A Japanese lawmaker said Friday that his country should move its parliament to Fukushima to provide an economic boost and show confidence in a region struck by a nuclear crisis after a massive earthquake.

Yasuhisa Shiozaki, who was the government's number two from 2006 to 2007, acknowledged that some people may find his idea far-fetched, but said that Japan should consider it as part of a broader decentralization from Tokyo.

"I am proposing to move the Japanese Diet to Fukushima, sending the message to the world that we are not running away from this meltdown issue," said Shiozaki, a member of the conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party.

"Why not choose Fukushima to invigorate this area and economy and also cheer them up," he said at the Stimson Center, a think-tank.

I'm sure we're all very tired by now of the Osama bin Laden nonsense, I know I am, and I really wish it would just go away. Sadly, that seems an unlikely prospect in the near future.

I've already provided more than enough evidence for all rational people to seriously doubt the authenticity of the "Osama bin Laden is dead" story. I've also exposed the many faked images and videos of the alleged terrorist mastermind that were released over the past 10 years. But the US government and CIA aren't ready to quit just yet. It would appear that they're determined to push the boundaries of belief and exploit public credulousness to the max (and perhaps beyond).

You're probably aware that yesterday, Sat. 7th May 2011, the US government released "new" videos of 'bin Laden' that they claimed were part of the haul from the 'compound' in Pakistan, which, by the way, is very conveniently scheduled for destruction.

These new videos include footage that is similar to previous 'bin Laden' tapes, but also include footage of some guy sitting in a room watching news reports about Osama bin Laden. The US government and the fawning Western media are claiming that the guy sitting on the floor watching television is Osama bin Laden in his 'compound' and that the video could have been made as recently as Spring 2011. The problem is that we only get to see the man sitting on the floor from the side, there are no front-on shots that would allow us to see the man's face and ascertain whether or not he looks anything like bin Laden and there is no audio (apparently it was edited by the Pentagon). Again, this is very convenient, and I think you will agree that, even from the side-on angle, the man on the floor does not look like any of the images of the person we know to be the real bin Laden.

But the real smoking gun is to be found in the videos allegedly taken from the Pakistan 'compound' and which provide higher resolution images of a man who appears to be the same person that appeared in a 'bin Laden' video released in 2007.

Mobs set two churches on fire in western Cairo during clashes between Muslims and Christians triggered by rumors of an interfaith romance that left 10 dead in some of the worst sectarian violence since the ouster of the president in a popular uprising.

Egypt's prime minister canceled his visit to the Gulf on Sunday, and called for an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss the violence, according to the state news agency.

Saturday night's clashes were sparked by rumors in the low-income neighborhood of Imbaba that a Christian woman married to a Muslim had been abducted and was being held in one of the churches against her will.

The report, which was never confirmed, spurred a mob from the ultraconservative Salafi trend of Islam to march on the Saint Menas Church. Christians barricaded themselves inside and around the church and the demonstrations turned violent. Gunfire sounded across the neighborhood, and witnesses said people on rooftops fired into the crowd.

Muslims accused Christians of starting the shooting, and large crowds instigated by the local Salafi religious leaders converged on the area. They lobbed fire bombs at homes, shops and the church, setting its facade on fire.

Newly released videos show Osama bin Laden inside his hideout, watching himself on television and rehearsing for terrorist propaganda videos.

The videos, released by U.S. intelligence officials Saturday, were offered as further proof that Navy SEALs killed the world's most wanted terrorist this week. But they also served to show bin Laden as vain, someone obsessed with his portrayal by the world's media.

One of the movies shows bin Laden, wrapped in a brown blanket and holding a remote control, flipping back and forth between clips of himself. The small television was perched on top of a desk with wires running to a nearby cable or control box.

In another, he has apparently dyed and neatly trimmed his beard for the filming of a propaganda video.

Barack Obama, who pledged to restore ethical honor to the White House after the Bush years, is now burying himself under an active volcano of lies, mostly but not exclusively concerning the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

There was scarcely a sentence in the President's Sunday night address, or in the subsequent briefing by John Brennan, his chief counter-terrorism coordinator, that has not been subsequently retracted by CIA director Leon Panetta or the White House press spokesman, Jay Carney, or by various documentary records.

- The White House photograph of Obama, Clinton and top security advisors supposedly watching real-time footage of the Navy Seals' onslaught on the Abbottabad compound, their killing of two men and a woman (excuse for the latter killing: the standard "caught in crossfire") and liquidation of OBL himself turns out to have been a phony. BO and friends could have been watching basketball replays. Panetta has admitted the real-time video link stopped working before the Seals got into the compound.

It's news that regular travellers fed up with removing their shoes and passing through body scanners when going through airport security have been waiting years to hear.

