http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times, featuring news and commentary on world events. Never wavering in our unending search for the light of truth in a pathocracy driven world! en-us Original content Copyright 2010 by Signs of the Times. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:13:39 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202728-Ethiopian-plane-exploded-after-take-off Beirut - An Ethiopian jet which crashed off Lebanon's coast last month exploded after take-off, Lebanon's health minister said on Tuesday in the first such official comment since the mysterious crash. Remarks by Jawad Khalifeh could not be immediately confirmed by other officials in Beirut and came as Ethiopian Airlines said one of the plane's black boxes has been sent to France for analysis. "The plane exploded during flight and the cabin, as well as the bodies of those on board were dispersed into the sea, in different locations," Khalifeh said to explain why some corpses were found dismembered. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202728-Ethiopian-plane-exploded-after-take-off Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:13:35 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202727-Avalanches-near-Afghan-capital-kill-over-60 Rescuers locate hundreds of injured in mountain pass. Avalanches in a mountain pass north of Kabul have killed at least 60 people and injured more than 400, Afghan officials say. The avalanches Monday followed heavy snow in the Salang Pass that links the Afghan capital with the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Rescuers worked through the night to save 430 injured, with 180 taken by coalition helicopters to Bagram Airbase for medical treatment, the Defence Ministry said. The remaining 250 people were treated at a local hospital. Interior Minister Hanif Atmar said Tuesday that rescuers have already recovered 24 bodies, but fear more than 40 others have already died. Some 2,500 people have already been rescued from their snow-blocked vehicles, he said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202727-Avalanches-near-Afghan-capital-kill-over-60 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:30:30 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202726-Bomb-scare-on-Dutch-train-hundreds-evacuated Dutch police say they have evacuated hundreds of passengers from a train and cleared the station where it was stopped after witnesses reported a man threatened to blow it up. Spokeswoman Marika Stewart says the man has been taken into custody from the station in Den Bosch, and investigators with dogs are searching the train. So far no explosives have been found. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202726-Bomb-scare-on-Dutch-train-hundreds-evacuated Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:27:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202725-Greek-airports-to-close-as-unions-strike-against-budget-cuts All flights to and from Greece will be disrupted Wednesday as civil aviation workers plan to join a civil servants' strike, while the country attempts to tackle a debt crisis that has shaken the entire European Union and single currency. The walkout in protest against the government's austerity measures - which include wage freezes and bonus cuts - will affect state schools, hospitals, tax offices and local government offices. Greece's financial credibility has taken a battering since October, after the newly-elected Socialist government said its deficit for the year was likely to hit 12.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), rather than the 3.5 per cent predicted earlier. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202725-Greek-airports-to-close-as-unions-strike-against-budget-cuts Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:24:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202724-Video-Gaza-in-Plain-Language In articles acknowledging the one year anniversary of the assault on Gaza, blunt and unsparing language about what really happened is often avoided. Despite sympathy for and support of the Palestinian people in their struggle against dispossession and oppression, the description of what took place in January 2009 is sometimes buffered by a misguided sense of political correctness. Yes, it's terrible. Yes, it is unjust. But we don't want to be inflammatory or risk offending the sensitivities of those who through their own willful ignorance cling to the notion that Israel is a victim state, fighting for its very survival. The argument is that we should reach out to them and attempt to educate them and win them over. This video explains the situation in a more forthright manner. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202724-Video-Gaza-in-Plain-Language Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:13:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202723-Italy-Asian-Skeleton-Found-in-Ruins-Suggests-Roman-Empire-Larger-than-Thought Archeologists have discovered the 2,000-year-old skeleton of an Asian man in an ancient cemetery in Italy, suggesting that the Roman Empire's reach was far more extensive than previously thought. Although the Romans are known to have traded for silk and exotic spices with China, it was thought that most of the commerce was conducted through intermediaries along the Silk Route and that no Chinese or other Asians entered the empire itself. But that orthodoxy will now have to be re-examined after a team of Canadian archaeologists conducted DNA analysis on the man's bones and found that he came from East Asia. The skeleton was excavated from a cemetery which formed part of an imperial Roman estate at Vagnari, in the province Puglia, which forms the heel of the Italian boot. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202723-Italy-Asian-Skeleton-Found-in-Ruins-Suggests-Roman-Empire-Larger-than-Thought Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:11:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202722-Mediterranean-Diet-May-Be-Key-To-Avoiding-Stroke-Dementia Dieters Show Healthier Brain Scans A new study reveals that adhering to the Mediterranean diet may help seniors avoid strokes, and ultimately dementia. The diet, which has made headlines in recent years for its heart and dietary benefits, was shown in a new study to reduce strokes in the brain -- visible on MRI scans. Recent evidence has suggested that these strokes can reduce cognitive function in later years. The Mediterranean diet has a number of incarnations, but focuses heavily on whole grains, fruits and vegetables, olive oil and nuts, while eliminating meats and many of the fats in a conventional American diet. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202722-Mediterranean-Diet-May-Be-Key-To-Avoiding-Stroke-Dementia Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:08:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202721-Germany-Thief-Robs-Arcade-with-Cup-of-Coffee A thief in the German town of Hamelin robbed an amusement arcade by threatening the attendant with a cup of coffee, authorities said on Tuesday. "He wasn't going to pour coffee over her, he was going to hit her with the cup," a spokesman for local police said. Brandishing the steaming cup he had just ordered, the thief forced the 26-year-old to open the till and fled with cash. Police would not say how much money he had taken from the attendant, who had been alone in the arcade. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202721-Germany-Thief-Robs-Arcade-with-Cup-of-Coffee Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:05:30 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202720-Brain-Area-Responsible-for-Fear-of-Losing-Money-Discovered Neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have tied the human aversion to losing money to a specific structure in the brain - the amygdala. The finding, described in the latest online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offers insight into economic behavior, and also into the role of the brain's amygdalae, two almond-shaped clusters of tissue located in the medial temporal lobes. The amygdala registers rapid emotional reactions and is implicated in depression, anxiety, and autism. The research team that made these findings consists of Benedetto de Martino, a Caltech visiting researcher from University College London and first author on the study; Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics; and Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202720-Brain-Area-Responsible-for-Fear-of-Losing-Money-Discovered Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:03:33 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202719-Morality-Research-Sheds-Light-On-The-Origins-Of-Religion The details surrounding the emergence and evolution of religion have not been clearly established and remain a source of much debate among scholars. Now, an article published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences on February 8 brings a new understanding to this long-standing discussion by exploring the fascinating link between morality and religion. There is no doubt that spiritual experiences and religion, which are ubiquitous across cultures and time and associated exclusively with humans, are ultimately based in the brain. However, there are many unanswered questions about how and why these behaviors originated and how they may have been shaped during evolution. "Some scholars claim that religion evolved as an adaptation to solve the problem of cooperation among genetically unrelated individuals, while others propose that religion emerged as a by-product of pre-existing cognitive capacities," explains study co-author Dr. Ilkka Pyysiainen from the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Although there is some support for both, these alternative proposals have been difficult to investigate. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202719-Morality-Research-Sheds-Light-On-The-Origins-Of-Religion Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:01:38 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202718-Inflammatory-Bowel-Disease-Hikes-Blood-Clots Study finds people with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis face highest risk during flare-ups People with inflammatory bowel disease are at an increased risk of developing blood clots, and this risk is highest during a flare-up, researchers report online February 9 in the Lancet. Although hospitalized IBD patients have been known to have problems with clotting, the new study finds a surprisingly high risk in people dealing with an episode outside the hospital setting. IBD includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Although medication can bring IBD under control and keep it in remission temporarily, relapses of the disease are common and can debilitate a person. Patients often require steroid medication to knock back inflammation that causes the abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and blood in the stool that mark the condition. In the new study, Matthew Grainge and his colleagues at the University of Nottingham in England analyzed medical records dating from 1987 to 2001 of more than 13,000 IBD patients and a control group of 71,000 people who didn't have IBD. People in both groups were in their mid-40s on average and had comparable weights and smoking histories, factors that also influence blood clot formation. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202718-Inflammatory-Bowel-Disease-Hikes-Blood-Clots Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:01:30 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202717-Sugary-Soft-Drinks-Linked-to-Pancreatic-Cancer A 14-year study of 60,000 people in Singapore found that those who consume two or more sweetened soft drinks per week have an 87 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer. Published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, the study was led by Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota who said, "The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth." Nearly 38,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the United States each year, and over 34,000 die from the disease each year. This research points to what may be the common culprit of all those preventable deaths: Sugary soft drink consumption. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202717-Sugary-Soft-Drinks-Linked-to-Pancreatic-Cancer Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:52:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202716-Research-Suggests-Marine-Oil-May-Prevent-Alzheimer-s-Disease While doctors are prescribing expensive drugs that can have devastating side effects to slow the progress of Alzheimer's, new research shows it might be possible to prevent the onset of this cruel disease by something as simple, inexpensive, and safe as a dose of marine oil every day during our younger years. In the US, as many as 5.3 million people live with Alzheimer's. That number is predicted to double every 20 years.(1) The latest medical thinking is that the escalating rate of Alzheimer's disease has its roots in chronic inflammation that's a result of the modern diet deficient in omega 3 fatty acids. The first symptoms of Alzheimer's generally appear after age 60. Such symptoms include memory problems, loss of motor control, and problems with one's sense of smell. But according to the National Institute on Aging, the damage that eventually turns into Alzheimer's disease can begin to occur 20 years before the first symptoms appear. It makes sense, therefore, to do whatever one can to prevent the process from beginning. The good news is that a substance found in nature could offer the best new hope for prevention. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202716-Research-Suggests-Marine-Oil-May-Prevent-Alzheimer-s-Disease Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:52:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202715-After-Horrible-Deaths-Caused-by-Medical-Radiation-Mistakes-Are-Uncovered-Medical-Group-Issues-Sort-of-an-Apology In late January, the New York Times published a startling and groundbreaking series of reports by investigative reporter Walt Bogdanich who has uncovered case after case of people who suffered devastating consequences -- including horrendously painful, torture-like deaths -- because of medical mistakes related to radiation treatment. In response to these articles, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) just issued a statement saying the group and its members "deeply regret that these events have occurred, and we continue to work hard to reduce the likelihood of similar events in the future." Nowhere in the statement does the AAPM acknowledge specifically what events they are talking about -- and they do not even mention the almost incomprehensible human suffering connected to these unnamed "events". Instead, the AAPM is clearly most interested in pacifying the public so they won't be worried about the dangers associated with medical radiation. As the statement puts it, the AAPM "seeks to reassure the public on the safety of radiation therapy, which is safely and effectively used to treat hundreds of thousands of people with cancer and other diseases every year in the United States. Medical physicists in hospitals and clinics across the United States are board-certified professionals who play a key role in assuring quality during these treatments." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202715-After-Horrible-Deaths-Caused-by-Medical-Radiation-Mistakes-Are-Uncovered-Medical-Group-Issues-Sort-of-an-Apology Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:52:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202714-Breast-Cancer-Virtually-Eradicated-with-Higher-Levels-of-Vitamin-D In a gathering of vitamin D researchers recently held in Toronto, Dr. Cedric Garland delivered a blockbuster announcement: Breast cancer can be virtually "eradicated" by raising vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is "the cure" for breast cancer that the cancer industry ridiculously claims to be searching for. The cure already exists! But the breast cancer industry simply refuses to acknowledge any "cure" that doesn't involve mammography, chemotherapy or high-profit pharmaceuticals. Vitamin D is finally gaining some of the recognition it deserves as a miraculous anti-cancer nutrient. It is the solution for cancer prevention. It could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year in the U.S. alone. Even Dr. Andrew Weil recently raised his recommendation of vitamin D to 2,000 IU per day. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202714-Breast-Cancer-Virtually-Eradicated-with-Higher-Levels-of-Vitamin-D Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:40:36 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202713-Vitamin-D-Cuts-Premature-Birth-Risk Taking a high daily dose of vitamin D during pregnancy can significantly reduce a woman's risk of giving birth prematurely, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Medical University of Charleston, South Carolina, and funded by the National Institutes of Health. "I'm telling every pregnant mother I see to take 4,000 IUs and every nursing mother to take 6,400 IUs of vitamin D a day," said researcher Bruce Hollis. "I think it is medical malpractice for obstetricians not to know what the vitamin D level of their patients is. This study will put them on notice." Pregnant women in the United Kingdom and the United States are currently advised to take 400 IU of vitamin D per day. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202713-Vitamin-D-Cuts-Premature-Birth-Risk Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:40:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202712-More-Snow-Likely-to-Cripple-Major-U-S-Cities A major snow storm is sweeping through the US Mid-Atlantic region where plows still haven't touched some roads, resulting in closed schools, stranded people, and government closings. The storm hit the Midwest part of the US early Tuesday, shutting down schools and greeting commuters with slick, slushy roads from Indianapolis to Chicago. Powerful wind and snow were expected to crawl into the Mid-Atlantic States by the afternoon, expected to leave as much as 20 inches of new snow in the Washington, DC area and about18 inches in another major metropolitan area of Philadelphia by Wednesday night. Parts of these regions were already buried under nearly 3 feet of record snow that fell throughout the Washington area last Friday and Saturday. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202712-More-Snow-Likely-to-Cripple-Major-U-S-Cities Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:35:13 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202711-Canada-Murder-charges-against-top-CFB-Trenton-officer-leave-military-community-reeling Bellevill, Ontario - The Canadian military was rocked to its core Monday following the bombshell allegation that the colonel in command of the country's largest air force base had killed two women and sexually assaulted two others. Col. Russell Williams, a 46-year-old career member of the Canadian Forces, was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, of Belleville, and Marie France Comeau, a 38-year-old corporal with CFB Trenton's 437 squadron who was killed last November. "We're all shocked," said Lt. Annie Morin, a public affairs officer at CFB Trenton. "The wing commander has been a man that's been respected and very much liked, so this news came as a very big shock for pretty much everybody on the base." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202711-Canada-Murder-charges-against-top-CFB-Trenton-officer-leave-military-community-reeling Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:28:54 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202710-US-Huge-Flat-Bright-Orange-Object-Seen-in-Night-Sky Posted: February 8, 2010 Date of Sighting: February 8, 2010 Time of Sighting: 4:15 AM EST Location of Sighting: Spring Hill, Florida (W. Florida About 20 Miles N of Tampa) Description: It was a cold calm night with no clouds. I saw a huge flat, bright orange object in the sky. It made no sound floated up then down slow and calm then the light dimmed to a small light and floated out of sight. Note: The witness's report is brief, but very explicit. The witness has described an object (light) with unusual attributes. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202710-US-Huge-Flat-Bright-Orange-Object-Seen-in-Night-Sky Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:26:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202709-US-Couple-See-Several-Triangular-Objects-With-Orange-Lights-in-Night-Sky Posted: February 8, 2010 Date of Sighting: February 6, 2010 Time of Sighting: 7:45 to 8 PM PST Location of Sighting: San Jose, California (N. CA About 30 Miles SE of San Francisco) Description: We saw a UFO in San Jose. We live right downtown. This was approximately 7:45 to 8:00 on Saturday evening, February 6, 2010. We pulled into our driveway and when we got out of the car we decided to look at the sky a minute since visibility was unusually good despite clouds on the periphery of the sky. Lots of planes from San Jose Airport and San Francisco Airport go near our house so we see them overhead day and night, but I was looking for shooting stars. Suddenly we saw something large and moving in the western sky. The pattern of the object to me looked like six fighter jets in formation. However, these had yellow or orange lights on the bottom (four per craft). Then at one point it appeared that one craft pulled away from the others, which remained flying in formation. My wife was standing beside me. She thought it was one large craft, but I thought I detected a slight variation in the path of each cluster of lights. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202709-US-Couple-See-Several-Triangular-Objects-With-Orange-Lights-in-Night-Sky Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:23:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202708-Canada-Two-co-workers-watch-a-black-aircraft-over-a-lake-split-into-two-and-speed-off-in-different-directions Posted: February 8, 2010 Location of Sighting: Grimsby,Ontario Date of Sighting: Feb 08,2010 Time: approx 7am Witness Statement: My husband called me this morning from his work in Grimsby. He told me him and his co-worker were outside having a cigerette before work this am and witnessed a black aircraft over the lake. The object then split into two crafts and both sped off into two different directions! http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202708-Canada-Two-co-workers-watch-a-black-aircraft-over-a-lake-split-into-two-and-speed-off-in-different-directions Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:23:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202707-England-Witness-sees-orange-lights-as-low-and-big-as-helicopters Posted: February 8, 2010 Location of Sighting: Bracknel Date of Sighting: 4 jan 2010 Time: 7.30 to 8.00 pm Witness Statement: I was looking out the window out towards the A329 when I noticed two bright orange lights as low and as big as helicopters. There was no sound and no flashing lights.They were flying in formation coming from Wokingham direction and come over Jennetts Park. A week later I was driving through Wokingham town coming from A329 with my son and he see one of the objects. I stopped, looked up and it was the same ufo I had seen a week before. It flew overhead with no sound and was quiet large. It was flying in the same direction as the ones I had seen before. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202707-England-Witness-sees-orange-lights-as-low-and-big-as-helicopters Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:23:06 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202706-Wales-Two-see-3-balls-of-fire-traveling-an-identical-course Posted: February 8, 2010 Location of Sighting: llandysul, ceredigion Date of Sighting: 7th feb 2010 Time: approx 11pm Witness Statement: Whilst standing outside in the back yard we both looked up to try and make some sense of what appeared to be 2 fire balls traveling through the night sky in complete silence, it was spooky. I ran in to check the local news but couldn't find any details mentioning the sighting. In the meantime my partner had witnessed a third ball of flames go past. They appeared very equal in distance between each other and to be traveling an identical silent course. These were NOT lanterns...meteors? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202706-Wales-Two-see-3-balls-of-fire-traveling-an-identical-course Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:54:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202705-Wales-Witness-saw-19-shining-lights-flying-fast-silent-and-in-formation Posted: February 8, 2010 Location of Sighting: Llanelli, Carmarthenshire Date of Sighting: 30-01-2010 Time: 6:50 PM Witness Statement: Saw about 19 shining lights flying fast and silent, in formation like this : * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Yellowy orange ( more yellowy ) Maybe 1 or 2 miles high Not quite directly overhead, from my right to left, no flickering, almost due East from West Brightness - at least twice as bright as the brightest star Size - about 3 to 4 times bigger than a star http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202705-Wales-Witness-saw-19-shining-lights-flying-fast-silent-and-in-formation Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:54:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202704-England-Two-witnesses-see-a-ball-of-orange-fire-traveling-at-speed-change-course-twice-then-went-behind-a-cloud Posted: February 8, 2010 Location of Sighting: Northampton Town Centre Date of Sighting: 6th February 2010 Time: 7:20pm Witness Statement: We were in the car driving through the town centre and I spotted what looked like a ball of orange fire in the sky, traveling at great speed in one direction. I then said wow look at that - what is it and both me and my daughter tracked where the UFO was heading, I tried to work out if it was an aeroplane with it's lights at a strange angle, but I can only describe it as what looked like a ball of fire perhaps a meteor. It then changed direction very suddenly and then changed direction a second time. We were able to track it for about 5 minutes and then it went behind the clouds http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202704-England-Two-witnesses-see-a-ball-of-orange-fire-traveling-at-speed-change-course-twice-then-went-behind-a-cloud Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:54:51 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202703-US-Alien-contact-MIB-Tonopah-Arizona-2009- July 1, 2009 - 10:30 PM (report unedited): While in the desert near the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant, the main witness and some friends saw a very large triangle shaped UFO. They were driving down a dirt road and saw a bright flashing light. They had seen objects in the area before and their intentions were to look for UFO's. According to the witnesses, people that live in this area have been chased in their cars and seen objects on a regular basis. They went off the road