| Lebanese PM warns of new Israeli war Posted: 27 Apr 2010 01:14 PM PDT  Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri says Israel seeks to justify another war on his country through allegations it made about Hezbollah's weaponry.
"We reject the allegations ... (Israel) is trying to justify a war against Lebanon that it could launch when it wishes," AFP quoted Hariri as saying in an interview with Qatari daily Al-Watan to be published on Thursday.
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| Ousted Kyrgyz leader faces charges Posted: 27 Apr 2010 01:09 PM PDT  A senior official of the Kyrgyz interim government says ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been charged with organizing mass killings in the deadly uprising.
Interim legal chief Azimbek Beknazarov says the Kyrgyz interim government is also going to formally ask Belarus to extradite Bakiyev.
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| Nets major killer of sharks in Iran Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:57 PM PDT  About 500 dolphins and sharks get entangled in fishing nets and die each year in the Persian Gulf waters off the coast of Iran, experts say.
The high number of deaths comes despite an official ban on hunting dolphins, Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.
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| US nuke policy proof of Iran might Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:52 PM PDT  A Former Iranian defense minister says the controversial changes to Washington's nuclear policy are an "acknowledgment of Iran's might" as well as a threat.
In its latest Nuclear Posture Review, the US excluded Iran -- a country without nuclear weapons -- from the long list of countries against which Washington promised not to use nuclear arms.
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| Clegg will paralyze Britain: Tory Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:03 PM PDT  Tory leader David Cameron has taken a swipe at the Liberal Democrats, arguing that their support for a hung government would "hold the country to ransom".
With the UK general election scheduled to be held in nine days, Cameron of the Conservative Party dashed hopes of the Liberal Democrats for forming a coalition government with the Tories should a hung parliament come to power on May 6 election.
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| Clegg will paralyze UK: Cameron Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:03 PM PDT  Tory leader David Cameron has taken a swipe at the Liberal Democrats, arguing that their support for a hung government would "hold the country to ransom".
With the UK general election scheduled to be held in nine days, Cameron of the Conservative Party dashed hopes of the Liberal Democrats for forming a coalition government with the Tories should a hung parliament come to power on May 6 election.
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| Megabanks: The Banking Oligarchy That Controls Assets Equivalent To 60 Percent Of America's GNP Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:59 AM PDT  Today financial power is being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer individuals. In fact, the six biggest banks in the United States now possess assets equivalent to 60 percent of America's gross national product. Back in the 1990s that figure was less than 20 percent. These six banks – Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo – literally dictate what goes on in the U.S. banking industry. Read more...  |
| Greedy, Evil and Green Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:56 AM PDT  Professor Williams looks at some of the incentives driving the "global warming crisis." Read more...  |
| Obama hits road for mid-term poll Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:50 AM PDT  US President Barack Obama is gearing up for the mid-term election campaign as he and his Democratic team eye the same support they enjoyed during the presidential race.
The heartland US states of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri will, over the next two days, host the African-American president as he is hoping to thwart a Republican-induced "nightmare" in November vote.
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| Thai protesters block train service Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:40 AM PDT  In Thailand, anti-government protesters have temporarily shut down Bangkok's Skytrain service, amid fears of a crackdown by security forces.
The Red Shirt protesters piled tires on a station platform to stop a possible surprise break-out by troops.
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| French farmers protest in Paris Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:23 AM PDT  Thousands of grain farmers from across France have marched in the capital city of Paris to protest against major price falls in their products.
The protesters, backed up by more than 1,000 tractors, also said on Tuesday that they were discontent with sharp falls in income.
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| Police State 4: The Rise Of FEMA Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:13 AM PDT Police State 4 chronicles the sickening depths to which our republic has fallen. Veteran documentary filmmaker Alex Jones conclusively proves the existence of a secret network of FEMA camps, now being expanded nationwide. The military industrial complex is transforming our once free nation into a giant prison camp. Read more...  |
| Lebanon ready to repel Israeli raid Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:13 AM PDT  Lebanese President Michel Suleiman says his country is fully prepared to repel any Israeli invasion against the territory amid mounting threats from the regime.
During an official visit to Brazil, Suleiman said that Lebanon is not interested in war with Israel but the regime's mounting threats made the country to prepare for any invasion, Lebanese media reported Tuesday.
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| Ukraine MPs OK Russia naval deal Posted: 27 Apr 2010 11:04 AM PDT  Ukraine's parliamentarians have agreed to a deal that allows Russia to keep its naval base on the Crimean peninsula until 2042, amid protests by the opposition.
The agreement was ratified on Tuesday by 236 members, out of a total of 450, amid a scuffle among parliament members and opposition rallies outside the chamber building.
