Rumor: Saudis Planning To Buy Nuclear-Capable Missiles From China

If true, Iran will do everything in its power to see to it that this plan never comes to fruition …

Isaiah 21:1-2, “An oracle concerning the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror. A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.”

“DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Saudi Arabia has set its feet on the path to a nuclear weapon capability and is negotiating in Beijng the purchase of Chinese nuclear-capable Dong-Fen 21 ((NATO-codenamed CSS-5) ballistic missile.

China, which has agreed to the transaction in principle, would also build a base of operations near Riyadh for the new Saudi purchases.

As we reported last year, Saudi Arabia has struck a deal with Pakistan for the availability on demand of a nuclear warhead from Islamabad’s arsenal for fitting onto a ballistic missile.

Riyadh owns a direct interest in the two most active Middle East issues: Iran and Syria.

Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been advancing for two decades regardless of countless attempts at restraint by every diplomatic tool under the sun and a rising scale of sanctions – to no avail.

Tehran marches on regardless of impediments. In Istanbul, Tuesday, July 3, the six powers and Iran failed the fourth attempt to reach an accommodation on Iran’s nuclear program.” Read more.

Flashback: Saudi Arabia: Riyadh Will Build Nuclear Weapons if Iran Gets Them, Saudi Prince Warns – “A senior Saudi Arabian diplomat and member of the ruling royal family has raised the spectre of nuclear conflict in the Middle East if Iran comes close to developing a nuclear weapon. Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, warned senior Nato military officials that the existence of such a device ‘would compel Saudi Arabia … to pursue policies which could lead to untold and possibly dramatic consequences’.” Read more.

Florida: Lawyer For Tampa Jihadist Wants Off Case After Receiving Threats From Suspect’s Family

Meh, I am confident that they must have all been peaceful threats …

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI, The Tampa Tribune – “TAMPA — A lawyer for a man accused of plotting a terror attack in Tampa wants off the case, partly because he says the suspect’s family has threatened him.

Sami Osmakac, a naturalized citizen from Kosovo, could receive a sentence of up to life in prison if he is convicted on federal charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered machine gun. He is scheduled to go on trial in August.

Osmakac was arrested in January as part of an undercover sting by the FBI after authorities said he planned to attack a populated Tampa night spot, then take hostages and demand the release of Muslim prisoners.

Last month, the defendant tried to fire his lawyers, Charles Vaughn and Paul Militello, who said they differ with their client on how to handle his defense. They said Osmakac didn’t like what they told him about the case. Evidence includes nearly 60 audio and video recordings, some of which are several hours long, lawyers have said.

U.S. District Judge Mary Scrivenon on June 15 denied motions by Militello and Vaughn to withdraw from the case. The judge said then Osmakac told her he was trying to hire another lawyer. She said if a new lawyer notified the court within two weeks, she would release Militello and Vaughn. But the deadline came and went without the appearance of a new lawyer.

On Monday, Vaughn filed another motion asking to be let out of the case. This time, Vaughn wrote that the attorneys and Osmakac ‘no longer communicate and the defendant’s family has now threatened counsel.’

Vaughn did not elaborate. But he added, ‘There is no longer an attorney/client relationship.'” Source – The Tampa Tribune.

Texas: Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dead Fish Found At Lake Wichita

“It’s another case of dead fish in Lake Wichita. Hundreds of thousands of dead fish were reported to Texas Parks and Wildlife officials Monday morning.

Fisheries Biologist Robert Mauk investigated the incident and took samples back to his lab. What he found was golden algae. The algae release a toxin into the water that make it difficult for the fish to breathe, eventually leading to suffocation.

Carp, catfish, crappie and other species are dead, some still struggling to survive. Mauk refers to this as a ‘major’ fish kill.

‘This is probably the 4th golden algae related fish kill at this lake,’ he said.

Mauk doesn’t expect a total fish kill. The cause of how the golden algae bloomed inside the lake is unknown. The area was hit hard by golden algae at the start of the year, now it’s happening again. Only this time it’s worse. To read our January report of golden algae at Lake Wichita click here.” Source – Newschallel6Now.com.

