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MIB

US Scientist Stewart Nozette Pleads Guilty to Attempted Espionage for Israel

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© APStewart David Nozette will be sentenced to 13 years in jail for attempting to sell classified information.
A former US government space scientist has pleaded guilty to one count of attempted espionage for trying to sell classified information to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli spy.

During an appearance in federal court, Stewart David Nozette admitted trying to provide Israel with top-secret information about satellites, early warning systems, ways of retaliating against large-scale attacks, communications intelligence information and major elements of defence strategy.

Both the justice department and Nozette's lawyers have agreed to a sentence of 13 years in prison, with credit for two years Nozette has already spent behind bars. US district judge Paul Friedman said he was prepared to accept the deal, pending Nozette's co-operation with prosecutors, a procedure expected to last into November.

Chess

Best of the Web: Turkey 'to Escort Gaza Aid Ships' Amid Row with Israel

Mavi Marmara Gaza Aid ship
© Agence France-PresseNine Turkish activists were murdered in the raid on the Mavi Marmara.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country will in future escort aid ships travelling to the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mr Erdogan also said Turkey had taken steps to prevent Israel unilaterally exploiting natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

He spoke amid a growing row over Israel's refusal to apologise for a deadly raid on an aid ship last year.

Turkey has already cut military ties and expelled Israel's ambassador.

It has also said it will challenge Israel's blockade of Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Wall Street

Bank of America to close 600 branches

bank of america

Charlotte -- Details of Bank of America's restructuring and layoff plans are starting to emerge.

The banking giant is splitting itself into two units, one to handle consumer banking and another to handle commercial financial needs. According to CNN, that means as many as 600 branches will be shut down across the country.

Industry analysts say Chief Executive Brian Moynihan's moves signal that broader and deeper layoffs than those previously announced by the bank could be imminent.

Bomb

US Architects & Engineers - Solving the Mystery of WTC 7

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© AE911Truth.org
AE911Truth's new 9/11 documentary Solving the Mystery, the destruction of World Trade Center Building #7, WTC 7 on 9/11/01. Join actor, Ed Asner and Architect Richard Gage, AIA and Architects and Engineers as they narrate an unfolding story that decimates the official account ("collapse due to normal office fires") of this 47 story high-rise which was destroyed on the afternoon of 9/11 in record time: top to bottom in under 7 seconds - and at free-fall acceleration for a third of its fall. Solving the Mystery of the Free-Fall Collapse of WTC 7.


Vader

You Only Believe the Official 9/11 Story Because You Don't Know the Official 9/11 Story

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I don't believe the official story of 9/11 because I know the official story of 9/11!

During the past 10 years I have not met a single individual who, after doing research on the subject, switched from questioning the official narrative of the events of 9/11/2001 to believing the official narrative of those events... It is always the other way around. Why do you think that is? There are good reasons for this, and I will try to explain this phenomenon right now.

The term "conspiracy theorist", perhaps the most misapplied description in our vernacular, is often used to describe 9/11 truthers. Perhaps that term does apply to a segment of the 9/11 truth movement. But in most cases a more accurate description of 9/11 truthers is probably "expert", or "scholar", or "researcher." You see, much of the doubt cast on the official narrative of the events of 9/11 has not come in the form of speculated accusations, or "theories." In fact, it has come in the form of questions that have been raised after a careful study of the official and undisputed events and details.

Ten years have passed since the infamous events of September 11th, 2001 took place, and the majority of people still don't know a damn thing about the actual details of that event. They don't know what was going on in the country with regard to our military that day. They don't know the history or the activities of key members of our government, defense establishment or intelligence community, on, or during the weeks, and in some cases the years, leading up to that day. They don't know what took place during or immediately following the events of that day. And they don't know what actions were taken by those key people following that event.

Chess

Leaked Cables Offer Glimpses Into Relations of U.S. and China

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© Guang Niu/Getty ImagesA smoggy day in Beijing, where American air-quality monitoring once caused diplomatic difficulties.
This capital city's skies were clogged with pollution, as is often the case, and China's government was concerned. So it summoned officials of the American Embassy here to a meeting.

But the session had nothing to do with hazy skies. Rather, Chinese officials were peeved that the Americans were monitoring pollution themselves, and posting on Twitter for anyone to read, their more precise findings, which usually judged the smog far worse than official Chinese readings.

Chinese officials feared the conflicting information "might lead to 'social consequences,' " an American Embassy cable quoted the officials as saying. So could the Americans please block Chinese citizens from visiting the Web site?

