| Hard News
Syria: Rebels kill 53 with huge car bomb:
The car bombing was the deadliest attack inside Damascus in nine months and within hours, two other bombings and a mortar attack on the military compound followed.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar press for more help to Syrian rebels:
The two Gulf Arab states rooting for President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow appear to be chafing at Western pressure to keep out of the fight, arguing that building ties through aid and advice to favored opposition groups is the only way to ensure other, hardline Islamist factions are sidelined.
$100m Qatar aid to Syrian opposition:
Close on the heels of a decision to hand over the Syrian Embassy in Qatar to the Syrian opposition, Qatar provided financial support worth $100m to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
Syrian opposition says Assad cannot be part of deal:
The opposition Syrian National Coalition is willing to negotiate a peace deal under U.S and Russian auspices to end the country's civil war but President Bashar al-Assad cannot be a party to any settlement, a document drafted for an opposition meeting said.
Libya transporting weapons and fighters to Syria:
Among the non-Syrians reported to be fighting alongside the rebel forces are Americans, Syrians, Moroccans, Libyans, Egyptians, Bosnians, and others.
Who just started arming Syria rebels?:
In one of the most strangely neglected stories in the two-year Syria conflict, beginning on January 1, four new weapon models began appearing in large quantities in Daraa province, none used at any time by the Syrian military.
Yemen army kills six protesters:
Security forces opened fire to disperse secessionist protesters in the south Yemen port of Aden and a nearby town on Thursday, killing at least six people, medical sources and witnesses said.
4 killed in Iraq attacks:
At least four people were killed on Thursday in two separate attacks north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, said police, amid rising sectarian and political tensions in the country.
Explosions kill 20, wound 52 in India:
The explosive devices were installed on bicycles and went off just after dusk in the Dilsukh Nagar area of Hyderabad in a market place, AFP reports. The area is a crowded neighborhood of cinema halls, shops, restaurants and a fruit and vegetable market.
Afghanistan: Officials claim of killing 15 Taliban killed:
The dead included two Taliban commanders identified as Qari Muhammad Ilyas and Muhammad Omari, four Pakistani nationals and two would-be suicide bombers, a Laghman press office statement available with the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.
Afghanistan: 6 killed in raid on house:
NATO officials said they were unable to confirm the details regarding the operation, but the military alliance said two Afghan-NATO joint operations took place in Kunduz province.
Pakistan: Peshawar mobile market blast, one killed, 18 injured:
Sources added, that the bomb was a timed device that used between 1 and 1.5 kilograms of explosive material. According to police officials a CD shop was the target of the blast.
Senator says US drones killed 4,700 people:
"Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we're at war."
Gunmen kill 7 in Indonesia:
Unidentified gunmen have shot and killed seven people in separate attacks against the Indonesian army in the restive easternmost province of Papua.
Iran resumed conversion of higher-grade uranium for fuel production in December - IAEA:
Tehran's stockpile of 20% enrichment uranium reached 167 kilograms this month after production was resumed in December, says the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran has also begun installing advanced enrichment centrifuges, according to the report.
Propaganda:
France confirms 'substantial' new offer to Iran:
France on Thursday confirmed that world powers will make a "substantial" new offer to Iran in a bid to resolve the dispute over its nuclear programme at talks next week in Kazakhstan.
'Iran halted military nuke program for diplomacy';
Iran halted its military nuclear plans due to diplomatic pressures when the US - posturing for war back in 2007 - claimed it was trying to develop a nuclear weapon, former chairman of the national intelligence council Thomas Fingar tells RT.
Iran nuke would not start arms race in Mideast:
RIYADH Fears that an Iranian nuclear weapon might trigger an atomic arms race across the Middle East are overplayed, a US security thinktank has said, arguing that countries such as Saudi Arabia face big disincentives against getting the bomb.
Israel: Iran closer than ever to nuclear bomb:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on February 17, 2013. Iran is "closer than ever" to the ability to build a nuclear bomb, Israel said on Thursday, as a new UN report said Tehran has begun installing next-generation equipment at one of its main nuclear plants
Report: Zygier was not alone in Mossad recruitment:
Two other Australian-Israelis, Paul Y. and David Z., were working for Mossad out of a Milan base, which specialized in the sale of satellite communications technology, and a front for the Israel foreign intelligence service Mossad.
Bulgaria did not request EU blacklist Hezbollah: envoy:
Bulgarian Charge d'Affaires to Lebanon Plamen Tzolov said Thursday his government did not request that Hezbollah be blacklisted as a terror organization when it submitted its report to the European Union into the 2012 Burgas bus bombing that killed five Israeli citizens.
