BEIJING — Up to 30 members of a Chinese evangelical church were arrested on Sunday for trying to hold an Easter service in defiance of the officially atheist government, a member of the clergy said. A large number of police began to gather early Sunday in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing where the Shouwang Church had said it would hold an outdoor service to mark the holiest day of the Christian calendar.

"Between 20 and 30 followers were taken away by police," senior pastor Jin Tianming told AFP by telephone from his home, where he is under house arrest. He said there were several police officers posted outside the building. He added that the members of the congregation who were arrested had been taken to different police stations and that none had so far been released.

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian police shot and killed one Israeli and wounded four others early Sunday after the Israelis surreptitiously visited a Jewish holy site inside a Palestinian-controlled area, officials on both sides said. The shooting occurred outside Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus after three carloads of religious Israeli Jews visited the site to pray, without coordinating their plans through the Israeli Army. Twice-monthly trips to the tomb have been organized with army escorts for the past four years without incident.

Palestinian security officials said they were questioning the Palestinian police officers who fired their weapons during the episode. The dead man was identified as Ben-Yosef Livnat, a 24-year-old father of four from Jerusalem and a nephew of Limor Livnat, the minister of culture and sport from the Likud Party in Israel. Mr. Livnat grew up on a settlement near Nablus, where his parents still live.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli policemen beat up a group of Palestinian Christians while on their way to visit the Church of Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem on the occasion of "Holy Saturday".

Palestinian sources said that the police manning a barricade prevented the young men from proceeding to the holy site while allowing dozens of foreign tourists to cross in the company of Israeli tourist guides, which led to clashes. A Christian activist accused Israel of religious harassment against all non-Israelis.

For its part, the Sawasiya center for human rights charged that Israel was planning to block entry of non-Israelis to occupied Jerusalem. It said that the Israeli schemes to build more housing units in the holy city pointed to such a plot, adding that they target wiping out Jerusalem's Arab and Islamic landmarks and expelling non-Israelis out of it. The center described the Israeli schemes as an infringement on the freedom of worship and a blatant violation of international laws that prohibit introducing any changes to an occupied territory or forcing its inhabitants out of their land.

[Mondoweiss] It was a shocking event in a twenty-two day assault filled with them: the Israeli military shelled a United Nations compound in Gaza City January 15, where humanitarian aid like fuel and water pumping stations were stationed as well as hundreds of Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment. John Ging, the Gaza Director of Operations of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) described the scene on Democracy Now!

This morning, there were three rounds of white phosphorus which landed in our compound in Gaza. That set ablaze the main warehouse and the big workshop we have there for vehicles. At the time, there were 700, also, people displaced from the fighting. There were full fuel tankers there. The Israeli army have been given all the coordinates of all our facilities, including this one. They also knew that there were fuel tankers laden with fuel in the compound, and they would have known that there were hundreds of people who had taken refuge.

It was one of a number of incidents during "Operation Cast Lead" where the Israeli military attacked United Nations facilities. But the possibility of an further inquiry that would investigate violations of international law during these attacks was killed following intense U.S. lobbying, according to newly published State Department cables released by WikiLeaks and reported on by Foreign Policy's Colum Lynch. The efforts by the Obama administration to scuttle any investigation is similar to their efforts on the Goldstone report, and shows in detail how the U.S. uses its muscle in international forums to protect Israel.

A report was published in May 2009 on nine incidents where U.N. facilities were attacked by Israel. The full report was never published, although a summary of the U.N. report stated that the "Government of Israel is responsible for the deaths and injuries that occurred within the United Nations premises" in seven of the nine incidents investigated.

Israeli governmental source says that looming international recognition of Palestine would dub Israel a 'coloniser,' which would lead to its expulsion from international organisations and force an economic boycott upon it. A source in the Israeli government warned of disaster dubbed “September’s tsunami” with regards to an expected UN recognition for the Palestinian state. Israel’s Channel Two broadcasted that the sources said with respect to the direct repercussions of recognising Palestine that it would have four detrimental results:

First, he said, the world’s perception of Israel will shift from an occupying state to a colonising state.
Second, countries that vote for a Palestinian state would enforce an economic boycott on Israel and cease trade and commerce with the Israeli state. The boycott will not be limited to the illegal settlements and their products, the source argued.
Third, Israel would be expelled from international trade organisations.
Fourth, the world would pressure Israel into “approving” the construction of the first Palestinian international airport in the West Bank.

At a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, a group of progressive supporters of Bradley Manning paid tens of thousands of dollars to attend and disrupt the event. Oakland activist Naomi Pitcairn personally paid for tickets so people from her group could attend. The group sang a song with lyrics they wrote expressing their disgust with the way the Obama Administration has responded to Manning’s inhumane treatment.