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| Invisible Empire - A New World Order Defined Posted: 27 Apr 2010 10:59 AM PDT For the first time ever, the secret agenda of the planet's ruthless Super-class is exposed in stark detail. This documentary film chronicles how men of power and influence have worked in stealth for centuries to establish an oppressive world government. Read more...  |
| NATO soldier dies in Afghanistan Posted: 27 Apr 2010 10:46 AM PDT  Taliban militants have killed another NATO soldier in the troubled eastern Afghanistan amid climbing casualties among the foreign forces there.
NATO says the soldier was killed following a gun attack in the volatile region on Tuesday.
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| FIFA upbeat about World Cup turnout Posted: 27 Apr 2010 10:45 AM PDT  FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke has expressed hope that a great number of people will come to stadiums for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
"I am now much more optimistic than three weeks ago," he said on Tuesday. "There will not be any empty seats in the stadiums."
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| Switzerland wants diplomacy on Iran Posted: 27 Apr 2010 10:37 AM PDT  As the US and its allies seek to impose tougher sanctions against Iran's nuclear work, Switzerland urges diplomacy to settle the ongoing nuclear dispute.
Switzerland believes that differences between members of the international community including the dispute over Iran's nuclear program should be resolved through negotiations and diplomacy, Swiss Ambassador to Tehran Livia Leu Agosti said Tuesday in a meeting with Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani.
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| Russia considers Iran sanctions Posted: 27 Apr 2010 10:17 AM PDT  Amid a US-led drive to vie support for slapping tougher UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Russia says it may vote for more punitive measures.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow could support further nuclear sanctions with the UN Security Council "if all other means have been exhausted."
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| US demands swift Iran sanctions Posted: 27 Apr 2010 09:29 AM PDT  As the US pushes for tougher punitive measures against Iran's nuclear work, Washington urges a swift sanctions resolution within the UN Security Council.
"We are actually engaged in (talks) with a variety of different New York groupings in... to reach a conclusion on the particulars of a resolution. And we want to get this done as soon as possible," State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said on Monday.
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| Darfur rebels free peacekeepers Posted: 27 Apr 2010 08:49 AM PDT  Darfur rebels have released four South African peacekeepers after holding them hostage for over two weeks in the war-ravaged region of Sudan.
Gunmen affiliated with the People's Democratic Struggle Movement had abducted the unarmed South African police advisers, two women and two men, in the South Darfur region of Nyala on April 11.
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| Noriega appears in French court Posted: 27 Apr 2010 08:35 AM PDT  Manuel Noriega, the former military leader of Panama, has appeared before prosecutors behind closed doors at the main Paris courthouse to face money laundering charges. Guillaume Didier, a French justice ministry spokesman, said that the 76-year-old Noriega could go on trial within two months. Read more...  |
| Brazil to promote diplomacy on Iran Posted: 27 Apr 2010 08:12 AM PDT  Brazilian Foreign minister Celso Amorim says his country wants to play a positive role in settling disagreements over the Iranian nuclear program.
"Brazil is interested to have a share in settling the [Iranian nuclear] issue in an appropriate way, "Amorim said at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki in Tehran on Tuesday.
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| Election row deepens in Palestine Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:56 AM PDT  Rival groups strongly oppose the Palestinian Authority's decision to hold local council elections in the West Bank without the Gaza Strip's participation.
The Palestinian cabinet in the West Bank announced that the municipal vote will be held on July 17 as it decided to postpone the elections in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
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| Iran increases gasoline reserves Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:53 AM PDT  Iran says its strategic gasoline reserves have climbed by a billion liters, reiterating that sanctions on gasoline sales to Iran will never materialize.
"Iran is not worried about (possible) gasoline sanctions," Deputy Oil Minister Noureddin Shahnazi-Zadeh told Iran's Mehr news agency on Tuesday, adding that sanctions on gasoline sales to Iran will never occur as there is no possibility of imposing such sanctions under current conditions.
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| Indian diplomat arrested for spying Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:52 AM PDT  A diplomat working in the Indian embassy in Islamabad has been arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan, Indian officials said. The female diplomat, named as 53-year-old Madhuri Gupta, was detained in the Indian capital, New Delhi, after being called home last week on the pretext of consultations, India's foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Read more...  |
| AI: Iraqi civilians still under fire Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:39 AM PDT  Amnesty International expresses regrets over continuing violence in Iraq years after the US-led invasion, urging Baghdad to act on protecting Iraqi civilians.
"Iraqis are still living in a climate of fear seven years after the US-led invasion," Amnesty International Middle East director, Malcolm Smart, said in a report published on Tuesday.
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| Preserving excavations in western Iran Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:25 AM PDT  Iranian archeologists have initiated excavations with a view to the preservation of ancient sites in the western provinces of Lorestan and Ilam.
