NEWS and PROPAGANDA

Drones could face legal challenge in US
**********************************
American human rights activists might legally challenge the US military’s use of Predator drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The spy planes are virtually invisible when flying overhead. “That’s the spooky thing about the Predator,” terrorism expert Neil Livingstone says. Human rights activists point out that there’s no warning to innocent civilians in the targeted area. “This is not only a violation of the international laws of war,” says Gabor Rona, of Human Rights First, a US-based group. “It’s bad policy.” The laws of war allow individuals engaged in hostilities to be targeted in an armed conflict but strictly prohibit actions against those not engaged.

http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/05/drones-could-face-legal-challenge-in-us.html




65 years in jail for providing charity (to Palestinians that is)
****************************************************************
This week five men from the holy land foundation were sentenced to prison terms [...] If you funnel money to the Israeli terrorist army, it is tax-deductible in the US. And if you funnel money to any Palestinian group, you serve time in jail....

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54710&hd=&size=1&l=e




Abbas's forces kill Hamas militant in raid
******************************************
QALQILYA: A Hamas militant was killed and two Palestinian policemen were injured in exchanges of gunfire in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian security officials said.
The clashes erupted when security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, which administers the West Bank, raided a neighbourhood in the city of Qalqilya to arrest gunmen of the rival Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip.
The officials named the militant as Mohammad Yasin and said policemen were combing the area in a search for more gunmen. Witnesses said several Hamas gunmen holed up in buildings had ignored calls to surrender.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=79149




US, Israel fanning Indo-Pak tensions, says Qadhafi
**************************************************
‘The Pakistanis are told that their enemy is the Hindus, not the Jews or Christians, and therefore their bomb should be directed towards them, the Pakistanis’ immediate enemy, and not anyone else,’ writes Mr Qadhafi.
‘Similarly, the Indians are led to believe their real enemy is Pakistan and that the Pakistani bomb was directed towards them rather than the Israelis or Americans.’
The Libyan leader claims that this policy aims to preoccupy Pakistan with India and India with Pakistan. ‘Perhaps this is why America has not been willing to contribute to solving the Kashmiri problem, whereas the Israelis will try to keep it always flammable.’

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/13+us+israel+fanning+indo-pak+tensions-za-07



Iran defuses bomb in plane
**************************
Iranian security officials defused a bomb planted on a domestic passenger plane, officials said on Sunday, the latest incident of violence ahead of next month's presidential election.
"Last night, 15 minutes after the plane with 131 passengers took off, flight security guards found a handmade bomb placed in the lavatory," Fars said. "The plane landed immediately at Ahvaz airport and the bomb was defused."
The incident occurred just two days after 25 people were killed in a powerful bomb attack on a mosque in Zahedan in southeastern Iran claimed by a shadowy Sunni rebel group.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=79184

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

Gunmen attack Ahmadinejad election campaign centre
**************************************************
Updated at: 2145 PST, Friday, May 29, 2009
TEHRAN: Gunmen attacked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election campaign centre in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on Friday, wounding three people including a child, the official IRNA news agency said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=79028




Iran mosque blast bears 'US, Israel thumbprints'
************************************************
“The bomb tragedy that occurred yesterday in the city of Zahedan is awash with Israeli and US fingerprints,” said Tehran's Interim Friday Prayers Leader, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
“Without a doubt, it was a scheme to drive a wedge between the Shia population and the Sunni minority in Iran,” he added.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=96389&sectionid=351020101




Calls for war crimes inquiry over 20,000 civilian deaths in Sri Lanka
*********************************************************************
Sri Lanka faced new calls for a war crimes inquiry today after an investigation by The Times revealed that more than 20,000 civilians were killed – mostly by the army – in the latter stages of the war against the Tamil Tigers.
“This is an exaggerated story. Whoever has put up this report has been paid by the LTTE,” he told The Times.
“There can’t be any civilians killed by government forces in that area. How can the UN know about this? It had no people on the ground.” The UN, however, described its figures as “well-informed estimates”, adding that it did not have “precise, verifiable numbers” because of a lack of access to the conflict zone and the camps holding refugees from the area.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6387782.ece




