Experts Use National Public Health Week To Encourage Americans To Prepare For Emergency

April 2-8 is National Public Health Week and this year, public health agencies across the country are encouraging people to Take the First Step in preparing for emergencies that may occur in their communities. Whether you live in an area prone to severe weather like hurricanes or tornadoes, or in a major city that may be vulnerable to man-made disasters or terrorist attacks, preparing yourself and your family for an emergency just makes sense. Despite growing threats and a host of awareness campaigns, Americans remain largely unprepared for emergencies. A February 2007 survey conducted by the American Public Health Association noted that only 27 percent of the public has a three-day supply of water, food, and medicine and a reliable first aid kit.

Nearly One-Third Of Americans Don’t Attend Church

This week the Barna Group of Ventura, California released the results of a new survey conducted in January. George Barna, president of the Barna Research Group estimates that about 73 million adult American do not attend any kind of church. When children and teenagers are added to those figures, about 100 million of the US population does not attend church. Those are some very big numbers, big enough, in fact, that should those 100 million represent an independent nation, that nation would be the eleventh most populous on the earth. But why are so many Americans disconnecting themselves from church? According to other surveys, 59 percent of all Americans believe that religion is "very important". Barna offers a little bit of insight into this situation. He thinks that most Americans feel that since they have accomplished something in their lives, that they do not "believe that God, Jesus, religion, the Bible, faith or Christianity will help them overcome the struggles they face." Author and speaker Martin Zender says that most churches are no longer offering what people really need. "People are looking for comfort and answers," Mr. Zender told the Washington Times, "the reason people are leaving church now is they have serious questions…. Churches offer musical productions and food, but they are not answering the questions."

Israeli Military Builds Robotic Insects

If you feel something crawling on your neck, it might be a wasp or a bee. Or it might be something much more dangerous. Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. And although the prototype will not fly for three years, killer Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, are much closer than that.

Giant Asteroid Raises Questions About NASA's Resources

Straight out of movies like "Armageddon" or "Deep Impact," an asteroid named "Apophis" is coming dangerously close to earth and could strike on April 13th, in 2036. Eerily enough, that's Friday the 13th. "When it does hit, it generates a blast that is many, many, many gigatons, not megatons, so it's thousands or millions of times worse than Hiroshima," says American Museum of Natural History astrophysics curator Michael Shara. The chances it'll hit are anywhere from one in a thousand to one in several thousand, but scientists say the effects wouldn't be nearly as catastrophic as the event that wiped out the dinosaurs. "The most likely target is several thousand miles off the coast of California and so what that'd do is just create a five-mile wide crater in the water," says Jennifer Bogo of Popular Mechanics Magazine. "Now, when all that water collapses back into the crater it'd send 50-foot waves barraging the coast of California for an hour, so it's definitely not extinction-causing but definitely not good for California." Right now NASA is working on plans to deflect the giant rock and though trying to blow it up, like in the movies, is a possibility, the more likely plan is much more tame. "One of the ways of deflecting it is by planting a large space craft right next to it, which will slowly gravitationally deflect it from its path. Just change its speed by a couple of seconds over the course of a couple of decades and you can get it to miss." And even though Apophis is now on our collective radar, NASA just released a report to Congress that says it has neither the budget nor the equipment to properly search the skies for all sorts of similar objects like Apophis that may also be headed our way. NASA is tracking about 75 percent of the large asteroids near us bigger than a kilometer. It's the smaller ones that have greater potential of slipping through. 'There are a lot more asteroids that pass reasonably close to earth's orbit that are greater than 150 yards in diameter," says Bogo. "So there about 100,000 of those and we've only detected about 4,000."

Christian fired because she shared her faith with co-workers during off-hours

A Christian woman is battling a California university and state social agency for terminating her internship because she shared her faith with co-workers during off-hours. Jacqueline Escobar was completing a master's degree in social work at California State University Long Beach when she interned with the Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS. A straight-A student, Escobar was complimented regularly by the DCFS for her work. But she came under scrutiny for sharing her faith with co-workers during lunch breaks and after-hours, and for changing into a shirt with a religious message – "Found" – after signing out for the day, according to the Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing her. A trial is scheduled to begin April 3.

Gay Men Buy Designer Babies In The U.S.

British gay men are paying a US clinic £33,000 a time to create a designer baby. They are turning to the US because of the shortage of donated eggs and surrogate mothers in Britain. The Fertility Institutes clinic in Los Angeles buys eggs from university students aged 18 to 27. They are fertilised by IVF with sperm from one of the men and implanted in a different woman, who gets £15,000 to act as surrogate mum. The scheme is designed to maximise the chance of an intelligent and healthy tot.

Stealth Lie Detector Measures Stress Levels Over Phone

BATM Advanced Communications is marketing a lie detector that could work over broadband and Internet phone. Executives said businessmen who deal with unseen clients could use the system. The system, manufactured by BATM's subsidiary, KishKish, monitors in real time stress levels in a speaker's voice. The system, released in December 2006 and based on voice stress analysis technology, alerts users when these levels rise, a possible indication of dishonesty.

The unveiling of the French UFO Files

On an August day in 1967, two children tending a herd of cows outside a village in central France reported seeing "four small black beings" fly from the ground and slip headfirst into a sphere that shot skyward in a flash of light and trail of sulphuric odours. The alleged extraterrestrial sighting, described by the government as "one of the most astonishing observed in France," is among 1,600 UFO case files spanning the last half century that the country's space agency opened to the public for the first time on March 22. The voluntary decision by France's National Centre for Space Studies to dump more than 100,000 pages of witness testimony, photographs, film footage and audio tapes from its secret UFO archives onto its Internet site, www.cnes.fr, for worldwide viewing is an unprecedented move among Western countries. Most of them, the United States included, consider such records classified matters of national security. The material dates as far back as 1954. Over the next several months, the space agency will post it to enhance scientific research seeking to explain what the French government calls "unexplained aerospace phenomena.'' "The data that we are releasing doesn't demonstrate the presence of extraterrestrial beings," said Jacques Patenet, who heads the Group for the Study and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena, the space agency's UFO investigative team. "But, it doesn't demonstrate the impossibility of such presence either. The questions remain open.'' Patenet, who said he has never seen a UFO, said that among the 1,600 cases to be opened to the public, "a few dozen are very intriguing and can be called UFOs.''

VeriChip Corporation Partners With U.S. Living Will Registry

Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of VeriChip Corporation, commented, "We are pleased to provide direct access to electronic advance directive documents stored at the U.S. Living Will Registry via the VeriMed Patient Identification System. This permits hospitals and health systems with our VeriMed RFID Reader to quickly and easily view these vital documents."

French & Russian News Reports US Will Attack Iran In Next 10 Days

The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 AM on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly “Argumenty Nedeli.” Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account. The attack is slated to last for twelve hours, according to Uglanov, lasting from 4 AM until 4 PM local time. Friday is a holiday in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories. The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and the for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out. The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.

Chertoff visits state to endorse security-enhanced driver's IDs

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff visited Seattle recently to help Gov. Christine Gregoire kick off a pilot program that will allow Washington state residents to use a security-enhanced driver's license, rather than a passport, to travel to and from Canada. Chertoff predicted the new licenses will help meet the department's dual goals of enhancing security and reducing wait-times at the border. "This new license not only makes it easier to move across the border, but it will make it easier to secure [individuals'] privacy," Chertoff said. The enhanced licenses, which are expected to be available in January, will cost $40, versus $97 for a passport. They will contain technology required by the federal government to facilitate rapid identification checks at border crossings, similar to chips already embedded in U.S. passports. They could also enable cross-checks with criminal databases and other information sets. If successful, the pilot program could be expanded to other border states as an alternative way to meet the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which would require anyone crossing the U.S. border to have a passport beginning in June 2009. "I'm quite sure other states that want to use the same technology and the same approach will be welcome to do so," he said. After the event, Chertoff said concerns that such enhanced licenses could lead to invasions of privacy are misguided.

Moscow warns the U.S. about 'clash of civilizations'

Moscow urges the United States to avoid escalating tensions around Iran over its nuclear program as it could lead to a "clash of civilizations," the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The Russian ministry said the Iran crisis could have devastating consequences for relations between "civilizations," and then the U.S. would have to prove it is not preparing for a "clash of civilizations" by building up "Fortress America," separated from the rest of the world by two oceans and strict border controls.

UK Regulations Barring Religious Schools from Teaching Against Homosexuality Approved

The UK's Sexual Orientation Regulations, that will make it illegal for Christian schools, services and businesses to operate according to their religious principles, passed its last hurdle last night in a vote in the House of Lords. A last minute attempt to defeat the legislation failed. A motion by Baroness O'Caithain that would have scrapped the Regulations on the grounds of anti-religious discrimination was voted down 168 votes to 122. The regulations will be implemented at the end of April. During the brief debate, Baroness Detta O'Caithain said the SORs are seriously flawed and drew attention to the now notorious breaches of proper democratic procedure by the government who, she said, did not allow proper parliamentary scrutiny. The Peers were not allowed to change the wording of the law but only to vote yes or no. With the passage of the SOR's, she said, the state had decided that "a citizen's right to manifest sexual orientation is absolute, but the right to manifest religious belief is not." Hundreds of Christians and others concerned for democratic freedom of religious expression attended a prayer rally outside the Houses of Parliament while the debate took place in the House of Lords.

Genetically Tweaked Mice Get Human-Like Vision

Scientists have some lab mice seeing red. The animals had their vision genetically upgraded and can now see colors normally invisible to rodents. The finding, detailed in the March 23 issue of the journal Science, has implications for the evolution of full-color, or “trichromatic,” vision in our own ancestors. “What we are now looking at in these mice is the same evolutionary event that happened in one of the distant ancestors of all primates,” said study team member Jeremy Nathans of Johns Hopkins University. Most mammals, mice included, have dichromatic vision. They see the world in shades of grey and a few other colors because they only have two types of light-sensitive molecules, called “photopigments,” in their eyes. A genetic mutation in primates 40 million years ago endowed our early ancestors with a third photopigment sensitive to red light, vastly expanding the color palettes of their eyes.

Bill would make it a crime for Pastors who Preach against Homosexual Activity in Brazil

Legislation under consideration by the Brazilian Senate that would make any public expression of opposition to homosexuality a crime poses a serious threat to religious freedom in the country, a legal expert warned earlier this week. Bill 122/2006 would change federal anti-discrimination laws, the Brazilian Penal Code and the Consolidation of Labor Laws to make "discrimination or prejudice of gender, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity" a criminal offence. Conviction would result in prison sentences of between two and five years. Dr. Zenóbio Fonseca, a juridical consultant and college professor, said Christians would be particularly vulnerable to conviction and jail sentencing for teaching against homosexuality, as the legislation would affect "any individual or group--including churches--that doesn't accept homosexual behavior or sexual orientation as an acceptable practice or social pattern in any public or private place."

Mysterious Collapse Of Honeybee Populations Threatens National Food Supply

The honeybee population in the United States is currently suffering a devastating collapse. Honeybees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. Have they all been kidnapped by mad beekeepers, or is something more frightening occurring with the pollinators in our ecosystem? During the final three months of 2006, a distressing number of honeybee colonies began to diminish from the United States, and beekeepers all over the country have reported unprecedented losses. According to scientists, the domesticated honeybee population has declined by about 50% in the last 50 years. Reports of similar losses to the honeybee population have been documented before in beekeeping literature, but are widely believed to have occurred at this scale previously only at a regional level. With outbreaks recorded as far back as 1896, this is regarded as the first national honeybee epidemic in U.S. history. The phenomenon, referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), is not yet well understood. Even the existence of the disorder remains in dispute. Nevertheless, what cannot be denied is that a shortage of honeybees in the continental U.S. has affected cropowners from California to the New England states.

