The move came after a WikiLeaks cable suggested that Khanfar changed the network's coverage of the Iraq War as a result of U.S. pressure, The New York Times reports. - He will be replaced by a member of the Qatari royal family. Al Jazeera is a network controlled by Qatar. According to a cable sent by U.S. ambassador Chase Untermeyer in October 2005, an embassy official gave Khanfar reports by the United States Defense Intelligence Agency that showed the agency was critical of Al Jazeera's coverage of the war in Iraq, the Times reports. In the cable, Khanfar comes across eager to convince the U.S. official that Al Jazeera's coverage was fair and refers to an "agreement" made between the network and the U.S. government. “The agreement was that it was a non-paper,” the cable quoted Khanfar as saying. “As a news organization, we cannot sign agreements of this nature, and to have it here like this in writing is of concern to us.” Khanfar also said in a cable that he changed coverage at the official's request, removing images showing wounded children in a hospital and a woman with a wounded face, the Times reports.

New York Times: After Disclosures by WikiLeaks, Al Jazeera Replaces Its Top News Director

[Original video in Arabic][English rendition by Morris Herman] The political system in Libya is the system of people's power, in which all Libyans, men and women participate, in their people's congresses (conferences) and people's committees. This great system is impossible to topple. How can you topple a system of governing (regime) that is embedded in all the citizens, who number in their millions? Anyone who says Qaddafi's regime has fallen is nothing but ridiculous and a joke. Qaddafi doesn't have a political system that can be toppled. Qaddafi has been out of power since 1977 when power was handed to the Libyan people in front of the whole world, to the Jamahiriya, the people's state.

The National Transitional Council (NTC) is void and illegitimate and will not have any ground to stand on. When 2,000 tribes meet and declare that only the Libyan people represent Libya, doesn't that say enough? This is the answer to NATO which has said the National Transitional Council from Benghazi represents the Libyan people. The Libyan people are here and they are with me, nobody can represent us.

Jason Ditz: Gadhafi Rejects Regime Change as ‘NATO-Backed Charade’
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey: UN has no authority to pass Resolutions on Libya

A recent piece in Scientific American highlights a new geo-engineering endeavor being undertaken by UK scientists, who plan to pump toxic sulfate particles into the sky to supposedly thwart natural sunlight back into space, and ultimately prevent the earth from "warming." - The report explains that the Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Change Engineering (SPICE) program (yes, this is a real program that confirms the existence of "chemtrails") has been given $30,000 to build a giant pipe that spews water and sulfates a mile up into the stratosphere. Supported at the end by a giant "stadium-size hydrogen balloon," the pipe will allegedly mimic the effects of a volcanic eruption, which the team building it insists will help to "cool" the earth.

It was an honour to be with the residents and activists who repelled the eviction of over 80 families from Dale Farm. The planned eviction of the Dale Farm residents is a human rights issue that everyone who cares about justice should be aware of. Come to Dale Farm and increase the power of the people to compel justice.

On Tuesday morning, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency for Troy Davis, clearing the way for the 42-year-old death row inmate’s execution by lethal injection at 7 p.m. this evening at the state prison in Jackson. The blood of Troy Davis’s execution will be on the hands of the entire political establishment. They are implicated not only in his state killing, but in the deaths of the 1,267 individuals who have been executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Reuters: Georgia condemned man's polygraph request denied
E.D. Kain: Troy Davis and the History of Injustice in America
Russia Today: Troy Davis's Clemency Denied - Video

The story of Jose Padilla, continuing through the events of yesterday, expresses so much of the true nature of the War on Terror and especially America's justice system. In 2002, the American citizen was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, publicly labeled by John Ashcroft as The Dirty Bomber, and then imprisoned for the next three years on U.S. soil as an "enemy combatant" without charges of any kind, and denied all contact with the outside world, including even a lawyer. During his lawless incarceration, he was kept not just in extreme solitary confinement but extreme sensory deprivation as well, and was abused and tortured to the point of severe and probably permanent mental incapacity (Bush lawyers told a court that they were unable to produce videos of Padilla's interrogations because those videos were mysteriously and tragically "lost"). Needless to say, none of the government officials responsible for this abuse of a U.S. citizen on American soil has been held accountable in any way.

One of the best kept secrets lately has been the complete list of congress members that visited Israel during their recent 'break.' My 'con,' Republican Diane Black, 6th district Tennessee, zionist states of America, was one of them. As a freshman congressperson it is no surprise that she had to make the obligatory trip, meet with the criminals in charge and let them know she is with them all the way. There seems to be no other way to secure a long term congressional career and Mrs. Black knows it. What's odd is that Diane kept her trip to Israel about as hidden as could be. To the best of my knowledge she did not announce it publicly in advance. It was a reported 9 day visit where for all intents and purposes she just disappeared. Upon her return she has not posted anything about this 'educational' trip paid for by the AIPAC subsidiary The American Israel Education Foundation on her official government web site or her Facebook page. No press release, no nothing except for one apparent tweet that few saw. One might get the impression that she was trying to hide her trip from her constituents. Why would that be Diane?

Stephen Lendman: Congressional Junkets to Israel
Anthony Lawson: The Death of American Democracy - Video
Medea Benjamin: Does Your Congressperson Represent You – or Israel?
Anthony Lawson: AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 2 The Treasonous Dollar Drain - Video
Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Congress’ Dirty [Seven] Dozen on Aipac All-Expense-Paid Israel Junket
LEGISTORM: American Israel Education Foundation - Sponsor of Congressional Travel

As he prepares to singularly veto Palestine's statehood bid, he must be thinking to himself: 'This isn't right'. - Sooner or later, it's going to happen. Most likely, the moment will come just before his first head-of-state meeting in New York. Or perhaps it will happen just before his first side-bar meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu. Or then again, it may come as the cumulative reaction to a series of embarrassing encounters with fellow world leaders. But the moment will come.

Haaretz: Palestinians need just two more Security Council votes in bid for statehood
Gilad Atzmon: Obama, the Palestinian State & Zionist Schizophrenia
Johnny Punish: Israel Threatens USA, Hostage Lady Clinton Must VETO Freedom