Manipulation: How Financial Markets Really Work
***********************************************
In other words, let foxes guard the henhouse to keep inventing new ways to extract gains (a "free lunch") in increasingly larger amounts - "in the interest of helping to contain systemic risk factors and promote greater stability."
Or as Orwell might have said: instability is stability, creating systemic risk is containing it, sloping playing fields are level ones, extracting the greatest profit is sharing it, and what benefits the few helps everyone.
Michel Chossudovsky explains that: "triggering market collapse(s) can be a very profitable undertaking.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13773

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

Bomb blast rocks Iranian city of Zahedan
****************************************
A bomb planted in a mosque in a southeastern Iranian city near the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan has reportedly caused civilian casualties.
At least twenty people have been killed in the bombing in the city of Zahedan while more than fifty five others have been injured

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=96311&sectionid=351020101



Sri Lanka avoids war crimes probe, slams West
*********************************************
Sri Lanka's Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe dismissed Western criticism as "double standards." "They are opposed to the independent action we took to counter and defeat, but they are silent about what is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and in Gaza,"

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/world/11747933.asp?gid=237



Hamas condemns US charity members’ prison terms
***********************************************
...some 8,000 Palestinians remained imprisoned by Israel. These included 300 children and 550 people held without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention, including some held up to six years in this way. In a related development, a senior Hamas official criticised as politically motivated and unjust the prison sentences handed down by a US court to members of a Muslim charity that sent aid to the Palestinian group.
Hamas’ deputy political leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said on Thursday that two of the men who were sentenced were relatives of the group’s top leader, Khaled Mashaal. The US designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation in 1995, making it illegal to offer the group support.
A court in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday sentenced two founding members of what was once the largest US Muslim charity to 65 years in prison each for funnelling millions of dollars to Hamas. Three other members were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 20 years for conspiracy.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=180031



UN expert: US failing to properly probe war crimes
**************************************************
"There have been chronic and deplorable accountability failures with respect to policies, practices and conduct that resulted in alleged unlawful killings - including possible war crimes - in the United States' international operations,"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UN_US_MILITARY_KILLINGS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-05-28-16-27-15

Elsa Rassbach interviews André Shepherd, a U.S. soldier applying for asylum in Germany
**************************************************************************************
In Nuremberg, the chief U.S. prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, stated: "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." In opening the trial on behalf of the United States, he stated that "while this law is first applied against German aggressors, this law includes and if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment." What does Nuremberg mean to you?

The Nuremberg statutes are the foundation of many U.S. soldiers' refusal of the Iraq war, and to some extent of the Afghanistan war. The United States with its Allies after World War II crafted these laws stating that even though you’ve gotten orders to commit crimes against humanity, you don’t have to follow them, because every person has their own conscience. That was more than 60 years ago. Today the U.S. government seems to be under the impression that those rules do not apply to it.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54648&hd=&size=1&l=e

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

At least 300 human skeletons found in Aligarh, India
************************
“Children while playing generally come here to get their ball. A child came here and saw a skull. He got scared and ran away. We then came here and saw that behind the jail there is not one but thousands of skulls here. Digging is being done and at least 200-300 skulls have been recovered. Let’s see how many more will be found. I believe the number can even reach 2000-3000,” said Amit Shrivastav, a local.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=78510



India likely to move on U.S. military pact
****************************
India's new ruling coalition, freed of pressure from its former communist allies, is expected to move forward soon on a military logistics deal with the United States that would help U.S. operations in the region. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's former communist allies opposed the agreement, saying Indian military bases could become permanent ports of call for the U.S. military engaged in unilateral operations in the region.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE54N0AF20090524




India: China bigger threat than Pakistan
****************************
The world’s two most populous nations fought a brief but brutal war over their 3,500 km (Himalayan border in 1962, and both sides claim the other is occupying big but largely uninhabited chunks of their territory.
India has also been pursuing closer relations with the United States, something that worries China.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/07-china-bigger-threat-than-pakistan-indian-air-force-chief-ha-04



Deadly bombing hits Mogadishu base
*********************
At least 53 people are believed to have died in the violence since Friday morning, when Somali forces launched attacks on several areas of Mogadishu which are controlled by the opposition forces.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/05/200952412389527287.html



Israeli soldiers caught looting
*******************************
There seems no end to the business initiative of the Givati Brigade. This brigade gained international notoriety when - following the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza - it put out T-shirts showing its snipers aiming at the belly of a pregnant Palestinian woman, with the snappy caption of “1 shot - 2 kills.”
But, the Givatis are not new to notoriety. For this is the brigade established in 1948 from the veterans of the Irgun terrorist gang. Among other outrages, Irgun Gang was responsible for the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946 and the massacre of Palestinians at Deir Yassin in 1948.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95855&sectionid=351020202

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

South Korean ex-president jumps to his death
***********************
"...he was sorry for disappointing the nation."