Plan Being Discussed For Permanent President Of Revived Roman Empire (EU)

Tony Blair is secretly backing plans to create a permanent President of Europe, in a move that could see him go head to head for the job with bitter rival Jacques Chirac. Senior Brussels sources revealed that Mr Blair was backing the idea as European leaders gathered in Berlin last night to mark the European Union’s 50th anniversary. The president would be appointed by other EU leaders, rather than being directly elected. Neil O’Brien, director of the independent think tank Open Europe, warned that the new president would inevitably gain more powers as time went on.

UCF Researchers Work On Spy Drone Flocks

A flock of migratory birds can find its way over wide areas of the world. An army of ants working together can devour a large animal. Borrowing from their behavior, two researchers at the University of Central Florida are working to enable droves of small, unmanned aerial vehicles to operate together in an intelligent, coordinated manner, scoping out enemy troops in combat zones. The research is being conducted by College of Engineering and Computer Science professors Mubarak Shah and Niels da Vitoria Lobo, who recently received a grant furthering efforts to program unmanned drones to collect more useful battlefield intelligence. The $210,600 grant from the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program will be used to buy three unmanned planes with 6-foot wingspans and three helicopters with 48-inch-long bodies, plus cameras, communications gear and computers to control the aircraft. The primary beneficiary would be U.S. military forces in combat areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs, use small but powerful cameras to create maps of battle areas and track the ground movements of enemy troops and vehicles.

Scientists create a sheep that's 15% human

Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs. The sheep have 15 per cent human cells and 85 per cent animal cells - and their evolution brings the prospect of animal organs being transplanted into humans one step closer. Professor Esmail Zanjani, of the University of Nevada, has spent seven years and £5million perfecting the technique, which involves injecting adult human cells into a sheep's fetus. He has already created a sheep liver which has a large proportion of human cells and eventually hopes to precisely match a sheep to a transplant patient, using their own stem cells to create their own flock of sheep. The process would involve extracting stem cells from the donor's bone marrow and injecting them into the peritoneum of a sheep's fetus. When the lamb is born, two months later, it would have a liver, heart, lungs and brain that are partly human and available for transplant.

STRATCOM Wants To Take Cyberwar To Enemy

The head of U.S. Strategic Command recently said that the United States is under daily attack in cyberspace and he wants to take a more offensive stance. "Our freedom to use cyberspace is threatened by the actions of criminals, terrorists, and nations alike," said Marine Gen. "Hoss" Cartwright in written testimony to the House armed Services Committee. "The magnitude of cost in terms of real dollars dedicated to defensive measures, lost intellectual capital and fraud cannot be overestimated, making these attacks a matter of great national interest. Unlike the air, land and sea domains, we lack dominance in cyberspace and could grow increasingly vulnerable if we do not fundamentally change how we view this battlespace." Cartwright said U.S. Strategic Command, which takes the military lead in cyberspace, has focused mostly on networked defense -- firewalls, anti-virus protections, and vulnerability scanning. "These measures are marginally effective against sophisticated adversaries. History teaches us that a purely defensive posture poses significant risks," Cartwright said. "If we apply the principle of warfare to the cybe domain ... we realize the defense of the nation is better served by capabilities enabling us to take the fight to our adversaries when necessary to deter actions detrimental to our interests." He said STRATCOM will seek Congress' help in "penetrating" the adversary's "technical, legal and international screens" and taking an offensive rather than a purely defensive tack against cyber-enemies.

Experts Warn Terrorists Could Launch Nuclear Attack On U.S.

A group of nuclear weapons specialists has issued ominous warnings before members of the U.S. Congress that terrorist groups like al-Qaida could launch a massive attack on the United States and currently there is little to deter or defend against such a strike. Sidney Drell, an arms control specialist and physicist at Stanford University, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee the United States has entered, what he calls, a "dangerous time." "I view us on the precipice of entering a new and more dangerous nuclear era with the spread of technology, which means, in particular, the enrichment of uranium, which makes it possible for more societies to enter the nuclear club," he said. "That raises the danger of nuclear weapons getting in the hands of terrorist groups and others unrestrained by the norms of civilized behavior as we know it and therefore these weapons become more likely to be used." The dean of Georgetown University's school of Foreign Service, Robert Gallucci, agrees. Gallucci, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, says the most dangerous threat is that a terrorist group will smuggle a nuclear weapon into the United States. "The most likely is that a terrorist group, al-Qaida or an al-Qaida cousin would acquire a nuclear weapon and introduce it into the United States," he explained. "It seems to me that that is a threat against which we have neither a defense nor a deterrent."

Antarctic melting may be speeding up

Rising sea levels and melting polar ice-sheets are at upper limits of projections, leaving some human population centers already unable to cope, top world scientists say as they analyze latest satellite data. A United Nations report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February projected sea level gains of 18-59 centimeters (7-23 inches) this century from temperature rises of 1.8-4.0 Celsius (3.2-7.8 Fahrenheit). "Observations are in the very upper edge of the projections," leading Australian marine scientist John Church recently said. "I feel that we're getting uncomfortably close to threshold," said Church, of Australia's CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research said. Past this level, parts of the Antarctic and Greenland would approach a virtually irreversible melting that would produce sea level rises of meters, he said.

Drones Could Defend Airports

The Homeland Security Department and the military this summer will test whether drones flying 65,000 feet above the nation's busiest airports could be used to protect planes from being shot down by terrorists with shoulder-fired missiles. Dubbed "Project Chloe" after a character on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's favorite TV show, 24, the anti-missile strategy is the latest to be explored by government leaders looking to thwart potential missile threats at commercial airports. Other methods are being considered, but Homeland Security officials say they may be too costly or impractical.

Scientists create tiny heart in a dish

A tiny beating "heart in a dish" has been grown by Israeli scientists in a world first which will offer hope to millions of cardiac patients. Such laboratory-reared tissue could one day be used to repair heart attack damage, prolonging and improving the quality of life of tens of thousands of individuals each year. It could also cut the need for transplants, and, if used to test drugs, reduce the risk of dangerous side-effects when new medicines are finally introduced to patients. Researcher Lior Gepstein, a cardiologist, said, "This could have a huge impact. Heart failure is a huge problem. It is responsible for more hospitalisation than all forms of cancer combined." The Israeli research team used human embryonic stem cells - blank cells with the ability to turn into specialised tissue types. Crucially, they found a way of persuading the different types of cell which form the heart to grow and work together. The result was a tiny piece of heart muscle - less than one centimetre square, but threaded with minute blood vessels to resemble the complex tissue of the human heart. It has a beat, continually contracting and relaxing in the same way as heart muscle. The generation of blood vessels improves the possibility of success of any tissue grafts, because the heart needs a large and ready supply of oxygen. The researchers hope to refine the technique to create sections big enough to take the place of muscle scarred by heart attack. The ultimate hope is to reduce the need for transplants.

Europe claims Israel preparing for war

European officials have been claiming to Syrian leaders the past few weeks Israel is preparing for a military confrontation with Damascus, in some cases providing Syria with inaccurate information. A top source in Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party told WND European leaders visiting Damascus in recent weeks delivered messages stating Israel was taking measures in advance of a large-scale conflict with Syria, including updating battle plans, training reservist soldiers and preparing the home front for missile attacks. One senior European Union official told Assad the Israeli government instructed its major hospitals not to allow staff to take vacation time during the summer months for fear a conflict will break out during that period, according to the Baath party source.

U.S. Hurricane Risk Upgraded By Forecasters

The chances of powerful Atlantic hurricanes barrelling into the United States this season are much greater than usual a British-led group of scientists said recently. Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) predicted five tropical storm strikes on the United States, including two hurricanes this year. "Based on current and projected signals, TSR's March forecast predicts Atlantic basin and US landfalling hurricane activity to be about 75 percent above the 1950-2006 norm in 2007, rising from 60 percent above norm" forecast in December, said the London-based consortium. The experts on insurance, risk management and seasonal climate forecasting said it was the highest March forecast for activity since 1984. The consortium also predicted an 86 percent chance of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season. The forecast predicted 17 tropical storms for the Atlantic basin as a whole, with nine of those being hurricanes and four intense hurricanes. TSR also predicted two tropical storms hitting the Caribbean Lesser Antilles, including one hurricane.

Great Pyramid in Giza Will Finally Be Opened To Reveal What's Behind Mysterious Door

Doors will soon open to reveal one of the mysteries of the Great Pyramid in Giza, Dr. Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News in an exclusive interview. Hawass, one of the world's leading Egyptologists, said he will show what lies behind secret doors inside the 4,500-year-old pharaonic mausoleum by the end of this year. "Finally, people all over the world will know what is behind the second door in the southern shaft and the third door in the northern shaft," Hawass said.... The monument has long been rumored to have hidden passageways leading to secret chambers, and archaeologists have puzzled over the meaning of four narrow shafts deep inside the pyramid since they were first discovered in 1872. Two shafts, extend from the upper, or "Kings Chamber" exit into open air. But the lower two, one on the south side and one on the north side in the so-called "Queen's Chamber" disappear within, deepening the pyramid mystery. Widely believed to be ritual passageways for the dead pharaoh's soul to reach the afterlife, these 8-inch square shafts remained unexplored until 1993, when German engineer Rudolf Gantenbrink sent a robot through the southern shaft. After a steady climb of 213 feet from the heart of the pyramid, the robot had to stop in front of a mysterious limestone slab adorned with two copper handles.

Scientists Test Gait Biometrics for security

Biometric technology that identifies people by the way they walk could be used to bolster security at airports and at the 2012 Olympic Games, say researchers. The gait recognition technology being developed at the University of Southampton has the potential to support fingerprint and iris recognition technology.

Monsanto To Develop Drought Resistance Transgenic Crops

Steiner said that his company was concentrating on developing new transgenic traits of three key crops like corn, soybeans and cotton. These crops will be developed for drought resistance, for ensuring higher and stable yields in rainfed areas and for ensuring lesser use of nitrogenous fertilizers. The next generation of transgenic soybeans will be producing ‘heart-healthy oils’. Transgenic fruits and vegetables would be developed for ‘increasing flavour’.

Catholics Hold Pro-Homosexual Conference

There were workshops such as "Lesbian Nuns: Steps, Stumbles and Strides," "Breaking Bread: Lesbian-Gay Parish Ministry" and "Gay Men in the Priesthood and Religious Life."These are Roman Catholics who refuse to leave the Roman Catholic Church. They endorse the homosexual lifestyle as biblically legitimate. They want their congregations to endorse it also. They want the entire church from top to bottom to be on their side of the issue. They will go to any length to see their goals reached. Per Pioneer Press’ Matt Peiken, 'Twenty or 30 years ago, you couldn't be out in your church, and now you can,’ said Dick Jaco, of Sacramento, Calif., who describes himself as a longtime gay/lesbian community activist. ‘But we're here because there's still so much to do, so many minds to educate.’" There were bishops there. These persons in high places let it be known that they are going to march against the biblical ethic, the divine revelation. They are going to preach and teach that which is abhorred by the crucifix’s Savior. In other words, these clergy defy the crucifix message hanging in the front of their sanctuaries. They are that brazen, as are theologically liberal Protestants such as those in the Episcopal Church US and the United Church of Christ (Congregational). They seem to have no concern about their deaths when their souls will appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ to give account of their earthly sojourns.

Are Treatments To Eliminate Specific Memories Ethical?

