* Mexico shuts down to control flu Mexico has begun a five-day shutdown of parts of its economy in a bid to slow the spread of swine flu.

* Workers rally in European cities to mark May Day Workers rallied Friday in European cities to mark May Day, with tens of thousands of demonstrators across Russia supporting or slamming the government amid growing unemployment and economic troubles.

* UN: Freeze Jerusalem demolitions The UN has asked Israel to freeze all pending demolition orders in East Jerusalem and to do more to provide for the housing needs of Palestinians.

* Pope’s visit sparks high hopes Religious leaders representing the local Muslim, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant communities met at the Notre Dame Cultural Center in Jerusalem on Thursday to voice their expectations of the pope during his visit to the Holy Land.

* China database to track children China is setting up a national DNA database to help trace missing children, as the authorities struggle to tackle people trafficking.

* PA court: Death to man who sold land to Jews In the first case of its kind, a Palestinian Authority “military court” on Tuesday sentenced a Palestinian man to death by hanging after finding him guilty of selling land to Jews.

* ‘Syria-Turkey ties tighter because of Gaza war’ Turkey has tightened its relations with Syria as a result of Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

* Iraq launches project to renovate Ezekiel’s shrine The Iraqi government has launched a project to renovate the interior of the prophet Ezekiel’s shrine in the small town of Kifl, south of Baghdad.

* EU still ‘digesting’ 2004 enlargement five years on On 1 May 2004 the EU marked its biggest ever enlargement, accepting 10 new countries and bringing the number of member states to 25.

* Religious Affairs: Jesus’s Zionists Like most religious Zionists, Aryeh Bar-David sees the hand of God in the establishment of the Jewish state.

* EU warns against swine flu panic The UN’s World Health Organization has raised the alert over swine flu to level five – indicating human-to-human transmission in at least two countries.

* Intelligence Warns Israel is now an ‘Obstacle to Obama’ According to a classified intelligence assessment handed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama and his senior advisors wish to “incrementally diminish U.S. strategic cooperation with Israel.”

* UK combat operations end in Iraq A ceremony has been held in Basra to mark the official end of the six-year British military presence in Iraq.

* Israel to EU: Criticism of Netanyahu government unacceptable A Foreign Ministry official has been warning European countries that unless they curtail criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Israel will block the European Union from participating in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

* Turkey hits Kurdish bases in Iraq Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq on Wednesday and Thursday.

* Hamas Army Preparing for New War The defacto Hamas government in Gaza is re-training its army and changing its tactics in preparation for what it believes will be another war with Israel.

* Taliban announce ‘countersurge’ in Afghanistan The Taliban have vowed to launch a new offensive this summer in Afghanistan against the government and the foreign soldiers stationed there.

* Debut for world’s fastest camera The fastest imaging system ever devised has been demonstrated by researchers reporting in the journal Nature.

* BMI airline wipes Israel off the map Israel has been excluded from digital maps displayed for passengers on British airline BMI flights from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv.

* Nato ‘expels Russian diplomats’ Russia has confirmed Nato has expelled two of its diplomats from Brussels, reportedly in retaliation for a spy scandal involving an Estonian official.

By: Hillel Fendel – Arutz Sheva

As Israel celebrates 61 years of independence, the Jewish towns of Judea and Samaria commemorate 30 years of Regional Councils. Jewish settlement in the Golan, Gaza and Jordan Valley – liberated in the 1967 Six Day War – began in the early 1970’s, with the establishment of 53 new Jewish communities there (compared with 34 in the rest of Israel during this period). Twenty were built in the Golan, 11 in the Jordan Valley, and 14 in Sinai and Gaza. However, no new communities were established in the Shomron or Binyamin mountains, or in southern Judea.

Jewish settlement in the modern Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria began in earnest after 1975, after the Rabin government allowed the establishment of temporary camps in Ofra and Ma’aleh Adumim, and military outposts in Tekoa and Kokhav HaShachar, and, after a long struggle, a civilian outpost in Kadum/Elon Moreh. These, and dozens of others, later became full-fledged communities.

Between 1977 and 1985, 89 new communities were established in the liberated areas. During that period, five Regional Councils were established, grouping towns together in a municipal framework.

The Councils thus established were: Binyamin, north of Jerusalem; Shomron, the entire area of Samaria from just south of Ariel and northward to the Jenin-area towns; Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem; Southern Hevron Hills, further to the south; and Gaza Coast, known as Gush Katif.

