One of the most conservative Republican Congressman in the current House of Representatives – Steve Scalise from Louisiana’sHouse District 1 – is a co-sponsor of a bill that some say would allow the federal government to censor the internet. - The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would among other things give “Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice broad new powers to police the Internet,” according to California Congressman Darrel Issa. The issue has become a hot-button subject in the last few days, with internet giant Wikipedia going dark for 24 hours, and many other websites asking users to contact their senators and congressmen.

Russia Today: Web blackout ends: SOPA bleeding, but not dead
Jason Ditz: SOPA Co-Sponsors Abandon Bill Amid Massive Protests
BBC: Support wanes in US Congress for anti-piracy bill
Raw Story: Lawmakers turn against anti-piracy bills amid huge Internet blackout
Glenn Greenwald: Chris Dodd’s paid SOPA crusading
Stephen Lendman: Protesting Internet Censorship
Andre Damon: Wikipedia shuts down to protest censorship bills
AWIP: Stop American Censorship - PETITION

US authorities have issued eviction orders for an anti-Wall Street encampment in the New York State's city of Syracuse, as the protest campaign intensifies.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and the city's fire chief have served the protesters with a surprise 24-hour notice to abandon the protest encampment at the Perseverance Park. The officials have ordered the dismantling of the camp, citing alleged unsafe practices following a discovery of propane tanks and heaters at the camp. The Occupy protesters say they have been complying with the rules, vowing to remain and protect their peaceful assembly. "It's our constitutional right to peaceably assemble. So we are exercising our constitutional right," said Ryan O'Hara, an Occupy Syracuse protester. “Today is day 108 of our occupation. For 108 days they didn't see a problem. And, now suddenly they're making these excuses to get rid of us,” O'Hara said on Wednesday. The Occupiers say they have acquired the relevant permits and will do whatever it takes to comply with city ordinances.

An Iranian commander has warned that Tehran is on full alert in case of enemy threats, and has the best submarines in the world ready to “ambush and hit enemy vessels, especially US Aircraft carriers, from the seabed throughout the Persian Gulf.” - Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army's Self-Sufficiency Jihad Rear Admiral Farhad Amiri hailed the Iranian submarines as “the best electronic diesel vessels in the world, noiseless and able to easily evade detection as they are equipped with sonar-evading technology," the country’s semi-state Fars news agency reported. The Iranian military official said the vessels can fire missiles and torpedoes simultaneously, underlining that the submarines’ superiority was not just due to their arms and equipment, but also “the tactical issues are very important", given the geographical specifications of the waters surrounding the country. A submarine of this type sitting on the seabed can easily target and hit an aircraft carrier traversing nearby regions, hinting at the US aircraft carriers deployed in the Persian Gulf.

Leslie H. Gelb: Think Before Acting on Iran
Khaleej Times: Iran warns region against stance on Hormuz

Norway's head of intelligence Janne Kristiansen has handed in her resignation because she said too much during a parliamentary hearing. - Justice Minister Grete Faremo told reporters that a "potential breach of confidentiality is a very serious matter". According to a transcript, Ms Kristiansen told the hearing that Norway had agents working in Pakistan. Reports say Pakistan has asked Norway to explain her remarks. Ms Kristiansen resigned late on Wednesday night after meeting the justice minister. A ministry spokesman told the BBC News website that the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) chief had "drawn her own conclusions".

