Warplanes are skimming the skies over Manama in anticipation of anti-regime protests in the Bahraini capital amid heavy military presence. Military forces have been deployed in Manama over fears of anti-government protests as the opposition in the tiny Persian Gulf state has pledged to rise again in another "Day of Rage." Bahraini opposition activists announced plans for the Friday protests in defiance of a martial law imposed since last week. Nine demonstrations -- whose plans were circulated by email and internet -- are arranged to be held across crisis-hit Bahrain on March 25. One of the rallies is expected to be heading toward the airport and another aims for Manama's Salmaniya hospital. Government crackdown on peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain has recently been aided by troops from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Press TV has learned through reports that the Saudi forces have forcefully taken about 100 people out of the hospital and shot them dead.

The four strikes were launched on Gaza on Thursday evening and injured three Palestinians, AFP reported. It follows three airstrikes carried out on Gaza early Thursday morning, targeting the city as well as a tunnel near the Egyptian border at Rafah. On Tuesday, at least 10 Palestinians, including four children, were killed and dozens injured after an Israeli tank fired shots at a home in the Gaza Strip. Adham Abu Selmiya an emergency services spokesman said the deaths occurred when Israel "opened fire on young people who were playing football in Shejaiya on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City.

PNN: Continued Airstrikes Wound Three in Gaza City; Civilians Targeted in Deir Balah and Beit Hanoun

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

Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed 6 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, and 4 Palestinian resistance activists in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded 28 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 11 children. In the Gaza Strip, on Saturday evening, 19 March 2011, IOF killed two Palestinian children who were nearly 300 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. It is worth noting that on 17 March, Israeli aircrafts dropped fliers on border areas warning Palestinians from getting as close as to 300 meters from the border. On 22 March 2011, IOF killed 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, and wounded 11 others, including 8 children, with artillery shells in the east of Gaza City. IOF claimed that a shell went astray and killed and wounded these civilians. PCHR's investigations refute this claim as the area was targeted by 4 successive artillery shells. On the same day, IOF killed 4 members of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) in Gaza City. During the reporting period, IOF launched a series of air strikes on a number of Palestinian civilian facilities and a police station. The targeted facilities were destroyed and a number of houses and other property were damaged. Additionally, 15 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were lightly injured. On 19 March 2011, IOF positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israeli fired a number of artillery shells at Palestinian areas. As a result, 6 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded, and a mosque was damaged. In the West Bank, IOF and Israeli settlers wounded 9 Palestinian civilians, including two children. 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, 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. During the reporting period, a Palestinian civilian was wounded and two others sustained bruises by IOF that intervened to protect Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian civilians and property. On 23 March 2011, two Palestinian civilians were wounded and arrested in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron, when IOF attacked Palestinian civilians participating in the funeral procession of a dead woman.

BBC: Why is Palestinian blood cheaper than Israeli blood?

The Israeli legislature has passed a bill that will require the state to fine local authorities or state funded bodies that commemorate the Palestinian Nakba Day. The bill has been reworked since its proposal in May 2009; originally the bill authorized a three-year prison sentence for anyone seen commemorating the Nakba. Now it imposes a fine on any group or authority that hosts an event acknowledging the Palestinian Nakba. Any such state-funded body will be forced to pay three times its cost in fines for violating the new bill. The legislation was drafted by MK Adam Miller of Israel Beiteinu and saw a vote with 37 in favor and 25 opposed. MK David Rotem, also of Israel Beiteinu, justified the passage of the law, stating, "I am not ashamed for wanting to protect this state as a Jewish and democratic state."

The bill was criticized heavily by MK Isaac Herzog of the Labor Party, as well as MKs Dov Khenin and Hanin Zoabi, of Hadash and Balad, respectively. MK Herzog, claiming that the bill had been drafted against the recommendations of the attorney general, told the Knesset, "on this day the thought police is being established in Israel." MK Hana Sweid of Hadash argued that the bill is inherently incongruent with free expression.

