Two suicide car bombs apparently aimed at state security facilities rocked the Syrian capital on Friday leaving at least 40 dead and 100 wounded. The government dubbed the attacks “terrorist operations with involvement by al-Qaeda.”

RT’s Sara Firth, who has just returned from Damascus, says reports suggest the attacks might have been launched by an increasingly well-armed section of the opposition. State TV said police had arrested an individual involved in the attacks in the Kfar Sousa district of Damascus which claimed the lives of both civilians and soldiers. The attacks are believed to be the first in the Syrian capital since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad in March. They come a day after a team of Arab League observers arrived in Syria in the hope of salvaging prospects for peace in the conflict-torn country. Former Belgian MP Lode Vanoost believes the ongoing conflict in Syria is not simply about domestic issues, but has geo-strategic implications. “The West wants to control the Middle East, and for the moment, Syria remains a dictatorship out of their control,” he told RT.

Reuters: Forty killed, 100 wounded in Damascus blasts: Syrian TV

Former German lawmaker Norman Paech says any Israeli venture to launch a military strike against Iran would spell the end of Tel Aviv regime. - A war with Iran would be different from the one with Gaza; it would mean the downfall of Zionist Israel, Norman Paech wrote on the German-based daily Jung Welt. Paech said that in a study released on 12 February 2009, the CIA predicted that if Israel persists with its trend of warmongering policies in the Middle East, it would be destroyed within 20 years. The former German lawmaker added that Iran remains the “last anti-American bastion in the Middle East,” despite being surrounded by US protectorates and vassal governments. He further referred to Der Spiegel's interview with former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei in which he said Americans and Europeans sought to change the establishment in Iran.

Israeli Rabbi who teaches that “the sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews” plans to tap support of Sephardic Jews in US. - In its 30 years of existence, Shas has evolved from a marginal ethnic political group to Israel’s fourth largest party in the Knesset and is today the unchallenged kingmaker of Israeli politics. Its leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, as quoted in Israel’s Jerusalem Post, teaches:

The sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews, according to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the head of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages and a senior Sephardi adjudicator. “Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel,” he said in his weekly Saturday night sermon on the laws regarding the actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on Shabbat.

Now, Shas — or in its full name, the Sephardic Torah Guardians Movement — is attempting to establish a beachhead among American Sephardic Jews and, it hopes, replicate its success in Israel. On December 4, the group launched its United States affiliate, American Friends of Shas, based in Brooklyn.

Photo: Associated Press

A 15-year-old girl who was considered lost in the tsunami that engulfed Aceh in December 2004 proves to be still alive and has found her way back to her home in Lr Sangkis, Ujong Baroh village, West Aceh.

Wati was eight years old when Ujong Baroh village was hit by the tsunami. Her mother, Yusniar, was trying to take her and her two siblings to a safe place but somehow she lost her grip on her mother`s arm and was carried away by the rushing waters, leaving her mother powerless to help her. Yusniar was able to save her two other children but she and the rest of the family eventually had to resign themselves to the notion that Wati was lost as she never returned nor had anybody in the neigborhood seen her again dead or alive.

But on Wednesday, Ibrahim, Wati`s grandfather in Meulaboh city received an acquaintance at his home who was accompanied by a teenaged girl wearing a blue head scarf. The acquaintance said the girl had come to the Simpang Pelor coffee shop where she just sat in silence. People thought she was a beggar and tried to engage her in conversation. She claimed she had come to Meulaboh by bus from Banda Aceh and was trying to find her way back home but did not know how. She also could not remember any of her parents` or relatives` names except Ibrahim.

After listening to the acquintance`s account, Ibrahim immediately sensed the girl could be his long lost grandchild and, after a closer look at the dark-skinned girl, was indeed convinced she was Wati who went missing in the tsunami seven years ago, Ibrahim then sent word to Yusniar and her husband Yusuf to come to his home and meet Wati. The two parents confirmed Wati`s identity after recognizing a small mole and a scar over her eyebrow that Wati got when she was six years old. What had happened to Wati after she was carried away by the tsunami currents was not immediately disclosed to reporters except that over the years she had been to places in other districts in Aceh province.

