- Signs of the Times Archive for Sat, 01 Dec 2007 -



Sections on today's Signs Page:

SOTT Focus
An Open Letter To The People Of France

Simon Davies
Sott.net
2007-11-30 15:07:00

That wasn't on the menu!

(placard: general strike)


Citizens of France,

How would you feel if:

You had to borrow 5 or 10 times your annual salary to be able to have a home?

You had to purchase expensive private medical insurance to be sure of having any medial care?

Every hospital denied all medical care to those without private medical insurance?

There was no social safety net, no unemployment insurance for yourself, your family, and your children?

You had to work 40 to 60 hours per week with only one week of holiday per year - and even that only after you have worked for a year or two?

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Best of the Web
Venezuela's D-Day - The December 2, 2007 Constituent Referendum: Democratic Socialism or Imperial Counter-Revolution

James Petras
CounterPunch
2007-11-27 22:12:00

On November 26, 2007 the Venezuelan government broadcast and circulated a confidential memo from the US embassy to the CIA which is devastatingly revealing of US clandestine operations and which will influence the referendum this Sunday (December 2, 2007).

The memo sent by an embassy official, Michael Middleton Steere, was addressed to the head of the CIA, Michael Hayden. The memo was entitled Advancing to the Last Phase of Operation Pincer and updates the activity by a CIA unit with the acronym HUMINT (Human Intelligence) which is engaged in clandestine action to destabilize the forth-coming referendum and coordinate the civil military overthrow of the elected Chavez government. The Embassy-CIA polls concede that 57% of the voters approved of the constitutional amendments proposed by Chavez but also predicted a 60% abstention.

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CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela

Eva Golinger
Venezuelanalysis
2007-11-28 06:39:00

©Unknown
Chavez announced dead on CNN


Last night CNN en Español aired the above image, which captions at the bottom "Who Killed him?" by "accident". The image of President Chavez with the caption about killing him below, which some could say subliminally incites to assassination, was a "production error" mistakenly made in the CNN en Español newsroom. The news anchor had been narrarating a story about the situation between Colombia and Venezuela and then switched to a story about an unsolved homicide but - oops - someone forgot to change the screen image and President Chavez was left with the killing statement below. Today they apologized and admitted it was a rather "unfortunate" and "regrettable" mistake. Yes, it was.


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U.S. News
Enbridge eyes quick restart after pipe blast

Jeffrey Jones and Scott Haggett
Reuters
2007-11-29 01:10:00

Calgary - Enbridge Inc on Thursday said it expects to quickly restart its huge pipeline system, the day after a deadly blast in Minnesota killed two workers and briefly choked off 10 percent of oil imports to the world's top consumer.

Flow rates through pipeline system, which runs from Alberta, Canada, to the central United States, reached 80 percent of capacity Thursday, the company said.

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Man releases two hostages at Clinton campaign office

Roger Wood
Reuters
2007-11-30 23:04:00

A man claiming to have a bomb strapped to his chest seized several hostages at a New Hampshire campaign office for Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton on Friday before releasing two in a standoff with police.

©REUTERS/Graphic
An armed man took people hostage at a New Hampshire campaign office for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton on Friday, New Hampshire's WMUR TV reported.


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Cop's Husband Charged in Child Porn Case


Associated Press
2007-11-30 22:50:00

ATLANTA - Federal authorities allege that the husband of an Atlanta police officer took photos of himself having sex with several young girls, and say the police department had some of the pictures seven years ago but took no action.

"This is a very disturbing case, for many reasons," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Thursday.

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Amtrak Collides with Freight Train in Chicago

Deanna Bellandi
Associated Press
2007-11-30 22:45:00

CHICAGO - An Amtrak train plowed into the back of a freight train Friday, critically injuring five people as its engine car hurtled to a stop atop a crushed boxcar.

The Amtrak's three double-decker passenger cars remained upright, and most of the 187 passengers walked away unhurt or with minor injuries. Nine people were reported in serious condition and another 30 were treated for bumps and bruises, though Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco expected that number to rise to about 50.

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Mother Killed 2 Children in Store Bathroom


Associated Press
2007-11-30 22:41:00

AUGUSTA, Ga. - A 22-year-old woman fatally stabbed her two young children in a convenience store bathroom Thursday, police said.

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Bomb-wearing Man Takes Hostages at Clinton Campaign Office

Scott Helman and James Pindell
Boston Globe
2007-11-30 22:28:00

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- A woman who was being held hostage at Hillary Clinton's campaign office by a man wearing what looked like a bomb has been released, police said.

It was not immediately clear whether other hostages remained inside the office on North Main Street. The man walked into the office at about 12:55 p.m., said Captain Anthony Colarusso of the Dover Police Department, which is part of a regional tactical response team. Police have been in contact with the man inside the office, Colarusso said.

©Boston.com
Police cordon off the area of the hostage stand-off.


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Justice Time: Parents Want Jail Time for MySpace Hoax Mom


ABC News
2007-11-30 22:05:00

The family of Megan Meier, the 13-year-old girl who took her own life after being bullied on MySpace, is demanding justice and jail time for the adult involved in the bullying.

Lori Drew, the Meiers' 48-year-old neighbor in suburban St. Louis, admitted in a police report that she created a fictitious MySpace account and pretended to be a boy with a romantic interest in Megan. According to the police report, Drew created the profile to find out what Megan was saying online about her teenage daughter.

©ABC
Lori Drew, pictured here on the Missouri Chamber of Commerce Web site, told police she created a ficticious MySpace profile pretending to be a boy with romantic interest in Megan Meiers.


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Flashback: Mom: Web Hoax Led Girl to Kill Herself

Betsy Taylor
Associated Press
2007-11-17 00:09:00

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. - Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.

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FBI: Operation 'Bot Roast II' Nets Hackers


ABC News
2007-11-29 22:19:00

The FBI has announced action against computer hackers in their ongoing investigation of individuals who install malicious code and software on the Internet known as "botnets."

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Ten Reasons Why "Save Darfur" is a PR Scam to Justify the Next US Oil and Resource Wars in Africa

Bruce Dixon
Black Agenda Report
2007-11-30 16:51:00

The star-studded hue and cry to "Save Darfur" and "stop the genocide" has gained enormous traction in U.S. media along with bipartisan support in Congress and the White House. But the Congo, with ten to twenty times as many African dead over the same period is not called a "genocide" and passes almost unnoticed. Sudan sits atop lakes of oil. It has large supplies of uranium, and other minerals, significant water resources, and a strategic location near still more African oil and resources. The unasked question is whether the nation's Republican and Democratic foreign policy elite are using claims of genocide, and appeals for "humanitarian intervention" to grease the way for the next oil and resource wars on the African continent.

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US Catholic bishop: 9-11 was inside job

Matt C. Abbott
Renew America
2007-11-24 17:15:00

Bishop Richard Williamson, seemingly the most outspoken and controversial bishop of the Society of St. Pius X, asserted in a recent talk that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were committed "to get the American public to accept the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq," according to a news item by Jack Kenny in the Nov. 15, 2007 issue of The Wanderer.