Five teams of Iranian archeologists divided the excavations into three phases and prioritized the explorations based on the exigency of their situation and condition.
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| Kyrgyzstan charges ousted president Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:23 AM PDT  Kyrgyzstan's interim government has said that it has charged Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the ousted president, with "mass killing" and wants Belarus to extradite him for trial. The announcement was made on Tuesday, a week after Bakiyev fled the country following a bloody uprising of the proletariat that accused him of corruption and complained of increasing ulitity prices. Read more...  |
| Taliban claim shooting down US drone Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:21 AM PDT  Taliban militants claim to have shot down a US unmanned aerial vehicle in the Kajaki district, East of Afghanistan's Helmand province.
According to a report published by Pakistani daily The Nation, Taliban militants are now in possession of wreckage of the drone destroyed on Sunday morning and intend to show it to the media.
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| US Army concerns on troop drug abuse Posted: 27 Apr 2010 07:01 AM PDT  The US army has expressed concerns on the "over-medication" of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, amid growing reports of drug abuse among its troops.
"We're very concerned about the panoply and the number of drugs that are being used," the army's top medical officer, Lieutenant General Eric Schoomaker, said.
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| UN closes office in Kandahar Posted: 27 Apr 2010 06:29 AM PDT  The United Nations has temporarily shut its office in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar due to security concerns. Al Jazeera has learned that the UN made the move on Tuesday in response to a specific threat issued by the Taliban, although a UN spokesman said it was because of a deteriorating security situation. Read more...  |
| Chaos marks Ukraine base debate Posted: 27 Apr 2010 05:10 AM PDT  A government move to extend leasing rights for a Russian naval base in Ukraine has been ratified by the country's parliament amid angry protests by the opposition. Opponents hurled eggs and detonated smoke bombs inside the parliament chamber, disrupting Tuesday's debate over the agreement. Read more...  |
| Sudan poll shows north-south split Posted: 27 Apr 2010 05:01 AM PDT  As election results were officially declared in Sudan, a split between the north and the south appeared more likely. While Omar al-Bashir was re-elected as president in the national government, poll results also showed strong support for Salva Kiir, the president of the semi-autonomous south and leader of the SPLM party. Kiir, who won 93 per cent in the regional vote, is in favour of the south's secession from the north, which the southerners will vote on next year. Read more...  |
| Goldman Sachs faces new accusations Posted: 27 Apr 2010 04:55 AM PDT  More evidence has been found that the investment bank Goldman Sachs developed a strategy to profit from the housing meltdown at the expense of clients, US senate investigators say. The revelations come as the CEO and other executives of Goldman Sachs are set to appear in a congress hearing, facing allegations of harming the US economy. Read more...  |
| US Republicans bar bank reform bill Posted: 27 Apr 2010 04:11 AM PDT  In yet another setback for the Obama administration, the US Senate has blocked a bill aimed at launching a sweeping reform of the country's financial system.
The ruling Democrats and their two independent allies, who control 59 seats in the Senate, failed to get the 60 votes needed to begin debate on the bill on Monday.
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| Iran, Russia develop telecom ties Posted: 27 Apr 2010 04:02 AM PDT  Iran and Russia have signed a contract as well as an MoU to develop mutual telecommunication and communication relations between the two neighbors.
The contract and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were signed on Monday in Moscow between Iran's Telecommunication Infrastructure Company (TIC) and Russian firm Telecom, in the presence of Iran's Telecommunications Minister Reza Taqipour and his Russian counterpart Igor Shchegolev.
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| Loss of neighborliness is root of our problems Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:58 AM PDT  Environmentalist Bill McKibben published an excerpt oof his book on Alternet about how Americans don't need their neighbors any more. In the halcyon days of the final economic booms, everyone on your cul de sac could have died overnight from some mysterious plague, and while you might have been sad, you wouldn't have been inconvenienced. Our economy, unlike any that came before it, is designed to work without the input of your neighbors. Borne on cheap oil, our food arrives as if by magic from a great distance (typically, two thousand miles). If you have a credit card and an Internet connection, you can order most of what you need and have it left anonymously at your door. We've evolved a neighborless lifestyle; on average an American eats half as many meals with family and friends as she did fifty years ago. On average, we have half as many close friends. Read more...  |
| Key Taliban commanders slain in Swat Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:51 AM PDT  At least six senior Taliban commanders have been killed in fierce clashes with Pakistani security forces in the country's violence-ridden Swat Valley.
The six militant chiefs were killed in two separate confrontations on Monday. Pakistani troops carried out a raid on the terrorists' hideout after being tipped off by intelligence agencies of their presence in the Kanju district of the town of Kabal, some 10km (six miles) west of Pakistan's northern city of Mingora. Four wanted Taliban commanders were eliminated and a large cache of arms was recovered.
