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Sunday, January 31, 2010

News Analysis - U.S. Starts to Push Back Against China in Growing Rift - NYTimes.com

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  • "WASHINGTON — For the past year, China has struck an increasingly muscular position with the United States, berating American officials for the global economic crisis, stage-managing President Obama's visit to China last November, refusing to back a tougher climate change agreement in Copenhagen and standing fast against American demands for tough new Security Council sanctions against Iran. Now, the Obama administration has started to push back. In announcing an arms sales package to Taiwan worth $6 billion on Friday, the United States leveled a direct strike at the heart of the most sensitive diplomatic issue that has existed between the two countries since America affirmed the one-China policy in 1972. The arms package was doubly infuriating to Beijing, coming so soon after President Bush announced a similar arms package to Taiwan in 2008, and right as Beijing and Taipei are in the middle of a détente of sorts in their own relations. China’s immediate, and outraged, reaction—canceling some military-to-military exchanges and announcing punitive sanctions against American companies — demonstrates, China experts said, that Beijing is feeling a little burned, particularly because the Taiwan arms announcement came on the same day that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly berated China for not taking a stronger position on holding Iran accountable for its nuclear program."

    tags: nytimes.com, US, Global, Military, China, Government


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Clinton: Iran's attitude leaves us no choice

Logo of the United States White House, especia...Image via Wikipedia

clipped from www.ynetnews.com
US Secretary of State meets European counterparts to discuss additional round of sanctions on Iran. US senators send letter to president, say military action could be inevitable

Earlier, Clinton met with the foreign ministers of the UK, France, Germany and Italy to discuss Iran's nuclear program. Some sources reported that the five discussed the latest developments in the Iranian arena and the possibility of implementing another round of sanctions.

In a letter to President Obama, senators claimed military action in Iran might be needed, while members of the House of Representatives urged Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to "support Israel's sovereign right to take whatever action necessary for its own defense."

"It will only serve to further isolate Iran's government in the world and from it's people," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters.

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Russia to test stealth fighter as rearmament cranks into gear

Gunsan Air Show 2008Image by UNC - CFC - USFK via Flickr

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

The maiden flight of the T-50 advanced frontline fighter jet underlines the Kremlin's determination to overhaul its ageing Soviet-era weaponry at a time when it is locked in key nuclear arms reductions talks with the United States.

President Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, discussed a new nuclear arms treaty as recently as last Wednesday. The putative treaty would slash the number of war heads both countries possess and is seen as the centrepiece of a thus far largely rhetorical "reset" in relations between Moscow and Washington. Negotiators have been hammering out the details of such a deal for months and are said to be weeks if not days away from a final settlement.

Russian military experts say the plane is needed to defend Russia's enormous borders and to ensure the country can take on its neighbours in the event of any localised conflicts such as its 2008 war with Georgia.

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UN in secret peace talks with Taliban

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It was the first such meeting between the UN and senior members of the Taliban. The fact that it took place suggests that peace talks have revived since exploratory contacts between emissaries of the Kabul government and the Taliban in Saudi Arabia last year broke down.

It also suggests that some Taliban members might be prepared for the first time to put faith in an international organisation to broker a deal to end the nine-year war.

News of the Dubai meeting surfaced at the end of a day-long conference in London intended to map out a transition over five years from a Nato-led military campaign to Afghan-led effort involving more political, social and economic measures to end the fighting.
clipped from www.guardian.co.uk
Taliban fighters in a Madrassa compound near the northern city of Kundoz in Afghanistan.

Taliban commanders held secret exploratory talks with a United Nations special envoy this month to discuss peace terms, it emerged tonight.

Regional commanders on the Taliban's leadership council, the Quetta Shura, sought a meeting with the UN special representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, and it took place in Dubai on 8 January. "They requested a meeting to talk about talks. They want protection, to be able to come out in public. They don't want to vanish into places like Bagram," the Reuters news agency quoted a UN official as saying, referring to the Bagram detention centre at a US military base outside Kabul.

The western official said: "This 'new Taliban' is not that much more extreme than some of the people in government. They could be willing to compromise on some issues, like women's rights, girls education, even watching telly perhaps."

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1st President of the EU Herman Van Rompuy is Bilderberg member announces support for global governance

A long awaited hidden agenda that seems to be coming more out in the open, more than ever before.
clipped from fromtheold.com

As hidden societies go and the world is secretly driven by rich men with hidden agendas we see their plans going further in the newly elected first EU president Herman Van Rompuy.

