Libyan protesters shout slogans against Gaddafi during
a demonstration in Tobruk (AP)

Brent and U.S. crude oil futures fell sharply in post-settlement trading on Thursday in a sell-off sparked by rumors that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been shot.

In London, ICE Brent crude for April delivery LCOJ1 dropped to a post-settlement low of $109.60 after having rallied early to $119.79, the highest since August 2008. It settled earlier at $111.36, up 11 cents. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April crude CLJ1 slid further to $95.64, down $2.46. It had settled earlier at $97.28, down 82 cents, after touching $103.41, the highest since September 2008.

LIVE: Al Jazeera English: Live Stream
The Telegraph: Benghazi residents celebrate liberation -Video + Libya protests: live blog

PressTV: 'Gaddafi's son joins Libyan protesters'
PressTV: Libyan prosecutor general resigns
BBC: UN Human Rights Commission meets in special session for first time ever
An Average American Patriot: Ex-minister says Gaddafi will die like Hitler
Juan Cole: 90% of Libya in Rebel Hands: Qaddafi is left only with Tripoli, about 1 million people -Videos

Dan O'Huiginn: EU Military exports to Libya

The chatty style of the judgment is striking. It is written less like a judgment and more like a political stump speech by a politician trying to appear to be just plain folks. As a whole, it is simply appalling. Assange extradition. Looking at the judgment, it is quite a piece of judicial engineering. In every question that was raised, the judge either decides to side with the prosecution by completely ignoring all the evidence to the contrary (while subtly denigrating the expert witnesses), or claims or hints that the strongest argument wasn't raised by the defense (convenient, leaving us with the issue whether Assange's own lawyers - you know, the ones who thought it would be a bright idea to hire Dershowitz - are in on the conspiracy). He dismisses the main expert witness before him in the most condescending way possible, suggesting she has some kind of psychological problem with the Swedish justice system. The other defense witnesses have their evidence summarized (with little insulting jabs), and are then ignored. The judge is fascinated by the largely irrelevant communications between Assange and his lawyer while Assange was still in Sweden. This is a big issue because he later uses it to suggest that Assange is at fault for failing to stay to be interviewed, the obvious hint being that he was a guilty man fleeing the jurisdiction.

Julie Hyland: Judge rules WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden - The verdict marks a new stage in efforts to silence Assange and WikiLeaks and prevent further disclosure of the duplicitous and criminal actions undertaken by the United States and governments across the world. Assange has made clear his intention to appeal the ruling. He has just seven days to do so. If the appeal is rejected, he could be extradited within 10 days. This is despite the fact that Assange has yet to be charged with any offence, and a mountain of evidence that he is the victim of politically motivated, trumped-up allegations.

Raymond Davis, the American spook arrested for murdering two people in Pakistan, may have been the acting head of CIA there.

A US intelligence agent arrested after shooting dead two men was the acting head of the CIA in Pakistan and had been gathering intelligence for drone attacks, according to intelligence sources. Raymond Davis, a 36-year-old former special forces soldier, had taken command after the CIA station chief's cover was blown, according to reports. American officials insist he is entitled to diplomatic immunity and that he be released immediately.

Davis has been held for almost a month in a Lahore prison while a court decides his status. The case has provoked a surge in anti-American hostility and spawned a wave of conspiracy theories. Many Pakistanis have questioned whether Davis was really the victim of an attempted robbery – as he told police – and exactly why he was driving around Lahore with a Glock handgun in a rented car.

AWIP: Pak intel: US killer official linked to CIA

On Thursday morning, the Israeli soldiers abducted two Palestinian children from the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and searched several houses. Mohammad Awad, Media spokesman for the Palestinian Solidarity Project, stated that the Israeli occupation abducted Omar ‘Alkam, 15 years old, and Mohanad Sabarna, 17, after invading their houses and ransacking their belongings. Security Sources reported to Palestine News Agency ‘WAFA’, that the Israeli military invaded the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, and searched many houses. These houses belong to Ismael abu Sobha, Mohamad Moghnem, Ibrahim al-Hlais and ‘Adel Nassar. Furthermore, the Israeli army invaded Hebron, town of Halhoul, Sa’er, al-Fawwar Refugee Camp; stopped Palestinian citizens’ vehicles and checked the identities of Passengers.

