Hamas detains dozens of taxi drivers in Gaza power crisis.

                                              Hmmmmm..............."EXTRA VIRGIN?"

Hamas detains dozens of taxi drivers in Gaza power crisis.(Yahoo).GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Police in Hamas-ruled Gaza have detained dozens of taxi drivers for allegedly spreading "rumors" about the territory's worst power crisis in years, officials said Monday,
The detentions, which began over the weekend, signaled that the Islamic militant Hamas is increasingly concerned about the political fallout from crippling shortages of fuel and electricity.
Authorities did not explain what got the drivers in trouble, beyond saying the "rumors" had to do with the energy crisis.
However, residents say there's growing talk among Gazans that Hamas is keeping separate supplies of fuel for its government and loyalists, a claim Hamas denies.At the root of the two-month-old crisis is a standoff between Hamas and neighboring Egypt over the delivery and payment for fuel.
Fuel smuggled from Egypt through tunnels under the border used to be the main source of energy for Gaza, including the territory's only power station that provides 60 percent of the electricity.
Hamas now wants Egypt to deliver fuel to Gaza through a passage above ground, trying to establish a precedent Hamas hopes could evolve into a full-fledged trade route with Egypt.
Egypt is fearful such a link would be seen as absolving Israel, Gaza's longtime occupier, of its responsibility for territory. Despite a 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, Israel continues to control access by air, land and sea. Egypt wants to route any future fuel shipments through Israel and insists at selling it at international prices. Hamas is searching for fuel subsidies from Arab countries.
A solution to the standoff is not in sight. As a result of the shortages, Gaza's power station has been offline most of the time since Feb. 10, leading to rolling 18-hour-a-day blackouts.
The Health Ministry said fuel supplies for hospital generators will only last until Thursday. Working hours in outpatient clinics have been reduced, 60 percent of ambulances are grounded and non-emergency surgeries have been rescheduled, the ministry said.
Patients in intensive care at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest health facility, have less reason for worry. About a month ago, solar panels donated by an Italian group were installed on the roof, providing electricity for machines attached to five of the 15 beds in the ICU, hospital officials said.Read the full story here.

Overnight Music video - Chariots of fire - Vangelis

It is as though Obama’s second term began in Seoul ?

It is as though Obama’s second term began in Seoul ?(HD).By Murat Yetkin.It is true that there are still seven months until the U.S. presidential election in November. It is true that we do not know yet who will be the Republican candidate to challenge Barack Obama. But reports show that there is not only a lack of enthusiasm on the Republican front, but also a lack of charismatic and convincing candidates. Plus, there is Obama, who has not only fulfilled some important promises made to his voters, such as withdrawing troops from Iraq and passing a healthcare reform bill, but who has also managed to put the U.S. economy back on track and begun to create new jobs once again.
Perhaps it is for all those reasons that world leaders treat Obama as their working partner for the near future. And Obama acts like one, as everyone could observe at this week’s nuclear summit in Seoul. It is not only because the time span of the projects and policies he is trying to impose goes well beyond the end of his first term in office at the end of this year; it is clear in the body language he uses, from the way he tapped the shoulder of Russian President Dimitry Medvedev while posing for cameras, to the way that he beckoned Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to join a meeting, while remaining close to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.Obama is trying to show everyone that he is the one who will be around for some time to come.
So what can we assume regarding world policies, if he is really going to be elected for a second term? What kind of effect will that have on the world’s economy and politics? We can get an idea about that from the messages he has been sending in Seoul.
First of all, Obama’s stance on the nuclear issue, which is not limited to Iran’s nuclear program: Obama is seeking to reduce the overall nuclear arsenal, and has called on Russia for another round of limits on strategic nuclear weapons. This could be seen in the framework of reducing arms (or defense, to be more diplomatic) spending. It is a fact that Europe is also reducing its defense spending as a consequence of the economic crisis. The NATO Summit to be held in Chicago in May will be all about spending less and sharing burdens while remaining effective. That is what they call a “smart defense” strategy.
Second, in order to spend less and still be able to deter threats, the nature of defense structures must change. In Obama’s possible second term, we will probably not talk about occupying armies, but about guerilla-type hit-and-run military operations by U.S. forces, operating from naval fleets as needed.
Third, Obama has already turned his focus to America’s competition with China for trade and energy sources. So the focus will be on the Pacific and Indian Oceans, not the same regions of the world as previously. There U.S. has friends to look after the older energy and trade routes, such as Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Turkey, Israel, and, yes, Saudi Arabia, who must get along due to their strategic preferences despite various disputes and feuds amongst themselves.
This could be the design for a possible Obama second term. But what will the actual circumstances be? That is not easy to tell in a quickly transforming world. Hmmmm.........'we will probably not talk about occupying armies, but about guerilla-type hit-and-run military operations by U.S. forces, operating from naval fleets as needed.'"Kinetic actions" no need for Congress?Read the full story here.

In Pakistan, Hindus say woman's conversion to Islam was coerced.

