#PoliceStateUpdates: Prepare for a Noisy Morning

Government Admits Naked Body Scanners Huge Waste of Money*

Homeland Security Concedes Airport Body Scanner 'Vulnerabilities'*
Video: TSA tried to cover up $184 million in wasteful spending*
Suspicious package delays flights at Hartsfield-Jackson as agents appeared to be joking*
Video: Geraldo Rivera was 'manually raped' by TSA*
Rep. King suggests administration may have misled public on bomb plot, calls for review*
Republican leader sues for being called a terrorist*
Plot Raises Questions About Airport Security*
Latest Underwear Bomber Was Actually CIA Double Agent*
CIA sacrifices valuable intelligence source to foil underwear bomb plot*
Missing words from 9/11 tribunal: CIA and big-boy pants*
Video: Arrest-Proof Yourself: An Interview with Dale C. Carson*
Video: Six year old boy suspended for sexual harassment*
Video: The state has criminalized normal childhood behaviour?*
Video: Pentagon prepares 'Re-Education Camps' for American citizens*
Federal Judge Blocks Obama’s Right to Impose Indefinite Detention without Trial*
Video: With the stroke of a pen, Obama makes free speech a felony*
Obama Justice Dept. Supports Citizens’ Right to Record Police*
Video: Government's gunrunning Kingpin in hot water with Congress*
Video: Sibel Edmonds, the "Classified Woman" finally tells her story*
Military jets on Olympics exercise heard over Wycombe*
Video: Britain's Olympic paranoia targets protests*
Jets Will Patrol Chicago on Friday*
Utah and Arizona Pass Bills to Seize Federal Land; Sioux Indians Demand the Same*
Georgia Sheriffs, Fearing Occupy Movement, Evict Family at Gunpoint*
License Plate Tracking Spreads beyond Criminal Suspects*
Few Companies Fight Patriot Act Gag Orders, FBI Admits*
Video: Russian troops to train on American soil*
Video: New Jersey town cracks down on texting while walking*
Air Force Drones Allowed to Record U.S. Citizens in U.S.*
Video: Instruments of war to be used domestically*

New World Next Week: Episode112 - CISPA Spies, Drone Zone, Space Mining

NewWorldNextWeek.com: Episode112 -
CISPA Spies, Drone Zone, Space Mining

Welcome back to New World Next Week - the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:

Story #1: White House Takes Aim at CISPA with Formal Veto Threat
Related: James Bamford on How the NSA's New Spy Center Might Know Everything
NWNW Flashback: SOPA Is Back As Websites Go Black

Story #2: FOIA: FBI and Police Free to Launch Spies In Sky Over US Cities
Here's Who's Buying Drones - Local Cops Watching You from the Sky
Related: Bird Strikes Pose Ongoing Danger to Aircraft
US Relaxes Drone Rules - Obama Gives CIA, Military Greater Leeway in Use Against Militants in Yemen
NWNW Flashback: Drones Assist In Corralling North Dakota Cattle Rustlers

Story #3: Company Aims to Mine Resource-Rich Asteroids
Related: Murdoch Faces More Grilling Over UK Phone Hacking
Navigating Netflix: The Shape of Things to Come

Bonus: Food World Order on Corbett Report Radio

Visit NewWorldNextWeek.com to get previous episodes in various formats to download, burn and share. And as always, stay up-to-date by subscribing to the feeds from Corbett Report here and Media Monarchy here. Thank you.

