Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi forces closed in on Tikrit, their progress slowed by jihadist snipers and booby traps, on the second day of Baghdad's largest operation yet against the Islamic State group.

The government has mobilised a 30,000-strong force for the push to retake Tikrit made up of Shiite militiamen and Sunni tribesmen as well as troops and police.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the jihadists who have held Tikrit since June 2014 have been resorting to guerrilla tactics to disrupt the government's advance.

"They are using urban warfare and snipers, so we are advancing in a cautious and delicate way, and we need more time," a lieutenant general on the ground told AFP.

Iraqi forces are moving on Tikrit from three directions, with units targeting the towns of Al-Alam and Ad-Dawr to the north and south, while another large contingent drives from the east.

"We are close to Ad-Dawr, but Daesh is still in the centre," the senior officer said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Units were also moving from a variety of other directions, with military sources saying the plan was to encircle and besiege IS fighters in Tikrit.

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Some 30,000 Iraqi troops and militia are taking part in the offensive to retake the northern city of …

The jihadist group announced in a radio bulletin Tuesday that a US national from its ranks had carried out a suicide attack against Iraqi forces near Samarra, the other main city in Salaheddin province.

The attacker was referred to by his nom de guerre, Abu Dawud al-Amriki. The group released a picture purportedly of him, wearing a mask that only reveals a pair of dark eyes.

- Revenge for Speicher -

The operation, the government's largest since it started attempting to regain the ground it lost to jihadists last summer, was announced Sunday by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Both Iraqi and Iranian media said Qassem Soleimani -- the commander of the Al-Quds Force covert operations unit of Tehran's elite Revolutionary Guards -- was in Salaheddin province to help coordinate operations.

The recapture of Tikrit is of both strategic and symbolic importance.

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Volunteer Shiite fighters, who are supporting the Iraqi government forces in the fight against the I …

Located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Baghdad, it is the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein, the remnants of whose Baath party have collaborated with IS.

Commanders have said Tikrit is a stepping stone for an even more ambitious operation aimed at retaking Mosul, the large northern city which has been the main Iraq hub of IS.

The battle for Tikrit, which the government has already tried and failed to retake several times, is seen as a test of how effectively such diverse fighting units work together.

"The battle for Tikrit and other towns in Salaheddin province will provide a mini-preview of what awaits further to the north in Mosul," said the Soufan Group intelligence consultancy.

Tikrit and its surroundings are Sunni and some tribes have been accused of involvement in the massacre of hundreds of new, mostly Shiite, recruits at the nearby base called Speicher in June.

Some leaders, including the powerful head of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation units Hadi al-Ameri, have explicitly said the Tikrit operation would be an opportunity to exact revenge.

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Members of the Iraqi security forces drive towards the al-Dawr area south of Tikrit ahead of an assa …

The UN warned that operations "must be conducted with the utmost care to avoid civilian casualties, and with full respect for fundamental human rights principles and humanitarian law."

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran's military assistance in the Tikrit offensive could be positive as long as it did not fuel sectarian divisions.

"This is the most overt conduct of Iranian support," Dempsey told senators, which came "in the form of artillery" and other aid.

"Frankly, it would only be a problem if it resulted in sectarianism," he said.

Dempsey said Shiite militia -- which are armed by Tehran -- account for about two-thirds of the force while Iraqi government army troops make up the remainder.

- No Mosul timeline -

A senior US defence official had suggested last month that the Mosul offensive should begin in April or May, a move that irked Iraqi commanders who argued the timing was theirs to decide.

On Monday, US President Barack Obama's envoy for the fight against IS stressed there was no timeline.

"The point about Mosul, or the point about any aspect of the counter-offensive, is less about the timing than about the preparation," John Allen said.

Australia announced Tuesday it will send another 300 troops to Iraq in a joint mission with New Zealand to help prepare Iraqi forces for the fightback.

And two cargo planes of Turkish military aid landed in Baghdad Tuesday, a sign of Ankara's apparently increasing willingness to help tackling IS.

Allen said that preparation was not just military but should also include measures to assist the affected population.