In Pakistan, Hindus say woman's conversion to Islam was coerced.(NDTV).In the predawn darkness on Feb. 24, Rinkel Kumari, a 19-year-old student from a Hindu family, disappeared from her home in Mirpur Mathelo, a small village off a busy highway in Sindh Province. Hours later, she resurfaced 12 miles away, at the home of a prominent Muslim cleric who phoned her parents with news that distressed them: Their daughter wished to convert to Islam, he said.
Their protests were futile. By sunset, Ms. Kumari had become a Muslim, married a young Muslim man, and changed her name to Faryal Bibi.
Over the past month, this conversion has generated an acrid controversy that has reverberated far beyond its origins in small-town Pakistan, whipping up a news media frenzy that has traced ugly sectarian divisions and renewed a wider debate about the protection of vulnerable minorities in a country that has so often failed them. At its heart, though, it is a head-on clash of narratives and motives.
Hindu leaders insist that Ms. Kumari was abducted at gunpoint and forced to abandon her religion. Local Muslim leaders say she wanted to marry her secret sweetheart: Naveed Shah, a young neighbor who said he had been conducting a secret courtship with her via mobile phone and the Internet for several months. Ms. Kumari, for her part, has said in a court filing and media interviews that she converted of her free will - but public figures have questioned whether she had been pressed or intimidated into saying that.
The truth may emerge Monday, when the young woman is due to testify before the Supreme Court in Islamabad. For the past two weeks she has been sequestered in a women's shelter in Karachi on court orders. When she takes the stand on Monday, many Pakistanis hope she can resolve the central mystery: where do her religious, and romantic, intentions lie?
After Ms. Kumari declared herself a Muslim in her town court on Feb. 27, Mr. Mitho triumphantly led the new convert from the courthouse, parading her before thousands of cheering supporters. Then he drove her in a caravan to an ancient Sufi religious shrine controlled by his family and famed as a site where Hindus have been converted.
There, Ms. Kumari was welcomed by Mr. Mitho's elderly brother, Mian Shaman - the same cleric who had converted her three days earlier - who led her into the towering shrine. When she emerged, now wearing a black veil, gunmen unleashed volleys of celebratory Kalashnikov fire into the air and shouted "God is calling you!"
Hindu leaders, enraged, viewed the images as a crass provocation. "If the couple was really in love, then why this fanfare of guns?" said Amarnath Motumal, a Hindu lawyer and human rights activist in Karachi. "It clearly shows they are trying to embarrass the Hindu community and are bent on taking our girls forcefully."
Ms. Kumari's parents pursued the case through the courts, claiming that their daughter had been abducted by a Muslim supremacist, and that the police and judiciary were biased against them because they came from a minority background.
"Mian Mitho is a terrorist and a thug. He takes the girls, and keeps them in his home for sexual purposes," said Ms. Kumari's father, Nand Lal, a government schoolteacher, noting that Mr. Mitho's armed guards had escorted his daughter to court appearances and news conferences. His wife, Sulachany Devi, issued an anguished appeal. "Rinkel was my blood, and she remains my blood. All I want is for her to return home," she said.
The case has caused division within the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, of which Mr. Mitho is a member. Earlier this month, President Asif Ali Zardari privately intervened to have Ms. Kumari taken into protective custody. Later, the president's sister, Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, delivered an impassioned speech to Parliament about the plight of the Hindu community.
"I have a lot of discomfort with this kind of behavior," said a senior party member from Sindh Province, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political delicacy of the matter. "The state is not giving the Hindus an equal environment. So they are turning to a narrative of forced conversion to fight back."
Pir Muhammad Shah, the local police chief, agreed that Mr. Mitho's actions had aggravated the situation. "It teased the whole Hindu community, and led them to believe the conversion had been done at gunpoint."
Officials with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan have spoken of up to 20 forced conversions a month - and Hindu families fleeing for India - but they admit that the research is thin.
As Ms. Kumari's anticipated court date nears, it has revived many old tensions. And while no one is expecting widespread violence in her case, in some of its particulars it bears a remarkable resemblance to an earlier conversion scandal - one in 1936, when a British magistrate returned a Hindu girl to her parents after she had been converted. The result was an 11-year uprising by Muslim Pashtun tribesmen that at one point involved 40,000 British troops.Read the full story here.

Apparantly President Obama understands Russian?

The last part seems the best, we get the translation but apparantly President Obama understands Russian?
Heritage had the following to say on this 'meeting':

Those already familiar with President Obama’s past interactions with the Russians on the subject of missile defense, however, may be angry and disappointed regarding his exchange—but they should not be surprised by its substance.

President Obama has been willing to subordinate the missile defense program to his policies for arms control and nuclear disarmament for a long time. One need go no further than to read a portion of the preamble to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which is the new strategic nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, on the subject of missile defense. It states that U.S. missile defense capabilities must come down as the numbers of strategic nuclear weapons come down under the treaty.

The Obama Administration spared no effort to defeat an amendment in Senate to strike this language in the New START preamble. The President’s comments in Seoul are completely in keeping with this past behavior. What is now evident is the scope of the manipulation he is pursuing to fool the American people about something essential to their security. It is now undeniable that President Obama is breaking the most basic trust the American people put in any President.

"CHANGE" - Currency war Brics’opening move to unseat US dollar as trade currency.

                                                       The Renminbi symbol.


"CHANGE" - Currency war Brics’opening move  to unseat  US dollar as trade currency.(CityPress).South Africa will this week take some initial steps to unseat the US dollar as the preferred worldwide currency for trade and investment in emerging economies.
Thus, the nation is expected to become party to endorsing the Chinese currency, the renminbi, as the currency of trade in emerging markets.This means getting a renminbi-denominated bank account, in addition to a dollar account, could be an advantage for African businesses that seek to do business in the emerging markets.
The move is set to challenge the supremacy of the US dollar. This, experts say, is the latest salvo in the greatest worldwide currency war since the 1930s.
In the 30s, several nations competitively devalued their currencies to give their domestic economies an advantage over others. And this led to a worldwide decline in overall trade volumes at the time.
The north will be pitted against the entire south in a historic competitive currency battle – whose terrain has moved to the Indian capital New Dehli – where the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa) nations will assemble next week.
China seeks to find new markets for its currency and to lobby to internationalise it throughout the Brics states.
For China this is not a new game. In 2009, senior Chinese banking officials issued a statement that the international monetary system was flawed owing to an unhealthy dependence on the US dollar and called for a “super-sovereign” international reserve currency.
Experts say Beijing’s first step is to internationalise its currency (by expanding its reach beyond China), liberalise it (to allow its value to be determined by the market instead of actively managing it as they currently do) and then make it a reserve currency for many nations in the developing world.
Africa’s largest bank, Standard Bank, says in a research document: “We expect at least $100 billion (about R768 billion) in Sino-African trade – more than the total bilateral trade between China and Africa in 2010 – to be settled in the renminbi by 2015.”The bank anticipates that the use of the renminbi will lower transaction costs in Africa, thus lowering the barriers to doing business.
It also says that the Chinese will be more successful in transacting in renminbi in Africa than anywhere else because most currencies are weak and somewhat localised.
Not only will the US dollar be challenged, but also the entire international financial regime – led by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – which has been dominant since the end of World War II.Hmmmmm..............Yup "CHANGE" is coming alright.Read the full story here.

