Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55239U20090603

Israel is not planning to bomb Iran, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday, addressing speculation it might launch a military operation to destroy the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power, has repeatedly described Iran's uranium enrichment as a threat to its existence and has said all options were on the table in preventing Tehran from building atomic weapons. AntiWar: War With Iran: Has It Already Begun? Obama, with his peace overtures, serves as the smiley-face mask for some pretty loathsome activities. [T]his public performance is severely undercut by an ongoing covert program aimed at regime-change in Tehran – or, at least, at undermining the Iranian regime to such an extent that it must respond in some way. The U.S. government claims to be fighting terrorism, yet is sponsoring groups that plant bombs in mosques, kidnap tourists as well as Iranian policemen, and fund their activities with drug-running in addition to covert subsidies courtesy of the U.S. taxpayers. The recent suicide bombing in Zahedan was the work of Jundallah. These are war crimes, carried out with the full knowledge of the leaders of both parties in Congress, paid for by you and me, and conducted in our name.

Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ggUtq3Mx9csdaQ6SjekFIAnF16NA

"Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on Wednesday scorned Barack Obama's overture to the Islamic world and warned of decades of conflict, at the start of the US president's Middle East charm offensive." [Note that AFP takes for granted that CIA asset Osama bin Laden is still around. He's not. -He's dead.] Probe into 'Bin Laden death' leak: "President Jacques Chirac has ordered an inquiry into the leak of a French secret service memo claiming that Osama Bin Laden had died." ■ Benazir Bhutto Confirms that Osama Bin Laden is Dead (Video): "In an interview only months before her death, Bhutto, possibly unintentionally, admitted that Bin Laden had been killed. She refers to someone as "the man who killed Osama Bin Laden"" ■ Bin Laden may be dead, but living on through old sound bites: "U.S. intelligence agencies are beginning to suspect that Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden is dead after all, despite a recent audio tape exhorting Al Qaida terrorists in Iraq." ■ Israeli intelligence: Bin Laden is dead, heir has been chosen: "Osama Bin Laden appears to be dead but his colleagues have decided that Al Qaida and its insurgency campaign against the United States will continue, Israeli intelligence sources said." ■ Osama bin Laden: A dead nemesis perpetuated by the US government: "Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December [2001] and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information. The remnants of Osama's gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama's ghost alive or because they have no means of communication." ■ If bin Laden was dead, Would the U.S. admit it? ■ Report: Bin Laden Already Dead: "Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader."

Link: http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/after-almost-a-year-israeli-government-maintains-its-silence-on-the-brutal-beating-of-a-palestinian-journalist/

It is almost a year since Mohammed Omer was brutally beaten, almost to death, by Israeli forces upon reentering Israel on his way back to Gaza. Mohammed was returning from a trip to Europe where he was the recipient of the Martha Gelhorn Prize for Journalism.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/02/brazil.france.plane.missing/index.html

Debris located early Tuesday in the Atlantic Ocean off the northeast coast of Brazil is wreckage from the Air France jet that disappeared Monday, Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said. No survivors have been found, he said. Jobim made the announcement after meeting with relatives and friends of Brazilians who were among the 228 people aboard Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, France. Two debris fields were found about 650 km (400 miles) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha Islands, an archipelago 355 kilometers (220 miles) off the northeast coast of Brazil -- or at latitude 2 north, longitude 30 west, the Ministry of Defense said on its Web site.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.com/roberts06022009.html

Economic news remains focused on banks and housing, while the threat mounts to the US dollar from massive federal budget deficits in fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

Link: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Tiananmen_memories_spur_desire_for_change.html?siteSect=105&sid=10775215&cKey=1244015241000&ty=st&sb=red

Twenty years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, protest leader Han Dongfang tells swissinfo.ch China is making positive changes but needs to address corruption. The bloody crackdown on protestors on June 3 1989 led, officially, to 241 deaths and 7,000 injured. Several sources have put the actual death toll in the thousands, although it is unlikely that the true figure will ever be known. The massacre is acknowledged all over the globe except in China, where censorship has completely obscured the events. Nevertheless Han, who now lives in Hong Kong, is optimistic that the tide has turned regarding Chinese human rights policy. A former electrician on the Chinese railways, in 1989 he founded the first independent trade union in China. In the spring of that year workers and students became mobilised in Beijing and Han went on to become their leader. After June 3, Han jumped on his motorbike intending to explore the country for a few years. But after just ten days, television and posters said there was a price on his head for involvement in revolutionary actions. He handed himself into the police and landed in prison, where he languished for 22 months, enduring torture and contracting tuberculosis. His jailors eventually released him, for fear of being held accountable for his death.

Link: http://www.providingnews.com/world-became-less-peaceful-in-2008-3rd-annual-global-peace-index-points-to-economic-crisis-as-main-cause-of-decline-in-peacefulness.html

There is a clear correlation between the economic crisis and the decline in peace. This confirms that there is a real-world economic value for peace. It creates an environment where it is easier for workers to produce, business to sell, entrepreneurs and scientists to innovate and governments to regulate, and that in turn creates wealth. GapReminder: Life expectancy Vs Income/person across the world over 2 centuries [map].

Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/netanyahu-cites-secret-deal-with-bush-to-justify-more-settlements-1695486.html

The Israeli government of Benjmain Netanyahu is seeking to deflect Washington's demand for a total settlement freeze by complaining that it ignores secret agreements between his predecessors and the Bush administration that construction in existing Jewish settlements could continue. The rift between Mr Netanyahu's government and the US appeared to deepen yesterday, with a clear declaration by President Barack Obama that a freeze – including on "natural growth" of West Bank settlements – was among Israeli "obligations".

Link: http://ourbombs.com/striketracker#recent

The Air Strike Tracker chronicles every reported U.S. air strike that has affected civilians since September 11, 2001. The visual interface makes information about each bombing incident from numerous sources highly accessible, often providing the ability to view online videos and other relevant media. You can browse incidents by location, date, or tags (e.g. unmanned drones, official investigations, local protest). The Air Strike Tracker is an ongoing project, and we will continue to update the underlying data as new information is obtained.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090602101258.htm

Findings revealed that being held captive in a hostile and life-threatening environment, deprivation of basic needs, sexual torture, psychological manipulations, humiliation, exposure to extreme temperatures, isolation, and forced stress positions appear to cause more psychological damage than physical torture.

Link: http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/robo-sub-nereus-scales-the-deepest-trench-photo-released/

Nereus the robotic submarine developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has reached the depths of the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean on May 31, becoming only the third craft to reach the abyss in history.