US police have fired more than 90 rounds of bullets at a teenager in Los Angeles after a brief high-speed chase when he failed to stop for the police. - Abdul Arian was killed on the 101 Freeway in Woodland Hills on Wednesday night, The Los Angeles Times reported. Police said they noticed Arian driving erratically near the Northridge Fashion Center and tried to pull him over. But he refused and instead took them on a high-speed pursuit through city streets before pulling onto Ventura Freeway. Eight Los Angeles police officers fired more than 90 rounds, killing the 19-year-old teenager. His uncle Hamed Arian said the Arian family came to the United States from Afghanistan about 20 years ago. "We are all devastated," the uncle said. "We lost a young man who was a really good kid." Police said Arian called 911 during the chase and claimed to have a gun and made threats to the police. But, he did not have a gun.

LA Times: Police fired more than 90 rounds at man on 101 Freeway
International Business Times: Abdul Arian: Unarmed California Teen Shot At 90 Times On Live TV

White House 'Considering' Apology for Killing Pakistani Troops.

Yesterday’s statement from the Pakistani parliament has not changed anything, according to Obama Administration officials, who insist that drone strikes against Pakistan’s tribal area will continue over any objections. They also addressed reports that the reduction in attacks in recent weeks was an effort to placate Pakistan, insisting that the strikes proved how successful the assassination campaign has been, and that it has sent everyone into hiding. Pakistan’s statement demanded an “immediate cessation of drone attacks inside the territorial borders of Pakistan” and ruled out any NATO operations across border for any reason. The statement is the latest in a long line of moves by Pakistan to redefine its relationship with the increasingly unpopular US, which has picked up pace since the November 26 US attack on Pakistani army posts, which killed 24 soldiers. Officials say that the White House is “considering” apologizing for killing the Pakistani troops, but the sheer fact that it is only being considered several months after the fact, and then only because they are hoping to secure supply routes into occupied Afghanistan, is a big part of why relations with the US are a losing issue in Pakistan. [Photo: AFP/Getty Images]

PressTV: Pakistan’s parliament approves new guidelines for US ties
AWIP: Pakistan Summons US Envoy Over Balochistan Bill

Days before his arrest in Pittsburgh last month, Khalifa Ali al-Akili posted a remarkable message on his Facebook page: A mysterious man who spoke often of jihad had tried to interest Akili in buying a gun, then later introduced him to a second man, whom Akili was assured was “all about the struggle.” - It smelled, Akili wrote on Facebook, like a setup. “I had a feeling that I had just played out a part in some Hollywood movie where I had just been introduced to the leader of a ‘terrorist’ sleeper cell,” Akili wrote. When he googled a phone number provided by the second man, it turned out to be to Shahed Hussain, one of the FBI’s most prolific and controversial informants for terrorism cases. Soon the sting was off; Akili was subsequently arrested on gun — not terrorism — charges, which he has denied.

Obama approves aid package to Syrian 'rebels' [Oh. I thought there was a deficit? WHY are US taxpayers paying mercenaries and terrorists to destabilize foreign governments?] 13 Apr 2012 US President Barack Obama has approved non-lethal US aid, including communications equipment and medicines for Syria's 'rebels,' and plans to increase the package over time, a US official said Friday. The administration had previously indicated it would take such a step, in line with an initiative by the international "Friends of Syria" Exxon Mobil group to bolster opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Most of Iran's tanker fleet is now operating in "off-radar" mode. Tehran has ordered the captains of its 39-strong oil fleet to turn off the tracking devices aboard the tankers in order to disguise the destination of its oil shipments. - Only seven of Iran’s crude oil carriers are still visible via the AIS (Automatic Identification System) tracking system, Reuters reported on Friday. Neither the captains from the National Iranian Tanker Co nor the purchasers of Iranian crude have given any official comments on the situation. The report further says that according to some industry experts Iran’s tanker fleet was storing over 10 million barrels of crude oil by the time it vanished from radar screens. A European shipping industry expert suggested that some big Asian company or companies might have decided to purchase Iranian oil on the condition of secrecy to avoid being hit by Western sanctions. International law demands that all ships must be equipped with several kinds of tracking systems, including by satellite. However, the ship’s captain have the authority to turn off these systems due to safety reasons or upon the order from the ship’s owner. During the "liberation" of Libya, some tankers allegedly turned off the AIS in order to keep doing business with Libya amid the crisis.