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| Giant underwater dome to stop oil spill after Deepwater Horizon rig blows Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:49 AM PDT  Efforts are continuing in the Gulf of Mexico to stop the oil leak from a US oil rig that exploded and sank last week. Heavy seas however are hampering the works. During a previous attempt, four robotic submErsibles conducted an unprecedented operation to shut the leak with a giant state-of-the-art device. BP plans to collect leaking oil on the ocean bottom by lowering a large dome to capture the oil and then pumping it through pipes and hoses into a vessel on the surface. Around 160 thousand litres of oil is pouring into the sea from the well, causing a massive oil slick that could pose an environmental disaster.
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| Zimbabwe: No uranium deal with Iran Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:42 AM PDT  Zimbabwe has denied reports that it has signed an agreement allowing Tehran to mine uranium reserves in exchange for Harare's access to oil from Iran.
A report by the UK-based Daily Telegraph claimed on Saturday that a deal had been reached between the two countries under which Iran would be allowed to mine potential uranium deposits in Zimbabwe to provide fuel for its nuclear reactors and in exchange Zimbabwe would get oil from Iran.
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| Another Olmert aide nabbed Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:34 AM PDT  The bribery and fraud cases involving former Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert have most lately led to the arrest of his one-time bureau head.
Known as a trusted aide to the former prime minister, Shula Zaken was arrested on Monday at Israel's Ben Gurion airport upon her return from a visit to the United States, AFP reported on Monday. She was then taken away for questioning.
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| A Little Known Fact About the 9/11 Planes Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:30 AM PDT  It is not a theory but a fact—one that is well known within the 9/11 truth movement—that the 9/11 Commission failed to ensure that at least one of the appropriate government agencies: the NTSB, the FBI or the FAA was commissioned to positively identify the aircraft which were allegedly involved in the murders of nearly 3,000 people, on September 11, 2001. Read more...  |
| US hopes to sell C-17s to India Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:24 AM PDT  In a display of strengthened ties, which will also serve as a message regarding Washington's treatment of its allies, the US offers to sell India its C-17 aircraft.
US ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, said in a statement on Monday that the potential sale would demonstrate America's "enduring commitment to sharing the world's best technology with India."
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| Iraq Today: Afflicted by Violence, Devastation, Corruption, and Devastation Posted: 27 Apr 2010 03:04 AM PDT  Seven years under occupation, Iraqis still cope with what Refugees International calls "a dire humanitarian crisis that sees huge numbers of displaced (and other Iraqis) struggl(ing) to survive," a situation "for which the US bears special responsibility" but does nothing to correct.
Recent UNHCR figures estimate around 4.5 million refugees, nearly 2.8 million internal ones (IDPs), a third of these in squatter slums in Baghdad, Diyala and Salah al-Din. Many fear returning home. Most are impoverished. Settlements lack basic services, including water, sanitation, electricity, and health care. Education is difficult where available. Read more...  |
| Israel jails slain fighter's kin Posted: 27 Apr 2010 02:49 AM PDT  Israeli forces have arrested four relatives of a Palestinian fighter killed in a raid on his house in the southern West Bank city of Hebron (al-Khalil).
Al-Khalil's Detainees Center chief Amjad an-Najjar on Monday identified the four individuals detained as Maison Sweiti and her brothers Ahmed, Abed, and Othman.
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| US 'to transfer Bagram detainees' Posted: 27 Apr 2010 02:45 AM PDT  The US military has told Al Jazeera that it is negotiating with foreign governments to take non-Afghan prisoners from its controversial prison at the Bagram airbase outside Kabul, the Afghan capital. Vice-Admiral Robert Harward of the Joint Task Force 435, who is head of detainee operations, said "a very, very small population" of foreigners are held at Bagram. Read more...  |
| Mexico leader condemns Arizona law Posted: 27 Apr 2010 02:30 AM PDT  Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, has criticised a new immigration law in the US state of Arizona which permits authorities to question and detain suspected illegal immigrants even if they are not believed to have committed a crime. Calderon said on Monday in Mexico City that the anti-illegal immigration law, signed last Friday, would cause hate and discrimination. Read more...  |
| AIPAC fundraiser held amid protest Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:25 AM PDT  The most influential Israeli lobby group in the US has held a fundraising event in an Oregon city as nearby protesters held a mockery-ridden condemnation of the Israeli occupation.
The annual meeting, which rallies the contributors to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was held in Portland on Sunday, the International Middle East Media Center reported.
