Israeli forces attempt to arrest 2-1/2-year-old Palestinian

Anti-Zionist rabbis visit southern Lebanon, following invitations from pro-Palestinian activists.

In an exclusive holiday interview, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames ‘monopolies and cartels’ – and government – for the increases in food prices.

 

ICC Office of the Prosecutor decides not to open investigations into situation of Palestine.  The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a statement Wednesday expressing its extreme disappointment following the decision by the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to open an investigation on the situation in Palestine.  

 
ICC Absolves Israeli Lawlessness, Steve Lendman
Established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on July 1, 2002, it’s mandated to prosecute individuals for genocide and aggression, as well as crimes or war and against humanity. Instead, it functions solely as an imperial tool. It supports wealth and power. It targets independent states Washington and other Western nations oppose. In the process, it lets America and rogue NATO powers get away with murder.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/04/icc-absolves-israels-lawlessness.html

 

 

http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19217 

‘German GQ’ gets a political story American media have ignored: Palestinian youth, Allison Deger
“Hidden from the news cycle of endless peace negotiations and fears of impeding violence in the region, non-aligned political activists are perfecting forms of civil disobedience,” writes Joseph Dana for the April 2012 issue of German GQ magazine. Dana continues, the new youth movement believes these demonstrations “will form the backbone of the next chapter in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.” For his article, titled “Spring in Palestine,” Dana tagged along in the West Bank with Palestinian activists Diana Alzeer and Fadi Quran. Alzeer is a Ramallah-based organizer with a devoted Twitter following under the handle @ManaraRam and Fadi Quran (@FadiQuran) is the Stanford graduate who is best known for participating in the Palestinian Freedom Rides with the long-time Palestinian human rights advocate, Huwaida Araf.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/german-gq-gets-a-political-story-american-media-have-ignored-palestinian-youth.html

 

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-real-radical-left-1.422666 

What Marwan Barghouti Really Means to Palestinians,  Ramzy Baroud
Last week Marwan Barghouti, the prominent Palestinian political prisoner and Fatah leader, called on Palestinians to launch a ‘large-scale popular resistance’ which would ‘serve the cause of our people.’ The message was widely disseminated as it coincided with Land Day, an event that has unified Palestinians since March 1976. Its meaning has morphed through the years to represent the collective grievances shared by most Palestinians, including dispossession from their land as a result of Israeli occupation.  Barghouti is also a unifying figure among Palestinians. Even at the height of the Hamas-Fatah clashes in 2007, he insisted on unity and shunned factionalism. It is no secret that Barghouti is still a very popular figure in Fatah, to the displeasure of various Fatah leaders, not least Mahmoud Abbas, who heads both the Palestinian Authority and Fatah.. Throughout its indirect prisoners exchange talks with Israel, Hamas insisted on Barghouti’s release. Israel, which had officially charged and imprisoned Barghouti in 2004 for five alleged counts of murder – but more likely because of his leading role in the Second Palestinian Intifada – insisted otherwise.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19214

Palestinian Hunger Strikers for Justice, Stephen Lendman
Hana Shalabi’s ordeal highlights what many others endured previously and dozens do now. Only they know the physical and emotional toll. Who else understands the willingness to die for justice? Who’ll suffer and risk it? Who’ll challenge an implacable foe unconcerned if they live or die? Hana, Khader Adnan, and many others risk everything to live free. They confront injustice courageously for it. They’re willing to die without it. What greater sacrifice than that! What better reason to lend support and honor them. Thousands of Hanas and Khaders rot in Israeli gulags. Recovering from his ordeal, Israel promised to free Khader on April 17, Palestinian Prisoners Day. More on it below. Free or in prison, tormenting Khader won’t end. Nor will Hana’s ordeal or other Palestinians persecuted by Israel’s racist oppression.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/04/palestinian-hunger-strikers-for-justice.html