PalestineRemembered.com
1948 LEST WE FORGET – Palestine and the Nakba
+972: The new Nakba Law: Privatizing freedom of speech

Tens of thousands of people are attending rival mass rallies in Yemen's capital Sanaa, a week after some 50 people were shot dead at a protest. Protesters predicted their biggest rally yet to demand the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Mr Saleh told a rally of his own supporters he was ready to hand over power, but only to "safe hands". Soldiers fired in the air to hold back Saleh loyalists when they tried to march on the opposition rally. In his speech, the president - who has been in office for more than three decades - condemned bloodshed but also urged his supporters to "stand firm". He earlier denied that government forces had played any part in the shooting of demonstrators last week. Amnesty International has warned the government against any further use of "deadly force", saying: "The government cannot just shoot its way out of this crisis."

PressTV: Yemen pres. to cede power to "safe hands"

NATO has agreed to take command of enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya. A council of ambassadors from 28 NATO member countries agreed on Thursday that the alliance would take over the no-fly mission from US-led coalition forces. Negotiations for the handover had been stalled, with the United States and Britain pushing for the move while France and Turkey opposed it. France is reluctant to relinquish its leading role in the UN-mandated operation. Turkey, meanwhile, wants the campaign limited to the protection of civilians. NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen told reporters that, for the moment, there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation. He suggested that ongoing attacks on ground troops will continue to be handled by the coalition forces. He added that NATO is debating whether it should take on the broader responsibility. The world will protect these so-called civilians-mercenaries armed with artillery and other advanced weapons, but does nothing to protect the Palestinian civilians from the murderer state of Israel. Israel violates more than sixty UN resolutions and the Geneva Conventions while using banned weapons to murder civilians by the thousands and the world is silent. Gaddafi tries to protect his country from a well-planned attack involving forces from outside his country, and the world pounces on him. Twenty thousand children starve to death every day on this planet and the United Nations and America ignore it, so ignore America's fake selective morality which only sees social injustice in countries with oil. Libya is being attacked and looted just like Iraq. It's all about oil. [Editor/The People's Voice]

The Guardian: Nato to control no-fly zone after France gives way to Turkey

Air strikes by French, British and American warplanes continued to expand in Libya Thursday, but despite the massive firepower deployed by the imperialist powers against the forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, anti-Gaddafi rebels remained stalemated in the ground warfare.

A bitter war of words erupted between two other NATO “allies,” France and Turkey, after the French interior minister Claude Guéant, declared that President Nicolas Sarkozy was “leading a crusade” to stop Gaddafi massacring Libyans. Prime Minister Reçep Tayyip Erdogan, who has opposed the attack on Libya, blasted the use of “utterly inappropriate terms” such as “crusade.” He then made remarks that laid bare the imperialist appetites behind the US-European military intervention.

“I advise our western friends, when they look at this region, to see the hungry children, the suffering mothers, the poverty,” Erdogan said. “I wish they would not only see oil, gold mines or underground wealth.”

Turkish President Abdullah Gül followed suit, declaring that “The aim is not the liberation of the Libyan people. There are hidden agendas and different interests.” [Photo: 9GAG]

Revista Amauta: Stop Bombing Libya

The federal government is expected to fall from power Friday afternoon, with opposition MPs saying they'll vote to show they've lost confidence in the Conservatives. The Liberal Party gave notice earlier this week they'll put forward a motion of non-confidence in Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government. If it passes, the government will fall and Canadians will head to the polls. The motion says the House agrees with a committee report tabled earlier this week that found the government in contempt of Parliament, "which is unprecedented in Canadian parliamentary history, and consequently the House has lost confidence in the Government." It comes after Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said their parties wouldn't vote in favour of the federal budget tabled Tuesday. The government can fall if they lose either vote.