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| Obama hosts Muslim entrepreneurs Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:22 AM PDT  The US president has renewed his commitment to a "new beginning" with the Muslim world, vowing no easing in US efforts to promote Middle East peace, curb violence and boost economic development. Seeking to build on his outreach to Muslims in a speech in Cairo last June, Barack Obama has used the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship - a US-hosted Muslim business conference - to underscore what his administration has done so far and to pledge further work to overcome mistrust. Read more...  |
| PA bans trade in settler-made goods Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:14 AM PDT  The Palestinian Authority has prohibited buying and selling commodities produced by Israelis living in the occupied territories.
Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Monday "issued a law banning trade in goods made in settlements," Abbas' legal adviser Hassan al-Awri said in comments quoted by Reuters on Monday.
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| Noriega extradited to France Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:00 AM PDT  The United States has extradited former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to France, where he faces money-laundering charges.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed Noriega's extradition order on Monday before he was put on a plane to France.
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| Whose Country Is This? Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:00 AM PDT  With the support of 70 percent of its citizens, Arizona has ordered sheriffs and police to secure the border and remove illegal aliens, half a million of whom now reside there. Arizona acted because the U.S. government has abdicated its constitutional duty to protect the states from invasion and refuses to enforce America's immigration laws. Read more...  |
| Iran to offer bonds worth €750mn Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:55 PM PDT  A senior Iranian oil official has announced that Iran will issue 750 million euros worth of bonds as of May 3 to develop its oil industry.
Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, the vice president for investment affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said on Monday that a further nine billion euros worth of participation bonds are set to be issued by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which concludes on March 20, 2011.
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| Videos show Nigerian 'jet bomber' Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:30 PM PDT  A major US TV network has aired videos showing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a US airliner, training to carry out attacks. The videos, produced by al-Qaeda in Yemen and obtained by a Yemeni journalist working for ABC News, show Abdulmutallab and others in firing practice and taking aim at a Jewish star, a British flag and the letters UN, ABC television reported on Monday. Read more...  |
| Belgian government resigns Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:23 PM PDT  The king of Belgium has accepted the government's resignation following the ruling coalition's failure to agree on a bilingual voting district around the capital.
King Albert II accepted Prime Minister Yves Leterme's resignation letter on Monday, a week after negotiations between the country's French and Dutch speaking politicians broke down over a bilingual voting district in and around Brussels.
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| Pakistan, India PMs may meet Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:11 PM PDT  Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh are expected to hold talks at a regional meeting in Bhutan.
After a week of hectic diplomatic contacts, it seems the previously denied meeting is on, and the two will hold talks at the two-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Thimphu, Bhutan.
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| Iran a Threat? I Mean, Really? Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:00 PM PDT 
With all the current hype about the "threat" from Iran, it is time to review the record – and especially the significant bits and pieces that find neither ink nor air in our Israel-friendly Fawning Corporate Media (FCM).
First, on the chance you missed it, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said publicly that Iran "doesn't directly threaten the United States." Her momentary lapse came while answering a question at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 14. Read more...  |
| Killer Cocktail: PTSD and Your Local Police Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:00 PM PDT The moment that Austin police officer Wayne Williamson began unloading his pistol in a filled parking lot was probably the first time he realized he hadn't left Iraq too far behind. Williamson never hit his target –a fleeing, "possibly armed" suspect – but only one of the bullets he discharged in the parking lot was ever found. It was lodged in the back seat of a car in which two children, a 14-year-old girl and a four-month-old baby, had been sitting (miraculously, neither was injured). There were no excuses or cover-ups, however – Williamson was subsequently terminated from his nine-year career as a police officer. Read more...  |
| Measures of Ineffectiveness Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:00 PM PDT Like most sound tenets of military art, the concepts of "objective" and "measures of effectiveness" have been corrupted by America's present military leadership. At his Senate confirmation hearing in June 2009, then-Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal promised the Armed Services Committee he would execute a "holistic" strategy in Afghanistan, and that "the measure of effectiveness will not be the number of enemy killed, it will be the number of Afghans shielded from violence." In the first three months of 2010, deaths of Afghan civilians at the hands of NATO troops more than doubled over the record posted during the same period last year by Gen. David McKiernan, who was unceremoniously transferred to Fort Palooka to make room for "King David" Petraeus protégé McChrystal. Read more...  |
| Israel's Large and Small Apartheids Posted: 26 Apr 2010 11:00 PM PDT Author's note: Below is the text of a talk delivered to the fifth Bilin international conference for Palestinian popular resistance, held in the West Bank village of Bilin on April 21. Israel's apologists are very exercised about the idea that Israel has been singled out for special scrutiny and criticism. I wish to argue, however, that in most discussions of Israel it actually gets off extremely lightly: that many features of the Israeli polity would be considered exceptional or extraordinary in any other democratic state. Read more...  |
| UK to withdraw Musharraf's protocol Posted: 26 Apr 2010 10:42 PM PDT  The British government will no longer provide facilities, including security, to former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.