Obama Hearts Turkish Leader Erdogan As He Oppresses His Own People and Stabs America in the Back.

Obama Hearts Turkish Leader Erdogan As He Oppresses His Own People and Stabs America in the Back.(DocsTalk).By Barry Ruben.President Barack Obama is continuing his love affair with Turkish Islamist leader Recep Erdogan. As Erdogan continues to undermine Turkish democracy, throw hundreds of moderates into jail, destroy the nation’s institutions, help Iran, throw hysterical tantrums about how much he hates Israel, promote Islamism in the region, and is fresh from still another meeting with Hamas leaders, Obama continues to use Erdogan as his guru. When the two men met at the Seoul, South Korea Nuclear Security Summit on March 25, Obama practically slobbered over the anti-American ruler, calling Erdogan his “friend and colleague….We find ourselves in frequent agreement upon a wide range of issues.” He adds:
“I think it's fair to say that over the last several years, the relationship between Turkey and the United States has continued to grow across every dimension. And I find Prime Minister Erdogan to be an outstanding partner and an outstanding friend on a wide range of issues.”
What did the two men talk about? Well, they first discussed Syria, an issue on which Obama praised Erdogan’s “outstanding leadership.” In fact, Turkey has helped to engineer an Islamist leadership in the Syrian National Council that wrecked any chance for opposition’s unity. Turkey’s rulers did this not to promote democracy but to promote the Muslim Brotherhood.
Now, according to reliable sources, Obama is discouraging Erdogan from advocating a no-fly zone and safe haven in northern Syria because the U.S. government has basically decided not to help the opposition, which will ensure that the Syrian dictatorship crushes it and continues to be Iran’s main ally in the region.Instead, Obama is opting, in his words, for “a process whereby a transition to a representative and legitimate government in Syria takes place.” In other words, Obama advocates a deal between the opposition and the dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad If this sounds like a contradiction, remember that this is also the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood line but is opposed by both the Free Syrian Army and the moderate oppositionists.
Of course, however, this strategy will merely buy time for the regime to achieve a bloody victory. Erdogan is now headed to Tehran where he will try to convince his friends there to stop helping their friends in Syria. Does that sounds like a mission likely to succeed?
Erdogan and Obama also discussed Iran. While Obama kept up his superficially tough language (“I believe there is a window of time to resolve this question diplomatically, but that window is closing”) he also indicated his strategy on that issue. In exchange for assuring Iran “the right to engage in peaceful nuclear power,” he thinks that Tehran will give up its ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons. He thinks it is possible to negotiate a deal with Iran.
And how can Obama use Erdogan as his intermediary with Iran when the Turkish ruler made an unauthorized--according to administration officials!--deal with Tehran in 2010 that sabotaged the delicate U.S. drive to toughen anti-Iran sanctions? Indeed, Obama gave Turkey a waiver on implementing the sanctions and Turkish trade with Iran keeps growing, in direct contradiction to Washington's supposed strategy!
For Obama to use a man who is, in effect, in cahoots with the Iranian regime, who has said that he doesn't believe Iran is building nuclear weapons and stressed his friendship toward that dictatorship, is remarkable.
Erdogan is totally indifferent to U.S. interests over Iran while, regarding Israel, he sounds more like Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the issue than like any past American president.
Obama's policy toward Iran will also inevitably fail, merely giving Tehran more time to build nuclear bombs. And as Obama appears weak, he encourages Iran to be more aggressive, thus making an eventual war more rather than less likely.
Obama did chalk up one small achievement, getting the Turkish regime to reopen the Eastern Orthodox seminary at Halki. Yet on everything else—including Erdogan’s dreadful human rights’ record—Erdogan gives nothing while getting everything. And, as we've seen previously, Obama apparently said nothing to encourage Erdogan to ease his regime's passionately anti-Israel policy that has periodically crossed the line into open antisemitism.To top off the love fest, Obama concludes:
“And I also appreciate the advice he gives me, because he has two daughters that are a little older than mine -- they've turned out very well, so I'm always interested in his perspective on raising girls.”Taking advice from a radical Islamist about raising his daughters sounds rather strange. After I pointed out how Erdogan’s wife was visibly bent and terrified during the couple’s last visit to the White House, the regime launched a furious attack on me. I wonder if Erdogan gave him any advice on dealing with Michelle.
Erdogan gloated:
“A very, very important point has been that from the moment Barack became President we upgraded the status of our relations from a strategic partnership to a model partnership, which he also placed a lot of importance on.” He will again meet Obama in June and that “will also lead to a significant increase once again for those relations.”
Erdogan can well be delighted. He can do whatever he wants, trample on human rights at home; court radicals abroad including Hamas, Hizballah, and Iran; subvert U.S. interests, and still have Obama sit worshipfully at his feet.Hmmmm.......The European Court of Human Rights:"Turkey is worst human rights violator"Erdogan Obama's buddy and mentor. Read the full story here.

Saudi bans Apple game for sexy screams.

Saudi bans Apple game for sexy screams.(E24/7).Sexy screams of jumping girls has driven Saudi Arabia to ban yet another game from its Apple app store.
The kingdom has banned the game Shoe Wars and according to the developers, a modified version of the app will be made available for Saudi Arabia.
A statement posted on the developer’s website shoewarsapp.com said, “We can confirm that the game has been withdrawn from sale in Saudi Arabia. This decision was made following feedback that the female character’s jumping sound effect was considered “too sexual” and may cause cultural offence. A modified version of the app will be available in S.A., in April without this objectionable content.”
The objective of the game is to navigate through the SW Department store at SALE time and spend as much on your credit card as possible.The player has to get as high as he or she can and collect every shoe on sale and spend as much as they can. The credit card limit increase to be propelled up through the game.
Among the other games that were banned in Saudi Arabia were God of War (series) due to interactive sex scenes and the use of the word "God", Grand Theft Auto (series) due to presence of prostitutes and heavy sexual themes, Heavy Rain because of nudity and a sex scene and Red Dead Redemption again due to nudity, prostitution, violence and cruelty.Read the full story here.