Shebab vs the Wall at the Erez Crossing, Johnny Barber
On March 30, 1976, the Palestinian people declared a general strike and demonstrated against the Israeli confiscation of thousands of acres of land in the Galilee. The Israeli’s responded with violence, killing six unarmed Palestinian demonstrators and injuring hundreds. Every year Land Day is commemorated in Palestine in remembrance of those who would rise up to protect their land. On this Land Day, I was at Erez Crossing. Several hundred youth had managed to find their way around the Hamas policemen blocking the roads leading to Erez. At the crossing, they moved to within two hundred yards of the Israeli gate. There they found their path blocked by rows of concertina wire across the road. The shabab set fire to tires in the roadway and threw stones towards the Israeli wall, most falling into the roadway, well short of their target. Intermittently and without warning, the Israeli occupation forces open fire on the stone throwers. Each volley consists of one to three shots, and with each volley, young men fall. Others immediately retrieve them. Dozens of youth mob the wounded. Somehow they manage to carry them through the crowd and load them onto motorcycles where they are ferried to the Palestinian side of the crossing to waiting ambulances.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/shebab-vs-the-wall-at-the-erez-crossing.html

Leading sociologist says ‘the enemy’ includes ‘disloyal’ individualistic young Jews who push human rights, Philip Weiss
A year ago, an Israeli wrote a piece for Commentary asking whether young rabbinical students are turning on Israel, and last week J Street held an educators’ panel about rabbinical students, and by extension young Jews, questioning Israel. I wanted to pass along the following excerpts of the discussion because you will see how important “loyalty” to Israel is within the American Jewish community. Steven Cohen is the leading sociologist of changes in American Jewish attitudes towards Israel. And here he speaks of human-rights-oriented Jews as “disloyal” individualistic crazy enemies of the Jewish collective– meshugayim (I think; pardon my bad Yiddish).
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/leading-sociologist-says-the-enemy-includes-disloyal-individualistic-young-jews-who-push-human-rights.html

Only 20% of American Jews Believe Israel is Important Part of Jewish Identity, Richard Silverstein
The news from the American Jewish community isn’t good as far as Israel is concerned (that is, if Israel even cares).  The Public Religion Research Institute, whose board chair is Rabbi David Saperstein, has conducted a wide-ranging survey (full report) of attitudes toward Jewish identity and Israel among American Jews.  If you’re a leader of the affiliated community or an Israeli who believes the Diaspora plays an important role related to Israel, then the news will be disturbing.  This poll follows on a ground-breaking one published by the dean of Jewish demographers, Steven Cohen, in 2007, Beyond Distancing.  I’ll be comparing these polls below to determine if there’s been a progression between the results of the earlier survey and the current one.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/04/04/only-20-of-american-jews-believe-israel-is-important-part-of-jewish-identity/

The First Amendment Does Not Apply To Israel, MJ Rosenberg
It would be funny if it wasn’t so creepy. An author or journalist can write anything he wants about the United States — or, in fact, about any foreign country — without causing legions of critics to question the propriety of his doing so. That is, unless the subject of the author’s work is Israel. Think about it. Books have accused FDR of having advance knowledge of Pearl Harbor while others argue that the U.S. government — in the form of the FBI, CIA or even Vice President Lyndon Johnson — had President Kennedy killed. In other words, books that accuse U.S. presidents and U.S. government agencies of high treason are okay. This is America, and authors, journalists and bloggers can write what they like. (So long as it isn’t libelous.)
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0e7994932b5c293ad6e9e40d8&id=2eb198154a&e=f031533759

Tear Gas in the Morning, Adam Horowitz
This is a motion comic pitch for the graphic novel Tear Gas in the Morning: A Story of Nonviolent Resistance. Tear Gas in the Morning is the story of Barbara Silverman, a Jewish-American artist volunteering as an activist and human rights worker in the West Bank. The story is loosely based around the authors’ own personal experiences and the experiences of real life Palestinians, Israelis and international volunteers. The story takes place primarily in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Ramallah. As in Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the nationality of the characters in Tear Gas in the Morning is key to understanding the story. Taking a cue from Mr. Spiegelman, we have decided to color Israelis blue, Palestinians red and foreigners purple.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/tear-gas-in-the-morning.html

 

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israelis-can-t-resist-following-the-the-occupation-s-pied-piper-1.422260 