Three European airlines have canceled the flights of passengers from the Airflotilla2, or flytilla, the campaign in which activists challenge Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories by flying into Tel Aviv and announcing to customs their intent to travel to the West Bank. - The campaign started last year with a similar "Welcome to Palestine" fly-in, where some were also refused entry onto their purchased departure flights, at the behest of Israeli security. Again, this year based on "Israel's orders," Lufthansa Airlines, Brussels Airlines and EasyJet all have canceled flytilla passenger tickets. As of today, European airlines have canceled up to 40 passenger tickets. Campaign organizers with Bienvenue Palestine also found the tickets of two passengers unaffiliated with the flytilla were included in the mass cancellations. Passengers also received cancellation notices from the other European airlines, stating "Israel Immigration Authorities have informed us that you will be refused entry to Israel and instructed us to refuse you carriage." Bienvenue Palestine posted the text of the notices. [...] The notices indicate airlines received a master "back list" from Israeli authorities, which was used to select the passengers that were kept from boarding flights. Though the methods used to compile the list are unclear, yesterday Ynet News confirmed Israeli border security did send airlines companies both a passenger black list, along with a letter advising the companies to bar those listed from boarding their flights.

Why have I been silent, silent for so long?,
Our generals have gamed it out,
Confident the west will survive.
We people have not even been considered.

What is this right to "preventive war"?
A war that could erase the Iranian people.
Dominated by it's neighbor, pulsing with righteousness
Smug in the fact that it is they, not Iran,
Who have the Bomb.

Roy Tov: Six Million Submarines: Israel and Germany sign agreement for sixth Dolphin submarine
AWIP: Germany To Provide Israel With A Sixth Submarine

The German writer Gunter Grass (The Tin Drum) had already predicted the response to his poem in SdZ. There is no reason to be surprised, but there is every reason to be disgusted. Within Germany both the elite and a layer of the population by their words and actions appear to have accepted the disgraceful Goldhagen thesis whereby all German were guilty for the crimes of the Third Reich. This thesis has now been developed further: all Germans are guilty for eternity for the crimes of the Third Reich.

Behind this thinking is the Zionist and Zionophile argument that the crime against the Jews of Europe was unique in the annals of history. This was true as far as the method of extermination was concerned, but not in any other way. The Belgians massacred the Congolese in greater numbers: over 10 million according to the historian Adam Hochschild. The killing of Armenians during the First World War was systematic and we could go on and discuss the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but comparing one massacre or genocide to another is a futile exercise. Raul Hilberg the most authoritative historian of the Judeocide was angered by the uses that were being made of that crime today.

Stefan Steinberg: German Left Party slanders Günter Grass
Stephen Lendman: Israel Declares War on Günter Grass
Gilad Atzmon: The Devil Sings Again
Stephen Lendman: Scoundrels Attack Günter Grass Truths
Gilad Atzmon: Art of Resistance – a comment on Günter Grass
Stephen Lendman: Günter Grass Addresses Israel's Nuclear Threat

Electronic Intifada Blog: What the Günter Grass controversy says about censorship in Europe

Fukushima Daiichi Site: Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than at Chernobyl Accident - Japan's former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, informed us that the total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is 11,421. I asked top spent-fuel pools expert Mr. Robert Alvarez, former Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Security and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy, for an explanation of the potential impact of the 11,421 rods... "Based on U.S. Energy Department data, assuming a total of 11,138 spent fuel assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi site, nearly all, which is in pools. They contain roughly 336 million curies (~1.2 E+19 Bq) of long-lived radioactivity. About 134 million curies is Cesium-137 -- roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP). The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel). It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet." [No, let's keep talking about whether or not Mitt Romney's wife works.]

George Zimmerman appeared in court for the first time Thursday after being arrested in connection with the killing of Trayvon Martin. Special Prosecutor Angela Corey announced Wednesday that Zimmerman, 28, is being charged with second-degree murder. - Zimmerman is charged with killing Martin as the 17-year-old African-American youth walked through a gated community in Sanford, Florida on February 26. Zimmerman’s arrest followed weeks of protests led by the young man’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, demanding the shooter be brought to justice. To prove a charge of second-degree murder, prosecutors must show that Zimmerman committed an “imminently dangerous” act showing a “depraved” lack of regard for human life. Unlike a charge of first-degree murder, premeditation does not need to be proved. A second-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of 25 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.