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95707&sectionid=351020405


Man shoves would-be suicide jumper off bridge for holding up traffic
***************************
"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interests," Mr Lai was quoted as saying by the China Daily newspaper.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5372890/Man-shoves-would-be-suicide-jumper-off-bridge-for-holding-up-traffic.html



Microsoft halts IM services to Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Syria and North Korea
***********************
According to a statement published Friday on the Microsoft website, Internet users in Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria and North Korea who wish to use instant messaging services will be gifted with Error 810003c1 and a message box that will say "We are unable to sign you in to the .NET Messenger Service."
"Microsoft has discontinued providing Instant Messenger services in certain countries subject to United States sanctions," the statement explains

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95735&sectionid=351020101


Facts and Myths about Obama's Preventive Detention Proposal
***********************
It's important to be clear about what "preventive detention" authorizes. It does not merely allow the U.S. Government to imprison people alleged to have committed Terrorist acts yet who are unable to be convicted in a civilian court proceeding. That class is merely a subset, perhaps a small subset, of who the Government can detain. Far more significant, "preventive detention" allows indefinite imprisonment not based on proven crimes or past violations of law, but of those deemed generally "dangerous" by the Government for various reasons (such as, as Obama put it yesterday, they "expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden" or "otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans"). That's what "preventive" means: imprisoning people because the Government claims they are likely to engage in violent acts in the future because they are alleged to be "combatants."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22688.htm



Mogadishu street fighting kills 45, wounds 182
*****************************
Somali government forces attacked rebel strongholds in Mogadishu on Friday, triggering battles across the capital that killed at least 45 people, the highest daily death toll for months.
Neighboring states and Western security forces fear Somalia, which has been mired in civil war for 18 years, could become a haven for terrorists linked to al-Qaeda.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/05/22/73560.html



Israel government too extreme to make peace: Syria's Assad
*********************************
"The failure of the peace process so far has clearly shown that Israel is the obstacle. How can a state that was founded on illegal occupation and continues to murder the original inhabitants work toward peace?" Assad said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE54M0OV20090523



George Galloway’s Letter to the Charity Commission about Viva Palestina
********************************
During Israel’s 22-day attack on virtually defenceless Palestinian civilians in Gaza – condemned by virtually everyone in the world from the United Nations to the Pope and including the British government – an organization The Zionist Federation took out a full page advert in the Jewish Chronicle on 9th January asking readers to send “care packages” to “our [ie Israeli] soldiers fighting on the front line” in Gaza and to send charity vouchers to a British registered charity Operation Wheelchairs Committee (charity number 263089) for the same purpose.

http://intifada-palestine.com/

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

Sanctions Proposed Against Eritrea
********************
The UN's Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) asked the Security Council to impose 'tough' sanctions on Eritrea Thursday due to its call for the ouster of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki is quoted saying "this so-called [Somali] government is not a government in terms of legitimacy. It cannot even influence one very small neighbourhood in Mogadishu, let alone Somalia."

http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/05/sanctions-proposed-against-eritrea.html



Deadly battles in Somali capital
****************************
At least seven people have been killed after Somali government forces launched an attack in an attempt to drive opposition fighters from the capital, Mogadishu.
Witnesses said at least four members of al-Shabab, an armed group, and a journalist from Shabelle Radio, a local independent station, were among the victims of Friday's clashes.
"They have recaptured four police stations between here and the palace, and they are advancing further."
But al-Shabab rejected the claims of military success.
"...our fighters are defending themselves," Sheikh Ali Mahmoud Rage, a spokesman for al-Shabab, said. "They have not not taken any positions from us."
Reporters confirmed that several bodies had been left on the ground and at least eight civilians injured while trying to escape.
Sources at two Mogadishu hospitals told Reuters that they received a total of 85 wounded civilians on Friday.
In the past 10 days, more than 100 people have been killed and 46,000 have been displaced as the fighting has escalated.
Earlier this week an East African group called on the UN to impose an aerial and maritime blockade on Somalia to prevent the opposition fighters from acquiring more weapons.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/05/200952271510325.html