Previous:
Episode111 - SCO Grows, Bigger Banksters, Crowd-Sourced Research

#Newspurge: Cream and Bastards Rise

Econocrash:
#MegaMillions Jackpot soars to largest ever!*
$540M lottery has states anticipating tax jackpot*
Video: Experts warn potential winners of big money risks*
Video: The Ridiculist - Mega Millions*
Bernanke Claims Fed Averted Second Great Depression By Bailing Out 'Too Big To Fail' Banks*
Queen's banker fined for poor money laundering checks*
European Crisis Explanation... For Dummies From Greeks*
Video: Financial "Crisis" in Greece*

Geopolitiks:
North American Leaders Summit and Reviving Trilateral Integration*
Nuclear Summit Produces Few Significant Outcomes*
Foreign Office fights order to disclose 'key phone call' between Bush and Blair*
Russian Show Besmirching Protesters Stirs Outrage*
I'm in control of Mali, declares coup leader Amadou Sanogo*
Can the Brics create a new world order?*
Drone strikes in Yemen soar as U.S. stokes 'secret war'*
Obama’s Hypocrisy Grows With Each Drone Attack*

Obamessiah:
“This is my last election…
after my election I have more flexibility.”*
Justices End Historic Three Days of Debate on Health-Care Law*
3 days of hearings over, 2 justices may be key*
Video: Gingrich loses ‘sugar daddy’ Adelson*

Oregon Oddities:
What the Muck? Portland Harbor is a toxic embarrassment,
there's plenty of blame to go around*
Wetter-than-normal March shows no signs of stopping as rain drenches northwest Oregon*
Fast-food chains rev up food trucks*
Oregon fire crews pull horse from septic tank*
Portland police captain who put up memorial plaques to Nazi soldiers now providing bureau leadership training*

West Virginia Worry:
Earl Ray Tomblin, West Virginia Governor, Joins Others In Blasting EPA*
Ex-mine chief pleads guilty to 2010 W.Virginia blast charge*
Flu Shots Required at more hospitals in Kanawha County*

oil trades near six-week high on iran threat to crude transport

from businessweek: Oil traded near the highest level in six weeks after Iran threatened to block crude transportation through the Strait of Hormuz, increasing concern that global supplies will be curbed amid shrinking U.S. stockpiles.

Futures were little changed after rising for a sixth day yesterday, the longest run of advances since November 2010. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency cited Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying the country would bar shipments through the strait if sanctions are imposed on its oil exports. U.S. oil inventories probably dropped for a third week, a Bloomberg News survey showed before an Energy Department report this week.

“There’s been a significant decline in inventories,” said Gavin Wendt, a senior resource analyst at Mine Life Pty in Sydney. “If that trend continues, combined with the Iranian situation, it could be significant in driving oil prices even higher.”

geopolitiks:
US continues to arm iran's neighbors*
obama team weighs visa for yemen leader*
cornell chosen to build science school in nyc*
stroke of geniuses: cornell uni & technion-israel institute of technology*
queen visits prince philip in hospital*

geopolitiks: 'world pressure mounts' as cairo clashes continue

from cbs/ap: International criticism of Egypt's military rulers mounted Wednesday as police clashed for a fifth day with protesters demanding the generals relinquish power immediately. A rights group raised the death toll for the wave of violence to at least 38. At least 2,000 protesters have been wounded, mostly from gas inhalation or injuries caused by rubber bullets fired by the army and the police.

related geopolitiks updates:
yemen president of 33yrs to quit amid uprising*
'arab spring' not as spontaneous as the western mainstream media would have us believe*
iran arrests 12 cia agents accused of planning attack with aid from israel*

bombshell: 'underwear bomber' calls haskell as defense witness

from paul joseph watson: In a shocking development in the trial of the accused underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Delta Flight 253 eyewitness Kurt Haskell has been called by Abdulmutallab as a witness for the defense, a move that could blow the whole case wide open.

Detroit Lawyer Haskell has been a prominent skeptic of the government’s official version of events, having witnessed a well-dressed man help Abdulmutallab clear security before the incident on Christmas Day 2009 despite the fact that the bomber had no passport, in addition to the fact that his own father had warned U.S. intelligence officials of the threat posed by Abdulmutallab a month before the attempted attack.

