The French strikes against Libya are not a French operation, but a subcontracting component of Odyssey Dawn Operation under the authority of U.S. AfriCom. Their objective is not to rescue Libyan civilians, but to serve as a pretext to pave the way for the landing of U.S. forces on the Black continent, notes Thierry Meyssan.

It was France, the United Kingdom and the United States who submitted to the UN Security Council the text which was adopted as resolution 1973, establishing a no-fly zone over Libya.

This initiative must be understood in two ways:

First, vis-à-vis public opinion at home Barack Obama could not afford to take on a third war in the Muslim world after those in Afghanistan and Iraq, where his country is still mired. Washington thus preferred to delegate this operation to its allies.

Secondly, acting on behalf of U.S. interests favourable to the "special relationship" between London and Washington, Nicolas Sarkozy's priority since the beginning of his mandate has been to bring French and British defenses closer together. He achieved this through the defense agreements of 2 November 2010 and found in the Libyan crisis an opportunity for joint action.

MPs are demanding to know why the police arrested and charged so many peaceful protesters at Saturday's anti-cuts demonstration, while letting off those who attacked shops and banks and damaged monuments.

Demonstrators who took part in the sit-in at luxury grocer Fortnum & Mason, organised by campaign group UK Uncut, are bearing the brunt of police and prosecutors' attentions.

The Metropolitan Police detained 201 people on Saturday, as they battled break-away factions of activists targeting shops in London's West End. A total of 149 have been charged in connection with the protests - 138 of them (94 per cent) face criminal charges of aggravated trespass at the high-end store, with only 11 charged for the more violent protests elsewhere in the capital, including serious disturbances in the West End during which police were pelted with ammonia-filled lightbulbs.

Campaigners insist no major criminal damage was committed inside the store, whose management said the only physical losses from the protest consisted of the theft of an unspecified number of bottles of wine and champagne. The company said the closure of its business on Saturday afternoon had cost it £80,000 in lost trade.

Fatwa calls for united front under leadership following aborted attempt to stage mass demonstration earlier this month

Saudi Arabia is printing 1.5m copies of an edict by religious scholars outlawing protests in the conservative kingdom as un-Islamic, the state news agency said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and a major US ally, is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate any form of public dissent.

It managed to stifle an attempt to stage a mass protest on 11 March with a large security presence on the streets.

Religious scholars issued their fatwa, or religious edict, and senior princes issued warnings in advance.

Hillary Clinton and William Hague claim arming rebel groups may be legal under the recent UN resolution

The US and Britain have raised the prospect of arming Libya's rebels if air strikes fail to force Muammar Gaddafi from power.

At the end of a conference on Libya in London, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said for the first time that she believed arming rebel groups was legal under UN security council resolution 1973, passed two weeks ago, which also provided the legal justification for air strikes.

America's envoy to the UN, Susan Rice, said earlier the US had "not ruled out" channelling arms to the rebels.

The British foreign secretary, William Hague, agreed that the resolution made it legal "to give people aid in order to defend themselves in particular circumstances".

Koch Industries, a powerful American energy conglomerate which helped found the Tea Party movement, has now registered to lobby the Alberta government.

Records show the company hired Global Public Affairs, one of the most influential lobby firms in Canada, to represent its interests.

The registration was made on March 15, making Koch Industries legally able to lobby provincial policymakers on the issues of "energy and resource development", "economic development" and "taxation policy."

The privately-owned company, run by Charles and David Koch, is the second largest in the United States. In addition to manufacturing household products like Brawny paper towels, it also refines an estimated 25 percent of all oil sands crude entering America.

The company also owns a crude oil terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, and operates a subsidiary called Flint Hills Resources Canada LP, which it claims to be "among Canada's largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters."

Washington D.C., March 27, 2011 - Pharmaceuticals are a $650 plus billion dollar a year industry. For years the most profitable business in the U.S. has been the pharmaceutical corporations, which routinely top the annual fortune 500 list. Doctor prescribed drugs support an industry which out-earns the GNP of many nations.

A core attribute to big Pharma's overwhelming 'success' lays in the liaison between the corporations and the 'symptoms management' health care industry: The pharmaceutical representative. The men and women we see meeting with physicians, walking into offices with gifts of lunch for the staff, meeting with the doctor while you wait for our appointment.