The decision came following a United Nations fact-finding report alleging Musharraf's involvement in the assassination of opposition candidate and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
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| The world remembers Chernobyl Posted: 26 Apr 2010 10:17 PM PDT  A group of relatives of people killed in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster gathered in Moscow on Monday to commemorate their dead and pay their respects.
A protest rally called Chernobyl Way was also held in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Monday, which was the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.
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| Tony Blair, Very Close to Being Indicted for War Crimes Posted: 26 Apr 2010 10:02 PM PDT  While on a speaking engagement in Malaysia organized by "Success Resources Company", former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the object of an articulate protest movement demanding his indictment for war crimes.
This was no ordinary protest. Tony Blair has been accused of war crimes in a legal initiative led by the country's former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. Read more...  |
| Born in Deception Posted: 26 Apr 2010 09:47 PM PDT  As Israel attempts today to gloss over the reality of its birth 62 years ago with a sweeping public relations campaign extolling the miraculous "resurrection" of ancient Zion in contemporary times, a new nation seeking only peace with its neighbors, it might be enlightening and valuable to examine the truth.
On May 14, 1948 President Harry S. Truman received a letter from the Jewish Agency for Palestine announcing the impending proclamation of the independent republic of Israel (Harry S. Truman Library, document filed August 22, 1949). That date marks not only the beginning of the State of Israel but, sub missa voce, the assumption by the State of Israel of the calculated, systematic and determined ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population of the land of Palestine that had been the business of "The Consultancy" and its agents before May 14, as identified by Dr. Ilan Pappe in his monumental The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Read more...  |
| Uncensored Riot Video From Arizona Posted: 26 Apr 2010 09:37 PM PDT  Mexicans go apeshit after learning a key piece of anti-illegal immigration legislation has just passed. Don't let this happen in your town! Read more...  |
| Thai king avoids comment on crisis Posted: 26 Apr 2010 09:23 PM PDT  Thailand's king has made his first public comments since the current wave of anti-government protests began, but avoided direct mention of the ongoing political crisis. Speaking from hospital where he has been receiving treatment for the past seven months, King Bhumibol Adulyadej addressed a group of newly appointed judges on Monday, telling them they should faithfully carry out their duties and help keep the country stable. Read more...  |
| Revenge of the Identical Twins Posted: 26 Apr 2010 09:02 PM PDT  Due to Polish president Lech Kaczyński's death in the tragic April 10 plane crash, his identical twin brother Jarosław, Poland's brooding former prime minister, announced on April 26 that he is running to replace his twin. This kind of heartwarming/unsettling vibe is common with stories about twins. In a civilization that celebrates individualism, identical twins have played a slightly subversive role ever since Castor and Pollux. Read more...  |
| The Constitutional Case for Prayer Posted: 26 Apr 2010 09:00 PM PDT  Recently, U.S. District Judge Barb Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional because it violated the separation of church and state which, she believed, was mandated by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Both the Obama Administration and the American Center for Law and Justice, a "friend of the court" litigant, have vowed to appeal it.
The National Day of Prayer was first established in 1952, and the statute presently reads: "The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals." Read more...  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Allawi to appeal disqualifications Posted: 26 Apr 2010 08:43 PM PDT  Former Iraqi Iyad Allawi says his bloc will launch an appeal against a recent judicial decision to invalidate 52 candidates of the March 7 parliamentary elections.
"We will take action against this dangerous situation," Allawi told reporters at a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara.
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| Kuwait opposes use of force against Iran Posted: 26 Apr 2010 08:28 PM PDT  Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah says that Kuwait has always opposed the calls to use force against Iran over its nuclear program.
All countries are entitled to access peaceful nuclear technology if they fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other relevant bodies, the Kuwaiti emir told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine in an exclusive interview.
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| Subs struggle to plug US oil leak Posted: 26 Apr 2010 08:09 PM PDT  Heavy seas are hampering efforts to plug an undersea oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig last week.
On Monday four robotic submersibles were raced to the site of the leak, in an unprecedented operation hoping to use a giant device known as a blowout preventer to try and shut off the flow of oil. Read more...  |
| Fastest deep ocean current discovered Posted: 26 Apr 2010 08:03 PM PDT  An international team has discovered a fast-moving deep ocean current near Antarctica that may help researchers monitor the impact of climate change on the world's oceans.
The Australian and Japanese scientists who found the current say it has the volume of 40 Amazon Rivers and is the fastest deep ocean current ever found.
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| Disasters in the News: End of the World or Media Hysteria? Posted: 26 Apr 2010 08:00 PM PDT  Many media outlets around the world were dominated by the 'eruption disruption' throughout the week caused by volcanic ash coming from Iceland. Online talkshow host Lori Harfenist, aka 'The Resident', has been asking people in New York whether they think the ash cloud coverage was fair.