Treatments to help erase human painful memories are being investigated and have been ongoing for years, yet the ethical standpoint of these studies is questionable. With the "Age of Biotechnology" rapidly advancing, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) allowed the funding of research to experiment with the effectiveness of the drug propranolol for individuals who had just undergone a traumatic event at the Massachusetts General Hospital, which began in late 2004. However, ABC News reports that the President's Council on Biothetics condemned any such memory-altering research.

Pakistan test fires nuke-capable missile

Pakistan recently test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile with the capability to avoid radar detection, the military said. The missile, named Babur or Hatf VII, has a range of 434 miles and is capable of carrying various types of warheads, including nuclear, the military-run Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate said. "The test is part of Pakistan's ongoing efforts at consolidating its strategic capability and strengthening national security," the directorate said in a statement. Babur was first tested in 2005. It was test-launched again Thursday with an enhanced range, a military official said. "Babur was tested successfully with new technical parameters and enhanced edge," said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, the top army spokesman. Neither Arshad nor the military statement specified the site of the missile launch.

Pastor Bill Barnwell: TV Evangelist John Hagee Wants War With Iran, and He Wants It Now!

If left up to Hagee, there would be a military strike against Iran today. Since last summer, Hagee has been practically foaming at the mouth for a new war with Iran. Why? Because he thinks it is the rest of the world’s job to fight Israel’s wars and because he thinks such a showdown is a piece of the puzzle in regards to Bible prophecy. To Hagee, there is no middle ground on this issue. God told Abraham he would "bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you" (Gen. 12:3). That means if YOU aren’t on board with wars that might be in Israel’s interest, but not in the United States’, then YOU will be cursed by God.

Minister beaten for praying for the sick

A pastor from Good Shepherd Community Church who traveled to a nearby region to pray for the sick was beaten by an anti-Christian mob, and since police then refused to accept his complaint, the area's doctors would not treat him, according to a new report from Voice of the Martyrs about persecuted Christians. The attack happened to Pastor Reginald Howell, who had traveled from his home region in India to the nearby city of Hanumangarh in Rajasthan. Voice of the Martyrs sources there reported that he was visiting Christians in the area as well as praying for the sick. "He was beaten with an iron rod and suffered severe injuries on his back," the persecution report said. "The police refused to register his complaint and as a result, doctors denied him treatment." More and more such incidents are being reported in Indian states even as they adopt various pieces of "freedom" legislation concerning religion. "Rajasthan State has a so-called 'Freedom of Religion Bill' that is used as a tool in the hands of fundamentalists to harass Christians," said the VOM contacts, who report on the various attacks, discriminations and persecutions of Christians because of their beliefs. "The cases of anti-Christian attacks in this area keep increasing, and the State Administration turns a blind eye to the persecution," they said, according to The Voice of the Martyrs.

Ethical Issues With Cyborg Technology

The future may include the reality of science fiction's "cyborgs," persons who have developed some intimate and occasionally necessary relationship with a machine. It is likely that computer chips implanted in our brains and acting as sensors or actuators may soon not only assist the blind and those with failing memory, but even bestow fluency in a new language, enable "recognition" of previously unmet individuals and provide instantaneous access to encyclopedic databases. Developments in nanotechnology, bioengineering, computers and neuroscience are converging to facilitate these amazing possibilities.

Study Details Catastrophic Impact Of Nuclear Attack On U.S. Cities

A new study by researchers at the Center for Mass Destruction Defense (CMADD) at the University of Georgia details the catastrophic impact a nuclear attack would have on American cities. The study, which the authors said was the most advanced and detailed simulation published in open scientific literature, highlights the inability of the nation's current medical system to handle casualties from a nuclear attack. It also suggests what the authors said are much needed yet relatively simple interventions that could save tens of thousands of lives. "The likelihood of a nuclear weapon attack in an American city is steadily increasing, and the consequences will be overwhelming" said Cham Dallas, CMADD director and professor in the UGA College of Pharmacy. "So we need to substantially increase our preparation."

Top Interpol Official Warns Of Bioterror Attacks

He said that the training material recovered from Al Qaida and information gathered from some of their captured operatives have convinced the world law enforcement community that the terrorist outfit has had plans to use chemical and biological weapons in their actions. "Nobody really knows when Al Qaida will strike with chemical or biological weapons but it is just a matter of time before the terrorists believe they are ready," he said, adding that the only restraints the terrorists were facing was the technical complexity of operating them properly and effectively.

Pentagon creating mind reading computers for warfare

The U.S. military is working on computers than can scan your mind and adapt to what you're thinking. Since 2000, Darpa, the Pentagon's blue-sky research arm, has spearheaded a far-flung, nearly $70 million effort to build prototype cockpits, missile control stations and infantry trainers that can sense what's occupying their operators' attention, and adjust how they present information, accordingly. Similar technologies are being employed to help intelligence analysts find targets easier by tapping their unconscious reactions. It's all part of a broader Darpa effort to radically boost the performance of American troops.

Space-travel notions depart realm of science fiction

Many people today may think of commercial space travel for civilians as unlikely and surprising as air travel was to those living at the beginning of the 20th century. Yet within the near future there may be commercial spaceports, spacelines and spaceships that will offer the opportunity to fly beyond the Earth’s atmosphere as easily as one travels from city to city by airplane. In 2004, Scaled Composite’s vessel SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X-Prize when it became the first privately financed, reusable spacecraft to twice travel into space within a two-week period. These suborbital flights demonstrated that commercial space travel can be a reality. SpaceShipOne also demonstrated that clever engineering designers can always improve upon existing technology. One of the principal challenges for NASA during the early days of space flight was to protect astronauts from the incredible frictional heat of re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. This problem was resolved through the use of heat shields and ablative cooling, in which some of the surface material of the shields vaporizes at high temperatures, thereby acting to cool the remaining material and ensuring that cool temperatures are maintained inside the craft. New Mexico’s legislators have authorized $110 million for construction of a spaceport north of Las Cruces. Construction is expected to begin later this year, with completion in 2010. Virgin Galactic, a spaceline begun by Sir Richard Branson that will offer flights into space to the public, has agreed to locate its operations at the New Mexico spaceport when it opens. Other spaceports have been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and are under development in Alaska, California, Florida, Oklahoma and Virginia. Planning continues for a Midwest spaceport in Columbus, Ohio. Australia, Singapore, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates plan to establish spaceports. Among the more ambitious plans for commercial space travel are those by Constellation Services International and Space Adventures Ltd. to eventually offer trips to the public, with tickets costing as much as $100 million to orbit the moon.

U. S. Envisions New Generation Of Nuclear Weapons

Almost 62 years after detonation of the first atomic bombs, the United States is considering controversial proposals to produce a new generation of nuclear weapons and revamp its nuclear weapons complex. The proposals come at a time of growing fears about potential new nuclear powers, such as North Korea and Iran, and potential diversion of nuclear weapons into the hands of terrorists. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees design, production and maintenance of nuclear weapons, developed the proposals. One part of the plan, for instance, calls for production of the “renewable, replacement warhead (RRW),” a new nuclear weapon that NNSA says will be easier and environmentally cleaner to manufacture and more difficult for potential terrorists to disassemble or detonate.

Fantastic Voyage: From science fiction to reality

Some 40 years after the release of the classic science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage, researchers in the NanoRobotics Laboratory of École Polytechnique de Montréal’s Department of Computer Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering have achieved a major technological breakthrough in the field of medical robotics. They have succeeded for the first time in guiding, in vivo and via computer control, a microdevice inside an artery, at a speed of 10 centimetres a second. Encouraged by these results, staff at the Polytechnique NanoRobotics Laboratory are currently working to further reduce the size of the devices so that, within a few years, they can navigate inside smaller blood vessels. "Injection and control of nanorobots inside the human body, which contains nearly 100,000 kilometres of blood vessels, is a promising avenue that could enable interventional medicine to target sites that so far have remained inaccessible using modern medical instruments such as catheters," Professor Martel explained. "In collaboration with our scientific partners, Polytechnique researchers have begun developing several types of micro- and nanodevices for novel applications, such as targeted delivery of medications to tumour sites and diagnoses using navigable bio-sensors."

Could the U.S. Armed Forces be crippled by a cyber-worm

The U.S. armed forces are still pushing ahead with trying to implement former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's visionary Future Combat Systems programs to centralize command, control and firepower of land, sea and air high-tech weapons systems high-tech headquarters where enemy forces could be shattered with minimal U.S. casualties and even minimal human troop involvement, like the ultimate video game made real. Rumsfeld committed the vast resources of the U.S. Department of Defense. So far, an estimated $160 billion has already been spent on the sprawling FCS programs with Boeing and the Science Applications International Corporation as the main contractors. The more the U.S. armed forces become dependent on efficiently integrated IT systems, as FCS requires, the more they could be vulnerable to being paralyzed by asymmetrical cyber-warfare attacks. This is a by no means hypothetical danger. All major nations are working on such programs with China by far the most active. The Department of Defense has acknowledged 79,000 cyber attacks on U.S. armed forces Web sites in period from mid-2004 to mid-2005, a disproportionate number of them appear to have been launched from Web sites located in China.

Almost Human' Robots On Horizon

While wandering in the dead of night through the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, writer Lee Gutkind briefly mistook a robot for a person. The machine in question, known as Grace, or Graduated Robot Attending a Conference, was designed to schmooze and glad-hand with human attendees at a gathering sponsored by the American Assn. for Artificial Intelligence. "The way she talked — the direct manner in which she confronted me — made her seem real enough so that, for an instant, I felt off-balance," Gutkind writes. But the illusion was short-lived, because the robot's body "resembled an oil canister and it navigated the hallway on wheels." Before 2050, Manuela Veloso, a Portuguese electrical engineer with a PhD in artificial intelligence, hopes to have created a robot soccer team good enough to compete against humans in the World Cup championships. And chic French planetary geologist Nathalie Cabrol seeks to model a robot after part of herself — not the chic part but the part that can tell an interesting rock from a boring one. The differences between roboticists seem far less significant than what they share: a passion for robot autonomy. "We are all nerds," explains a space scientist with the robotics team. "The robotics guys are baby nerds and we are older nerds. But we are all driven by the desire to unravel a complex intellectual puzzle."

The Arrival Of Mind-Reading Machines

To plumb the soul, you need a metaphysician. John-Dylan Haynes, a brilliant researcher at Germany's Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, is leading the way. His mission, according to the center, is to predict thoughts and behavior from fMRI scans. Haynes, a former philosophy student, is going for the soul's jugular. He's trying to clarify the physical basis of free will. "Why do we shape intentions in this way or another way?" he wonders. "Your wishes, your desires, your goals, your plans—that's the core of your identity." The best place to look for that core is in the brain's medial prefrontal cortex, which, he points out, is "especially involved in the initiation of willed movements and their protection against interference."

Israel to hold nationwide missile attack drill

The Home Front Command and all of Israel's rescue services will hold a first-of-its-kind drill Tuesday across the country simulating conventional and unconventional terror attacks and missile strikes in different areas. At 2 p.m. Tuesday, a siren will be sounded in most areas of the country. The siren will last 90 seconds and will be heard from southern Israel to Hadera. The Home Front Command decided not to sound the siren in the north and in Gaza vicinity communities in order not to cause panic. The drill is aimed at examining the Home Front's preparedness for different emergency scenarios. The forces will implement lessons learned from the second Lebanon war . Among the scenarios: A missile hitting a building in Netanya, causing the three-story house to collapse, and a missile landing at the Reading Power Station in Tel Aviv, causing a large number of casualties. The rescue services will be dispatched to other ‘missile landing’ areas in Petah Tikva and in a Jaffa community center. In Be'er Sheva a drill will be held simulating a ‘mega-terror attack,’ simultaneous to a heavy barrage of rockets in southern Israel, causing many injuries.