Someone with the group also managed to confront President Obama on Manning. Obama’s handlers may have been preoccupied because in this clip that runs about a minute Obama opens up about what he thinks about what Manning did.

WL Central: Obama spokesman denies Obama said what he said

ISLAMABAD, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of people in northwest Pakistan Saturday started a two-day sit-in against the U.S. drone strikes in the country's tribal regions, blocking main supply route for NATO troops in the neighboring Afghanistan.

Anger runs high in Pakistan against the U.S. drone strikes in the Waziristan tribal area, which CIA considers as the base for al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban militants for planning attacks across the border into Afghanistan.

The protest forced the authorities to suspend for two days supplies for nearly 150,000 U.S.-led foreign forces. Officials said that nearly 70 percent of NATO supplies are transported through Pakistan, the most risky but shorter supply route. Suspected militants regularly attack NATO trucks in Pakistan, which has also forced the United States to sign agreements with Russia for alternate supply route.

The protesters will continue the sit-in till Sunday and the organizers said they would announce future strategy at the conclusion of the protest. Despite the public resentment and Pakistan's protest, the U.S. administration has rejected any possibility to halt the strikes.

Reuters: US to supply Pakistani puppet government with 85 mini-drones
Black Listed News: Carving Up Pakistan: The Balochistan Gambit

NATO warplanes have dropped bombs on various targets across the Libyan capital, Tripoli, despite criticism that such strikes have failed to protect civilians. Several explosions rocked the Libyan capital late on Saturday as NATO warplanes overflew Tripoli, AFP reported. The fresh strikes come hours after NATO jets struck a target near the compound of embattled ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Government officials say NATO jets hit a car park but other reports suggest the target looked like a bunker. Government sources say three people were killed in the earlier attack. The troubled capital and its surrounding areas have been constantly targeted by NATO jets over the past weeks.

Black Listed News: Libya: Another Neocon War

Two MPs resign amid reported deaths of 15 people as outrage at government's response to pro-democracy protests spreads. Secret police raided homes near Damascus overnight, rights campaigners said , as popular opposition to President Bashar al Assad mounted following the bloodiest attacks on pro-democracy protesters. Security operatives in plain clothes wielding assault rifles broke into homes in the suburb of Harasta just after midnight on Sunday, arresting activists in the area, known as the Ghouta, or the old garden district of the capital.

Security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad killed at least 112 people in the last two days when they fired at protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption on Friday and on mass funerals for victims a day later.

Antiwar: 126 Protesters Killed in Two Days of Syria Crackdown

Over one thousand protesters in Hong Kong took to the streets to demand the release of detained Chinese artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei on Saturday, scuffling briefly with police.

The rally -- the largest in a string of protests across the city in recent weeks -- has underscored Hong Kong's growing role as a hotbed of support for Ai with local pro-democracy activists and artists ratcheting up pressure on Beijing over its heavy crackdown on dissidents, human rights lawyers and protesters challenging Communist Party controls and censorship.

Protesters held up banners with the words "Who's afraid of Weiwei" and banged on drums as they snaked their way through busy districts to the harbor-front Cultural Center, where they sang, performed and chanted for Ai's release.

Organizers said 2000 people showed up, marshaled by a heavy police contingent through busy streets. While the event was largely peaceful, brief skirmishes with police broke out as tempers flared.

Graffiti images of Ai have also been appearing across the former British colony which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, in subways, streets and prominent public spaces, spray-painted by an anonymous artist and sparking a police investigation.

AWIP: The Message of Ai Weiwei

A passenger screener at Philadelphia International Airport is facing charges that he distributed more than 100 images of child pornography via Facebook, records show. Federal agents also allege that Transportation Safety Administration Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, who routinely searched airline passengers, uploaded explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site on which he also posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform. Homeland Security agents arrested the TSA officer March 24, and he is being held without bail.

Although the case was unsealed Thursday, neither the indictment nor the news release mentioned Gordon's job searching airline passengers for TSA. The arrest comes as TSA grapples with several other incidents involving screeners, including a YouTube video posted last week by parents angry about the pat-down their 6-year-old daughter received at an airport in New Orleans. TSA officials said the pat-down was proper; the parents said the girl was "groped."

The American soldiers have dies in an operation in southern Iraq, despite the United States claim that it is not involved in combat operations in the country anymore. "Two US service members were killed yesterday (Friday) while conducting operations in southern Iraq," the forces said without giving further details, Xinhua reported. The deaths took to 4,450 the number of the American forces killed ever since 2003, when Washington led the invasion of the violence-wrecked country. Last year alone, militancy in Iraq claimed the lives of 60 US troops.