It later emerged that the State Department was ordered not to revoke Abdulmutallab’s visa by “federal counterterrorism officials” even though the accused bomber had known terrorist ties. Haskell maintains that Abdulmutallab was carrying a fake bomb and was the unwitting dupe in a case of government entrapment.

video update: dramatic reversal as mutallab pleads guilty;
shields govt complicity, keeps 'well-dressed man' a mystery*

obama declares national state of emergency over libya

is obama about to order the military to invade libya?
from foreign policy: President Obama issued an executive order Friday evening that imposes immediate sanctions on Libyan ruler Muammar al Qaddafi, his sons and his accomplices in the slaughter of civilians. In a letter accompanying the order, Obama declared a national emergency over the situation. "I have determined that the actions of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, his government, and close associates, including extreme measures against the people of Libya, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. The order declares a national emergency to deal with this threat," Obama wrote in the letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)...

cia/cfr envoy frank g. wisner sent to 'speak to mubarak'

from washington post: When it was time to give Egypt's embattled leader a gentle nudge, President Obama picked a seasoned diplomat who could deliver the message as a close friend. Frank G. Wisner, a former U.S. ambassador to Cairo, has known Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for decades and has long advocated strong U.S. ties with him.

The White House dispatched Wisner to Cairo to "add his perspective to our analysis on current developments," as State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley put it on Monday. Within 24 hours of Wisner's private chat with the Egyptian president, Mubarak had announced on state television that he would step down at the end of his current term.

Details of Wisner's conversation with Mubarak were not disclosed, but an administration official said the envoy sought to impress upon the leader the need both to declare he would not seek reelection and to step aside immediately in favor of a transitional government.

Former U.S. government officials who have worked with Wisner, 72, said the retired diplomat developed a close relationship with Mubarak during his assignment in Egypt as ambassador from 1986 to 1991.

After his retirement from the State Department, Wisner worked for Patton Boggs, a Washington lobbying firm that has represented Egypt in the past. He also served on the board of Egypt's largest bank, Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE.

It was not the first time that a U.S. administration had called on Wisner to intervene in a foreign crisis. In 2005, the George W. Bush administration appointed the New York native as a special U.S. representative to international talks on Kosovo's future. The negotiations ended with Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Wisner is the son of the well-known U.S. intelligence officer Frank Wisner Sr., who joined the Office of Strategic Services - the CIA's predecessor - and was partly the inspiration for the character Edward Wilson in the 2006 film "The Good Shepherd."

egyptian updates:
are we witnessing the start of a global revolution?*
video: zbigniew brzezinski & fellow cfr member christiane amanpour discuss globalist stooge elbaradei as he prepares to hijack egyptian revolution*
as elbaradei rises, US works to size him up*
video: kissinger on egypt unrest, mubarak's tenure*
kissinger praises obama's handling of egypt, gives mubarak 'months, at most'*
all is not what it seems in egyptian clashes*
wapo confirms egyptian looters were agents provocateur*
egypt's undercover police behind museum looting, group claims*
looters included undercover egyptian police, hospitals tell human rights watch*
which US companies profited from arming mubarak?*
US/uk companies help egyptian regime shut down telecommunications & identify dissidents*
boeing/narus helps egyptian dictatorship fight pro-democracy movement*
video: tarpley on destabilization rampage targeting egypt*
video: cnbc anchor implies US must support dictators to keep cheap oil flowing*
endgame in egypt: king tut in danger*
2 million march in cairo, egypt*
5 million hold protests in egypt*
un human rights chief: 300 reported dead in egypt protests*
connecticut guard detachment is heading to egypt*
video: ron paul calls egypt a 'mess' made by US intervention*
did muslim brotherhood learn 'day of rage' tactics from ayers, dohrn & code pink?*
facing growing protests, yemen's president says he won’t seek another term*
yemeni president to hold emergency parliament meeting*
flashback video: 'a new beginning' -
obama speaks to the muslim world from cairo*