A suspected breach in the core of a reactor at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination, Japanese officials revealed Friday, as the prime minister called the country's ongoing fight to stabalize the plant "very grave and serious." A somber Prime Minister Naoto Kan sounded a pessimistic note at a briefing hours after nuclear safety officials announced what could be a major setback in the urgent mission to stop the plant from leaking radiation, two weeks after a devastating earthquake and tsunami disabled it.

NHK: No.3 reactor at Fukushima No.1 likely be damaged
CBC News: Japan plant water radiation may be from core
NYT: Japan Quietly Evacuating a Wider Radius From Reactors
The Guardian: Japanese nuclear officials fear crack in reactor core
BBC: Reflections on a fortnight in Fukushima

At least eight Palestinians, including children, have been killed in mortar attacks and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

The deaths occurred in two separate attacks on the eastern part of Gaza City on Tuesday, witnesses said. Two of the dead were aged 11 and 16, and four of them were from the al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, a spokesman for the group said.

Four people died when a shell slammed into a family home in Shejaiya, medical sources told AFP news agency. Several hours later, another four were killed - all of them fighters - in an air raid in the nearby Zeitun neighbourhood.

On Tuesday, the military said it was responding to rocket attacks from Gaza. It also confirmed it had fired mortar rounds towards the eastern outskirts of Gaza City on Tuesday, shortly after four rockets hit Israel, and expressed "regret" over reports that civilians had been hurt. It was the third time Shejaiya had been targeted on Tuesday, following an earlier one which wounded one fighter and a burst of tank fire, which left two civilians wounded shortly after dawn.

Desert Peace: ‘VICTIM STATUS’ NOT SUFFICIENT FOR SOME ZIONISTS - Tragedy once again struck out in the streets of Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. An explosive device went off near a crowded bus terminal killing one person and wounding over thirty others. As soon as the press arrived at the scene organised mobs gathered to chant ‘Maved l’Aravim’ (death to Arabs), the battle cry of the very wrong right. This coming just a day after Israel did, in fact, kill a number of civilians in Gaza. As in the attack in Itamar two weeks ago, there are no suspects and there have been no arrests, but the zionists have entered a collective plea of guilt to the entire nation of Palestine. Without investigation, the ‘verdict’ is in.

Desert Peace: BILLS AND BOMBS AGAINST PALESTINE (GRAPHIC PHOTOS)
PIC: Two civilians wounded in new Israeli air raids on Gaza

NAZARETH // Israel admitted this week that it was behind the abduction of the operations manager of Gaza's only power plant, who disappeared more than a month ago while travelling on a train in Ukraine. Israeli officials confirmed in a statement that Mr Dirar Abu Sisi, 42, was being held in Israel's Shikma prison, near Ashkelon, after a judge partially lifted reporting restrictions late on Sunday. However, the explanation for Mr Abu Sisi's abduction and detention are still covered by the gag order, which has been extended by a judge for 30 days. The whereabouts of Mr Abu Sisi, an engineer, had been the subject of intense speculation since he disappeared on February 18 travelling on a train to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

A few days after his disappearance, Mr Abu Sisi's wife, Veronika, a Ukrainian national, in statements to the media, accused the Israeli spy agency Mossad of seizing him to extract information that could be used to disable Gaza's power station in a future confrontation with the enclave's Hamas rulers democratically elected government (Hamas). Israel bombed the plant during its three-week assault on Gaza in the winter of 2008, causing widespread blackouts in the territory.

AWIP: Israel admits to holding missing Gaza engineer

Two strong earthquakes struck northeastern Myanmar less than a minute apart Thursday night. They could be felt as far away as Bangkok, but a tsunami was not generated. The first 7.0-magnitude quake was just six miles (10 kilometers) deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed by another of the same strength but far deeper: 140 miles (230 kilometers). The quakes struck along Myanmar's borders with Thailand and Laos, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai. Buildings swayed in Bangkok, 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of the epicenter. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says it was located too far inland to create a destructive wave.

