Puppet Masters
In light of the 'insider' fingerprints left all over the 9/11 attacks, a few recent stories made us sit up and take notice. On Monday, the U.S. Capitol building (seat of the great American Democracy inaction) experienced a 'power out' that caused an evacuation for about an hour. Strangely enough, a spokeswoman for Potomac Electric Power Co., said the electricity shut off automatically after there was "a momentary drop in voltage due to customer operations up the lines" away from the Capitol.
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Darpa, the Pentagon's far-out research arm, may have publicly abandoned its creepiest programs, like Total Information Awareness. But the agency, as shown at its DarpaTech conference, still has a project to make you run full-speed into your bunker.
Mighty Isis
Darpa wants to start planning for a blimp, three times the size of Goodyear's, that would keep watch over an entire city.
Hovering 70,000 feet above ground, the ISIS (PDF) airship (short for Integrated Sensor Is Structure) would use a giant, flexible radar antenna to give, in the words of Darpa program manager Larry Correy, a "dynamic, detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield: friendly, neutral or enemy."
Relatives of the victims of the Beslan school hostage massacre today accused Russian authorities of covering up the facts as the judge read the verdict against the sole alleged surviving attacker for a third day, describing horrific conditions inside the school.
The victims' family members said they believed Nur-Pashi Kulayev was guilty but they expressed frustration that the year-long trial had failed to reveal all those responsible for the 331 deaths - more than half of them children - in the small southern Russian town.
Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov, who has already indicated Kulayev's guilt as he sums up the case against him, read victims' accounts of the hostage-takers growing increasingly nervous and aggressive as the three-day crisis in September 2004 wore on.
By the second day, they were refusing to let the more than 1,200 captives leave the stiflingly hot sports hall where they were held to go to the bathroom.
The victims' family members said they believed Nur-Pashi Kulayev was guilty but they expressed frustration that the year-long trial had failed to reveal all those responsible for the 331 deaths - more than half of them children - in the small southern Russian town.
Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov, who has already indicated Kulayev's guilt as he sums up the case against him, read victims' accounts of the hostage-takers growing increasingly nervous and aggressive as the three-day crisis in September 2004 wore on.
By the second day, they were refusing to let the more than 1,200 captives leave the stiflingly hot sports hall where they were held to go to the bathroom.
Gamal Mubarak, son and probable successor of the Egyptian president, visited the US last week, allegedly to renew his pilot's licence. While in Washington, he happened to be passing the White House and decided to drop in and say hello. It's only courteous, and I must try it myself sometime.
Gamal - or Jimmy as his friends call him - had a chat with Steve Hadley, the president's national security adviser, and also met vice-president Dick Cheney and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
While he was having his cup of tea with Mr Hadley, President Bush "dropped by to greet Mr Mubarak and convey his best regards to his father, President Hosni Mubarak", according to a White House spokesman.
What exactly was going on here is still a mystery. "Jimmy" holds no government post in Egypt, though he is assistant secretary-general of the ruling party - not the sort of post that usually opens doors to all the highest people in the United States.
Gamal - or Jimmy as his friends call him - had a chat with Steve Hadley, the president's national security adviser, and also met vice-president Dick Cheney and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
While he was having his cup of tea with Mr Hadley, President Bush "dropped by to greet Mr Mubarak and convey his best regards to his father, President Hosni Mubarak", according to a White House spokesman.
What exactly was going on here is still a mystery. "Jimmy" holds no government post in Egypt, though he is assistant secretary-general of the ruling party - not the sort of post that usually opens doors to all the highest people in the United States.
Here is the real story on Libya, corroborated by multiple sources. Kaddafi cut his deal in 2003 only after the British and Americans assured him that Bush would settle for "policy change"-that is, giving up his nukes-rather than regime change.
Quebec Health Minister Philippe Couillard has acknowledged there will be "undercover" inspectors in the province's bars and restaurants to make sure a new anti-smoking law is enforced when it comes into effect May 31.
The new legislation will ban smoking in all public indoor places, including bars and restaurants.
Some critics say the province has not hired enough inspectors to ensure compliance with the new law, but Couillard says that's not true.
The new legislation will ban smoking in all public indoor places, including bars and restaurants.
Some critics say the province has not hired enough inspectors to ensure compliance with the new law, but Couillard says that's not true.
It only took four and a half years, but finally the U.S. government has seen fit to confirm what so many of us have been saying all along - Pentagon security cameras recorded no evidence of a Boeing 757 hitting the Pentagon.
Russia and China won't support any resolution of the United Nations Security Council that could lead to military action against Iran, Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday.
The two countries agree that the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved "through dialogue," Sergey Lavrov told reporters after meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing.
"Russia and China will not vote for the use of force in resolving this issue," Lavrov said.
The two countries agree that the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved "through dialogue," Sergey Lavrov told reporters after meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing.
"Russia and China will not vote for the use of force in resolving this issue," Lavrov said.
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has decided that Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, will remain in charge of the Iranian nuclear file.
With his decision, Olmert rejected an appeal by the Israeli army's military intelligence service to assume responsibility forIran, the army radio added Saturday, without giving further details.
Known by its Hebrew acronym AMAN, the military intelligence service, with an estimated 7,000 employees, is regarded as Mossad's chief rival.
Olmert's decision comes on the heels of a meeting with Mossad chief Meir Dagan, the hawkish political advisor to former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu.
With his decision, Olmert rejected an appeal by the Israeli army's military intelligence service to assume responsibility forIran, the army radio added Saturday, without giving further details.
Known by its Hebrew acronym AMAN, the military intelligence service, with an estimated 7,000 employees, is regarded as Mossad's chief rival.
Olmert's decision comes on the heels of a meeting with Mossad chief Meir Dagan, the hawkish political advisor to former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Comment: So the anti-smoking fascists are getting the upper hand in Quebec, long Canada's "smoking section".