New reports say Israel is planning to establish a deep-sea navy and is negotiating with Germany over the purchase warships and submarines. According to a report published by United Press International, Germany will supply Israel with three more Dolphin class attack submarines, several warships, and possibly two MEKO A-100 corvettes. The MEKO variant sought by the Tel Aviv regime costs an estimated $300 million. The warship, with a range of 4,635 miles, can carry one medium-size helicopter and 24 weapons systems — 16 ship-to-shore and eight anti-ship missile launchers adapted to US weapons as well as air-defense missiles and automatic cannon. Citing an unnamed Israeli source, the UPI report said that the Israeli navy would like even more Dolphins.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell quickly repudiated comments from one of the Defense Department’s undersecretaries today, insisting that attack Iran at any time is “always an option.” The latest comments came in response to Undersecretary Flournoy’s claims earlier this morning that a military attack against Iran was “off the table in the near term” and that the Obama Administration was focusing on “engagement and pressure.” The US has been threatening to attack Iran for years, but those threats have gotten increasingly direct since President Obama took office last year. AntiWar: US: All Options on the Table Against Syria.

AWIP/Edward S. Herman & David Peterson: The Iran Threat in the Age of Real-Axis-of-Evil Expansion. AWIP/Chris Floyd: Monster's Ball: Drawing Back the Veil on the 'Death State'.

Speaking to reporters in Peshawar, Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that the situation in the country would never improve if the government in Islamabad continued to be the frontline ally of Washington. On Wednesday, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hassan told Press TV that Pakistan's alliance with the US was the main reason behind a surge in bomb attacks across the country. "The notorious Blackwater agents are behind the bomb and suicide attacks in our country as the US wants to destabilize Pakistan… after invading neighboring Afghanistan," he said.

A US delegation has arrived in Israel in a secret visit to begin "behind the scenes negotiations" on a Middle East "peace" plan, an Israeli daily reports. Haaretz reported Wednesday that Dan Shapiro, US National Security Council's Senior Director for the Middle East and David Hale, deputy to US Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel on Tuesday for the talks. Citing a senior Obama administration official, the report added that the US delegation held a meeting in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his special envoy Yitzhak Molcho and adviser Ron Dermer.

02/01/10: Secret CIA-Mossad meeting, preparation for new war? + 02/03/10: Israel threatens Iran with 'heavy price'. + 02/27/10: Israel pressing U.S. not to send new envoy to Syria.

[Editor's Comment:] The talks will probably be about how to coordinate their plans for a conventional war against Syria plus a nuclear war against Iran. No "peace plan" is on the table, unless it is intended as an ultimatum. The US will pay for these wars too and will kill an astronomical number of innocent civilians all over the Middle East. All this (and more) the US will do for Israel. -How is this possible? The US government & political establishment seem to be in thrall to the Zionists and to be under Israeli control. There seems to be no way the US can extricate itself from their vice-like grip until the US political establishment crubles and falls apart under the combined weight of the Zionist usurpers and the mind-boggling negative trade balance. This does not bode well for any of us.

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) -- The Coast Guard resumed the aerial search Thursday morning for 11 workers who went missing after a massive explosion aboard an oil platform off the Louisiana coast. As helicopters and cutters searched the waters, the fire at the oil rig continued to burn. About 100 workers had made it to a supply boat after the blast, then were plucked from the Gulf of Mexico by Coast Guard rescuers. After a slow-moving trek across the waters, the workers finally made it ashore at Port Fourchon earlier Thursday where they were checked by doctors and brought to a hotel in suburban New Orleans to awaiting relatives.

Second Mann spoof video removed. At a Washington DC press conference yesterday, the No Cap and Trade Coalition announced a new video spoofing prominent ‘climategate’ scientist, Dr. Michael Mann and his infamous ‘hockey stick chart’ showing rapidly increasing global temperatures in recent decades. The video was posted on YouTube until Wednesday afternoon, when the Google-owned video site removed the video, citing non-existent copyright claims by Jib Jab as the reason. The video was produced in response to a cease and desist demand from Michael Mann’s attorney over an older video produced by Minnesotans for Global Warming. The original Hide the Decline video they created used some Jib Jab-provided animation, under their general license and with their expressed written consent, but the new video, recently removed by YouTube contains no such content.

M4GW: M4GW Removes "Hide The Decline" YouTube Video:

Climategate Figure Threatens Lawsuit over Satirical YouTube Video 'Hide the decline' - No Cap-and-Trade Coalition Says "Bring it on." Penn State University's Michael Mann, one of the central figures in the Climategate scandal, has threatened legal action against Minnesotans for Global Warming (M4GW) over the group's popular satirical YouTube video "Hide the Decline." The No Cap-and-Trade Coalition, a group that includes M4GW, responded today at an event at the National Press Club, releasing Mann's threatening letter and an updated version of the "Hide the Decline" video. "We understand why Michael Mann is eager to silence public discussion of the hockey stick scandal," said Jeff Davis of No Cap-and-Trade, "but truth is an absolute defense."

In 2004, the National Annenberg Election Survey found that Fox News viewers were the most confused about current events, while viewers of "The Daily Show" were among the best informed news consumers in the country. Comedy Central, relying on data from Nielsen Media Research, also found that Stewart's audience not only knew more about current events, but were far better educated than Bill O'Reilly's audience.

Three years later, the Pew Research Study published a report showing that "viewers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have the highest knowledge of national and international affairs, while Fox News viewers rank nearly dead last." [MediaIte: Jon Stewart: Fox News “Is Truly A Terrible, Cynical News Organization”]

It ought to be obvious. The earth does actually rotate. The sun does not shine at night. The temperature is not constant. Every part of the earth has a different energy input from its output. There is a correct mathematical treatment. It would involve the division of the earth's surface into a large number of tiny increments, and the energy input and output calculated for each one, using the changes in all the factors involved. There would then have to be a gigantic integration of all these results to give a complete energy budget for the earth. Only when this is done and repeated over a long period will it be possible to find the influence of increases in greenhouse gases. The data do not exist for such an exercise and probably never will.

