Two Iranian vessels are docking at Syria port after they passed through the Suez Canal for the first time since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. On Tuesday, Iranian vessels, Khark and Alvand, crossed the Suez Canal, a strategic international shipping route in Egypt for the first time since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The 1,500-ton patrol frigate Alvand is armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, while the larger 33,000-ton supply vessel Khark has 250 crewmembers and can carry three helicopters.

Following the passage of the two Iranian warships, the United States said on Tuesday that it is "watching carefully" the activities of the Iranian warships in the Mediterranean Sea. "We continue to monitor the movements of these ships and their actions," AFP quoted US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley as saying.

PressTV: Israel shocked by Iran ships in Suez
Raw Story: Israel on high alert as Iran warships enter Med

Most people use social media like Facebook and Twitter to share photos of friends and family, chat with friends and strangers about random and amusing diversions, or follow their favorite websites, bands and television shows. But what does the US military use those same networks for? Well, we can't tell you: That's "classified," a CENTCOM spokesman recently informed Raw Story.

One use that's confirmed, however, is the manipulation of social media through the use of fake online "personas" managed by the military. Raw Story recently reported that the US Air Force had solicited private sector vendors for something called "persona management software." Such a technology would allow single individuals to command virtual armies of fake, digital "people" across numerous social media portals.

These "personas" were to have detailed, fictionalized backgrounds, to make them believable to outside observers, and a sophisticated identity protection service was to back them up, preventing suspicious readers from uncovering the real person behind the account. They even worked out ways to game geolocating services, so these "personas" could be virtually inserted anywhere in the world, providing ostensibly live commentary on real events, even while the operator was not really present.

Over 500 activists gathered at the Iowa Statehouse in Des Moines to show solidarity with the protesters in Wisconsin and rally against legislation that would limit state workers' bargaining rights.

"This is not an assault on public workers," Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, told The Associated Press. "This is an assault on the middle class." "There are people who think that you have all gathered here today just because of something that’s happening in Wisconsin," Congressman Bruce Braley said at the protest. "But you know and I know that the real reason we’re here today is because the middle class and working women are under attack and it’s our job to stand up and set the record straight."

Legislation introduced to the Iowa House would prevent public workers from negotiating health benefits with their employers and also decrease their pensions. Republican Rep. Lance Horbach, who heads the House Labor Committee, said the legislation only limits a modest portion of public workers bargaining rights and that "90 percent" still remains.

Union supporters in Wisconsin are pointing to a new poll they say shows support for Gov. Scott Walker (R) is straining under the weight of the thousands of protesters gathered in and around the state capitol in Madison. The poll of Wisconsin voters, conducted by Democratic pollster GQR Research for the AFL-CIO between Feb. 16 and 20, shows public feelings toward the union supporters versus the Republican governor are vastly different. Sixty-two percent of respondents to the poll said they view public employees favorably, while just 11% said they had an unfavorable view of the workers whose benefits packages Walker says are breaking the state budget.

USA Today: Poll: Americans favor union bargaining rights
Salon: The goal should be to do away with employer-based benefits in favor of universal social insurance programs

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- The five tents giving shelter to some 50 Bedouin residents of Amniyr, a tiny community north of Susiya in the south Hebron hills, were torn down on Monday, their olive trees uprooted and water sources covered over. An observer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams said Israeli demolition crews arrived before sunrise, at about 5:30 a.m., and began taking down the tents, then filled a well and a water cistern with earth. "They uprooted several olive trees and buried them under the dirt," he said. All that was left of the small herding community was a cave, where residents took shelter during the demolition, and a small bread oven made of stone, the observer said.

[Gaddafi going mental:] "I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs." Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi vowed to fight on and die a "martyr" this afternoon, as he called on his supporters to take back the streets from pro-democracy protesters. He declared himself "a warrior" and proclaimed, "Libya wants glory, Libya wants to be at the pinnacle, at the pinnacle of the world." (London Evening Standard)

The Libyan leader says protesters should be executed. As violence spreads and key advisors defect, he appears out of touch and out of control.