'Friends of Hamas': My role in the birth of a rumor:
A Daily News reporter explains how he inadvertently created the myth that Chuck Hagel spoke to a non-existent group.
Republican senator Rubio in Israel:
Speaking with President Peres, Rubio affirmed his commitment to Israel's security.
More than 60 injured in West Bank protests over hunger strikes:
One of those being held, Samer Issawi, has been on a hunger strike for more than 200 days, reported BBC. He is said to weigh less than 50kg (110lbs).
Israeli "settlers" torch Palestinian cars:
Armed settlers attacked a village south of Nablus overnight Thursday and torched six cars, a Palestinian Authority official said.
Collaboration between IDF, "settlers" reaching point of no return:
Israeli "democracy" is being severely compromised by the army's collaboration with the settlers, and the fact that more and more Israeli citizens now see the occupation as the natural order of things.
Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat detained, questoned at Los Angeles airport:
A Palestinian filmmaker on his way to the Academy Awards said on Wednesday he was held at Los Angeles International Airport and threatened with deportation before being allowed into the United States.
Israel approves oil drilling in the occupied Golan Heights:
Israel has given permission for an American based energy company to drill for oil in the Golan Heights, a plateau it captured from Syria in 1967.
Kenya: 10 killed as gunmen open fireat mosque near Somalia border;
Villagers told the BBC that 10 gunmen opened fire as people were leaving the mosque after early morning prayers.
Mali rebels fighting in Gao; car explodes in Kidal;
Islamic extremists clashed with military in Mali's northern city of Gao, a military official said Thursday, as French forces continued their push to eliminate remnants of al-Qaida-linked fighters who had controlled northern Mali.
In a world gone crazy:
French President François Hollande awarded UNESCO peace prize:
"Having assessed the dangers and the repercussions of the situation on Africa, and on Mali in particular, as well as on the rest of the world, the Jury appreciated the solidarity shown by France to the peoples of Africa," Mr. Chissano said after the Jury's meeting in Paris.
Morsi set to call for presidential elections in April: Reuters;
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will call parliamentary elections starting in April, a presidential source told Reuters on Thursday, adding that the vote would be held in three or four stages.
US is to launch unprecedented counter-attack on Chinese hackers accused of stealing state secrets:
A series of personal attacks on Chinese hackers is to be launched, with the US naming perpetrators and bringing lawsuits and fines.
'Not based in fact': China angrily denies being behind widespread US hacking:
China's military on Wednesday responded angrily to accusations by an American computer security company of systematic hacking of U.S. business and military interests, arguing it "lacked technical proof and was "not based on fact."
Putin warns Obama:
"Any kind of direct or implicit interference with Russia's home affairs, all sorts of pressure being exerted on our country and our allies - is absolutely unacceptable."
Aaron Swartz files reveal how FBI tracked internet activist:
Firedoglake blogger Daniel Wright publishes once-classified FBI documents that show extent of agency's investigation into Swartz
White House targets WikiLeaks and LulzSec in cyber-espionage report;
Amid a growing call for new cybersecurity protections in the United States, the US government has issued a report that reconfirms Washington's interest in shutting down WikiLeaks and other underground information-sharing organizations.
Haiti's 'Baby Doc' Duvalier avoids appearing in court:
Haiti's former ruler Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier has been ordered to appear in court in Port-au-Prince after failing to attend a hearing. Relatives of some of those allegedly killed or tortured by his militias in the 1970s and 1980s want him charged with crimes against humanity.
HRW: Mexico security forces colluded in disappearances:
The group has documented almost 250 disappearances during the term of former President Felipe Calderon.
Towns to pay $3.5M in deadly cop raid: -
Five years ago, a heavily armed special weapons and tactics team charged into a small ranch home in Easton -- guns drawn and flash grenades exploding -- and killed a Norwalk man who was quietly watching porn on TV in the den.
JPMorgan Chase Hid Mortgage Flaws From Investors, Emails Suggest:
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has tried his best to suggest that the financial crisis was someone else's fault. But a batch of court documents released this week undermine this claim, indicating that the bank knew the mortgage investments it sold were seriously flawed.
Zombie foreclosures:
Borrowers hit with debts that won't die: Borrowers are discovering that their foreclosed homes are coming back to haunt them -- long after they have moved out.
Wal-Mart: "Families Are Adjusting To A Reduced Paycheck And Increased Gas Prices":
February sales started slower than planned, due in large part, to the delay in income tax refunds. We began seeing increased tax refund check activity late last week in our stores
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"Let us be peace and joy"
Tom Feeley
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