threataganda, warnings & rumors

now updated with 40% more terronoia!
most dangerous week ever*
warnings about this coming week*
bank holiday rumors swirl amidst currency crisis*
update: atm's crash across the country after 'bank holiday' warning*
flight school arrests raise terrorism fears*
video update: illegals say tsa approved their flight training*
obama, gates & clinton in asia: US expands military build-up in the east*
video: obama needs an okc bombing to 'reconnect with voters'*
dead or alive: yemen orders arrest of radical cleric awlaki*
buckley afb f-16's in colorado prepare for mission to brazil*
around the world, a race against time bombs in air*
drudge stirs national debate on tsa abuse*
tsa fondles women & children refusing airport naked body scanners*
tsa official put white powder into fliers' bags, told them they're under arrest for coke*
tsa employee arrested for stealing out of luggage & trying to sell them on ebay*
tsa cuffs radio host meg mclain to chair*
tsa: no fondling, groping or squeezing is taking place at airports*
video: msnbc's ratigan invites guest to advocate violent revolution*
police lift lockdown on florida schools*
radio host leaves job with florida congressman due to school lockdown*
video: florida swat raids on unlicensed barbershops*
fbi to anti-military shooter: give us a call*
docs detail rogue seal’s gun-running, work on transformers 3*
US agencies were forewarned about suspect in 2008 mumbai bombings*
terrorist plotted to bomb a US plane with exploding dogs*
is al-qaida planning to plant bombs in christmas toys?*

manufactured toner bomb hysteria to revive obama's war of terror

toner terror threataganda pushed by western powers
from kurt nimmo: Once again, according to the government and the compliant corporate media, Muslim cave dwellers are attempting to kill us because they hate our freedom.

Last week the airwaves and internet were besieged with a fabulous story of al-Qaeda miscreants in Yemen attempting to send toner cartridge bombs to synagogues in Chicago.

“The packages from Yemen contained chemical explosives camouflaged as printer cartridges and wired to be detonated by a cell phone, and were found in Dubai and England on Friday only after the U.S. received a tip from Saudi Arabia,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

In response, bureaucrats said we’ll have to get used to more obtrusive airport “pat-downs” and screening of incoming foreign parcels using a network of government-certified private screeners and companies as well as its own inspectors at about 18 gateway airports around the country, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Terror is a growth industry, undoubtedly.

But wait a minute. There is a problem with all of this and, as usual, the government has not done a very good job of making the latest al-CIA-duh plot credible, at least not for people who bother to pay attention.

According to Mohammed al-Shaibah, Air Cargo Director for Yemenia Airways, “there is no evidence to prove that this package came through Yemen.” He said there were no UPS or DHL cargo flights from Yemen within a 48 hour period prior to the supposed terror attack.

Naturally, a news search using the term Mohammed al-Shaibah produces no results from the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the rest of the corporate Mockingbird media.

Never mind. Nothing to see here. Please move along.

remember: you're more likely to die by cop than terror

related toner terror updates:
pentagon denies report of plan for US military teams in yemen*
provoking yemeni terrorism*
bombs tip-off 'came from former al-qaeda member'*
toner bomb results in more airport molestation*
tsa starts new pat-down procedure with controversy*
minister katz: israel on bomb alert since oct28*
US feared mail bomb plot was coming – saw september dry run*
qantas airbus a380 makes emergency landing in singapore after engine fails*
another mid-air drama for qantas as passenger suffers heart attack*
no survivors in cuban plane crash*
man in disguise boards international flight for refugee status*

60 dead as helos & drones strike pakistan (but don't call it a war)

from danger room: U.S. officials don’t like calling what’s going on in Pakistan a war. But the US-led conflict, whatever name you give it, has never been this violent. The drone component of the campaign hit a new high over the weekend — 20 attacks in September alone, killing as many as 101 people. Today, NATO confirmed that a pair of its helicopters, based in Afghanistan, chased militant suspects across the border. 53 more are now reported dead.

