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Passport

Canada: Immigrant Visas to Drop 5 Per cent: Records

Louise Elliott
CBC News
Sun, 13 Feb 2011 06:35 UTC
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© Tom Hanson/Canadian PressFigures from Citizenship and Immigration Canada show the government will issue about 11,000 visas this year to parents and grandparents of Canadian residents, down from more than 16,000 last year.
Cuts would most affect overseas parents, grandparents

New figures indicate the federal government hopes to reduce overall immigration next year by five per cent, mainly by cutting back on family reunification visas.

Among the hardest hit by the lower immigration targets will be parents and grandparents seeking to join their children in Canada, according to numbers obtained from the Citizenship and Immigration Department through the Access to Information Act.

The figures indicate the government will issue about 11,000 family reunification visas for parents and grandparents overseas, down from more than 16,000 last year.

Richard Kurland, the Vancouver-based immigration lawyer who filed the access-to-information request, said he is surprised the government has decided to grant fewer visas to parents and grandparents, considering how the Conservatives have courted new Canadians as voters.

Kurland told CBC News the slashed rate and the 140,000 applicants already in the queue mean a parent could wait 13 years for a visa if he or she were to apply today.

"Frankly, there's a better chance of the parents seeing a coffin before a Canadian visa," he said.
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X

Egypt crisis: BBC blocked in Iran over Mubarak coverage


The Telegraph
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:32 UTC
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© REUTERSAn opposition protester shouts in front of an army tank in front of the presidential palace in Cairo.
Iran is electronically blocking the BBC's Persian language television broadcasts over its coverage of the mass protests in Egypt, according to Britain's state broadcaster.

The interference began on Thursday evening after the BBC's Iranian service showed extensive rolling news coverage from the demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak.

"It is believed that it is the impact of this coverage which has prompted the jamming," the BBC said in a statement. "Satellite technicians have traced that interference and have confirmed it is coming from Iran."

The BBC said it suspected the Iranian authorities may have acted after an interactive TV show allowed Iranian and Egyptian viewers to exchange their views on the crisis.

Peter Horrocks, director of the BBC World Service, said it would continue to try to broadcast in the Islamic Republic.
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Arrow Down

US regulators shut banks in Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and California

Marcy Gordon
Associated Press
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 07:30 UTC
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Washington - Regulators on Friday shut down small banks in Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and California, lifting to 18 the number of bank failures this year. The weak economy and bad debt brought down 157 banks nationwide in 2010.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the banks: Sunshine State Community Bank of Port Orange, Fla., with $125.5 million in assets; Peoples State Bank, based in Hamtramck, Mich., with $390.5 million in assets; Badger State Bank of Cassville, Wis., with $83.8 million in assets; and Canyon National Bank, based in Palm Springs, Calif., with $210.9 million in assets.

Miami-based Premier American Bank agreed to assume the assets and deposits of Sunshine State Community Bank. First Michigan Bank, based in Troy, Mich., is acquiring the assets and deposits of Peoples State Bank. Royal Bank, based in Elroy, Wis., is assuming the assets and deposits of Badger State Bank. Pacific Premier Bank, based in Costa Mesa, Calif., is assuming those of Canyon National Bank.

In addition, the FDIC and First Michigan Bank agreed to share losses on $331 million of Peoples State Bank's loans and other assets.

The failure of Sunshine State Community Bank is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $30 million; that of Peoples State Bank is expected to cost $87.4 million; that of Badger State Bank, $17.5 million; Canyon National Bank, $10 million.
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Dollar

U.K. fraud bureau launches hunt for cash and assets linked to Mubarak '


Haaretz
Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:25 UTC
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A British government minister said on Sunday that there should be an international approach to dealing with the overseas assets of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his family in light of allegation that the recently ousted leader has assets valued in the millions dispersed throughout the world.

A spokesman for Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said in response to these allegations that the financial crime agency was looking for assets in Britain linked to Mubarak in case there was any request to seize them.

So far only Switzerland has announced a freeze on assets that might belong to Mubarak, who resigned on Friday night after 30 years in power.
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Health

Rumor? Mubarak in Life/Death State in Germany Hospital

Aimée Kligman
Examiner
Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:11 UTC

Comment: It seems as though Mubarak's comatose situation has become a bit of a mystery. This story has been picked up by CBS News, stating that the Germans are rejecting the rumors of Mubarak being in Germany at the present time. SOTT will continue to update this story as it progresses.

mubarak
© topnews.inHosni Mubarak fell into coma after his resignation was announced on February 11, 2011

We have learned through foreign sources that Hosni Mubarak was flown this morning to a Baden hospital in Germany after falling into a coma. The report was confirmed this morning by Bahrain daily Al Wasat who indicated that just prior to leaving for his resort in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Mubarak became comatose.

Apparently, prior to delivering his last speech on national Egyptian television, we also learned that Mubarak had fainted. This is the explanation given for the delay between the announcement of his anticipated speech and his actual appearance several hours later.

His fragile state of health was also cited as the reason for which the army did not insist that he leave earlier.
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Nuke

San Diego Port Officer Says Nukes Have Been Found In An American Port

Alex Thomas
The Intel Hub
Sun, 13 Feb 2011 08:28 UTC
Intel Hub Editor's note: This appears to be some sort of psychological mind game that certain elements of our government are using on the people, almost as if they are prepping us for the reality of a nuclear attack in America.

Al Hallor, the assistant port director and an officer with Customs and Border Protection has openly admitted that an unnamed government agency has found a nuclear weapon or weapon of mass effect at a U.S. port in the last year!


