Manzini - Swaziland's absolute monarch, King Mswati III, said he was visited by God at the weekend and this resulted in unseasonal electrical storms in the country - and a new name for the country's controversial political system.

"The lightning was flashing even though it was (a time of year) when there is usually no clouds or rain," Mswati said when he opened a trade fair in Manzini on Saturday.

He said the storm was sent by God to accompany his vision.

The South African Weather Service interpreted it differently, reporting that a cold front from South Africa to the north colliding with warm air from the Mozambique Channel had created thunderstorm conditions in Swaziland.

"As I was wondering at this (weather), I saw the new name of the Swazi government," Mswati told a rapturous audience.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has secretly label entire mosques as terrorism organisations, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

The label has allowed the department to spy on imams and record sermons without having specific evidence of criminal activities.

This means that anyone attending the prayer service is part of organisation and can potentially be investigated and go under surveillance.

As per confidential police documents and interviews, NYPD has initiated more than a dozen "terrorism enterprise investigations" into mosques following the terror attacks on World Trade Centers (WTC) in New York.

A big protest gathering has been in London to highlight huge popular opposition to Britain's military intervention in Syria.

Protesters chanted slogans against war and urged the government to learn lessons from the experiences of lies and deception circulated to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The overwhelming majority of the population who attended Saturday's protest voiced strong opposition to an invasion of Syria based on U.S.-led attempts to proclaim the popular government of President Bashar al Assad in Syria of using chemical weapons against its own people in Ghouta.

Various speakers from the Stop the War Coalition (STWC) hailed the British parliament's vote against an invasion of Syria as a "victory".

STWC convenor Lindsey German, lauded the vote saying "it was a victory in parliament. It was a vote that the politicians should have had the guts to hold 10 years ago and they didn't."

German described STWC's objective as to remind British imperialism of its national interests.

"We've said for some years that one of our aims as a movement should be to break Britain from following the US in every step of its foreign policy," she said. "This week we made that possible".

The Dear Leader has Decided to pause - briefly - for a perfunctory congressional approval before triggering what could be TEOTWAWKI - the end of the world as we know it - by lobbing bombs at Syria. Which will likely result in Syria (and perhaps Iran, allied with Syria) lobbing bombs at Israel, the proxy poodle (or is it the reverse?) of the United State ("s" left of in the interests of accuracy). Whereupon the entire region - then the world - may well go up in flames. At least, until it runs out of oil.

It is shit statue-carving crazy.

Yet, "we" - meaning, they - Dear Leader and his relative handful of minions who control the missiles, the ships and "the troops" - appear determined to pursue this course nonetheless. Despite the obvious implications - and in spite of the equally obvious horn o' plenty of reasons not to do it. Wait. Check that. There is a reason - several of them, actually. Just not the ones publicly stated. No one but a madman could entertain the idea of deliberately batting at a hornet's nest that one could just as easily walk around.

What goes on inside Syria may be tragic, but it's not our tragedy. We - that is, the Dear Leader, et al, - are neither wanted nor requested - and have about as much right to lob bombs at the Syrian government over its alleged abuse of its people as Syria has to lob bombs at America over its government's abuses of its people - none of them mere assertions based on iffy "intel" but admitted to, openly, by its government. For instance, rendition.

And torture as state policy. Indefinite detention. And that's only the recent stuff. Let's not forget who helped "Saddam" gas Iranians back in the '80s. Or helped violently depose the "democratically" elected leader of Iran - ushering in the Shah and his Savak. "We" are in no position to lecture anyone about "human rights." Much less bomb them over it.

Will the "Coalition of the Willing" bomb jihadists into power in Syria?

Most Syrians are much more afraid of the anti-government jihadists than of any other force fighting on the ground. NATO member Turkey is mainly responsible for the growing number of al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists in Syria.

This report shows how Turkey allows jihadists from all over the world to use its land as a stonghold in order to fight the Syrian government. Turkey also arms the jihadists, provides them with medical treatment, and allows them to cross the Turkish-Syrian border freely without any restrictions.

The US has said it has evidence that the chemical nerve agent sarin was used in a deadly attack in Damascus last month.

When asked if the Syrian government had used chemical weapons, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the BBC's Jeremy Bowen that they were used by Western-backed armed groups aka 'al-qaeda'.

He said that if there was an attack by the US, terrorism would flourish everywhere, and that US evidence for a CW attack by the Syrian government was the same as the 'evidence' for Saddam Hussein's WMDs.

King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia wished to thank France for it's offensive position in Syria by ordering the signature of a state to state contract, Life Extension Sawari 1 (LEX), for over 1 billion dollars of worth.

The public firm ODAS (the consortium gathering the DCNS, Thales and MBDA) will upgrade four frigates of Al Medinah class and two supply tankers of Boraida class, in service since 1985-1986, at the time of the Sawari I contract.

This contract could be followed by an even juicier one : the sale of six multi-mission Fremm frigates.

However, LEX was signed before the French backtracking in the Syrian bombing and it isn't certain that the favours of the monarch will persist.

Translation:
Alizée Ville

Egypt's state prosecutor says he has referred ousted President Mohammed Morsi for trial on charges of inciting the murder of protesters.

The accusations relate to violence outside the presidential palace in Cairo last December when at least seven people were killed in clashes. Fourteen other members of the Muslim Brotherhood are to stand trial on the same charges.

Mr Morsi has been held at a secret location since he was deposed in July. He faces a number of charges but this case is his first referral for trial. Since he was ousted from power, the military-backed interim government has cracked down on Brotherhood supporters, who are demanding Mr Morsi's reinstatement.

Last month, hundreds of protesters died when security forces stormed pro-Morsi camps in the capital.

Russia says the evidence provided by the United States and its allies to prove that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons is not convincing.

Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said during an address to the students of the Moscow State University of International Relations on Monday, "What our American, British and French partners have shown us before - as well as now - does not convince us at all."

"There are no supporting facts. There is only repetitive talk in the vein of 'we know for sure.' And when we ask for further clarification, we receive the following response: 'You are aware that this is classified information, therefore we cannot show it to you.' So there are still no facts," Lavrov stated.

"If there truly is top secret information available, the veil should be lifted. This is a question of war and peace. To continue this game of secrecy is simply inappropriate."

Lavrov added that there were "many doubts" about the images posted on the Internet that allegedly relate to the chemical attack in Syria.

Egyptian security forces have destroyed a number of tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Video footage showed explosions and then clouds of smoke rising up in the town of Rafah, on the border between the Palestinian territory and Egypt on Saturday.

About 80 percent of the tunnels, which are used to transfer goods and medicines into Gaza from Egypt, are no longer functional due to similar incidents carried out by the Egyptian security forces.