USGS: 2011 March 24 13:55:12 UTC: Magnitude 6.8 - MYANMAR
Google: 7.0-magnitdue quake strikes northeastern Myanmar
NYT: Large Earthquakes Hit Near Northern Thailand

US Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for killing unarmed Afghan civilians last year.

A US soldier charged with killing unarmed Afghan civilians last year has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of premeditated murder. The guilty plea and sentencing of Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, of Wasilla, Alaska, on Wednesday marked a turning point in the most serious prosecution of alleged US military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

Under questioning by the judge, Morlock recounted his role in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan villagers whose killings by grenade blasts and rifle fire were staged to appear as legitimate combat casualties. "I knew what I was doing was wrong, sir," he said, adding that, contrary to his lawyers' suggestions, his judgment was not impaired by drugs. He admitted smoking hashish three or four times a week during his deployment in Afghanistan.

His lawyer said he would be eligible for parole after seven years. Morlock was the first soldier to face court-martial out of five members of the rogue US unit from the Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Division's Stryker brigade, based out of Fort Lewis, Washington. Earlier, he read a statement apologising to the victims' families and the "people of Afghanistan", saying, "I've spent a lot of time reflecting on how I lost my moral compass".

Morlock told the judge that he and the other soldiers began plotting to murder unarmed Afghans in late 2009. To make the killings appear justified, the soldiers planned to plant weapons near the victims' bodies, he said. Asked by the judge what his intent was, Morlock replied, "The plan was to kill people." "Did everybody know, 'We're killing people who are completely innocent'?" the judge asked. "Generally, yes, sir, everyone knew," Morlock replied.

James Petras: Imperialism and Imperial Barbarism
Jerry White: Photos released of atrocities by US “kill team” in Afghanistan
Arthur Silber: A Few Ugly Truths about the Death State and Its Supporters
AWIP: Kill Teams and Anti-War Kooks

Protests were again active in the southern city of Daraa, in Syria. Hundreds took to the streets there, and also in the nearby town of Nawa. Daraa has been the site of several protests over the past week and security forces have killed and wounded a number of people. And Wednesday unfortunately, was no different, as an attack on protesters who had gathered inside the Omari mosque in Daraa left at least 37 people dead, including a prominent city doctor who went to treat the wounded. Witnesses say security forces cut off electricity and telephone service to the mosque around midnight, and then launched the attack.

Al Jazeera: Anger in Syria over crackdown - Video
NYT: More Protesters Are Killed in Syrian Crackdown
MSNBC: 25 dead in Syria and rising rapidly - government has 'declared war,' killing protesters indiscriminately

"European governments – including Britain and France – sold Libya more than $470 million worth of weapons [in 2009], including fighter jets, guns and bombs ... the Obama administration was working to provide the Libyan dictator another $77 million in weapons. If protecting civilians from evil dictators was the goal, though -- as opposed to, say, safeguarding natural resources and the investments of major oil companies -- there’s an easier, safer way than aerial bombardment for the U.S. and its allies to consider: simply stop arming and propping up evil dictators. After all, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi reaped the benefits from Western nations all too eager to cozy up to and rehabilitate the image of a dictator with oil, with those denouncing him today as a murderous tyrant just a matter of weeks ago selling him the very arms his regime has been using to suppress the rebellion against it.

PressTV: US protesters call for end to Libya war

Western warplanes have hit Libya for a fifth night, but have so far failed to stop Muammar Gaddafi's tanks from shelling opposition-held towns.

A loud explosion was heard in Tripoli, the capital, early on Thursday, and smoke could be seen rising from an area where a military base is situated. "We heard another explosion just now. We see smoke rising. There are people on rooftops. It seems to be in a military area near the engineering college [in the Tajoura area]," one resident told Reuters news agency. Eight explosions were also heard in the east of the capital late on Wednesday. The US military said 14 Tomahawk missiles were launched overnight, while the US Africa Command in Germany said coalition forces also dropped bombs on targets.