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Bump them up and send them to kill: Blackwater guards accused of drug use, ignoring orders


Xinhuanet
2007-11-28 13:25:00

At least one in four Blackwater bodyguards in Iraq use steroids and other drugs, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of several Iraqis killed or wounded in a Baghdad shooting in September.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Washington also accuses the Blackwater guards of ignoring orders and abandoning their posts shortly before taking part in the shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, media reports said Wednesday.

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Barbra Streisand endorses Hillary Clinton after Oprah goes for Obama

Helen Kennedy
Daily News
2007-11-28 12:09:00

Oprah, Schmoprah.

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday tried to counter Barack Obama's big celeb coup by trotting out her own legendary diva recognizable by first name alone: Barbra.

©Daily News


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Texas Oilman Gets 1-Year Prison Term

Larry Neumeister
Associated Press
2007-11-27 11:49:00

New York - Prosecutors called him a conniving businessman whose conduct contributed to the fog of corruption that enveloped the U.N. oil-for-food program. But a federal judge saw Texas oilman Oscar Wyatt Jr. as an extraordinary man driven to break the program's rules because of his strong dislike for U.S. policy in Iraq.

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Bush Economic Aide Hubbard to Leave by Year's End

Roger Runningen
Bloomberg
2007-11-30 11:38:00

Al Hubbard, director of President George W. Bush's National Economic Council for almost three years, will step down by the end of the year and be replaced by Hubbard's top aide, Keith Hennessey.

Hubbard, 60, was a key negotiator with Congress on a stalled child health bill, and as an architect of Bush's energy security policy he warned lawmakers against raising taxes on the oil and gas industries.

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UK & Euro-Asian News
Turk army gets green light to hit rebels in N.Iraq

Gareth Jones
Reuters
2007-11-30 23:20:00

Turkey's prime minister said on Friday his cabinet had authorized the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq, but analysts said major action did not appear imminent.

©REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan chairs the annual meeting of the High Military Council in Ankara November 29, 2007.



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Writer who sued over Da Vinci Code dies

Jill Lawless
Associated Press
2007-11-30 23:23:00

Richard Leigh, a writer of alternative history who unsuccessfully sued for plagiarism over themes in Dan Brown's blockbuster novel "The Da Vinci Code," has died, his agent said Friday. He was 64.

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Nazi Archive in Bad Arolsen Opens Doors to Public


Deutsche Welle
2007-11-28 20:56:00

©AP
Members of the public are now permitted to access the Holocaust archive


An extensive collection of Holocaust records was finally unlocked to the public on Wednesday, Nov. 28, more than 60 years after its creation to trace millions of victims of the Nazi regime.

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Spain: DNA checks at abortion clinic accused of flushing foetuses down the drain

Thomas Catan and David Rose
The Times
2007-11-30 17:26:00

Police investigating four abortion clinics in Barcelona used frequently by British women have been horrified to find purpose-built machines attached to the drains that were used to crush foetuses.

The clinics allegedly performed illegal abortions on women into their eighth month of pregnancy. Police have arrested Carlos MorÍn, the Peruvian head of the clinics, his wife and four other colleagues after a lawsuit by a Christian organisation, e-Cristians. Mr MorÍn reportedly has refused to answer police questions.

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U.S. moves to 'help' Armenia build new nuclear plant

Emil Danielyan
Eurasia Daily Monitor
2007-11-28 14:41:00

The United States has voiced support for the ambitious idea of building a new nuclear power station in Armenia in place of an aging Soviet-era facility, boosting the chances of its realization in the near future. Moreover, the U.S. government announced last week that it will finance the first preliminary feasibility study on the project, to be launched early next year.

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Turkey Nuclear Project in February


Alalam News
2007-11-28 14:36:00

Ankara--Turkish authorities are expected to invite bids for the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant in February, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said Wednesday.

©Alalam
A view of the Akkuyu area, where Turkey is planning to build its first nuclear power plant.


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Slovakia: 3 Arrested in Radioactive Sale Bid

Martin Santa and Jan Lopatka
ABC News/Associated Press
2007-11-28 14:31:00

Police Arrest 3 Trying to Sell Unspecified Radioactive Material, Official in Slovakia Says

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Flashback: Le Figaro: Sarkozy was an Israeli spy

Gamal Nkrumah
Al-Ahram Weekly
2007-10-31 19:12:00

As if his marital challenges were not enough cause for concern, "Sarco the Sayan" has suddenly emerged as the most infamous accolade of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The influential French daily Le Figaro last week revealed that the French leader once worked for -- and perhaps still does, it hinted -- Israeli intelligence as a sayan (Hebrew for helper), one of the thousands of Jewish citizens of countries other than Israel who cooperate with the katsas (Mossad case-officers).

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Sarkozy spokesman: France and Israel enjoy 'honeymoon'


Agence France Presse
2007-11-30 14:23:00

France and Israel are in the midst of a "honeymoon" in their relationship, French presidential spokesman David Martinon said Wednesday.

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Algerian minister says "Jewish lobby" elected Sarkozy


DPA
2007-11-30 14:22:00

Less than a week before the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Algeria, an Algerian minister said that Sarkozy owed his electoral victory to Israel and "the Jewish lobby," the French daily Le Figaro reported Wednesday.

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Dalai Lama threatens China with reincarnation

Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi and Jonathan Watts in Beijing
The Guardian
2007-11-30 14:12:00

Exiled leader fights back at Chinese attempt to control Buddhist selection process

©Mary Altaffer/AP
The Dalai Lama.

The centuries-old tradition of choosing a new Dalai Lama may be about to change from the mysteries of reincarnation to the realities of a referendum to hold off the increasing influence of the Chinese government in the process.

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader yesterday offered the prospect of a referendum before he dies to decide how to pick the Himalayan people's next living Buddha - incensing China which insists on the right to approve incarnations.

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Spanish Judge left innocent man in jail for more than a year

Paul Hamilos
Guardian Unlimited
2007-11-30 10:03:00

A Spanish judge has been disbarred after she apparently forgot to order the release of three prisoners, including an innocent man who spent more than a year in prison.

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UK seeks teacher release in Sudan


BBC News
2007-11-30 09:10:00

The Foreign Office is attempting to secure the release of a British teacher jailed in Sudan for insulting religion after naming a teddy bear Muhammad.


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'None survive' Turkey plane crash


BBC News
2007-11-30 08:57:00

All 56 people on board a passenger plane which crashed in the early hours in south-western Turkey have died, the airline's chief executive has said.

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Timing? Sarkozy calls Paris riots unacceptable

Nicolas Carriga
Associated Press
2007-11-30 07:50:00

VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France - Police patrolled Paris' troubled suburbs in force Wednesday night to watch for rioters who have torched buildings and cars in three nights of unrest, while President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed tough punishments for youths who shot at police.

