After Latest Massacre, NATO to Continue Attacks on Afghan Civilians
Thursday, 02 June 2011 07:15
‘The NATO command in Afghanistan Tuesday brushed aside President Hamid Karzai’s demand for a halt to air strikes and night raids on Afghan homes.
Karzai issued the demand in the face of mass popular outrage over a US air strike that killed 14 civilians—10 of them children and two of them women—in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on the night of May 28. It was only the latest in a series of atrocities carried out by American forces that have resulted in mass civilian casualties.
Speaking at a news conference in Kabul, the Afghan president declared, “From this moment, air strikes on the houses of people are not allowed.” Karzai continued by warning: “If after the Afghan government said the aerial bombing of Afghan houses is banned and if it continues, then their presence will change from a war against terrorism to an occupying force. And in that case, Afghan history is witness to how the Afghans deal with occupying forces.”‘
Read more: After Latest Massacre, NATO to Continue Attacks on Afghan Civilians
Danish Food Safety Laws Ban Products Containing Added Vitamins, Allege They are Threat to Public Health
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Thursday, 02 June 2011 07:35
‘So-called food safety laws enacted in Denmark back in 2004 have restricted the sale of any food products that contain added vitamins and minerals, and all on the outlandish premise that such nutrients are a threat to public health. And just recently, the country banned Marmite, a popular food spread sourced from the UK, because it contains added B vitamins.
Perfectly aligned with Codex Alimentarius and the recent EU ban of many herbal remedies, the Danish restrictions allow only the sale of fortified foods and dietary supplements that have been pre-approved by the government.’
New Mind-Altering Drug Capable of Literally Modifying Your Memories
Thursday, 02 June 2011 07:39
‘Changing bad memories into good ones could be just a pill away, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Researchers from the University of Montreal in Canada say that metyrapone, a drug that blocks the “stress hormone” cortisol, also appears to alter patients’ memories and minimizing their recollection of negative events — but is this actually a good thing?’
Read more: New Mind-Altering Drug Capable of Literally Modifying Your Memories
Fresh Scandal Hits UK Social Care System
Thursday, 02 June 2011 05:40
‘British police have launched an investigation into private hospitals after the revelation of shocking abuse at a care unit for mentally retarded people.
It was revealed that the staff at a unit run by one of the UK’s prominent care companies were shockingly abusing people with learning disabilities, with footage showing patients being kicked, slapped and drenched with cold water, the dailyThe Guardian reported.
Police said they have detained three men and one woman as part of an ongoing probe into the case, adding that 13 employees have also been suspended.’
Bahraini Troops Halt Protests by Violence
Thursday, 02 June 2011 06:33
‘Saudi-backed Bahraini troops have attacked anti-government protesters in several villages near the capital Manama, witnesses say.
Despite the lifting of martial law in the tiny Persian Gulf sheikdom on Wednesday, regime forces are beating up people who had poured into the streets to stage protest rallies, Head of Foreign Relation Office of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Maryam al-Khawaja wrote in an e-mail sent to Press TV.
According to witnesses, dozens of people were injured after regime forces fired birdshots and teargas on protesters in villages around Manama, including Diraz, Bani Jamrah and Karzakan.’
‘Israel Determined to Stop Aid Flotilla’
The official said the Israeli Navy commandos have undergone specialized trainings over the past months and are now fully prepared to stop the aid convoy challenging Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.
A coalition of 22 activist groups said, on Monday during a ceremony marking the first anniversary of Israel’s deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, that the second Freedom Flotilla will set sail for Gaza in late June.
At least nine Turkish activists were killed and many others wounded after Israeli navy commandos attacked the aid flotilla in international waters on May 31 last year.
According to Israeli military sources, the members of the Israeli Navy commando unit, Shayetet 13, who carried out last year’s attack, are preparing to counter the new aid convoy.
According to the Israeli media, commandos have revised their tactics in the wake of the May 31, 2010 raid that drew international condemnation.
International activists say 15 ships, including the Mavi Marmara which was the lead ship in the first Freedom Flotilla, with some 1,500 activists from about 100 countries on board will leave for Gaza from various Mediterranean ports around June 20.
The vessels carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials would meet in international waters south of Cyprus before heading to Gaza, organizers said.
The activists have also called on government to ensure that the deadly incident would not happen again.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have reportedly asked their counterparts abroad to prevent their nationals from boarding the ships.
Tornado kills at least 4 in Springfield, MA
UPDATE [9:22 p.m. ET]:
CBS Boston reports that today’s tornadoes have caused 4 deaths.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A tornado touched down in Springfield, Massachusetts late this afternoon, CNN reports.
22 News WWLP says the tornado formed at about 4:20 this afternoon. At least one person was killed, many injured and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said he has declared a state of emergency for Massachusetts, per CNN.
A second tornado touched down in nearby Westfield, Massachusetts just a few hours later.
Patrick said as many as 26,000 people were without electrical service, and that at least 19 communities were affected by the storms.
WTNH News has posted pictures to its Twitter feed and has a live report.
Click here for another picture from WTNH.
US Pentagon to treat cyber-attacks as ‘acts of war
The US is set to publish plans that will categorise cyber-attacks as acts of war, the Pentagon says.
In future, a US president could consider economic sanctions, cyber-retaliation or a military strike if key US computer systems were attacked, officials have said recently.
The planning was given added urgency by a cyber-attack last month on the defence contractor, Lockheed Martin.
A new report from the Pentagon is due out in a matter of weeks.
