The Taliban claims responsibility for the attack, in which eight U.S. troops and an American contractor are killed. The gunman dies when NATO forces return fire.

Eight U.S. troops and an American contractor were killed early Wednesday when a veteran Afghan military pilot opened fire on trainers during a meeting in a military compound near Kabul International Airport. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility in what it said was the latest attack by an insurgent infiltrator. The pilot began shooting during a meeting in the operations room of the Afghan National Army Air Corps building about 10 a.m. after having an argument with a foreign colleague, targeting foreign instructors and advisors, according to statements released by NATO and Afghan officials. Afghan security forces heard the shots and surrounded the building, storming inside even as other officers leapt from the building's second floor, according to Col. Bahader, the Afghan army's spokesman at the airport, who goes by one name. None of the Afghan personnel died in the attack, he said. Inside the building, NATO forces returned fire, killing the attacker, Afghan officials said. A NATO soldier and five Afghan Air Force troops were wounded in the gunfight, officials said. A NATO quick-reaction force responded to the scene, and alliance and Afghan officials were still investigating late Wednesday.

Washington (CNN) -- In the most extensive reshaping of the Obama administration's national security team to date, the president will name CIA director Leon Panetta as his nominee to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, a senior defense official and another U.S. official said Wednesday.

It took a meeting with President Obama to convince Panetta to accept the job, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN. Panetta has been happy serving at the CIA, but "believes strongly in public service and answering the call from the commander-in-chief," the source said. Obama will also name Gen. David Petraeus, now the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, as the replacement for Panetta as CIA director, a senior defense official said. The president will nominate Lt. Gen. John Allen to replace Petraeus, a senior U.S. official said, and will nominate veteran diplomat Ryan Crocker as the next U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, sources said Wednesday.

The thousands of pages of documents on US prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, released by WikiLeaks Sunday night, demonstrate the lawless character of the US government, both under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Kidnapping, torture, illegal imprisonment, subornation of perjury, defiance of international law—these are only a few of the crimes of which the top officials of the US government are demonstrably guilty.

Then secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld branded the Guantanamo detainees the “worst of the worst,” telling the American public that the prisoners were all hard-core terrorists, many of them linked to the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington. The WikiLeaks documents demonstrate that the statements of Rumsfeld, Cheney and other top Bush aides were deliberate and conscious lies.

The vast majority of the 800 Guantanamo prisoners were innocent men swept up randomly on the battlefield in Afghanistan or seized by allied intelligence agencies, particularly in Pakistan, where anyone of Arab or Afghan descent was a potential cash bonanza for corrupt police officials seeking to collect American bounties. More than 100 suffered from mental illness when they were seized. Others were driven into that state by years of isolation and abuse, without any hope of release or legal recourse.

Stephen Lendman: Lies, Damn Lies, and Reports about Gitmo Detainees
Patrick Martin: Guantanamo documents reveal US brutality and lawlessness

President Barack Obama today finally caved to pressure and revealed his original birth certificate. The White House hoped the move would deliver a final blow to the so-called 'birther' movement - led by flamboyant billionaire Donald Trump - which maintains the President was not born in Hawaii. But within minutes of the document's release, Mr Trump launched an astonishing tirade against Mr Obama in which he told the President to 'get off his basketball court' and questioned his entry into Harvard.

Syria has sent more troops to the southern town of Deraa where activists say a deadly crackdown against pro-democracy protesters has entered a second day. The developments in the volatile city, near the border with Jordan, come despite mounting international pressure on Bashar al-Assad's government to end the violence. Security forces have shot dead 400 civilians since mid-March, Sawasiah, a Syrian human rights organisation, said on Tuesday. Up to 500 people had been arrested in the last two days, it said.

"We've been listening to live ammunition. Some snipers are working as well, but we don't know from where," a resident of Deraa told Al Jazeera on Tuesday. "The snipers are on all the roofs. I'm now on my stomach, on the ground - I am really in a panicked situation. The city is quite in danger."

