Headlines:

• Collapsing U.S. Economy Causes 300,000 Citizens to Petition for Secession from Union
• Erdogan Supports Israeli Aggression against Gaza by Limiting Criticism to Words Only
• Syria Opposition Leader Seeks UK Recognition, Arms
• War in Afghanistan has 'failed' and is 'not worth the life of one more soldier' says Lord Paddy Ashdown

Details:

Collapsing U.S. Economy Causes 300,000 Citizens to Petition for Secession from Union

One week after the United States re-elected President Barack Obama, thousands of residents from more than a dozen states have petitioned with the White House's "We the People" program seeking to secede from the Union. The White House may only have to respond to a petition if it reaches the 25,000 threshold, but it may choose to opt out of providing a response under its own rules, citing "to avoid the appearance of improper influence." Despite this, the state of Texas has generated more than 64,000 signatures (at the time of this writing). States such as New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, California, Ohio and others have only garnered between a few hundred and several thousand. Texas is the only state to reach the White House requirement so far. Citizens from these states have established and signed the petition thus far: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. In total, the petitions have received 339,571 signatures.

Erdogan Supports Israeli Aggression against Gaza by Limiting Criticism to Words Only

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan decried Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Friday as a pre-election stunt and said he would discuss the crisis with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo this weekend. Under Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party, Turkey has sought to use its clout as a rising democratic power in the Muslim world to increase its influence in the Middle East, distancing itself from former ally Israel. Erdogan said he would speak by phone with U.S. President Barack Obama later on Friday and that Ankara was also seeking talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the prospect of a full Israeli ground invasion. "Before this election they (Israel) shot these innocent people in Gaza for reasons they fabricated," he told reporters in Istanbul. "The dominant world powers are now making the Gaza people and fighters pay, and as the Republic of Turkey we are with our brothers in Gaza and their just cause." Relations between Turkey - once Israel's only Muslim ally - and the Jewish state have crumbled since Israeli marines stormed a Gaza-bound aid ship in 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, killing nine Turks in clashes with activists on board.This week, two days of relentless Israeli air strikes on Gaza and the drafting of reserve troops have raised fears of a full ground invasion in an attempt to end militant rocket salvoes, a few of which have crashed near Israel's biggest city Tel Aviv for the first time. Twenty-two Palestinians have died in the air strikes since Wednesday. Three Israelis were killed by a rocket on Thursday. The Gaza conflagration has fanned the fires of a Middle East aflame with two years of Arab revolution and a civil war in Syria that threatens to spill beyond its borders. "I hope (a) decision of the U.N. Security Council and the attitude of the dominant powers will end Israel's offensive attitude," Erdogan said.

Syria Opposition Leader Seeks UK Recognition, Arms

Syrian opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib was meeting with British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday in London, seeking UK recognition and pressing for an end to an EU arms embargo. Speaking before the meeting, Hague told BBC radio that the opposition had taken a "very big step forward" by uniting and said London would decide "in the coming days" whether to recognise it as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. He also confirmed that Britain was re-examining the EU embargo that prevents the arming of the opposition, although he stressed London was currently offering only non-lethal support. Hague said Britain would like to be able to recognise the National Coalition, "but I do want to hear more about their plans, about who they are going to appoint to particular positions, about whether the Kurds will be included, and how much support they have inside Syria."After we've had that meeting today we may be able in the coming days to come to a judgement about that." As for assistance, he said "we will discuss ... giving them more non-lethal assistance, not arms but other practical assistance that we can send that helps save lives," he said. "Of course we will discuss with our European partners the future of the arms embargo. We've made no decision to change that so far." France became on Tuesday the first Western country to formally recognise the National Coalition, joining the Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Turkey followed suit on Thursday and urged other governments, particularly Muslim ones, to follow suit. France raised on Thursday the prospect of providing Syria's rebels with defensive weapons. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris would discuss its proposal to ease the EU arms embargo that currently covers both sides. "For the moment, there is an embargo, so there are no arms being delivered from the European side," he said. "The issue... will no doubt be raised for defensive arms. This is something that we can only do in coordination with the Europeans."

War in Afghanistan has 'failed' and is 'not worth the life of one more soldier' says Lord Paddy Ashdown

It is 'crystal clear' the war in Afghanistan is completely lost and is not worth wasting the life of one more British soldier, Lord Ashdown has said Friday. In the 11-year-conflict 438 Britons have died and the former Liberal Democrat leader believes that our armed forces should 'get out now' to avoid any more bloodshed. The Prime Minister wants to withdraw the 9,000 British troops by the end of 2014 as long as it fits with America's own plans. But Lord Ashdown says it should be much sooner saying 'the longer it takes, the greater the sacrifice' as more deaths are not in battle, they are at the hands of members of the Afghan police or army. What can be done to stop Afghanistan internally unravelling into chaos has already been done. The only outcome of staying longer is more deaths for no purpose; most of them now caused not by the enemy in front of our troops, but by the enemy among them.' Lord Ashdown says there is nothing that can be achieved in the war-torn country now. 'All that we can achieve has now been achieved,' Lord Ashdown wrote. 'All that we might have achieved if we had done things differently has been lost. The only rational policy is to leave quickly, in good order and in the company of our allies. This is the only cause for which further lives should be risked. 'We have succeeded in only one thing; albeit the big thing we first said we went to war for - driving out al-Qaeda. In almost all the other tasks we set ourselves, especially the establishment of a sustainable state, we have failed.'

Abu Hashim