Facing growing pressure to lift the secrecy around targeted killings overseas, the Obama administration is considering shifting more of the CIA’s covert drone program to the Pentagon, which operates under legal guidelines that could allow more public disclosure in some cases. John Brennan, whom President Barack Obama has nominated to run the CIA, favors moving most drone killing operations to the military, current and former U.S. officials say. As White House counterterrorism adviser for the last four years, Brennan has overseen the steady increase in targeted killings of suspected militants and [CIA's] al-Qaida operatives.

The Bureau: Naming the Dead: Bureau announces new drones project
The Bureau: Obama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals

The Israeli regime has delivered airborne electronic systems to Turkey, which will integrate the systems into its Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) military aircraft. - The reconnaissance systems have now arrived at a Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) facility in Ankara, and their integration into military aircraft purchased from the United States will be completed in the next few weeks, the Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman reported on Sunday. An unnamed senior Turkish defense official said that the US multinational aerospace and defense corporation, Boeing, had to intervene to resolve the standoff between Turkey and the Israeli regime over the systems. “Boeing told Israel that their refusal to complete the delivery was hurting their business, and Israel agreed to deliver the equipment,” the Turkish official said.

Today's Zaman: Israel delivers AWACS equipment to Turkey
AWIP: Turkey "retaliates" at Syria for a fifth day

This May 10, 2011 interview of Dr. Niels Harrit, Associate Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, was conducted by Michael Rudin of the BBC. The occasion was the making of a new BBC production in the Conspiracy Files series for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Copyright Niels Harrit.

Global Research: The 911 Truth Movement Goes to Court in the UK - Niels Harrit is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen and is one of the world’s leading experts on the scientific evidence that contradicts the official story of 9/11. Professor Harrit’s team of scientists in Copenhagen proved that there was nano-engineered thermitic residue, both ignited and unignited, throughout the dust of the three WTC towers. He led the team and published the peer-reviewed study in an official scientific journal. He is also an expert on the other aspects of scientific evidence indicating controlled demolition of the three towers. Professor Harrit was interviewed for a major documentary with BBC in 2011 where BBC clearly attempted to harass and discredit him rather than look at the scientific evidence, which was devastating to the official story of the destruction of the Twin Towers. Professor Harrit’s team took the precautionary step of recording this interview, as well as the interaction before and after the interview, which clearly shows the harassment and highly inappropriate conduct by BBC.

More than 300 Hazaras including labors and students were killed in today’s terrorist attack, a witness from Quetta city of Pakistan said.

Kabul Press: Bloody attack on Hazaras in Quetta: at least 50 killed and more than 200 injured
The Frontier Post: Karzai condemn deadly bombing in Quetta city of Pakistan
The Nation: Hazaras hold off mass burial till military acts
Pakistan Daily Times: Shias refuse to bury dead; demand military takeover
Jason Ditz: At Least 84 Killed in Quetta Bombing Targeting Pakistan’s Shi’ites

The US-Saudi Global Terror Network. Baluchistan, Pakistan - long target of Western geopolitical interests, terror wave coincides with Gwadar Port handover to China. - Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province, bordering both US-occupied Afghanistan as well as Iran, was the site of a grisly market bombing that has killed over 80 people. According to reports, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack. Billed as a "Sunni extremist group," it instead fits the pattern of global terrorism sponsored by the US, Israel, and their Arab partners Saudi Arabia and Qatar. ■ The terrorist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group was in fact created, according to the BBC, to counter Iran's Islamic Revolution in the 1980's, and is still active today. Considering the openly admitted US-Israeli-Saudi plot to use Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups across the Middle East to counter Iran's influence, it begs the question whether these same interests are funding terrorism in Pakistan to not only counter Iranian-sympathetic Pakistani communities, but to undermine and destabilize Pakistan itself. ■ While the United States is close allies with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it is well established that the chief financier of extremist militant groups for the past 3 decades, including Al Qaeda, are in fact Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While Qatari state-owned propaganda like Al Jazeera apply a veneer of progressive pro-democracy to its narratives, Qatar itself is involved in arming, funding, and even providing direct military support for sectarian extremists from northern Mali, to Libya, to Syria and beyond.

