Sub prime dishonour
Portuguese hackers responded to a negative assessment of the country's ability to repay loans by defacing the website of credit reference agency Moody's.
The defacement restores the rating of the debt-crippled nation to the highest (A++) mark, while simultaneously attacking Moody's website security and business practices.
One message posted by the hackers on the site read: "Here at Moody's we are paid to say what our $ friends want. We are powerful. We sell some hunches and everyone believes them. It's the mood of the day.
"Yet, we have trivial security vulnerabilities on our website.
Puppet Masters
After a previous attempt ended in violence last year, pro- Palestinian activists planned a second, bigger convoy this month to undermine the blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza by delivering aid without permission. The effort fizzled as Greece stopped seven ships from sailing, saying they lack proper safety equipment.
Greece only established full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1990, one of the last European states to do so. Its strengthening rapport with Israel, spurred in recent years by the Jewish state's worsening relationship with Turkey, has led to increased military cooperation and the prospect of greater economic integration, including natural gas sales.
"The relationship with Israel is multidimensional; it's economics, tourism, military exercises, and part of the equation is natural gas," said Aristotle Tziampiris, associate professor of international relations at Greece's University of Piraeus. "It was the deterioration of the relationship between Turkey and Israel that provided an opening."
The impediments thrown up by Greece may have averted a repeat of last year's confrontation at sea, when Israeli naval commandos dropped from helicopters onto the deck of one ship in a six-vessel convoy. Israel says people on board shot first and attacked with iron bars, an allegation the passengers denied. Nine Turks were killed.
Greece instead offered to send the aid "through existing channels, as requested by the UN Secretary General," according to a July 3 statement from the Foreign Ministry.
Defence secretary's first visit comes as a new diplomatic push is made with the opening of a consulate in Irbil.
After arriving in Iraq on his first trip there as US defence secretary, Leon Panetta has said he will press his hosts on the fate of American military presence.
His unannounced arrival on Sunday came as a new diplomatic push was being made with the opening of another US consulate, in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.
The US embassy in Baghdad - already the world's largest - has been expanding as the US transitions from a military to a civilian-led mission in Iraq.
The US is scheduled to withdraw all its remaining 46,000 troops from Iraq by the end of this year, under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
Panetta told the US congress last month that Iraq's government might eventually ask some US forces to remain beyond 2011.
After arriving in Iraq on his first trip there as US defence secretary, Leon Panetta has said he will press his hosts on the fate of American military presence.
His unannounced arrival on Sunday came as a new diplomatic push was being made with the opening of another US consulate, in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.
The US embassy in Baghdad - already the world's largest - has been expanding as the US transitions from a military to a civilian-led mission in Iraq.
The US is scheduled to withdraw all its remaining 46,000 troops from Iraq by the end of this year, under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
Panetta told the US congress last month that Iraq's government might eventually ask some US forces to remain beyond 2011.
© gravitoncreations.com
On July 6th, just two days ago, at least a dozen busybody Congressmen sponsored the introduction of HR 2411, the "Reduce America's Debt Now Act of 2011." They always come up with fantastic names for these pieces of legislation... and rest assured, the better/more patriotic the name, the more ominous the bill. This one follows the pattern.
HR 2411 states that every worker in America should be able to voluntarily have a portion of his/her wages automatically withheld and sent directly to the Treasury Department for the purposes of paying down the federal debt.
"Every employer making payment of wages shall deduct and withhold upon such wages any amounts so elected, and shall pay such amounts over to the Secretary of the Treasury..."
This presentation describes some of the ways in which the 2008 WTC 7 report from the National Institute of Standard and Technology is false an unscientific.
© Unknown
As inspiring as the grandeur of the spaceship has been to legions of young people - and as important as it was in fixing the Hubble telescope - it was actually the Western battle against the Soviet Union - and later, other diplomatic interests - that left NASA operating this amazing low-orbit dump truck. To criticize the Shuttle for not doing more science, he said, is to miss the larger picture.
We're afraid to say that to ourselves. We know that if we say we're going to do science with it, that'll sort of gather more adherents. And we feel more comfort in selling it that way. But selling it that way was the delusion... There are reasons for doing things in this world that are not driven by science.
© Unknown
In 2010, one week before the 5th anniversary of 7/7, Tony (who had never previously doubted government versions of events) stumbled across '9/11 Truth' material on the web. Like so many millions before him, he was shocked to the core by this experience. He quickly realised that there was a great mass of evidence relating to 9/11 kept hidden by the mainstream media. As a Christian, Tony consulted his church minister, who suggested that he consider, whether the same might be true for the London 7/7 bombings?
© RichPlanet.net
© Unknown
Schmidt will appear before the Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee in September; an exact date has not yet been set.
"I'm pleased that Mr. Schmidt has agreed to testify at the Antitrust Subcommittee hearing. I look forward to discussing a number of important issues relating to Google and Internet search competition," Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, ranking member of the subcommittee, said in a statement.
© Unknown
In a blog post, Google said the FTC had "begun a review of our business". Google did not say what specific types of documents the FTC was asking for.
Attorneys general in California, New York, and Ohio have also mounted their own investigations, the Financial Times reported.
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the FTC was interested in exploring the relationship between Google's search results and its own sites, possibly whether Google unfairly retained users onto its own sites, rather than directing them elsewhere within the Web, to rival sites.