The government of the Val d'Oise region north of Paris - the center of the unrest - reported a few scattered incidents of cars and garbage cans set on fire after nightfall, but said the situation was mostly calm. Three people had been taken into custody.



Comment: Convenient timing just when Sarkozy was facing strong oppostion in the general population to his policies. A few riots and a tough response is one way to get the population behind their new strong man. At least temporarily.



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Around the World
Japan book row reopens old wounds

David Hawkins
Al Jazeera News
2007-12-01 01:16:00

©Al Jazeera
Haruko Mitahara says her family members were given grenades and ordered to kill themselves


What Haruko Mitahara remembers, the Japanese government wants people to forget.

The issue is one of the country's most notorious wartime incidents: during the US invasion of Okinawa in the closing days of the second world war, the Japanese military ordered - and sometimes forced - the islanders to commit suicide.

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Last bid to find Nazis in S America


Al Jazeera News
2007-11-28 00:23:00

A Jewish human rights group has launched a last-ditch initiative to find Nazi war criminals who may still be hiding in South America.

Among those still believed to be alive and living in Argentina or Chile is 93-year-old Aribert Heim, known as "Doctor Death," who has a $450,000 bounty on his head.

©EPA
Heim would be 93-years-old if
he is still alive


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Ukrainian Officials in tears over comatose croc


Reuters
2007-11-30 23:41:00

Ukrainian officials summoned a vet Friday to determine whether a crocodile, captured after six months on the run, was comatose or dead.

©REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas
A crocodile (Crocodylus Acutus) rests at the National Zoo of Managua November 13,2007.



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Madness! Calls in Sudan for execution of Briton

Mohamed Osman
Associated Press
2007-11-30 16:29:00

Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."

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Tariq Ali on Afghanistan: "A Crude War Of Revenge"

Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House
2007-11-30 13:10:00

The United States is on its way to losing the war in Afghanistan. The eventual defeat will be political not military. Public sentiment is shifting in Europe. The people have had enough. They want to get out. When European troops withdrawal from Afghanistan; NATO will gradually unravel and the Transatlantic Alliance will collapse. That will be a disaster for America. The US will again be isolated by two great oceans. But not by choice. America's days as an empire will be over.

That's why the US perseveres in Afghanistan even though there is nothing to gain. Pipelines corridors will continue to be blocked by enemy fighters for the foreseeable future. The guerrilla war will intensify. American fatalities will mount. Political opposition at home will grow.

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Australian troops home from Iraq in 2008


Associated Press
2007-11-30 12:47:00

Australia's new leader on Friday said he would pull his country's combat troops out of Iraq by the middle of next year, making good on election promises.

The withdrawal will likely disappoint the U.S. government, which has counted Australia as among few staunch allies in the unpopular war in Iraq.



Comment: So it is highly possible that some event will be staged to draw Australia back to the line.



Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power at elections last Saturday that ended more than 11 years of conservative rule under John Howard, who had strong personal ties with President Bush.

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Look who's talking again from the grave: Bin Laden says, Europeans should helping U.S.


Associated Press
2007-11-30 12:39:00

Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to excerpts of a new audiotape broadcast Thursday on Al-Jazeera television.

Bin Laden said it was unjust for the United States to have invaded Afghanistan for sheltering him after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying he was the "only one responsible" for the deadly assaults on New York and Washington.

"The events of Manhattan were retaliation against the American-Israeli alliance's aggression against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and I am the only one responsible for it. The Afghan people and government knew nothing about it. America knows that," the al-Qaida leader said in the five-minute tape.

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South Korea probes 'cell phone death'


BBC News
2007-11-28 10:15:00

Authorities in South Korea are investigating the death of a man amid reports he may have been killed by an exploding mobile phone battery.

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From the killing fields! US bombing kills 14 construction workers in Afghanistan

Bill Van Auken
World Socialist Web Site
2007-11-30 08:14:00

An air strike by US-led occupation forces in Afghanistan left at least 14 members of a road construction crew dead late Tuesday.

The workers, who were building a road in Nuristan Province, about 110 miles northeast of Kabul, were killed in their sleep as jet fighters and helicopter gunships attacked their camp. The road was being built in the mountainous and strife-torn area under a contract with the US military.



Comment: Making sure that the rebuilding comes to nothing.



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Who Is Defending Pakistan's Democracy? Not the Politicians, It's the Judges

Medea Benjamin
AlterNet
2007-11-30 08:13:00

The heroes in today's Pakistan are not the returning former prime ministers -- Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif -- but the Supreme Court and High Court judges who refused to accept Gen. Musharraf's emergency law putting the Constitution in abeyance. When asked to take a new oath pledging to uphold his "Provisional Constitutional Order," they simply said no. While politicians Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif are making deals with Musharraf to get back into power, these judges are putting principle over power. They may have lost their seats on the bench, but they have won the hearts of millions of Pakistanis.

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The Iraqification of Afghanistan

Marie Cocco
AlterNet
2007-11-30 07:45:00

As the disaster in Iraq continues, the forgotten country of Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming another widespread human rights disaster.

Winter approaches, and as many as 400,000 Afghans face starvation. The trouble is not an insufficient supply of food. There is no way to get food to those who need it.

Attacks on aid workers and the hijacking of food convoys -- the United Nations' main feeding program says it has lost about 100,000 tons of food to attacks by insurgents and criminals so far this year -- have made it all but impossible to transport supplies along the main road connecting vast stretches of the country between Kandahar in the south and Herat in the west.



Comment: And who is it who is funding and backing these insurgents and criminals? Take your time......



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U.S. Companies Behind Anti-Reform Propaganda in Venezuela

Michael Fox
Venezuelanalysis
2007-11-30 07:30:00

"I voted for Chavez for President, but not now. Because they told me that if the reform passes, they're going to take my son, because he will belong to the state," said Gladys Castro last week, a Colombian immigrant who has lived in Venezuela for 16 years, and cleans houses for a living.

Gladys is not the only one to believe the false rumors she's heard. Thousands of Venezuelans, many of them Chavez supporters, have bought the exaggerations and lies about Venezuela's Constitutional Reform that have been circulating across the country for months. Just a few weeks ago, however, the disinformation campaign ratcheted up various notches as opposition groups and anti-reform coalitions placed large ads in major Venezuelan papers.

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Chad accuses Sudan of arming rebels


Agence France-Presse
2007-11-28 06:48:00

Chad's intelligence chief on Tuesday accused Sudan of arming rebels who clashed with the army as troops showed off the battleground with bodies still laid among smouldering military vehicles.

"Sudan violated the peace agreement," General Ismael Chaibo, director general of the National Security Agency (ANS) told journalists.

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Venezuelan Opposition Protesters Shoot Chavez Supporter

Kiraz Janicke
Venezuelanalysis
2007-11-30 06:37:00

Caracas - Neighbors, friends and family members of young worker and supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, José Anibal Oliveros Yépez, who was murdered by a radical opposition group in the regional city of Valencia on Monday, have express profound rage and indignation at what occurred explaining that his body was spat on and kicked by his killers, "as if he were and animal."