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (17 – 23 February 2011)

Summary: Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (17 – 23 February 2011)

Shootings: During the reporting period, IOF killed 3 Palestinian civilians and a resistance activist and wounded 10 others (two children, two workers and 6 resistance activists) in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded 8 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, on 17 February 2011, IOF killed 3 Palestinian civilians who were attempting to infiltrate into Israel to search for jobs. IOF fired artillery shells and gunshots at the victims. On 23 February 2011, IOF killed a Palestinian resistance activist and wounded 6 others and two children in the east of Gaza City. IOF fired two artillery shells at a number of activists of The al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad). During the reporting period, two Palestinian workers, including a child, were wounded when Israeli soldiers positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired at workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials. On 23 February 2011, Israeli gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported. In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, 8 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation or sustained bruises. Additionally, IOF arrested 15 Palestinian civilians, including 9 children, and two international human rights defenders.

Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 47 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 10 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children. In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted 3 limited incursions into the southern and central Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

NBC Nightly News. Despite an "I'm with Walker" astroturf campaign, the truth about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's union busting strategy was leaked today in a prank phone call. Also revealed, Charles & David Koch's plan to buy and privitize Wisconsin power plants.

Crews from Britain, Australia, Japan, Taiwan and America arrived in New Zealand's second largest city on a day that failed to produce any more live rescues. The death toll jumped during the day to 98 after 24 bodies were pulled out of the destroyed Canterbury TV building alone. Recovery teams expect to find more as they pick through the debris. The number of people missing, for whom police hold "serious, grave fears", hit 226.

During the morning hopes were raised when there were reports of a woman calling for help from inside a collapsed chapel in the city centre. But rescue teams could find no sign of anyone trapped in the building. Rescue efforts centred on the Pine Gould building, where the last person to be found alive was pulled to safety yesterday. About 14 people are believed to be inside the crumbled block, but police dogs, listening devices and emergency crews had found no sign of life by the afternoon.

PayPal, an online payment-transfer service, has apparently developed reservations about the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, which reads:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

As spokespersons for the Bradley Manning Support Network have observed, there is no obligation under US law for a private company to restrict fund-raising for an accused person:

They opted to apply an exceptional hurdle for us to clear in order to continue as a customer, whereas we have clearly provided the legally required information and verification. I think our dealings with PayPal should be a cautionary tale for any possibly controversial not-for-profit entity with a PayPal account,” [Jeff] Paterson said, “While there may be no legal obligation to provide services, there is an ethical obligation. By shutting out legitimate nonprofit activity, PayPal shows itself to be morally bankrupt.

Like previous decisions of PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and others to close down transfer of donations to WikiLeaks, this move against Courage to Resist and the Manning Support Network raises the spectre of private corporations acting as proxies for the political branches of government when the courts would not -- in effect, the invention of law that is at once privatized and politicized.

[You Tube] It is "very likely" that a senior district judge will order the extradition of Julian Assange to Sweden to face sexual assault charges, a barrister at Matrix Chambers predicted this week. Julian Knowles, who has written books on extradition law, was being interviewed on Law in Action, the weekly programme I present for BBC Radio 4. He dismissed two preliminary arguments raised by Assange's defence team: that the Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny had no power to issue a European arrest warrant and that the WikiLeaks founder was wanted merely for questioning rather than to face trial.

Twitter: #assange
Twitter: Julian Assange To Be Extradited
Washington Post: Assange must be extradited, judge rules
The Telegraph: Julian Assange attacks European arrest warrant after extradition ruling
The Guardian: Julian Assange extradition hearing decision – live updates
Antiwar: Assange Extradition Ruling Expected on Thursday Morning -Video

A shocking new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll finds billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump a mere 2 points behind President Barack Obama in a hypothetical 2012 head-to-head match-up. Obama had the support of 43 percent of the public, to Trump's 41 percent -- within the poll's +/-3.5 percent margin of error. The president led Republican 2012 hopefuls and former governors Sarah Palin by 11 points (51-40), Mitt Romney by 2 points (49-47), and was tied with Mike Huckabee (46-46). The result could be an outlier as Obama held a 14 point lead over Trump (48-34) in a recent survey by Public Policy Polling. It found that Trump had a national approval rating of only 27 percent; 56 percent disapproved. Trump, who is no serious analyst's idea of a viable Republican nominee or presidential contender, has been floated as a dark-horse candidate. The reality television star and media magnate entertained the idea by making a speech this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in which one media outlet said he "stole the show."

Fresh Israeli strikes have left at least 16 people injured -- two in a critical condition, witnesses and security sources say.

Israel's F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters carried out multiple airstrikes on late Wednesday early on Thursday across the Gaza Strip, a Press TV correspondent reported. An Israeli tank opened fire on a group of Palestinians in the east of Gaza City. The Islamic Jihad movement said that three of its members were injured by Israeli tanks firing from positions inside Gaza late Wednesday. Separately, two other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire in Beit Lahiya. And in yet another attack, Israeli drones targeted the east of Gaza City, injuring at least two people.