Best headline for a decade:'Israel to cut off UN Human Rights Council contact'.

Best headline for a decade:'Israel to cut off UN Human Rights Council contact'.HT: IsraelMatzav.(JPost).By Herb Keinon.The Foreign Ministry decided Monday to cut off all contacts with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), a senior diplomatic official said.
The move came following the decision by the council last Thursday to send a fact-finding mission to the West Bank to probe the impact of the settlements on Palestinian human rights.From now on, the officials said, Israel's ambassador to the UN organizations in Geneva will not appear before the council, answer any phone calls from the council, or cooperate with them in any way. The ambassador is not going to be withdrawn from Geneva, however, because there are a lot of other organizations that Israel does fully cooperate with and will continue to do so.
The official said that Israel will make efforts to get other countries on the council to follow suit, even though he acknowledged that this will be difficult.
No decision, however, has yet been made on what sanctions to take against the Palestinian Authority, which initiated this action at the UN body. Amid speculation that Israel may once again cut off monthly tax revenues that it transfers to the PA, as it did following UNESCO's decision to accept the Palestinians into the organization in November, the source said that there are other measures that can be taken. He did not elaborate.Read the full story here.

Shin Bet security service confirms Toulouse gunman spent time in Israel.

Shin Bet security service confirms Toulouse gunman spent time in Israel.(Haaretz).An investigation by Israeli intelligence revealed on Monday that Mohamed Merah, the gunmen responsible for last week’s Toulouse shootings, spent time in Israel and Palestinian territories over a year and a half ago.
According to the Shin Bet, Merah entered Israel after crossing the Allenby Bridge from Jordan in September 2010. He was investigated by the Shin Bet. The investigation did not bring up any suspicious information, and he was allowed to enter the country.Furthermore, The Shin Bet investigation could not confirm a claim by the French intelligence that Merah was arrested in Israel with a knife.

Merah stayed in Israel for a total of three days, during which it is unknown whether he was involved in any terror-related activity.

Security sources told Haaretz that Merah visited Israel before his stay in Afghanistan or Pakistan, thus there was no information that could indicate whether or not he constituted a security threat.

The revelation comes a day after a French judge placed Merah’s brother under formal investigation. Abdelkader Merah is set tobe moved to a prison and remain there for the duration of an inquiry into suspected complicity in a spate of fatal shootings.

A legal source told Reuters that four anti-terrorist judges would lead an inquiry into gunman Mohamed Merah's killing of three Jewish children, a rabbi and three soldiers, and investigate his elder brother for complicity.

"He has been placed under formal investigation in line with the prosecutor's requirements," the source said. Read the full story here.

Canada - Ontario Appeal Court nixes brothel ban "prostitutes should be allowed to work safely indoors".

Canada - Ontario Appeal Court nixes brothel ban "prostitutes should be allowed to work safely indoors".(Yahoo).TORONTO - A court ruling striking down the ban on brothels is being hailed as a new era for sex-trade workers in Canada.
Lawyer Alan Young says today's decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal means prostitutes are no longer second-class citizens who should "just be quiet about their plight."
Young, who launched the challenge on behalf of sex-trade workers, says he assumes the Crown will appeal in a "knee-jerk" response.In its ruling, Ontario's top court says the ban on brothels puts prostitutes in danger and they should be allowed to work safely indoors.However, it has given the government one year to rewrite the law if it chooses to.At the same time, the Appeal Court says concerns about the nuisance created by street prostitution is real.So it has upheld the ban on soliciting for the purposes of selling sex.When it comes to living on the avails of prostitution, the court says the law can be reworded to specifically exclude the exploitation of prostitutes.Read the full story here.

Congressman to Obama: "I pitty the fool who tries tho sell out America's defence"

Congressman to Obama: "I pitty the fool who tries tho sell out America's defence".(HotAir).Rep. Michael Turner, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, which has direct oversight on missile-defense issues. Turner sent a letter to the White House this morning, demanding answers from Obama on whether he’s planning on defying Congress and trading away missile defense.

Dear Mr. President,

I request your urgent explanation of your comments to President Medvedev in Seoul this morning.

During the New START treaty ratification process, you made specific promises that Russian concerns about missile defense will not be allowed to affect U.S. missile defense deployment plans. You further committed that the United States will make both qualitative and quantitative improvements in its missile defenses. You have already walked away from detailed promises to modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent; are you now planning to walk away from your promises regarding U.S. missile defense as well?

As you know, in the FY12 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress enacted, and you signed into law, a provision constraining your ability to share classified U.S. missile defense information with the Russian Federation. Congress took this step because it was clear based on official testimony and Administration comments in the press that classified information about U.S. missile defenses, including hit-to-kill technology and velocity at burnout information, may be on the table as negotiating leverage for your reset with Russia. Despite signing the FY12 defense authorization legislation into law, you then issued a signing statement signaling that you may treat that provision protecting U.S. missile defense information as non-binding. This morning’s comments, on top of that action, suggests that you and your administration have plans for U.S. missile defenses that you believe will not stand up to electoral scrutiny.

Congress has made exquisitely clear to your Administration and to other nations that it will block all attempts to weaken U.S. missile defenses. As the Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which authorizes U.S. missile defense and nuclear weapons policy, I want to make perfectly clear that my colleagues and I will not allow any attempts to trade missile defense of the United States to Russia or any other country.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Turner

Chairman, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

House Armed Services Committee
Hmmmm.......If he really wanted to destroy America's superpower would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

North Korean satellite launch a cover for Iranian long-range missile test.