The Washington Post: Head of Norway’s intelligence service resigns after disclosure gaffe
Montreal Gazette: Norway security chief quits in Pakistan agents row
The Foreigner: Norway PST director resigns

AMSTERDAM, (PIC)-- Palestinians in Holland have declared their intention to seek a court order for the arrest of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on his visit to the Netherlands scheduled to start on Thursday. - The Palestinian home, a society formed by Palestinians living in the Netherlands, said in a statement on Wednesday that it would seek the court order in view of the Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity during the latest war on Gaza. It said that Netanyahu’s visit to Amsterdam, the headquarters of the International Criminal Court, posed as a blatant challenge to this court and to what it represents. The statement recalled that the Israeli war machine killed 1400 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and innocent civilians, in the course of three weeks of “genocide” against Gaza in 2008-2009 that also devastated the Strip’s infrastructure, places of worship, and hospitals. It pointed to the Goldstone report that condemned Israel for committing war crimes in that war, calling for reactivating the report and prosecuting the Israeli leaders for involvement in crimes against humanity. The society drew the attention to the new Israeli threats of waging a fresh and more brutal aggression Gaza within the few coming months, adding that the lack of concrete legal steps against Israel encouraged it to commit more crimes.

In its annual report regarding the humanitarian situation and human rights in the occupied territories, that was submitted to the Security Council on Wednesday, the United Nations (UN) reported that the Israeli siege on Gaza is an act of collective punishment that is directly impacting the daily lives of more than 1.6 million Palestinians living in the coastal region. The report, that was prepared upon an official Palestinian request, indicated that, comparing to 2010, is a %30 increase in the number of Palestinians who are impacted by the Israeli policies and occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It also revealed that the Palestinians are having more hardships when it comes to obtaining basic services, including food supplies. The UN further stated that Israel is still enforcing the siege on the Gaza Strip, adding that this siege is an act of collective punishment as it impacts all aspects of life, in addition to Israel’s severe restrictions on fishermen and farmers, in addition to its restrictions on the freedom of movement of the people and the goods, an issue that created health and educational hardships. The report also discussed what was described as the “complex situation” in occupied Jerusalem due to home demolitions, and the fact the residents became more isolated from the West Bank due to the Annexation Wall.

PIC: Israeli occupation authority serves demolition notices to three brothers in Nablus

Syria's powerful allies in Russia vowed Wednesday to block any Western attempts to intervene militarily in Syria as Damascus fights off an increasingly chaotic 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar Assad. - The support came as Assad was showing fresh confidence that he can ride out the uprising with the help of a small — but influential — set of friends in Russia, China and Iran. Iran also gave Syria another boost Wednesday. According to Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency, with the commander of Iran's Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, said Assad's government enjoys public support and won't collapse.

“Betraying” Their Own People … “Akin to Murder”. The New York Times reported last August:

The day after a giant tsunami set off the continuing disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, thousands of residents at the nearby town of Namie gathered to evacuate. Given no guidance from Tokyo, town officials led the residents north [to] a district called Tsushima …. The winds, in fact, had been blowing directly toward Tsushima — and town officials would learn two months later that a government computer system designed to predict the spread of radioactive releases had been showing just that. But the forecasts were left unpublicized by bureaucrats in Tokyo, operating in a culture that sought to avoid responsibility and, above all, criticism. Japan’s political leaders at first did not know about the system and later played down the data, apparently fearful of having to significantly enlarge the evacuation zone — and acknowledge the accident’s severity. “From the 12th to the 15th we were in a location with one of the highest levels of radiation,” said Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of Namie, which is about five miles from the nuclear plant ….The withholding of information, he said, was akin to “murder.”

A record 84 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the way the Congress is doing its job compared with just 13 percent who approve of how things are going, according to a Washington Post/ABC News public opinion poll published on Monday. - The disapproval rating for Congress inched up two percentage points since October and reflects a year of lows for Congress that ended in a battle over a temporary extension of the payroll tax cuts for 160 million Americans. Democrats and Republicans fought all last year over the best way to control the country's debt and annual budget deficit, as the two parties tried to position themselves for the 2012 elections.

