Lacey Buchanan never dreamed that a Youtube video she created about her blind baby boy and his rare cleft palate condition would spread virally, racking up some 7 million views and delivering hundreds of personal messages of support to her Facebook and email inboxes.

[VIDEO] In the seven-minute video, which she made using her iPhone, the 25-year-old mother from Woodbury, Tenn., describes the triumph of witnessing 14-month-old Christian's giggles in the face of the constant stares and whispers they encounter in public when strangers see her baby.

In the video, Buchanan faces the camera while holding Christian to her chest without revealing his face, the boy's tousled blond hair the same shade as hers. Her expressive face turns from beaming to tearful as she wordlessly holds up signs and photos to the camera, describing how thrilled she and her husband were to learn of her pregnancy, the difficult news that their unborn son would have a cleft palate, and their joy that he was born alive, since doctors worried that his internal organs wouldn't be fully formed and that he wouldn't be able to breathe properly on his own.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is headed to Washington DC on Monday, with plans for him and his US counterpart Leon Panetta to officially announce $680 million in additional US military aid to Israel. - The Pentagon initially cooked up this most recent plan to increase aid to Israel, pushing for the House Armed Services Committee to authorize the funding for the “Iron Dome” missile defense program in late March. The committee quickly did so. Officials pushed for the new funding to increase the number of such defensive missiles along the border with the Gaza Strip, after Israel’s March bombardment of the strip and subsequent return-fire ended with a “malfunction” and rockets causing minor damage.

AWIP: Israel seeks multi-year-long US military "aid" [04/05/12]

A leaked US Air Force document stipulates a drone that happens to capture surveillance images of Americans may store them for a period of 90 days. The paper appears to justify spying on citizens, as long as it is “incidental.” - The document accepts that the Air Force may not record information non-consensually; however it does state “collected imagery may incidentally include US persons or private property without consent.” The report, dated April 23 was discovered by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists and has been put online. Data that is accidentally recorded may be stored for a period of 90 days by the Pentagon while it is analyzed to see if the subjects are legitimate targets for state surveillance. The Pentagon may also disseminate this data among other government organizations if it sees fit.

An assassin apparently armed with a silenced pistol has killed one of the top members of the Afghan peace council today, doing serious damage to the efforts by the Afghan government to engage in reconciliation talks with the Taliban. - The attack happened at a traffic intersection in the capital city of Kabul. The negotiator, Arsala Rahmani, was struck with the only shot fired, and died on his way to the hospital. No group has claimed responsibility, and the Taliban denied ordering the killing. This is the second time in less than a year that a major member of the peace council has been assassinated. In September, former Afghan President Rabbani was killed by a suicide bomber posing as a negotiator for the Taliban.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the NATO military alliance of underreporting civilian casualties during its campaign against the regime of slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. - The rights organization accused NATO of failing to acknowledge the scope of collateral damage caused by its airstrikes, urging the alliance to compensate civilian victims and launch a probe into the deaths of the civilians killed in the aerial attacks. “Attacks are allowed only on military targets, and serious questions remain in some incidents about what exactly NATO forces were striking,” said Fred Abrahams, a special adviser at HRW and principal author of the latest report of the organization on NATO’s Libya campaign. The report claims to be the most extensive investigation into the death toll of NATO air assaults, presenting a higher death toll estimate than the one given in an Amnesty International report released in March.

Mr Ritchie helped save 500 despairing souls - usually with little more than compassion, a warm smile and a hot cuppa.

He spent 50 years coaxing desperate people back from The Gap, the notorious cliff at Watsons Bay where hundreds have died or thought about taking their lives. "Those who knew him knew he was a very strong person and a very capable person," Mr Ritchie's daughter Sue said today. Federal MP Malcolm Turnbull, whose electorate includes The Gap, added: "A true hero, one of our greatest Australians. RIP." New South Wales Mental Health Minister Kevin Humphries recalled when Mr Ritchie was named a Local Hero in the 2011 Australian of the Year Awards. Upon accepting the award Mr Ritchie urged people to

"never be afraid to speak to those most in need," he said. "Always remember the power of the simple smile, a helping hand, a listening ear and a kind word."

A funeral will be held in Sydney on Friday.