Who gave coalition forces in Libya the right to eliminate Gaddafi? That's the question Vladimir Putin's been asking, during an official visit to Denmark. The Russian Premier also said NATO's effectively joined one of the warring sides in the conflict. And more responsible action should be taken instead.

PressTV: Putin: Who authorized Gaddafi hit?
Bill Van Auken: US, UK plot Libya war escalation
AWIP: Libya: NATO's Tripoli Attack An Assassination Attempt
AWIP: US senators call for Gaddafi’s assassination
AGI News: FORMER CIA CHIEF PRAISES COL. GADDAFI
AFP: Ex-CIA chief: Kadhafi was good partner

A pipeline carrying gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan has exploded after an attack by an armed gang in the north Sinai area of Egypt.

A tower of flames shot into the air and forced the pipeline to be shut down, Egyptian security officials say. It is the second such attack in a month on the pipeline, south of the town of El-Arish, just 30 miles (50km) from the border with Israel. On that occasion, when gunmen planted explosives, they failed to detonate. "An unknown armed gang attacked the gas pipeline," an unnamed security source told Reuters, adding that the flow of gas to Israel and Jordan had been hit. Neighbouring Jordan depends on Egyptian gas to generate 80% of its electricity while Israel gets 40% of its natural gas from the country. Syria also imports gas from Egypt. Any disruption would force Jordan to rely on more expensive diesel fuel.

Bahrain arresting doctors because they have accurate statistics on injured or killed protestors. Security forces have seized at least eight health workers from two separate medical facilities in Bahrain, sources tell Al Jazeera. The Aali Health Centre in Manama was raided early on Tuesday morning, as shown in an image posted by an activist on Facebook. Medical staff working in the two centres were beaten and an unknown number were arrested. Human rights groups have accused Bahrain of arresting patients and medical staff suspected of taking part in protests, and sacking hundreds of public workers. Bahrain says it targets only those who committed crimes during the unrest in March.

Two civilians have been killed by US-led foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan, amid growing discontent over the rising number of civilian fatalities in the war-ravaged country. The civilians lost their lives on Tuesday in Ghazni province, a Press TV correspondent reported. The two Afghan civilians were killed when the US-led forces opened fire on them as they were on their way on a motorcycle. The incident occurred nearly two months after the death of nine children in northeast of the Asian 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.

A 24-country poll found that most people believe WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is not a criminal and should not be charged by the U.S. government for releasing thousands of secret U.S. documents.

The poll by Ipsos found 79 percent of people were aware of WikiLeaks and two-thirds of those believed Assange should not be charged and three-quarters supported the group's bid to make public secret government or corporate documents. The countries found least likely to support legal action against Assange by the U.S. government were South Africa, Germany, Russia and Argentina, while the highest support was in the United States, South Korea, Britain, India and Indonesia.

U.S. respondents had a far more critical view, with 81 percent aware of WikiLeaks and 69 percent of those believing Assange should be charged and 61 percent opposing WikiLeaks' mission. WikiLeaks obtained more than 250,000 leaked U.S. cables and since late last year has released embarrassing disclosures that exposed U.S. intelligence and views and revealed confidential discussions with foreign governments. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

EuropaPress: La mayoría de las personas cree que Assange no debería ser juzgado
20Minutes: Julian Assange n'est pas considéré comme un criminel, selon un sondage mondial

At a stage where governments around the world have tried to hide away from the embarrassment caused by WikiLeaks expose on black money, founder Julian Assange speaks exclusively to Times Now's editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on the Swiss bank data and Indian names features in the same.

Julian Assange, made a stunning disclosure, that there could be Indian names in the data that WikiLeaks would publish. In the course of the interview, Assange appealed to Indians to absolutely not lose hope that the names of those with secret Swiss accounts will come out at one point in the future. Hinting that Wikileaks might work with specialized agencies before releasing the Swiss bank data he pulled up the Indian government for not being aggressive like Germany in going after the list of Indian account holders. In fact he said India should be more aggressive because India seems like it is losing per capita more tax money than Germany. This is the first time Assange has spoken about Indian accounts in these Swiss banks, and comes at a time when the national debate over Swiss Bank accounts has sharpened.

