Israel’s former prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has died at a hospital in Tel Aviv after eight years in coma, Israeli media reported. | Israeli Army Radio said the former premier died on Saturday at the age of 85. ● On January 4, 2006, Sharon suffered a stroke and went into a coma, from which he never recovered. He was being treated at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv. Sharon’s health condition deteriorated on January 1, after he suffered kidney problems following surgery. He was the prime minister of the Israeli regime from 2001 to 2006, and was directly responsible for war crimes against Palestinians and Lebanese. Jibril Rajoub, a top Palestinian official of the Fatah party, described Sharon as a criminal and expressed regret that he had never appeared before the International Criminal Court. ● Hamas also said the death of ex-Israeli prime minister was a "historic moment," that marks the "disappearance of a criminal whose hands were covered with Palestinian blood." Salah el-Bardaweel, a spokesman for Hamas noted in a separate statement that Sharon was a “criminal,” adding, "We pray to Allah that Sharon and all the Zionist leaders who committed massacres against our people to go to hell." "When the Palestinian people remember Sharon, they only remember pain, blood, torture, displacement and crimes. We will never feel sorry for his death," he added.

The UN/Ban Ki-moon: "Saddened by the death of Ariel Sharon"
Yahoo: No Palestinian tears for criminal Sharon
Gilad Atzmon: The Guardian Laments Sharon [01/06/14]
AWIP: Thoughts of Americans with Israel over Sharon: Kerry [01/04/14]
Robert Fisk: The forgotten massacre [09/18/12]
Sonja Karkar: On massacres, atrocities and holocausts: Sabra and Shatila... [09/17/10]
Jeffrey Steinberg: Ariel Sharon: Profile of an Unrepentant War Criminal [05/17/2002]

For the first time in history, most members of Congress are millionaires, according to a new analysis of personal financial disclosure data by the Center for Responsive Politics. ● Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 had an average net worth of $1 million or more in 2012, according to disclosures filed last year by all members of Congress and candidates. The median net worth for the 530 current lawmakers who were in Congress as of the May filing deadline was $1,008,767 -- an increase from last year when it was $966,000. In addition, at least one of the members elected since then, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), is a millionaire, according to forms she filed as a candidate. (There is currently one vacancy in Congress.) Last year only 257 members, or about 48 percent of lawmakers, had a median net worth of at least $1 million.

Le site www.dieudosphere.com sera dispo le 12 janvier 2014!!
Dieudonné de 2001 à 2013 - Où en est la liberté d'expression?

Russia has picked a spot where protests can be held during next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi and it is miles away from where the athletes will compete. ● Dmitry Kozak, a deputy prime minister overseeing preparations for the games, said Friday that a park in the town of Khosta will serve as the "protest zone." Khosta is on the Black Sea coast between the city of Sochi and the Olympic Park, about seven miles (12 kilometers) from the nearest arenas. Russia is most likely to expect protests from critics of its anti-gay laws or other rights abuses. The R-Sport news agency quoted Kozak as saying: "At the park in Khosta, people will be able freely to express their opinions without violating the rights of other citizens or the Olympic charter."

BlackListedNews/Izvestia: Russia’s FSB/FSO will monitor ‘negatively minded citizens’ through blogs and social networks

16 Others to Remain Pending Further Review ● Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed that 72 of the 88 detainees the Obama Administration is trying to keep in Bagram are now entirely cleared for release, with 45 of them totally cleared of any wrongdoing and 27 others lacking sufficient evidence to hold them. The other 16 aren’t facing trial either, with officials saying there’s not enough to prosecute, but they have enough evidence that they will continue to be held pending further review. That 88 were initially slated for release by the Afghan Review Board, which sparked US complaints that the board was never meant to have the power to release anybody, but was only meant to decide between prosecution and indefinite detention.

The Guardian: Afghanistan orders release of 72 Bagram jail prisoners

An international lawyer tells Press TV that the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance program is illegal under the US Constitution for not protecting Americans’ right to privacy. ● “The American Civil Liberties Union seems to have it right on this and that is under American law, the Constitution Article 4, 5, 9 and 14 protect a right to privacy and would outlaw this kind of behavior,” Franklin Lamb said in the interview on Friday. The commentator noted that the US government “has not reacted very significantly yet” to disclosures about NSA surveillance programs, leaked by Edward Snowden. “But the American people have spoken. If you accept the recent polls they show that 80 percent of the American public and as Amnesty indicated a higher percentage abroad want this NSA spy agency put under wraps and control,” he added.

The European Parliament has wrapped up its inquiry into mass surveillance. ● In a draft report, politicians are being hard on all sides - the US government, the NSA, but also on hesitant EU governments and companies. It was Thursday afternoon and the first week after the winter break – and it was hardly a surprise that only few seats were filled in room JAN 2Q2 at the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels. But Claude Moraes, British MEP from the group of Socialists and Social Democrats (S&D), woke the European Union from its winter slumber with a bang. The rapporteur of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) had come to present the 52-page draft report on the committee's inquiry into the NSA spying scandal and its implications on European citizens. The draft report is hard on all sides - including governments and companies in the EU.

You Tube: Friends of Israel — Enemies Inside the Gates

It cannot be said, too often or too loudly: The interests of a Nation's own Citizens must come first. The 9/11 cover-up is falling apart at the seams, and politicians should be made accountable, either for their ignorance about issues that affect their nation, or because they have been protecting the official story, knowing that is is false. Summary: Recently, political pressure has been brought to bear against a trades unionist for attempting to express his views about the events of 9/11, on Australia's publicly funded broadcaster, the ABC. This video redresses the balance, and makes it clear that Australia's prime minister is either ignorant, beyond belief, or she is putting the interests of nuclear, Apartheid Israel ahead of Australia's.

OpenSecrets.org: Millionaires' Club: For First Time, Most Lawmakers are Worth $1 Million-Plus

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been asked to examine the actions of former British cabinet members and troops over claims of torture in Iraq. ● The European Centre for Constitutional Human Rights (ECCHR) and the Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) firm said in a statement that they have filed a joint complaint to the ICC, calling for a probe into British war crimes in the war-torn country. In their 250-page complaint, the two NGOs called for a probe into the actions of senior British officials, particularly the former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and Minister of State for the Armed forces Adam Ingram for “systematic torture and abuse” of prisoners in Iraq between 2003 and 2008. Over the past few years, more than 400 Iraqi prisoners have contacted PIL, based in Birmingham, central England, alleging “serious abuse and humiliation” by British soldiers. According to the law firm, the allegations ranged from sexual and religious humiliation to physical violence.