PressTV: US fails to curb Gaddafi firepower
NYT: Western Air Strikes Fail to Dislodge Gaddafi Armor
Twitter: BREAKING: Gadhafi sends up first warplane violating no fly zone -- plane is shot down by French fighter jets."
BBC: France 'shoots down Libyan plane'
WSWS: US-NATO warplanes strike Libyan ground forces

Stephen Lendman: Cheerleading for War
Pablo Ouziel: One More War And Another Collective Silence
Richard Falk: Qaddafi, Moral Interventionism, Libya, and the Arab Revolutionary Moment

Dakar, Senegal - As gun, rocket, and mortar battles intensify in Ivory Coast's capital, Abidjan, functionaries in distant capitals have begun selecting more loaded vocabulary to describe the conflict: civil war, ethnic cleansing. And given that more than 400 people have died and nearly 400,000 have fled since renegade President Laurent Gbagbo refused to step aside after losing the Nov. 28 election, the conflict is earning comparisons to what's happening in Libya. On Monday, rightful President Alassane Ouattara asked the United Nations to provide "legitimate force" to protect civilians after a mortar attack last week killed at least 25 people. But West Africa security specialists say Ivory Coast is hardly set to receive the kind of international military push currently underway in Libya.

STATESVILLE, NC—Bernard von NotHaus, 67, was convicted today by a federal jury of making, possessing, and selling his own coins, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Following an eight-day trial and less than two hours of deliberation, von NotHaus, the founder and monetary architect of a currency known as the Liberty Dollar, was found guilty by a jury in Statesville, North Carolina, of making coins resembling and similar to United States coins; of issuing, passing, selling, and possessing Liberty Dollar coins; of issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current money; and of conspiracy against the United States. The guilty verdict concluded an investigation which began in 2005 and involved the minting of Liberty Dollar coins with a current value of approximately $7 million. Joining the U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins in making today’s announcement are Edward J. Montooth, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Charlotte Division; Russell F. Nelson, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Charlotte Division; and Sheriff Van Duncan of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.

The international human rights group Amnesty International claimed Wednesday that a number of female protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square were rounded up by the Egyptian military and tortured recently. Some women even said they were subjected to a "virginity test" while soldiers looked on and took pictures. Amnesty said at least 18 different women were subjected to this treatment, first at a military prison, then inside the Cairo Museum. The women claimed they were beaten and tortured with electric shocks, and one woman who allegedly "failed" her virginity test was reportedly singled out for the worst abuse.

"20-year-old Salwa Hosseini told Amnesty International that after she was arrested and taken to a military prison in Heikstep, she was made, with the other women, to take off all her clothes to be searched by a female prison guard, in a room with two open doors and a window," the group explained. "During the strip search, Salwa Hosseini said male soldiers were looking into the room and taking pictures of the naked women."

All of them were taken on March 9, as the military cleared Tahrir Square of demonstrators.

Amnesty International: Egyptian women protesters forced to take ‘virginity tests’
Al Jazeera: Former Mubarak minister charged over deaths
AlMasryAlYoum: Egypt govt passes law criminalizing protests

The US-led military alliance escalates its aerial attacks on several strategically-important cities across Libya, killing many civilians, reports say. Residents in Misratah say Western forces have hit the city's air bases where Gaddafi's brigades are based. Water and electricity has been cut off to the city. Medical personnel say at least 90 people have died in Misratah in the past five days. Meanwhile, forces loyal to embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi reportedly killed at least 17 civilians, including five children in Misratah over the past 24 hours. Witnesses say snipers continue to target people from rooftops. This comes as US-led military operations in Libya have received negative responses from different countries and also parties within the US.

Dennis Kucinich -- a US Democrat -- has severely slammed President Barack Obama for his decision to attack Libya. He says the attack is outside the US constitution and that Obama must be impeached for the move. Other representatives including Democrats Jerrold Nadler and Michael Capuano have taken a similar stance.

