News Clips: February 3

Recently released Guantanamo prisoners return to terrorism
NEFA - A recently obtained and translated video from the Al-Qaida organization released January 23 features two former inmates at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay who have returned to senior positions within Al-Qaida. Notable quotes are "By Allah, our imprisonment has only increased our persistence and adherence" and "we will serve as a buttress for the jihad to expand." Later in the video, former Gitmo prisoner, Mohammed al-Awfi, threatened the camera, saying "we say to the Christian countries ... by Allah, we are surely coming for you! And we say to ... those who gaurd the Jews and the Christians: repent to Allah." While the closing of Guantanamo bay was seen as a victory by a few, it has bolstered the terrorism community at large by releasing known terrorists.


Hamas receives terrorist support
Brietbart.com - Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of recieving weapons from the known terrorist country of Iran. Iran denies it, but it has admitted to supporting Hamas financially, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Khaled Mashaal, who heads the Hamas leadership, said "You are our partners in the victory in Gaza," in public thanks to Iran for support. Saeed Laylaz, a prominent Iranian political analyst, said Iran was unlikely to cut of the cash flow to Hamas completely, even with tumbling oil prices, because Hamas is "important for Iran's foreign policy toward America."


Oil prices continue to fall, fuel prices expected to increase
AP - Oil prices for March delivery fell to $40.22 a barrel, even though retail gasoline has been rising for a month as refiners cut back production. Last week nearly 24,000 refinery workers threatened to strike while Gasoline futures tumbled 9 percent. After a year when oil prices soared to a record $147 a barrel in July only to collapse to $33 in December, crude has traded in the low $40 range for the last week or so as investors eye weakening crude demand matching OPEC production cuts. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has promised to slash output by 4.2 million barrels and has suggested more production cuts may be on the way.


Treasury Department to borrow money. Again.
AP - The Treasury Department says it will need to borrow $493 billion in the first three months of this year, a record amount for the January-March period. The Treasury Department says that figure comes on top of $569 billion the government borrowed from October through December, the all-time high for any quarter. The huge amounts of borrowing in the first six months of the budget year reflect the impact of soaring costs to cover the $700 billion financial rescue program and a deepening recession that has cut into tax revenues.


Personal Trainer putting on the pounds
News.com - A personal trainer from Melbourne, Australia, is on a bacon and chocolate milk diet to stack on 40kg to better understand obese gym clients. Paul "PJ" James, a Coburg model who has strutted catwalks in Milan and Tokyo, is halfway to his goal of reaching 120kg. He plans to stay at that weight for three months before shedding the kilos with his Doherty's gym clients in Brunswick. He has cut out exercise and admits to enjoying the occasional full chicken with skin, stuffing and chips at night to boost his calorie intake. But a leading obesity and health expert, Prof Boyd Swinburn, said PJ risked damaging his liver and suffering heart problems from the stunt, which will be filmed as a documentary. PJ, 32, has already gone from 80kg to 100kg since making his New Year resolution to boost his flab.


"Girls Gone Wild" founder has an arrest warrant
LATimes - A Los Angeles federal judge today issued a bench warrant for "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis after he failed to appear for a hearing in a tax-evasion case. U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero issued the warrant, which directs any law enforcement agency that has contact with Francis to take him into custody and present him in court, according to Tom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. Last year, a grand jury in Reno accused Francis of two counts of tax evasion. Prosecutors allege Francis improperly deducted more than $20 million from his companies.


"Global Warming" gets cold shoulder in UK
Independent.co.uk - Thousands of people were left stranded from the heaviest snowfall to hit the UK in 18 years. Thousands of schools were closed, air, rail, and road services were severely disrupted and one snapshot survey of more than 300 employers found one in five adults stayed away from work because of the extreme weather. Speaking at a press conference at the Foreign Office in London, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, said: "We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the services - road, rail and airports - are open as quickly as possible and we are continuously monitoring this throughout the day." Motorists, who were warned only to make essential journeys, were caught in lines of up to two-and-a-half hours as they battled against the heavy snow across the country.


Google Earth to add the Ocean
Independent.co.uk - Google Earth users will soon be able to use a newly announce "Ocean in Google Earth", a new feature released that enables users to dive beneath the water surface and explore the 3D terrain. Ocean in Google Earth combines underwater terrain and content contributed by marine scientists to enabling users to explore some of the most difficult-to-reach parts of the world. Virtual travellers can swim around underwater volcanoes, watch videos about exotic marine life, read about nearby shipwrecks and contribute photos and videos of favourite surf and dive spots.


Obama working with terrorists before election began
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama was working with Arab intermediaries to establish an unofficial dialogue with Al Qaida long before his election as the 44th U.S. president, according to a report in the upcoming weekly edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com. Al Qaida has offered what has been described as a truce in exchange for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to the report. Obama has deemed the U.S. reconciliation with the Muslim world, including Iran, as his main foreign policy goal, sources quoted in the report said. The president has been aided by several Persian Gulf Arab Muslims with ties to Al Qaida's leadership in Pakistan, they said.