Rompuy called 2009 the first year of global governance, showing his support towards a new world order saying “2009 is also the first year of global governance, with the establishment of the G20 in the middle of the financial crisis. The climate conference in Copenhagen is another step towards the global management of our planet.”

Just a few days ago Mario Borghezio flamed the influence of the hidden groups like the Bilderberg group for their influence by globalist groups such as the Bilderberg.

We can be sure to see the European Union head towards global governance now and towards the plans of the New World order.

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Robots Will Soon Do All Our Killing for Us | | AlterNet

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  • "January 25, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. Advertisement One moment there was the hum of a motor in the sky above. The next, on a recent morning in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, a missile blasted a home, killing 13 people. Days later, the same increasingly familiar mechanical whine preceded a two-missile salvo that slammed into a compound in Degan village in the tribal North Waziristan district of Pakistan, killing three. What were once unacknowledged, relatively infrequent targeted killings of suspected militants or terrorists in the Bush years have become commonplace under the Obama administration. And since a devastating December 30th suicide attack by a Jordanian double agent on a CIA forward operating base in Afghanistan, unmanned aerial drones have been hunting humans in the Af-Pak war zone at a record pace. In Pakistan, an “unprecedented number” of strikes -- which have killed armed guerrillas and civilians alike -- have led to more fear, anger, and outrage in the tribal areas, as the CIA, with help from the U.S. Air Force, wages the most public “secret” war of modern times. In neighboring Afghanistan, unmanned aircraft, for years in short supply and tasked primarily with surveillance missions, have increasingly been used to assassinate suspected militants as part of an aerial surge that has significantly outpaced the highly publicized “surge” of ground forces now underway. And yet, unprecedented as it may be in size and scope, the present ramping up of the drone war is only the opening salvo in a planned 40-year Pentagon surge to create fleets of ultra-advanced, heavily-armed, increasingly autonomous, all-seeing, hypersonic unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Today’s Surge Drones are the hot weapons of the moment and the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review -- a soon-to-be-released four-year outline of Department of Defense strategies, capabilities, and priorities to fight current wars and counter future

    tags: Robots, Drones, Military, Missile, Attacked, Unmanned, machines, Prophecy, News


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Islamic Militants in Somalia Murder Christian Leader | Christianpost.com

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  • "World|Wed, Jan. 27 2010 11:45 AM EDT Islamic Militants in Somalia Murder Christian Leader By Simba Tian|Compass Direct News * Single Page * * E-mail * * Print * * RSS * * digg Facebook Twitter Stumble Reddit del.ico.us Buzz Share * * Text * G-bookmarks * Live * Technorati NAIROBI, Kenya (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremists shot the leader of an underground church to death outside the capital city of Somalia this month and have threatened to kill his wife, his tearful widow told Compass. Having learned that he had left Islam to become a Christian, Somali militants from the Islamic extremist al Shabaab murdered 41-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Ali at about noon on Jan. 1, Amina Ibrahim Hassan said. He was killed sometime after leaving his home in Hodan, on the outskirts of Mogadishu, she said. She and other family members were not immediately aware that he had been killed. “We waited for him that day, but he did not turn up,” said Hassan, who has since fled to Nairobi. “The following day, on Jan. 2, I was informed by the fellowship that my husband had been killed.” Ali led an underground church. Christian sources said members of al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda terrorists, had been monitoring Ali and his wife for indications that they had left Islam. Ali had organized New Year’s Day festivities for Christians to take place in Medina, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) outside of Mogadishu. Al Shabaab extremists killed him after word of the planned party leaked to them, Hassan said. Hassan, who worked for a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) before leaving the country, said she received threatening calls from members of al Shabaab on Jan. 3. “We know who you are working for,” Hassan said one extremist told her. “We also know your home and that you are a follower of the Christians, and we are going to kill you the way we killed your husband.” Aware of the Islamic extremist militia’s determination to carry out their threats, Hassan called a

    tags: Prophecy, Muslim, Islam, Religion, Christian, persecution


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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Iran's leader predicts Israel's destruction - Yahoo! News

  • "TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader is predicting the destruction of Israel in one of his harshest comments in years about the Jewish state. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the timeline for Israel's demise depends on how Muslim nations "approach the issue." He did not elaborate. The Iranian leader made the remarks on Tuesday during a meeting with the Mauritanian president in Tehran. He posted the comments on his office Web site on Wednesday. Khamenei has previously called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that must be removed from the map. But his new comments mark the first time in years Khamenei has publicly predicted Israel's downfall. The remarks also come as Jews mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi-run Auschwitz death camp."

    tags: Iran, Plans, to, destroy, Israel, Islam, Muslim, Prophecy, Law


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Martian Winter Threatens NASA Rover

Billions of dollars and they get it stuck in the Sand?