Rabbi Menachem Felix, one of the original pioneers of the Elon Moreh community, told Israel National News, “Until the formation of the Councils, we had been just isolated townlets, with minor legal status, if any. When the Councils were formed, we entered the pattern of the rest of the country. Since then, of course, we have grown tremendously, and the population numbers tell much of the story.”

Population growth in Judea and Samaria continually outpaces that of the rest of the country. In the first half of 2006, for instance, the Jewish population there grew by some 3%, nearly three times higher than that of the rest of Israel.

The population in Judea and Samaria now stands at over 300,000, compared with 130,000 in 1995.

Rabbi Felix admitted that it is “painful for me that after so many years, our status is still in limbo to some extent. There have been some painful withdrawals, but I hope and pray that we will overcome these and continue to grow even stronger.”

No noted that he has “no hesitations about saying the Hallel prayer” of praise and thanksgiving for the establishment of the State of Israel on Independence Day. “But I do have some mixed feelings upon observing our tremendous settlement enterprise. On the one hand, we have merited to turn the Shomron, which was totally empty of Jews, into a thriving area of Jewish life, with tens of thousands of Jews. But I can’t ignore the fact that we are still struggling, and it is not yet self-evident that Jews should live in the heart of their Land, where the first Jew, Abraham, first walked.

“We are still struggling, against enemies from without and also, on a different level, against our own brothers from within. But it has generally been shown that wherever there is true desire, ideals, self-sacrifice and wisdom, the obstacles can be overcome.”

* PM: Today marks fulfillment of our dream Independence Day celebrations commenced on Tuesday night with the annual torch lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl.

* The State of Israel-fact file The State of Israel was formed on May 15 1948 as a Jewish state and a democratic republic.

* US General: Fatah Soldiers are ‘Founders of Palestinian State’ Palestinian Authority special forces were praised by an American general this week for becoming the founders of a new Arab country within Israel’s current borders.

* US reports first swine flu death A 23-month-old child in Texas is the first person known to have died of swine flu outside Mexico, where it may have killed as many as 159 people.

* Judea/Samaria Marks Milestone, Too As Israel celebrates 61 years of independence, the Jewish towns of Judea and Samaria commemorate 30 years of Regional Councils.

* Russia mulls rocket power ‘first’ Russia’s next-generation manned space vehicle might be equipped with thrusters to perform a precision landing on its return to Earth.

* Obama’s first 100 days ‘blank’ on Eastern Europe As US President Barack Obama marks his 100th day in office on Wednesday, several blanks in his policies towards eastern Europe and Russia still need to be filled.

* Muslims are cool to pope’s Holy Land pilgrimage A banner across the main square in Jesus’ boyhood town condemns those who insult Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

* Pakistan army ‘retakes key town’ The Pakistan army says it has taken control of a key town in Buner district in the north-west, a day after starting an offensive against the Taleban.

* Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of swine flu.

By: Robert Maginnis – Human Events

After the Sept. 2001 attacks on America, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan to deny the terrorist group al-Qaeda a sanctuary from which to train, launch attacks and brew weapons of mass death. That effort could now backfire if next door Pakistan falls into extremist hands thus providing al-Qaeda a secure base of operations armed with ready to launch atomic tipped missiles.

Pakistan is showing signs of collapsing, its government is inept and its military seems unwilling or ill prepared to stop the extremists. Only radical action by Pakistan’s army and plenty of help from the U.S. and Islamabad’s neighbors can keep the entire region from exploding.

Pakistan’s crisis shouldn’t be understated. Both U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates labeled the current crisis an “existential threat” to the state of Pakistan and Clinton said the deterioration of security in nuclear-armed Pakistan “… poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world.” Pakistan has an atomic arsenal of approximately 60-80 warheads and five types of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles.

This tragic situation started when the Taliban, an Islamic extremist group operating in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, gained control of the border region. Recently, the Taliban expanded its control by violently pushing toward Pakistan’s heartland.

The Taliban’s first foray outside the border region was into the Swat valley region, northwest of Islamabad, the nation’s capital. Pakistan’s army proved unable to subdue the militants so Islamabad capitulated to the extremists granting their demand, the imposition of Sharia (Islamic) law, in exchange for promises of peace.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani warned Swat’s Taliban, the Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-Muhammadi (TNSM), to honor the deal or face government action. “We reserve the right to go for other options if Talibanization continues,” Gilani said.