The Nation: Gwadar Port control goes to China today
The Nation/AWIP: Take note CIA: Gwadar Port control transferred to China!

An army unit inflicted heavy losses upon terrorists killing many of them, injuring others and destroying a number of their cars with all weapons and ammunition inside in al-Nabek area in Damascus Countryside province. - A military source told SANA that heavy losses were inflicted upon an armed terrorist group, killing all its members in Beir Wadi al Mal to the west of Qara city.

Tony Cartalucci: Hypocrisy: US Arms Al Qaeda in Syria, Mass-Slaughters Civilians in Afghanistan
PressTV/AWIP: US preparing for military invasion in Syria: Israel

Managers at the LGBT Center imposed the ban two years ago, succumbing to the threat of a donor boycott orchestrated by Michael Lucas, after Siege Busters, a group that had been meeting at the center for over a year, requested space to hold an Israeli Apartheid Week event. Lucas, a vocal opponent of Palestinian rights, is a pornographer whose work includes Men of Israel, a film featuring men having sex against the backdrop of the ruins of ethnically cleansed Palestinian villages.

The Israeli forces continued to open fire at the Palestinian civilians in the border area of the Gaza Strip. - 4 Palestinian civilians, including a child and a journalist, were wounded in the incursions conducted in the West Bank.

■ The Israeli forces conducted 77 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. At least 46 Palestinian civilians, including 8 children, were arrested in the West Bank. 6 children from the Gaza Strip were arrested when they attempted to cross the borders into Israel.
■ The Israeli forces continued to attack Palestinian fishermen in the sea. The Israeli forces opened fire at the Palestinian fishing boats, but neither casualties nor material damages were reported. 4 fishermen, including 2 children, were arrested and then released after the confiscation of their boat.
■ The Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against peaceful protests in the West Bank. 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child and a journalist, were wounded in protests against the annexation wall and settlement activities.
■ Israel has continued to impose a total closure on the oPt and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. The Israeli forces established dozens of checkpoints in the West Bank. At least 18 Palestinian civilians, including 11 children and a girl, were arrested at checkpoints. 2 of these detainees were arrested at Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, north of the Gaza Strip.
■ The Israeli forces have continued settlement activities in the West Bank, and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. 4 houses, 3 tents, a barrack, a water well and a grocery shop were demolished. The Israeli government approved the construction of 436 settlement units in the West Bank's settlements. The settlers continued their attacks on the Palestinian civilians and their property.

PIC: Israeli court acquits army, justifies its killing of Gazan family
IMEMC: Sharawna Moved To Soroka Hospital
Occupied Palestine | فلسطين: A Letter from Samer Issawi

The trial of Israel’s former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, accused of fraud and breach of trust, began on Sunday afternoon in Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, the Haaretz newspaper reported. - “Lieberman, who is charged with fraud and breach of trust in the appointment of Ze’ev Ben Aryeh as Israel’s ambassador to Latvia, entered a plea of innocence,” the paper said. Lieberman, a key ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the country’s most popular Russian-speaking politicians, is suspected of trying to advance the career of Ben Aryeh, a diplomat who provided him with confidential information about a separate police investigation into Lieberman’s business affairs. The trial will resume on April 25, with more hearings scheduled for April 30, May 2 and May 7. The case is being heard by three judges. During the trial, Lieberman won’t be able to keep his post in the Cabinet, but will continue to perform his duties as a member of parliament.

Stephen Lendman: Lieberman's Trial Begins - Lieberman represents Israel's true face. He and majority Israeli hardliners reflect a cancer in the body politic. They're an abomination. They consider Muslims subhuman. They deplore democratic freedoms. They prioritize persecution, violence and state terror. They legitimize institutionalized racism. They practice it in its worst form. They promote Arab hatred. They spurn rule of law principles. Lieberman belongs in prison, not government.

