[صور جديده تنشر لأول مرة عن مجزرة حماة 1982 ][Source] In the memory of the 24th year since the massive massacre of Hama, and in the light of the detailed analysis of the tragedy which in the city: place, people and history, and the influence of this tragedy on Syria: the country and citizens. We (the Syrian human rights committee) have no alternative but to confirm that the Syrian regime have committed this horrible massacre preceded by determined plans and observations and the regime had the intention to commit a crime of genocide against the citizens of the city and its construction aiming to change the state of the city geographically and demographically.

Uruknet: Hama massacre, July 31, 2011 : A Video Roundup (I)
2011: The Syrian army destroys Syria in order to save it

Israel struggles with free speech issues. "public support for free-speech rights is declining in Israel and that more than one in three Israelis now say there is 'too much' free speech." - A string of new laws passed this year by Israel's right-leaning Knesset has triggered an unusually rancorous debate here over where to draw the line on free speech, exposing shifting sentiments about a core democratic ideal. The latest battle erupted with the approval this month of a law that created civil and financial penalties against those who voice support for boycott campaigns targeting Israel or its institutions, including West Bank settlements that many in Israel and around the world oppose as an obstacle to peace. Free-speech advocates blasted the law as an unprecedented assault on the right to criticize the government, while proponents praised it as a patriotic defense of Israel's image.

Congress and the White House were closing in on a deal on Sunday to head off huge market falls and the prospect of America defaulting on Tuesday for the first time in its history. The Senate is scheduled to vote around 1pm (1800 BST) on a compromise thrashed out over the weekend between the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell. McConnell, interviewed on CNN on Sunday, said: "We are very close. We had a good day yesterday. Both the president and vice-president called me … and they understand we have to come together." The deal would then have to go to the House of Representatives, which could be more problematic given the Republican majority.

Paul Craig Roberts: Are We Being Had?

'Eco-pirate' Paul Watson is in danger of losing his boat. Sea Shepherd flagship impounded in Scottish port after Maltese tuna fishery sues for £850,000 in damages. - The world's most radical conservationist, Watson is being sued for $1.4m (£850,000) by a Maltese fishing company, Fish and Fish, one of Europe's leading tuna processors. The law suit against Watson's Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was filed last year after activists aboard the Steve Irwin freed 800 bluefin tuna from a pen in the Mediterranean. Watson has just 10 days to raise the bond required to release the boat, which was named after the late Australian conservationist. It has been impounded in the harbour at Lerwick ever since the company sued him for damages. By last night, the society had raised about $500,000, after a global Twitter campaign and appeals to celebrities who have helped Watson in the past. A co-founder of Greenpeace, Watson was picking up volunteer crew and restocking the Steve Irwin in preparation for a trip to protest against whaling in the Faroe Islands when he was served with the writ. The tuna cage that had been intercepted 40 miles off the Libyan coast in June last year held an estimated 35 tons of fish. After a fracas in which there was hand-to-hand fighting between the two crews, Sea Shepherd sent in divers to release the 800 tuna.

Prominent international forensic experts have strongly condemned the UK intelligence officers for the ways they use to investigate detainees abroad, which include hooding and torture.

A group of 33 experts published a joint article in the scientific journal, Torture, in which they have attested that hooding is associated with a number of physical and psychological effects that constitute torture.

The experts are members of the International Forensic Expert Group established by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). The British government is being challenged in the High Court on its guidance to spies on the detention and interviewing of detainees overseas, particularly in Iraq.

The practice of hooding typically involves covering the head of a detainee in some manner. Hooding practices may vary and the effects of hooding may depend on a number of factors related to the application and context of its use. Meanwhile, mock executions, beatings and other methods of torture are often practiced in conjunction with hooding to maximize the infliction of physical and psychological pain.

An Iranian man who was ordered to be blinded for carrying out an acid attack on a woman has been pardoned by his victim. - Ameneh Bahrami had demanded qisas, a rarely used retributive justice under Sharia law, but the report said she had forgone that right at the last minute. A court had backed Ms Bahrami's demand in 2008 that Majid Movahedi be blinded. He attacked Ms Bahrami in 2004 after she had refused his offer of marriage, leaving her severely disfigured. Rights group Amnesty International had lobbied against the sentence, calling it "cruel and inhuman punishment amounting to torture".