North Korean satellite launch a cover for Iranian long-range missile test.(IsraelMatzav).Israel HaYom is reporting that a scheduled satellite launch by North Korea next month is actually a front for an Iranian long-range missile test.
North Korea has moved a long-range rocket to a launching site, apparently determined to press ahead with its plan to launch a satellite in defiance of international condemnation, the South Korean military said Sunday, The New York Times reported. The Times article said that the North Koreans moved the main body of the Unha-3 rocket to the newly built launching station in Dongchang-ri, a village in northwest North Korea.
The satellite launch is expected to take place between April 12 and 16. North Korea has claimed that the launch is for “peaceful purposes only,” and to celebrate the April 15 centenary of the birth of its founder, Kim Il Sung. Kim’s grandson, Kim Jong Un, has led the nation of 24 million since his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December. North Korea has also claimed that the launch will not affect its neighbors and that it wasn’t violating an agreement with the West under which North Korea has agreed to suspend its nuclear program in exchange for food shipments. Within the agreement, North Korea has agreed to halt the testing of ballistic missiles and to stop enriching uranium at its nuclear facility in Yongbyon.
Pyongyan's neighbor and nemesis, Seoul, warned Monday that it might shoot down parts of the North Korean rocket if they violate South Korean territory, as worries about what Washington calls a long-range missile test overshadowed an international nuclear security summit, AP reported on Monday.Western security officials now believe that sending the satellite into space is only a pretext for the primary goal of the launch, and that the actual purpose is to test a long-range ballistic missile belonging to another country. Suspicions, as stated, have fallen on Iran.
Western defense officials believe that the upcoming launch is a continuation of Iran and North Korea’s cooperation. According to this assessment, North Korea’s new president, Kim Jong Un, is seeking to demonstrate to his people that he is no less hawkish or determined than his father, but wouldn’t risk suspending the nuclear-freeze-for-food agreement with the West unless a significant economic interest convinced him otherwise.
According to the assessment, the launch is part of an existing comprehensive agreement that North Korea has obligated itself to, and that its concern about losing income from the deal with Iran has forced it to announce the satellite launch, despite unease over open confrontation with the West.
As Blogger Carl in Jerusalem points out:"I guess those sanctions must be having a really serious impact on Iran's ability to buy the things it wants...."Ge go's on saying:"As you might recall, I reported earlier this month that North Korea carried out a nuclear test for Iran in 2010. They don't seem to fear President Obama's finger shaking at them very much, do they? And an Iranian ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile - that's what 'long-range' means) is something that ought to concern the United States very much.Read the full story here.

US warning over North Korea new 'modified' rocket flight path.

US warning over North Korea new 'modified' rocket flight path.(PAP).A US official says a North Korean rocket due to be launched next month may affect an area between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is reported to have asked the three countries to condemn the launch.North Korea says the rocket will take a new southern trajectory instead of a previous route east over Japan.Japan is readying anti-missile defences around the southern islands of Okinawa, which could be under the flight path.
North Korea says the rocket is intended to put a satellite in space, but the US and others say the launch is a cover for a long-range missile test – a potential delivery system for nuclear weapons.
The launch is expected to dominate a security summit on Monday in the South Korean capital Seoul, which will be attended by US President Barack Obama.
Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald said Mr Campbell had briefed Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Friday on the rocket’s southward trajectory.
“If the missile test proceeds as North Korea has indicated, our judgment is that it will impact in an area roughly between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines,” the paper quoted Mr Campbell as saying.“We have never seen this trajectory before. We have weighed into each of these countries and asked them to make clear that such a test is provocative and this plan should be discontinued.”North Korea’s last rocket launch in 2009 triggered UN sanctions
BBC Asia analyst Charles Scanlon says Pyongyang appears to be trying to soften the political impact of its planned rocket launch.It has chosen a new southerly route mainly over open sea, avoiding what is regarded as a more provocative easterly trajectory over the main Japanese island.
North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency said: “A safe flight orbit has been chosen so that carrier rocket debris to be generated during the flight would not have any impact on neighbouring countries.”North Korea has shown a growing mastery of ballistic technology during its three previous long range tests.However, experts say that none has succeeded in reaching orbit, and debris has fallen to earth at various stages during the launches.Pyongyang said last week that the launch – between 12 and 16 April – would mark the 100th birthday of its late Great Leader Kim Il-sung.Read the full story here.

Baghdad heavily secured against Syrian or al Qaeda attack on Arab Summit.

Baghdad heavily secured against Syrian or al Qaeda attack on Arab Summit.(Debka).The three-day Arab summit, the first to be held in Baghdad in more than two decades, opens Tuesday March 27 after Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates obtained a promise from Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki not to invite Iran and receive only a low-ranking Syrian official. Although Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to former summits, Maliki bowed to those conditions because he badly needed to boost Iraq’s credibility in the Arab world and demonstrate its recovery from years of violence.
And so, Iran will be absent and Syria represented by its foreign Minsiter Walid Moallem - not by is president, Bashar Assad.Gulf rulers also insisted in a low-profile Palestinian delegation. Palestinian leaders are in low standing in most Gulf Arab capitals these days.
Egypt is to send a low-ranking delegation because its acting ruler, Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi, is unable to leave Cairo in the tense weeks leading up to the first post-Mubarak presidential election in June and the general state of domestic unrest.
Two days before the summit opening, Baghdad and its environs are in heavy security lockdown to ward off terrorist threats: Around 100,000 extra security forces were drafted in to man hundreds checkpoints along with SWAT teams. War-weary Baghdad citizens complain about huge traffic jams and other disruptions.Conducting the event in the heavily-fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, seat of government and foreign embassies, is no guarantee of safety. Even this enclosed enclave is frequently prey to mortar and rocket fire.
Western security experts also point out that Syrian President Bashar Assad has a beef with most Arab rulers, who denounce his brutality, especially those supporting the anti-regime rebels with arms and cash.Only three months ago, Prime Minster al-Maliki accused Assad of sending terrorists to Baghdad to blow up explosives-packed cars and shell Iraqi government and foreign embassy buildings.
Iraqi intelligence experts are convinced that the heavy rocket attack on Turkish embassy in Baghdad, January 18, was carried out as warning message from Damascus to Ankara to stop meddling in the Syrian crisis.Hmmmm......Iran and Syria will be absent"Rien ne va plus; 14 rouge pair".Read the full story here.