Indonesia announces 66th bird flu victim

"The victim died just a while ago at a hospital in Surabaya," said I Nyoman Kandun from the health ministry here, referring to the country's second-largest city in East Java province. Kandun, director general of the ministry's Eradication of Contagious Diseases section, said the man was already on the list of 86 confirmed human bird flu infection cases in the country since the first sufferer was detected in mid 2005. He could not give further details, including how the victim had caught the disease. Most human infection cases come from contact with sick or infected birds. In an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, the government has banned residents in the capital from keeping poultry in their back yards, a popular practice in the sprawling city.

Russia to Take Military Steps on U.S. Missile Shield

Russia will take ``military measures'' to counter the U.S. plan to install a missile- defense system in Central Europe and the Caucasus, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said. ``Expansion of that kind into the area which is absolutely right next to our borders is increasing the military potential in that area,'' Losyukov said in an interview at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow yesterday. ``Russia cannot but react to that increase.'' He didn't specify what measures Russia would take.

Philadelphia's High Schools Issue Contactless Microchip Student ID's

"We have 56,000 high school students and we wanted a better handle on (them)," said Patricia DiLella, senior project manager for Philadelphia School District’s Office of Information Technology. "Before, everyone was assumed present until marked absent. We needed something to track students. With this new system, everyone is assumed absent until they tap (their card) and have physically been seen by school personnel." Students are encouraged to wear the lanyard-attached badge around their necks, however, many are still simply carrying them on their persons, said Ms. DiLella. "We want them to get used to wearing the cards because they’re going to be used (eventually) for classroom attendance." The smart ID badge is tapped when a student enters school grounds. Attendance is taken in a classroom in the normal fashion and the results are compared with the records generated when the students first enter the school. In addition, the badges can be read by portable, PDA-style readers. So, if a student is in the hallway, the badge can be read by an administrator to determine where the student should be. To accomplish this, the card contains the student’s picture and also his class schedule. Other information can be added, such as any special health needs and whether he’s on free or reduced lunch, which can be read by a POS device in the cafeteria. The next step is implementing electronic attendance at the classroom level. She said some schools would like to put readers in classrooms so students can walk by, thus registering their physical attendance in the class.

Former Arizona Governor Now Admits Seeing UFO

Ten years after the Arizona UFO incident known as the 'Phoenix Lights', former Arizona Republican Governor Fife Symington, III, now says that he himself was a witness to one of the strange unidentified flying objects, even though he originally did not say so publicly. "It was enormous and inexplicable", he said in an exclusive interview from his home in Phoenix. "Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too."

Iran Reports The Development Of An Enhanced Air Defense System

Officials said the Iranian Air Defense Command has developed an upgraded system based on Russian-origin and indigenous assets. They said the system has been tested against mock U.S. air targets during an exercise in February. ‘If our bullying enemy wants to do something insane, it will surely be taken by surprise,’ Iranian Army commander Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi said on March 16. Iran's state radio provided details of the air defense system. The radio said the unidentified mobile system could fire two missiles simultaneously toward air targets.

DNA Samples As Fingerprints Of The Future

Felons in South Carolina by law must give a DNA sample after they've been convicted. If a proposed law is passed in the state, even people just arrested would have to submit their DNA. It's an idea that some call unconstitutional, but police officers and prosecutors say will get criminals off the streets. DNA samples from blood, hair or saliva are the fingerprint of the new age, says Horry County Solicitor Greg Hembree. "It's just a high tech method of personal identification." Law enforcement already takes DNA samples from convicted offenders, which are stored in an international database. Investigators can use DNA found at a crime scene to find suspects if they're in the database. "The bigger the DNA database gets, the easier it's going to be to identify criminals," says Carol Allen, Myrtle Beach Police Crime Scene Unit Supervisor. She says detectives could track down more criminals with the proposed state law. It would allow police to take DNA samples when someone is arrested. Police say it could help them catch criminals more quickly, and prosecutors say it could help them convict them more easily, unless, of course, they're innocent.

Iran's Military Warns U.S. Against 'Stupid Move'

Iran's army commander has warned the United States and other Western powers not to make any ‘stupid move’ over Tehran's nuclear work, and suggested they would be surprised by Iran's military response if they attacked. The comments by the commander-in-chief of the army, reported by newspapers on Saturday, were the latest in a series of defiant statements by Iran's leadership as the United Nations prepares to vote on new sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Iran is embroiled in an escalating dispute over its uranium enrichment, which Iran says is for fuel for power generation but the West suspects is aimed at making nuclear bombs.

DNA gathered from shoplifters, People Whose Dogs Foul Pavement, Litter Droppers, and Speeding Drivers in Britain

Shoplifters, people whose dogs foul the pavement, litter droppers, speeding drivers and those caught not wearing a seat belt could be fingerprinted or forced to give DNA under new Home Office proposals. Further suggestions, aimed at easing the burden on police, include locking up drunks and vandals in short-term cell blocks in shopping centres and high streets. The Home Office hopes a network of hundreds of new mini detention facilities could save frontline officers hours they currently spend escorting 'minor' offenders to police station custody suites and checking their identities, only to let them go with a fine or a caution. Instead those arrested for straightforward and less serious offences could be held for up to four hours in a high street cell block until their identity is confirmed, freeing up officers to go back out on patrol.

Authorities want to survey city radiation

Homeland Security and Energy department leaders urge cities vulnerable to terrorism to undergo an inventory of all radioactive material within city limits, so authorities can detect "dirty bombs" terrorists might plant. Maps of each city would be created by a Department of Energy team that uses helicopters, small planes and ultrasensitive radiation detectors to pinpoint areas where radioactive materials are legitimately stored, such as hospitals and laboratories. With a baseline survey in hand, authorities could quickly check for new sources of radiation if intelligence suggests a terrorist is assembling a dirty bomb, in which radioactive material is mixed with explosives. Any new radiation blips on the survey could be flagged as potential rogues and investigated. Baseline surveys also could be used to guide cleanup crews to heavily radiated areas if a bomb is set off.

'Sinister' speech plan to track Americans

A new plan proposed in Congress would establish that every American is a "citizen-lobbyist" and force executive branch officials to record and publish all contacts with them, virtually eliminating the free exchange of ideas needed for open representative government, say critics. The "Executive Branch Reform Act," or H.R. 984, filed by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has been endorsed by the Committee of Government Oversight and Reform 20-0 and continues to advance in the U.S. House. Records show it would impose vast new requirements on executive branch officials to keep track of the names of citizens who contact them, and the subjects of any conversations, so that information could be compiled four times a year and published for all the world to see.

Winter warmest on record worldwide

This winter was the warmest on record worldwide, the government said Thursday in the latest worrisome report focusing on changing climate. The report comes just over a month after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global warming is very likely caused by human actions and is so severe it will continue for centuries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the combined land and ocean temperatures for December through February were 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the period since record keeping began in 1880. The report said that during the past century, global temperatures have increased at about 0.11 degrees per decade. But that increase has been three times larger since 1976, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reported. Most scientists attribute the rising temperatures to so-called greenhouse gases which are produced by industrial activities, automobiles and other processes. These gases build up in the atmosphere and trap heat from the sun somewhat like a greenhouse.

Can't say 'Christian' at U.S. birthplace

Tour guides at the American birthplace of Jamestown, Va., are being prevented from explaining Christian history and are under orders to refer to items such as the Ten Commandments and Lord's Prayer only as "religious" in nature. That according to California pastor and researcher Todd DuBord who says he was stunned on a recent tour of the historic town when "our guide responded to our inquiry by saying that she was 'unable to speak about the plaques. We are only allowed to say they are religious plaques.' Jamestown is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year. When the issue arose, DuBord's group was in the heart of the community which had been established in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Mass. – to make money for the Virginia Company and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ on orders from the newly crowned King James I.

Arctic ice hits 'tipping point'

Dwindling Arctic sea ice may have reached a 'tipping point' that could make British winters even wetter, according to researchers. Arctic sea ice levels naturally ebb and flow throughout the year and are always lowest in September. But September 2005 marked their lowest level in 50 years and satellite data show average September sea ice extent down by 8.6 per cent per decade and accelerating. Some computer models even predict an ice-free Arctic Ocean in September by 2050. The loss of Arctic sea ice is most often tied to harmful effects to wildlife and increasing erosion of coastlines. But today, scientists at the University of Colorado warn in the journal Science of a link between Arctic sea ice loss and changes in atmospheric patterns. These patterns could result in reduced rainfall in the American West and increased precipitation over western and southern Europe.

Jordan quietly gaining Temple Mount control

Jordan has been quietly purchasing real estate surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in hopes of gaining more control over the area accessing the holy site, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials. The officials confirmed that the Jordanian Kingdom has been using shell companies during the past year to purchase several apartments and shops located at key peripheral sections of the Temple Mount. The officials said Jordan also set up a commission to use the companies to petition mostly Arab landowners adjacent to eastern sections of the Temple Mount to sell their properties. They said profits from sales at any purchased shops would be reinvested to buy more real estate near the Mount and in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods.

Over 500 Hospitals Have Now Agreed to Adopt Implantable Patient Identification System

VeriChip Corporation, a provider of RFID systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, announced today that 65 new hospitals have agreed to participate in the VeriMed Patient Identification System network at the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) 13th Annual Scientific Assembly conference in Las Vegas, bringing the Company's total number of enrolled hospitals to more than 500. Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of VeriChip, commented, "We are very pleased to add 65 new hospitals to our network on day one of this three-day conference. Furthermore, we are proud to achieve a significant milestone in our infrastructure build-out. With more than 500 hospitals now enrolled in the VeriMed Patient Identification System, we are well on our way to meeting our stated year-end goal of 800 hospitals in the VeriMed network." The VeriMed Patient Identification System, which consists of a hand-held radio frequency identification (RFID) scanner, an implantable RFID microchip, and a secure patient database, is being used to help rapidly identify and provide access to important health information on participating patients.

Prophecy Clock Accelerates As Iran And U.S. Talk

Iran, whose leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes he will usher in the seven year reign of Islam’s messiah, has advanced the apocalyptic clock forward by demanding the United States withdraw its troops from Iraq and by pressing the United Nations to drop its demands that Iran stop its nuclear program. These direct challenges to the United States and to the U.N. Security Council accelerate the timetable of cataclysmic events surrounding the explosive nature of the Middle East and are steps toward fulfilling violent end time prophecies of both the Bible and Islam’s interpretations of the Koran. In the Bible’s Ezekiel 38, it is prophesied that Gog along with Persia , Ethiopia , Libya and other nations will come against Israel in a colossal end time battle where the weapons will burn for seven years. Gog is widely accepted as Russia and Persia is Iran , where Libya and Ethiopia represent Northern Africa . In Zechariah 12:2, it is prophesied that in the latter days the Lord “will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem .” Both of these Biblical prophecies predict a massive battle, where in the last hour before Jerusalem is destroyed, the attacking nations will miraculously be defeated. Islam has a different picture altogether. Islam believes that the return of Jesus Christ will be accompanied by an Islamic messiah figure, many believe to be the Mahdi. Together they will establish justice and peace on earth, also through a tremendous battle. Islam believes that Jesus Christ will return as a Muslim and will kill the remaining Jews and Christians who refuse to worship allah. And Jesus will rule as head of the one-world government subject to the Mahdi. These prophecies are not necessarily found entirely in the Koran itself, but through other prophecies over the centuries that are widely accepted by today’s Muslims.

Global Warming Hysteria Ties To Plan For World Government

Terrorism, economics, and global warming are all reasons given by proponents of world government as evidence of the necessity for a new world order. If world government is to be achieved by consent, as Mr. Warburg put it, then the world must be sold on the idea of world government and its necessity. In a report titled "The First Global Revolution" (1991) published by the Club of Rome, a globalist think tank, we find the following statement: "In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill.... All these dangers are caused by human intervention... The real enemy, then, is humanity itself."

