The US National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of unwitting individuals via a secret court order issued in April obtained by The Guardian newspaper, which has posted it online. - Unlike warrants that have been issued to collect the information of suspects targetted by intelligence agencies, the newly disclosed top secret order requires Verizon, one of the largest telecom agencies in the US, to provide both the FBI and the NSA information on all telephone calls made through its systems, both domestically and to foreign countries. According to a copy of the order, Verizon is required to disclose the numbers of both parties during a call, as well as location, call duration, and other unique data on an "ongoing, daily basis.” Meaning that, regardless of whether an individual is suspected of or linked to any crime, the data of all Verizon customers is currently being delivered in bulk to the intelligence agency.

Two Secretive Israeli Companies Reportedly Bugged The US Telecommunications Grid For The NSA
The Guardian: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily
The Guardian: Obama administration defends NSA collection of Verizon phone records
ABC News: It is beyond Orwellian, and it provides further evidence of the extent to which basic democratic rights are being surrendered in secret to the demands of unaccountable intelligence agencies - VIDEO

Three children have died in a US killer drone strike carried out in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Kunar, Press TV reports. - The airstrike was conducted during the early hours of Thursday near the Pakistani border. Local officials said six other people, including women, were also injured in the attack. On May 20, at least eight people were killed and several others injured in a similar strike in the eastern province of Kapisa. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the US airstrikes in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few years, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.

About one of every four of those killed by drones in Pakistan between Sept. 3, 2010, and Oct. 30, 2011, were classified as "other militants,” the documents detail. The “other militants” label was used when the CIA could not determine the affiliation of those killed, prompting questions about how the agency could conclude they were a threat to U.S. national security. The uncertainty appears to arise from the use of so-called “signature” strikes to eliminate suspected terrorists -- picking targets based in part on their behavior and associates. A former White House official said the U.S. sometimes executes people based on “circumstantial evidence.”

Turkish police officers finds the semi conscious protester on the ground due to heavy use of gas, gang up on him and beat the protestor. When protester gains consciousness he asks what happened and police tells him he got hit by a stone thrown by other protesters. In the video you can see police shooting gas canister to the reporter and cameraman also trying to block the images.

A peaceful sit-in to protect one of Istanbul's last public parks has become a barometer of the country's discontent with its increasingly authoritarian government. But is it fair to label this protest a 'Turkish spring'? - It all started as a peaceful sit-in to save one of the last remaining public parks in a city of almost 14 million people. The government has been adamant about razing the park to rebuild the old Ottoman military barracks that once stood there and to then turn it into a museum or a mall. It was a decision that was made too fast and without proper public and media debate. Many people, who would opt for a public garden over a shopping mall, felt their voices were not heard by the politicians. Of these, some have ended up occupying Gezi Park. At the same time, the hashtag #occupygezi was launched, calling out for support and solidarity. As Koray Çaliskan, a political scientist from the Bosphorus University, wrote in the daily Radikal newspaper, these early protesters came from diverse ideological backgrounds, and among them were even people who had voted in the past for the party in power, the Justice and Development party (AKP). The harshness of the police treatment of those who occupied Gezi Park changed everything.

Photos here: #occupygezi (tumblr)
Pepe Escobar: Erdoğan risks the 'must go' path
Ece Temelkuran: People have killed their fear of authority - and the protests are growing
Russia Today: Erdogan to demolish park despite protests

[Puke Read:] French President Francois Hollande has been awarded the annual Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize by UNESCO for his decision to invade Mali. Hollande received the major prize from the United Nations' cultural organization during a ceremony in the French capital, Paris on Wednesday. The move has raised questions about how an armed foreign intervention can be worthy of such an accolade. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said during the ceremony that "All of us have reason to be proud of France's decision to stand by Mali - at the request of President Traore and with the support of the United Nations - to protect the peoples and culture of that country."

PressTV: French jobless rate rises to record high since 1998

MOSSAD/DEBKAfile: A large American military force disembarked Tuesday, June 4, at the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba - ready for deployment on the kingdom’s Syrian border, debkafile’s exclusive military sources report. The force made its way north along the Aqaba-Jerash-Ajilon mountain road bisecting Jordan from south to north, under heavy Jordanian military escort. Our sources disclose that this American force numbers 1,000 troops, the largest to land in Jordan since the Syrian civil war erupted in March 2012. They are members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Force carried aboard the USS Kearsage amphibious assault ship, which has been anchored off neighboring Israeli Eilat since mid-May. Upon landing, the marines took to the road in a convoy of armored vehicles including Hummers.

Documentaire sur la guerre en Syrie réalisé par Press TV: À l'ouest de la rivière Oronte (Anglais). Avertissement : Cette vidéo est destinée à un public averti. Elle contient des images qui peuvent choquer. Source: Press TV

"Syrian army regains strategic city of Qusayr". "The Syrian Army Takes Qusayr". Watch the Guardian try to downplay the significance using tweets from 'experts': "Syria crisis: Assad's forces retake Qusair - live updates" The significance is that the Syrian Army and Hezbollah have established that they can defeat the lung-eaters, even in well established positions, meaning that Syria can be saved. On to Aleppo!

PressTV: Liberation of Qusayr major blow to Israel, US: Hezbollah
The China Post: Syria army deals severe blow to rebels in key town
PressTV: Washington blasts Syria, Hezbollah for liberation of strategic town

Terrorist controlled areas are scenes of sectarian brutality, fear, kidnappings, mass murder, collective punishment, and pillaging - the obvious end game of Western-backed regime change. - We were first told that the so-called "rebels" were fighting for "democracy." As the West began to acknowledge that the "rebels" were in fact sectarian extremists, the narrative shifted to simply, "fighting to oust Assad." However, entire battles have been fought not between the Western-backed terrorists and the Syrian Army, but rather between the terrorists and local tribes, Kurdish militias, and virtually anyone who attempts to oppose the invading militants, many of whom are foreigners. Not only are the "rebels" not fighting for "democracy," they are not even fighting the Syrian government. Instead they are fighting to pillage the oil from a region they invaded and are currently occupying. What's worse is that the EU is attempting to lift sanctions on Syrian oil, specifically so these occupying sectarian extremists can further fund and expand their campaign.

Erdogan’s intrigues against Syria biting the dust. - Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lives in a world of foreign intrigue and mischief making. Now his penchant for dark forces seems to be rebounding on his government - with a vengeance. Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), accused of increasingly authoritarian tendency, are being challenged by nearly a week of widespread public protests across Turkey, which has even unnerved Washington and sent tourists and foreign investors fleeing. The protests, which began peacefully in Istanbul last Friday, have now spread to the country’s capital, Ankara, and dozens of other cities and towns in almost every province. The prime minister’s typically intransigent attitude and the excessive police violence towards the demonstrators have galvanized the general public further into demanding his resignation.

Evidence George W. Bush's advance knowledge of the attacks of September 11, 2001

A court in the southern city of Toulon sentenced a local man to a year in prison this week, with nine months suspended, after he racially abused a white man and later attacked him. - The assailant, aged in his thirties and of north African origins, was found to have shouted "You dirty white, I'm going to smash you. This is a place for Arabs," at the victim, who was in a carpark with five friends, both male and female, on the night of May 10th. The attacker, accompanied by his own entourage and already drunk, according to TF1 television, then punched and head-butted two of the group, who were all aged in their twenties. Police were called to the scene and arrested the assailant.