“A response to a cyber-incident or attack on the US would not necessarily be a cyber-response. All appropriate options would be on the table,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters on Tuesday.
Mr Lapan confirmed the Pentagon was drawing up a cyber defence strategy, which would be ready in two to three weeks.
Cyber-attacks from foreign nations that threaten widespread US civilian casualties, like cutting off power supplies or shutting down emergency-responder networks, could be treated as an act of aggression under the new policy.
But the plan does not mention how the US may respond to cyber-attackers, such as terrorists, who are not acting for a nation state.
‘All necessary means’
The Pentagon’s planning follows an international strategy statement on cyber-security, issued by the White House on 16 May.
The US would “respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country”, stated the White House in plain terms.
“We reserve the right to use all necessary means – diplomatic, informational, military, and economic – as appropriate and consistent with applicable international law, in order to defend our nation, our allies, our partners and our interests.”
The Wall Street Journal quoted a military official as saying: “If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks.”
White House officials said consideration of a military response to a cyber-attack would constitute a “last resort”, after other efforts to deter an attack had failed, the New York Times newspaper reported.
Sophistication of hackers
One of the difficulties strategists are grappling with is how to track down reliably the cyber-attackers who deliberately obscure the origin of their incursions.
The sophistication of hackers and frequency of the attacks came back into focus after an attack on arms-maker Lockheed Martin on 21 May.
Lockheed said the “tenacious” cyber-attack on its network was part of a pattern of attacks on it from around the world.
The worst cyber-attack against the US military occurred in 2008, when malicious software on a flash drive commandeered computers at US Central Command.
The US defence department estimates that more than 100 foreign intelligence organizations have attempted to break into American networks.
The US is also accused of using cyber warfare against other nations. In 2010 Iran accused the US of helping to develop Stuxnet, a software worm aimed at controlling systems in Iranian nuclear plants.
Pentagon files death penalty case against five accused 9/11 plotters
Military officials notified the families of Sept. 11 victims of the looming charges a day earlier — as Americans commemorated Memorial Day
By CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@miamiherald.com
Guantánamo war court prosecutors filed fresh death penalty charges against five men for allegedly plotting the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, accusing the former CIA captives of murder, conspiracy and terrorism, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks were notified of the pending charges on Monday, Memorial Day, said Army Lt. Col. Tanya Bradsher, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
The new charge sheet reflected a political setback for the Obama administration, which not only came in to office pledging to close the prison camps in southeast Cuba that today hold 171 foreign men as war prisoners but also decided after study to have a civilian judge and jury hear the 9/11 trial in New York.
Politicians and some 9/11 families protested the scheme, fearing that a trial would make Manhattan an even greater al Qaeda target and that the accused may draw on greater due process in a federal court.
The 90-page charge sheet spells out the roles each of the five men allegedly had in preparing for four simultaneous hijackings of American passenger planes that crashed in New York, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and in a field Shanksville, Penn. The charge sheets also includes the names of all 2,976 people who were killed that day.
They allege that in the 1990s Osama bin Laden approved the conspiracy — called “The Planes Operation” — and describes how one alleged plotter cased American aircraft in Asia to learn U.S. security practices and how another used a computer flight simulator to learn how to fly planes in Karachi, Pakistan.
Charged are:
• Khalid Sheik Mohammed, 46, the Pakistani former al Qaeda operations chief who in 2007 bragged to a military panel at the U.S. Navy base that he ran the 9/11 operation “from A to Z.” According to the charge sheets, he allegedly had some of the hijackers train for the mission by slaughtering “sheep, goats and camels” to simulate “how to slit passengers’ throats.”
• Walid bin Attash, 32, also Yemeni, described as a former jihadist who lost a leg to combat. According to the charge sheets, he allegedly ran a 45-day hand-to-hand combat class at an al Qaeda training camp in Logan, Afghanistan to help select candidates for the hijacking.
• Ammar al Baluchi, 33, also a Pakistani, Mohammed’s nephew, who once described himself to a military officer as a Microsoft-trained computer engineer.
• Ramzi bin al Shibh, 39, a Yemeni who blurted out at an earlier hearing that he sought to be the 20th Hijacker in the 9/11 attacks, but failed in efforts to obtain a U.S. visa while living in Germany.
• Mustafa al Hawsawi, 42, Saudi, who allegedly functioned as a financier for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
All five men spent years in CIA custody at a so-called black site, overseas prisons at still-secret locations, where they were interrogated on al Qaeda terror plots until former President George W. Bush ordered their transfer to U.S. military custody in September 2006 to ready them for military trials.
Critics of the war court that the Bush administration created and the Obama administration reformed were likewise critical of the decision to return the death penalty case to a Guantánamo court.
“The military commission system is not about seeking justice as much as it is about obtaining convictions,” said Jim E. Lavine, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which advocated civilian trials with civilian courts and jurors. “Federal prosecutors have the tools for prosecuting persons believed to be terrorists, including over 40 specific terrorism statutes and nearly 100 other federal laws.”
European Parliament Issues Warnings on HAARP
‘A European Parliament document may provide a few answers for the inquiring mind. This parliamentary document is not some conspiratorial rant but an official governmental perspective describing authentic concern that a terribly grave technology, which the document calls a weapon, has been unleashed over many years without any public knowledge.
The technology is called HAARP and the European Parliament has put NATO, the US Air Force and Navy on notice, demanding an explanation about their involvement.’
Believe nothing 