Reporting from Cairo and Salum, Egypt — Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi offered no concessions to protesters who have shaken his regime by capturing several major cities, denouncing them as drunkards, terrorists and "drug-fueled mice" who should be executed. But Kadafi's tough 75-minute nationwide speech on Tuesday may not save a regime that after four decades in power seemed to be quickly disintegrating. With violence flaring in city after city, and key defections from his inner circle, he appeared out of touch and increasingly out of control. In the speech, Kadafi praised one of his closest and most powerful aides, Interior Secretary and army Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis. Several hours later, however, Younis made clear in his own televised statement that he had joined the opposition, urging "all the armed forces to be at the service of the people … to help them achieve victory." [More photos HERE]

LIVE: Al Jazeera English: Live Stream
PressTV: Gaddafi comments signal genocide
PressTV: Libyan interior minister resigns

After New Year’s Day 2009, Western media reported that Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a son of the Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, had paid Mariah Carey $1 million to sing just four songs at a bash on the Caribbean island of St. Barts. As the Qaddafi clan conducts a bloody struggle to hold onto power in Libya, cables obtained by WikiLeaks offer a vivid account of the lavish spending, rampant nepotism and bitter rivalries that have defined what a 2006 cable called “Qadhafi Incorporated,” using the State Department’s preference from the multiple spellings for Libya’s troubled first family.

Aftenposten: 29.09.2009: A GLIMPSE INTO LIBYAN LEADER QADHAFI´S ECCENTRICITIES

A Libyan warship arrived in Malta on Tuesday after its crew refused to carry out orders to bomb Benghazi, the satellite network Al Jazeera reported. A second Libyan ship has also reportedly been sighted in the area, the network reported. A Libyan pilot, speaking from Switzerland, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that he had flown a planeload of mercenaries into Libya. The pilot said he did not realize what he was doing at the time, according to Al Jazeera, but that the group was chanting, although the members did not speak Arabic. He urged fellow pilots not to go to work or answer their phones, Al Jazeera reported. He said that, in the chaos of Tripoli, they would not be found and he was sure that they and their families would be safe as the regime collapsed and lost power, according to Al Jazeera.

Houston: Lawyers for a group of Indian guest workers, trafficked to the US from India to work in ship yards after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, have sued an American company, Signal International, along with its co-conspirators and other entities for human trafficking and racketeering. If class status is granted, the lawsuit could be the largest human trafficking case in US history, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has said in a statement. Workers were allegedly lured here with dishonest assurances of becoming lawful permanent US residents, the statement said.

The ACLU joined a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of over 500 guest workers from India charging that the workers were trafficked into the US through the federal government's H-2B guest worker programme with dishonest assurances of becoming lawful permanent US residents and subjected to squalid living conditions, fraudulent payment practises, and threats of serious harm upon their arrival.

G. Edward Griffin, author of 'The Creature From Jekyll Island', and numerous other books and documentary films, and Anthony Patchett, retired assistant Head Deputy District Attorney, Los Angeles County Environmental Crimes/ OSHA Division explain the consequences of the Monsanto contract in the video above. Here is the paragraph that defines Monsanto's limit of liability that shifts it to the farmer:

"GROWER'S EXCLUSIVE LIMITED REMEDY: THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY OF THE GROWER AND THE LIMIT OF THE LIABILITY OF MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER FOR ANY AND ALL LOSSES, INJURY OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OR HANDLING OF SEED (INCLUDING CLAIMS BASED IN CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, PRODUCT LIABILITY, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) SHALL BE THE PRICE PAID BY THE GROWER FOR THE QUANTITY OF THE SEED INVOLVED OR, AT THE ELECTION OF MONSANTO OR THE SEED SELLER, THE REPLACEMENT OF THE SEED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES."

Fed up with what he views as crappy treatment from the TSA, the owner of a restaurant near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has decided to put all TSA agents on his No-Eat List.

"We have posted signs on our doors basically saying that they aren't allowed to come into our business," one employee tells travel journalist Christopher Elliott. "We have the right to refuse service to anyone." She says that whenever a TSA agent attempts to dine at the restaurant, "we turn our backs and completely ignore them, and tell them to leave... Their kind aren't welcomed in our establishment." "Until TSA agents start treating us with the respect and dignity that we deserve, then things will change for them in the private sector," says the employee.

The restaurant claims that 90% of its patrons are in agreement with their stance and that the local police have actually helped escort TSA workers of the premises.