The Guardian: Vilifying Gaddafi externalises evil
WSWS: US escalates military onslaught against Libya

The fighting comes as Western leaders debate who leads the intervention, with the US keen to hand over to Nato. A Misrata resident told Reuters by telephone: "This morning, air strikes twice hit the airbase where Gaddafi's brigades are based. A doctor in the city also told the BBC that snipers were continuing to shoot at civilians, and confirmed at least one person had been killed. Earlier, Col Gaddafi made his first public appearance in a week and gave a short speech to a crowd of supporters in Tripoli. He urged "all Islamic armies" to join him, saying: "We will be victorious."

At least four Afghan civilians, including a child, have been killed in US-led military operations in southeastern Afghanistan, police say. The US-led helicopters bombarded the Khost district in Khost province, leaving four dead and two others wounded, a senior police official told a Press TV correspondent on Wednesday. The identities of those killed are not yet known, the official said. The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has confirmed the attack but did not release further details. Local sources say all those killed were civilians and that there was a child among them. The incident occurred nearly one month after the death of nine children in northeast of the country during the US-led air strikes. Thousands of Afghan people have so far been killed as a result of military operations by the foreign troops since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Palestinians sit next to the bodies of three members
from the Al-Helow family during their funeral in al-
Omari mosque in Gaza City March 23, 2011. Reuters/
Mohammed Salem

[PCHR] The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has continued to commit war crimes in the Gaza Strip and intensified its artillery and aerial bombardment in populated areas. These bombing missions are clearly targeting Palestinian civilians. Yesterday, 22 March 2011, IOF killed four Palestinian civilians. Two children were killed. A man, his grandchild, his cousin and neighbor were also killed. Another eleven civilians, including eight children, were wounded, three seriously. These civilians were targeted while playing football near their houses in al-Shejaeya neighborhood in the east of Gaza city.

This morning, the Israeli radio quoted Israeli military sources as claiming that one of the shells veered off course and caused casualties. PCHR investigations refutes this IOF allegation. A populated area was targeted with four shells. Whether any of the shells veers off course or not, this targeting could reasonably be expected to cause civilian casualties.

According to an investigation conducted by PCHR, at approximately 15:10 on 22 March 2011, IOF positioned along the border line in the east of Gaza City fired four consecutive artillery shells at al-Nazzaz street in al-Shejaeya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. Al-Nazzaz street is approximately 2,000 meters from the border line. The first shell landed on a 2-storey house located on 150m2 belonging to Samer Walid Mushtaha. The second floor of the house was totally destroyed while the first floor was partially damaged. The second shell landed on vacant land located nearby vacant land which belongs to al-Helo family.

The third shell landed near a group of children and older boys who were playing football in a square near their houses in al-Nazzaz street. Mohammed Saber Harara, 19, and Mohammed Jalal al-Helo were immediately killed and their bodies were dismembered. Just few seconds later, the fourth shell landed near Yaser Hamed al-Helo, 51, and his grandchild Yaser Ahed al-Helo, 15, while they were trying to open the door of their garage and drive their car to rescue the wounded. They were immediately killed. Another 11 civilians, including eight children, sustained shrapnel wounds. The wounds of three civilians were described to be serious.

At least one critically injured following blast near bus station caused by device left in a bag, Israel police say. Scores of ambulances converged on the area near the central bus station and a city conference hall in a Jewish neighbourhood of downtown Jerusalem on Wednesday. Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from Jerusalem, said that at least one person was critically injured by the explosion. "There were around 31 people wounded, but initial reports say that no-one has died,"our correspondent said. There has been no claim of responsibility for attack, although police and other officials "concluded" that this was a Palestinian terror attack. [A Shin Beth False Flag attack more likely]

Revolt of the Plebs: Jerusalem Bombing Likely To Be A Mossad False Flag

Israel's parliament passed a measure on Tuesday enabling the denial of state funding to institutions that question the country's existence as a Jewish state, in a move criticised as targetting an Arab minority. The so-called Nakba Law, using the Arabic word for "catastrophe" which is how many Palestinians regard the founding of Israel, passed by a vote of 37 to 25 after an angry debate among right and left-wing lawmakers. Civil rights groups have denounced the measure as an effort to restrict freedom of expression to Arabs, who make up about a fifth of Israel's predominantly Jewish population.