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Blast outside Sri Lankan capital kills 16, injures 24: hospital


Agence France-Presse
2007-11-29 06:35:00

COLOMBO - At least 16 people were killed and 24 injured when a bomb believed planted by Tamil rebels exploded on Wednesday on the outskirts of the capital of Sri Lanka, officials said.

"Sixteen people were brought in dead and at least 24 have been injured," the spokeswoman at Kalubowila Hospital, located near where the explosion took place, told AFP by telephone.

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Big Brother
Protests force Facebook to change


BBC News
2007-11-30 01:15:00

Facebook members have forced the social networking site to change the way a controversial ad system worked.

More than 50,000 Facebook users signed a petition calling on the company to alter or abandon its Beacon advertising technology.

When Facebook users shopped online, Beacon told friends and businesses what they looked at or bought.

Many considered the data sharing to be an intrusion that exposed them to more scrutiny than was comfortable.

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Man Dies After Police Use Taser When He Jumps From Ambulance


Associated Press
2007-11-30 23:50:00

Lake City, Florida - A man died Thursday after deputies stunned him with a Taser after he jumped from an ambulance, authorities said.

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JPL Scientists Stand Up To Government For Right To Privacy

Loretta Hidalgo
Wired
2007-11-30 22:56:00

Next week 28 NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientists (including William Banerdt, a project scientist on the Mars rover program) will fight for their right to privacy in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California. They are fighting against Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12) that President Bush issued in August 2004. Policies resulting from the directive requires all federal employees and contractors to "voluntarily" (JPL employees would be terminated immediately for non-compliance) sign a form allowing the government the right to investigate them "without limit" for two years- even if they leave government work during that time. The directive is meant to confirm the identity of all government employees and give them new high-tech badges, the JPL scientists say they have gone too far.

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Is Facebook Beacon a Privacy Nightmare?

Om Malik
gigaom.com
2007-11-06 08:20:00

A new advertising initiative adopted by a Facebook.com, a popular social hub, is raising privacy concerns.

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Stun gun used on pregnant woman in Ohio

James Hannah
Associated Press
2007-11-30 06:34:00

TROTWOOD, Ohio - The FBI is investigating whether a policeman violated a pregnant woman's civil rights when he used a stun gun to subdue her, authorities in this Dayton suburb said Thursday.

The woman had gone to the police department Nov. 18 asking police to take custody of her 1-year-old son, but tried to leave with the child after the officer started asking her questions, said Michael Etter, Trotwood public safety director. He added that the woman wore a winter coat and did not tell the officer she was pregnant.


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Axis of Evil
Annapolis: A different venue, but the pious claims and promises are the same

Robert Fisk
The Independent
2007-11-30 23:20:00

Haven't we been here before? Isn't Annapolis just a repeat of the White House lawn and the Oslo agreement, a series of pious claims and promises in which two weak men, Messrs Abbas and Olmert, even use the same words of Oslo.

"It is time for the cycle of blood, violence and occupation to end," the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday. But don't I remember Yitzhak Rabin saying on the White House lawn that, "it is time for the cycle of blood... to end"?

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Olmert, Bush hold private meeting on Iran and continue to create their own reality


Jerusalem Post
2007-11-28 20:36:00

Having depicted the wide Arab participation in Tuesday's Annapolis summit as a sort of victory for Middle East moderation over Iranian opposition, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held his second private White House meeting of the week with President George Bush on Wednesday to try to translate the summit's momentum into a more effective effort to thwart Teheran's nuclear drive.

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Israel ran assassination bombing campaign throughout Europe

Amit Baruah
Hindustan Times
2007-11-30 17:25:00

A new book claims that Mossad, Israel's external intelligence agency, ran a highly secretive bombing campaign directed at individuals in Europe helping Pakistani scientist AQ Khan build a nuclear weapon.

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"Thousands" Illegally Rendered By Bush Administration for Interrogation, Torture

Massachusetts School of Law Report
Global Research
2007-11-30 15:38:00

In violation of international and U.S. law, "thousands" of alleged terrorists have been victims of "extraordinary rendition" by the Bush Administration since 9/11, two legal scholars say. "Instead of working to bring those committing crimes against the United States to justice in U.S. courts, the Bush Administration seems intent on doing exactly the opposite---keeping such individuals away from U.S. courts, hidden in a web of secret prisons, underground interrogation cells, and in the hands of cooperative governments," write Margaret Satterthwaite and Angela Fisher. Satterthwaite is an assistant professor of clinical law at NYU School of Law and Fisher served as assistant research scholar with the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.

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Israel to lure Soviet Jews from Germany

Kate Connolly
Guardian Unlimited
2007-11-27 15:06:00

An Israeli intelligence organisation is to send its agents to Germany to try to persuade tens of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union to settle in Israel.

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In Annapolis, Conflict by Other Means

Robert Blecher and Mouin Rabbani
Middle East Report Online
2007-11-26 13:37:00

At an intersection in front of Nablus city hall, a pair of women threaded a knot of waiting pedestrians, glanced left, then dashed across the street. "What's this?" an onlooker chastised them. "Can't you see the red light?" Not long after, his patience exhausted, the self-appointed traffic cop himself stepped off the curb and made his way to the other side of the boulevard. Such is life in the West Bank on the eve of the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, where the Bush administration intends to create the semblance of a "peace process" between Israel and the Palestinians for the first time since it assumed office. There is excitement in Palestinian towns about the urban order newly emerging from years of chaos; there is a willingness to play by the rules even as many remain convinced that doing so will not get them very far; and, lastly, there is the reality that when the waiting grows tiresome, people will again take matters into their own hands. As for the Annapolis meeting itself, it is being greeted with indifference, with few believing it will lead to either meaningful change in their daily lives or substantive progress toward the end of an Israeli occupation now in its fifth decade.

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Tragedy and Travesty at Annapolis

Stephen Lendman
SJ Lendman Blog
2007-11-26 06:45:00

November 27 at Annapolis kicks off the latest Israeli-Palestinian Middle East peace process round that may be an historic first. It's the first time in memory the legitimate government of one side is excluded, and that alone dooms it. Like previous rounds, it's more pretense than peace, and as Jonathan Steele puts it in his November 16 Guardian column "The Palestinian path to peace does not go via Annapolis....so what do....Palestinians do next....In their decades-long bid for justice, they have tried everything:" armed struggle to compromise, but nothing works and the reason is simple. Their sincerity isn't matched by Israel, the West, other Arab states and the US most of all with all the muscle in its hands to push or constrain Israelis to be serious and fair. That's the problem. How can one side negotiate in good faith without a willing partner.

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The Myths of Military Progress

Ron Jacobs
Counterpunch
2007-11-30 13:39:00

The More Things Appear to Change, the More They Don't.

Making occupation and calling it peace. Killing fewer and calling it progress. Rotating troops and calling it a withdrawal. Setting up new death squads and calling them allies. Lowering standards and calling it opening new opportunities.