While shutting down schools and hospitals for lack of money, Romanian government spends hundreds of millions of euro to build a gargantuan cathedral "of national redemption".

The House passes Speaker Boehner's plan for raising the federal debt ceiling and the Senate quickly votes it down, starting on its own solution that might win bipartisan support.

Reporting from Washington— The House passed Speaker John A. Boehner's plan for raising the federal debt limit Friday, but attention quickly shifted to the Democrat-controlled Senate where the rough outlines of a compromise to avert a possible economic crisis were emerging through the fog of partisan anger and tension. The Republican plan passed 218-210, with no Democratic votes. The Senate promptly voted down the measure Friday night 59-41 and is continuing work on its own solution that might win bipartisan support. The likely compromise would be similar to major elements of Boehner's plan but would drop his requirement that Congress go through another potentially protracted debate over the debt ceiling in a matter of months.

The Guardian: US disarray hits global stock markets
The Diplomat: China Blasts US on Debt Ceiling
PressTV: US Senate rejects Republican debt plan
Paul Craig Roberts: Are We Being Had?
Paul Craig Roberts: The Unintended Consequences of Debt Ceiling Intransigence
Stephen Lendman: Debt Ceiling Roulette

Western media outlets portray the Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, as a right-wing fundamentalist to divert attention away from his Zionist connections, an analyst says. - “There's no question at all that [Breivik] was a very devout Christian Zionist with strong links to Israel and he had visited there several times,” Middle East consultant Peter Eyre told Press TV. He went on to say that Western media outlets are using “a diversionary tactic” to picture Breivik as a far-right extremist instead of highlighting his links to Zionism. “There is a very strong Zionist lead there,” Eyre said, adding that the massacre “is certainly showing a sign of being an inside job with Zionist interference”.

Stefan Steinberg: The ideological roots of the Oslo atrocity - Since the attacks carried out in Oslo last Friday, there has been a concerted campaign by the bourgeois establishment in Europe to deny that the murderous rampage conducted by Anders Behring Breivik was motivated by anti-Islamist prejudices with deep roots in mainstream politics. Following an outburst of public outrage against a man who cold-bloodedly gunned down dozens of young people and children, leading politicians and media commentators have gone to extraordinary lengths to play down their own role in encouraging the climate of xenophobic hatred which provided the background to Breivik’s attack.

Charles Hawley: Europe's Right-Wing Populists Find Allies in Israel - Islamophobic parties in Europe have established a tight network, stretching from Italy to Finland. But recently, they have extended their feelers to Israeli conservatives, enjoying a warm reception from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Some in Israel believe that the populists are Europe's future.

"Islamic terrorism is a problem in Scandinavia, they just closed their eyes to it?" - Many users of social media Facebook and Twitter have in recent days expressed strong dissatisfaction against what they believe are disrespectful and directly misleading coverage of the terrorist attacks in Norway in the U.S. news channel Fox News. Fox is one of the leading channels in the cable news market in the United States, and disseminates news with a conservative republican and patriotic approach. Even after it was known that the 32-year old ethnic Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik was arrested for the actions, continued to channel to refer to "Islamic terrorism" and Norway's alleged bagatellisering of the international threats against the country.

The Guardian: Embrace freedom, says Norway PM

From mass arrests to surveillance, confidence in the Metropolitan police is at an all-time low

Can confidence in the Metropolitan police sink any lower? Even before the past few weeks revealed the possibility of their complicity in the News of the World hacking scandal, and the past few months their brutal attitude towards the policing of students and other protesters, there were many who already had reason to mistrust those who claim to be "working together for a safer London".

Take Ann Roberts, a special needs assistant, who was recently given the go-ahead in the high court to challenge the allegedly racist way in which stop-and–search powers are used: her lawyers claim statistics indicate that a black person is more than nine times more likely to be searched than a white person.

Or take the family of Smiley Culture, still waiting for answers after the reggae singer died in a police raid on his home in March this year. They are campaigning on behalf of all those who've died in police custody. Inquest, a charity which deals with contentious death, particularly in police custody, reports that more than 400 people from black and ethnic minority communities have died in prison, police custody and secure training centres in England and Wales since 1990.