In the Beltway, it’s considered bad form to refer to the Pakistan “war.” The term is too loaded with geopolitical baggage, and raises too many questions about who should be overseeing the conflict at home. But when NATO helicopters kill more than four dozen in Pakistan in a single day; when the CIA-led drone campaign hits 20 targets in 23 days; when thousands of U.S.-trained Afghans cross the border to fight insurgents on Pakistani soil; when American troops ferry aid to Pakistan’s flood victims; when the U.S. Air Force flies surveillance sorties over Pakistan; when American security contractors operate on Pakistani turf; and when U.S. Special Operations forces school Islamabad’s army in counterinsurgency (and sometimes lose troops to firefights in the process), what else should we name this multi-pronged military campaign? What other term would possibly apply?

warwhores updates:
pentagon to funnel US arms to yemen to fight al-qaeda*
9 nato troops killed in afghan helicopter crash*
woodward: cia has 3,000 man covert army in afghanistan*
army reveals afghan biometric id plan; millions scanned, carded by may*
mexican city aims to be first to use widespread eye-scanning technology*
white house 'dissapointed' with vote on 'don't ask, don't tell'*
fmr marine corps sniper & security contractor shane schmidt dies at 33*
obama: 'we need to make clear to people that the cancer is in pakistan'*
despite clinton pledge, state dept. to pay out billions more to mercs*
gates (delicately) criticizes the all-volunteer military*
army's largest base, ft hood, reeling from 4 apparent suicides in 1 weekend*
charlie wilson's warrior becomes top pentagon spook*

geopolitiks/warwhores: powderkegs looking for sparks

drills, bolton, harvard - putting pieces together
from of goats & men: We mentioned in the blog earlier how John Bolton thinks an Iran attack must proceed within days if it is to occur at all. Terror drills and military exercises have begun in Korea. Harvard has divested itself from Israeli investments which one could speculate has to do with fear of war in the Middle East. Gold is on the rise. None of this definitely means war is coming, but it certainly suggests it could very well be.

USrael increase military cooperation, hold joint exercises

israeli soldier defends her 'sexy' fbook prisoner pics
from danger room: Posing and smiling with blindfolded Palestinian prisoners — and then posting the pics to Facebook? What’s the big deal, an Israeli reserve officer asks. “There’s no violence or intention to humiliate anyone in the pictures,” Eden Abergil tells Army Radio. “I know I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. Nonetheless, the photos, taken during Abergil’s active duty and part of a gallery labeled “IDF – the best time of my life,” have drawn condemnation from Israeli and Palestinian officials alike. In a YouTube clip, IDF spokesman Captain Barak Raz calls Abergil’s photos “repulsive” and “shameful.” Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib calls them “an example of life under occupation.”

egypt seizes explosives on ship coming from israel

real war against 'terrorists' not in afghanistan -
but in pakistan, yemen & somalia

obamessiah & the expansion of the war of terror

obama sends brennan to sell yemen attack on sunday news shows
from kurt nimmo: Obama dispatched John Brennan to the Sunday talking head shows to peddle the al-Qaeda is going to get us message. “We’re determined to destroy al Qaeda,” Brennan told ABC News This Week. “And we’re working very closely not just with the Yemenis, but with our international partners, with the British, with the Saudis, and others, to make sure that we provide the Yemeni government the wherewithal to carry out this fight against al Qaeda.” Brennan’s message lines up nicely with the one delivered by Gordon Brown last week.


related updates:
are planned airport scanners just a scam?*
false flag event in detroit a pretext to invade yemen*
haskell family: fbi has changed accounts 4 times; our story is the same since day one*
obama ties airliner plot to al-aaeda's yemeni affiliate*
obama blames al-qaeda for christmas false flag, sets stage for yemen attack*
los angeles police beat and detain uk activist protesting new war in yemen*
underpants-gate: big oil, cia & the attempted bombing of flight 253 as justification for military ops in yemen & nigeria*
US & uk close embassies in yemen over threats*

new world next week - dec31

It's the end of the decade, but unfortunately, that won't put a stop to the propaganda being spread by the powers-that-be & their corporate media cronies. For this episode of The New World Next Week, James Corbett of CorbettReport.com & James Evan Pilato of MediaMonarchy.com uncover the latest moves toward a cashless society, the Obama/Interpol Executive Order & the 24/7 hype of al-CIA-da terror.