Thousands Of Fish Found Dead In Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina – High Temperatures Blamed

Residents Concerned Over Thousands of Dead Fish in Havana, Illinois – “Dead fish carcasses, maggots by the thousands invading their eyes, and a smell that would raise anyone’s nostril hairs… It’s what the shore of Quiver Creek attached to Chautauqua Lake in Havana looks like. ‘We’ve never had fish, dead fish float up on our banks, like we see here. I buried probably at least a couple ton of them the other day,’ said concerned resident Rick Hartmeyer. According to the IDNR, summer fish kills are a result of natural conditions like hot weather and low water levels but Hartmeyer says this was intentionally done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And that’s something officials say is not true.” Read more.

Thousands of Dead Fish Found in Dexter, Missouri- “DEXTER, MO (KFVS) – Thousands of dead fish turned up over the past couple of days at Dexter City Lake. It’s an important image for residents like Dean Smith. ‘My son fished over there when he was small,’ said Smith. He knows the importance of the community pond because he has lived in Dexter, Missouri his whole life. ‘There’s people that come there everyday and fish,’ said Smith. But right now, signs say no fishing. That’s because thousands of fish are dead and officials blame our triple digit weather. ‘Well the high temperatures, which is unusual with this many days over 100 or near 100, is heating the water temperature up which has an effect on the oxygen level in the pond,’ said Lawson Metcalf with Dexter Parks and Recreation.” Read more.

Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Ashore in Butts County, Georgia – “Thousands of dead fish have washed up on the shores of a lake in Butts County. Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials estimate around 2,300 carp, bass and catfish have died in South River in Butts County. Sean Ledford, who owns a house in a cove of Lake Jackson, says the smell of the fish is so bad that he can’t even use his dock. ‘We’re out here trying to celebrate and you just got rotten smell being blown in your face,’ Ledford said. DNR officials say low water levels and high temperatures caused the fish to suffocate.” Read more.

Hundreds of Fish Killed in Upstate Lake in South Carolina – “Hundreds of fish are floating dead in an Upstate lake, but the cause was not a mysterious chemical or some other pollutant. The Department of Health and Environmental Control says low water levels combined with heat has led to a lack of oxygen in the cove on Lake Hartwell near the Fair Play area. About 500 fish have died. Brandi Pierce and her family live just yards from the waterway. ‘It started Sunday afternoon,’ Pierce said. ‘We started seeing ten fish popping up out of the water. Then Monday, it was full.’ DHEC spokesman Adam Myrick said fish kills are very common when temperatures are extremely high.” Read more.

Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission Studying Lake Buffum Catfish Dieoff Near Fort Meade

By Tom Palmer – “I received a report over the weekend about a fish kill on Lake Buffum near Fort Meade.

Instead of being the normal fish kill that involves a drop in oxygen levels caused by an algae die-off that leaves fish floating everywhere, this one affected only catfish, I was told.

I spoke with Eric Johnson, a fisheries biologist at FWC’s Lakeland office.

He confirmed the report. He said tissue samples have been sent to a state lab in St. Petersburg to get more accurate info, but tentatively it appears to be the result of bacteria or some other microorganism.

Johnson said this occurs occasionally and there’s really nothing that can be done about it but to let it pass. Fish populations eventually recover.

This has been going on for a few weeks, Johnson said.

I’m surprised no one had contacted us–they usually do–but public access to the lake has been limited for some time because of the drought has made the boat ramp unusable.” Source – Polk Outdoors.

Japan: Highly Contaminated Fish Detected In Fukushima Rivers And Lakes, Up To 25 Times Legal Limit

Kyodo News – “The Environment Ministry said Monday it detected 61 to 2,600 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in 23 varieties of freshwater fish sampled at five rivers and lakes in Fukushima Prefecture between December and February.

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis, the government reduced the level of radioactive cesium deemed safe for consumption to a maximum of 100 Bq/kg for fish, meat and other food items.