But granting the Taliban’s Sharia demand has proven to be a tragic mistake. The extremists took control of Swat’s everyday life banning all western influences, denying women school and forcing them into all-enveloping burqa clothing, and imposing harsh punishment like public whippings and beheadings. Worse, TNSM leader Maulana Sufi Muhammad denounced Pakistan’s constitution and the whole of government as un-Islamic and called for Sharia to be imposed throughout the country. He also said al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other militants aiming to oust the Americans from Afghanistan would be welcome and protected.

The day after the Sharia-for-peace deal was signed the TNSM used the agreement as a pretext to stream hundreds of heavily-armed militants across Swat’s border into adjacent Buner, a strategically vital district by the Indus River just 60 miles from Islamabad. The Taliban called on graduates of a local madrasa, an Islamic school, to run local governments and then it set-up checkpoints and announced the Taliban would open Islamic courts by the end of the month.

Pakistan responded to the invasion by raising the threat level in Islamabad to “Red” and sent frontier constabulary forces to Buner. Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, Pakistan army’s chief spokesman, insisted the situation in Buner was not dire. “The other side has been informed to move these people out of this area,” Abbas said.

The Taliban must have missed Gen. Abbas’ threatening press release. Instead of abandoning Buner the TNSM announced, “The day is not far when Islamabad will be in the hands of the mujahideen.”

The lesson from Swat and Buner is that the Taliban’s methodical tactic can be replicated elsewhere. Both regions were taken by force and guile. Sleeper cells were awakened, police were murdered and the ruse of peace talks quickly overwhelmed the opposition.

Last Friday, government officials confirmed that armed Taliban were seen close to Buner’s southern border visiting mosques and patrolling. “People are anxious and in a state of fear,” said Riaz Khan, a lawyer in the district of Mardan, the next region likely to fall to Taliban control as the terror group advances to Islamabad.

Over the weekend violence broke out in Pakistan’s main port city of Karachi, where U.S. supply routes to Afghanistan originate. The city’s authorities say these developments come because of the expansion of the Taliban phenomenon which is being encouraged by the Awami National Party, the dominant party in the Swat valley region.

Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University, explains why the Taliban poses a widespread threat. The Taliban has “natural allies in the religious parties in other parts of the country. They have social and religious networks that have supported their suicide attacks and attacks against the security forces,” Rais said.

The urgency of the situation isn’t lost on key leaders. Pakistani Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Army Chief of Staff, said he is “very concerned” about the situation and on Friday Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said “We’re certainly moving closer to the tipping point” where Pakistan could be overtaken by Islamic extremists.

Unfortunately, the Pakistani army is avoiding the fight. The army seems fixated on its arch enemy India rather than the growing internal insurgency and besides it is ill equipped for counterinsurgency operations. The army’s past engagements with Taliban forces in the tribal areas and the Swat valley have consistently failed which convinces some Pakistanis that their military is inept.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D – RI), who was in Pakistan last week, said Islamabad’s Sharia-for-peace deal “… reflects both the growing strength of the Pakistani Taliban and the inability of the Pakistani army to conduct successful counterinsurgency operations.” Reed said the crisis “illustrates there is a lack of political will in the Pakistan civilian leadership to confront these Pakistan Taliban.” He believes “The Taliban sense this huge vacuum that they can pour into.”

What can be done to stop the Taliban? President Obama’s just completed regional strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan calls for money to help Pakistan’s troubled economy and military aid to fight the insurgency. But money and military aid alone aren’t enough.

Pakistani authorities lack courage to resist the Taliban. U.S. Representative David Obey (D-WI), who leads the House Appropriations Committee, said “I have absolutely no confidence in the ability of the existing Pakistan government to do one blessed thing.” Obey’s committee is considering Obama’s request for $7.5 billion in non-military aid to Pakistan.

Secretary Clinton said “I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists” and Secretary Gates admits some Pakistani leaders recognize the threat “but it is important that they not only recognize it but take appropriate actions to deal with it.”

Unless Pakistan’s government acts quickly to stop the Taliban, the military will have no alternative but to push the elected government aside to impose martial law. Pakistan’s armed forces are the only institution with the experience, means and possibly the will to save Pakistan from Islamic extremists.

The U.S. should go ahead with promised economic and military aid whether the government finds the courage to resist or the military steps in. We should also offer to embed counterinsurgency advisors with the Pakistani army and increase cooperation along the Afghan border to corrall the Taliban.