Story#1: National Irish Moves to Cashless Banking
Video: Cashless Society with Implanted Microchip by 2017

Story#2: Obama Gives Diplomatic Immunity to Interpol by Executive Order 12425
Obama grants Interpol immunity as foreign 'assets' assigned to US homeland

Story#3: Govt Allowed Plane Bomber to Attempt Attack
Change: More Christmas-time Terror & Suspicious Characters

James Evan Pilato returns to the airwaves on New Year's Day with the long-awaited 151st episode of MediaMonarchy.com - but in the meantime, don't miss the end-of-a-decade mixtape featuring some of the best music from the last 10yrs http://ur1.ca/iryw ... For more articles, videos, podcasts & open-source intelligence, please visit The Corbett Report http://ur1.ca/iryy ... And, of course, the information war will continue into the new decade as we ask for your continued support of the New World Next Week.

change: more christmas-time terror & suspicious characters

northwest bomb plot 'oddities'*

wealthy, quiet, unassuming: the christmas day bomb suspect*
flight 253 passenger: sharp-dressed man aided terror suspect umar farouk abdul mutallab onto plane without passport*
hero tackled alleged northwest plane bomber as flames came from him on flight to detroit*
govt allowed plane bomber to attempt attack*
the lap bomber mystery*
webster tarpley: detroit jet terrorist attack was staged*

can we rescue the republic before the dark politics take over?*
the new, terrifying, no-electronics US flight security rules*
christmas terror attempt may open door for military action in US cities*
video: obama discusses air security review*
obama vows to use power to thwart terrorists*
bus passengers could carry electronic tags*
terror & tyranny: the tnt approach for 2010*

incident on another amsterdam-to-detroit flight*

corporate media claims underwear bomber connected to al-qaeda*
leaked: homeland security's post underwear bomb airplane rules*
man videotaped underwear bomber on flight 253*
gibbs: don't disagree with obama on response to underwear bomber*
underwear bomber renews calls for 'naked scanners'*
video: ron paul to ben stein "you're an embarrassment"*

12/31 updates:
obama: US intel had info ahead of airliner attack*
clueless liberals & neocons slug it out over fake al-qaeda*
another false flag terror attack as justification for war & trampling on our freedoms*
ron paul says agenda behind bombing incident is more war, more attacks on liberty*
video: corporate media steps up al-qaeda in yemen propaganda*
100s of al-qaeda militants planning attacks from yemen*
al-qaeda: US plane bomb plot revenge for yemen operations*
western counter-terrorism help 'not enough for yemen'*
national guard deployed for new york airport security*
calls for full-body screening devices grow after terror attempt*
evidence clearly indicates staged attack on detroit flight*
officials admit 2nd man detained as more witnesses emerge*
fbi silent on plane bomber's accomplice*
video: ron paul on yemen, underwear bomber & loss of liberty*
US intel lapses helped abdul mutallab*
chris heges: one day we'll all be terrorists*
many airport security improvements would require more intrusion, oversight*
failed attack on jet renews concerns over lack of tsa chief*
prince of peace prize gears up for flight 253 retaliatory strike*
US plots retaliatory strikes against al-qaida in yemen*
number of full-body scanners at US airports to triple in 2010*
federal court restricts taser use by police*
nypd closes down times square in response to suspicious van*
source: 'false' report led to capitol lockdown*
teddy bear at oregon office prompts bomb scare*