One of India's most revered spiritual leaders, Sri Satya Sai Baba, has died in hospital. Doctors say the 84-year-old guru, who is thought to have millions of followers around the world, died following a cardiac arrest. He had been admitted to hospital in his hometown of Puttaparthi last month, suffering from respiratory problems and kidney failure.

Many of his supporters consider him a living god and credit him with mystical powers including the ability to conjure objects out of thin air. But his career had also been dogged by controversy. He had been accused of faking some of the so-called miracles attributed to him. And some former followers have levelled accusations of sexual abuse against him and other members of his ashram - allegations that he has denied.

The Hindu: Sai Baba’s influence had no barriers

An early Friday US drone strike against North Waziristan killed a number of civilians, sparking more anti-US protests across Pakistan. With the Pakistani Army demanding an end to the strikes, their continuation is fueling growing tensions between the two nations.

Earlier in the week US officials were doubting the seriousness of the demands, saying that Pakistan had not stopped the US from using Pakistani air fields to launch the drone. Now the indications are that this too may be changing. While the exact details are not clear yet, Pakistani officials have confirmed that the US contingent has left Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan Province, which is the key base for CIA drones. It is unclear if they were ordered out or left for some other reason.

Keith Jones: Pakistan: CIA drone kills 25 on eve of mass protest against US missile strikes

Barack Obama, the US president, has said Syria's deadly crackdown on protesters "must come to an end now" and accused Damascus of seeking Iranian help to repress its people. Some 75 protesters were killed on Friday, according to human rights group Amnesty International, in the bloodiest violence in a month of escalating protests against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's rule. Local activists have released a list of 103 people who they say were killed in Friday's crackdown. Despite the criticism, Obama did not refer to any potential US consequences should Assad refuse to heed his demands.

World News: Protestors gunned down in Syria
Antiwar: Good Friday Massacre: At Least 88 Protesters Killed in Syria Crackdown
Reuters: Syria buries scores of dead; more protests due
WSWS: Dozens killed in Syrian protests

Nato bombs have hit what appeared to be a bunker in Col Gaddafi's Tripoli compound, as the Libyan government said it is ready to withdraw from Misurata and let tribes deal with rebels in the besieged city.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said three people were killed by the "very powerful explosion" in a car park near Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound. Reuters reporters said the area was surrounded by a wall and guarded by watchtowers and soldiers.

They saw two large holes in the ground where the bombs had torn through soil and reinforced concrete, to pierce what appeared to be an underground bunker. Smoke was rising from one of the craters and ammunition crates lay nearby. Mr Ibrahim said the area was disused and the ammunition boxes were empty. The strike came just hours after deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said the Libyan army had been given an "ultimatum" to stop the rebellion in Misurata, 120 miles east of the capital Tripoli.

Demotix: Death in Libya - Photos
Newsvine: US deploys armed drones over Libya
The Independent: US launches first drone attacks on Libya
WSWS: Mounting Libyan death toll from US-NATO bombings

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Gas prices are on the rise nationwide, but one filling station in Florida has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest prices in the country. Suncoast Energys, located near the Orlando International Airport, was charging $5.69 a gallon for regular gasoline on Friday. That's the highest of any gas retailer in the nation, according to price tracker gasbuddy.com. By contrast, the average price in the city of Orlando is $3.78 a gallon, a few pennies below the state and national averages.

The release of 200 million gallons of crude oil and millions of gallons of chemical dispersant into the Gulf of Mexico over the space of three months last year makes the BP Gulf oil blowout one of the worst environmental catastrophes in human history.

BP and the Obama administration have from the beginning obscured the dangers posed by the spill to the ecosystem of the Gulf and to human health. This position was reiterated last week by Janet Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who declared that the Gulf is “much better than people feared,” and by Obama “claims czar” Kenneth Feinberg, who predicted the Gulf would be back to normal by 2012.

In fact, the disastrous longer-term consequences of the BP blowout are only now beginning to be registered, in spite of efforts to suppress environmental study by NOAA and the US Justice Department.

Alexander Higgins: Cover up of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Radiation Fallout Forecasts Exposed!
Stephen Lendman: Poisoning Mother Earth: America's Gulf and Fukushima

Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei wants Bush officials charged for the needless war in Iraq. The AP reported:

Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the “shame of a needless war” in Iraq. Freer to speak now than he was as an international civil servant, the Nobel-winning Egyptian accuses U.S. leaders of “grotesque distortion” in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, when then-President George W. Bush and his lieutenants claimed Iraq possessed doomsday weapons despite contrary evidence collected by ElBaradei’s and other arms inspectors inside the country.