The Gaza Kitchen cookbook recaptures lost history through food
Grilled sea bream, sour plums and citrus fruits were once the staples of the Gazan diet. In the evenings, families would gather around a plate of fried fish stuffed with dill, accompanied with fragrant, chilli-spiced rice. Now, the daily struggle to put food on the table has forced many Gazans to reinvent their cuisine.
http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/food/the-gaza-kitchen-cookbook-recaptures-lost-history-through-food

As of the last few days, Mr. AlKhawaja has given up glucose and thus has been hospitalized due to a significant deterioration in his health. Doctors have told his family they expect him to fall asleep into a permanent coma. The Bahraini authorities refuse to acknowledge the severity of Mr. AlKhawaja’s case. More than 50 rights groups have called for his release, yet there has been no response from the government.

Bahrain transfers hunger striker to prison clinic
An imprisoned Bahraini human rights activist, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 50 days has been moved to a prison clinic for medical observation and care, authorities said Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-transfers-hunger-striker-prison-clinic-111051272.html

Bahrainis Voice Support for Hunger Striker
Bahrainis staged rallies across the country to express their support of the human rights activists, who has been in Al Khalifa’s prison for months.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=51419&cid=23&fromval=1

Bahrainis hold demos for jailed activist
Bahraini protesters have taken to the streets in several towns and villages across the country to express solidarity with prominent human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja held in prison, Press TV reports.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234441.html

 

Bahrain arrests two female activists
Bahraini regime forces have arrested two female activists participating in a demonstration to show solidarity with prominent human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja in the capital, Manama, Press TV reports.

Bahrain economy battered from inside and out
Prices in the capital city of Manama have risen sharply, partly due to the state of the world economy, but also as a result of the current political instability in Bahrain. Experts have said the world financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, the recent European monetary crisis, and the internal political troubles of 2011 have battered the Bahraini economy. Banks are seeking mergers in order to survive, and the industrial sector has declined by 26.7 per cent, according to a March 2012 report.. Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Vall reports from Manama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IkmK9U78Ks&feature=youtube_gdata

Bahrain’s government must stop killing its people, and listen to them, Ali Alaswad

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/04/bahrain-government-stop-killing-al-wefaq

Bahrain culture minister: Critics ‘not real men’
Bahrain’s culture minister is facing demands for her dismissal after calling conservative lawmakers ‘not real men’ for opposing an annual arts festival under way in Manana.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/03/205178.html

 

Over the past weeks, as violence is escalating in Bahrain ahead of the F1 Grand Prix, journalists and F1 fans have expressed doubts regarding the CEO of Formula One Management’s claims saying that there is no problem in Bahrain., During the Bahrain Grand Prix media lunch in London last week Bernie Ecclestone said that the media were responsible for spreading false information and compared street battles happening everyday in the Kingdom to hooliganism., Journalist Joe Saward wrote a piece on his blog titled “Worrying developments in Bahrain” where he expresses his concerns regarding the upcoming race considering the situation in Bahrain. A 22-year-old citizen journalist was shot dead on Friday., His piece has received more than 60 comments, most of them from fans saying that considering the recent developments in the island the race should be cancelled.

http://www.blottr.com/world/breaking-news/f1-fans-say-bahrain-grand-prix-should-not-go-ahead 

Bahrain Update
From Angry Arab chief Bahrain correspondent:  ”I’m starting to think that there is no way that the royal family will release AbdulHadi AlKhawaja even though it would be the sane thing for them to do (even from their warped perspective), since having him die (and frankly thats whats going to happen at this point – he’s been on a hunger strike for 55 days I believe) isn’t going to help stability wise especially a few weeks before their beloved Formula One race begins (something I never really cared for from the beginning – how about using that money to actually build the country’s infrastructure like create a good public transportation system). [continues]
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/04/bahrain-update_03.html