geopolitiks: one world, warnings & true intentions

one world government? globe may not be big enough*
german chancellor angela merkel calls for a 'new global order'*
uk judges no longer have to declare freemasonry*

no one wants to talk about cia briefings on karzai's brother*
iarael warns they're ready to roll against iran*
US senators act to force recognition of jerusalem as capital*
'watertight services': why ugandans want to work in iraq*
white powder sent to foreign missions in ny harmless*
yemen rebels say saudi jets using phosphorus bombs*
massive blackout leaves brazil on edge*
official US air force document reveals true intentions behind the US/colombia military agreement: 'an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout south america'*
mexico group wants united nations peacekeepers in juarez*
trillion dollar ad campaign: billboards for 'zimbabwean newspaper' made entirely of worthless zimbabwean bank notes*

murder/mayhem: fast cars, danger, fire & knives

illinois derailment revives hazmat debate*
brazil winds down flight 447 search*
brazil ceases hunt for bodies from air france crash*
investigators: air france jet broke apart on impact with water*
paying tribute to 'the metro hero' at memorial for train operator*
informercial pitchman billy mays dies at 50*
teens who think they'll die young take more risks*
crash kills 9 on oklahoma turnpike*
9 body found in truck's wreckage*
yemeni passenger plane with 150 people onboard crashes into indian ocean*
neighbors close in after sex charges:
duke researcher accused of offering his adopted 5yr-old son for sex*
US city car park floors collapse*
italian train derails, explodes, killing 6*
7 teens shot near detroit school*
charged with pouring gas on girlfriend, tennessee police officer resigns*
staten island ferry crash injures 10*
pet burmese python kills 2yr-old girl in florida*

geopolitiks & history/mystery: russia, auschwitz, fanta, nazis & nukes

newsflash! georgia fired first
from times online: Two former British military officers are expected to give crucial evidence against Georgia when an international inquiry is convened to establish who started the country’s bloody five-day war with Russia in August. Ryan Grist, a former British Army captain, and Stephen Young, a former RAF wing commander, are said to have concluded that, before the Russian bombardment began, Georgian rockets and artillery were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway region of South Ossetia every 15 or 20 seconds. Their accounts seem likely to undermine the American-backed claims of President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia that his little country was the innocent victim of Russian aggression and acted solely in self-defence.

russian nuke sub accident claims 20 lives
from danger room: An accident on board a Russian nuclear submarine has claimed at least 20 lives, the worst submarine disaster in nearly a decade. According to Russian news reports, the ship in question is the K-152 Nerpa, an Akula-class attack submarine. The accident occurred during sea trials in the Pacific Ocean; Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reports the incident was caused by the "unsanctioned activation" of the boat's fire-extinguishing system. The sub returned to Bolshoi Kamen, a port in Russia's Far East, the BBC adds. Over 200 individuals were on board, including civilian shipbuilding contractors. RIA-Novosti reports that incident happened in the boat's forward compartment; the nuclear reactor was not affected and radiation levels were described as "normal." A torpedo accident on the Russian submarine Kursk in 2000 claimed the lives of 118 sailors. The accident - and the botched response - were a public relations disaster for then-Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first year in office. (Click here for Putin's video appearance on "Larry King Live"; Asked what happened to the Kursk, Putin smirks: "Ona utonula" - "she sank.") The Nerpa incident comes as Russia reasserts its military power and prepares to overhaul its nuclear forces; Russia is currently sending a naval squadron to Venezuela to take part in a military exercise. The Russian media are responding swiftly to this one. Here's a link to the Russian Wikipedia page for the Nerpa and a list of the latest headlines in Russian.

