The Pentagon’s decision to transfer the alleged whistleblower to WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, caught Manning’s defense by surprise. Manning’s move was not reported to his defense counsel until “twenty minutes before the Pentagon’s press briefing.” The way his defense learned of the move was the same way most citizens of the world did: by reading the information that was leaked to the Associated Press just before the briefing. Supporters of Manning are now watching closely, planning to call attention to any new violation of his rights that might occur.

The Bradley Manning Support Network, which formed to “provide prisoner support” during his imprisonment, put out a press release indicating concern over the move. Kevin Zeese, an organizer with the Support Network, says his “transfer from Virginia to Kansas limits his access to his civilian attorney David Coombs of Rhode Island. It also severely limits visitation opportunities by his East Coast family and friends.” Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist and the Support Network says, “It wasn’t a secret that we were preparing to rally one to two thousand for an upcoming DC-area pre-trial hearing.”

Is it possible he is being moved because the Bradley Manning Support Group has been successfully mobilizing people to protest his detention at Quantico?

Apr 20 - Two suspects in the killing of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni die in a Hamas raid in Gaza. Travis Brecher reports.

Iceland is free. And it will remain so, so long as her people wish to remain autonomous of the foreign domination of her would-be masters — in this case, international bankers. On April 9, the fiercely independent people of island-nation defeated a referendum that would have bailed out the UK and the Netherlands who had covered the deposits of British and Dutch investors who had lost funds in Icesave bank in 2008. At the time of the bank’s failure, Iceland refused to cover the losses. But the UK and Netherlands nonetheless have demanded that Iceland repay them for the “loan” as a condition for admission into the European Union. In response, the Icelandic people have told Europe to go pound sand. The final vote was 103,207 to 69,462, or 58.9 percent to 39.7 percent. “Taxpayers should not be responsible for paying the debts of a private institution,” said Sigriur Andersen, a spokeswoman for the Advice group that opposed the bailout.

A similar referendum in 2009 on the issue, although with harsher terms, found 93.2 percent of the Icelandic electorate rejecting a proposal to guarantee the deposits of foreign investors who had funds in the Icelandic bank. The referendum was invoked when President Olafur Ragnur Grimmson vetoed legislation the Althingi, Iceland’s parliament, had passed to pay back the British and Dutch.

Golem XIV - Thoughts: The ongoing IMF attack on European Democracy

Texas burning 'from border to border'. Texas firefighters on Wednesday continued to battle blazes that have scorched a million acres and have been burning for more than a week.

Dallas (CNN) -- Texas firefighters on Wednesday continued to battle blazes that have scorched a million acres and have been burning for more than a week, according to the Texas Forest Service.

"We're actually seeing Texas burn from border to border. We've got it in West Texas, in East Texas, in North Texas, in South Texas - it's all over the state," Texas Forest Service spokeswoman April Saginor told CNN Radio. "We've got one in the Dallas area that's four fires that have actually merged together."

Saginor said firefighters from 34 states are now in Texas battling blazes that, over the past two weeks, have destroyed 170 homes and scorched 1 million acres. "Some (fires) are over 100,000 acres and they've been burning for over a week, so that's our priority right now," Saginor said, "to put out the big ones.

Much of Texas, however is expected to get a break Wednesday from the dry weather and high winds blamed for the spreading wildfires, according to the National Weather Service. However, the fire danger is likely to return Thursday for various parts of the state, the Weather Service said. "Even if we get two inches of rain the ground's going to eat it up," said David Hennig, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Midland, Texas. "We need a pattern shift." [Photo: SCANPIX/TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES/AFP] More photos (Aftenposten)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States again Tuesday rejected Palestinian plans to seek recognition for an independent state unilaterally from the United Nations without reaching a peace accord with Israel. "We don't believe it's a good idea, we don't believe it's helpful," said US State Department spokesman Mark Toner. US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians resumed in September, 2010, but collapsed shortly afterwards when Israel refused to extend a moratorium on settlement building in the occupied territories. Israel has insisted that all issues, including the settlements, should be hammered out in direct talks. Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has said that he will seek recognition at the United Nations for an independent state in September.

Privacy fears raised as researchers reveal file on iPhone that stores location coordinates and timestamps of owner's movements. Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronised. The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program. For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system, released in June 2010.

Nancy is a Kenyan girl about to face a brutal passage to womanhood. Narrated by Angela Griffin

Australian marine scientists are proposing leaving thousands of decommissioned oil rigs in their deep-sea spots indefinitely to become long-term fish nurseries. The huge chunks are of steel are meant to be removed when they reach the end of their productive life, but the scientists say their approach could save the oil industry millions of dollars and protect vulnerable fish nurseries. The Deepwater Horizon disaster a year ago showed deep sea oil exploration at its most destructive. Eleven workers were killed and almost 5 million barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.