Antiwar and international solidarity activists, subjects of a federal grand jury investigation that alleges they may have provided “material support for terrorism,” uncovered documents on FBI guidelines and investigation practices left behind in an activist’s home that was raided in September of last year. The documents illuminate how the FBI has conducted surveillance of the activists being targeted in the investigation and further prove the grand jury is being used as a tool to go after political groups.

On September 24 of last year, the home of Lindon Gawboy and Mick Kelly, an activist who helped to organize a mass demonstration outside the Republican National Convention in 2008, was raided and subpoenaed. Gawboy was awoken by FBI pounding on her door. She came to the door and asked for a search warrant. The FBI ignored her request for a warrant and proceeded to use a battering ram, which took the door off its hinges and shattered a nearby fish tank. The agents raiding Gawboy and Kelly’s home emptied file cabinets and desks and stacked files around the apartments. They set up and went through individual documents taking files away that were of interest to them.

Tom Carter: US Supreme Court gives green light to warrant-less searches of homes

US President Barack Obama has been accused of "betraying" key ally Israel by pushing it for a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Top Republican contenders for the White House in 2012 presidential election accused Obama on a day that he called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories to the 1967 borders. Republican Representative Michele Bachmann, who has been mentioned as a possible 2012 candidate, charged that Obama "has betrayed our friend and ally Israel." "President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus," said former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on Thursday. "He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace. He has also violated a first principle of American foreign policy, which is to stand firm by our friends," AFP quoted Romney as saying.

JTA: The “1967 lines” factor
Ben Smith: Bibi and Obama: The relationship has been over for a while
Jerusalem Post: What rankled Netanyahu in the Obama speech
Erica Werner: Netanyahu at White House after Obama challenge
The Atlantic: Dear Mr. Netanyahu, Please Don't Speak to My President That Way
USA Today: Obama's day: Tense meeting with Israel's Netanyahu and a visit to the CIA
NPR: Obama's Ideas On Israel Face Tough Reception

Netanyahu’s speech is not about peace; it is about enlisting Israelis for another Palestinian war.

A few days back I participated in a Rubinger Forum event, which hosted UN special envoy to the Middle East, Robert Serry, who spoke about what might actually happen when September comes around. Serry, a professional diplomat, is someone it is a pleasure listening to, even when he’s glum; and he was rather glum. He gave a brief description of the situation on the ground, noting that only after the Annapolis meeting did Israel officially start talking about a two-state solution (contrary to common myth, the Oslo Accords did not mention a Palestinian state). Serry said that as he sees things, and his estimate is supported by the World Bank and the IMF, the Fayyad government will manage the transformation into a state – but reminded his listeners that Fayyad controls only 40% of the West Bank. Israel rules the rest.

Desert Peace: Has Netanyahu reached the end of the roadmap to war? [Haaretz]

In his “Arab spring” speech Thursday, Obama sought to cloak US imperialism’s predatory aims in the Middle East and North Africa in a mass of hypocritical and empty “democratic” rhetoric.

While promoted by the White House as the initiation of a change of course in US policy, Obama’s rambling and distorted review of recent developments in the region offered nothing of the kind. Rather, they signaled US imperialism’s determination to continue its drive to exert hegemonic control over the oil-rich countries of the Middle East and North Africa in the face of a powerful revolutionary challenge from below and ever stiffer competition from economic rivals in China and Europe. According to initial press reports, the speech was largely received with dismissal and contempt in the Arab countries.

Sami Jamil Jadallah: President Obama’s Speech: Dead on Arrival - US policy in the Middle East was, is and will remain driven by the powerful American Jewish leadership and community and it does not change with who resides in the White House.

Stephen Lendman: Obama's Middle East Hypocrisy
PressTV: Addressing Muslims, US backs Israel

Young people in Madrid have occupied the city's Puerta del Sol square in protest against high unemployment and the political establishment. They are calling for a boycott of the main parties in weekend elections -- and some have begun comparing them to protesters in Egypt earlier this year.

They have been dubbed the "lost generation," with many of them unable to find jobs and forced to live at home as a result of the economic crisis. But now Spain's young people appear to have found their voice -- and they are taking their anger with their country's politicians into the streets. Protests are continuing on Madrid's landmark Puerta del Sol square on Thursday. Many thousands of young people gathered on the square on Wednesday, defying a ban on the demonstration. BBC reported that as many as 2,000 stayed the night on the square. The young people are protesting against high unemployment, the Spanish government's handling of the economic crisis and the political establishment. They want a boycott of the major political parties, the ruling Socialists (PSOE) and the center-right opposition People's Party (PP), in this weekend's elections. Over 8,000 municipal and 13 regional elections are being held on Sunday. The protesters say they will stay on the square until the elections take place.

