Police Clash With Demonstrators, Arrest Several. - Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Chicago again today, demonstrating against the NATO summit, with a focus on condemning the ongoing NATO occupation of Afghanistan. The size of the rallies was somewhat lower than expected, likely owing to the unreasonably hot weather. Rows of veterans were among those at the march. Dozens discarded their war medals, calling them “symbols of lies.” The first, Jerry Bordeleau, announced that “I choose human life over war.” As with yesterday, the demonstrators were steered around side streets by large numbers of police, who responded with baton attacks every time the marcher tried to move in an “unapproved” direction or became too boisterous. There were considerably fewer clashes today than on Saturday, likely again owing to the fatigue caused by the heat, but police still arrested a number of protesters, and by the end of the day at least 60 were arrested and a number of others wounded.

Lawyers for three protesters arrested on terrorist-related charges ahead of the Nato summit have accused police of entrapping them and encouraging an alleged bomb-making effort. The three were arrested on Wednesday night when members of the Chicago police department battered their way into an apartment in the Bridgeport area of the city. According to court documents released on Saturday, the three men considered targeting Barack Obama's re-election headquarters and the home of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. The Chicago police department said the men, described as self-proclaimed anarchists and members of the "Black Bloc" movement, were arrested on Wednesday and charged on Friday with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive incendiary device.

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Taliban fighters have destroyed fields of opium poppies in eastern Afghanistan this spring, the first time since 2001 the hardline Islamist group is known to have clamped down on the cultivation of a drug that provides a big part of its CIA's funding. - While the insurgents appear to have dug up a relatively small area of poppies in a remote area near the border with Pakistan, the move was so unusual it won a chorus of praise from the Afghan government and international organisations, whom the Taliban consider their enemy, as well as senior clerics.

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A former agent of the CIA has revealed that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has died of natural causes five years before the US announced his death. - In an interview with Russia’s Channel One, Berkan Yashar, who is also a Turkish politician, said the US has not killed the al-Qaeda leader.

“In September of 1992, I was in Chechnya, that’s when I first met the man whose name was Bin Laden. This meeting took place in a two-story house in the city of Grozny; on the top floor was a family of Gamsakhurdia, the Georgian president, who then was kicked out of his country. We met on the bottom floor; Osama lived in the same building,” Yashar said.

According to the former CIA agent, he personally knew Bin Laden’s three Chechen bodyguards, who had protected him until his death and witnessed his death on June 26, 2006. Yashar added that the CIA abducted one of the bodyguards, Sami, before the announced killing of Bin Laden last year. He says the bodyguard disclosed to the US the exact place of burial in the mountains. “There was no assault. I know the American operations from the inside: they find the grave, dig out bin Laden and tell everyone about this. They need to show how technologically the security services worked, how each step was controlled, and then present it as a great victory to show that taxpayers are not paying taxes for nothing,” he said. Washington announced on May 2, 2011 that Bin Laden was killed by US forces in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The lack of transparency over bin Laden's death has cast further doubt over the announcement.

China on Saturday rejected an annual Pentagon report that said Beijing is aggressively modernizing its military forces. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the report made irresponsible statements about China’s legitimate defense development and falsely claimed that the country presented a military threat.

“China is developing its limited military forces only to protect its national independence and sovereignty,” Hong said. “No country needs to worry if it harbors no hostility toward China.”

This year’s report, which was released Friday, describes an ambitious, fast-growing Chinese military program aimed at transforming the People’s Liberation Army into a modern force. It says its main goals include preserving Communist Party rule and preparing for possible hostilities with Taiwan.

B'Tselem releases video of clashes between settlers and Palestinians near Itzhar on Saturday; 24-year-old Palestinian wounded as a result of the shooting.

A new video released by B'Tselem on Sunday shows a settler allegedly firing live ammunition at Palestinians in Asira al-Qibliya, near Nablus, while soldiers stand idly by. The incident took place on Saturday, around 4:30 P.M, when a group of settlers, apparently from the nearby settlement of Izhar, came to the Palestinian village. In the video distributed by B'Tselem, a group that examines Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank, the settlers are seen throwing rocks at the village houses and residents. A few minutes into the video, some Palestinian youths arrive at the scene and start throwing rocks back at the settlers. Shortly after, as gunfire is heard in the background, soldiers arrive and stand beside the settlers. In the video, two of the settlers are armed; one with a pistol and one with an M-16 automatic rifle. They are seen aiming their weapons at the Palestinians and one seen firing at them, while soldiers do nothing to stop them.

The Maan News Agency reported that dozens of settlers hurled stones at Palestinian homes in the village, located close to the Yitzhar illegal settlement leading to clashes between the residents and the settlers. Medical sources reported that resident Nimir Fathi, 24, was seriously injured after being shot in the neck, while resident Ahmad Jibril, 30, was hit in the face by a stone hurled by one of the settlers. [...] Settler attacks in the area witnessed a sharp and serious increase as the settlers repeatedly invaded several villages and towns close to illegal Israeli settlements, and chased dozens of residents out of their own lands and orchards. Two days ago, a number of fundamentalist settlers set ablaze a car that belongs to a resident of Einabous village, near Nablus.

Denmark is set to introduce a labeling system to denote products made in Israeli settlements, Danish media said Friday. "This is a move that will clearly show consumers that this produce has been produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also the European governments have rejected," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal was quoted as saying by Danish online news-site Politken. "Then it is up to consumers whether they are prepared to buy the produce," he added.