In a newly disclosed file by WikiLeaks that was written in 2005, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda Bin Qumu was identified as a “probable member of Al Qaida and a member of the African Extremist Network”.

The revelation will raise concerns about the range of factions fighting Gadaffi in Libya, some of whom have been associated with Al Qaeda. Qumu was previously a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, but allegedly left the proscribed group in 1998 to join the Taliban. In the report, US investigators classified Qumu as a “medium to high” risk because he was “likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies”. Qumu was imprisoned in Libya for ten years for alleged “murder, physical assault, armed assault and distributing narcotics”, but escaped in 1993 and fled to Afghanistan.

The watch can be found the world over and costs only a few euros. According to secret documents obtained by SPIEGEL through the WikiLeaks whistleblower platform, US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay identified potential terrorists by the watch they wore on their wrist.

They're cheap, easy to buy anywhere in the world and, apparently, are the hallmark of a terrorist: a digital Casio wristwatch -- strictly speaking, the black F-91W model or its silver variant, the A-159W. The United States military considers this watch to be "an indicator of al-Qaida training in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)" and with it the identifying feature of a potential terrorist.

This information is contained in the secret documents about prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay US military prison camp in Cuba, which have just been released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks and SPIEGEL, along with other international media. The " Gitmo Files" comprise the records of 765 former and current Guantanamo prisoners. Thousands of pages labeled "secret" and "Noforn" ("Not releasable to foreign nationals") contain detailed information about the prisoners, their life in the military prison, the conduct of intelligence agencies and their treatment of the prisoners.

WASHINGTON — Anyone surfing the Internet this week is free to read leaked documents about the prisoners held by the American military at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to print them out or e-mail them to friends. Except, that is, for the lawyers who represent the prisoners.

On Monday, hours after WikiLeaks, The New York Times and other news organizations began publishing the documents online, the Justice Department informed Guantánamo defense lawyers that the documents remained legally classified even after they were made public. Because the lawyers have security clearances, they are obligated to treat the readily available files “in accordance with all relevant security precautions and safeguards” — handling them, for example, only in secure government facilities, said the notice from the department’s Court Security Office. It is only the latest absurdist challenge posed by the flood of classified material obtained by WikiLeaks over the past year: field reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; State Department cables; and now the military’s risk assessments of 700 past or present Guantánamo prisoners.

This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide.

Spain´s highest mountain @(3718m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.

The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies.

A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April (bit.ly/​g3tsDW) and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.

Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.

AWIP: NORWAY: Northern Lights

Officials are concerned that a lingering sense of hopelessness among quake victims may drive them to take their own lives. Authorities have provided hotlines, therapy and counseling in hopes of averting more deaths.

Reporting from Tokyo— Naoko Sugimoto has heard the news through the nation's fledgling mental health grapevine, ominous reports of suicides in the region devastated by last month's magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami. It's a trickle she fears may soon become a river: the farmer who hanged himself, distressed about a cabbage harvest ruined by radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant; the overworked government worker near the complex who took his life; the father who killed himself after a fruitless search for his child after the tsunami. "I feel sorry for these people in the same way I do for those who died in the tsunami," said Sugimoto, 67, who heads a national suicide support group, Izoku Shien. "But they didn't die in the tsunami; they died afterward. They took their own lives. And that makes you ask yourself, 'What could we have done?'"

They're dubbed "generation ni-ni" in Spain – those adults who still live at home and are neither working nor studying after the Spanish term "ni estudian, ni trabajan", but the phenomenon is by no means confined to Spain.