behind some mountains, and no sooner had they come around the mountain they saw the large flashing light. All of them were scared but, at the same time, curious. The main witness friend's girlfriend was crying and telling them to turn around; they got within 2 to 300 yards from the light. It was the size of three football fields, triangular in shape, and had windows around it. It was about 3 stories tall, and about 30 feet off the ground, they flashed their lights and it flashed back, in the same sequence of flashes. The main witness and his friend, James, got out of the car and walked closer. The closer they got, the better they could make out what was standing in the windows. They could see small big headed aliens, and then 7 to 9 foot tall aliens, they based this on the size of the windows. Some of the windows they could see through, the other windows were dark, but then the dark windows, cleared up one by one, and as they went clear more and more aliens appeared on the windows. James was supposedly videotaping the whole time. The main witness was terrified but excited at the same time. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202703-US-Alien-contact-MIB-Tonopah-Arizona-2009- Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:06:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202702-England-Orange-object-looked-like-a-floating-fire-in-the-sky Posted: February 8, 2010 Date: February 7, 2010 Time: Approx: 7:30 p.m. Location of Sighting: Hemel Hempstead. Number of witnesses: 2 Number of Objects: 2 Shape of Objects: Round/boomerang? Full Description of Event/Sighting: I was coming back from the shop in Hemel Hempstead when my partner noticed a light in the sky. I said it was a plane, but after looking myself I could see no flashing lights, just what looked like something on fire high in the sky. It was orange and just looked like a small fire floating up high, it was not going particularly fast and just went at a steady pace in a straight line, it definitely was not a shooting star either. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202702-England-Orange-object-looked-like-a-floating-fire-in-the-sky Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:06:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202701-England-5-red-balls-of-light-over-Plymouth-near-The-Barbican-area Posted: February 8, 2010 Date: February 6, 2010 Time: Approx: 10:45 p.m. On Saturday evening about 10.45 pm my husband and son we were just coming out of an Indian restaurant which is on the back streets behind Plymouth Aquarium. We had a taxi waiting to take us home. We were taken back by 5 red balls (very bright) and low going very slowly across the sky. It was a very clear night with stars around. One of the balls was lagging behind a little bit but they were soon all together in a straight line. It was uncanny because there was no noise and they were going quite slowly. We did not have any camera's on us, but thought someone else may have seen them. We did not see them vanish across the sky as unfortunately we could not let the taxi wait any longer. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202701-England-5-red-balls-of-light-over-Plymouth-near-The-Barbican-area Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:06:48 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202700-Israel-urges-crippling-sanctions-now-against-Iran Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for immediate and "crippling" sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, as it began making higher-grade nuclear fuel in defiance of international censure. "Iran is racing forward to produce nuclear weapons ... I believe that what is required right now is tough action by the international community," Netanyahu told European diplomats. "This means not moderate sanctions, or watered-down sanctions. This means crippling sanctions and these sanctions must be applied right now," he said in a short message to underscore Israel's concern over the latest developments. Netanyahu's language implied Israel would not be content with so-called "targeted sanctions" which Western diplomats have predicted could be pursued against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and other assets of the Tehran leadership. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202700-Israel-urges-crippling-sanctions-now-against-Iran Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:41:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202699-Stephen-M-Walt-on-the-Israel-Lobby-I-don-t-mean-to-say-I-told-you-so-but- Probably the most controversial claim in my work with John Mearsheimer on the Israel lobby is our argument that it played a key role in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Even some readers who were generally sympathetic to our overall position found that claim hard to accept, and some left-wing critics accused us of letting Bush and Cheney off the hook or of ignoring the importance of other interests, especially oil. Of course, Israel's defenders in the lobby took issue even more strenuously, usually by mischaracterizing our arguments and ignoring most (if not all) of the evidence we presented. So I hope readers will forgive me if I indulge today in abit of self-promotion, or more precisely, self-defense. This week, yet another piece of evidence surfaced that suggests we were right all along (HT to Mehdi Hasan atthe New Statesman and J. Glatzer at Mondoweiss). In his testimony to the Iraq war commission in the U.K., former Prime Minister Tony Blair offered the following account of his discussions with Bush in Crawford, Texas in April 2002. Blair reveals that concerns about Israel were part of the equation and that Israel officials were involved in those discussions. Take it away, Tony: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202699-Stephen-M-Walt-on-the-Israel-Lobby-I-don-t-mean-to-say-I-told-you-so-but- Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:24:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202698-Seema-Is-a-Human-Rights-Worker-Not-a-Naxali-Letter-to-the-National-Human-Rights-Commission-New-Delhi Seema Azad, editor of the left-wing journal DASTAK published from Allahabad, was taken into custody by the police Saturday, 6th February, soon after she alighted from the train on her return from the Book Fair at Delhi. She, along with her husband and left-wing activist Vishwa Vijaya Azad, has been detained at the Khuldabad Police Station. Seema Azad just published a collection of articles criticizing the Indian government for its "Operation Greenhunt" -- the ongoing massive military attack by the government against the tribal inhabitants of central India. The booklet contains articles by noted authors and media-persons such as Arundhati Roy, Himanshu Kumar, Anil Chamaria, Punya Prasoon Vajpeyi, Sunita Narayan, and others. Although they were produced before a court in Allahabad, the details of the charges leveled against Seema Azad and Vishva Vijaya were not specified. Seema is the state secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) for Uttar Pradesh. The PUCL has released the following letter addressed to the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission in New Delhi. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202698-Seema-Is-a-Human-Rights-Worker-Not-a-Naxali-Letter-to-the-National-Human-Rights-Commission-New-Delhi Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:47:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202697-The-shock-doctrine-for-Haiti Ashley Smith reports that the U.S. is reviving what Haitians call "the plan of death." ONE MONTH after the devastating earthquake, Haiti continues to suffer under apocalyptic conditions. The quake killed more than 200,000 people, injured 250,000 and has left over 3 million dependent on assistance for food, water and housing. Contrary to the puff pieces in the media, the relief operation has been a miserable failure. The United Nations admitted at the end of January that had only been able to feed 1 million people, leaving many more without access to food. Whole sections of Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns never even saw relief convoys. Amid this catastrophe, imperial powers and corporate vultures are circling, eyeing the profits to be made from reconstruction. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202697-The-shock-doctrine-for-Haiti Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:32:24 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202696-Are-we-hiding-something- Assaf Gefen wonders whether Israel does hide something in respect to Gaza War http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202696-Are-we-hiding-something- Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:33:16 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202695-Rush-for-iron-spurred-Inuit-ancestors-to-sprint-across-Arctic-book-contends One of Canada's top archeologists argues in a new book that the prehistoric ancestors of this country's 55,000 Inuit probably migrated rapidly from Alaska clear across the Canadian North in just a few years - not gradually over centuries as traditionally assumed - after they learned about a rich supply of iron from a massive meteorite strike on Greenland's west coast. The startling theory, tentatively floated two decades ago by Canadian Museum of Civilization curator emeritus Robert McGhee, has been bolstered by recent research indicating a later and faster migration of the ancient Thule Inuit across North America's polar frontier than previously believed. Now, in a just-published volume of essays by some of the world's leading Arctic archeologists, McGhee advances his theory - a 4,000-kilometre beeline quest for iron from Greenland's famous Cape York meteorite deposit - as the likeliest explanation for the sudden spread of the Thule culture across Canada around 1250 AD. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202695-Rush-for-iron-spurred-Inuit-ancestors-to-sprint-across-Arctic-book-contends Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:24:22 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202694-Burning-Conscience-Israeli-Soldiers-Speak-Out A searing interview with Avichai Sharon and Noam Chayut, both veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces and members of Breaking the Silence. Sharon and Chayut served during the second intifada, an on-going bloodbath that has claimed the lives of over three thousand Palestinians and nine-hundred-fifty Israelis. After thorough introspection, these young men have chosen to speak out about their experiences as self-described "brutal occupiers of a disputed land." Producer: Sat Gwin http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202694-Burning-Conscience-Israeli-Soldiers-Speak-Out Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:49:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202693-France-to-issue-citizens-handbook-on-how-to-be-more-French-to-every-child French children are to be given a "citizen's handbook" to teach them to be better republicans, as part of national identity measures announced by the government today. Schools will be ordered to fly the French flag and to have a copy of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in every classroom. The measures, announced by the French prime minister, François Fillon, are the first to emerge from the country's controversial debate on national identity. Under new rules, immigrants who come to live in France, who since 2007 have had to sign a contract of welcome and integration, will have to take part in a more solemn ceremony to become French citizens. They will also be expected to demonstrate a better command of the French language and a greater knowledge of the "values of the republic". All candidates will be required to sign a "charter" outlining their rights and responsibilities. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202693-France-to-issue-citizens-handbook-on-how-to-be-more-French-to-every-child Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:23:18 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202692-U-S-Stocks-Retreat-on-Concern-Europe-Finances-to-Hurt-Recovery U.S. stocks slid and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 10,000 for the first time since November amid concern that deteriorating European government finances will derail the economic recovery. Bank of America Corp. and American Express Co. lost at least 2.8 percent for the biggest declines in the Dow. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. fell 4 percent to lead the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lower after its forecast for operating expenses topped some analysts' estimates. Home Depot Inc. rose 2.2 percent and Google Inc. climbed 0.4 percent on analyst upgrades. The S&P 500 decreased 0.9 percent to 1,056.74 at 4:07 p.m. in New York, its biggest Monday drop since October. The Dow slipped 103.84 points, or 1 percent, to 9,908.39. Almost four stocks retreated for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. All 10 major groups in the S&P 500 fell today. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202692-U-S-Stocks-Retreat-on-Concern-Europe-Finances-to-Hurt-Recovery Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:08:19 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202691-Time-to-Upgrade-to-A-Solid-State-Hard-Drive- SSDs try to give users the best of everything: the access speed of a hard drive (some run 50 percent faster than normal hard drives), without the hard drive's noise, power consumption, tendency to succumb when dropped or vibrated, and the eventual certainty of a mechanical failure. The trade-off, of course, is cost. Byte for byte, a SSD is about five times more expensive than a normal hard drive. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202691-Time-to-Upgrade-to-A-Solid-State-Hard-Drive- Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:06:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202690-Enceladus-Nasa-discovers-new-evidence-that-Saturn-moon-may-contain-life- New evidence that liquid water lies beneath the surface on the Saturn moon of Enceladus has been discovered by Nasa scientists, suggesting that life may exist. Nasa's Cassini spacecraft flew through icy plumes created by ice volcanoes on and detected negatively charged water molecules, in a clear sign an underground sea exists. On Earth this short-lived type of ion is produced where water is moving, such as in waterfalls or crashing ocean waves. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202690-Enceladus-Nasa-discovers-new-evidence-that-Saturn-moon-may-contain-life- Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:56:03 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202689-Shuafat-Refugee-Camp-raided-by-Israeli-Forces-Today What happens when Israeli Border Police decide to stage a massive raid - looking for "tax delinquents" as well as "illegal West Bank worker" - in Shuafat Refugee Camp (the only Palestinian refugee camp inside the boundaries of what Israel unilaterally defined as the "Greater Jerusalem Municipality" in 1967? The legal residents of the camp have Jerusalem IDs. But, in recent years, Israel has unilaterally decided to exclude it and close it off from Jerusalem by the construction of The Wall around three sides of Shuafat refugee camps - it is now only freely open to the West Bank. And, an awful Israeli military checkpoint has been put at the main entrance into Shuafat Refugee Camp. Now, children needing to get to school in the morning, and adults needing to get to their jobs, all have to pass out of the camp through this prison-like checkpoint. The traffic jam, and the stress, are terrible - every day, day in and day out - imposing great stress on people who are technically residents of Jerusalem but who have become de facto West Bankers... http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202689-Shuafat-Refugee-Camp-raided-by-Israeli-Forces-Today Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:19:24 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202688-Water-Heist-Corporations-are-Targeting-Cash-Strapped-Cities-For-Control-of-Their-Public-Water Corporate interests are eyeing our water. From wastewater to drinking water, big business is looking to cash in on public water systems and they've got a new tactic: They're using desperate economic times to convince city officials that they should place a corporation between families and their ability to eat, drink, and clean. Take Akron, Ohio, for example. In September 2008 I wrote an article for Alternet about a ballot measure in Akron where voters were asked whether to lease the city's wastewater system to a corporation in return for an immediate, one-time payment. The plan was roundly defeated. But more importantly, as the article suggested, the lease signaled a new direction for water privatization in the U.S. This involved a collaboration between water companies and Wall Street to snatch up control of water infrastructure for the better part of a century. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202688-Water-Heist-Corporations-are-Targeting-Cash-Strapped-Cities-For-Control-of-Their-Public-Water Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:51:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202687-Contractors-Using-Dangerous-Pesticides-in-U-K-Schools Survey finds that school children are being exposed to harmful pesticides, but schools claim safer alternatives would be 'uneconomic' A survey of 206 local authorities in the UK has found that school children may be exposed to four potentially cancer-causing pesticides. The research, carried out by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and Pesticides Action Network (PAN), identified the use of carcinogens and pesticides to control rabbits, rats and weeds on school premises. One substance, glyphosate, is the active ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide RoundUp and is commonly used to kill weeds on hard playgrounds and paths. It has also been linked to lymphoma. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202687-Contractors-Using-Dangerous-Pesticides-in-U-K-Schools Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:20:08 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202686-Psychopathic-thinking-How-to-save-the-Obama-presidency-bomb-Iran I do not customarily offer advice to a president whose election I opposed, whose goals I fear and whose policies I work against. But here is a way for Barack Obama to salvage his tottering administration by taking a step that protects the US and its allies. If Obama's personality, identity and celebrity captivated a majority of the American electorate in 2008, those qualities proved ruefully deficient in 2009. He failed to deliver on employment and health care, he failed in foreign policy forays small (e.g., landing the 2016 Olympics) and large (relations with China and Japan). His counterterrorism record barely passes the laugh test. This poor performance has caused an unprecedented collapse in the polls and the loss of three major by-elections, culminating two weeks ago in an astonishing senatorial defeat in Massachusetts. Obama's attempts to "reset" his presidency will likely fail if he focuses on economics, where he is just one of many players. He needs a dramatic gesture to change the public perception of him as a lightweight, bumbling ideologue, preferably in an arena where the stakes are high, where he can take charge and where he can trump expectations. Such an opportunity does exist: Obama can order the US military to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons capacity. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202686-Psychopathic-thinking-How-to-save-the-Obama-presidency-bomb-Iran Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:59:51 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202685-Australian-government-decides-to-call-time-on-bank-guarantee-and-now-the-game-is-on The federal government decision to prematurely withdraw its deposit and wholesale guarantee scheme for banks will ignite competition in financial services and intensify the need for banks to diversify their revenue base. The guarantee has been vital to the stability of Australia's financial system as others were collapsing, but a nasty side effect was diminishing competition in Australian banking as the big four grabbed bigger slices of home loans, small-business loans, credit cards and deposits. Recent figures show that the big four banks now hold more than three-quarters of outstanding mortgages; two years ago the figure was 56.8 per cent. With deposits the story is similar, particularly as the banks slug it out for them. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202685-Australian-government-decides-to-call-time-on-bank-guarantee-and-now-the-game-is-on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:40:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202684-Threat-to-City-of-London-as-EU-Parliament-seeks-to-whittle-away-power-to-veto Key members of the European Parliament are drawing up plans to whittle away Britain's power to veto decisions by the EU's new apparatus of financial super regulators, a move that may leave the City of London without defence against threatening proposals. The Euro-MPs in charge of drafting the rules for oversight bodies covering banking and markets aim to make it much harder for Britain or other states to use an "emergency brake" to block decisions on regulation, and perhaps to strip them of their veto altogether. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202684-Threat-to-City-of-London-as-EU-Parliament-seeks-to-whittle-away-power-to-veto Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:33:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202683-AIG-Gate-The-World-s-Greatest-Insurance-Heist Rumor has it that Timothy Geithner is on his way out as Treasury Secretary, due to his involvement in the AIG scandal that is now unraveling in hearings before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Bob Chapman writes in The International Forecaster: Each day brings more revelations of efforts of the NY Fed and Goldman Sachs to hide the details of the criminal conspiracy of the AIG bailout ... This is a real crisis on the scale of Watergate. Corruption at its finest. But unlike the perpetrators of the Watergate scandal, who wound up facing jail time, Geithner evidently has a golden parachute waiting at Goldman Sachs, not coincidentally the largest recipient of the AIG bailout. At least that is the rumor sparked by an article by Caroline Baum on Bloomberg News, titled "Goldman Parachute Awaits Geithner to Ease Fall." Hank Paulson, Geithner's predecessor, was CEO of Goldman Sachs before coming to the Treasury. Geithner, who has come up through the ranks of government, could be walking through the revolving door in the other direction. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202683-AIG-Gate-The-World-s-Greatest-Insurance-Heist Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:27:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202682-Israel-admits-detention-of-international-activists-illegal A state prosecutor admitted before the Supreme Court today that the Immigration Police illegally detained the two international activists arrested yesterday in a pre-dawn raid on the International Solidarity Movement's Ramallah offices. The two will be released on bail. Earlier today, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the release on bail of the two activists who were arrested on Sunday during a pre-dawn raid on the Ramallah media office of the International Solidarity Movement. During the hearing, the State Prosecutor admitted that it was illegal for the Immigration Police to receive custody of the two in the Occupied Territories, where it has no legal authority. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202682-Israel-admits-detention-of-international-activists-illegal Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:16:18 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202681-Obama-vs-Einstein A renowned physicist demolishes a paper by Laurence Tribe, that President Obama played some roll in crafting, on the "revolutionary" aspects and legal implications of 20th century physics. According to the Washington Post, David Axelrod, Barack Obama's senior advisor, said that the president worked with "[Harvard professor] Laurence Tribe on a paper on the legal implications of Einstein's theory of relativity." I've read that paper, "The Curvature of Constitutional Space." It's complete nonsense. It shows no understanding of Einstein's theory of relativity, or of the relationship between relativity theory and Newton's theory. I - to use Obama's favorite word - do understand relativity theory. I was trained in relativity theory by the best. I was the post-doc of the late Princeton professor John A. Wheeler, who was himself the post-doc of Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr. Wheeler's most famous student was Nobel Prize Winner Richard Feynman. I was also the post-doc of the late Oxford professor Dennis Sciama, who was a student of Nobel Prize winner Paul Dirac. Sciama's most famous student was Stephen Hawking. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202681-Obama-vs-Einstein Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:04:33 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202680-Video-Gazans-recycle-rubble-to-rebuild Palestinians have been forced to innovate ways to rebuild houses destroyed during last year's war on Gaza. That is because an Israeli blockade is preventing construction materials from getting into the Gaza Strip. Many therefore are collecting rubble from destroyed homes, smuggling in cement from Egypt, and using the two to make concrete blocks. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202680-Video-Gazans-recycle-rubble-to-rebuild Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:03:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202679-Just-by-ending-the-damn-wars- "In America you can say anything you want - as long as it doesn't have any effect." - Paul Goodman Progressive activists and writers continually bemoan the fact that the news they generate and the opinions they express are consistently ignored by the mainstream media, and thus kept from the masses of the American people. This disregard of progressive thought is tantamount to a definition of the mainstream media. It doesn't have to be a conspiracy; it's a matter of who owns the mainstream media and the type of journalists they hire - men and women who would like to keep their jobs; so it's more insidious than a conspiracy, it's what's built into the system, it's how the system works. The disregard of the progressive world is of course not total; at times some of that world makes too good copy to ignore, and, on rare occasions, progressive ideas, when they threaten to become very popular, have to be countered. So it was with Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Here's Barry Gewen an editor at the New York Times Book Review, June 5, 2005 writing of Zinn's book and others like it: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202679-Just-by-ending-the-damn-wars- Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:41:44 -0500