Cashless society by 2012, says Visa chief

Paying for goods with notes and coins could be consigned to history within five years, according to the chief executive of Visa Europe. Peter Ayliffe said that, by 2012, using credit and debit cards should be cheaper and more convenient than cash. Some retailers could soon start surcharging customers if they choose to buy products with cash, because of the greater cost of processing these payments, he warned. Visa Europe briefed the British Retail Consortium last month on new " contactless" cards that can be waved in front of a scanner to make small payments.

Could Genetic Modification Be Killing The Bees?

The most commonly transplanted segment of transgenic DNA involves genes from a well-known bacterium, bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which has been used for decades by farmers and gardeners to control butterflies that damage cole crops such as cabbage and broccoli. Instead of the bacterial solution being sprayed on the plant, where it is eaten by the target insect, the genes that contain the insecticidal traits are incorporated into the genome of the farm crop. As the transformed plant grows, these Bt genes are replicated along with the plant genes so that each cell contains its own poison pill that kills the target insect.

Russian Scientists Considering Animal-To-Human Transplants

Russian specialists are studying the possibility of animal-to-human transplants, organ cloning and the creation of hybrid organs, a leading researcher said Monday. "We are currently working on the possibility of xenotransplantation - i.e., transplantation of organs from animals to humans. We are also studying the possibility of cloning organs and creating hybrid organs. But until we have some definitive results, we cannot disclose any details," said Valery Shumakov, director of the Russian Scientific Research Institute of Transplantation and Artificial Organs.

U.S. Defense Looks To Quantum Radar

The US military is taking its war on terror where even Albert Einstein feared to tread - into the baffling world of quantum mechanics. Lockheed Martin, a main US defense contractor, thinks it can exploit research on the fringes of theoretical physics to build the ultimate radar, which could see through anything, from buildings to solid earth. The company has designed and patented a scanner based on the principle of quantum entanglement - a far out concept, even by the weird standards of the quantum world. It says the device could penetrate any type of defence, to identify hidden weapons and roadside bombs from hundreds of miles away. Quantum entanglement says that two particles can be joined so that whatever happens to one must also happen to its partner, however far apart they are. Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance". Lockheed Martin prefers: "Quantum radar is capable of providing information about targets that cannot be provided using classical radar systems."

Apocalypse discussion reaches from U.S. President to legislators

Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, the threat of a deadly flu pandemic and now the Real ID: Are global events unfolding something bigger? Several years of epic events have witnessed a growing number of the world's population wondering if something prophetic is transpiring. First came 9/11 and the beginning of the war on terror. Then a tsunami in Asia killed approximately 250,000 people. Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and an earthquake In South Asia followed, which claimed tens of thousands more lives. 2006 witnessed leaders of countries referencing terms like "Apocalypse" and "Armageddon" to describe the uneasy times. 2007 has started out with record snowfalls in parts of the U.S., the national weather service is predicting even more blizzards, experts warn that a deadly avian flu virus could pass over to the human population at any time in a full-blown pandemic, potentially bringing global markets to their knees, and now the U.S. Congress has erupted in a debate about the biblical "Mark of the Beast."
It's enough to make anybody wonder what in the world is going on. For many folk, these are the signs of the End Times.

Pentagon plans cyber-insect army

The Pentagon's defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions. The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled later. The new scheme is a brainwave of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is tasked with maintaining the technological superiority of the US military. It has asked for "innovative" bids on the insect project from interested parties. Darpa believes scientists can take advantage of the evolution of insects, such as dragonflies and moths, in the pupa stage. "Through each metamorphic stage, the insect body goes through a renewal process that can heal wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects," its proposal document reads. The foreign objects it suggests to be implanted are specific micro-systems - Mems - which, when the insect is fully developed, could allow it to be remotely controlled or sense certain chemicals, including those in explosives. The invasive surgery could "enable assembly-line like fabrication of hybrid insect-Mems interfaces", Darpa says.

Collins and Chertoff Fight for National ID

Bush administration officials and some Republican senators remain undeterred by the mounting opposition among state governments to a national ID measure and are looking to companies and organizations that will benefit from the ID scheme to persuade opponents beyond the Beltway to back down. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, is the author of the latest effort to sell reluctant states on the REAL ID Act, the 2005 measure which would coerce states into issuing nationally standardized driver’s licenses and require them to enter information about their drivers in nationally accessible databases. Despite Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s public insistence that the Act needs to be implemented rapidly, the administration, and Mr. Chertoff himself, appear happy to avoid an immediate confrontation with the states and to go along with Ms. Collins’ sales tactic. The Maine Senator introduced a bill, and pressed it as an amendment on the Senate floor, to extend the deadline for state compliance with the REAL ID Act, allowing companies in favor of the measure time to work in state capitols to calm the burgeoning rebellion.

Major Space Missions Move Ahead In Search For Extraterrestrial Life

The European and US space agencies are moving ahead on their next major missions to explore the Solar System. Nasa has begun choosing a destination for a "flagship" robotic venture along the lines of Cassini-Huygens, which has been exploring Saturn and its moons. It is considering four targets: the Jupiter system, Jupiter's moon Europa, and Saturn's moons Enceladus and Titan.

Some Will Be Ready, Some Won't, But Israelis Prepare for Nuclear Fallout

As world leaders debate sanctions to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, hundreds of Israeli families are already installing bunkers in their homes to protect against radioactive fallout from a possible attack. Thousands of private homes have been equipped with nuclear-proof equipment ranging from air filters to water-decontamination systems. But builders and contractors say that the demand in the past few months for fully fledged atomic shelters has surged, fuelled by speculation that Iran is building a nuclear weapon that it would not hesitate to use against Israel. Atomic shelters range in price from £70,000 to £500,000. They feature 70cm thick blast-proof doors, ballistic windows, water and air-decontamination systems, which promise to sustain life for up to six months. Shlomo Yakov, an Israeli industrialist, spent £300,000 on a nuclear bunker for his family at his sprawling seaside villa just north of Tel Aviv. The underground shelter features a master bedroom and children’s room, a decontaminated-water shower and an electrical generator that feeds a flat-screen television, surround-sound system and fully stocked stainless steel fridge. “The cost is nothing compared to the peace of mind it provides my family,” said Mr Yakov, who has three young children. He does not advertise its existence. “If there was ever a scare, there would be a stampede,” he said.

American Express Addresses RFID People Tracking Plans

The top brass at American Express, chagrined at the discovery of its people tracking plans, met with CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) last week to discuss the issue. One outcome of the meeting was a promise by American Express to review its entire patent portfolio and ensure that any people-tracking plans be accompanied by language requiring consumer notice and consent. The meeting was organized after CASPIAN called attention to one of the company's more troublesome patent applications. That patent application, titled "Method and System for Facilitating a Shopping Experience," describes a Minority Report style blueprint for monitoring consumers through RFID-enabled objects, like the American Express Blue Card. According to the patent, RFID readers called "consumer trackers" would be placed in store shelving to pick up "consumer identification signals" emitted by RFID-embedded objects carried by shoppers. These would be used to identify people, track their movements, and observe their behavior. The patent also suggested such people-tracking systems could "be located in a common area of a school, shopping center, bus station or other place of public accommodation."

"Big Brother" Gaining Ground in Great Britain

Maybe George Orwell was on to something. It seems that "Big Brother" is gaining ground in Great Britain. Starting in 2009, in order to apply for a passport, Britons will be required to register their fingerprints, facial scans and a host of personal information such as second homes, drivers licenses and insurance policy numbers. If they do this, they will receive a national ID card and then their passport. However, the program is not mandatory. The British government has said that the program is voluntary and that people will be allowed to opt out. However, those that do will be denied receiving a British passport.

Warming Report to Warn of Coming Drought

The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium. At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report. Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive. For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised. The draft document by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focuses on global warming's effects and is the second in a series of four being issued this year. Written and reviewed by more than 1,000 scientists from dozens of countries, it still must be edited by government officials.

Scottish Scientists Test Nanotech ‘Secret Weapon’ Against Tumours

A team of scientists from the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research gave mice a chemical that caused cancer cells to commit suicide, significantly slowing the growth of the tumours they were carrying. The chemical kick started a gene called p73 that brings about cancer cell death. This early research could pave the way for a new agent to stop tumours growing. The researchers suggest that sending the protein – called 37AA – directly into the bloodstream using a ‘nanoparticle’ delivery system could be a potential way to find and kill tumour cells that have spread as well as those in the primary tumour.

Iran Could Build It's First Nuclear Bomb In 6 Months

The London-based Oxford Research Group asserted that Iran could launch a crash program to produce its first crude nuclear weapon by late 2007. The ORG report said Teheran could begin such a program should the United States launch air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. ‘It would be a bit like deciding to build a car from spare parts instead of building the entire car factory,’ the report said. ‘Put simply, military attacks could speed Iran's progress to a nuclear bomb.’

Robot Beetle That Roams Body Seeking To Destroy Cancer

The idea of a beetle moving around inside your body may be the stuff of horror films. But scientists believe an insect-shaped robot could be a major weapon in the fight against cancer. The device, just under an inch long, is designed to be inserted into the body through a small incision. Once inside, doctors can control its movements and direct it to areas where investigations are needed. It would be able to capture images through a tiny camera placed in its "head" - and could deliver drugs through a special injecting device. Early versions have also included tiny forceps for taking tissue samples. In future these nippers could be used to snip out cancerous cells. Less than half an inch across, the metal device is encased in plastic to protect its components while in the body. It is connected to a computer by a cable through which it relays data and images. This can also be used as a "safety line" if the beetle goes off course. Doctors would be armed with MRI body scans of the patient taken in advance to help them navigate the robot.

Israel Warns Its Citizens To Immediately Leave Egypt, Jordan

Israel has warned its citizens to immediately leave Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab states with which it has full ties, out of concern they could come under attack, a government official recently said. The advisory was issued on the recommendation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Counter-terrorism Unit, which this week placed Egypt and Jordan in its highest threat category, alongside enemy states such as Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Israeli officials gave no further details.

U.S. Citizens Put Under Intense Secret Terror Surveillance

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. government has put average Americans under intense surveillance as part of terrorism investigations, says the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006 issued recently. "two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies are intruding on their privacy rights," the report says. And the U.S. Justice Department said in a report released on April 28, 2006 that its use of electronic surveillance and search warrants in national security investigations jumped 15 percent in 2005. According to the department, the FBI issued 9,254 national security letters in 2005, covering 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal foreign residents. The data did not include what probably were thousands of additional letters issued to obtain more limited information about some individuals or letters that were issued about targets who were in the United States. illegally, it says. Media reports show a Pentagon research team monitors more than 5,000 jihadist web sites, focusing daily on the 25 to 100 most hostile and active, the rights report says. An internal memo of the FBI shows that the agency has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, it says.

Are You Disaster Ready? La Nina May Form In Pacific Within Weeks

The La Nina weather anomaly may form in the equatorial Pacific in the next two to three months, possibly increasing the risks for more hurricanes later this year in the Atlantic. "A transition to La Nina conditions is possible during the next two to three months," the U.S. Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in its monthly update on Thursday. It also said the El Nino weather pattern, whose wind shear ripped apart and reduced the amount of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean in 2006, has disappeared. Typically, El Nino causes rampant flooding in Peru and Ecuador while causing searing drought in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines among other countries. La Nina usually has the opposite effect, and U.S. government forecasters have warned it may cause a higher-than-normal number of hurricanes.