Sept. 11 Commission official selected to head US National Intelligence Council
*************************************
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair has tapped the deputy director of the Sept. 11 Commission to head the top U.S. office for intelligence analysis.
Blair's first choice, Charles Freeman, bowed out of consideration two months ago under congressional criticism for his public comments about Israel and allegations about his ties to foreign governments.

http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/21/sept-11-commission-official-to-lead-intel-group/



Senate O.K.'s $91 Billion in War Funds
***************************
The Senate approved $91 billion in funding for the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan yesterday, with all senators but three voting for the bill. This, along with a House vote last week in favor of $97 billion

http://www.truthout.org/052209J?n



Obama's War: Drunk, Bored Trigger Happy Mercenaries Kill Afghan Civilians
*************************************************************************
For those of you who have been following the intricacies of the various ongoing Blackwater/Xe scandals (hard to keep up with indeed), the situation unfolding in Kabul is certainly on your radar. In short, four Blackwater/Xe operatives working for Paravant LLC, a subsidiary of Blackwater/Xe are alleged to have fired on a civilian car they say they saw as a threat, killing at least one Afghan civilian.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54479&hd=&size=1&l=e



Two Sides of the Same Coin... Heads-Heads
***************************
This baby was the victim of an air strike, a bombing that killed her entire family and leveled her modest home to the ground. My father pointed at this heartbreaking baby and said, "Sibel, this is war. This is the real face of war. This is the result of war. Do you think anything can justify this? I want to replace the glamorous exciting phony images of those war movies in your head. I want you to remember this for the rest of your life and stand against this kind of destruction…"

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7172#more-7172




No, I Do Not Support "The Troops"
********************
Our national catechism tells us that America is Good -- and that America's murders are Good Murders. You may not say otherwise.

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/



Biden in the Balkans: US asserts interests in shattered region
******************************
Jones declared that, “Americans are not satisfied with the Brussels leadership in the Balkans” and criticized a number of European countries that are calling for a delay in the accession of more Balkan states to the EU and NATO.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13700

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

US 'supports borderline terrorists against Iran'
*************************
"The United States is promoting terrorism behind [Iran's] western frontiers... They [the US government] directly finance operations and organize terrorist movements to undermine the Islamic Republic," Ayatollah Khamenei said on Tuesday.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95222&sectionid=351020101



Obama's Animal Farm
Bigger, Bloodier Wars Equal Peace and Justice
******************************
"The Deltas are psychos. You have to be a certified psychopath to join the Delta Force", a US Army colonel from Fort Bragg once told me back in the 1980's. Now President Obama has elevated the most notorious of the psychopaths, General Stanley McChrystal, to head the US and NATO military command in Afghanistan. McChrystal's rise to leadership is marked by his central role in directing special operations teams engaged in extrajudicial assassinations, systematic torture, bombing of civilian communities and search and destroy missions.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22642.htm



Brazil president arrives in Beijing
*******************
One item expected to come up in talks is a proposal by the Brazilian president for China and Brazil to conduct bilateral trade through each nation's currency, cutting out the US dollar as an intermediary.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/05/200951841033800562.html



Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama
********************************************************
Jeremy Scahill reports the Obama administration is continuing to use a notorious military police unit at Guantanamo that regularly brutalizes unarmed prisoners, including gang-beating them, breaking their bones, gouging their eyes and dousing them with chemicals. This force, officially known as the Immediate Reaction Force, has been labeled the "Extreme Repression Force" by Guantanamo prisoners, and human rights lawyers call their actions illegal.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54388&hd=&size=1&l=e



U.S. Contractors Fired at Kabul Car
********************
Four U.S. contractors affiliated with the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide fired on an approaching civilian vehicle in Kabul this month, wounding at least two Afghan civilians, according to the company and the U.S. military.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124239900599924043.html#mod=rss_US_News



Israel Preparing for Attack Again?
***************
The four-day military drills, which will end on Thursday, were aimed at testing the Israeli squadron's airborne assault operations, infiltration attempts and special forces missions.
Political analysts say the newly-staged military drills are a harbinger of another Israeli bombing mission on Gaza.

http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/05/israel-preparing-for-attack-again.html



The Netanyahu government approves construction of new settlement
*****************************
The new settlement plan was seen by several Palestinian and international officials as a clear Israeli message to the US administration that the country does not intend to halt the construction and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/2009/05/netanyahu-government-approves.html



Ethiopia denies reports troops in Somalia
******************
"This is a totally fabricated story. We have no plans to go into any of Somalia's territory," Wahade Belay, spokesman for Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry, told Reuters in Addis Ababa.
Citing witnesses in the area, all the main Somali language websites and radio stations were on Tuesday running stories saying there had been an Ethiopian incursion.