Obama to cut defense budget
Fox - The Obama administration has asked the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon's budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent -- about $55 billion -- a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News. Last year's defense budget was $512 billion. Service chiefs and planners will be spending the weekend "burning the midnight oil" looking at ways to cut the budget -- looking especially at weapons programs, the defense official said.Some overall budget figures are expected to be announced Monday. Obama met Friday at the White House with a small group of military advisers, including Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman, and Gen. Jim Jones, National Security Council chairman.


Police in Italy arrest men for lighting immigrant on fire
SFGate.com - Italian police have arrested three young men for allegedly beating and setting on fire an Indian immigrant who was sleeping on a train station bench in a seaside town near Rome, investigators said Monday. The attack on the 35-year-old man in Nettuno sparked outrage in Italy and fueled a debate on attitudes toward immigrants. Carabinieri paramilitary police said the three poured gasoline on the man early Sunday, then set him on fire. The man has severe burns over 40 percent of his body, said Dr. Paolo Palombo, an official of Sant'Eugenio hospital in Rome, where the immigrant was taken for treatment. Palombo told SKY TG24 TV that the patient would undergo skin grafts Friday to help fight the danger of infection. The mood among some citizens has turned ugly in recent years following the arrest of immigrants as suspects in several high-profile crimes, including the slaying of an Italian admiral's wife in suburban Rome and the rape of a young Italian woman in the countryside near Rome.


Hamas shielding themselves with civilians and ambulance
WND.com - More tales are emerging of the ways Hamas utilized civilians during Israel's 22-day war against the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, including accounts from Gaza residents who accuse Hamas of using them as human shields. In one case, after engaging with terrorists holed up inside a civilian apartment complex, the Israel Defense Forces seized an Arabic-language note left behind, addressed to one of the apartment's occupants. "Greetings, honored residents of this house," reads the note, obtained by WND. "We, your brothers, holy war fighters used this house and some of the things in it. Our apologies." Last week, the Sydney Morning Herald interviewed Muhammad Shriteh, a Gaza-based ambulance driver, who complained Hamas would "lure the ambulances into the heart of a battle to transport fighters to safety." He told the paper his ambulance company "coordinate[d] with the Israelis before we picked up patients … so they would not shoot at us." Shriteh recounted one instance when he was called to an emergency in the Jabaliya camp in the northern Gaza Strip only to find Hamas terrorists waiting inside a civilian apartment complex, hiding from Israeli fire. "They were very scared, and very nervous," he said. "They dropped their weapons and ordered me to get them out, to put them in the ambulance and take them away."


Another child left to die at abortion clinic
LifeNews.com - A leading pro-life law firm has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a baby born alive after a failed abortion at a Miami abortion business. Following Shanice Denise Osbourne's birth in July 2006, staff at the abortion facility put her body on the roof of the building to hide her death from local police. According to witnesses, a young woman went to the GYN Diagnostic Center abortion facility in Hialeah, outside Miami, for an abortion. Police say the 18-year-old had an abortion and returned the next day complaining of severe stomach pains. Abortion facility staff told her the abortion practitioner was not available and that she would have to wait. After being taken to a waiting area, the woman allegedly gave birth to the baby that she thought had been aborted the day before. Officials hid the baby's body when local officials investigated.
Now, representatives of the Thomas More Society, a leading pro-life law firm, have retained prominent Miami personal injury attorney Tom Pennekamp to prepare and prosecute the case.
The Thomas More Society alleges that abortion center owner Gonzalez was ultimately responsible for the baby's death. Thirteen defendants (including Gonzalez, abortion practitioner Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique and their conglomerate of four South Florida abortion clinics) have been sued for unlicensed and unauthorized medical practices, botched abortions, evasive tactics, false medical records and the killing, hiding and disposing of the baby.


Egyptian Christians imprisoned for opening on Ramadan
CrossWalk.com - In Port Sa'id, a city in Egypt, a cafe owned by six Christian brothers was raided and the brothers were beat with sticks. Two of the brothers had broken arms, and a third needed 11 stitches for a head wound. “The police attacked these people and assaulted them unjustifiably,” said Ramses el-Nagar, the Christians’ lawyer. “Police did not want to see people eating during Ramadan." There is no law in Egypt under which the brothers could be prosecuted for opening their café during Ramadan, however, the brothers were arrested later on charges of resisting arrest. Even though video of the incident was taken by an onlooker as evidence of police brutality, the footage did not sway judge Mohammed Hassan. El-Nagar, the brothers lawyer, has 30 days to appeal the decision before the Court of Cassation, a high appeals tribunal. He said he plans to do so.