Israeli Firm Develops Armed Combat Robot

An Israeli defense firm recently unveiled a portable robot billed as being capable of entering most combat zones alone and engaging enemies with an onboard armory that includes a machine-pistol and grenades. The 25-pound, 9-inch-tall VIPeR, roughly the size of a small television, was invented as part of Israel's efforts to develop weaponry that could reduce the risks to its forces from hand-to-hand fighting against Palestinian or Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. The manufacturer, Elbit Systems Ltd., said that the VIPeR's small size — it can be carried on a soldier's back — and dual treads enable it to move "undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels." As well as bomb-sniffing and bomb disposal equipment, the VIPeR can carry an Uzi machine-pistol or plant a grenade via remote control. The weapons would be aimed using an onboard video camera. The VIPeR can also climb stairs and use preprogrammed mapping software to find its way around. According to Elbit, which has close links with the Defense Ministry, Israel plans to deploy the VIPeR among its infantry units after field tests. The robot could also be of interest to foreign police units or U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. Working Feverishly To Get New Nuke Detectors In Place

At a busy border crossing, a truck passing through a radiation scanner sets off an alarm. It could be a nuclear device, but it's far more likely to be kitty litter, ceramic tile or a load of bananas. 'Nuclear materials such as uranium and plutonium are not the only materials that emit radiation,'' Vayl Oxford, who directs the Homeland Security Department's nuclear office, told a House Appropriations panel recently. The machines, first installed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, measure gamma radiation, but cannot distinguish between low levels of gamma rays that occur naturally in innocent materials, and the makings for weapons that terrorists might use. So the inspectors must pull the truck or container aside for a second inspection with a hand-held scanner, which, at the nation's busiest ports or border crossings, can lead to backed-up lines that anger drivers and slow commerce. That's the dilemma of protecting the United States from nuclear terrorism - a trade-off among accuracy, inconvenience and the expense to taxpayers. The 11 million containers that transit the ports every year (are) an enormous moving haystack that could conceal a deadly needle,'' said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky. Government agencies need to find this proverbial needle in the haystack and prevent it from causing real harm in a way that does not bring the American economic engine to a grinding halt,'' Rogers said. About 900 scanners have been installed at ports and border crossings around the U.S. Government officials are working with several companies to develop new nuclear detectors that won't waste time and that can actually differentiate the potassium in a banana from that in highly enriched uranium.

The US Navy's New Phaser Is Really Sickening

The new technology has been given an acronym, EPIC, for Electromagnetic Personnel Interdiction Control. The idea is that intense radio-frequency emissions – capable of passing through walls – would be used to temporarily disrupt the balance and coordination functions of targets' inner ears, knocking them down relatively harmlessly. The Navy notes that "second order effects would be extreme motion sickness," suggesting that in fact the order given by future Captain Kirks may be "set phasers on 'puke'".
The intention of the programme is to avoid unnecessary harm to the target, but unconscious vomiting would seem to present something of a choking hazard. Still, EPIC-based regurge blasters would seem less brutal than the microwave-oven cannons already tested, which are designed to disperse crowds by lightly frying their outer skin layers. Texas-based wireless systems firm Invocon was awarded a $99,609 development contract in 2004. The company now claims that "the first known demonstration of a vestibular response to an electromagnetic stimulus has been performed", and wants more money "for research into the effects of the stimulus and potential delivery mechanisms".

Israel On Alert For Iranian Attack

Israel has placed its foreign installations on alert for an Iranian strike. Israeli officials said the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry have increased security on embassies and legations throughout the world. They said the government declared an alert after Teheran accused the Jewish state of abducting a senior Iranian official. ‘The prospect of an Iranian retaliation or provocation exists,’ an Israeli official said. The alert was issued after Israel was blamed for the disappearance of a former Iranian deputy defense minister in Turkey. An Iranian delegation has been sent to Turkey and demanded the whereabouts of Ali Reza Asqhari, missing from an Istanbul hotel since Feb. 7.

Feds Test New Data Mining Program

Lawmakers and privacy advocates are concerned that a powerful new data searching tool being tested by the Department of Homeland Security could pose a threat to Americans' privacy as it sifts through mountains of information for patterns that might reveal terrorists. Called ADVISE — for Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement — the program is capable of linking and cross-matching material from websites and blogs to government records and personal data. Homeland Security has quietly been developing the ADVISE program since 2003, the same year another powerful data mining program at the Pentagon called Total Information Awareness was scuttled over privacy concerns. Some leading lawmakers believe Congress needs to scrutinize these programs carefully, fearing data analysis capability is advancing so quickly that government oversight can't keep pace with it.

Experts Say U.S. Must Boost Preparedness For Nuclear Attack

Experts and government documents suggest that, absent a major preparedness push, the U.S. response to a mushroom cloud could be worse than the debacle after Hurricane Katrina, possibly contributing to civil disorder and costing thousands of lives. “The United States is unprepared to mitigate the consequences of a nuclear attack,” Pentagon analyst John Brinkerhoff concluded in a draft of a confidential memo to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We were unable to find any group or office with a coherent approach to this very important aspect of homeland security. … “This is a bad situation. The threat of a nuclear attack is real, and action is needed now to learn how to deal with one.”

Mysterious Hole May Be To The Earth's Core

British scientists have embarked on a mission to study a gigantic hole in the Atlantic seabed - an enigma that defies traditional geophysical theory and will give researchers an unprecedented look into the centre of the Earth. The 12-person team left the Canary Islands recently with a new hi-tech vessel and a robotic device named Toby that will dig up rock samples at the bottom of the crater and film what it sees. The hole is about 5 000m under the surface of the Atlantic and located half way between Tenerife and Barbados. It has a diameter of 3 000 to 4 000m. Its depth is unknown. The mysterious hole is in an undersea mountain range, the kind of structure believed to form when Atlantic tectonic plates separate and volcanic lava surges upward to fill the gap. But that did not happen this time. Instead, the hole exposes the mantle, the material that makes up Earth's interior, said British geophysicist Roger Searle of Durham University, one of the researchers. "We do not know why that is," Searle said before setting sail on the RRS James Cook for the six-week mission. "Because of this gap we can see directly into the Earth's mantle."

Syria ready with bio-terror if U.S. hits Iran

An American biodefense analyst living in Europe says if the U.S. invades Iran to halt its nuclear ambitions, Syria is ready to respond with weapons of mass destruction – specifically biological weapons. "Syria is positioned to launch a biological attack on Israel or Europe should the U.S. attack Iran," Jill Bellamy-Dekker told WND. "The Syrians are embedding their biological weapons program into their commercial pharmaceuticals business and their veterinary vaccine-research facilities. The intelligence service oversees Syria's 'bio-farm' program and the Ministry of Defense is well interfaced into the effort." Bellamy-Decker currently directs the Public Health Preparedness program for the European Homeland Security Association under the French High Committee for Civil Defense. She anticipates a variation of smallpox is the biological agent Syria would utilize. "The Syrians are also working on orthopox viruses that are related to smallpox," Bellamy-Decker said, "and it's a good way to get around international treaties against offensive biological weapons development. They work on camelpox as a cover for smallpox."

Scientists Say There May Be More Than 10 Dimensions

Every minute, million of particles coming from the sun pass through our bodies—and their trajectory continues, passing right through the planet. It is as if "matter" simply did not exist to them. We are speaking of course, about neutrinos: the particles "without mass." These miniature mischiefs (recent investigations of which reveal that they actually do possess mass) are the most difficult subatomic particles to study for modern physicists, mainly because they basically do not make any impact against atomic structures on their journeys to who-knows-where. Due to their tiny size they pass through everything, as though they were ghosts. What's more, thanks to a few neutrinos which have actually been able to be observed with the latest technology, (by special detectors set-up in the middle of the South Pole) confirmation of the existence of more than three dimensions of space could now almost be a reality. These great laboratories, buried several tens of meters under the Antarctic ice, can detect the tiny sparkles that are made when a high-energy neutrino (trillions of which bombard us every second) crashes into an atomic nucleus of the layer of ice which make up the walls of the installation. Analyzing these studies, scientists of the Amanda laboratory have concluded that it is very probable that Superstring Theory (ST) has hit the nail on the head in as far as it suggests that apart from the three spatial dimensions in which we now live, there must actually be 9, 10 or even more.

Russia to Create Shield in Addition to Sword

Russia’s First Vice Premier Sergey Ivanov set a new task recently at the sitting of the Government’s Military and Industrial Commission – to create a weapon that would simultaneously secure aircraft, missile and space defense. The designer will be Almaz-Antey Consortium, in which division, Almaz Research and Production Enterprise, the Commission met actually. To begin with, it was decided to set up a head design office based on Almaz-Antey facilities that will consolidate all research and engineering arms of the air defense – Air Forces, Navy, Army, Automatic Control Systems and Ballistic Missile Defense. The designers will have to come up with the G5 weaponry that would combine combat, information and control features based on the core and emergency technologies. The matter at stake is “a very serious, expensive and innovatively unique project,” said First Vice Premier Sergey Ivanov, who was the defense minister in Russia not long ago. The deadline is 2015. It should be accurately observed no matter what, as the safety of Russia’s air and then of the outer space is at stake. Of interest is that, last time, the Military and Industrial Commission met in Precision Instrument Research Institute to focus on creating the precision weaponry, the so-called sword of the Army. It looks like the time has come to think about the shield for it.

New York Targeted By Tehran?

Increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran have revived New York Police Department concerns that Iranian agents may already have targeted the city for terror attacks. Such attacks could be aimed at bridges and tunnels, Jewish organizations and Wall Street, NYPD briefers told security execs last fall, according to a person with access to the briefing materials who asked for anonymity because of the sensitive subject matter. NYPD officials have worried about possible Iranian-sponsored attacks since a series of incidents involving officials of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. In November 2003, Ahmad Safari and Alireaza Safi, described as Iranian Mission "security" personnel, were detained by transit cops when they were seen videotaping subway tracks from Queens to Manhattan at 1:10 in the morning. The men later left New York. "We're concerned that Iranian agents were engaged in reconnaissance that might be used in an attack against New York City at some future date," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said. A spokesman for the Iranian Mission in New York said he was aware of the allegations but had no immediate comment.

The Dawn Of Tracking Everything, Everywhere, With A Number

Steven Van Fleet, an executive at International Paper, looks forward to the prospect. "We'll put a radio frequency ID tag on everything that moves in the North American supply chain," he enthused recently. The ultimate goal is for RFID to create a "physically linked world" in which every item on the planet is numbered, identified, catalogued, and tracked. And the technology exists to make this a reality. Described as "a political rather than a technological problem," creating a global system "would . . . involve negotiation between, and consensus among, different countries." Supporters are aiming for worldwide acceptance of the technologies needed to build the infrastructure within the next few years.

Japan's `Spy Net' Puts It Ahead In Space Race

Japan has succeeded in establishing a network of spy satellites that can peer in on any point on the globe once a day, officials said yesterday. The successful launch on Saturday of the fourth and final satellite in the spy network significantly boosted Japan's ability to independently gather intelligence on trouble spots anywhere on the globe and re-establishes Tokyo as a major player in Asia's accelerating space race.

Biometrics Gets Its ‘Fingers’ Into School Indoctrination

The use of biometrics for identification and authentication is taking hold throughout the country and in our schools. Way back in 1972, far before many people were even thinking of using biometrics in conjunction with daily authentication, the University of Georgia began using biometrics in their dining halls. The campus had decided to simplify their mealplan offerings—from a ticket-based program to an enrollment program—and they needed a way to accurately identify paid customers The same goal of simplification remains a core motivator when colleges, universities, and K-12 schools decide to use biometrics in their facilities.