Israeli F-16s as well as Apache fighter helicopters also hovered over the Gaza City, where witnesses reported two intensive explosions. Meanwhile, Hamas said it has evacuated all its security posts, police stations and government buildings as it expects more Israeli attacks.

The latest news from the ABC.net.au should come as no surprise to those who know all too well that one can’t eat gold: “Gaddafi own private plane is loaded with gold bullion and lots of hard currency, mainly dollars, and is preparing to flee to Zimbabwe to stay there with his friend Robert Mugabe.” Yet there is speculation that instead of pulling a Ben Ali, Gaddafi may pull a Hitler: “Earlier, one of Mr Gaddafi’s former ministers predicted the Libyan leader will follow in Adolf Hitler’s footsteps and commit suicide rather than give up power. Mustapha Abdeljalil, justice minister until he quit over the bloody crackdown on protesters, says he expects Mr Gaddafi to make good on his pledge to die on Libyan soil rather than slink into exile. “Gaddafi’s time is up. He is going to go like Hitler. He is going to commit suicide,” Mr Abdeljalil told Swedish media.” In either case, we are skeptical that much of Libya’s oil infrastructure will survive the binary outcome. As a reminder, Libya had 143.8 tonnes of gold (or Tungsten as the case may be) as of December 31, per the WGC.

ABC News: Rumor: Gaddafi preparing to flee Libya in a plane loaded with gold and hard currency before a no-fly zone is imposed

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has told state TV that Osama Bin Laden and his followers are to blame for the protests wracking his country. In a phone call from the town of al-Zawiya played live on TV, Col Gaddafi said young people were being duped with drugs and alcohol to take part in "destruction and sabotage". Col Gaddafi is battling to shore up control of Tripoli and western areas. Protesters have been consolidating gains in cities in the east. Opposition politicians and tribal leaders have held a key meeting in the eastern town of al-Bayda to show a united front against Col Gaddafi.

World leaders may now be condemning the Libyan leader for his use of violence, but it hasn’t always been this way.

Reuters: Cables show Libya pressed oil firms to reimburse terror costs

"This is not simply a concern of the United States," he said as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood by his side. "The entire world is watching, and we will coordinate our assistance and accountability measures with the international community."

But he also hinted that Washington may consider taking unspecified unilateral action against the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

"I’ve …asked my administration to prepare the full range of options that we have to respond to this crisis," he said. "This includes those actions we may take and those we will coordinate with our allies and partners, or those that we’ll carry out through multilateral institutions."

PressTV: France has ruled out a foreign military intervention in Libya

Der Spiegel: German navy sends 3 warships to Libya [Google Translate]

TOBRUK, Libya – Moamer Kadhafi's regime has lost vast swathes of Libya's east to an insurrection, it emerged Wednesday, as the West prepared for a mass exodus from a "bloodbath" in the north African country. With condemnation of the brutal crackdown growing and foreigners fleeing the oil-rich country, Kadhafi was increasingly isolated on the international scene after reports hundreds of civilians were killed in the backlash by his forces. Europe moved to isolate the Kadhafi regime, readying sanctions and warning it would hold to account those responsible for the bloody crackdown.

LIVE: Al Jazeera English: Live Stream

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called on thousands of mercenaries and loyalist troops Wednesday to help defend the nation’s capital, Tripoli, while nearby cities fell from his iron control. Not trusting his own army, Gaddafi has for years amassed an irregular force headed by his sons, and known to be ruthless and loyal. Witnesses said the force has been gaining strength in Tripoli, while cities as close as 100 miles away fell from Gaddafi’s grip. Meanwhile, Egypt estimated that nearly 30,000 refugees have crossed over their border. View images below from the streets published on Twitter. Warning: Extremely graphic.

PressTV: Scores of Libyan soldiers have been executed for refusing to open fire on pro-democracy protesters
You Tube: EXTREMLY Graphic - YOUNG 13 year old BOY SHOT in HEAD and KILLED - LIBYA

Libyan citizen: "The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don't care whether we live or not. This is genocide." Libya is not Egypt, or Tunisia. Unlike its two neighbors, Libya is a major oil-producer. And it has been ruled for 42 years by a loose-cannon leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who has flip-flopped through a mix of nationalism, authoritarianism, pseudo-socialism, his own brand of Islam, anti-imperialist rhetoric, support for terrorism, and finally neoliberalism and free-market privatization. Now facing an uprising that threatens to topple him, Gaddafi, in a televised speech Tuesday night, called the protesters "cockroaches" or "rats and mercenaries" who deserve the death penalty. He urged his followers to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless the protesters surrender.