Several airstrikes have targeted central Tripoli as the NATO-led campaign against Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi continues. - At least 10 powerful blasts were heard in the city center at 10:00 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Friday near Gaddafi's residence, AFP reported. On Thursday, Libya's Transitional National Council said the military commander-in-chief of the revolutionary forces, Abdel Fattah Younes, was shot dead in Benghazi. The former interior minister had defected from the Libyan regime to become the military leader of the revolutionaries. In April, he criticized NATO for failing to prevent regime forces from killing civilians.

Stephen Lendman: Daily NATO War Crimes in Libya
Robert Morgan: WikiLeaks documents shed light on US-backed intervention in Libya
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya: The Old Imperialist Project to Divide Libya in Three Has Been Executed

When news outlets reported this morning on the death of Libyan rebel commander Abdel Fattah Younes, they generally focused on the mystery that had surrounding the incident since rumors of his demise began swirling yesterday, and especially after rebel leader Mustapha Abdul Jalil didn't identify the "gunmen" or have possession of the military chief's body when he announced Younes' death. Had Muammar Qaddafi's forces killed Younes, a former interior minister, for defecting to the opposition in February? Or had the rebels carried out the assassination because they suspected Younes of collaborating with Qaddafi? Could military rival Khalifa Hifter have orchestrated the attack as part of an internal power struggle?

The Daily Beast: Libyan Rebels Lose a Leader
LA Times: Libyan rebel faction blamed in commander's slaying

Outraged at the decision to sue a Czech high school student for €5 million for running a site linking to pirated material, the Czech Pirate Party has launched Tipnafilm.cz, a linking site of its very own. With the new site, "we unequivocally declare open war on the Anti-Piracy Union," said Czech Pirate Party Vice President Mikuláš Ferjencik.

The new site links to, but does not host, pirated films, just as the student-operated site did. However, Ferjencik is claiming at least one difference: the new site has ten times more links. The site is operating under the slogan "linking is not a crime"; the Czech Pirate Party believes that mere linking to infringing content is not a crime under Czech law, though this claim is yet to be tested in the Czech courts.

Gilad Atzmon: Read it for yourself. Israelis show their real face. If psychopathy is defined as a severe lack of empathy, we are clearly dealing here with a psychotic collective.

Israelis Debate on the Web: Did Norway Get What It Deserved? - The Norway massacre has touched off a nasty war of words on the Israeli Internet over the meaning of the event and its implications for Israel. And I do mean nasty: Judging by the comments sections on the main Hebrew websites, the main questions under debate seem to be whether Norwegians deserve any sympathy from Israelis given the country’s pro-Palestinian policies, whether the killer deserves any sympathy given his self-declared intention of fighting Islamic extremism and, perhaps ironically, whether calling attention to this debate is in itself an anti-Israel or anti-Semitic act.

The Office of the US Trade Representative, USTR, has refused an investigation into Israel's theft and use of classified US industrial data. - In May, the Institute for Research Middle Eastern Policy, IRmep, submitted a 62-page petition to the USTR, seeking $4.6 billion in damages from Israel over theft of classified trade data, Business Wire reported. The petition claimed that Israeli exporters' access to data has materially harmed the US industry. The USTR argued that the IRmep is not in a position to represent victimized US industry organizations. It also denied IRmep's argument that the industry data theft constituted an "act, policy or practice of … Israel that might be actionable." However, the USTR did not question the veracity of the IRmep's evidence based on a series of FBI files. The FBI files revealed that in 2009, an Israeli cabinet minister admitted to obtaining the classified information and even passing it on to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, for lobbying and public relations in the US.

PressTV: US voices 'strong commitment' to Israel

Norway police called off their search of waters
around Utøya island following the discovery of
the body of Georgian student Tamta Liparteliani.

Officers call off search after finding body of final victim, while more anti-Muslim internet postings by Breivik discovered.

Police in Norway released the identities of another 24 people killed by Anders Behring Breivik as they ended their search for bodies in the waters surrounding the island where he shot 68 of his 76 victims.

The youngest victim was Johannes Buø, 14. All but one were shot by Breivik on Utøya. The other died in the bomb attack in Oslo.