al-CIAda 'plotting new attacks on US'
from presstv: America's nemesis Osama Bin Laden is reportedly planning a new terror attack against the US that would 'outdo by far' the 9/11 attacks. A source close to the al-Qaeda leadership in Yemen has warned in a report that a new attack against the US will aim 'to change the world [both] politically and economically'. The report published by an Arabic-language newspaper in London, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, claimed that Bin Laden is closely supervising preparations for the attack, which will be far greater than those of 9/11.

plans for auschwitz found in berlin apartment
from afp: Original plans for the construction of the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz, including a gas chamber and crematorium, have been found in a Berlin apartment, a newspaper reported Saturday. The daily Bild published copies of some of the 28 plans, which the head of Germany's federal archives, Hans-Dieter Krekamp, called "authentic proof of the systematically planned genocide of the Jews of Europe." Bild gave no indication of where, when or by whom the plans were found.

fanta was developed for the nazis
from edwin black: Refael Bigio in Montreal remembers the moment that the regime of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized his family’s property. He was driving to the factory with his father that traumatic August day in 1962. Police cordons surrounded the buildings at 14 Aswan Street in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis. As Bigio and his father nervously stepped up the stairs, a policeman barked that the government had nationalized the business. "Give me the keys," he demanded. Once inside the offices, policemen and soldiers demanded the keys to the vault as well.

The nightmare of dispossession suffered by approximately one million Jews throughout the Arab world had finally descended upon the Bigio family. Brutal jailings and intimidation against Bigio family members culminated in a forced penniless exodus from the nation. The Bigios, along with a million other Jews across the Arab world, were expelled with just a few dollars in their pockets. The family fled to Canada. But the Bigios never forgot the life they knew in Egypt—or their assets.

The Bigio assemblage of warehouses and manufacturing buildings sprawled across 10,000 square meters in the midst of bustling Heliopolis traces its main commercial life to the 1930s when Bigio’s grandfather first bought the land and built a shoe polish plant. Eventually, the family business added a tin container operation to hold the shoe polish, and from that expanded into general tin plating. Eventually they produced tin bottle caps for soda. In 1942, at the height of World War II, a Coca-Cola licensed bottler became the family’s tenant, bottling the world-famous cola. Later the fruity drink called Fanta that Coca-Cola originally developed for the Nazi military was added. In the fifties, the Coca-Cola licensed bottler in Egypt expanded greatly, the plant was moved to a nearby location, and in 1959 Coca-Cola in Atlanta signed a major license agreement with the Bigios to produce the bottle caps.

the mystery of lost US nuclear bomb
from bbc: The United States abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland following a crash in 1968, a BBC investigation has found. Its unique vantage point - perched at the top of the world - has meant that Thule Air Base has been of immense strategic importance to the US since it was built in the early 1950s, allowing a radar to scan the skies for missiles coming over the North Pole. The Pentagon believed the Soviet Union would take out the base as a prelude to a nuclear strike against the US and so in 1960 began flying "Chrome Dome" missions. Nuclear-armed B52 bombers continuously circled over Thule - and could head straight to Moscow if they witnessed its destruction. Greenland is a self-governing province of Denmark but the carrying of nuclear weapons over Danish territory was kept secret. But on 21 January 1968, one of those missions went wrong.

horror of US depleted uranium in iraq threatens the world
from tehran times: American and British use of DU is a crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time. War vets who’ve returned from Iraq are sitting on DU death row. All this, a net result of the White House’s reaction to 9/11. I’m horrified. The people out there — the Iraqis, the media and the troops — risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It’s going to destroy the lives of thousands of children, all over the world. We all know how far radiation can travel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes get red dust from the Sahara on your car... Britain and America not only used DU in this year’s Iraq war, they dramatically increased its use — from a minimum of 320 tons in the previous war (1991) to a minimum of 1500 tons in this one. And this time the use of DU wasn’t limited to anti-tank weapons — as it had largely been in the previous Persian Gulf war — but was extended to-the guided missiles, large bunker busters and 2000 pound mega-bombs used in Iraq’s cities.