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Dark of Heartness: A Journey Into The (Reputed) Soul of Conservatism

David Michael Green
Cyrano's Journal
2007-11-26 10:19:00

I spend a lot of hours thinking about what goes on in the hearts and souls of the regressive right.

Probably you're already thinking, "Boy, what a waste of your time". Or maybe, "What hearts? What souls?"

Far be it from me to disagree. But I have been haunted this last quarter-century, and especially this last decade, by the darkness that has descended over the American political landscape, a long shadow unlike any I remember from the first half of my life.

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Catch 22 in Iraq - Why American Troops Can't Go Home

Michael Schwartz
Tomdispatch.com
2007-11-29 10:17:00

©Tom Toles / The Washington Post


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Iraq Has Only Militants, No Civilians - "Tactical Perception Management" in Iraq

Dahr Jamail
Tomdispatch.com
2007-11-26 09:09:00

"Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him." -- Colonel Potter, M*A*S*H

Name them. Maim them. Kill them.

From the beginning of the American occupation in Iraq, air strikes and attacks by the U.S. military have only killed "militants," "criminals," "suspected insurgents," "IED [Improvised Explosive Device] emplacers," "anti-American fighters," "terrorists," "military age males," "armed men," "extremists," or "al-Qaeda."

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Karl Rove's Shameless, Remorseless, Soulless Attempt to Rewrite History

Arianne Huffington
Huffington Post
2007-11-30 08:41:00

I went on Countdown last night to talk about what Keith Olbermann called Karl Rove's "attack on history."

During an interview with Charlie Rose, the erstwhile Boy Genius pulled out his bucket of whitewash and audaciously claimed that "one of the untold stories" about the war in Iraq is that the Bush administration had been "opposed' to Congress holding the vote authorizing the president to use military force in Iraq just a few weeks prior to the 2002 elections because "we thought it made it too political."

Too political? For Karl Rove? That's like saying something was too bloody for Count Dracula.

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Israeli police clear Olmert in graft case


Agence France-Presse
2007-11-30 07:11:00

JERUSALEM - Israeli police said on Thursday there was insufficient evidence to indict Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a graft case, a major boost for the premier as he returned home from a US peace conference.

"There is insufficient evidence to indict Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Bank Leumi case," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, following a months-long investigation into allegations of abuse of influence.



Comment: The real reason is probably that it is not yet time to ditch him. Having put him on trial sent a message to him how precarious his existence is as a political entity.



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Iraqi Contractors Frozen Out of U.S.

Mathew Lee
Associated Press
2007-11-30 06:53:00

WASHINGTON - Thousands of Iraqis whose support for the U.S. war effort in Iraq has put them and their families in grave danger at home are being excluded from a new fast-track system aimed at speeding up refugee resettlement in the United States for American allies, officials said Thursday.


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We Have to Keep Pressing Hard Against an Attack on Iran


AlterNet
2007-11-30 06:20:00

We've got to keep pressing hard against an attack on Iran: The security of the United States, as well as the Middle East, is hanging in the balance.

Rhetoric flowing out of the White House indicates the Bush administration is planning a military attack on Iran. Officials in Saudi Arabia, a close Bush ally, think the handwriting is on the wall. "George Bush's tone makes us think he has decided what he is going to do," according to Rihab Massoud, Prince Bandar ben Sultan's right-hand man. Saudi Social Affairs Minister Abdel Mohsen Hakas told Le Figaro, "We are getting closer and closer to a confrontation."

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Middle East Madness
New leads in al-Hariri murder probe


Al Jazeera News
2007-11-27 00:50:00

A UN inquiry into the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister has suggested that that two or more teams may have prepared and carried out the assassination.

Serge Brammertz, leading an inquiry into the death of Rafiq al-Hariri in February 2005, said in his final report to the UN Security Council that the investigation had new leads.

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Flashback: Joe Sacco on Palestine - an interview

Omar Khalifa
Al Jazeera News
2007-08-08 00:33:00

©Joe Sacco
Sacco's work often portrays Israeli raids as particularly brutal


"I had a difficult time finding a job in journalism ... One that remotely interested me ... One that addressed the need to do something inspiring ...

"I never thought of it as a career path; never even thought of it as a hobby. It was a passion ... I would draw comics ... but still wanted to be a hard news reporter..."

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More Hamas fighters killed in Gaza


Al Jazeera News
2007-11-29 22:35:00

Four members of Hamas have been killed in an Israeli air raid and another attack in the Gaza Strip.

©AFP
The latest attacks come a day after two Hamas members were killed in the southern Gaza Strip




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High Court to State: Allow 4 sick Gazans to pass through Israel

Aviram Zino
Ynet
2007-11-30 17:34:00

The High Court of Justice requested Thursday that the state grant four terminally sick Gazans unhindered passage to Jordan via Israel. In their decision, the judges wrote that "even if we were dealing with wicked people- no one has any right to prevent them from gaining access to life-saving treatment."

The decision was delivered in the case of a petition presented by Doctors for Human Rights, which asked the state to allow 11 terminally ill patients to be treated in Israel, or to pass through for treatment in West Bank, Egypt, or Jordan. Since the petition reached the court, one of the patients, 21 year-old Na'al al-Kurdi, passed away. After a two and a half week delay, the court asked the state to examine the possibility of treating the patients in Israel or in a neighboring state.

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Israeli airstrike kills two Palestinian naval officers off Gaza coast


Ma'an
2007-11-28 15:53:00

Gaza - Two Palestinian naval officers were killed and five others injured in an Israeli airstrike on their base off the Gaza coast, near Khan Younis.


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60 injured at funeral for Hebron man killed in anti-Annapolis rally


Ma'an
2007-11-28 15:49:00

Hebron - At least 60 people were injured, including 20 security officers, in Hebron in the southern West Bank on Wednesday, as clashes erupted between Palestinian security officers and mourners at the funeral of a Hebron man, shot dead during an anti-Annapolis demonstration in the city on Tuesday.

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As Peace Conference Begins, Palestinians Fear Land-Grab in Progress

Fareed Taamallah
AlterNet
2007-11-30 07:10:00

Even while peace talks are underway, the illegal expansion of Israeli "settlements" will continue.

This week in Annapolis, Maryland the United States government is hosting a conference between Palestinian and Israeli leaders to launch peace talks on a permanent agreement. A vital component of the peace proposals involves exchanges of territory that would allow Israel to keep its West Bank "settlement blocs" while compensating Palestinians with land inside Israel.

But my community of Qira, like many others, cannot survive in a Palestinian state divided by Israel's settlement blocs. The settlement blocs are built on Palestinian agricultural land and water resources, and carve the West Bank into disconnected Palestinian bantustans.

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Abbas loyalists open fire at funeral march, injuring 26


The Independent
2007-11-30 06:53:00

Security forces loyal to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opened fire during a funeral procession in Hebron yesterday for a man killed in a demonstration against the Annapolis talks on Tuesday. Medics said the fresh outbreak of West Bank violence left 26 injured, one seriously.