Gwen Olsen was a top level pharmaceutical rep for some of the biggest in the industry: Johnson & Johnson, Syntex Labs, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories and Forest Laboratories.

Through some chilling wake up calls in her tenure, and the tragic drug-related death of her niece, Gwen has dedicated her life to making people aware of the dangers of prescription drugs and how the drug industry manipulates doctors into prescribing, and over prescribing, their drugs.

She is exposing the dark, deep-rooted deception and corruption that is prevalent in this industry.

Gwen Olsens words are powerful. Her message absolutely frightening. Below is a transcript of our conversation as well as a video of Gwen speaking out, including her appearance on a CBS Evening News Eye On Your Children news segment.

Federal prosecutors are considering whether to pursue manslaughter charges against BP Plc (BP/) managers for decisions made before the Gulf of Mexico oil well explosion last year that killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history, according to three people familiar with the matter.

U.S. investigators also are examining statements made by leaders of the companies involved in the spill -- including former BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward -- during congressional hearings last year to determine whether their testimony was at odds with what they knew, one of the people said. All three spoke on condition they not be named because they weren't authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Charging individuals would be significant to environmental- safety cases because it might change behavior, said Jane Barrett, a law professor at the University of Maryland.

Thousands demonstrate in Deraa as frustration mounts at Bashar al-Assad's failure to deliver reforms

Security forces fired shots and used teargas to disperse up to 4,000 protesters in the volatile Syrian city of Deraa on Monday as frustration mounted at the slow pace of promised reforms.

Despite the widespread presence of security forces, protesters appeared to consolidate their positions in Deraa in the deep south and in the northern port city of Latakia, which are the two main fronts in the challenge to the Syrian regime.

According to human rights activists, more than 150 people have been killed in 11 days of unrest, which have seen protesters calling for increased freedoms.

Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, who has not been sighted during the protests, is expected to deliver a speech within days.

The government has pledged to lift an almost five decade old emergency law, which - among other things - severely limits citizens' rights to demonstrate. That and other reforms are yet to be implemented.

Are Prince's nuptials being used as cover for a crackdown on dissent?

Ministers and police provoked anger and dismay as they signalled tough new security measures aimed at public rallies after the violence that marred the TUC anti-cuts demonstrations.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, was warned against a "knee-jerk reaction" to the trouble amid fears that moves to ban "known hooligans" from demonstrations could be abused by over-zealous officers. The Metropolitan Police is also planning the widespread use of "stop and search" powers against extremists attempting to disrupt the royal wedding on 29 April.

Ms May spelt out the plans in an emergency Commons statement into Saturday's events, when the TUC's peaceful protest was hijacked by gangs of violent anarchists and anti-capitalists.

Dubious Disclaimer

Most of the time I cover technical topics. I regularly give classes and presentations on "how this protocol works" or "how do I hack X?", those sorts of things. This time, I want to delve into a little psychology/sociology. Normally I like to stick to technology because the answers are easier to test and less subjective. When people are being measured things become a lot more muddy and less definitive. When I think of the social sciences I think of the Ernest Rutherford quote:

"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."

My general impression of the social sciences is that there is a lot of room for personal beliefs to skew the results via bad experiment design, faulty assumptions, confirmation bias and the like. I likely have biases of my own so take this paper with a boulder of sodium chloride. Also please note that to better immerse you into the Internet culture Anonymous comes from I will be linking off to many "not safe for work" (NSFW) sites. After reading enough excerpts from "chan" culture you will hopefully begin to get a better feel for the nature of Anonymous.

Abstract

A lot has been said and written about a "group" referred to as Anonymous. This paper will go into Anonymous' motivations, organization (or lack thereof) and how the term "group" is sort of a misnomer. Unfortunately, "group" is a misnomer I will use throughout the paper because I lack a better word. For those familiar with "chan" culture, this article may not be of much use, but for those that read about Anonymous and just don't get it, this paper may be of assistance. The paper is not intended to condemn nor promote, but just to help folks understand "cyber-lynch mobs" and perhaps [a]their security ramifications. Mostly I'm just tired of hearing the news get it wrong concerning the nature of the "organization".