"Not everything that shines is Gold !" Tungsten Filled 1 kilo Gold Bar Discovered in UK.

"Not everything that shines is Gold !"Tungsten Filled 1 kilo Gold Bar Discovered in UK.(SD).Australian Bullion Dealer ABC Bullion has contacted SD to advise that one of its suppliers has provided them photographic evidence of a tungsten filled 1 kilo gold bar discovered this week. The bar passed a hand-held xrf scan which showed 99.98% pure AU. The tungsten was only discovered when the bar was physically cut in half. After numerous reports of 400oz tungsten filled bars being discovered in Hong Kong, this is the first documented and verified report with photographic evidence that has been made public.
Submitted by Australian Bullion Dealer ABC Bullion:
Attached are photographs of a legitimate Metalor 1000gm Au bar that has been drilled out and filled with Tungsten (W). This bar was purchased by staff of a scrap dealer in xxxxx, UK yesterday. The bar appeared to be perfect other than the fact that it was 2gms underweight. It was checked by hand-held xrf and showed 99.98% Au. Being Tungsten, it would not be ferro-magnetic. The bar was supplied with the original certificate. The owner of the business that purchased the bar only became suspicious when he realized the weight discrepancy and had the bar cropped. He estimates between 30-40% of the weight of the bar to be Tungsten.

The amount of “salted tungsten” gold bars in question was allegedly between 5,600 and 5,700 – 400 oz – good delivery bars [roughly 60 metric tonnes].
This was apparently all highly orchestrated by an extremely well financed criminal operation.

Within mere hours of this scam being identified – Chinese officials had many of the perpetrators in custody.
And here’s what the Chinese allegedly uncovered:
Roughly 15 years ago – during the Clinton Administration [think Robert Rubin, Sir Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers] – between 1.3 and 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten blanks were allegedly manufactured by a very high-end, sophisticated refiner in the USA [more than 16 Thousand metric tonnes]. Subsequently, 640,000 of these tungsten blanks received their gold plating and WERE shipped to Ft. Knox and remain there to this day. I know folks who have copies of the original shipping docs with dates and exact weights of “tungsten” bars shipped to Ft. Knox.Read the full story here.

U.S. negotiation efforts with Taliban have failed, but WHERE are the Gitmo Taliban prisoners?

U.S. negotiation efforts with Taliban have failed, but WHERE are the Gitmo Taliban prisoners?   (Reuters).U.S. negotiation efforts with the Taliban have failed and the United Nations should take the lead to optimize the chances of ending almost 11 years of war, a think tank said on Monday.
In a blow to hopes of a negotiated end to the war, the Taliban suspended talks with the United States two weeks ago after the alleged massacre of 17 Afghan civilians by a lone U.S. soldier and the burning of Korans at a NATO base last month."U.S. efforts to negotiate with the Taliban to date have failed and risk further destabilizing the country and the region, and as a result we call for the U.N. Secretary General to intervene and appoint a team of negotiators," said Candace Rondeaux, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG).
In a 51-page report, the think tank said the effect of international support for negotiations had been to increase "incentives for spoilers ... who now recognize that the international community's most urgent priority is to exit Afghanistan with or without a settlement."
Calls for a negotiated settlement have grown over the last few years as NATO-led troops battle a stubborn insurgency and Western forces begin drawing down troop levels ahead of a pullout of most soldiers by the end of 2014.Western officials believe the Taliban's suspension of talks was tactical and reflected internal tension rather than a definitive halt to discussions.
The string of U.S. setbacks has damaged ties with Kabul at a time when Washington is negotiating a pact to outline its future presence in the Asian country."The events of the last couple of months ... all point to a major shift in Afghan perceptions of the U.S. role here. It's going to be very difficult for the United States to both facilitate a solution and also be a party to the solution," Rondeaux, the lead author of the report, said.
Leaves the question of the Gitmo Taliban prisoners since the March 10 announcement that they 'agreed' to be transferred to Quatar not a word has been heard about them.Although Foreignpolicy mentioned on the 13 th of March that Taliban Gitmo deal is a swap for a Westerner.The Obama administration's plan to move five top Taliban officials to live under house arrest in Qatar has been extensively reported but never openly discussed by administration officials. And until Feinstein confirmed it to The Cable, the fact that the crux of the deal is a swap for a Westerner had never been publicly disclosed.
Feinstein said the deal involved the trade of one Westerner for the five Taliban leaders. She also confirmed the name of the Westerner in question, but The Cable has agreed to withhold that name at the request of U.S. officials out of concern for his safety.
Under the deal, the United States would reportedly place the Taliban officials under the responsibility of the Qatari government, where they would ostensibly remain under some degree of supervision and imprisonment.
According to reports, the prisoners being considered for transfer include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister; Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan; and former army commander Mullah Fazl Akhund.
But Feinstein said she opposes it. The administration has sought hard to preserve the secrecy around the prisoner trade, and administration officials won't confirm any of the details publicly.
Last week, White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden denied that a deal had been struck, saying, "The United States has not decided to transfer any Taliban officials from Guantánamo Bay" after reports surfaced that the Taliban leaders in question had agreed to be transferred.
"We are not in a position to discuss ongoing deliberations or individual detainees, but our goal of closing Guantánamo is well established and widely understood," she said. "In general, any decision to transfer a detainee from Guantánamo would be undertaken in accordance with U.S. law and in consultation with the Congress." On Jan. 31, top administration officials briefed eight senators on the deal, including Feinstein. The other senators invited to that classified briefing were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Senate Armed Services chiefs Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ), and Senate Foreign Relations Committee leaders John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN). Hmmmm........So where are the prisoners now that 'talks have ended"?Read the full story here.More here and here.

