People around the world have participated in the International Quds Day to show their solidarity with the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.

In Iran, millions took to the streets across the country to denounce Israel's atrocities against the Palestinian people and voice their anger at world hegemony and Israeli policies. Iranian protesters also condemned the violent crackdown against opposition protesters in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Saudi-backed Bahraini regime forces attacked anti-government demonstrators, protesting both the banning of International Quds Day rallies and the government's criticism of Sheikh Issa Qassim, one of the country's top clerics, who has been accused of inciting sectarian tension.

This is the second consecutive year that Quds Day rallies have been banned in Bahrain. Anti-regime protesters say the regime ban is due to its fear that the gathering will turn into an anti-regime demonstration. Several Bahraini protesters were reportedly injured as regime forces fired tear-gas to disperse the crowds that had been on the streets since Thursday evening. Many were also arrested in the demonstrations. Anti-Israel rallies were also held in several Saudi Arabian cities including the town of Awamiyah in the al-Qatif region where protestors voiced their support for the people of Bahrain and condemned the Riyadh government for aiding the Al Khalifa regime's brutal crackdown on peaceful Bahraini protesters.

Earlier in the week British nationals from different backgrounds took part in the annual Quds Day demonstration in London. Quds Day demonstrations have also been planned in Pakistan, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and several other countries.

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Jason Ditz: US Vows to Stop All Aid If Palestinians Seek Statehood

Another NATO air strike has killed a number of civilians today in the Logar Province. The attack, which took place shortly after midnight, came after a clash between NATO troops on the ground and Taliban in the Baraki Barak District, and left six civilians dead. - NATO confirmed the attack but said they could not confirm the death toll. They did, however, say foreign forces were “looking into the matter,” while insisting that NATO is taking every measure possible to prevent civilian deaths. Every measure except for halting the bombing of civilian areas, of course. The latest attack came after the firefight with Taliban but was termed a “retaliation” attack. That the attack retaliated against a civilian home and killed an entire family appears to them only a minor detail.

Rebels have stormed and looted Colonel Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli after three days of fighting in the Libyan capital. Angry crowds vented their anger at the portraits and luxuries at the compound - while the location of Gaddafi himself is still not known. He made his second radio address in the space of 24 hours, calling on his supporters to cleanse the capital. He claims that his retreat from the compound was a tactical move and promised to fight to the death.

ANSWER Coalition's Brian Becker on Russia Today

In a much anticipated speech Friday before a gathering of central bankers and international financial officials, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke sought to reassure panicky markets while proposing no measures to ease the worsening jobs crisis in the US and internationally. - Bernanke acknowledged that US economic growth was far slower than previously forecast by the Fed and ruled out any prospect for an early end to mass unemployment, but he limited himself to reiterating the Fed’s assurance earlier this month that its benchmark interest rate would remain at near-zero for at least two years and hinting that more aggressive monetary easing might be in the offing.

AWIP: 'Secret' Fed Loans Reveal Divide Between 'Wall Street Aristocracy' And Ordinary Americans - "Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Loans from Fed." The amount cited in the headline is somewhat misleading, as it refers only to the highest single-day amount of outstanding Fed loans under seven emergency programs the US central bank launched to cover the bad debts of the Wall Street elite. The $1.2 trillion figure is undoubtedly lower than the total amount in loans disbursed over the course of the programs' existence, including loans to banks that came to the Fed for money multiple times.

An aerial view of the Amazon river. (F. Lanting/Corbis)

Scientists estimate the subterranean river may be 6,000km long and hundreds of times wider than the Amazon.

Covering more than 7 million square kilometres in South America, the Amazon basin is one of the biggest and most impressive river systems in the world. But it turns out we have only known half the story until now.

Brazilian scientists have found a new river in the Amazon basin – around 4km underneath the Amazon river. The Rio Hamza, named after the head of the team of researchers who found the groundwater flow, appears to be as long as the Amazon river but up to hundreds of times wider. Both the Amazon and Hamza flow from west to east and are around the same length, at 6,000km. But whereas the Amazon ranges from 1km to 100km in width, the Hamza ranges from 200km to 400km. The underground river starts in the Acre region under the Andes and flows through the Solimões, Amazonas and Marajó basins before opening out directly into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Amazon flows much faster than the Hamza, however, draining a greater volume of water. Around 133,000m3 of water flow through the Amazon per second at speeds of up to 5 metres per second. The underground river's flow rate has been estimated at around 3,900m3 per second and it barely inches along at less than a millimetre per hour.