Officers called off their search after finding the body of a young Georgian woman, Tamta Liparteliani, who had been at the youth camp on Utøya. The girl's parents had travelled to Norway in the hope of finding her alive but it was announced her body was found on the bottom of the lake with gunshot wounds in her back.

The police have named 41 of those killed and say more names will be released every day at 5pm as identities are confirmed. Details of the latest victims emerged as anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said it had found more postings on anti-Muslim and far-right forums thought to be from Breivik stretching back to 2008.

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II: A Prayer to the Most Holy Mother of God

Global population is expected to hit 7 billion later this year, up from 6 billion in 1999. Between now and 2050, an estimated 2.3 billion more people will be added—nearly as many as inhabited the planet as recently as 1950. New estimates from the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations also project that the population will reach 10.1 billion in 2100.

Appalling cruelty, including cigarettes being stubbed out on the faces of pigs, has been revealed in secret filming inside a slaughterhouse. - The footage of pigs being burned, punched and smacked across the head with sharp paddles was captured by animal welfare campaigners. They reveal the shocking truth of the casual brutality inside one of the country’s biggest abattoirs. Despite the clear evidence, the Government, through the Food Standards Agency, has refused to prosecute those involved. The decision has been condemned by Animal Aid, which carried out the secret filming. It says it is evidence that ministers are putting the commercial interests of the meat industry above welfare.

It was seen as one of the most distressing effects of climate change ever recorded: polar bears dying of exhaustion after being stranded between melting patches of Arctic sea ice. But now the government scientist who first warned of the threat to polar bears in a warming Arctic has been suspended and his work put under official investigation for possible scientific misconduct. Charles Monnett, a wildlife biologist, oversaw much of the scientific work for the government agency that has been examining drilling in the Arctic. He managed about $50m (£30.5m) in research projects.

Israel has said it will not apologize for killing nine Turkish activists onboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters last year. - Israel's cabinet minister Moshe Yaalon said he has recently held three rounds of talks with Turkey, and that they are demanding an apology. “We are not ready to apologize,” Yaalon said. However, he did hint that there might be a change in their stance as there are some disputes over the issue within the Israeli cabinet.

Derrick Miller shot man after stopping him for questioning when he walked through defensive perimeter in Afghanistan. - A US Army National Guardsman has been sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole for the murder of an Afghan civilian. Sgt Derrick Miller of Maryland shook hands with several soldiers in his unit after the 10-member military jury delivered the sentence at Fort Campbell after two hours of deliberation. The 27-year-old was found guilty of premeditated murder.

Debt ceiling vote postponed; for John Boehner, 'it's all on the line'. - John Boehner faces the biggest test of his speakership Friday morning as he tries to resuscitate a monumental debt-limit bill that was forced from the floor Thursday night because Republican leaders hadn’t lined up enough votes to pass it. On the line: The outcome of a debt-limit increase that has consumed Washington and New York for months, Boehner’s standing in the Republican Conference, and the balance of power between the House GOP and the Democrats who control the White House and the Senate. Republican leaders hoped to put the bill back on the floor Friday, either in its current form or in a slightly altered state, and some in the GOP worried that Thursday night’s failure to move the bill could disrupt markets.

The federal government is planning to introduce new behavior detection techniques at airport checkpoints as soon as next month, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole said Thursday. - TSA already has "behavior detection officers" at 161 airports nationwide looking for travelers exhibiting physiological or psychological signs that a traveler might be a terrorist. However, Pistole said TSA is preparing to move to an approach that employs more conversation with travelers—a method that has been employed with great success in Israel.

Army Private Naser Jason Abdo, arrested earlier today with bomb-making materials in a motel room, has confessed to plotting a bombing attack on Fort Hood, according to federal officials. - Abdo was arrested after an employee for Guns Galore, a local gun store, reported he was acting suspiciously. “The kid was downright rude,” noted the employee, who said Abdo bought six pounds of gun powder. Abdo had successfully fought for concientious objector status in 2010, but his discharge was put on hold when officials decided to go through his computer because of “radical statements” he had made and reported he was in possession of child pornography. Abdo insisted the charge was false and revenge for his high profile fight for objector status. Abdo was said to have not been planning to attack the fort itself but instead was planning to use the bombs, which he had yet to actually make, to target a restaurant popular with troops from the base.