Egypt

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood tries to woo US support
With PowerPoint presentations and political promises, Egypt’s influential Muslim Brotherhood made its US diplomatic debut this week hoping to persuade Washington that the Islamist group is not a threat to its interests or Israel.  A delegation from the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the once-banned Islamist movement, has been making the Washington rounds, talking to officials and think tank experts about their growing role as Egypt heads toward presidential elections.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-tries-woo-us-support?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Egyptian government trying to locate American NGO workers
The Egyptian government has asked the U.S. Justice Department to locate and inform American NGO workers that their criminal trials begin in Cairo next week. “The embassy has transmitted a request for judicial assistance to the U.S. government to locate and identify the defendants and notify them of the scheduled date and place of the court hearing on April 10 in Cairo,” a senior Egyptian official told The Cable. “This request is based on an Egypt-U.S. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.”
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/04/04/egyptian_government_trying_to_locate_american_ngo_workers

Egypt sends Christian student to jail for insulting Islam
An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian student to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, actions that sparked sectarian violence. Gamal Abdou Massoud was also accused of distributing some of his cartoons to his school friends in a village in the southern city of Assiut, home to a large Christian population and the hometown of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypt-sends-christian-student-jail-insulting-islam?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Iran

Iran proposes Baghdad as nuclear talks venue
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iran has approached Baghdad to host forthcoming talks with six world powers over its disputed nuclear program, Iraq said on Wednesday, apparently departing from plans for an Istanbul meeting following Iranian frictions with Turkey. Iranian media quoted Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying the talks could take place in Baghdad or China.
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-proposes-baghdad-nuclear-talks-venue-112513044.html

‘India cannot join US-led bans on Iran’
An international relations professor says New Delhi has good ties with Tehran based on shared trade and security interests, making it difficult for India to join the US-led sanctions against Iran.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234397.html

Iran to double power exports to Turkey
An Iranian Energy Ministry official says the country will increase electricity exports to neighboring Turkey by twofold in the next two months.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234603.html

Khamenei: scale of world panic shows Iran’s importance
Iran’s supreme leader hailed the ongoing crisis surrounding the country’s nuclear program on Wednesday, saying it showed the importance of Iran in the world. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the global powers were trying to destroy Iran, and had supplied Iraq with chemical weapons to bring down the Islamic Republic but all attempts had failed, he said.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/khamenei-scale-world-panic-shows-irans-importance?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Scoop: Israeli Iran Attack to Coincide With Next Israeli Election, Richard Silverstein
A senior Likud politician told my confidential Israeli source that Bibi Netanyahu has decided to delay an Israeli attack on Iran until some weeks or possibly months before the next scheduled Israeli election.  That will happen by October 2013 unless Bibi determines he wants to go to the nation earlier. This is the strategy that Menachem Begin followed in attacking Saddam’s Osirak nuclear plant.  There was a national election scheduled in 1981.  He launched an attack beforehand, it succeeded, and he squeaked by with a victory which might never have happened had he not attacked.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/04/04/scoop-israeli-iran-attack-to-coincide-with-next-israeli-election/

Iraq

Car bomb kills five in Iraq: officials
A car bomb apparently targeting a local police chief killed five people and wounded 10 in central Iraq on Wednesday morning, police and medical officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/car-bomb-kills-five-iraq-officials-002043701.html

Bomb kills TV presenter in central Iraq: spokesman
A “sticky bomb” killed a television presenter working for a local station in Salaheddin province of central Iraq, a provincial spokesman said on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-kills-tv-presenter-central-iraq-spokesman-164223202.html

Fugitive Iraqi VP arrives in Saudi Arabia
Tariq al-Hashemi, accused of running death squads against Iraqi Shia officials, leaves Qatar for Saudi Arabia.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/201244161728887941.html

More Sunni Arrests Reported As Qatar Rejects Demands To Return Hashemi
Reports are surfacing that an adviser to Parliament Speaker Osama Nujaifi has been arrested on terrorism charges. At least eight Iraqis were killed and three more were wounded in various attacks.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2012/04/03/more-sunni-arrests-reported-as-qatar-rejects-demands-to-return-hashemi/