A kind of goby taken from the Mano River in Minamisoma, located north of the crippled nuclear plant, showed 2,600 Bq/kg, according to the ministry.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Truly Frightening’: Higher and higher radioactivity levels expected to continue for years – “It’s truly frightening. What happened was these fish were caught [and tested] five months after the accident…. but the research wasn’t published until June of this year… Scientists sat on this information for 8 or 9 months while they were waiting to get their report published… [The tuna] still had body burdens of both kinds of cesium — 134 and 137 — that were surprisingly high for a fish that had only been near Fukushima for a couple weeks. So my question is, ‘What’s been going on since then?’ cause we know that cesium has been continually released… It’s likely that the next catch of tuna that hasn’t made the scientific literature yet is going to be worse than the tuna that they caught. They caught 15 tuna and all 15 had high levels of cesium 134 and 137 in them… so one would expect that now as more and more tuna start to swim toward the United States we’ll see higher and higher levels of radioactivity in the tuna, and I don’t think that trend is going to stop for the next several years.” Read more.

Syria: Thousands Of Christians Fleeing Syria Amid Torture Allegations

BosNewsLife Middle East Service – “DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BosNewsLife)– Thousands of Christians have fled their homes in Syria where news emerged Tuesday, July 3, that intelligence agencies run dozens of torture centers where detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and have fingernails torn out.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) group said it identified 27 abuse centers which have been used since President Bashar al-Assad’s government began a crackdown in March 2011 on pro-democracy protesters trying to oust him.

HRW added that it conducted over 200 interviews with people who were tortured, including a 31-year-old man who was detained in the Idlib area in June and made to undress.

‘Then they started squeezing my fingers with pliers. They put staples in my fingers, chest and ears. I was only allowed to take them out if I spoke. The staples in the ears were the most painful,’ the man was quoted as saying in the report.

‘They used two wires hooked up to a car battery to give me electric shocks. They used electric stun-guns on my genitals twice. I thought I would never see my family again. They tortured me like this three times over three days,’ he added…

Christians have also suffered abuse, including from rebels who accuse them of supporting the regime or observing a ‘Western religion’ and some believers have been killed, according to church groups.

Among those recently killed was Atallah Ibrahim Bitar, who was shot dead while reportedly taking food to people forced into hiding by a week-long bombardment, Christian aid workers said.” Read more.

Morocco: Imam Calls For Death Of Arab Newspaper Editor For Defending Human Rights In Interview

Worldcrunch – “OUJDA – A Moroccan court has ordered the investigation of a controversial imam, Abdellah Nhari, for inciting hatred, reports Le Soir Echos.

In a video posted on YouTube (see below), Nhari suggests that Mokhtar Laghzioui, editor-in-chief of the Arabic newspaper Al Ahdath Al Maghribia, ‘must be killed’ in reaction to his appearance on the new pan-Arabist news channel Al Mayadeen, where he defended individual rights for Moroccan people, especially pertaining to sexual liberties.

The imam also criticizes the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), which has previously launched an appeal to legalize sexual relations outside of marriage. ‘These types of secular organizations are corrupt and financed by Europe and the West,’ Nhari said.

As AFP reported, the court in the Moroccan city of Oujda, declared Sunday that Nhari’s speech is ‘likely to lead to crime, incitement of violence through preaching.’

The weekly French-language Moroccan newspaper La Vie éco reported Tuesday that the Moroccan Union of Newspaper Editors (FMEJ) was ‘concerned and shocked’ by the video, declaring that journalists should have the right to express their opinions within the framework of the law.

Mokhtar Laghzioui said: ‘I am relieved the authorities have taken this threat seriously. This is not about any one person. This is a real danger to individual freedom in Morocco.'” Source – Worldcrunch.

Flashback: ‘Arab Spring’ Contagion Strikes Morocco: Islamist ‘Justice’ Party Wins Vote in Election – “Morocco’s moderate Islamist PJD party won the most seats in the country’s parliamentary election, final results showed Sunday, in the latest sign of a resurgence of faith-based movements since the Arab Spring uprisings. The victory for Morocco’s Justice and Development Party came a month after Tunisia handed power to a previously-banned party of moderate Islamists. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is also expected to do well in an election starting Monday.” Read more.