The law would enable the withholding of funds to public institutions deemed to be involved in publicly challenging the founding of Israel as a Jewish state or any activity "denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state." Many Israeli Arabs, as relatives of Palestinians who remained in what is now Israel when hundreds of thousands of others were driven away or fled during a 1948 war over Israel's establishment, question whether Israel should be a Jewish state.

PalestineRemembered.com
1948 LEST WE FORGET – Palestine and the Nakba
+972: The new Nakba Law: Privatizing freedom of speech

An Egyptian committee set up to investigate violence during demonstrations that toppled Hosni Mubarak has laid charges against the former president and interior minister for intentional murder of protesters, a state newspaper said. More than 360 people died in the uprising and thousands were injured, when fired rubber bullets, live ammunition, water cannon and tear gas at peaceful protesters. The fact-finding committee submitted its charges to the Public Prosecutor's office, saying Mubarak as the head of the government was criminally responsible for the death of the protesters, Al Ahram state newspaper said on Wednesday. The former interior minister Habib al-Adli, who is also already facing trial for wasting public funds and money laundry, is accused of ordering police to open fire at demonstrators, the newspaper said. Egypt has already arrested and is investigating high-ranking police officers for ordering the killing of demonstrators during the uprising against Mubarak.

Cesium-137 concentration 1,600 times higher than normal found 40 km away from Fukushima Daiichi.

Japanese authorities have detected a concentration of a radioactive substance 1,600 times higher than normal in soil at a village, 40 kilometers away from the troubled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The disaster task force in Fukushima composed of the central and local governments surveyed radioactive substances in soil about 5 centimeters below the surface at 6 locations around the plant from last Friday through Tuesday. The results announced on Wednesday show that 163,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium-137 per kilogram of soil has been detected in Iitate Village, about 40 kilometers northwest of the plant.

Gakushuin University Professor Yasuyuki Muramatsu, an expert on radiation in the environment, says that normal levels of radioactive cesium-137 in soil are around 100 becquerels at most. The professor says he was surprised at the extremely high reading, which is 1,630 times higher than normal levels. He warns that since radioactive cesium remains in the environment for about 30 years it could affect agricultural products for a long time. He is calling on the government to collect detailed data and come up with ways to deal with the situation. [Photo: Gregory Bull/AP/ScanPix]

Bloomberg/BusinessWeek: Tokyo Says Infants Face Health Risk From Radiation in Tap Water

According to the New York Times, the U.S. fighter jet that just crashed in Libya was an F-15E Strike Eagle. The Air Force says each F-15E cost $31.1 million in 1998 dollars (not including fuel, pilot training or anything else). Adjusted for inflation, that's $42.23 million today. Wisconsin teachers are paid an average of $49,816 in salary plus $25,325 in benefits, for a total of $75,141. Therefore, the money spent on the F-15E that just crashed could have paid the salary and benefits of about 563 teachers in Wisconsin for one year. As Dwight Eisehower said in 1953: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people."

Glenn Greenwald: The manipulative pro-war argument in Libya

The senator, who met with Moammar Gadhafi in 2009, now complains the dictator has "American blood on his hands". In August 2009 [McCain] led a delegation of senators, including fellow hawks Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, on a trip to visit the Libyan leader in Tripoli. Discussed during the visit was delivery of -- get this -- American military equipment to Gadhafi (a man with American blood on his hands no less).