The Weather Channel: Girl Swept Away in 2004 Tsunami Finds Family
The Telegraph: Indonesian tsunami girl lost for seven years forced to work as street beggar

Legislation that will let President Obama and future leaders of America detain and torture Americans indefinitely has made it to the White House, where it is expected to be soon signed into law by the commander-in-chief. - The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, of NDAA FY2012, was overwhelmingly approved by the House and Senate earlier this month. While the legislation indeed had its critics, the act was inexplicably missed by the mainstream media, who neglected to inform Americans of the dangerous blows to constitutional rights that will become a reality under the law. The bill, which is annually updated to outline spending for the Department of Defense, contains several provisions for 2012 that will turn America, as Senator Lindsey Graham puts it, “into a battlefield.” As the US continues an open-ended war on terror, now American citizens suspected to be linked to terrorist enemies can be detained in prison indefinitely and subjected to torture tactics previously outlawed.

Russia has renewed a call on the UN Security Council to launch an investigation into the killing of dozens of civilians during NATO's bombing campaign in Libya. - During a meeting of the 15-nation Security Council on Thursday, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin once again underlined the need for a probe into the NATO bombings in Libya, saying that the airstrikes during the Western military alliance's eight-month operations were "very disturbing." Churkin said a council-mandated investigation is vital, "given the fact that initially we were led to believe by the NATO leaders there are zero civilian casualties of their bombing campaign." He also reiterated that NATO has failed to provide the Security Council with details about civilian casualties.

الثّوّار يصوّرون القذّافي عاريا تماما

Thousands of Egyptians rallied in Cairo and other cities Friday to demand the military give up power and vent their anger after 17 people were killed in protests where troops beat and clubbed women and men even as they lay on the ground. - One image in particular from the five days of clashes that ended this week has stoked their fury: that of soldiers dragging a woman lying on the street so that her bra and torso were exposed, while clubbing and stamping on her. "Anyone who saw her and saw her pain would come to Tahrir," Omar Adel, 27, said in Cairo's Tahrir Square. "Those who did this should be tried. We can't bear this humiliation and abuse."

AWIP: Egypt women march against army in fury over abuse

According to Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, the cargo manifest of the M/S Thor Liberty on which 69 Patriot ground-to-air missiles were found listed the weapons as "fireworks". On Friday, officials announced the missiles were listed on the manifest as "rockets", which Kotka port officials had misinterpreted as meaning "fireworks". - Räsänen said that documents associated with the containers holding the missiles carried the name of a South Korean individual. The vessel which sails under the flag of the Isle of Man, was known to be carrying some 160 tonnes of legal explosives. These, however, were being transported in an unsafe manner. In addition to the explosives, officials discovered American-made Patriot missiles which were listed on the cargo manifest as fireworks. According to the Minister of the Interior, there has been no transit permit issued for the missiles by the Finnish Defence Forces.

YLE.fi: Impounded missile shipment of German origin
AWIP: In Finland 69 Patriot missiles found in a ship destined to South Korea

The Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, says Ankara has rescinded an agreement allowing French military planes to land, and warships to dock, in the country. This brings the conflict over a "genocide bill" proposed in France to the NATO level. - "We are re-evaluating our relations with France. We will take step-by-step measures, depending on how the situation unfolds", said PM Erdogan, accusing French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling party of "politics based on racism, discrimination, xenophobia." Turkey has frozen all contacts with France, and canceled any joint political, economic and military projects with the EU country. This includes joint maneuvers and an economic committee meeting in Paris in January. Access to Turkish airspace and military bases has been reduced to case-by-case scheme. Erdogan has confirmed Ankara is withdrawing the country's Ambassador to France. The ambassador, Tahsin Burcuoglu, is to leave on Friday. French Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Juppe has called Turkey not to "overreact" to the outcome of the vote, urging for "good sense and moderation," reports Reuters.

Global Post: French lawmakers pass Armenian genocide law
PressTV: Deep wounds open in Franco-Turk ties - On Thursday, the French National Assembly voted to back a law that would make it illegal for anyone in France to deny that the 1915 killings of Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide.

Chinese writer Chen Wei has been sentenced to nine years in jail for "inciting subversion of state power". - Mr Chen published several essays online calling for freedom of speech and reform of China's one-party system. He was among hundreds of dissidents detained earlier this year after online calls for protests in China inspired by the uprisings in the Middle East. He told the court he was not guilty and that "democracy will prevail" in China, say reports. Mr Chen has always insisted he was simply expressing his opinions as allowed under the Chinese constitution. His wife told the BBC the trial had been "a performance" and that the verdict had been decided before it began. The indictment against Mr Chen listed several essays he wrote for foreign websites on topics including pieces which criticised the political system in China and praised the growth of civil society.