NASA's six-wheeled robot needs to reposition its solar panels in order to stay alive.


Spirit is stuck in the sand on Mars' surface, and all of NASA's attempts to free it by remote control have failed to date.


"We need to lift the rear of the rover, or the left side, or both," said Ashley Stroupe, a remote Spirit driver at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, in Pasadena, Calif.


Spirit is currently facing south, but from its current location the winter sun will be mainly in Mars' northern sky.


"Lifting the rear wheels out of their ruts by driving backward and slightly uphill will help. If necessary, we can try to lower the front right of the rover by attempting to drop the right-front wheel into a rut or dig it into a hole," said Stroupe.

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Al-Qaida Group Claims Responsibility for Baghdad Hotel Bombings

clipped from www1.voanews.com
Iraqis inspect a crater caused by a suicide bombing in Baghdad, 26, Jan 2010
An al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq has claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide bomb attacks on three Baghdad hotels that killed at least 36 people.

"The Islamic State of Iraq" group issued an Internet statement Wednesday calling the attacks the "fourth wave" of its bombing campaign in the Iraqi capital.

In Monday's bombings, suicide attackers blew up vehicles packed with explosives outside Baghdad's Sheraton, Babylon and Hamra hotels, which are popular with Western journalists and contractors.

The insurgent group says it also carried out three previous waves of coordinated vehicle bombings in Baghdad last year (in August, October and December).  Those attacks on Iraqi government buildings killed almost 400 people.

In the latest blast in Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up a car outside a police crime lab Tuesday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 80.  
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Oregon Passes Tax Boost on Wealthy, Corporations - WSJ.com

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  • "PORTLAND, Ore.—Oregon voters approved two special tax measures Tuesday designed to close a $733 million state budget gap. With 80% of the expected vote tallied, the Associated Press reported "yes" voters for Measures 66 and 67 garnered about 54% of Oregon's mail-in ballots. Elections here are by mailed ballot only. Tuesday was the last day ballots could be cast. Measure 66 increases Oregon's personal-income-tax rate by two percentage points for households earning over $250,000 a year. Measure 67 calls for an increase in the state's minimum corporate income tax, currently $10 a year, and imposes a tax on gross revenues for corporations that do not report a profit. The Oregon Legislature approved both tax increases last year, however opponents of the measures—chiefly business groups—sponsored a referendum campaign to put them to a statewide vote. Voters in this heavily Democratic state supported the legislators. "Passage of these measures means we keep core services of education, health care and public safety that Oregon families, businesses, and communities count on," said Oregon House Speaker Dave Hunt, a Democrat who represents Clackamas County. Defeat, he said, would have forced the state to cut nearly a billion dollars more from such services. The twin ballot measures also served as a gauge of anti-business populism and highlighted a nationwide debate over whether to fix state budgets by targeting the affluent. But they also fueled resentment of "tax and spend" legislators, as well as public-employee unions whose members enjoy job security at a time when thousands here have lost jobs. "

    tags: Oregon, Portland, Raising, Taxes, on, the, Rich, News, Law


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Castor and Nelson: High-speed rail coming to Florida

It seems Florida has money.
clipped from www.wtsp.com

"President Obama wants to increase the pace of recovery," Castor said in a press release. "Creation of thousands of jobs for Floridians will accelerate better times in Florida. Construction workers will be needed to build rail lines. Engineers will be needed to lay the groundwork. Operations and maintenance workers will be needed to keep the line running smoothly. The ripple effects cannot be understated.

Florida sought $2.5 billion in federal stimulus funds to build a high-speed line between Tampa and Orlando.  It's unclear whether the state will get all it's asking for. 

The Florida Department of Transportation says high-speed rail is a transportation system that provides efficient, reliable and comfortable city-to-city travel at speeds of 120 mph or greater. High-speed trains contain modern amenities and conveniences, and are time and price competitive with other forms of transportation.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Moscow mayor calls gay pride march 'Satanic'

Pride parade as part of the 2005 GayFest in Bu...Image via Wikipedia

clipped from www.google.com

"A gay parade... cannot be called anything but a Satanic act," Yury Luzhkov told an education conference, quoted by Interfax news agency. "We haven't permitted such a parade and we won't permit it in the future."