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLJ094558._CH_.2400

WAR, RESISTANCE, and PROPAGANDA

Heroic Resistance of 75 Year old Iraqi
****************
HEYET in its statement said: “The duty to fight against the invaders is national, legal and humane responsibility.

http://www.heyetnet.org/eng/amsinews/4405-heroic-resistance-of-75-years-old-iraqi.html


Turkish president should stand trial- court/NTV
******************
As president, Gul enjoys immunity.
'It is the rule in the Turkish Republic's constitution and laws that everyone should stand trial,' the court said in its ruling.
Gul's office was not immediately available for comment.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/06-turkish-president-should-stand-trial-court-ntv-rs-02


US bill links military aid to A Q Khan
******************
If adopted, it will place Pakistan in a very uncomfortable position. To qualify for US military assistance, Pakistan will have to produce Dr. A.Q. Khan before American interrogators. Islamabad will also have to pledge to monitor all future activities of the nuclear scientist who is seen as a hero at home but as a villain in the West.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-us-bill-links-military-aid-to-a-q-khan--02


Record bombs dropped in Afghanistan in April
********************
Air Force, Navy and other coalition warplanes dropped a record number of bombs in Afghanistan during April, Air Forces Central figures show.
In the past month, warplanes released 438 bombs, the most ever.
April also marked the fourth consecutive month that the number of bombs dropped rose.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/05/airforce_april_airstrike_050409w/


Time to stop US barbarism in Middle East and Afghanistan
**************************
According to Muriel Kane, "Lieutenant-General Stanley McChrystal will be taking over command of US forces in Afghanistan, pending Senate approval." McChrystal headed the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) that previously reported to Dick Cheney, with no congressional oversight.
Kane notes: "Famed investigative reporter Seymour Hersh recently described the JSOC as an "executive assassination wing" controlled for many years by the office of former Vice-President Dick Cheney."
Jeremy Scahill says: "Pentagon officials are spinning another cover-up," following the bombing that killed up to 130 people in Afghanistan. He also reports: "...as many as 2,000 [Afghans] poured into the streets of the provincial capital, chanting ‘Death to America’.”
Disgustingly, the Pentagon attempted to blame the Taliban for the murders, saying that they had done the killing with grenades.

http://www.redress.cc/americas/pjballes20090517


Arab world has no problem with Iran: Amr Moussa
*********************
“We do not regard Iran as the main issue. Actually, the Arab world does not have any problem with Iran… The main problem and major threat to the region and Arabs is Israel’s nuclear activity,” he said during a meeting on the Middle East peace process in Shuneh, Jordan.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=194813

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

Pentagon Preparing For War With The Enemy
*******************
"My flight in the backseat of a Lancer [MiG-21] is a good opportunity to look at different aircraft and it's a real privilege and an honor. I want to see what they see from their cockpit, and view a new angle of understanding against our adversaries."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13614

A Nation of Freedom or a Nation of Soldiers?
*******************
It’s a bad sign of how far off track the Obama presidency has gone that some of the most far right Republican politicians in Congress are thanking President Obama for continuing George W. Bush’s attacks against the Constitution. One such noxious thank you came yesterday from U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Blackburn congratulated Obama on his decision to resist a Freedom of Information Act petition, and refuse to reveal photographs that show acts of barbaric torture by the American government.

http://irregulartimes.com/


On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory No. 19/2009 (07 - 13 May 2009)
**********************************
Five Palestinian civilians, including two children and one woman, were wounded by IOF gunfire
IOF conducted 15 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. IOF arrested 12 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, and four in the Gaza Strip IOF arrested the mother of an allegedly wanted Palestinian. IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested five Palestinian civilians, including a child and a girl. IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian civilians and their property. At least 110 donums[1] were annexed to "Burkan" settlement in the northern West Bank.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54276&hd=&size=1&l=e


So Long Since Dreaming Made Sense
********************
There had been the Reagan Revolution and the enshrinement of greed, rapaciousness, and materialism as the state religion. There had been the beginnings in 1991 of the long war to gain control of the planets oil supplies. There had been the period of the most "Republican" Democrat ever to occupy the White House, a man so vapid and devoid of character that he sought nothing of his office beyond his own sexual gratification. There had been the eight years of the most utter hopelessness and despair as the United States of America moved as close to fascism and the end of constitutional government as it has ever been.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22613.htm


