NATO warplanes have dropped bombs on a key Libyan town, killing at least eleven civilians and wounding several others, Libyan sources say.

Libya's state television said on Monday that the airstrike targeted Zlitan, west of the city of Misratah. NATO has conducted hundreds of sorties over Libya since it assumed control of a military campaign to impose a no-fly zone over the country and save civilian lives in late March. The US and NATO have unleashed a punishing, UN-mandated offensive against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to pressure him into giving up power. However, the airstrikes by the military alliance have killed dozens of civilians as well as revolutionary fighters.

Paveway bombs weighing 2,000lbs to be loaded onto RAF jets for possible strikes on Gaddafi command centres.

Paveway bombs, weighing 2,000lbs, the largest in the RAF's arsenal, have been dispatched to Gioia del Colle in southern Italy where RAF Tornado and Typhoon jets are based. While the Apache's cannon and Hellfire missiles are used against small or moving targets, the Paveway bombs are expected to be used against bunkers underneath the Gaddafi regime's Bab al-Azizia compound in Tripoli and elsewhere.

Jason Ditz: NATO Threatens Further Escalations Amid Gadhafi Exit Talks

To mark the first anniversary of the arrest of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the alleged whistleblower responsible for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, the Guardian has produced a 19-minute film, “The madness of Bradley Manning?” telling his story, and including elements that have not been reported before.

Arrested in Kuwait on May 26, 2010, after computer hacker Adrian Lamo, with whom he had apparently been communicating about his activities downloading confidential material and handing it on to WikiLeaks, reported him to the FBI, Manning was held in solitary confinement in a military brig in Quantico, Virginia, for nine months from July 2010 to April 2011, when he was moved to Fort Leavenworth in Texas, where some social interaction is allowed.

The film is available [here], as are cross-posts of two Guardian stories published to accompany it, Bradley Manning: the bullied outsider who knew US military’s inner secrets and Bradley Manning: fellow soldier recalls ’scared, bullied kid’.

Scott Horton: Daniel Ellsberg: Bradley Manning is Not Guilty - AUDIO

This week the program marks the one year anniversary of Bradley Manning's arrest. Joining the weekly podcast is Kevin Zeese, who is a member of the Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee. In the past week, there were two documentaries (or films) that went public, which portrayed Bradley Manning. One was the PBS FRONTLINE documentary (which I had much to say about and even went on RT's "The Alyona Show" to discuss). Another was an investigative short film put together by The Guardian. Zeese addresses both of those.

At least 20 people have been killed in southern Yemen as security forces clashed with protesters that were calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Protest organizers reported on Monday that Yemeni forces have killed at least 20 demonstrators in Taizz, according to wire and broadcast reports. The reports also indicate that government forces set protest camps at Freedom Square on fire as well, injuring scores of protesters in the process. Witnesses said Yemeni Republican Guard forces, backed by tanks, moved in during the early hours of Monday to disperse demonstrators at the square. Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for near daily demonstrations in Yemen's major cities since late January, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment as well as demanding the ouster of Saleh, who has been ruling the country since 1978. Observers believe that Saleh is trying to spread fear that Yemen will plunge into chaos without him.

NATO air strikes have killed at least 52 Afghans over the past 24 hours, including 32 civilians and 20 members of the police. The deaths came in two strikes, one in the Helmand Province and another in Nuristan.

The Helmand strike, late Saturday, saw NATO attack helicopters destroy a pair of homes, killing 2 women and 12 children. The strikes also wounded six other civilians. Helmand’s governor’s office said the attack came after a nearby US Marine base was struck by insurgents.

The other strike came on Sunday, in the Nuristan Province. Here, US warplanes responded to reports of a battle between insurgents and security forces by opening fire on a group of people they assumed were insurgents. The people turned out to be a group of 18 civilians and 20 police.

The deaths, which Nuristan Governor Jamaluddin Badr termed “friendly fire,” came after the Taliban reportedly ran out of ammunition and fled the clashes in the district. NATO has promised to "investigate" both series killings.

PressTV: NATO vows longer stay in Afghanistan
Jason Ditz: As Karzai Issues ‘Last Warning,’ NATO Strikes Continue
Patrick O’Connor: Twelve children killed in another US massacre in Afghanistan

Germany's coalition government has announced a reversal of policy that will see all the country's nuclear power plants phased out by 2022.

The decision makes Germany the biggest industrial power to announce plans to give up nuclear energy. Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen made the announcement following late-night talks. Chancellor Angela Merkel set up a panel to review nuclear power following the crisis at Fukushima in Japan. There have been mass anti-nuclear protests across Germany in the wake of March's Fukushima crisis, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami.

Der Spiegel: Germany to Phase Out Nuclear Power by 2022
NYT: Germany to Halt Nuclear Power Production by 2022
The Local (Sweden): Sweden critical of German nuclear decision

A senior Iranian military figure says US President Barack Obama is just a mouthpiece for the Zionists when he talks about Middle East issues.