The Hebron clashes - in which witnesses said the security forces also used clubs on marchers and Hamas activists stoned the forces - came at a funeral organised by the small unarmed Islamist Liberation Party for Hisham Baradi, 36.



Comment: The US and Israel have funded their stooge Abbas and his goons to do the dirty work of killing the Palestinians and especially those loyal to Hamas, the democratically elected leaders. This is part of the reason why no peace will come from the Annapolis show.



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The Loan Gunmen
Impending Destruction of the US Economy

Paul Craig Roberts
Information Clearing House
2007-11-28 00:47:00

Hubris and arrogance are too ensconced in Washington for policymakers to be aware of the economic policy trap in which they have placed the US economy. If the subprime mortgage meltdown is half as bad as predicted, low US interest rates will be required in order to contain the crisis. But if the dollar's plight is half as bad as predicted, high US interest rates will be required if foreigners are to continue to hold dollars and to finance US budget and trade deficits.

Which will Washington sacrifice, the domestic financial system and over-extended homeowners or its ability to finance deficits?

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FOIA Request on Plunge Protection Team yields "177 pages of crap"

John Crudele
New York Post
2007-11-30 16:01:00

AFTER a year and a half of stalling, the US Treasury finally complied with The Post's requests for information about The President's Working Group on Financial Markets - by delivering 177 pages of crap.

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Morgan Stanley CEO says market turbulence won't subside soon

Jed Horowitz
Market Watch
2007-11-30 13:35:00

Morgan Stanley Chairman and Chief Executive John Mack said Thursday that the turmoil rattling capital markets is likely to persist for a while.
"These are challenging markets, and the turbulence we've seen in recent months isn't likely to subside anytime soon," Mack wrote in an internal memo to employees that announced a cadre of new executives to replace co-President Zoe Cruz and several top trading officials.

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Europe's Inflation Rate Soars, Putting ECB in a Bind

Fergal O'Brien
Bloomberg
2007-11-30 13:06:00

European inflation accelerated in November to the fastest in more than six years, adding pressure on the European Central Bank to raise interest rates even as economic expansion cools.

The inflation rate in the 13-nation euro area rose to 3 percent this month from 2.6 percent in October, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. An index of executive and consumer sentiment fell to a 20-month low of 104.8 from 106 in October, according to a separate report.

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World Governments owe over 40 Trillion in debt to World Banking Web


Wakeupfromyourslumber.com
2007-11-30 07:37:00

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the world's gross world product value is 65.6 Trillion dollars.

Also according to the CIA World Fact Book (a little mathematics involved), the governments of the earth are in debt to the World Banking Web to the tune of OVER 40 trillion!

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The Living Planet
Algeria flood toll rises to 11


Agence France-Presse
2007-11-29 00:38:00

©AFP
Algerian officials and rescuers check a collapsed bridge.


Flooding from five days of heavy rains in northern Algeria has claimed 11 lives and three more people are missing feared dead, officials said Wednesday.

Four people died in the northwestern Mediterranean city of Oran when their old houses collapsed on Tuesday and Wednesday, head of civil protection Houari Saadaoui told public television.

Their deaths brought to 11 the number of people confirmed to have died in weather-related incidents since the heavy rains began to sweep across northern Algeria on Saturday.

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Rising Sea Floods Indonesian Capital

Zakki Hakim
Associated Press
2007-11-28 00:31:00

©AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah
Indonesians wade through a flooded street in North Jakarta.


Jakarta, Indonesia - Indonesia's environment minister said Tuesday that global warming was to blame after the capital of Jakarta was partially flooded, forcing thousands of people to flee homes and cutting off a highway to the international airport.

Authorities used pumps to lower water levels, which reached six feet in the worst-hit areas and washed more than a mile inland Monday, said Iskandar, an official at Jakarta's flood crisis center. At least 2,200 houses were inundated, some with chest-deep water.

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Asian nations face "unprecedented" water crisis: Report

Daryl Loo
Reuters
2007-11-29 11:58:00

Developing countries in Asia could face an "unprecedented" water crisis within a decade due to mismanagement of water resources, the Asian Development Bank said in a report on Thursday.

The effects of climate change, rapid industrialisation and population growth on water resources could lead to health and social issues that could cost billions of dollars annually, it said.

"If the present unsatisfactory trends continue, in one or two decades, Asian developing countries are likely to face and cope with a crisis on water quality management that is unprecedented in human history," Ajit Biswas wrote in the report.

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Philippine villagers panic as sea water rises after quake

Gabriel Cardinoza and Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes
Inquirer.net
2007-11-28 16:55:00

©Philippine Daily Inquirer/Ray B. Zambrano
Sheds at the Tondaligan Blue Beach in Dagupan City, destroyed by a storm surge Tuesday night.


Lingayen, Pangasinan, Philippines -- Residents living in coastal areas of Pangasinan were thrown into panic Tuesday night after water from the Lingayen Gulf began to rise and flooded their houses.

According to the provincial disaster coordinating council here, at least 280 families were taken to various evacuation centers here and in the towns of Binmaley, San Fabian, Labrador and Bolinao and Dagupan City.

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How to make a zombie cockroach

Michael Hopkin
Nature
2007-11-30 23:12:00

Researchers have worked out the neurological trick used by a species of wasp to turn cockroaches into 'zombie slaves'. The discovery explains why, once stung, cockroaches can be led by a much smaller master towards certain death. Researchers have proven their theory by replicating the effect, and by using an antidote injection to release the cockroaches from their zombie state.

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Sunken Antarctic Cruise Ship Leaves Oil Spill, Threatening 2,500 Penguins

Eva Vergara
ABC News/Associated Press
2007-11-30 21:54:00

About 2,500 penguins en route to their Antarctic mating grounds could be sickened by a diesel fuel spill from a cruise boat that struck an iceberg and sank last week, Chilean scientists said Friday.

Areas surrounding the mile-long spill site include breeding grounds for Antarctic and Adelia penguins, and the largest mating colony for Papua penguins, said Maria Jose Rosello, a Chilean marine biologist.

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Storm surges hit Visayas - Philippines; 2 reported dead, over 100 families affected


GMANews.TV
2007-11-29 15:56:00

Storm surges that generated big waves whipped coastal areas in the provinces of Negros Occidental and Iloilo, and in Cebu City that reportedly resulted in the death of two persons and the displacement of over 100 families, GMA News's Saksi said on Wednesday.

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Flying foxes fall prey to Earth's rising temperature

Lewis Smith
Times online
2007-11-30 07:29:00

Flying foxes have been dropping off trees and dying in droves because of the effects of climate change, researchers say.

More than 30,000 of the fruit bats are estimated to have died since 1994 in heat waves associated with global warming.

Mass deaths from heat stress have occurred at least 19 times since 1994, as opposed to only three anecdotal reports of similar flying fox deaths before then.

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Strong quake 7.4 hits Martinique: monitors


Agence France-Presse
2007-11-30 06:03:00

FORT DE FRANCE - A strong earthquake measuring 7.4 magnitude, according to the US Geological Survey, struck near the French Caribbean island of Martinique Thursday.