More than a year into Barack Obama's presidency, Americans are more likely to say George W. Bush is responsible for today's economic problems than they are to say Obama is responsible. Gallup shows a significant uptick since last July in the percentage of Americans blaming Obama at least a moderate amount (from 32% to 50%), but little decrease (from 80% to 75%) in the percentage blaming Bush.

Argentina's last dictator has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for torture and kidnappings committed during the nation's 1976 to 1983 military regime. Reynaldo Bignone, 82, was convicted along with five other former military officers on 56 charges involving torture, illegal detentions and other crimes in one of Argentina's largest torture centers, the Campo de Mayo military base. Human rights groups say that of the 4,000 dissidents taken there, only about 50 emerged alive. The army-run base had a clandestine maternity centre where dissidents gave birth only to have officials take their babies away to be adopted by military families. The verdict was read out by judge Marta Milloc in an indoor stadium where many of those in attendance were family members of victims, who held up photos of their loved ones. AWIP/Marie Trigona: Memory and Justice: A Photo Essay on Argentina's Human Rights Movement. + Landmark Human Rights Case in Argentina Puts Torture on Trial.

Belgian lawmakers are set to impose a ban on wearing the Islamic burqa in public, the first clampdown of its kind in Europe, unless the nation's political crisis disrupts their vote. On March 31, the federal parliament's home affairs committee voted unanimously to endorse a nationwide ban on clothes or veils that do not allow the wearer to be fully identified, including the full-face niqab and burqa.

The 200th episode of the satirical animation, screened in the US last week, showed the Muslim prophet in a bear suit in several scenes, as well as showing other religious figures, including a cocaine-snorting Buddha. A posting on US-based Islamist website Revolution Muslim has now said South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh", a reference to a Dutch filmmaker stabbed to death in 2004 by an Islamist fundamentalist in response to Van Gogh's film about Muslim women. [South Park Studios Search Result]

After their article was written, more accurate information spread across the web – The Guardian numbers were off by more than an order of magnitude: Experts said on Monday that the volcano in Iceland is emitting 150,000 to 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per day, a figure comparable to emissions released from a small industrial nation. The Guardian responded by updating their article with better numbers, but failed to update their conclusions. So what is wrong with their correction? Lots of things.

The images are nothing less than astounding – so unreal appearing in fact that the reaction of many people is to conclude they are fake. However, volcano-induced lightning is a very real phenomenon and one that is not well understood.

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted last month and that event was followed by a larger eruption on Wednesday, April 14th. While not a big eruption by most standards, volcano-induced lightning was once again photographed. Images of the light show put on by Eyjafjallajokull were taken by many photographers including the Associated Press as well as astronomer and volcano expert Marco Fulle. Fulle’s images – click here to view them – show lightning shooting from the ash plume as the stars pass overhead in an amazing display of nature’s fury. Aftenposten: 24 Photos. Wimp: Astounding footage from above the volcanic crater in Iceland. Al Jazeera: Living near the forces of nature -Video.

Indigenous groups are warning of imminent violence at the site where the Brazilian government wants to build a controversial hydroelectric dam. Brazil has sold off the rights to build a massive hydroelectric dam, which would be the world's third-largest, in the Amazon rain forest amidst legal wrangling and serious opposition by indigenous groups. An auction went ahead Tuesday after a Brazilian court overturned a lower court's attempt to delay the bidding in order to weigh environmental concerns. Opponents say the dam will devastate the lives of tens of thousands of indigenous Amazonian residents and threaten wildlife.

As seen in this revealing photo, the Twin Towers’ destruction exhibited all of the characteristics of destruction by explosives and exhibited none of the characteristics of destruction by fire. There Are No Sunglasses: Richard Gage Call for 911 investigation on KMPH Fox 26 -Video.

Yesterday, Israel delivered demolition warrants to Palestinians in Halhul village in the West Bank, informing that their homes and water reservoir will be destroyed.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said Washington's nuclear threat will leave a 'dark spot' in US history. "International bodies cannot turn a blind eye to this threat," Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday. "No one should dare to threaten humanity in this way. We will not allow the US to revive its evil dominance over Iran with such threats," the Leader added. FP/Stephen Walt: More hype about Iran?

NATO has acknowledged that the US-led forces in Afghanistan have killed four civilians in the war-torn country's southeastern province of Khost. The alliance had earlier had claimed that two militants were killed when foreign troops opened fire on a car in Khost Province on late Monday. However, on Wednesday NATO said that it had made a mistake in describing the dead as militants. Afghan government officials have confirmed that all four civilians were students — one of them only 11 years old. The continuous killing of civilians by foreign forces has caused deep resentment among the Afghan population. A report by the UN said that the number of civilians killed in 2009 was higher than in any year since the 2001 US-led invasion of the country. Over 2,400 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year. AWIP: US forces kill 4, injure dozen Afghans. [US military forces have fired on a vehicle and killed four people and wounded more than a dozen others in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost.] AWIP/Marc W. Herold: The Pentagon's Fantasy Numbers on Afghan Civilian Deaths.

"Author of the video seen by everyone by now has been stabbed near Kijow on 4.15 and transported in critical condition to the hospital in Kijow. On 4.16 three unidentified individuals unplugged him from life support system and stabbed him 3 more times. Andrij was pronounced dead that afternoon. Russian government claims it was a coincidence."