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| 10 dead as tornado hits Yazoo City, Mississippi Posted: 26 Apr 2010 07:58 PM PDT  A state of emergency's been declared across the US state of Mississippi after a tornado ripped through several counties killing at least ten. Authorities say more than a dozen are wounded with children among the dead. The severe weather caused widespread damage to the region. Several houses were flattened and fallen trees are blocking roads.
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| Iceland volcano spitting lava and smoke, less ash after eruption Posted: 26 Apr 2010 07:57 PM PDT  Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to spew clouds of smoke and lava almost ten days since the April 14 eruption. However, there's less ash created, since there is no longer water from melting glaciers surrounding it. European air traffic is also returning to normal after the disruption caused by the massive volcanic ash cloud.
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| Strike shuts down Greek ports Posted: 26 Apr 2010 07:28 PM PDT  Sailors and longshoremen at Greece's largest ports have launched a 24-hour strike to protest a government decision to make changes to a seafaring law.
The government has announced that it will now allow non-EU flagged cruise ships to navigate the Greek islands as of this summer.
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| US bank reforms stall in Senate Posted: 26 Apr 2010 06:39 PM PDT  Republican members of the US Senate have blocked a debate on sweeping financial regulatory reforms in a test vote on the Democrat-backed legislation. Barack Obama, the US president, said he was "deeply disappointed" at Monday's vote, urging all sides to "put the interests of the country ahead of party". Read more...  |
| US bank overhaul stalls in senate Posted: 26 Apr 2010 06:39 PM PDT  Republican members of the US senate have blocked a debate on sweeping financial regulatory overhaul in a test vote on the Democrat-backed legislation. Barack Obama, the US president, said he was "deeply disappointed" at Monday's vote, urging all sides to "put the interests of the country ahead of party". Read more...  |
| Treasury to sell Citigroup shares Posted: 26 Apr 2010 06:33 PM PDT  The US treasury department has announced plans to sell up to $1.5bn worth of shares of Citigroup, the country's largest bank. It is one of the biggest stock sales in US history and is the latest move to unwind government support given to big banks during the financial crisis. Read more...  |
| World marks 95th anni of Armenian genocide Posted: 26 Apr 2010 06:32 PM PDT  Armenians are commemorating the 95th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, which claimed the lives of 1.5 million people. Special masses are being held, along with cultural events around the world. Dozens of people in Moscow came out to lay wreaths at the local Armenian church.
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| 'Sanctions not the best way forward' Posted: 26 Apr 2010 06:23 PM PDT  Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim says that imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program would not be the best way forward.
Imposing sanctions would be a negative and unfair move that bears no fruit, he told Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani during a meeting in Tehran on Monday.
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| Intifada NYC: Lesson in controversy Posted: 26 Apr 2010 06:15 PM PDT  The opening of the NYC first Arabic language public school provoked a firestorm of allegations that the school would teach radical Islam, or even produce terrorists. As critics and the mainstream media stoked the flames in the climate of post-9/11 America, the controversy forced the schools Arab-American Muslim principal from her. Intifada NYC follows the principals struggle to get her job back, the outcry against the school, and the debate provoked about tolerance and freedom of speech.
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| 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Gaining Momentum Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:27 PM PDT  The controversy around 9/11 is nearly a decade old now but it will not subside. People like David Ray Griffin continue to be in demand from a speaking standpoint and the amount of people who don't believe in the official 9/11 story may amount to as much as one-third of US adults. This is a significant problem, in our opinion. When this many people have questions about something so fundamental as 9/11, an erosion of civil society begins to occur. Government becomes the cynosure of suspicions rather than an organizing or socializing influence.
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| Coke Clash: Soft drinks hard on environment? Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:24 PM PDT  India's southern state of Kerala has ordered Coca-Cola to pay 47 million dollars in compensation for environmental damage. The authorities launched an investigation after years of protests by farmers. The soft drinks giant is strongly denying the allegations.
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| Weaponizer: US military unmanned shuttle X-37B launches on secret mission Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:12 PM PDT  The US military has launched a new type of spacecraft into orbit from Cape Canaveral. The X37B is an unmanned platform that could be used as a weapon and a means to spy on potential threats. Former director of America's advanced space programmes, Robert Bowman, says the craft could help the US use Space for their own military gains....
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| Winter Strikes Back: Hard snow and hail hit Moscow in mid-spring Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:12 PM PDT  While the calendar may have you thinking it's spring, here's what parts of Moscow looked like earlier today. This video footage was taken in Moscow earlier this morning, and the weathermen say things are going to get even wintrier.
