Titles:

• US: FBI Labels Bulk Buying of Food a Potential Terrorist Activity
• Egypt: Salafi sees Egypt Army Taking Time to Cede Power and Speak Positively about US NGOs
• British Special Forces Enter Syria to Aid Rebels
• Gingrich: Iran Nuke Attack on U.S. "Real Danger"
• Top US Envoy Met Taliban in Qatar
• China Boosts Police Numbers to Suppress the Islamic Revival in Xinjiang

Details:

US: FBI labels bulk buying of food a potential terrorist activity

As part of its effort to encourage business owners to spy on their customers, the FBI has labeled the bulk purchase of food as a potential indication of terrorist activity, despite the fact that FEMA itself last year purchased $1 billion dollars worth of storable food. A flyer aimed at Military Surplus stores produced under the auspices of the FBI's Communities Against Terrorism project, encourages owners to report people who "make bulk purchases of items to include....meals ready to eat". According to the flyer, the FBI advises store owners to demand ID's from all new customers, as well as asking them questions about their purchase and being aware of "suspicious statements". On Monday Reuters reported that authorities are now treating those who "believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard" as extremists who are a potential violent threat to law enforcement.

Egypt: Salafi sees Egypt army taking time to cede power and speak positively about US NGOs

The head of Egypt's leading ultra-conservative Islamist party believes it will take time for the ruling military to hand power to civilians but says the army cannot enjoy a privileged status "above the constitution". In an interview with Reuters, Emad Abdel Ghaffour said the next president should enjoy broad support to steer Egypt through the turbulent transition it has witnessed since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising last year. He also praised the work of a U.S.-based democracy group being investigated by the authorities, saying it had enriched political life. For a representative of a movement that has defined itself by opposition to all things Western, his remarks on the role of U.S.-backed NGOs under threat were remarkably positive. Abdel Ghaffour's Nour Party won more than a fifth of the seats in the newly-elected parliament, taking many by surprise and making it the biggest of the ultraconservative Salafi groups to have emerged in the year since Mubarak was swept from office. The military council which assumed power from Mubarak has pledged to hand power to an elected president by mid-year.

British Special Forces enter Syria to aid rebels

British Special Forces are on the ground in Syria directing rebel fighters in a repeat of how Libyan rebels were aided in the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi, according to a report by Israeli intelligence outfit DebkaFile. "British and Qatari special operations units are operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs just 162 kilometers from Damascus, according to DEBKA file's exclusive military and intelligence sources," states the report, adding that the foreign units are not engaging in direct combat but are acting in an advisory capacity, while also relaying requests for arms outside of the country. The report suggests that the situation in Syria is developing in an almost identical manner to how rebels in Libya were aided by British and French Special Forces.

Gingrich: Iran nuke attack on U.S. "Real Danger"

This week Republican candidate Newt Gingrich said that an Iranian nuclear attack on the United States was "a real danger" and that it could kill and wound hundreds of thousands of Americans. "You think about an Iranian nuclear weapon. You think about the dangers, to Cleveland, or to Columbus, or to Cincinnati, or to New York," Gingrich said while in Cleveland, Ohio. "Remember what it felt like on 9/11 when 3,100 Americans were killed. Now imagine an attack where you add two zeros. And it's 300,000 dead. Maybe a half-million wounded. This is a real danger. This is not science fiction. That's why I think it's very important that we have the strongest possible national security." However the facts suggest otherwise. First and foremost, despite the IAEA stating that Iran considered possibly developing a nuclear weapon before 2003, there is no evidence the country is building a nuclear weapon, let alone producing nuclear weapon grade uranium. Last week, Obama's intelligence boss, James Clapper, admitted Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon, although he did tell the Senate Intelligence Committee he thinks Iran may launch terror attacks in the United States. Clapper was backed up by CIA Director David Petraeus, who also said Iran was not building nuclear weapons. In January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also said Iran is not building a nuke. "Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability, and that's what concerns us," Panetta told CBS News. Iran currently does not have a missile capable of reaching Columbus, Cincinnati, New York, or Cleveland, as Gingrich warned. Its longest range missile is the Sajjil-2, with a range of about 2,200 kilometers or 1,375 miles when carrying a 750-kg warhead.

Top US envoy met Taliban in Qatar

Washington's chief envoy to Afghanistan met Taliban leaders in Qatar as part of US efforts to bring the insurgents to the negotiating table, a senior Afghan official said on Wednesday. The talks between the Taliban and Marc Grossman came in late January, after he met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, the official said, asking to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue. Grossman, President Barack Obama's chief envoy for war-torn Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, later briefed Karzai about his talks with Taliban representatives during a visit by the Afghan leader to Italy. "I can confirm that Mr Grossman met with the Taliban representatives in Qatar. When the president (Karzai) was in Rome, he came over to his residence and briefed him about his meetings with the Taliban," the official said. The US, which heads a 130,000-strong force fighting a Taliban insurgency against Karzai's government, has made tentative moves towards talks with the hardline Islamists in Qatar, where they plan to open an office. Karzai, rejected by the Taliban as a "puppet", has said publicly that he supports the plan, but was widely reported to be concerned that he would be sidelined in the Taliban's talks with the US. Washington dispatched Grossman to Kabul last month to assure the Afghan president of a leading role once the talks get under way. The official told AFP that during his visit to Kabul Grossman met Karzai twice and "a number of agreements were made over a number of issues concerning Taliban talks". He refused to give details but said: "Our stance is unchanged: the president wants the talks to be Afghan-led and Afghan owned."

China boosts police numbers to suppress the Islamic revival in Xinjiang

China will boost police forces in its western Xinjiang region, state media said on Monday, in an effort to tackle unsanctioned religious activities in the region, which has been beset by ethnic strife and sometimes violent unrest. Authorities will recruit 8,000 new police officers. "Security patrols, management of the migrant population and cracking down on illegal religious activities" will be among their main duties, Xinhua said, citing an unnamed Communist Party spokesman in Xinjiang. Xinjiang is home to the Uighur ethnic group, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people who account for just over 40 percent of the region's more than 21 million population. The government blamed the incidents in Kashgar and Hotan - both in the majority Uighur southern part of Xinjiang - on religious hardliners and separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan for their people.

Over the past decade, China has intensified its efforts to break the zeal and the moral of the Muslims of Xinjiang. The government has poured money and men to thwart the Islamic revival but it has been in vain. Allah says:" Verily, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (men) from the Path of Allah, and so will they continue to spend it; but in the end it will become an anguish for them. Then they will be overcomed"[TMQ 8:36].