Obama to Medvedev: ‘After My Election I Have More Flexibility’

Obama to Medvedev: ‘After My Election I Have More Flexibility’.(WHD).By Keith Koffler.President Obama suggested to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev today that he will have more room to scale back U.S. missile defense plans once he is no longer answerable to voters.
Jake Tapper of ABC News reports that the conversation was heard accidentally as reporters were entering a room to hear remarks by the two leaders.The exchange was picked up by microphones as reporters were let into the room for remarks by the two leaders.

The exchange:

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

Russia is claiming to be “exasperated” over U.S. plans to install an anti-missile shield in Europe. The United States says the missiles are to defend against Iran, not Russia.

Russia has historically sought to roll back U.S. missile defense plans, starting during the days when Ronald Reagan began to advance the idea.Hmmmm......Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones"Right for WHOM?Read the full story here.

Documents: White House was all-hands-on-deck as Solyndra collapse neared.......No Kidding.

Documents: White House was all-hands-on-deck as Solyndra collapse neared.......No Kidding.(TheHill).Several key White House offices were involved with the Obama administration’s messaging plans and other preparations as the collapse of the taxpayer-backed solar company Solyndra was imminent, newly released documents show.
The latest White House documents delivered to House Republicans on Friday again highlight the extent to which senior administration officials braced for the fallout as Solyndra – a company President Obama had personally visited – was about to go under.
A White House memo that noted the danger of “imminent bankruptcy” at the end of August 2011 says, “OMB, DPC and NEC have been working with press and OLA to be prepared for this news to break.”
Acronym translation: OMB is the Office of Management and Budget, DPC is the Domestic Policy Council, NEC is the National Economic Council and OLA is the Office of Legal Affairs.White House internal communications during the company's final days include an email about a planned meeting to discuss Solyndra on August 29, 2011. Heather Zichal, a senior energy policy aide, and Deputy OMB Director Jeffrey Zients were slated to brief other officials.
The list of optional attendees included several high-level officials, such as then-Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes and Nancy-Ann DeParle, another senior adviser to the president.Republicans have pounced on last year’s Solyndra bankruptcy, arguing that the administration missed a series of red flags that hinted at the company’s financial problems. They’ve also alleged that the administration approved the loan in 2009 to please Obama’s campaign donors.Read the full story here.

Average gas prices top $4 a gallon in 7 states, Pres Birthstate highest.

Average gas prices top $4 a gallon in 7 states, Pres Birthstate highest.(TTT).Drivers in at least seven states are spending more than $4 a gallon for gasoline on average, according to Sunday's Fuel Gauge Report.
The average prices Sunday, according to FuelGaugeReport.com,
were above $4 in Alaska ($4.29),
California ($4.32),
Connecticut ($4.32),
Hawaii ($4.53),
Illinois ($4.26),
New York ($4.04),
Washington ($4.06).
It also was above $4 a gallon in Washington, D.C., at $4.13.

The price in Louisiana on Sunday was comparatively low at $3.74. (A month ago in Louisiana the average price was $3.53; a year ago it was $3.44.)

The lowest average gas prices Sunday were in the midcontinent region, led by Wyoming ($3.48) and Montana ($3.61).Hmmm........Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones".Read the full story here.

France says it will ban entry to Egyptian 'Muslim Brotherhood head' Sheik Yousef Al-Qardawi.

France says it will ban entry to Egyptian 'Muslim Brotherhood head' Sheik Yousef Al-Qardawi.(AlArabiya).The French government has plans to deny entry to an influential Egyptian preacher if he accepts an invitation from an Islamic organization to visit France next month.
President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Monday that he spoke to the Emir of Qatar, where the Muslim preacher is based, and told him that Yousef Al-Qardawi is not welcomed on French territories.“I told the Emir myself that the French Republic will not welcome this person. I made it clear that a certain number of people invited by the Union of French Islamic Organizations will be denied entry if their values contradict those of the Republic”, Sarkozy said.A close aide to President Nicolas Sarkozy had announced the decision of the French government earlier.
Presidential aide, Henri Guaino, said the government would take measures to block the entry of Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi if he seeks to take up the invitation from the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), a Muslim umbrella group.“The French government does not want any extremist preachers entering its territory,” Guaino, a special advisor and speech writer to Sarkozy, said.“This person does not require a visa because he holds a diplomatic passport, but measures could be taken to prohibit him from entering France,” he added.
Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar, is one of the most widely respected Sunni Muslim clerics in the Arab world and a household name in the Middle East.
A former member of Egypt’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, he is independent of the group today but remains close to it.The UOIF, one of three Muslim federations in France, is also close to the Muslim Brotherhood.The issue of Islam and immigration in France has come to the fore of the presidential election since a French man of Algerian origin, Mohamed Merah, killed three Jewish children, a rabbi and three soldiers before being shot dead himself by a police sniper on Thursday.
Sarkozy, who is running for re-election, announced a crackdown on followers of extremist Islamic messages on radical websites in the wake of a spate of killings by an al Qaeda-inspired gunman.Read the full story here.

Video - Former Egyptian Diplomat Gamal Bayoumi, Secretary-General of Arab Investors Union, Defends Peace with Israel: It Allowed Us 40 Years of Building up Egypt's Economic Power

Gamal Bayoumi : My position with regard to Iran is based on two things. One is that Iran has been hostile to the Egyptian peace process throughout. Iran has not just expressed its opposition, but has acted to destroy it.

Interviewer : Peace process with whom? With Israel?

Gamal Bayoumi : Yes, ma'am. With Israel. Egypt initiated the peace with Israel.

Interviewer : But this was years ago...

Gamal Bayoumi : This is something that annoys me. You weren't around in 1979.

Interviewer : What happened in those discussions?