Earth's Crust Missing In Mid-Atlantic

Scientists have discovered a large area thousands of square kilometres in extent in the middle of the Atlantic where the Earth’s crust appears to be missing. Instead, the mantle - the deep interior of the Earth, normally covered by crust many kilometres thick - is exposed on the seafloor, 3000m below the surface. Marine geologist Dr Chris MacLeod, School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences said: "This discovery is like an open wound on the surface of the Earth. Was the crust never there? Was it once there but then torn away on huge geological faults? If so, then how and why?" To answer some of these questions Dr MacLeod with a team of scientists, led by marine geophysicist Professor Roger Searle, Durham University, will travel to the area which lies mid-way between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean. The expedition will be the inaugural research cruise of a new UK research ship RRS James Cook. The team intends to use sonars to image the seafloor and then take rock cores using a robotic seabed drill. The samples will provide a rare opportunity to gain insights into the workings of the mantle deep below the surface of the Earth.

Study to look at planting identification chips in dementia patients

The scenario is all too real in South Florida: An Alzheimer's patient wanders away from home and is found by police officers who take him to a local hospital for care. But the patient cannot recall potentially life-threatening conditions like diabetes or heart disease, making a quick assessment difficult at best. To help solve that problem, a Delray Beach company and the Alzheimer's Community Care Association of Palm Beach and Martin Counties Inc. have begun a two-year study to determine whether it's practical to implant tiny computer chips containing medical records in dementia patients. If a patient becomes separated from family members, emergency room doctors could obtain crucial medical information by scanning the chip, obtaining a 16-digit identification number and then entering the number in a special computer system at the hospital. That would disclose the patient's name, address, caregiver, diagnosis, physician, medical issues and medications. VeriChip Corp. will provide the chips for free for the two-year, 200-patient study that could start as early as May. The company also will seek to enroll as many Palm Beach County hospitals as possible in the study and equip them with scanners to access the patient code embedded on each chip, spokeswoman Allison Tomek said. The Alzheimer's group said it plans to hire a nurse to implant the chips in the upper arm of volunteers.

New Technology Expands Air Force Combat Capability

ShotSpotter uses acoustic sensors, located on the backs of patrolling Airmen and Humvees, to detect the location of enemy muzzle blasts and, in some cases, the path of the fired projectiles. This information is then passed to on-the-ground commanders for analysis. It is also shared with an overhead Scan Eagle, which then directs its advanced cameras to the area, giving a picture of the enemy's location. Scan Eagle, which measures four feet long with a 10-foot wingspan, is launched by a catapult system and has an approximate 20-hour flight time.

Israel Security Official: Iran Plans To Nuke Europe, U.S.

An Israel security official told the Israel News Agency that the recent launch of a missile from Iran into space illustrated a direct threat to both Europe's and US national security. On February 25, Iran launched a missile reaching space. "Iran has successfully launched its first space missile made by Iranian scientists," the head of Iran's aerospace research center, Mohsen Bahrami, was quoted as saying. Recently, Iran Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said Iran was planning to build a satellite and launcher. But "Iran has no plans to land a man on the moon," Col. Adam an Israeli security source told the INA. "The same technology is used to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. Such a high orbit would be needed to deliver a nuclear payload into Europe or the US."

Cardinal warns Pope about the Antichrist

An arch-conservative cardinal chosen by the Pope to deliver this year’s Lenten meditations to the Vatican hierarchy has caused consternation by giving warning of an Antichrist who is “a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist”. Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 78, who retired as Archbishop of Bologna three years ago, quoted Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), the Russian philosopher and mystic, as predicting that the Antichrist “will convoke an ecumenical council and seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions”. The “masses” would follow the Antichrist, “with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants” who would fight to prevent the watering down and ultimate destruction of the faith, he said. The Pope traditionally withdraws from public view during the first week of Lent, conducting “spiritual exercises” in retreat with close advisers. The choice of Cardinal Biffi raised eyebrows in the Vatican, given his sometimes eccentric views. The cardinal gave a warning of the coming of the Antichrist during his two decades as the Archbishop of Bologna, and said that an “invasion” of Muslim immigrants was undermining Europe’s Christian values.

VeriChip Corp Supports Interactive Electronic Health Information Act

VeriChip Corporation, a provider of RFID systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, announced recently its support of the Personal Health Information Act, introduced by Congressman Patrick Kennedy. The bill proposes to set up a fund to provide financial incentives for physicians who establish interactive electronic personal health records for their patients. VeriChip believes that the introduction of this bill represents a major milestone in the proliferation of more consistent, accurate personal health records for patients in the United States. VeriChip further believes that its VeriMed Patient Identification System, consisting of the VeriMed implantable microchip and corresponding patient database, is the appropriate solution for establishing electronic medical records for at-risk patients. Scott R. Silverman, VeriChip's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The launching of this legislation illustrates the importance of personal health records to the future of the U.S. healthcare system, particularly concerning the reduction of medical errors and cost savings from elimination of redundancies. This is a significant step that will allow physicians the ease to move a patient's data from his or her electronic health record into a patient's personal health record with a mouse click.

Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft mystery

Something strange is happening in the outer reaches of our solar system. The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft are not where they are supposed to be. These missions, launched in 1972 and 1973, have covered hundreds of millions of kilometers, heading toward the edge of our solar system. But something is holding them back. Each year, they fall behind in their projected travel by about 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles). Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist John Anderson and his colleagues have been searching for an explanation since 1980. But as of yet, they have found nothing conclusive; no spacecraft behavior or previously unknown property of the outer solar system can explain the deceleration of the Pioneer spacecraft. Scientists are being forced to consider the unthinkable: something may be wrong with our understanding of the laws of physics.

Report says: Nanotech Security Implications Are Startling

Enhancing the performance of the human brain is a particularly delicate issue. While the neuro-functional nanodevices may help in healing paralysed people with spinal cord injuries, their emergence would inevitably stir passionate discussions about "melding of man and machine".... A significant breakthrough in electronics, encouraged by NT, could result in the creation of smaller but very powerful computers, very small sensors and other devices that could be used by the military in a number of ways. Information could be stored and analysed more efficiently, intelligence and surveillance capabilities could be increased considerably by using nanosensors, precision of projectiles could reach extreme accuracy, communication systems could become much more sophisticated, as well as virtual reality systems for training.

New 'Bible' says Jesus Christ born of gorilla, not virgin

A new, lavishly illustrated book – described by its marketer as a "postmodern" edition of the Bible – takes Darwin's theory of evolution as gospel and presents Jesus as being born, "not to a virgin, but to a gorilla." According to Ruth Rimm, Bronx school teacher and book artist, her version of the Scriptures – titled "Lost Spiritual World" – "explores the emergence of a new global spirituality that mixes the best of each wisdom tradition with the latest findings in psychology, quantum physics, neuroscience, and linguistics." The author says "I'm not making fun of Jesus. I'm not mocking religion. In fact, from the deepest wellspring of my heart, I'm despairing something we've lost in our scientific culture. Yes, if Jesus was alive today, he would understand that his ancestors, just like ours, were beasts. No, he wouldn't run around claiming he was born of a virgin. And, brilliant rabbi that he was, he would likely ask us to understand the miracle stories metaphorically – as morality tales – but certainly not as literal truth."

It’s the thinnest material ever and could revolutionise computers and medicine

Scientists have created the thinnest material in the world and predict that it will revolutionise computing and medical research. A layer of carbon has been manufactured in a film only one atom thick that defies the laws of physics. Placed in layers on top of each other it would take 200,000 membranes to reach high enough to match the thickness of a human hair. The substance, graphene, was created two years ago but could be made only when stuck to another material. Researchers have now managed to manufacture it as a film suspended between the nanoscale bars of scaffolding made from gold. Such a feat was held to be impossible by theorists, backed up by experimentation, because it is in effect a two-dimensional crystal that is supposed to be destroyed instantly by heat. The crystalline membrane, comprising carbon atoms formed into hexagonal groups of six to create a honeycomb pattern, is thought to be able to exist because rather than lying flat it undulates slightly. Un- dulation provides the structure with a third dimension that gives it the strength to hold together, the researchers have reported in the journal Nature. The graphene membrane has proved to be so stable that it holds together in vacuums and at room temperature. All other known materials oxidise, decompose and become unstable at sizes ten times the thickness. It was created by scientists at the University of Manchester, working with the Max Planck Institute in Germany. “This is a completely new type of technology — even nanotechnology is not the right word to describe these new membranes,” said Professor Andre Geim, of the University of Manchester.

North Korea capable of building a missile that can hit the U.S.

North Korea is technically capable of building a long-range missile that can hit the United States despite a test failure last year, a senior US military intelligence official recently said. Lieutenant General Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said North Korea has probably learned from the failure of its Taepodong-2 missile during a test in July, and made changes to its other missiles. "I believe they have the technical capability, as we saw by the Taepodong, but they have not successfully tested it yet," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Asked how long before North Korea would have a missile capable of reaching the United States, he said, "I would probably estimate it's not a matter of years." Maples made the comments in testimony about global threats that singled out North Korea and Iran as the two states of greatest concern.

Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter

Look around _ You might not be the only one watching. The never-blinking surveillance cameras, rapidly becoming a part of daily life in public and even private places, may be sizing you up as well. And they may soon get a lot smarter. Researchers and security companies are developing cameras that not only watch the world but also interpret what they see. Soon, some cameras may be able to find unattended bags at airports, guess your height or analyze the way you walk to see if you are hiding something. Most of the cameras widely used today are used as forensic tools to identify crooks after-the-fact. (Think grainy video on local TV news of convenience store robberies gone wrong.) But the latest breed, known as "intelligent video," could transform cameras from passive observers to eyes with brains, able to detect suspicious behaviour and potentially prevent crime before it occurs.

Celebrating A Mark (Chip) In His Right Hand

Amal Graafstra says: When I open my front door, I don't reach for a key. When I log into my computer, I don't touch my keyboard. When I start my motorcycle, again, no key needed. Instead, I just wave my hand and I'm in business. I was one of the first do-it-yourselfers to have a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag implanted under my skin. In fact, I have two—one between the thumb and index finger in my left hand, the other in the matching spot on my right hand. So what's a nice guy like me doing with a microchip in each of my hands? My life as an RFID guinea pig started in early 2005. At the time I was managing servers for medical facilities around Seattle, a job for which I carried around a ring of keys to almost 100 different doors and drawers. Two weeks later, I was sitting in a doctor's office. After sterilizing the tiny glass cylinder, the doctor injected a small amount of local anesthetic to numb my left hand. She made a 2-millimeter incision in the fleshy part next to my thumb, lifted the skin, and slipped the tag inside. She applied some skin glue and bandaged it up. Just like that, I became one of the few people on Earth walking around with a radio transponder in my hand. In an RFID “lock ” system, each RFID tag, which is essentially a minitransmitter, sends out a sequence of radio-frequency pulses representing a unique number, usually 10 to 16 digits in length. An RFID tag's memory typically ranges from a few bits to 128 bits, in the common ISO-compliant tag, to several megabytes. The locks are programmed with a list of authorized numbers; if your tag emits one of those numbers, you're in. If not, you're not. If someone loses a tag, no problem: that serial number can be removed from the list. Now, if the tag is implanted in your body, I reasoned, so much the better: it's impossible not to have it when you need it. The RFID tag that makes sense for implantation is embedded in glass and is about the size of a grain of rice. It consists of a microchip and a metal coil, which acts as an antenna. Known as a passive tag, it is an inductive system—that is, a voltage is induced when the coil is in the magnetic field of an RFID reader. Because it's battery-free, a passive tag requires no maintenance.