Landmines blocking Iraq’s development: UN
Landmines and unexploded ordinance are inhibiting development in Iraq, one of countries worst-affected by such explosives worldwide, a United Nations factsheet released on Wednesday said. “Years of war and internal conflict have left a dangerous legacy of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). The widespread contamination is one of the largest in the world,” the Iraq factsheet said. “Contaminated sites cover an estimated 1,730 square kilometres and affect around 1.6 million people in over 1,600 communities,” it added.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/landmines-blocking-iraqs-development-un?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Shiites, Sunnis in post-US Iraq: separate, unequal
Now that U.S. forces are gone, Iraq’s ruling Shiites are moving quickly to keep the two Muslim sects separate — and unequal.
http://news.yahoo.com/shiites-sunnis-post-us-iraq-separate-unequal-172912676.html

Saudi Arabia

The US rewards Arab reformers
“The United States has recently stepped up arms sales to gulf nations, including a $30 billion sale of 154 F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and a nearly $2 billion one to provide the United Arab Emirates with one of the most sophisticated antimissile systems.  The gulf council, dominated by Saudi Arabia, has become more active beyond its borders. Qatar and the U.A.E. sent combat aircraft to the Mediterranean last year as part of the intervention against Libya, while Bahrain and the U.A.E. have forces in Afghanistan.  That has made the United States eager to work even more closely with the nations as a group. At the same time, however, the gulf nations are some of the least democratic in the world. Last year, the gulf council dispatched a military force to Bahrain to support that government’s suppression of popular protests, brushing aside American criticism. (Critics of the Obama administration’s policy in Bahrain argue that the United States, which bases its Fifth Fleet there, did not itself press the country hard enough to end a brutal crackdown.)”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/world/middleeast/uae-shuts-american-democracy-building-group.html

Saudi Arabia rules out sending women athletes to London
The head of the Saudi Olympic Committee has ruled out sending women athletes from the ultra-conservative kingdom to the London Olympics this summer, local dailies reported on Thursday. Prince Nawaf bin Faisal said, however, that Saudi women taking part on their own are free to do so and the kingdom’s Olympic authority would “only help in ensuring that their participation does not violate the Islamic sharia law.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/05/saudi-rules-out-sending-women-athletes-to-london/

Syria

Fierce fighting near Damascus ahead of truce
Fierce clashes between Syrian forces and rebels erupted near Damascus Thursday, monitors said, as Washington slammed an “intensification” of violence against regime opponents ahead of an agreed truce.
http://news.yahoo.com/fierce-clashes-near-syrian-capital-monitors-065624853.html

Dozens reported killed in Syria violence
Days before the April 10 deadline for Syria to abide by a United Nations-backed peace plan, 54 people were reported killed across the country. Just days before the deadline for Syria to abide by a United Nations-backed peace plan, 54 people were reported killed across the country Wednesday, including 25 in the city of Homs as shelling and sniper fire there continued.

VIDEO: Syrian violence goes on despite talks
Kofi Annan’s spokesman says a UN team are due to arrive in Damascus within the next 48 hours as violence continues across Syria.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-17602421

Syrian opposition will never defeat Assad’s army: Russia
Syria’s opposition will never defeat President Bashar Assad’s army even if it is “armed to the teeth,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Wednesday. “It is clear as day that even if the Syrian opposition is armed to the teeth, it will not be able to defeat the government’s army,” Lavrov said while on a visit to the ex-Soviet nation of Azerbaijan according to Interfax. “Instead, there will be carnage that lasts many, many years – mutual destruction,” said Lavrov.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-opposition-will-never-defeat-assad-war-russia

 

Russia warns the West not to arm Syria’s rebel fighters
Russia yesterday claimed the West was undermining the work of international peace envoy Kofi Annan, warning Britain and her allies not to arm Syria’s rebels as a deadline for implementing an international peace plan approaches.