Our diplomats should ask India’s leaders to reduce the pressure on Pakistan’s eastern front giving Islamabad freedom to shift forces to the Taliban infested areas. Other Central Asian states – Iran, Russia, China – should help to address the conflict as well.

Pakistan must be saved from the grips of Islamic extremists who would destabilize the region, use that country to train terrorists and stage terror operations, and harness atomic weapons that would pose a mortal threat to world security. And while it’s unusual for a democracy to advocate for a military takeover of a country, given the history of Pakistan and the sheer madness of doing nothing, there appears to be no other viable option.

By: AFP – Breitbart.com

While the Internet has dramatically changed lives around the world, its full impact will only be realised when far more people and information go on-line, its founders said Wednesday.

“The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past,” said Tim Berners-Lee, one of the inventors of the World Wide Web, at a seminar on its future.

Just 23 percent of the globe’s population currently uses the Internet, according to the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union, with use much higher in developed nations.

By contrast, just five percent of Africans surf the web, it said in a report issued last month.

But that level is expected to rise, especially in developing nations, as mobile Internet access takes off, making it no longer necessary to use a computer to surf the Web, said Internet co-founder Vinton Cerf.

“We will have more Internet, larger numbers of users, more mobile access, more speed, more things online and more appliances we can control over the Internet,” the Google vice president and chief Internet evangelist said.

Robert Cailliau, who designed the Web with Berners-Lee in 1989, said having more data on the Internet, and more people with the ability to access it, will spur the development of new technology and solutions to global problems.

“When we have all data online it will be great for humanity. It is a prerequisite to solving many problems that humankind faces,” the Belgian software scientist said.

The Internet has already led to the development of businesses that could not have existed without it, boosted literacy and learning and brought people closer together through cheaper modes of communication, the Internet pioneers said.

“We never, ever in the history of mankind have had access to so much information so quickly and so easily,” said Cerf.

With the help of other scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Berners-Lee and Cailliau set up the Web in 1989 to allow thousands of scientists around the world to share information and data.

The WWW technology — which simplifies the process of searching for information on the Internet — was first made more widely available from 1991.

The number of Web sites has since ballooned from just 500 as recently as 1994 to over 80 million currently, with growing numbers of sites consisting of user-generated content like blogs.

Even its founders are surprised by its popularity.

“What we did not imagine was a Web of people, but a Web of documents,” said Dale Dougherty, the founder of GNN, the Global Network Navigator, the first web portal and the first site on the Internet to be supported by advertising.

For his part, Cailliau said he was impressed that search engines can still sort through the myriad of material that is now on-line.

“To me the biggest surprise is that Google still functions despite the explosion in the number of sites,” said Cailliau.

* Pakistani leader: Bin Laden ‘may be dead’ Pakistan’s president said his intelligence agencies believe Osama bin Laden may be dead, but he added there is no proof.

* Israel to celebrate 61st birthday with concerts, military shows Independence Day celebrations will kick off Tuesday night with singing and acting performances on dozens of outdoor stages throughout the country after the central ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

* ‘Nation embracing bereaved families’ Sirens wailed across Israel for two minutes at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, as Remembrance Day ceremonies opened throughout the country.

* Cosmic blast sets distance mark The cataclysmic explosion of a giant star early in the history of the Universe is the most distant single object ever detected by telescopes.

* Barak: Iran is a threat to entire world While stressing that Israel was not in existential danger, Defense Minister Ehud Barak noted on Monday that Iran was a central threat not only to the Jewish state, but to the entire world.

* Jihadists Sharing Maps of Strategic Facilities Worldwide Jihadist websites recently carried a series of maps displaying strategic, military and nuclear facilities in many countries around the world.

* Turkish army unhappy over drill with Syria Turkey’s joint military drill with Syria has not only disturbed Jerusalem, it has also riled the Turkish military.

* Pakistan Battles Taliban in Northwest Pakistan’s military says attack helicopters and fighter jets are pounding Taliban militants in the northwest.

* More countries confirm swine flu New cases of the deadly swine flu virus have been confirmed as far afield as New Zealand and Israel, as the UN warns it cannot be contained.

* Turkey set to boost trade with Iran A protocol was signed on Monday on the sidelines of the Turkish-Iranian Business Forum currently being held in the Turkish capital Ankara.

* Israel’s population on eve of 61st Independence Day: 7,411,000 Israel’s population on the eve of its 61st Independence Day numbers 7,411,000, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics Monday afternoon.