Gamal Bayoumi : When, in 1979, Anwar Sadat returned from Washington, millions came out to welcome him. Today, people pretend that they were heroes, who opposed it. By no means. The accords ended 50 years of conflict, and since then, we have had 40 years of building up Egypt's economic power. We may not have accomplished all our aspirations, but we are much, much better off than we were in 1970, 1980, or 1990.

In 2002, the Arab summit in Beirut ratified the Egyptian peace initiative, which became the initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah, who is the Saudi king today. It was embraced as the Arab world's position - land in return for peace. That is what Egypt did - it restored all its national lands in return for peace.

Interviewer : So why didn't Egypt rectify its relations with the countries that had opposed peace?

Gamal Bayoumi : Iran is a different story. To this day, Iran is opposed to this initiative.

Interviewer : Why is there no [Egyptian] embassy there?

Gamal Bayoumi : I will tell you why. [Egypt] is trying to ease the confrontation, but when Iran names a street in Tehran "The Martyr Khaled Istambouli Street," after Sadat's assassin, what are we supposed to do? When Egyptian diplomacy went into action and we talked to them, they said they would change the street name. To what? To "Martyr Street." Come on. This is in addition to the bombs they plant here and there.

Interviewer : Is this sufficient reason to cut off ties with Iran? When [Egypt] halts the trade, the diplomatic ties...

Gamal Bayoumi : No, the trade between the countries is just fine.

Interviewer : Then tell me, Sir, what the extent of the Egyptian-Iranian trade is.

Gamal Bayoumi : There are investments, there is trade, and everything. I don't remember the figures, and don't want to misquote them. But I can say with confidence that there is trade, and the Egyptian Bank is active there... They are proposing to come and invest here. The main Arab reason [for the tension] - and there is some contradiction in the Egyptian position in this case - is that Iran is occupying Arab lands.

Interviewer : Which are part of the UAE...

Gamal Bayoumi : Israel is not occupying Egyptian lands.

Interviewer : But if the UAE itself, whose islands are occupied, maintains good relations with Iran, should Egypt be holier than the Pope?

Gamal Bayoumi : Iran must renounce this policy, and say that it is willing to negotiate. These are UAE islands, which are in UAE territorial waters, yet Iran insists that it will not negotiate.Source: Memri.

Attacker in Afghan uniform kills two British soldiers in southern Afghanistan.

Attacker in Afghan uniform kills two British soldiers in southern Afghanistan.(AlArabiya).A NATO official says the two service members shot dead in southern Afghanistan on Monday by a man in an Afghan uniform were British soldiers.
The official spoke anonymously because the information had not yet been formally announced.The attacker was then shot dead by coalition forces, according to a statement by NATO-led forces.
The attack appeared to be the latest in a string of so-called “green on blue” attacks in which Afghan security forces have turned on their international colleagues or mentors. Such attacks have become increasingly common over the past year, particularly since the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base in February.
Six U.S. soldiers were killed in apparent revenge attacks following that act, which also sparked riots that left dozens of Afghans dead. U.S. officials have said the religious materials were burned by mistake.Details were still sketchy about Monday morning’s attack. NATO said in a statement that an individual wearing an Afghan soldier’s uniform turned his weapon against international troops. Coalition forces then returned fire.“The gunman was shot and killed,” said NATO spokesman Maj. Jason Waggoner. He declined to provide further details.
“An individual wearing Afghan army uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force service members in southern Afghanistan today, killing two,” ISAF spokesman Major Jason Waggoner told AFP.There have been more than 45 attacks by Afghans on NATO colleagues in Afghanistan since 2007, more than 75 percent of those in the last two years, according to Pentagon data.It is also possible that the assailant was an insurgent who donned an Afghan army uniform to get into the base or to get closer to his targets. Army uniforms are readily available in Afghan markets and militants have used the tactic in the past to launch sneak attacks.Read the full story here.

German TV broadcasts Iranian Holocaust denial.

German TV broadcasts Iranian Holocaust denial.(JPost).HT: IsraelMatzav.German public television ZDF (Second German Television) broadcast an uncritical, 42-minute interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in which the Iranian denied the Holocaust.The Holocaust is “a lie of Israel” that allows the Jewish state to hurt the Palestinians, Ahmadinejad said in the ZDF interview broadcasted last week.
Claus Kleber, a brand name journalist for ZDF, a tax-payer funded, public station, aired the 45-minute interview on the popular news channel.
Dieter Graumann, head of Germany’s 105,000 member Jewish community, told the Bild am Sonntag paper that ZDF provided Ahmadinejad a platform to spread his “poison.”
“I am very disappointed that a respected German journalist, and on top of that, a public station, allowed the most brazen remarks from notorious Holocaust denier Ahmadinejad to remain unchallenged,” Graumann said.
Cleber said he did not contradict Ahmadinejad because he did not want to give him the opportunity to “fully spread his rubbish,” according to a statement cited in the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel.
Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany, but Iranian diplomats and politicians have denied the Shoah at state-funded events in Germany.
German authorities chose not to purse violations of the country’s Holocaust denial law in 2008 against senior Iranian politician Mohammad Larijani for denying the Holocaust at a German Foreign Ministry event in Berlin. A year later, his brother, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani, issued statements containing elements of Holocaust denial at the annual Munich Security Conference, saying his country has “different perspectives on the Holocaust.”
While Germany enforces its anti-Holocaust denial law against neo-Nazis, the authorities fail to apply it to Iranian officials.
German-Iranian scholar Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh told the mass circulation Bild in Sunday’s article that the ZDF interview was “careless.”“Ahmadinejad was able to present himself as a quite friendly head of state who presented Iran as the victim of an indiscriminate use of Israeli state power. The interview was celebrated as a great success in Iran and an unbelievable prize win for Ahmadinejad, and this was made possible by a broadcast from our publicly funded television!” he said.
Wahdat-Hagh, who has written extensively about human-rights violations in Iran and Islamic-animated anti-Semitism, is the author of a new book, The Islamist Totalitarianism.Iran's president ended the interview saying, "We very much like Germany. We like you very much [Mr. Kleber]."Read the full story here.