 

Red Crescent warehouse burned down in Homs
Syria’s Red Crescent distribution center in the city of Homs, a hotbed of unrest that was crushed last month, was burned to the ground on Wednesday, a spokesman confirmed. There were conflicting reports about what caused the fire, with activists saying the building burst into flames after shelling on the neighborhood of Qarabees. However other sources said unknown saboteurs set fire to the building, which had been a warehouse for a government company before being donated to the Red Crescent as an aid distribution center.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/red-crescent-warehouse-burned-down-homs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Syrian refugees flood to Jordan
Hundreds of Syrians are flooding into neighbouring Jordan on a daily basis, with estimates of over 135,000 Syrians now in the neighbouring country. Nisreen El Shamayleh reports from Ramtha, Jordan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ASEWci6ey8&feature=youtube_gdata

Syria: Unrest Affecting Entire Communities
As Ramisyah Ali El-Zaabi fled across the Syrian border – scaling a dirt wall, crawling under a fence and dropping to the ground amid gunfire – her eight-month-old daughter slept. Afraid that her cries might draw attention, El-Zaabi fed her baby a pill to knock her out before she, her husband and four of their children set out on a 2.5-hour trek across the desert to reach the Syrian border and cross over into Jordan. “God saved us from death,” she told IRIN from a run-down, overcrowded guesthouse in the northern Jordanian border town of Remtha, where she arrived at 2am with two suitcases and effectively no money.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19209

Surprise Video Changes Syria “Timeline”, Sharmine Narwani
Of all the myths obstructing the honest portrayal of events in Syria this past year, none has been more fiercely guarded by regime-change advocates than this one stark falsehood: Myth – the Syrian regime has only been shooting unarmed, peaceful protestors until very recently when opposition groups finally decided to arm themselves in self-defense.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/sandbox/surprise-video-changes-syria-timeline?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Bad Losers’ Conference: Syrians Pay the Price, Jeremy Salt – Ankara
The ‘Friends of Syria’ conference in Istanbul ended with a pledge of qualified support for the Annan plan while agreeing on concrete measures to undermine it. Saudi Arabia and other gulf states are going to stump up the money to turn the so-called Free Syrian Army into a fully-fledged mercenary army. Saudi Arabia and Qatar had previously said that they intended to  spend millions of dollars arming the ‘rebels’ and at the ‘Friends of Syria’ conference, the US,  Britain and the gulf states agreed to spend millions more on  providing the armed groups with unspecified ‘humanitarian’ assistance and ‘communications equipment’. The gulf states are also hoping their money will lure Syrian soldiers into defecting.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19208

Other Mideast & World News

Jordan: Pro-reformists detained for “insulting” the King must be released
A  law which allows the Jordanian authorities to detain activists on the basis of “insulting the king” must be repealed, Amnesty International said after 30 to 40 apparently peaceful protesters were detained in Amman. At least 13 people remain in custody in the wake of the weekend protests against the detention of half a dozen pro-reform activists. Four activists have been held for nearly a month and are now facing charges of ‘insulting’ the king amid a growing crackdown on freedom of expression.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/jordan-pro-reformists-detained-insulting-king-must-be-released-2012-04-03
 

Next Great Depression? MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030

Maddow relays censored memo on CIA ‘war crimes’ during Bush Administration
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night explained a legal memo that advised the Bush Administration that so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were torture and therefore illegal. Wired reporter Spencer Ackerman obtained the memo, written by State Department counselor Philip Zelikow, through a Freedom on Information Act request.

FBI Surveillance Today: Bay Area Agents Used “Community Outreach” to Gather Intelligence on Muslims
The American Civil Liberties Union has released new records showing the FBI’s San Francisco division collected information on Muslim religious activities protected by the Constitution. The FBI is banned by law from keeping records on people’s religious practices unless there is a clear law enforcement purpose. But the ACLU said documents show the FBI violated that law by using so-called “community outreach” to procure and store information about religious beliefs, practices and otherwise innocent activities of Muslim community members. This is just the latest revelation in a long-string of surveillance tactics used by the FBI and other agencies to monitor Muslims post-9/11. The ACLU is now calling on the Inspector General to launch an investigation into the violation of the Privacy Act. We speak with Mike German, the ACLU’s National Security Policy counsel. From 1988 to 2004 he served as an FBI agent specializing in domestic counterterrorism.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/4/fbi_surveillance_today_bay_area_agents

www.TheHeadlines.Org