of such magnitude.

According to Stein, "as our nuclear power plants and electric power grid are currently configured, a solar-induced nuclear Armageddon is 100% guaranteed to happen."
Catastrophe is now a matter of when, not if, he says, adding that it does not have to be this way.
"For the price of a single stealth bomber (about $2 billion) we could protect our grid from collapse and our nuclear reactors from catastrophic meltdown," Stein says.
He says that due to a lack of understanding of the seriousness and breadth of the problem, Congress has failed to pass legislation mandating protective measures to prevent catastrophic grid collapse caused by extreme solar flares or an EMP attack.
More than a third of all Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor. If most of the 104 American reactors were to fail, including Indian Point just outside of New York City, it would be the end of America for many generations to come, Stein says.

Stein has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and is the bestselling author of When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide for Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival.Read the full story here.

The Man We Have Arrested Is Certainly Boko Haram's Abdul Qaga, Says SSS

The Man We Have Arrested Is Certainly Boko Haram's Abdul Qaga, Says SSS.(SR).A security source has told SaharaReporters that the man they arrested in Kaduna, the identify of whom is currently shrouded in controversity, is indeed Abul Qaga.Yesterday, the leadership of the Boko Haram identified the man as Abu Darda, who is the head of the militant sect’s enlightenment committee, and not Qaga.
A man claiming to be the “real” Qaga said in Maiduguri yesterday that Darda was in Kaduna to meet government officials ahead of a possible dialogue meeting, but was pounced upon and arrested by a Joint Task Force team, and foreclosed further dialogue opportunities.Our security source said his agency is simply a security agency doing its work. “We don't play politics,” he said. “Decisions on dialogue are taken at the political level.”And then, with reference to the arrest of Qaga, he asked, “Why would someone who they claimed came for dialogue contacts hide under the bed?”
Asserting that he does not want to be drawn into argument with any group, he said, “The person we have been trailing for months and now have him with us says he's Abu Qaqa. He did not say he is Abu Dardaa, except they impersonate in their group.”He further wondered why it took Boko Haram “so many hours to launch a propaganda on a 'missing/arrested' Abu Dardaa, and subsequently buy enough time to assemble another Abu Qaqa".Hmmmm.....The comments on this story are most 'interresting'.Read the full story here.More here.

"From Barack Obama With......"? Iran’s Supreme Leader Says He May Release Letter Sent To Him By Obama

Greece’s Neo-Homeless Seek Shelter at Airport

Greece’s Neo-Homeless Seek Shelter at Airport.(KTG).By  keeptalkinggreece.This is another shocking evidence about Greece’ “Neo”- Homeless, middle class people who fell victim of the economic crisis. In a thrilling report published in daily Eleftheros Typos, workers at Eleftherios Venizelos, Greece’s biggest airport. speak of dozens of people who seek shelter in the area, pretending to be airlines passengers.“Usually they try to deceive the security personnel, therefore they often carry with them a suitcase or a bunch of magazines” as if they’re waiting either to travel or to pick up some passenger on arrival.Speaking to newspaper, Yiannis, 43, explains why he seeks shelter at the airport. “I have lost everything. My own people. I have no money, neither a home. The night is dangerous, I am afraid to sleep on park benches therefore I come to the airport.”“I remember one night I saw a homeless man to shave himself in the rest room. It froze my heart. I think of the suffering of all these people. How can we throw them out? And then? Where will they go?” an airport worker confessed to Eleftheros Typos.Indeed, it is often very difficult to distinguish as among the homeless are welldressed people who lost their homes recently due to debts and seek some place to spend the night.As the newspaper notes, the homeless arrive at the airport with the shuttle buses, they spend the night at the seats of the arrivals and departures and leave with the first light of the dawn.Speaking to the newspaper, Ada Alamanou from ”Klimaka”, an NGO that deals with homeless, said that homeless in Greece are estimated to be 20,000. She stressed the need to build capacities to offer shelter to those who found themselves on the streets from one day to the next.Read the full story here.