Mission Accomplished
********************
President Barack Obama appears to be endorsing the Bush administration’s larger mission — to turn the American presidency into an elected monarchy. By refusing to enforce the laws against torture, he not only violated his oath of office; he joined George W. Bush in declaring that CIA operatives can commit crimes with impunity, provided that a government lawyer gives them a permission slip.

http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/05/mission-accomplished/


Scared Somalis running out of food as battles rage
***************************************
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Hundreds of foreigners fighting alongside Somali Islamic insurgents have driven this week's fierce battles against government forces, which have killed more than 100 people, the U.N. envoy to Somalia said Friday. Concern that the government might fall is mounting.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_SOMALIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-05-15-12-21-54

Pakistan Pounds Swat, Over One Million Refugees Registered
********************************
The bad news doesn’t stop there. Another 500,000 IDPs are waiting to be formally registered. On top of that, another million civilians are trapped inside the Swat Valley because of the military’s curfew.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/14/over-one-million-refugees-from-swat-valley-registered/


Sri Lanka rejects cease-fire pleas
**********************************
"We are not going to succumb to international pressure to stop the offensive," said Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena. "In Pakistan and Afghanistan there are similar conflicts but no one is asking them to have a peace agreement or a cease-fire," Abeywardena said.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/world/11651533.asp?gid=237

NEWS and PROPAGANDA

Villagers list 147 dead in Afghan strike
**********************
KABUL (Reuters) - Residents of two villages hit earlier this week by U.S. air strikes have prepared lists with the names of 147 people killed in the attacks, the deputy governor of the province where the strikes took place said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5471NL20090508
______________________________________________________

On regret
******************
Hours after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "apologized" for US airstrikes that may have killed as many as 130 people in Afghanistan, NBC News is reporting that the US military is preparing to blame the deaths of several Afghan families—that were reportedly killed in US bombing raids this week in Farah Province—on Taliban fighters.
Hillary Clinton has expressed "deep regret" that American jets bombed two villages in western Afghanistan
...of course, clinton and obama want to create more such occasions for regret given their desire to place more american troops on afghan soil,

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54063&hd=&size=1&l=e
___________________________________________

China voices concern over growing US influence
************************
Talking to reporters during a visit to the Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Chinese envoy said the ‘outside influence’ was growing in the region.
‘These are issues of serious concern for China,’ he said, adding that China was concerned over the US policies and the presence of a large number of foreign troops in the region.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-china-voices-concern-over-growing-us-influence--bi--09
_______________________________________________

Lavrov: Tehran-Moscow cooperation in conformity with regulations
***********************
According to the Minister, the issue of supply of weapons by Russia to Iran, in particular, air defense systems, was touched upon during his meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that was held a few hours before the press briefing.

http://www.irna.ir/En/View/FullStory/?NewsId=475370&IdLanguage=3
______________________________________________________

Report: U.S. denies Israeli access to F-35 computer system
****************************
According to the report, the Americans are concerned that by allowing Israel to independently repair the computers, the Israel Air Force (IAF) will get its hands on the classified technology used to make the plane.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/08/content_11337054.htm
_____________________________________________________

Germany: Lieberman visit disappoints MPs
****************
During talks with members of the German parliamentary foreign affairs committee on Thursday Lieberman also said the peace process had been little more than a waste of money.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3292909295
_____________________________________________________

Calls persist in U.S. for prosecution of "torture memo" authors
******************************
The authors -- Jay Bybee, now a federal judge; John Yoo, now a law professor; and Steven Bradbury, who has left the Justice Department -- defined "torture" as brutality causing organ failure and death.
Democrats countered that torture includes any type of pain or suffering inflicted to obtain intelligence or a confession. Many of them seek to punish the three attorneys for legally sanctioning practices that defy international norms on the treatment of prisoners.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/08/content_11335664.htm
______________________________________________________

British lawmakers' expense claims revealed
**********************
LONDON (AP) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed thousands of pounds for a cleaner while other ministers claimed for gardeners, beds and television sets, a newspaper revealed Friday, a disclosure certain to fuel public outrage over lawmaker excess.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_LAWMAKER_EXPENSES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-05-08-07-11-35