PressTV: Gaddafi troops attack Zwara, kill 10
Al Arabiya: At least 10,000 dead and 50,000 wounded in Libya.

Checkpoints have sprung up across the city of Tripoli today as long-standing dictator Moammar Gadhafi has ordered thousands of foreign mercenaries and militiamen, some wearing parts of different uniforms, some in plainclothes, to try to shore up his last real stronghold in the nation. Major protests were held in Tripoli against the regime in the past few days, but today, at gunpoint, the loyalists are demanding residents to pledge loyalty to Gadhafi or face summary execution on the streets. Protesters have been making major inroads into Western Libya, and are in the process of setting up an informal interim government in East Libya, but the regime, such as it is, clearly hopes to cling to power in Tripoli as long as it can. How long will that be?

While the protests convulsing Bahrain and Libya this past week occurred in vastly different contexts - and will likely produce very different results - both were met with conspicuously swift crackdowns. And in both cases, reports suggest the Libyan and Bahraini regimes deployed foreign fighters and mercenaries against their own citizens, lethal clashes that left scores wounded and many dead.

Though difficult to substantiate in the current chaos, reports from eastern Libya, in particular from the city of Benghazi, claim that snipers and militiamen from sub-Saharan Africa gunned down residents on the streets. The Dubai-based al-Arabiya network says some of the guerrillas were Francophone mercenaries recruited by one of the sons of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Qatar-based al-Jazeera detailed pamphlets circulated to mercenary recruits from Guinea and Nigeria, offering them $2,000 per day to crack down on the Libyan uprising. And, as further reports of defections from the Libyan military filter in, the cornered Gaddafi regime may turn more and more to hired guns from abroad. On television channels and Twitter, frantic rumors circulated about Gaddafi preparing for a mercenary-backed counteroffensive against his opponents.

Iraq War Facts [?]: Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq as $390,000. 4,439 US troops are dead. 32,033 are wounded, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries. 30% of returning troops develop serious mental & health problems. Iraqi civilian casualties stand well above 600,000 [?]. The Iraq War, also referred to as "Operation Iraqi Freedom", began in the March of 2003. In the lead up to the [illegal] invasion, the Governments of United States and United Kingdom [lied] and asserted that Saddam Hussein, then the President of Iraq, was developing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and, thereby, threatening the security of the United States and its allies. Since 2003, the Iraq war has claimed the lives of approximately 4,500 US troops and over 600,000 Iraqi civilians (estimates widely vary). The US news media would sanitized and censored the coverage of the War. In fact, Scott McClellan, the former White House Press Secretary for President Geroge Bush, publicly stated that the Media had been too easy on George Bush when the US was preparing for the [illegal] invasion.

President Obama now believes that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and will no longer defend the 15-year-old law in federal court, the Justice Department announced today. Symbolically and substantively, his decision represents a major advance for gay rights and presages a significant shift in how the government will handle questions about equality for gays. It could also reignite a largely burnt-over debate in the culture wars, distracting both political parties.

Sherry Cornelius aka lpggirl of St. Francis Energy has sent us more photos of our Rosebud rezidents saying *THANK YOU* to you all for helping them get through another harsh winter in South Dakota. Below you'll find more THANK YOU photos and details on how you can help. Please share these donation details with family and friends. Again, we are helping people who are falling through the cracks with government and tribal assistance. Everyone here has consented to having their photo taken with the caption. THANK YOU DAILY KOS and Native American Netroots!

Native American Netroots: Help buy propane for Lakota families in South Dakota

Telephone:
Sherry Cornelius of St. Francis Energy Co.
at 6 0 5 - 7 4 7 - 2 5 4 2
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http://sfec.yolasite.com/
You can also call Sherry's cell phone: 605.208.8888

On January 16, the New York Times ran a front-page story by William Broad, John Markoff, and David Sanger entitled "Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay," supposedly unveiling the joint US/Israeli role in creating and testing the now-famous Stuxnet computer virus reportedly employed against Iran’s nuclear program. According to the article, this piece of malware is responsible for setting back Iran’s nuclear program by possibly years. The reaction in the blogosphere and news media following has been one of widespread awestruck acclaim, with various outlets referring to the advent of Stuxnet as an “Oppenheimer moment”, “the Hiroshima of our time” along with slews of hypothetical analyses of the world-changing implications of such technology. I was astonished at the near-total acceptance of the claims laid out by the NY Times article.

Xymphora: The reason for the Stuxnet lie

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