Tents have been set up in Samarra to shelter civilians fleeing Tikrit and joining what the International Organization for Migration says are 2.5 million people already displaced in Iraq.

(NaturalNews) The concept of a "free press" is all but dead and buried in America today, it seems. A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of investigative reporters in the United States believe that the government has "probably collected data about their phone calls, emails or online communications, and eight-in-ten believe that being a journalist increases the likelihood that their data will be collected."

This is a shocking revelation, especially considering the fact that the current administration promised to be "the most transparent" in the nation's history. In fact, the Obama Administration has shown itself to be remorseless in pursuing those who leak information to the press and in spying on reporters who dare to investigate its activities.

A free press is fundamental to a free society, and perhaps the most troubling aspect of this story is the fact that so few reporters seem outraged or even concerned about the government's interference in their profession. It's as if we as a society have become used to the idea that privacy is no longer a basic human right.

It's bad enough when the average citizen has given up on the idea that it's wrong for our government to spy on us, but when members of the press accept surveillance as a fact of life, it would seem to indicate that our society is in deep trouble.

Although most investigative reporters say that the spying has not affected their reporting, a significant percentage admit that they have modified their journalistic approach.

From the Pew report:

Just 14% say that in the past 12 months, such concerns have kept them from pursuing a story or reaching out to a particular source, or have led them to consider leaving investigative journalism altogether.

However, 49 percent say they have "at least somewhat changed the way they store or share sensitive documents." And 29 percent admit they have changed the way they communicate with "other reporters, editors or producers."

Within the past year, nearly 40 percent "have at least somewhat changed the way they communicate with sources." As Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner put it, the survey "makes Richard Nixon's enemies list look like child's play." The Nixon Administration was notorious for its monitoring and harassment of members of the press, but compared to Obama, his activities do seem rather tame in retrospect.

One of the few journalists who has been outspoken on the matter is Sharyl Attkisson. She is the author of a new book entitled Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington, in which she claims that the government has harassed her, spied on her and even planted "incriminating evidence" on her computer's hard drive.

Attkisson has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department, charging that her computer was hacked by the government while she was working on new stories concerning the attack on Benghazi, Obamacare, and the ATF's "Fast and Furious" gunwalking program.

While Attkisson should, of course, be applauded for defending journalistic integrity, many other members of the press should be ashamed for allowing the government to stifle their voices. It seems as if the mainstream news has become mere entertainment, designed to sell airtime to commercial interests and to pacify a dumbed-down populace.

Luckily, with the advent of the internet, other sources of information are available to those who know where to look. But the majority of Americans still get their news from the big networks, which -- no matter what their political affiliation -- seem content to provide the masses with watered-down stories of little substance, or even truth.

If we don't manage to restore the practice of real journalism in America, we shall have very little hope for the future of our once-free society.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com

http://endoftheamericandream.com

http://www.journalism.org

http://www.politico.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/048844_reporters_government_surveillance_freedom_of_the_press.html#ixzz3TQya6fn1

(NaturalNews) On the southern beaches of California, sea lions can be seen struggling, starving for food. A record number of sea lion pups have been stranded this winter, weakened and left behind. The mother sea lions are now leaving their young for prolonged periods as they struggle to find food on the West Coast. Some of the adult sea lions don't even have enough energy to complete their long quests for food. Some scientists believe the cause of this mortality event is linked to this winter's mild El Nino effect. The El Nino effect is responsible for altering ocean currents and the temperatures of the water. A change in the El Nino effect can change the migratory patterns of natural prey that the sea lions depend on. The West Coast is witnessing the effects of of a rapidly changing environment and shifting ecosystems.

"Unusual mortality event" declared in 2013, with five times the normal number of pups needing rescuing

Keith Matassa, executive director of the nonprofit Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, reports that they are rescuing 20 percent more sea lion pups in 2014 than in 2013. This is shocking, considering that the National Marine Fisheries Services declared 2013 to be an "unusual mortality event" for the pups. Matassa said that in 2013 the Marine Mammal Center gave assistance to five times the normal number of pups. It's now 2015, and this "unusual mortality event" has only gotten worse, dragging on as the animals lose strength on the West Coast.