In Italy they are known as "bamboccioni" – or big babies – where nearly 60 per cent of 18-34 year old adults still live in their parents' home, up from almost 50 per cent since 1983. Once kept there by a love for mama's home-cooked pasta, the economic crisis has seen a boom in adults left unable to hold down a steady job or afford a home of their own. Last year a government minister, who admitted his mother washed his underwear and made his bed for him until he was 30, demanded a law obliging young Italians to leave the parental nest at 18 to stop them becoming hopelessly dependent on their parents. In the UK, the government has coined the term NEETS – not in employment, education or training. In England alone the proportion of NEETS aged 19-24 surged to 18.8 per cent of the age group, in the last quarter of 2010, up 1.4 per cent on the same period a year before. And those British adults who still live at home during their twenties and into their thirties have been somewhat cruelly dubbed KIPPERS, an acronym for "kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings".

Urging the U.N. Security Council to Establish a "No Fly Zone" Over Gaza under the Principle of "Responsibility to Protect" Petition Online

Ken O'Keefe: Human Chain to Spell 'NO FLY ZONE OVER PALESTINE' "Every single time another Israeli bomb drops on the innocents of Palestine, this picture shall be put forward as the demand of a truly sane and humane international community." VIDEO

The central thrust of the Obama administration response to the Gulf oil disaster—protecting BP and the oil industry as a whole—has succeeded.

BP’s fourth-quarter profits for 2010 were up 30 percent over 2009. Flush with cash drawn from spiraling oil prices, over the past several months BP has gone on a global shopping spree, buying up billions of dollars worth of energy deals in Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, China, India and Australia. It remains the largest lease holder in the Gulf of Mexico, and has recently signaled that it intends to resume deep-sea exploration and production. Nothing could more clearly express BP’s confidence that its financial liability for the Gulf oil disaster will be minimal. Under the Clean Water Act, it could face tens of billions in fines for the spill—but only if criminal negligence is established. There is virtually no chance the Obama administration will pursue such an outcome. From the beginning, the White House treated the disaster not as a crime, but an accident. But while from the first days of the blowout the White House moved to shield BP from federal fines and criminal investigations, financial circles warned that the London-based oil major could be crippled by what was anticipated to be an avalanche of lawsuits from those who suffered financial loss due to the disaster.

Stephen Lendman: BP Stonewalling Compensation to Gulf Residents

Defence Secretary Liam Fox will meet senior U.S. commanders today to draw up a final plan to finish Colonel Gaddafi. Before flying to Washington last night, Dr Fox warned the dictator and his commanders they face assassination unless they give up now.

[He said:] 'If the regime continues to wage war on its people, those who are involved in those command-and-control assets need to recognise that we regard them as legitimate targets. 'Those who are... controlling the regime's activities against its own people, would have to recognise the risks they would have if they were there during Nato strikes.' [He added:] 'Colonel Gaddafi is the one who is standing in the way of a peaceful resolution in Libya.'

Today's summit will see Dr Fox and General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, hold talks with Pentagon chiefs including U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. They will discuss dramatically widening the scope of targets that Nato aircraft and drones can hit, possibly to include regime leaders.

An FBI bulletin shows that 100,000 to 300,000 American children are at the risk of becoming victims of sex traffickers which is turning into a "problem of epidemic proportion." "When we are talking about something that's become an 'epidemic' by the FBI, we need a culture shift," Andrea Powell, who works directly with children who have been sold for sex, told a Press TV correspondent in Washington. Powell says most of the child victims she works with come from poor neighborhoods and broken families. The average age a child gets involved into the sex trafficking industry in the US is between 12 and 14 years old, she adds.

Bahraini forces have detained 1041 anti-government protesters, including 64 women, since the beginning of the revolution, Bahrain Human Rights Center says. On Tuesday, people in the city of A'ali rallied in support of the detainees. As part of a crackdown on opposition protests, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have raided hospitals and schools destroying dozens of mosques and holy sites. Also on Tuesday, a woman was injured in the northwestern village of Bani Jamrah. She was among a group of women protesters, who were trying to prevent the destruction of a religious site. Elsewhere, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces abducted two female students in Bilad al-Qadim, and four female medics in Isa Town.

Ed Hightower: Gulf allies: A record of repression and torture