Daily Headlines:

First up, we see more and more war preparations:

U.S. missile shield may be precursor for Iran attack

Russia's envoy to NATO said on Thursday that the United States might use the European missile defense project as preparation for an attack on Iran.

Washington has said its nuclear missile defense plans were designed to prevent any possible missile strikes from Iran or North Korea

."The missile defense system is not purely a defensive system," envoy Dmitry Rogozin said. "There are serious and authoritative experts in Russia and in other countries who fear that the creation of a European missile defense system, officially assigned the task of blocking a threat from Iran, may in fact be a pretext for preparing an attack on Iran."

U.S. in talks with NATO states on deployment of radar system in Europe

The United States is in talks with a number of NATO states on the deployment of a radar system as part of its mooted missile shield in Europe, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said.

"We're talking to a number of countries within NATO about this radar system and when it might be deployed but I don't want to get into the substance of those discussions," Mark Toner told a daily press briefing, adding that Turkey is among the possible countries.

And of course, the land of MaGog objects:

Russia against U.S. missile shield elements in Black Sea

Russia is opposed to deploying sea-based missiles and radars of the planned U.S. missile shield in Europe in Turkey's Black Sea region, Russia's envoy to NATO said on Thursday.

Russia has retained staunch opposition to the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense systems near its borders, claiming they would be a security threat. NATO and the United States insist that the shield would defend NATO members against missiles from North Korea and Iran and would not be directed at Russia.

In other news around the world:

Tropical Storm Don: Warning for Texas, Energy Operators Evacuate

A tropical storm warning has been issued across the Texas coast early Thursday. Tropical Storm Don is violently blasting its way into the central Gulf of Mexico and forecasters are telling those in the path of the storm to stay on alert over the coming days.

Tracking Map

Mega-quake could hit south of Vancouver Island

A B.C. study says the fault line between two tectonic plates in the Pacific Northwest is seven kilometres deeper than originally believed.

But he speculates it could mean the mega quake expected to hit the West Coast could occur beneath the Olympic Peninsula, south of Vancouver Island.

GOP Senator Blasts Soros for Evading Hedge Fund Rules

Sen. Richard Shelby accused billionaire financier George Soros on Wednesday of evading hedge fund regulations Soros previously supported, in what Shelby called an effort to dodge new Wall Street disclosure rules that smaller businesses are forced to observe.

Lebanon tribunal releases Hariri indictment details

AMSTERDAM - The UN-backed Lebanon tribunal on Friday released the names of four men wanted for the killing in 2005 of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen ordered the lifting of confidentiality on the full names, aliases, biographical information, photographs and charges against the individuals named in the indictment, the tribunal said in a statement.

The four men named in the indictment are Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra, the tribunal said.

The indictments were issued late last month but the identities of the accused were kept secret for a short period in order to allow the Lebanese government to investigate and arrest them.

The names released on Friday matched those reported by Beirut’s Daily Star newspaper upon the original issuing of the indictments last month.

All four of the suspects are linked to Hezbollah.

The Norway Massacre and Europe's War on Free Speech

Media outlets in Europe and the United States are accusing Western critics of Islam and multiculturalism of complicity in the mass killing of more than 70 people in Norway. The attempt to exploit this crime for political gain is not just a case of malicious opportunism. It also represents the latest and most unsavoury salvo in the long-running war on free speech in Europe.

The primary weapon in this war on free speech has been lawfare: the malicious use of European courts to criminalize criticism of Islam.

European socialists now view multiculturalism as a means to eliminate the entire Judeo-Christian worldview. This is certainly the case in Spain, where socialists have joined arms with Islam in a "Red-Green Alliance" to confront a common enemy, Christianity, as represented, in this case, by the Roman Catholic Church.