“Obama is not a decision-maker and cannot have a say,” said Brigadier General Nasser Arasteh, the military advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. The general said accusations that Iran is meddling in the internal of affairs of the regional countries are in fact the word of the Zionist lobby in the United States.

Desert Peace: THE FBI KNOWS WHO AIPAC IS ~~ WHY DON’T YOU MR. PRESIDENT?

North Korea is one of the most secretive countries in the world. Most images of life in this state that are released in the mainstream media display military exercises and grandiose parades. British photographer Charlie Crane traveled to Pyongyang, the capital city, and obtained permission to photograph daily life in North Korea. Despite being chaperoned by a guide, Crane was allowed to photograph passers-by during their daily routine -- a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Koreans. Crane says that the people living in this reclusive country are especially proud of the machinery manufactured in the state (watch out for the photo of a woman posing in front of a digger), and their buildings (the guide was especially excited about the shopping centers and sports arenas Crane photographed.)

More than 7,170 soldiers will deploy to Iraq beginning in mid-summer — despite a security agreement that requires U.S. forces to depart the country by Dec. 31. The deployments are part of the regular rotation of forces and will include a division headquarters of 775 soldiers and two brigade combat teams totaling 6,400 soldiers, according to a Defense Department announcement Tuesday. The soldiers will begin deploying in mid-summer and continue through the fall.

So after one year of beating around the bush, it is finally made clear that, as many were expecting all along, the ultimate goal of the Greek "bailouts" is nothing short of the state's (partial for now) annexation by Europe. According to an FT breaking news article, "European leaders are negotiating a deal that would lead to unprecedented outside intervention in the Greek economy, including international involvement in tax collection and privatisation of state assets, in exchange for new bail-out loans for Athens.

Special police forces raided the house of 7 year-old Ali Siyam this afternoon and illegaly arrested him, causing injury requiring hospitalization to both his aunt and father.

At 3 PM this afternoon, Israeli police forces raided the Alabasya neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem to arrest 7 years-old Ali Siyam from inside his parents’ house. Despite his young age, which is significantly younger than the age of legal responsibity, the boy was taken for questioning at the Russian Compound police station.

When Siyam’s father and aunt tried to protect the boy from the cops, they were violantly assaulted to a degree that required their evacuation to the Hospital. Siyam’s father, Hammouda, was beaten and maced with pepper-spray inside the house and his aunt, Amal, was struck with a rubber-coated bullet in her thigh. The two are currently at the Hadassa Har Hatzofim hospital.

On arrival to the police station, Siyam was taken in for questioning. The boy’s lawyer, Adv. Lea Tzemel, who was already present at the place was denied entry to the station and access to her client. When she proceeded to try and walk through the gate regardless, she was herself detained.

President Obama’s visit to Joplin, Missouri Sunday was his third tour in a month at the site of a monumental natural disaster. He visited Tuscaloosa, Alabama April 29 after a spate of tornadoes struck across the South, then spoke with victims of the Mississippi River flooding in Memphis, Tennessee May 16.

The appearances follow what is now an established ritual. The president arrives and is shown scenes of devastation by local dignitaries. He shakes hands with disaster relief workers and hugs survivors. He then speaks before a local audience assembled for the purpose, usually invoking religious consolation and promising federal aid. And a few hours afterwards, he is gone, the survivors soldier on, the television cameras turn away, and the federal response remains pathetically inadequate to the scale of the human suffering and material damage inflicted in the catastrophe.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) appeared on Fox News Sunday to talk about the controversial Transportation Security Administration security pat-downs at airports. He claimed to see an elderly woman and a baby receive pat-downs, then a man in “Arabian attire,” he said, passed through without incident. He is now demanding that the TSA focus on catching “real” terrorists “using human intelligence.” “We have to stop this inane political correctness that’s going on,” Broun said. “Political correctness won’t save any lives, but focusing on those that will harm us will.”

INDIANAPOLIS—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today joined Indianapolis Mayor Gregory Ballard, Indiana State Homeland Security Advisor and Emergency Manager Joe Wainscott, and Indianapolis Director of Public Safety Frank Straub to announce a new partnership to bring the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “If You See Something, Say Something” public awareness campaign to the Indianapolis 500—an effort that will help ensure the safety and security of fans, employees, and race crews by identifying and reporting "suspicious" activity.

The Guardian reported today that British PM David Cameron has stepped down as a patron of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in a “move pro-Palestinian campaigners claim is a result of pressure.”

The JNF was originally a Zionist fund set up to buy land in Palestine to establish Jewish settlements before the creation of the state of Israel. Since 1948 it has been operating as a global charity specialising in planting trees over Palestinian stolen land and eradicated villages.