For all of those people that are dolphin watchers and were near San Diego got a real treat today. Thousands of dolphins spanning across seven miles of ocean were sighted off the coast of San Diego on Thursday, a boat captain told NBC, San Diego. - Capt. Joe Dutra of Hornblower Cruises said he saw a “super mega-pod” of common dolphins Thursday around noon while he was on his daily tour. He said the pod was more than seven miles long and five miles wide. Dutra said the boat tour followed the pod for more than an hour and said he’s never seen anything like it. “When you see something that is honestly truly beyond belief,” the captain said. Guests aboard the boat started screaming and pointing when they first saw the school of adult and juvenile common dolphins. Dutra estimated there were about 100,000 dolphins swimming in the area. “They were coming from all directions, you could see them from as far as the eye can see,” he said. “ I’ve seen a lot of stuff out here… but this is the biggest I’ve ever seen, ever.” Whale and dolphin watching tours have done particularly well this year, with dozens of animal sightings reported. Marine mammal expert Sarah Wilkin said the reason the large pod might be there is because there’s plenty of food in the area, including sardines, herring and squid. “They’re attracted to kind of the same thing, they might wind up in the same place,” she said. Though dolphins typically travel in groups of 200 or less, Wilkin said “super-pods” are not unheard of. “They’re definitely social animals, they stick together in small groups,” she said. “But sometimes, the schools come together.” Dutra, who’s been boating for decades, said he felt lucky to enjoy such a rare phenomenon. “You had to be there to experience it,” he said. “It was truly spectacular.”

Daily Mail: Mystery over the SEVEN-MILE long 'super mega-pod' of 100,000 dolphins spotted off the coast of San Diego - Video

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home to Venezuela early today after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery. - Chavez's return was announced in a series of message on his Twitter account, saying "we will continue our treatment here." "We've arrived once again in our Venezuelan homeland. Thank you, my God!!" the first of the three messages said. They were the first messages to appear on Chavez's Twitter account since Nov. 1. "I'm clinging to Christ and trusting in my doctors and nurses," Chavez said in another tweet. "Onward toward victory always!! We will live and we will triumph!!"

The fragments of a meteorite that hit Russia’s Urals on Friday, injuring more than 1,000 people in the area, have been found by scientists in Lake Chebarkul, in the Chelyabinsk Region.

“We have just completed the study, we confirm that the particulate matters, found by our expedition in the area of Lake Chebarkul indeed have meteorite nature,” Viktor Grohovsky of the Urals Federal University said. “This meteorite is an ordinary chondrite, it is a stony meteorite which contains some 10 percent of iron. It is most likely to be named Chebarkul meteorite,” Grohovsky said. NASA estimates the Russian meteorite was roughly 50 feet (15 meters) in diameter when it struck Earth's atmosphere on Friday, travelling faster than the speed of sound, and exploded into a fireball brighter than the sun. A flaming meteorite streaked across the sky and slammed into Russia’s Urals with a massive boom that blew out windows and damaged thousands of buildings around the city of Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,200 people in the area. According to the Health Ministry, 52 were hospitalized.

AWIP: Meteor explodes over Russia, 1,100 injured
Daily Mail: Collectors claim the space dust could be worth £6,500

Amsterdam steakhouse Piet de Leeuw has been selling horse fillets as beef for 63 years, owner Loek van Thiel admitted to the Parool on Friday. - On Thursday, Van Thiel had denied the charges, saying the cafe only sold South American beef. The Parool had various pieces of meat tested and concluded the cafe's popular steaks were horse. Van Thiel came clean on Friday, saying the cafe has sold horse since 1949 when his father, a horse meat butcher, bought the premises. Staff at the cafe have a contract which states they are not allowed to say anything about the use of horse. 'I've never considered saying 'horse steak' on the menus,' he said. 'People enjoyed their food, business was good, so why should I?'

Ramzi Yousef, convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, asks a judge to move him into a more open prison environment. Some agree his treatment is unconstitutional. - Ramzi Yousef, inmate No. 03911 at a federal "supermax" penitentiary, is serving life with no parole plus 240 years in a 7-by-11-foot cell with no bars and one small high window, far from other inmates, prison staff and the world beyond the fortress deep in the Colorado Rockies. He has been there for 15 years, in nearly 24-hour solitary confinement at the prison they call the "Fortress in the Rockies." Even his meals provide little relief, with the food trays shoved by unseen guards through a sally port between two steel doors. The only other inmate within shouting range has killed others in prison. Yousef, now 44, knows he will never go free.