That July 2009 cable, posted on the WikiLeaks Web site on Friday, is one of hundreds from the American Embassy in Beijing that offer a glimpse into the depths, and heights, of relations between the United States and Chinese governments. The cables, involving secret but not very diplomatically delicate correspondence between the two powers, cover topics ranging from China's claims on the South China Sea to the daily exercise regimen that the Chongqing Communist Party secretary, Bo Xilai, designed for himself.

Star of David

Leak Offers Look at Efforts by U.S. to Spy on Israel

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© Peter Dejong/Associated PressShamai K. Leibowitz in 2002. He leaked secret transcripts.
When Shamai K. Leibowitz, an F.B.I. translator, was sentenced to 20 months in prison last year for leaking classified information to a blogger, prosecutors revealed little about the case. They identified the blogger in court papers only as "Recipient A." After Mr. Leibowitz pleaded guilty, even the judge said he did not know exactly what Mr. Leibowitz had disclosed.

"All I know is that it's a serious case," Judge Alexander Williams Jr., of United States District Court in Maryland, said at the sentencing in May 2010. "I don't know what was divulged other than some documents, and how it compromised things, I have no idea."

Now the reason for the extraordinary secrecy surrounding the Obama administration's first prosecution for leaking information to the news media seems clear: Mr. Leibowitz, a contract Hebrew translator, passed on secret transcripts of conversations caught on F.B.I. wiretaps of the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Those overheard by the eavesdroppers included American supporters of Israel and at least one member of Congress, according to the blogger, Richard Silverstein.

Eye 1

US: The shadow of suspicion falls in the Mall of America

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© Unknown
Visitors who have done nothing wrong are winding up identified in counterterrorism reports

Bloomington, Minnesota - On May 1, 2008, at 4:59 p.m., Brad Kleinerman entered the spooky world of homeland security.

As he shopped for a children's watch inside the sprawling Mall of America, two security guards approached and began questioning him. Although he was not accused of wrongdoing, the guards filed a confidential report about Kleinerman that was forwarded to local police.

The reason: Guards thought he might pose a threat because he had been looking at them in a suspicious way.

Najam Qureshi, owner of a kiosk that sold items from his native Pakistan, also had his own experience with authorities after his father left a cellphone on a table in the food court.

The consequence: An FBI agent showed up at the family's home, asking if they knew anyone who might want to hurt the United States.

Mall of America officials say their security unit stops and questions on average up to 1,200 people each year. With 4.2 million square feet under one roof, the two-decade-old mall is a monument to suburban shopping and entertainment. Nearly 100,000 people from around the world pass through on a given day.


People

US: Feds assume control of Bastrop County fire; volunteer firemen turned away

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© Fayette County Sgt. Ron NaumannAerial photo taken Monday afternoon.
Bastrop, Texas: Firefighting-trained volunteers from around the state converged on Bastrop and Smithville Tuesday to lend a hand to the beleaguered local firefighters battling the Bastrop County Complex Fire - only to be sent away as federal officials arrived at the scene and took command, apparently because local officials never made a formal request for volunteers.

"We were at the station getting set up into strike teams, and this guy came up and said that the U.S. Forest Service had 'assumed control of the situation, and that 'If you don't have a vehicle that squirts water, go home,'" said Gordon Greer of Kirbyville, who drove all night Monday to arrive in the town beset by the worst wildfire in Texas history. "You've got guys who had driven all night long from Corpus Christi and Brownsville on their own dime, and they turned them away. He was really a (bleep) about it.

"There was a whole line of beige cars that came in this morning, tinted windows and such," Greer said.

Dollar

Italy Senate Okays Austerity Plan, Moves to Chamber

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© Reuters/Paolo BonaA demonstrator holds a flare in front of Milan's Stock Exchange Palace, September 6, 2011.
The Italian Senate on Wednesday approved the government's widely criticized austerity program aimed at staving off financial crisis in a vote of confidence called by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The plan, which has been radically overhauled on several occasions under pressure from the European Central Bank and the European Union, now passes to the Chamber of Deputies, where Berlusconi has a slimmer but still stable majority.

It is expected to be definitively approved in the next few days.

Late on Tuesday, the government yielded to growing calls for the package to be reinforced, increasing value added tax, extending the retirement age for women in the private sector and introducing a tax on very high earners.

The Senate approved the plan, which aims to balance the budget in 2013, with 165 votes in favor and 141 against.