Wentworth Courier: "Angel of the Gap" Don Ritchie dies, aged 85

Sydney Morning Herald: Death of the Angel of The Gap: the man who saved the suicidal from themselves - For almost half a century, Don Ritchie would approach people contemplating suicide at the edge of The Gap, just 50 metres from his home in Watsons Bay, his palms facing up. Mr Ritchie told his daughter Sue Ritchie Bereny he would smile and say: "Is there something I could do to help you?"

George W. Bush and several other members of his administration have been found guilty of war crimes by the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War. - In a unanimous vote on Saturday the symbolic Malaysian war crimes tribunal, part of an initiative by former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, found the former US President guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seven of his former political associates, including former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, were also found guilty of war crimes and torture.

Israel should consider cutting its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip this summer if it experiences power shortages, Israeli Environment Minister Gilad Erdan [has] said. - Erdan, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, outlined the proposal in a letter to ministers, who were scheduled to discuss the issue in their Sunday cabinet meeting. "If there are power shortages in Israel this summer, the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip should be halted... It represents 4.5 percent of Israeli production," the letter said.

Five foreign activists declared they were going on hunger strike during a visit to a sit-in tent in Beit Ummar, north of Al-Khalil, pitched in solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails.

An American activist said that she along with four others from the UK, Norway, and Japan were going on hunger strike in solidarity with those prisoners, who have been on hunger strike for almost a month. She said that they would send messages to their foreign ministries informing them of their hunger strike to pressure them into convincing the Israeli government to improve the incarceration conditions of Palestinian prisoners.

Linah Alsaafin: Empty Stomach Warriors: Thaer Halahleh - All in The Name

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Why so little condemnation of Israel's extremism? - Thaer Halahleh wrote a letter to his wife Shireen from an Israeli jail in February: "My detention has been renewed seven times and they still haven't charged me. I can't take it any more." Then the 34-year-old began a hunger strike, as did Bilal Diab. That was 77 days ago. Both are Palestinians, fathers, whose young daughters are strip searched and terrified when they visit.

Mr Watson tweeted late on Sunday: "I am currently being held in Frankfurt on charges from Costa Rica. Court appearance in the morning." The German warrant related to an "alleged violation of ships traffic" which took place in Guatemalan waters in 2002, the group said, when it "encountered an illegal shark finning operation" - referring to the practice of catching sharks, slicing off their valuable fins and returning the shark to the water where it will usually die. On order of the Guatemalan authorities, the group says, it instructed the crew of the Costa Rican vessel in question, the Varadero, to head back to port to be prosecuted. "While escorting the Varadero back to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew," the statement claims. "The crew of the Varadero accused the Sea Shepherd of trying to kill them, while the video evidence proves this to be a fallacy. "To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat, Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where they uncovered even more illegal shark finning activities in the form of dried shark fins by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings." Media cite Costa Rican reports as saying Mr Watson also faces an outstanding warrant for attempted murder stemming from the same incident.

Saudi Arabia and the tiny, troubled kingdom of Bahrain are expected to push toward a broad security and economic union on Monday, an agreement that regional power Saudi Arabia hopes will spur a similar tightening of ties with other Gulf countries.

Last December, Saudi King Abdullah, perceiving the Gulf as surrounded by revolutions and under encroachment by Shiite Muslim Iran, made an impassioned appeal for fellow Sunni Muslim royals to join forces. "You all know that we are targeted in our safety and security," he told the kings, emirs and sultans of the Gulf, who were gathered in their gold-braided black cloaks for a summit in a gilded palace in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

At Monday's summit in Riyadh, the other leaders of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council could signal their response to the king's appeal. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are strongly signaling that they want a union to formalize what has, since the Arab Spring, become a tight, security-focused alliance between the two neighbors.

PressTV: Saudi merger plan with Bahrain similar to Hitler’s Anschluss: Analyst - Video

Avid texters beware: Fort Lee, N.J. police said they will begin issuing $85 jaywalking tickets to pedestrians who are caught texting while walking. - “It’s a big distraction. Pedestrians aren’t watching where they are going and they are not aware,” said Thomas Ripoli, chief of the Fort Lee Police Department. Ripoli said the borough, which is home to approximately 35,000 residents, has suffered three fatal pedestrian-involved accidents this year. He hopes his crackdown on people who display dangerous behavior while walking will make his town safer, but not everyone is on board with the idea of issuing $85 tickets. “When I walk I still look around. I’m not like constantly looking down the whole time,” said resident Sue Choe.