From Spanish TV ABC.es, Sevilla, May 26:

When I see Bush, he reminds me of Benito

Like the great humorists, who are certainly the most sad, Harold Bloom will never laugh at his own jokes nor betray the effect they produce in their interlocutor. Bloom believes the "United States has gone crazy. I cannot refer to the sitting president in any manner other than Benito Bush. When I see him on television with this rigid grimace on his face he reminds me of Benito. We find ourselves in a demented situation. Some time ago we ceased being a democracy and have been converted into a theocratic plutocracy. Its a very dangerous situation. It gives me the sensation that my compatriots are sleeping. Here we are fulfilling the prophecies of Orwell, but [20] years after they were predicted by Orwell."

Hundreds of Egyptians, many of them women dressed in black, rallied in Cairo May 31 to demand the resignation of Habib al-Adly, the interior minister. Activists said they held the minister responsible for the fact that police stood by last week as supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party assaulted women demonstrators, sexually harassed them and stripped them naked in the street. The attacks took place on the day Egyptians voted on a constitutional amendment to allow the country to hold contested presidential elections for the first time.

Activists from Kefaya, a movement which has been campaigning against a fifth term for President Hosni Mubarak, had congregated in front of the Journalists' Union to protest against the referendum, which they dismiss as a meaningless ploy to deflect pressure for reform. They were set upon when police lines surrounding them parted to allow in several dozen thugs, some carrying sticks. Men and women were assaulted, but the women were singled out for sexual humiliation. Egyptian human rights groups have called on Mubarak, who is also head of the NDP, to investigate the involvement of party officials in the incident.

Much to our dismay, our story by Frank Morales in the current issue of WW4 REPORT, "The Provacateur State: Is the CIA Behind the Iraqi 'Insurgents'?", has been picked up by the neo-Nazi Stormfront, which bills itself as "the first White Nationalist website." Gee, what an honor. Just in case there is the slightest room for doubt, let us make explicitly clear that we despise Stormfront and everything they represent, and wish them total disaster in all their endeavors.

Just four days after the last one, another mosque was hit by a suicide bomber in Pakistan last night. This time the blast, at a Shi'ite mosque in Karachi, killed five and wounded 18. It also sparked a night of violence in which Shi'ites set fire to a KFC outlet, killing six workers trapped inside. A hospital was also ransacked, and a gas station and several vehicles torched, leaving another five dead. Police said intelligence agents suspect the blast was the work of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned Sunni militant group with ties to al-Qaeda. More than 100 Pakistanis have been killed in a cycle of attacks between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the past year alone. (Reuters, May 31)

France will "soon" offer Libya a cooperation agreement to help Tripoli develop its civilian nuclear energy program, the French foreign ministry said today. "The principle of cooperation in the area of peaceful applications of nuclear energy is a given, but the content has yet to be defined. We're still in the exploratory phase," said ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei. "We will soon offer an agreement to the Libyans on what can be done."

An audiotape attributed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, has surfaced on an Islamist website claiming that he is only "lightly wounded." The tape emerged after a week of speculation about the health of the man Osama bin Laden has identified as his deputy, which began when rebels posted a message on the internet asking those loyal to the insurgency to pray for his health.

Up to 11 British soldiers and officers are under investigation for alleged war crimes over the death of an Iraqi civilian in British custody, the UK Independent revealed May 29. Military lawyers are considering the charges as part of a major inquiry into allegations that members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment beat Baha Mousa, a hotel worker, to death in September 2003. The officers include the regiment's commander, Col Jorge Mendonca, 41, who has been warned he could be tried for allegedly failing to control his troops effectively. Another eight Iraqis arrested with Mousa are preparing to sue the UK after claiming they were tortured by British troops. Another detainee, Khifah Taha, was also hospitalised and narrowly escaped death after suffering acute kidney failure allegedly as a result of a beating while in British custody.

New York City's tabloids are having a field day today with the arrest of a Bronx martial arts instructor, Tarik Ibn Osman Shah, on charges of "providing material support" to al-Qaeda. The NY Post does not fail to emphasize that Osman Shah is the son of Lieutenant X, a key aide to slain Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, according to "police sources." "It is particularly gratifying that someone using New York City as a base for terrorist support is now in custody," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Also arrested was Dr. Rafiq Sabir, a Columbia medical school graduate in Boca Raton, FL. Both men are US citizens.