The quake caused at least two injuries and led to the collapse of a pair of buildings, officials said.

It struck at a depth of 143 kilometres (90 miles) and was centered 41 kilometres (25 miles) north-northwest of Martinique's capital Fort-de-France, the USGS said, updating its earlier estimate of 7.3 magnitude.

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Health & Wellness
Flashback: Nodding or shaking your head may even influence your own thoughts, study finds


Ohio State University
2003-07-07 22:41:00

When you nod your head to signal approval or shake your head to show disapproval, it's not just sending a message to others - you may also be influencing yourself.

A new study showed that these simple movements influenced people's agreement with an editorial they heard while nodding or shaking their head. Researchers found that other body movements - such as writing with a non-dominant hand - can also influence attitudes, even about important issues such as self-esteem.

And these body movements exert their influence without people being aware of what is happening.

"We think of nodding or shaking our head as something that communicates to other people, but it turns out that it is also communicating to ourselves," said Richard Petty, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

In a sense, Petty said, nodding or shaking your head, as well as other body movements, serve as a kind of "self-validation" that confirms to us how we feel about our own thoughts.

"If we are nodding our heads up and down, we gain confidence in what we are thinking. But when we shake our heads from side to side, we lose confidence in our own thoughts."

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Flashback: Narcissism Victim Syndrome, A new diagnosis?

Mary Jo Fay
Medical News Today
2004-07-17 21:31:00

Do you see a preponderance of middle aged women in your practices with no particular physical disease process, yet a variety of physical and/or emotional complaints, including: insomnia, weight loss or gain, depression, anxiety, phobias, broken bones, lacerations, or bruises? Some may report an overwhelming feeling of emptiness or doom. Others may talk about or attempt suicide.

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Science: Can we stop anti-social behaviour?


Telegraph
2007-11-30 18:21:00

What goes through the mind of a gun-toting teenager when he pulls the trigger? Does he make a conscious decision to kill? Or is he acting on instinct? The debate over why teens turn violent usually focuses on family breakdown, drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, unemployment, even diet.

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Flashback: The Origins of Antisocial Behaviour, Twin Study


Medical News Today
2005-03-25 21:09:00

New research on the origins of antisocial behaviour, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, suggests that early-onset antisocial behaviour in children with psychopathic tendencies is largely inherited.

The findings are the result of extensive research funded by the Medical Research Council, the Department of Health and the Home Office, and carried out by Dr. Essi Viding of the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, within the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

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Skin ageing 'reversed' in mice


BBC News
2007-11-30 16:20:00

Scientists have reversed the effects of ageing on the skin of mice by blocking the action of a specific protein.

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Fever Outbreak Linked to Climate Change

Maria Cheng
Associated Press
2007-11-28 16:05:00

London - An outbreak in Europe of an obscure disease from Africa is raising concerns that globalization and climate change are combining to pose a health threat to the West.

Nearly 300 cases of chikungunya fever, a virus that previously has been common only in Africa and Asia, were reported in Italy - where only isolated cases of the disease had been seen in the past.

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Shock Doctrine: Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike

Dr Peter Breggin
The Huffington Post
2007-11-30 12:12:00

Something most remarkable and unexpected has occurred in the field of psychiatry. Lead by a lifelong defender and promoter of shock treatment, Harold Sackeim, a team of investigators has recently published a follow up study of 347 patients given the currently available methods of electroshock, including the supposedly most benign forms--and confirmed that electroshock causes permanent brain damage and dysfunction.

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'Supermouse' bred to beat cancer


BBC News
2007-11-28 09:04:00

Mice carrying a gene which appears to make them invulnerable to cancer may hold the key to safer and more effective treatments for humans.

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Flashback: 'Alcohol makes your brain grow'


BBC News
2005-04-29 08:30:00

Drinking alcohol boosts the growth of new nerve cells in the brain, research suggests.

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Study: CT Scans Raise Cancer Risk

Marilynn Marchione
Associated Press
2007-11-30 06:45:00

Millions of Americans, especially children, are needlessly getting dangerous radiation from "super X-rays" that raise the risk of cancer and are increasingly used to diagnose medical problems, a new report warns.

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Graveyard Shift Work Linked to Cancer

MARIA CHENG
AP
2007-11-30 04:26:00

Graveyard Shift Soon to Be Listed As 'Probable' Cause of Cancer, a Link Once Seen As Wacky

Like UV rays and diesel exhaust fumes, working the graveyard shift will soon be listed as a "probable" cause of cancer. It is a surprising step validating a concept once considered wacky. And it is based on research that finds higher rates of breast and prostate cancer among women and men whose work day starts after dark.

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Science & Technology
Holiday season: An X-Ray Santa Claus in Orion


ESA
2007-11-30 20:55:00

Right in time for the festive season, ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has discovered a huge cloud of high-temperature gas resting in a spectacular nearby star-forming region, shaped somewhat like the silhouette of Santa Claus.

An early present for astronomers, the cloud suggests that hot gas from many star-forming regions leaks into the interstellar medium.

©Panel A: XMM-Newton EPIC (Guedel et al.), Panel B: AAAS/Science (ESA XMM-Newton and NASA Spitzer data)
The images show the Orion nebula with its hot gas cloud. The left panel is an image obtained with XMM-Newton data from its European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) in X-rays.

The right panel shows XMM-Newton data, compared to Spitzer observations of the same region. The Spitzer image is a composite image of data obtained in the infrared.

The Orion nebula is the nearest dense star-forming region to Earth that contains stars much more massive than the Sun. XMM-Newton's newly-discovered gas cloud is composed of winds blowing from these high-mass stars that are heated to millions of degrees as they slam into the surrounding gas.


The Orion nebula is the nearest dense star-forming region to Earth that contains stars much more massive than the Sun. XMM-Newton's newly-discovered gas cloud is composed of winds blowing from these high-mass stars that are heated to millions of degrees as they slam into the surrounding gas.

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Recipe for a storm: The ingredients for more powerful Atlantic hurricanes


University of Wisconsin-Madison
2007-11-30 19:07:00

As the world warms, the interaction between the Atlantic Ocean and atmosphere may be the recipe for stronger, more frequent hurricanes.

University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have found that the Atlantic organizes the ingredients for a powerful hurricane season to create a situation where either everything is conducive to hurricane activity or nothing is-potentially making the Atlantic more vulnerable to climate change than the world's other hurricane hot spots.

After the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, many worry what Atlantic hurricane seasons will look like in a warmer world. Evidence indicates that higher ocean temperatures add a lot of fuel to these devastating storms. In a paper published today in the "Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society," co-authors Jim Kossin and Dan Vimont caution against only looking at one piece of the puzzle. "Sea surface temperature is a bit overrated," says Kossin, an atmospheric scientist at UW-Madison's Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies. "It's part of a larger pattern."