Luzhkov called for gay marchers to be punished. "It's high time that we stop propagating nonsense discussions about human rights, and bring to bear on them the full force and justice of the law," he said.

Luzhkov first called the gay pride parade "Satanic" in 2007, prompting gay rights campaigners to sue him for libel -- unsuccessfully.

Organisers have never been granted permission to hold gay pride parades by the city authorities, leading to violent clashes with police and anti-gay protestors.

In a public relations disaster for the city, Alexeyev and other campaigners were brutally dragged into police vans by riot police in front of a crowd of international journalists.

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Poll: Americans split on Obama's job performance

clipped from www.cnn.com
President Obama's job approval is at 49 percent, according to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey.

(CNN) -- One day before President Obama delivers his first State of the Union address, a new national poll indicates that Americans are divided on job he's doing in office.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday, 49 percent of the public approves of the job Obama's doing in the White House, with 50 percent disapproving of how he's handling his duties.

Fifty-five percent of people questioned say they don't think Obama has paid enough attention to the most important problems, with 45 percent saying he has the right priorities. And 6 in 10 feel the president has paid more attention to financial institutions rather than the problems faced by middle-class Americans, with 28 percent disagreeing.

But 63 percent say Obama is sincere and 6 in 10 say he's a strong leader. Fifty-nine percent of people questioned say the president is honest and trustworthy, 57 percent feel he inspires confidence, and 56 percent say Obama is in touch with Americans.

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Record number of young Americans jobless

Colorado City, Arizona (10)Image by Ken Lund via Flickr

clipped from www.reuters.com
People talk to job recruiters at a career fair in Los Angeles, February 3, 2009. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. economic recession has taken a particularly heavy toll on young Americans, with a record one out five black men aged 20 to 24 neither working nor in school, according to research released on Tuesday.

Overall, 26 percent of American teenagers aged 16 to 19 had jobs in late 2009, said the report, which was based on U.S. Census Bureau data. That figure is a record low since statistics began to be kept in 1948, the researchers said.

Employment counts the number of people with a job as a percentage of the entire work force. By contrast, the unemployment rate -- which stood at 10 percent in December in the United States -- does not include people who have grown discouraged and stopped looking for work.

The "disconnection rate" -- Americans aged 20 to 24 who were neither in school nor working -- jumped to 28 percent last year from 17 percent in 2007.

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Monday, January 25, 2010

Positive ID Seeks Diabetic Guinea Pigs for Chip Implant Study | BNET Pharma Blog | BNET

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  • "PositiveID (PSID) is to begin a study of its Health Link implantable microchip in diabetic, hypertensive and obese patients. The study –like everything else associated with the company formerly known as VeriChip — is bound to be controversial. The Health Link chip is implanted under a patient’s skin. It can be scanned to access the patient’s online medical records. The company’s critics fear the chip will one day become mandatory, leading to a complete loss of medical privacy, or that Americans will be unable to receive healthcare unless they get chipped. BNET has noted that PositiveID also owns a credit monitoring and identity-theft prevention company, Steel Vault, and that it envisions its chips being linked to Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and employers. PositiveID linked credit monitoring and the Health Link chip in its most recent 10-Q. While PositiveID’s press release gives few specifics, it indicates that the study will have something to do with the Health Link chip and customers of HealthScreenDirect, a company that offers screening for diabetes and high cholesterol. Its says the study will be: … a prospective, randomized, comparative clinical study that will seek to address improving disease management through the use of appropriate, concise, and up-to-date patient health information available to both practitioners caring for diabetic, hypertensive and obese patients and the patients themselves through the utilization of PositiveID’s personal health record (Health Link) and an electronic medical records system. PositiveID CEO Scott R. Silverman said in the statement that the study will also advance the company’s in-development glucose-sensing chip. Silverman is doubtless hoping that patients with the chip — and with their health records online — will have better outcomes in terms of managing their diabetes than those doing it the old-fashioned way. The unanswered question is why health record access — or even a microchip — might improve outcomes for diabetics. Generally, diabetics regularly

    tags: PositiveID, RealID, Card, RFID, Chip, Implants, Mark, Beast, Federal, ID, Government, Healthcare, Freedom, Law, Prophecy


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