
Former NHS surgeon Mirza Tariq Ali fled the UK last year. He is reported to have become a senior Pakistani Taliban commander after his attempts to join Islamic State in Syria were hindered.

Recent reviews of the GM food safety literature have found that research concluding that GM products were safe tended to come from industry and that research conducted by those with either financial or professional conflicts of interest was associated with outcomes favorable to the GM sector.
In fact, it appears in our case that consequences of conflicts of interests in science go beyond divergence in scientific interpretations and also rely on unscientific practices: confidentiality and censorship.
"Honolulu attorney Michael C. Carroll, who is representing the authors of the Maui GMO initiative tells Maui Now that the group won standing on Monday to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Monsanto which seeks to delay any enforcement of the measure and ultimately to have it declared unenforceable."

It is touching to see so many people giving advice to Cuba, in view of the tsunami of US tourists - and the mini-tsunami of delegations, NGOs and spies - about to arrive on the little island. People will have to get used to this 'new' US rhetoric (it was tried in the 1970s) of 'converting them through our freedom', etc.
The corporate media will argue this for years. Cuba has seen it all before. They never wanted to cut trade and relations with the USA. They know their huge neighbour has wanted to annex them for the past 200 years. They also know these neighbours never go away.
Cuba has more experience in resistance and revolution than any of us. Almost 150 years ago they freed the slaves and began to eject all foreign powers. 130 years ago Jose Marti told them they had to fight for a 'second independence', even before the USA intervened in their independence wars. Then Fidel led them to that 'second independence', building a revolution which was never dependent on foreign powers.
When their trade with the Soviet Union collapsed, everyone thought they were finished, but they shared poverty and survived. They built one of the best health systems in the world, and are now the biggest trainers of doctors in the world. They have THE best disaster management system in the world and their closely linked civil defence is second to none.
With the greatest military power in human history less than 100 miles away, they resisted invasion and blocked 600 attempts to assassinate the leader of the revolution. In the same year they resisted invasion (1961) their mass literacy campaign did not miss a beat. Their education system is free for all for life and they are keeping it that way. They are now doing some economic reforms, but they are doing it their way. They always wanted to dismantle the US blockade and open 'normal' relations with the empire, and now they are winning. If your own experience comes close to this, fine. Otherwise, maybe we should all just take a small humble pill and observe?


Comment: Let's get this straight. Ali is arrested in UK, somehow manages to 'flee' before trial, is then arrested in Croatia, deported to Pakistan, where he then joins up with the Taliban and "quickly rises" through its ranks?! Then, his prosecution in absentia is the first of its kind (how convenient!). Give us a break. His story is similar to Gladio operator Abdullah Catli and numerous other 'terrorists' who always manage to stay one step ahead of the law (e.g., escaping from military prisons). This just smacks of manufactured terror, with Anjem Choudary perhaps playing the role of a Fethullah Gulen-like handler.