Officials are looking at letting 'trusted travellers' keep on their shoes, leave laptops in bags and avoid body scanners when they fly from airports in the U.S.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) concept would be one of the biggest airport changes since stricter rules were brought in after 9/11

It plans to take data from airline frequent-flyer programmes and give 'trusted travellers' a special status on their boarding pass bar-codes, reported the Wall Street Journal.

But exceptions would include if someone on the plane is on the government's watch-list of suspect terrorists or if the flight is seen as high-risk.

Professor Ramadan of Oxford University says the US killing of Osama bin Laden is being perceived in the Muslim world as a PR exercise.

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Joining us now from Berlin is Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University.

Tariq Ramadan, thanks for being there.

TARIQ RAMADAN, CONTEMPORARY ISLAMIC STUDIES, OXFORD UNI: Thank you for your invitation.

TONY JONES: What was your first reaction to the news that Osama bin Laden had finally been tracked down and killed?

TARIQ RAMADAN: You know, once again, just a week after what happened, I was in New York, and I condemn what happened. I think that this is completely against the Islamic value - and I said it: it's anti-Islamic.

But I wasn't happy. I wouldn't - I will never be happy that we are killing someone. And my first reaction was just simply to think about being - him being arrested and brought to justice. And this is - afterward I heard what the president, Barack Obama, was saying, that they wanted to bring him to justice. And then all these different versions and just very bizarre and weird that we don't get a straightforward version of what happened.

And look at what is happening now in the Muslim majority countries, is that all the people are asking questions. It's very strange and that we drop his body in the sea, against all the Islamic rituals and we are told the Islamic rituals and principles are respected.

At the end of the day, the way it has been done and all these versions and all this political statements that we have gives the impression that it's very much used as a PR exercise, putting the president Barack Obama in a situation where he is strong and he is showing how much he is protecting the country, because he has been criticised on that side by the neo-con and the Tea Party, saying that he's not good for the job in Iraq, in Afghanistan and even for security reason.

On the other side, is not at all helping a clear dialogue with the Muslim majority countries and the perception that the Muslims - it's not really an event in the Muslim majority countries, it's just a random event, it's - you know, the great, great, great majority of the Muslims were not at all following and supporting Osama bin Laden's rhetoric. But the way it's perceived is: it's much more a Western issue.

The head of the Bay State's Democratic party is demanding U.S. Sen. Scott Brown reveal who showed him the fake photograph of Osama bin Laden's corpse after the Wrentham Republican went on television bragging that he'd seen the image - and later confessed he'd been duped.

"He needs - right away, today - to provide answers to the following questions: who showed him the fake photo, who told him it was genuine when it wasn't, and what are the procedures he uses to make sure he has reliable information before he gives voters that information," said Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman John Walsh in a statement today.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Brown, said today: "With the Sal DiMasi corruption trial going on, I'm surprised that John Walsh has the time to criticize Republicans."

Brown went on New England Cable News and FOX 25 yesterday and said he'd seen a photo of a dead bin Laden. He later said the photo he had seen wasn't authentic and a staffer said the senator had obtained the photo from a reliable source.

A few hours ago, the Food and Drug Administration declared it no longer needs credible evidence to seize food that may be contaminated. Ignoring the Fourth Amendment entirely, the FDA claims that based on mere suspicion that a food product has been contaminated or mislabeled, and that serious illness or death will result, it can hold the food for 30 days while it then looks for evidence. It claims this power under the Food Safety Modernization Act, which President Monsanto, I mean, Obama, signed in January.

On May 4th, the FDA stated:

"Previously, the FDA's ability to detain food products applied only when the agency had credible evidence that a food product presented was contaminated or mislabeled in a way that presented a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.

"Beginning July, the FDA will be able to detain food products that it has reason to believe are adulterated or misbranded for up to 30 days, if needed, to ensure they are kept out of the marketplace. The products will be kept out of the marketplace while the agency determines whether an enforcement action such as seizure or federal injunction against distribution of the product in commerce, is necessary."

Opt-in, opt-out bait and switch

Google has become the only browser marker to explicitly join lobbyists opposing a proposed law giving consumers the legal right to keep companies from tracking them online.

The giant has put its name to an alarmist letter signed by 30 other organizations, trade groups and individual companies, objecting to the passage of a Do-Not-Track bill that was debated for this first time by politicians in Google's home state of California this week.

Other signatories on the letter include the CTIA and TechNet, organizations that Google belongs to with fellow private sector browser makers Microsoft and Apple. But Google is the only one to have actually added its name to that letter as a standalone signatory.

The letter is also signed by a host of marketing and advertising groups, California business associations, AOL, and Yahoo!.

The letter was addressed to politicians on the California Senate Judiciary Committee who voted 3-2 to approve the Do-Not-Track bill (SB 761) for further debate.