* Barak ‘disturbed’ by Syria-Turkey drill While the Syrian-Turkish military maneuver taking place is a “disturbing development,” Israel’s strategic relationship with Istanbul will prevail over it, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

* Warnings as swine virus spreads A top European Union official has warned against travel to areas hit by a outbreak of swine flu, amid growing concern over the spread of the virus.

* Abbas: “I Don’t Accept” Israel As Jewish State Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas openly refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish State.

* Czech EU presidency splits with commission over Israel Caretaker Czech prime minister and European Union president-in-office, Mirek Topolanek, has sharply criticised the European Commission for insisting Israel advance peace negotiations before upgrading EU-Israel relations.

* Assad: No talks till Israel cedes Golan Syrian President Bashar Assad believes that the return of the Golan Heights is a condition for peace talks between his country and Israel, but at the same time does not foresee such negotiations happening in the near future.

* Jerusalem settlement ‘extended’ Construction has begun on approximately 60 new homes in a Jewish settlement in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli campaign group Peace Now says.

* Jordan: Israel Faces War If It Does not Agree to Arab Terms Israel faces all-out war within 18 months if it does not come to terms with the Arab world and allow the establishment of a new Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

* ‘No delay’ in US withdrawal from Iraq Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said the recent wave of attacks in the country were isolated incidents which did not threaten overall security improvement, and would not delay the withdrawal of American forces.

* US may fund PA government with Hamas The Obama administration has asked Congress for minor changes in US law that would allow the continued provision of funds to the Palestinian Authority even if Hamas officials become part of a Palestinian unity government.

* Mexico flu ‘a potential pandemic’ A new flu virus suspected of killing up to 60 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic.

* Petraeus Calls On Pakistan To Redirect Military Focus Gen. David H. Petraeus warned yesterday that al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists in Pakistan are posing “an ever more serious threat to Pakistan’s very existence.”

* Minister Peled: Nuclear Iran will be able to hit US “The entire world – not only the Middle East – will change should Iran acquire nuclear capabilities.”

* N Korea ‘is producing plutonium’ North Korea has started to reprocess spent fuel rods at its nuclear plant.

* Jordan’s King Abdullah: Israel must choose integration or isolation Jordan’s King Abdullah on Friday said that Israel must choose between integrating into the region or remaining isolated.

* Clinton renews support for Iraq Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the US “will stand with the people of Iraq” during a difficult transition period in the conflict-torn country.

* Italy’s Mafia thrives in global financial meltdown While businesses around the world are hunkering down for survival, the Italian mob is living a golden moment.

* Obama: ‘World mustn’t permit another Holocaust’ US President Barack Obama urged the world to combat anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial but did not refer to the threat of Iran.

* Iraq raises security at Shiite shrines after bombs Iraq tightened security Saturday at major Shiite shrines in response to two days of suicide attacks targeting worshippers.

* ‘Lieberman says two states the only way’ Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was “very moderate” during his meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman last week.

* Netanyahu Gov’t Continues to Divide Jerusalem A Tel Aviv court is set to decide whether the Defense Ministry may continue erecting the Partition Wall in a manner that will exclude a Jewish neighborhood.

* Iran cleric tells Washington to stop the language of threats An influential Iranian cleric urged the United States Friday to stop threatening Iran with more sanctions.

* ‘World leaders must drop their slogans’ The international community has to “stop speaking in slogans” if it really wants to help the new Israeli government.

* Czech PM: We’ll fight EU calls to freeze Israel ties Czech Prime Minister Mirel Topolanek told President Shimon Peres on Friday that his country would fight against calls within Europe to suspend the upgrade of relations with Israel.

* Czech PM tells Peres he’ll work to strengthen Israel-EU ties Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek met with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Friday.

* US and Russia hold nuclear talks US and Russian negotiators have begun to work on a new treaty aimed at reducing the number of nuclear weapons.

* Lieberman presses Chinese FM on Iran Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman discussed the proliferation of nuclear technology to Iran with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday.

* Israel ‘risking support on Iran’ Israel risks losing Arab support against Iran if it does not make progress on the Palestinian issue, says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

* Is Netanyahu really on a collision course with Obama? His meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington next month will be a formative event.

* Egyptian MP urges pilgrimage to Jerusalem The world’s Muslims should go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to demonstrate that it is a Muslim city and the future capital of a Palestinian state.