That's right, an assistant port director has spilled the beans on a possible major government cover up. During the conversation the port authority press agent continually interrupted the officer in an attempt to get him to shut up.

Homeland Security was quick to "debunk" the officer, citing nervousness as the reason he made such a claim. Events like this make it clear that Homeland Security is far from being about actual security, instead they are a rogue agency dedicated to ushering in the police state.
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Bug

Google's Revolution Factory - Alliance of Youth Movements: Color Revolution 2.0

Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:12 UTC
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© Movements.orgThis revolution has been brought to you by...
In 2008, the Alliance of Youth Movements held its inaugural summit in New York City. Attending this summit was a combination of State Department staff, Council on Foreign Relations members, former National Security staff, Department of Homeland Security advisers, and a myriad of representatives from American corporations and mass media organizations including AT&T, Google, Facebook, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and MTV.

http://allyoumov.3cdn.net/f734ac45131b2bbcdb_w6m6idptn.pdf

One might suspect such a meeting of representatives involved in US economic, domestic and foreign policy, along with the shapers of public opinion in the mass media would be convening to talk about America's future and how to facilitate it. Joining these policy makers, was an army of "grassroots" activists that would "help" this facilitation.

Among them was a then little known group called "April 6" from Egypt. These Facebook "savvy" Egyptians would later meet US International Crisis Group trustee Mohamed ElBaradei at the Cairo airport in Februrary 2010 and spend the next year campaigning and protesting on his behalf in his bid to overthrow the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The Alliance of Youth Movements mission statement claims it is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping grassroots activists to build their capacity and make a greater impact on the world. While this sounds fairly innocuous at first, even perhaps positive, upon examining those involved in "Movements.org," a dark agenda is revealed of such nefarious intent it is almost difficult to believe.
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Gear

Post-Mubarak: How the U.S. Plans to Aid Democracy in Egypt

Massimo Calabresi
Time
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:08 UTC
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© Amr Nabil / APAntigovernment protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo display a giant poster that reads, "The Martyrs of the Revolution," on Feb. 10, 2011
Now that Hosni Mubarak is getting accustomed to life as an ex-dictator, Barack Obama and his foreign-policy aides have a new task. Washington has publicly called for an Egyptian transition to democracy, which Egypt has never known. To avoid a continuation of dictatorial rule under a new strongman - or a dangerous power vacuum as weaker players try to seize control - Egypt will need to see the lightning-fast development of long-suppressed political parties. So the U.S. is preparing a new package of assistance to Egyptian opposition groups, designed to help with constitutional reform, democratic development and election organizing, State Department officials tell TIME. The package is still being formulated, and the officials decline to say how much it would be worth or to which groups it would be directed.

White House officials declined to say whether any of the new money would be directed to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most prominent Islamist party.

The Obama Administration cut democracy-and-governance aid to Egyptian opposition groups in its first two years in office, from $45 million in George W. Bush's last budget to $25 million for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years. The Obama Administration also stopped providing aid to groups that had not registered with the Egyptian government, drawing criticism from human-rights organizations. The Administration has had conversations with Egyptian government officials, including the Egyptian envoy to the U.S., Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, about the provision of new aid, sources tell TIME.
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Magnify

Who are Egypt's Protesters? And why should we care?

Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:04 UTC
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© Movements.orgThis revolution has been brought to you by...
AlJazeera, CNN, BBC, and many more have flooded our TV screens showing us the passionate youth of Egypt struggling in the streets for democracy. Quotations, videos, photographs and narratives have moved people all around the world. Millions of Egyptians, it was claimed by AlJazeera, took to the streets on the "Day of Departure." BBC's Jon Leyne said it seemed as if "all of Egypt" had come to Tahrir Square. It was a glorious time to be alive for many, almost like living amongst the pages of a Hollywood script.

The protesters were depicted as superficially and as ambiguously as possible. We were told that the Muslim Brotherhood played but a small role in the protests and that the vast majority of them were secular, young, and craving "change." We were introduced to Nobel Peace Prize Laurette Mohamed ElBaradei, a man returning to his country after "standing up" to the United States during his time as director-general of the IAEA.

But, like a Hollywood script, after a terribly short, finite amount of time and brain numbing suspended disbelief, the credits begin to roll and we see who was responsible for the entertaining tale we just watched.
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Magnify

Flashback Egypt's Mohamed ElBaradei creates National Front for Change

Amro Hassan and Jeffrey Fleishman
Los Angeles Times
Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:57 UTC
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© AFP/Getty ImagesFrom left, former United Nations nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian lawmaker Hamdin Sabahi and former presidential candidate Ayman Nour confer during a meeting of opposition figures in Cairo last year.
The former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says the new group will push 'for constitutional reforms and social justice.' What many want to know is: Will he run for president?

Reporting from Cairo - After a meeting this week with opposition groups, the Egyptian who gained international renown as head of the U.N.'s nuclear agency stepped up pressure on his government by announcing the establishment of the National Front for Change.

"An agreement was reached to set up the new front, which is opened to all Egyptians from different political orientations. Its main target will be pushing for constitutional reforms and social justice," Mohamed ElBaradei, the former International Atomic Energy Agency chief, was quoted as saying in the independent daily Al Dustour.

"We have also formed a preparatory committee whose role will be setting the general guidelines on how the Egyptian Constitution can be changed, and how transparency for the upcoming elections can be reached," he added.

But the question left lingering was: Will ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, run for president in 2011?

The bespectacled diplomat, who left his U.N. post in November, has been coy. He has not, publicly at least, divulged his long-range strategy. Is he using his international clout to force social and political change, or is he building momentum for a bid against the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak?
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