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First Americans All from Siberia, Study Confirms

Dave Mosher
LiveScience
2007-11-27 19:58:00

Humans somehow made their way into the Americas from distant lands, but knowing precisely when and from where they made the journey are matters of heated scientific debate.

©NOAA
A view of the Bering Strait land bridge, as it would have appeared about 21,000 years ago. Humans probably migrated across the temporary link to the New World, recent genetic evidence suggests.


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NASA tests new synthetic aperture radar


United Press International
2007-11-28 15:35:00

Washington -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it was evaluating a compact L-Band synthetic aperture radar system for use on unmanned U.S. aircraft.

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Humanoid robot teaches dentists to feel people's pain


Agence France-Presse/YahooNews
2007-11-28 15:28:00

Tokyo - Japan's future dentists may soon be able to better appreciate patients' pain by training on a humanoid robot that can mumble "ouch" when the drill hits a nerve.

©AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno
Japan's Nippon Dental University Hospital staff member Yuko Uchida demonstrates the workings of "Simroid", a humanoid robot dental therapy simulator for dentists and students. The robot, resembling an attractive young woman with long black hair and a pink sweater, can mumble "ouch" when the dentist hits a nerve.


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Discovery of gene for black coat color in dogs has broad implications


Media Newswire
2007-11-30 15:22:00

The gene produces a type of protein previously thought to play an important role in the immune system. However, the new findings suggest that these proteins, known as defensins, may be involved in regulating other important processes in the body, including pigmentation, energy balance, and production of glucocorticoid hormones.

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Amputees 'regain sense of touch'


BBC News
2007-11-27 09:55:00

Scientists have managed to restore a sense of touch to two patients with prosthetic arms, in what is seen as a step towards creating sensitive limbs.

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Venus has frequent bursts of lightning

Seth Borenstein
Associated Press
2007-11-30 08:08:00

Nearby Venus is looking a bit more Earth-like with frequent bursts of lightning confirmed by a new European space probe.

For nearly three decades, astronomers have said Venus probably had lightning - ever since a 1978 NASA probe showed signs of electrical activity in its atmosphere. But experts weren't sure because of signal interference.

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Israeli Archaeologist Claims Elusive Biblical Wall Found

Regan E. Doherty
Associated Press
2007-11-30 07:56:00

A wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah and long sought by archaeologists apparently has been found, an Israeli archaeologist says.

A team of archaeologists discovered the wall in Jerusalem's ancient City of David during a rescue attempt on a tower that was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute, and leader of the dig.


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A new Polish comet

Jan Pomierny
SOHO
2007-11-30 04:44:00

Michal Kusiak, a student of astronomy at Jagiellonian University in Krakow and an editor of Astronomia.pl has discovered a new comet. This young astronomy enthusiast found the object in images sent back to Earth by the SOHO Solar Observatory. Information on the discovery has been already published on a Web Site of the British Astronomical Association.


©SOHO
Comet belonging to the Kreutz family


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Scientists find hole in the universe in which to pour vast sums of research money

Marcus Chown
New Scientist
2007-11-26 16:04:00

IN AUGUST, radio astronomers announced that they had found an enormous hole in the universe. Nearly a billion light years across, the void lies in the constellation Eridanus and has far fewer stars, gas and galaxies than usual. It is bigger than anyone imagined possible and is beyond the present understanding of cosmology. What could cause such a gaping hole? One team of physicists has a breathtaking explanation: "It is the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own," says Laura Mersini-Houghton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Cosmic Microwave Background


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Our Haunted Planet
UK: Schools closed by mystery smell

Dan Webber
Telegraph & Argus
2007-11-27 15:03:00

A thousand pupils at two Bradford schools will remain at home for the rest of the week after being forced to leave their lessons by a mysterious smell.

Horton Grange and Farnham primaries have been closed since the start of the week when the strong odour was reported.

Although engineers initially suspected a gas leak, it is now believed the stench was caused by faulty drains. The schools are located next to each other in Stratford Road, Great Horton.

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'Spooky' face on skin-bound book


BBC News
2007-11-30 10:18:00

A "spooky" image of a priest executed for treason over the Gunpowder Plot has appeared on a 17th century book thought to be bound in his skin, it is claimed.

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California: Motorist reports strange object in sky above I-5


North County Times
2007-11-30 05:32:00

A motorist who is a high school football coach is seeking more information about a strange object he says he saw in the skies above Camp Pendleton late Tuesday.

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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Mafia boss arrested while watching Mafia TV show


Reuters
2007-11-30 23:31:00

Italian police burst into the room of a suspected Mafia mobster in Sicily and arrested him as he watched a television show about the arrest of a Mafia boss, investigators said Friday.

©REUTERS/Carabiniere/Handout
Italian Carabinieri police accompany Michele Catalano (C) after his arrest in Palermo November 29, 2007.


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Who would want 40,000 pints of stolen beer? Guinness asks

David Sharrock
The Times
2007-11-30 23:24:00

It couldn't have happened at a worse moment: just as Operation Freeflow was getting under way, putting more police on Dublin's streets as a pre-Christmas warning to drink-drivers, an opportunistic thief drove out of the Guinness brewery with 40,000 pints.

About 450 kegs of beer and stout were lifted from under the noses of security guards in what is believed to be the first raid on the historic St James's Gate Brewery at Victoria Quay along the River Liffey.

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Sticky Situation: Chocolate Price Fixing?


ABC News/Associated Press
2007-11-29 22:23:00

©Getty Images


Toronto -- Regulators have launched an investigation into allegations that the Canadian divisions of Nestle, Cadbury, Hershey, Mars and others have teamed up in a price-fixing scheme in the multibillion-dollar Canadian business of chocolate bars, according to a media report.

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Study: Shy Swedes are habitual huggers


Associated Press
2007-11-30 09:04:00

While Swedes have a reputation of being reserved, a new study shows they'll hug just about anyone except their boss. Nine out of 10 Swedes embrace somebody at least once a week, with women aged 30-44 being the most active huggers, according to the study presented Thursday by the Swedish Red Cross.

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Lottery winner wasn't supposed to gamble

Mark Pratt
Associated Press
2007-11-30 09:07:00

BOSTON - The winner of a $1 million lottery scratch ticket may not be so lucky after all: He's a convicted bank robber who isn't supposed to gamble. Timothy Elliott faces a Dec. 7 court hearing over whether he violated his probation when he bought the $10 ticket for the $800 Million Spectacular game at a supermarket in Hyannis.

Elliott was placed on five years' probation after pleading guilty in October 2006 to unarmed robbery for a January 2006 heist at a bank on Cape Cod. Under terms of his probation, he "may not gamble, purchase lottery tickets or visit an establishment where gaming is conducted, including restaurants where Keno may be played."

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Bracelet found in chicken after 25 years


Associated Press
2007-11-30 09:04:00

FAIRMONT, Minn. - More than two decades after Aaron Giles lost his identity bracelet, he's finding how it was discovered tough to swallow. A meat cutter at Olson Locker in Fairmont came across the shiny object in a chicken gizzard and saw a name, address and phone number engraved on it.

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