Ustream: Directo desde La Puerta del Sol - VIDEO [Real time]
Alejandro López: Protestors occupy city squares in Spain after mass demonstrations Sunday
Mish's: Spain's Icelandic Revolt; Protests Spread to Italy
BusinessInsider: You Need To Be Watching What's Developing In Spain Right Now
The Guardian: Spain protests spreading across Europe
WL Central: The Spanishrevolution starts in Madrid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — China has agreed to immediately provide 50 JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, a major outcome of a visit by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to Beijing this week, Pakistani officials said Thursday.

China and Pakistan have jointly produced the JF-17 aircraft, but the new planes would be equipped with more sophisticated avionics, the officials said. The latest jet fighters would be paid for by China, they said. The announcement came as Pakistan’s already tense relations with the United States soured further after the killing of Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan on May 2.

The Statesman: China 'asks USA to respect Pak sovereignty' - China has “warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China.” The warning was formally conveyed by the Chinese foreign minister at last week's China-US strategic dialogue talks in Washington.

[Stop. Think. Read with Caution.] KARACHI: Secret internal American government cables, accessed by Dawn through WikiLeaks, provide confirmation that the US military’s drone strikes programme within Pakistan had more than just tacit acceptance of the country’s top military brass, despite public posturing to the contrary. In fact, as long ago as January 2008, the country’s military was requesting the US for greater drone back-up for its own military operations.

Previously exposed diplomatic cables have already shown that Pakistan’s civilian leaders are strongly supportive – in private – of the drone strikes on alleged militant targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), even as they condemn them for general consumption. But it is not just the civilian leadership that has been following a duplicitous policy on the robotic vehicles.

The executive chairman of Google has warned governments against facial recognition technology - saying it is 'too creepy' even for the search engine.

Eric Schmidt said that the technology has advanced rapidly in recent years and that it could be rolled out across the internet. But the controversial technique has angered privacy campaigners who claim that it would be a further erosion of privacy and civil liberties. Now Schmidt has dispelled any suggestions that internet giant Google would be the first company to employ the system. But he warned that there were likely to be other organisations who might 'cross the line' and use facial recognition.

One hundred days after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's prospects are clouded by insecurity, economic worries and sectarian violence. Four Egyptians outline their views of their post-revolutionary country.

Zero Hedge: The Second Egyptian Revolution Has Been Scheduled For May 27

NATO has launched new airstrikes targeting the port of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as the UN warns about the humanitarian situation in Libya.

Anti-regime fighters are shelling the embattled ruler Muammar Gaddafi's forces near the city of Ajdabiya as the fighting continues on different fronts. The revolutionary forces have also captured two border crossings -- one between Libya and Chad and the other between Libya and Sudan. Late on Thursday, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said that an offer has been made to withdraw government forces from cities on the condition that opposition forces do the same. “We are even prepared to go as far as withdrawing our army from all Libyan cites and population centers,'' Ibrahim said. “This is a new offer.''

Reuters: NATO says [allegedly] sinks eight Libyan warships

Israel has once again defied international law by approving the construction of over 1,500 more illegal settlement units on occupied territories of Palestine, a report says.

Israel's Interior Ministry Planning Committee has given the final approval for construction of 620 settlement units in Pisgat Zeev in northeastern Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and another 900 in Har Homa in the south of the city. The plan was approved on Thursday just hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to leave for Washington, where he is to meet US President Barack Obama in the White House on Friday. Israel occupied and annexed East Al-Quds (Jerusalem) with the rest of the West Bank in 1967 six-day war, but the measure was never recognized by the international community. The United Nations has repeatedly declared Israel's settlement building on Palestinian lands as illegal under international law.

BRASILIA (AFP) – A sharp increase in forest destruction in March and April in the Amazon has led Brazil to announce the creation of an emergency task force to fight against deforestation.

The two-month total of 593 square kilometers (368 square miles) deforested represents a six-fold increase compared to the same period last year, according to official statistics. The office will be comprised of government experts and representatives of states badly impacted by recent deforestation, according to Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira, who announced the office at a press conference. "Our goal is to stifle deforestation," Teixeira said. "And we are going to do it by July." In the Amazon state of Mato Grosso alone, 480 square kilometers (298 square miles) of forest were destroyed in two months, according to official statistics based on satellite images. The land is used for cattle and soybean farming.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International are calling for an independent investigation into the death of detainees at Guantanamo Bay after the U.S. military reported another death at the detention facility on Wednesday night. "This latest death highlights the immediate need for a full and independent inquiry into deaths at Guantanamo," Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU Human Rights Program, said. "It also underscores the tragic consequences of indefinite detention and unfair trials of detainees." A 37-year old Afghan detainee died at Guantanamo Bay in an "apparent suicide," the U.S. military said in a statement.