1 In 4 U.S. Women Infected With HPV

One in four U.S. women ages 14 to 59 is infected with the sexually transmitted virus that in some forms can cause cervical cancer, according to the first broad national estimate. The figure is mostly in line with previous assessments. The highest prevalence — nearly 45% — was found in young women within the age range recommended for a new virus-fighting vaccine, according to a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Former Islamic Extremist Speaks of 'Radicalization Process'

Radical Islam has the power to seduce young people who are spiritually unsatisfied, according to a former radical who now cooperates with the FBI and writes on terrorism. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross chronicles the "process of radicalization" in a new book, "My Year Inside Radical Islam." He said he's concerned that too few Americans fully grasp the ideological component of the struggle against terrorism in the world today. Absolutist interpretations of Islam allow no space for adherents to deviate from ideology, Gartenstein-Ross told a book publication party in Arlington, Va., over the weekend. Gartenstein-Ross said he wrote the book to show how alluring and persuasive radical Islam can be for those who are spiritually uncertain. Gartenstein-Ross told Cybercast News Service that as a young man he had difficulty accepting the divinity of Jesus Christ and there was an "incoherence" at work that Islam was able to reconcile. Although Muslims view Jesus as a prophet, they do not believe he is divine, Gartenstein-Ross explained in his book.

Future Dress Code: Very Smart

From micro-tags in bags to vibrating vests, computing is moving from our desktops and portable gadgets to a more integrated relationship with our lives -- through our clothes. It's more than just incorporating an Mp3 player into a jacket. Engineers working in the field of pervasive computing are aiming to create smart fabrics, embedded with computer chips and sensors that will enhance and possibly even save our lives. "Instead of being deaf, dumb, and blind sitting on our desks or in our pockets, our computers might be able to observe what we do all day, understand what is important to us, and act as a virtual assistant who helps us on a second-by-second basis," said Thad Starner, Associate Professor of the Contextual Computing Group at Georgia Tech University. Starner is at the forefront of wearable computing, developing intelligent, wearable systems that can record and repay information, and has worn his own custom-made wearable computer since 1993. Embedding technology in everyday objects in nothing new. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags have been used by companies such as Wal-Mart and Gillette to monitor their supply chains and increase security of their stock. The same existing technology is being used by some airports to track bags, instead of the often-unreliable barcode labels.

Experts Say California Bigfoot Prints Could Be The Real Deal

There's a big mystery in our backyard tonight. Is a Bigfoot living in the forest above Marysville? A local couple has found big prints in those woods and experts are saying it may not be a hoax. It was just after a rainstorm, a great time for hunting deer. It was a perfect place, high up in the dense woods of the Plumas National Forest. Chuck and Michelle Padigo had been down the logging road lots of times, including just a few days earlier. Past two gates, about three miles from the highway, in a recently logged area, Michelle looked down and spotted something very strange. What the Padigo's say they encountered was more than three dozen huge footprints spread out over a hundred yards or more. “I swear the hair on my arms stood up,” says Michelle. The couple recorded their discovery with photographs and returned to take more pictures.
Joining the Padigos now was Scot Woodland, a Nevada County search and rescue team member and a certified expert tracker. Scot says he's got an open mind but when he first saw the tracks he figured here's another hoax. "The closer I got and looked at the prints, the more I could see the detail and the movement in the foot. As a tracker you see how things move the weight and all that stuff. The complexity of the footprint made me go whoa!” he says. What really impressed Scot was the force of the Bigfoot print which rippled the ground around it. Scot's footprint next to it hardly moved the earth. All the prints appear to be from one animal walking slowly but with a stride twice that of a human. “We measured from heel of the left foot to heel of left foot, 56 inches," says Scott. The footprint was gigantic. It was seven-and-a-half inches wide. The tape measure shows the impression is nearly double the length of an adult human foot. There is a website that has more information on Bigfoot and other creatures of Cryptozoology, called: Unknown Creatures. http://www.unknown-creatures.com

Cashless Parking With Microchips

Cashless payments for goods and services using e-tag accounts began in Melbourne last August. Starting at Federation Square, motorists use a "Smartdisc" to get in and out of the car park without going to the pay station. The scheme, CityLink PLUS, is expected to be extended to Melbourne airport and Telstra Dome car parks this year. CityLink's Smartdisc is an adhesive microchip slightly bigger than a five cent coin, which can be stuck to something such as a mobile phone.

RFID Wants To Get Inside You

Wanted: Power-systems engineer with experience in high-power (5–100-kW) motor-­controller design. Must be U.S. citizen and have valid ISO1443-compatible access-control RFID implant. Sound farfetched? Today, yes, a couple years from now, maybe not. With the proliferation of radio-frequency identification technology and the recent, but increasing, use of implantable RFID chips in humans, we may already be on a path that would make such an ad commonplace in a 2017 issue of IEEE Spectrum. The benefits would be undeniable—an implantable RFID chip, which is durable and about the size of a grain of rice, can hold or link to information about the identity, physiological characteristics, health, nationality, and security clearances of the person it’s embedded in. The proximity of your hand could start your car or unlock your front door or let an emergency room physician know you are a diabetic even if you are unconscious. Once implanted, the chip and the information it contains are always with you—you’d never lose your keys again.

UK Winter 'second warmest on record'

In southern England, the winter warmth set a new high, reaching 6.53C (43.8F), beating 6.49C (43.7F) in 1989-90. All three winter months saw above average temperatures, and January also recorded its second highest UK-wide temperature, reaching 6.0C (43F). The Met Office's UK national record series date back to 1914. The warmest winter on record was in 1988-89, when the mean temperature was 5.82C (42.5F). One of the data series used to compile the UK temperature figures is the Central England Temperature Record (CET) record, which is the world's oldest continuous dataset for temperature, stretching back to January 1659. The CET had recorded a mean temperature of 11.22C (52.20F) for the 12-month period from March 2006 to the end of February 2007, which was the warmest year-long period on record. "It is very carefully monitored and statistically handled so you can compare yesterday with 348 years ago," said Met Office meteorologist Wayne Elliott. "Therefore it is a good measure of changes to the climate." The Met Office's figures for the UK from the beginning of December to the end of February showed that the winter had not only been warmer, but also wetter than average. This matched the sort of conditions that the UK was expected to experience as a result of climate change, Mr Elliott said.

Sanhedrin court seeks to revive ancient Temple rituals

The present-day Sanhedrin Court recently decided to purchase a herd of sheep for ritual sacrifice at the site of the Temple on the eve of Passover, conditions on the Temple Mount permitting. The modern Sanhedrin was established several years ago and is headed by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. It claims to be renewing the ancient Jewish high court, which existed until roughly 1600 years ago, and meets once a week. Professor Hillel Weiss, a member of the Sanhedrin, recently told Haaretz that the action, even if merely symbolic, is designed to demonstrate in a way that is obvious to all that the expectation of Temple rituals will resume is real, and not just talk. Several years ago, a number of members of the various Temple movements performed a symbolic sacrifice on Givat Hananya, which overlooks the Temple Mount from Jerusalem's Abu Tur neighborhood. During the ceremony, participants sacrificed a young goat that was donated by a resident of Tekoa. The participants also built a special two-meter tall oven, in accordance with halakha (Jewish law). The Passover sacrifice is considered a simple ceremony, relative to other works performed in the Temple.

World's Smallest Microchip With Radio Chip Launched

Malaysia over the Feb 24-25 weekend launched what it said is the world's smallest microchip with radio technology in a quest to position itself as a leading high-tech chip producer for a global market. The Malaysia Microchip was released after more than two years of research and development. The smallest version measures 0.7 millimetres by 0.7 millimetres, according to officials. Costing six cents each, three versions of the chip were developed after the Malaysian government in 2003 bought the technology and the rights to design, manufacture and market the chip from Japan's FEC Inc. At the recent launch, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lauded the chip for boosting Malaysian technological expertise. "It is only through being creators of technology, and not mere users of technology, that Malaysia can move up the economic value chain and take its place among the developed countries of the world," he said in a speech. The project was announced by former premier Mahathir Mohamad just before he retired in 2003 as part of his efforts to push Malaysia into hi-tech industries and make the country an industrialised nation by 2020. The tiny microchip holds technology which emits radio waves on multiple frequencies, which means it can be detected when embedded in paper documents such as money, or in objects or animals.

Britain To Become Starting Grounds For Post-Human Evolution

Britain may become the first country to sanction the genetic alteration of human embryos, a step that a pressure group claims could pave the way to designer humans. A decade after the cloning of Dolly the sheep, the Government is opening the door to GM human embryos for research, according to Human Genetics Alert. David King, its director, said: "In a world first, the Government has said it will allow scientists to begin developing the technology for genetic modification of human beings.

Israel seeks all clear for Iran air strike

Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon. A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons. "We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," said the official, who asked not to be named. "The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other." As Iran continues to defy UN demands to stop producing material which could be used to build a nuclear bomb, Israel's military establishment is moving on to a war footing, with preparations now well under way for the Jewish state to launch air strikes against Teheran if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the crisis.

Food Chain Crisis As Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril

David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable. “I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.” The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country. Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction. Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold. As researchers scramble to find answers to the syndrome they have decided to call “colony collapse disorder,” growers are becoming openly nervous about the capability of the commercial bee industry to meet the growing demand for bees to pollinate dozens of crops, from almonds to avocados to kiwis.

In UK Hospitals Superbugs Kill 5,400 Patients In One Year

Deaths from hospital superbugs have soared to record levels. Latest figures show Clostridium difficile and MRSA between them were involved in 5,436 deaths in a single year. Experts fear the statistics are just the tip of an iceberg and say many infections go unrecorded. The toll has intensified concerns about poor hygiene in hospitals, aggravated by Health Service spending cuts, as well as fears over ward overcrowding and lack of isolation facilities. Official surveys show one in three hospitals is flouting guidelines aimed at controlling C. diff. Figures from the Office of National Statistics show deaths involving C. difficile shot up 69 per cent from 2,247 in 2004 to 3,807 in 2005. MRSA fatalities rose by 39 per cent, from 1,168 to 1,629. This means two in every 500 death certificates cited C. diff as a contributory or main factor, with one in 500 mentioning MRSA. The death toll was more than twice as high as that on the roads.

Judge orders 'gay' agenda taught to Christian children

A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the "gay" agenda taught to Christians who attend a public school in Massachusetts, finding that they need the teachings to be "engaged and productive citizens." U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf yesterday dismissed a civil rights lawsuit brought by David Parker, ordering that it is reasonable, indeed there is an obligation, for public schools to teach young children to accept and endorse homosexuality. Wolf essentially adopted the reasoning in a brief submitted by a number of homosexual-advocacy groups, who said "the rights of religious freedom and parental control over the upbringing of children … would undermine teaching and learning.

Military Operation TIRANNT Will Hit 10,000 Iran Targets At Once

Code named by US military planners as TIRANNT, "Theater Iran Near Term" has identified several thousand targets inside Iran as part of a "Shock and Awe" Blitzkrieg, which is now in its final planning stages. According to the Kuwait-based Arab Times, an attack on Iran under TIRANNT could occur any time between late February and the end of April. This assessment, however, does not take into account the disarray of US ground forces in Iraq as well as the untimely withdrawal of several thousand British troops from the Iraq war theater, many of whom were stationed in Southern Iraq on the immediate border with Iran. Press reports in the Middle East confirm that the planned air strikes are by no means limited to Iran's nuclear facilities. Central Command Headquarters in Florida (CENTCOM) has already selected a comprehensive list of military and civilian targets. Industrial sites, civilian infrastructure including roads, water systems, bridges, electric power plants telecommunications towers, government buildings are part of the assumptions underlying the Blitzkrieg. "A single raid could result in 10,000 targets being hit with warplanes flying from the US and Diego Garcia"