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| Obama = Wall Street? Celente on corruption and gambling in finance Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:12 PM PDT  Barack Obama has traveled to New York to deliver a speech to Wall Street asking for the support of his Financial Reform bill. But will his proposal bring the change needed to fix the problems that helped cause a financial crisis in the first place?
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| Shoot the dog: UK 2nd election debate on foreign policy Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:12 PM PDT  Britain's three Prime Ministers-in-waiting have been focusing on foreign policy for their second live TV debate. For many voters, the issue is the UK's 'special relationship' with the US, which they see as increasingly one-sided in Washington's favour. As Laura Emmett reports, the party leaders are being urged to look closer to home.
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| World's first ever full face transplant completed by Spanish doctors Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:11 PM PDT  Spanish doctors have successfully performed the world's first full-face transplant in a 24-hour operation carried out by more than 30 medics. The patient had lost his jaw, nose and cheeks in an accident 5 years ago, and had had to breathe and be fed through tubes since. Ten partial face transplants have so far been carried out around the world, but this was the first full operation.
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| Iraq, Afghan wars drop bombs on US image abroad as Obama's fame fades Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:11 PM PDT  US lawmakers are working on how to reverse the countrys flagging image in Muslim nations. President Obama's election brought a welcome surge in US popularity, but that reputation's on the slide as the unwelcome wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.
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| China to preserve Great Wall of Qi Posted: 26 Apr 2010 04:35 PM PDT  Chinese cultural heritage officials have determined the length and location of the oldest section of the Great Wall to take measures for preserving it.
After a seven-month investigation, archeologists finally established that the oldest part was built between 770 BCE and 476 BCE.
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| Gunmen kill eight in Congo Posted: 26 Apr 2010 04:23 PM PDT  Gunmen have killed at least eight people and wounded 14 others in a raid on a Congolese army training camp in the eastern parts of the country, a UN official says.
The attack in Nyaleke in North Kivu Province was launched late Saturday and continued until dawn on Sunday, Reuters reported.
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| Singh, Karzai vow to fight terrorism Posted: 26 Apr 2010 04:13 PM PDT  India and Afghanistan say they will cooperate in the fight against regional terrorism amid growing militancy in the troubled South Asian region.
The issue was discussed by Indian Premier Manmohan Singh and visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai in New Delhi.
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| US forces come under attack in Iraq Posted: 26 Apr 2010 04:09 PM PDT  A US military camp and a patrol vehicle have come under attack in two central Iraqi provinces of Al-Qadisiyah and Babil, the military says.
Nader Soliman, a media advisor to the US army, told Voices of Iraq news agency that a roadside bomb went off as a US patrol vehicle was passing on the Diwaniya-Shoumli road in Al-Qadisiyah Province.
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| Bio-artificial trachea made in Iran Posted: 26 Apr 2010 04:02 PM PDT  Iranian doctors have carried out an in situ transplant of bio-artificial trachea in humans for the first time in the world.
A team of tissue-engineering scientists at the Lung and Tuberculosis Center at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services carried out the transplant on a 29-year-old woman who had lost her trachea in a car accident two years ago.
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| Late Pole pres. twin to run for office Posted: 26 Apr 2010 03:58 PM PDT  Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of the late Polish president and the leader of Law and Justice party, says he will stand in the upcoming presidential election.
Jaroslaw described Poland as a "common, great responsibility", saying that "It demands that we overcome personal suffering to take action despite a personal tragedy."
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| When Will Israel Attack the U.S. — Again? Posted: 26 Apr 2010 03:58 PM PDT  Israel has long been waging war on the U.S. by way of deception. To date, its operatives have worked from the shadows hoping not to be detected. Their duplicity typically includes the displacement of facts with what the American public can be deceived to believe.
Thus the need to create a widely held belief around Iraqi WMD, Iraqi ties to Al Qaeda, Iraqi meetings in Prague, Iraqi mobile biological weapons laboratories and Iraq's purchase of uranium from Niger. Though all five "facts" were false, only the last claim was conceded as phony prior to inducing our invasion of Iraq. Read more...  |
| Suspect arrested as Obama leaves NC Posted: 26 Apr 2010 03:48 PM PDT  An armed man has been arrested at a North Carolina airport as US President Barack Obama was flying out of the airport.
Joseph Sean Mc Vey of Coshocton, Ohio, was arrested Sunday afternoon at the Asheville Regional Airport after cops found him armed and his vehicle equipped with police gear.
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| Iran to mass produce naval missiles Posted: 26 Apr 2010 03:46 PM PDT  All missiles tested in Iran's recent naval drill have been built domestically and will be soon mass-produced, the country's defense minister says.
Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said Monday that the main objective of the military exercise by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz was to test coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea cruise missiles, drones and electronic warfare systems.
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