A new wave of school voucher bills is sweeping the nation, which would allow public education funds to be used in private or parochial schools. As with past waves of voucher initiatives, these new bills are largely promoted and funded by the billionaire DeVos family and a core group of wealthy pro-privatization supporters. They include Pennsylvania SB-1, soon coming to a vote in the PA Senate, and the "Vouchers-for-All" bill approved by the Florida Senate Education Committee on April 14. Betsy DeVos is at the helm of organizations that have set the stage for both bills, but you would never know it based on the propaganda being marketed to Pennsylvanians. Even if you are from another state, keep reading. Chances are a Betsy DeVos-led campaign is already at work in your state or will be there soon.

Scores reported dead in bloodiest day of uprising so far as "Great Friday" demonstrations rock towns across country.

As many as 70 people are reported to have been killed in Syria in the bloodiest day since the uprising began, as security forces use live ammunition and tear gas to quell anti-government protests across the country.

Activists sent a list naming 70 people from across the country who they said had been killed by security forces during the "Great Friday" protests. Al Jazeera has been unable to independently verify the exact number of fatalities. Fifteen of the deaths took place in Izraa, near the flashpoint southern town of Daraa, according to the list. Deaths were reported in Douma and Zamalka, near Damascus.

Other places where protesters were killed include Homs, Syria's third largest city, Moadamia and Daraa. Demonstrators marching in peace were surprised by security forces' live ammunition, according to Hazem, a protester who spoke to Al Jazeera via phone from a Damascus suburb. "Demonstrators were going with olive branches, it was peaceful" until they were "surprised by live ammunition from some security forces in one of the flats of the street", Hazem said. The protesters took to the streets to mark what activists dubbed "Great Friday" - the biggest demonstrations against Bashar al-Assad's government to date.

Washington Post: Massive protests in Syria - VIDEO
LA Times: Protesters fill streets of Syria to demand end to regime; security forces unleash deadly violence

ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: Lawyers from Falluja city have announced a sit-in demonstration on Thursday, demanding the departure of the American forces from Iraq and the release of detainees, who were not convicted. “Hundreds of Falluja Lawyers have organized a sit-in demonstration at the headquarters of the Lawyers Syndicate, demanding the departure of the U.S. forces from Iraq and the release of innocent detainees from prisons, where they spent several years of their lives without trial,” Lawyer Mohammed al-Mohammady told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The Chairman of the Security & Defense Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Hassan al-Sunaid, had stated that Dec. 31st shall be the last day for the presence of the last American soldier on Iraqi soil.

WASHINGTON – Ten supporters of accused whistleblower Pfc. Bradley Manning paid at least $5,000 to attend a fundraiser with President Barack Obama Thursday and interrupted his speech with a song protesting soldier's treatment. Obama was speaking at a San Francisco hotel to a room of about 200 donors -- some of whom paid as much as $35,800 to attend the event -- "when a woman in a white suit stood up and said, Mr. President we wrote you a song," according to a White House pool report.

The president tried to convince her to wait, but she and her table ignored him, all ten of them breaking out into a song that protested Manning's detention in a "6x12 cell" for "23 hours a day." They sang, "We paid our dues, where's our change?"

As they began singing, a flustered Obama looked over at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who introduced him, and she reportedly looked equally dumbfounded by what was happening. The woman in the white suit then removed her jacket to show that she was wearing a t-shirt that read "Free Bradley Manning" and had an image of him. The ten singers passed around sheets of paper that read "Free Bradley Manning" or had photos of the soldier accused of passing U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks. "That was a nice song," Obama said after it was over, appearing displeased. "Now where was I?"

[Image]At least nine people have been killed in the latest attack by NATO fighter jets in the Libyan city of Sirte, Libya's state television said.

The attack comes as the US and its allies have stepped up military and diplomatic efforts to further pressure Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi to stop killing opposition forces and quit power. US President Barack Obama has approved the use of armed predator drones to attack targets in Libya. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says American drones carried out their first mission on Thursday. Meanwhile, Senior US Republicn Senator John McCain visited the opposition-held city of Benghazi in eastern Libya on Friday. No details about the trip have been reported.

The News: Nato air raid kills 7 civilians in Tripoli
Antiwar: Obama Approves Drone Strikes in Libya
PressTV: US begins drone strikes on Libya
WSWS: Obama sends drones to Libya as Britain readies troops

At least 25 people have been killed in yet another US drone attack on the tribal village of Miranshah in northwestern Pakistan. Officials reported that the non-UN-sanctioned attack by a US drone took place at 4:30 a.m. (2030 GMT) Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported. The drone fired six missiles at a house destroying it completely. The death toll may rise as rescue operation is underway to get people from the collapsed building. The US drone continued flying over the area after the attack, creating panic among the local residents. Miranshah attack raised the number of US drone strikes in North Waziristan Agency to 21 in 2011. Reports indicate that the unmanned drone strikes in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt have claimed the lives of more than 1,180 people in 2010 alone.

Al Jazeera: Deaths in US drone attack in Pakistan