A controversial inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing by the UK's security services is being scrapped. - Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said the inquiry into the treatment of detainees could not continue because of a new Metropolitan Police investigation. These follow fresh allegations that officials assisted the rendition of men to Libya, where they were tortured. Mr Clarke said the government was committed to holding a judge-led inquiry once these were investigated. The Detainee Inquiry, headed by retired judge Sir Peter Gibson, was launched by the prime minister to get to the bottom of claims that MI5 and MI6 had aided and abetted the rendition and ill-treatment of terrorism suspects in the wake of 9/11. In July 2010 when he announced the "fully independent" inquiry, David Cameron had said that to ignore the claims of wrongdoing would risk secret operatives' reputation "being tarnished". But the inquiry had been widely criticised by campaign groups and lawyers representing detainees who were refusing to take part, saying it lacked transparency and credibility.

As the 30th anniversary of the war between Britain and Argentina over the Malvinas Islands nears, the dispute over the territory is heating up once again. - Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota says all Latin American nations back Argentina against Britain over the disputed Malvinas islands, which Britain claims as its own, calling it Falklands. Latin America and the Caribbean "back Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas and back the UN resolutions calling on the Argentine and British governments to hold talks on the issue," Patriota said in a meeting with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in Brazil.

BBC: Argentina outraged at Cameron's 'colonialism' remarks - Argentine leaders have reacted with fury after UK Prime Minister David Cameron accused Argentina of "colonialism" for continuing to claim sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

Scientists are confirming a recent and rare invasion from Mars: meteorite chunks from the red planet that fell in Morocco last July.

This is only the fifth time scientists have confirmed chemically Martian meteorites that people witnessed as they fell. The fireball was spotted in the sky six months ago, but the rocks were not discovered on the ground in North Africa until the end of December. This is an important and unique opportunity for scientists trying to learn about Mars' potential for life. So far, no NASA or Russian spacecraft has returned bits of Mars, so the only Martian samples scientists can examine are those that come here in meteorite showers. Scientists and collectors of meteorites are ecstatic, and already the rocks are fetching big money because they are among the rarest things on Earth, rarer even than gold. [...] Most other Martian meteorite samples sat around on Earth for millions of years, or at the very least for decades, before they were discovered, which makes them tainted with Earth materials and life. These new rocks, while still probably contaminated because they have been on Earth for months, are purer.

The Blaze: Confirmed: Meteorites Did Hit Earth From Mars…And They Cost 10x More Than Gold

Intelligence officials claim Israeli drones collected data that helped Kurdish rebels set up training bases in Syria-Turkey border, Today's Zaman reports. - Turkish intelligence officials accuse Israel of aiding the Kurdish rebel group PKK, Turkish daily Today's Zaman reported on Tuesday. The paper quoted intelligence officials as saying that Israeli drone activity has been detected in the Hatay and Adana provinces in recent months, and that the unmanned aerial vehicles collected intelligence for the Kurdish rebels. Turkish intelligence officials have drafted a report detailing the activity of the drones, after two were recently detected flying over the country. According to the report, PKK training bases in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, "Were set up in areas that are known to be weakspots for the Turkish military, after they obtained intelligence collected by the drones." The intelligence report also charged that Kenan Yıldızbakan, a senior PKK member who commanded the 2010 attack against a Turkish Navy base in Iskenderun, visited Israel several times.

The UK has admitted for the first time it was spying on Russia six years ago with the help of a fake rock. The adviser to the then British PM Tony Blair called the incident embarrassing. - “They had us bang to rights,” Jonathan Powell told the BBC in an interview. He added that Russians must have known about the spying hardware for some time and exposed it at a politically opportune moment. In January 2006, a report on Russian television claimed there was proof British spies used electronic equipment hidden inside a fake rock to exchange information between agents and embassy staff. An agent would pass by and download data from his portable computer, while a diplomat would later collect it in a similar way. Four Britons involved in the spy ring have been identified by the Federal Security Service. Christopher Pierce, the diplomat who was said to have installed the secret link, was also responsible for financing Russian non-governmental organizations with British grants, and so was one of the other alleged spies, Mark Doe. The report implied that there may have been further links between the two sides of their jobs in Russia, and said the spy scandal “discredited the fine idea of NGOs.”

The Guardian: Britain admits 'fake rock' plot to spy on Russians