According to Matassa, the pups aren't the only ones struggling. He said that some of the adults are giving up, losing strength, turning up emaciated like never before. The winter of 2014 has been the worst season ever documented for marine mammal survival. Could a shift in ocean temperatures and the depletion of natural prey be behind the mass die-off of these creatures? Others have suggested that radioactive waste pouring into the ocean at Fukushima could play a role in the increased deaths in sea animals.

Sea World rescuing twice as many sea lions in 2014

San Diego's Sea World has also seen an influx of sea lion rescue and rehabilitation. Officials at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro are taking in the starving animals and nursing them back to health.

"Our numbers are twice what they were in 2013," said David Bard, operations director of the San Pedro center. "In 2013, we saw an unprecedented number of rescues, it was a record then."

Bard said his facility took in more than 70 sea lion pups in December. Sea World's rescue team coordinator Jody Westberg said their rescue operation took in 15 starved pups in one three-day period. Throughout January, Sea World took in 62 sea lions, both pups and adults. The Laguna Beach center has saved 29.

Sea lions needing 6-8 weeks of care before returning to the wild

The rescue teams capture the stranded animals in the wild and take them in for six to eight weeks. It is taking two months now to get the pinnipeds strong enough so they can return to the wild.

If they can't eat, they lose the strength to move and hunt for food. Sea World veterinarian Dr. Hendrik Rollens mentioned how emaciated the animals are when they are first taken in and cared for. "When they came in, they couldn't raise their heads," he said, "so to see them start grooming and barking, that means they're feeling much better, much more themselves." At that point, he said, "[t]hey are ready to go back to the wild."

Sources for this article include:

http://news.yahoo.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/048840_West_Coast_mortality_event_Fukushima_radiation.html#ixzz3TR0WGJy0

In a landmark ruling on Monday the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court has seemingly allowed Jews to pray on Temple Mount – a highly divisive issue that was one of the catalysts for the Second Palestinian Intifada.

The ruling is a victory for Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a hardline Jewish activist, who brought an action against the Israeli police for banning him from visiting the site for two years.

Glick was banned from visiting Temple Mount between 2011 and 2013, after a Channel 10 broadcast showed him uttering a Jewish prayer on the sacred site. Last year, Glick was also seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by a Palestinian extremist.

Temple Mount is of extreme religious importance to both Judaism and Islam and is also significant to Christianity.

Court Judge Malka Aviv ruled the police “must make sure that Jews are able to pray on the Temple Mount.”

Aviv said on Sunday the ban on Glick visiting the site was given “without appropriate consideration, was arbitrary, and only out of concern for the consequences of the broadcast. There is nothing in the deeds of the plaintiff [Glick] that justified in any way the punishment that he received, not in the ban itself and not in the extended period [of the ban].”

Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority claim sovereignty over the site, and so it has been a major source of tension in the Arab-Israeli conflict since the 1967 War when Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem where Temple Mount is located.

Since 1967 Israel has given control of the mount to the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, and in an attempt to keep the status quo has stopped prayer there by non-Muslims.

Israeli security forces also say that non-Muslims worshipping on Temple Mount incite Palestinian violence.

So although the Jewish Supreme Court in theory allows Jews to pray on the site, it has also said that the security services have the right to consider wider security when policing the area and allowing non-Muslims to pray there.

Glick was also awarded 500,000 shekels ($125,303) in damages NIS 150,000 ($37,588) in legal aid costs. Glick’s attorney, Aviad Visoly, said that the ruling will effectively allow Jews to pray on Temple Mount.

“Essentially, the court took the ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the right of Jews to pray at the Temple Mount, and implemented it in practice,” he said.

But Arnon Segel, an Israeli journalist and commentator on issues concerning Temple Mount, was skeptical that in reality Jewish prayer would be allowed on the site, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu re-committed in November to upholding the status quo not to allow non-Muslim prayer on Temple Mount.

The police may also decide to appeal both the ruling and the financial reward.

In 2000, when Ariel Sharon visited Temple Mount, it triggered violent protests from Palestinians and was one of the catalysts of the Second Palestinian Intifada.

(RT)