World War III has already begun, says Israeli spy chief

A third World War is already underway between Islamic militancy and the West but most people do not realize it, the former head of Israel’s intelligence service Mossad said in an interview published recently in Portugal. ‘We are in the midst of a third World War,’ former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy told weekly newspaper Expresso. ‘The world does not understand. A person walks through the streets of Tel Aviv, Barcelona or Buenos Aires and doesn’t get the sense that there is a war going on,’ said Halevy who headed Mossad between 1998 and 2003. ‘During World War I and II the entire world felt there was a war. Today no one is conscious of it. From time to time there is a terrorist attack in Madrid, London and New York and then everything stays the same.’ Violence by Islamic militants has already disrupted international travel and trade just as in the previous two world conflicts, he said. Halevy, who was raised in war-time London, predicted it would take at least 25 years before the battle against Islamic fundamentalist terrorism is won and during this time a nuclear strike by Islamic militants was likely. ‘It doesn’t have to be something very sophisticated, It doesn’t have to be the latest nuclear technology, it can be something simple like a dirty bomb which instead of killing millions only kills tens of thousands,’ he said.

Iran prepares people for 'messiah miracles' as Mahdi returns

Official Iranian radio has completed broadcasting a lengthy series on the imminent appearance of a messianic figure who will defeat Islam's enemies and impose Islamic Shiite rule over the entire world – even speculating on specific dates the so-called "Mahdi" will be revealed. "Be joyous my heart, miracles of the Messiah will soon be here," reads a poem used to conclude the first broadcast. "The scent of breaths of the One we know comes from near. Grieve not of sorrow and melancholy, as assured I was … last night that a Savior will come, it's clear." After the coming of the 12th imam, or Mahdi, "liberal democratic civilization" will be found only in "history museums," explained the program. The Mahdi will appear suddenly, according to the report, in Mecca. Though no one can know the day, Shiites believe, the report actually suggests possibilities in the Muslim calendar. The Mahdi will lead a cataclysmic battle against a descendant of Muhammad's archenemy, Abu Sofyan, culminating in the cities of Kufa and Najaf. His enemy, though, is destroyed later in Jerusalem.

Robots With Skin Planned

U.S. scientists say they plan to create a new class of technology designed to produce completely soft-bodied robots. Tufts University researchers say such robots -- based on biological materials and the adaptive mechanisms found in living cells and organisms -- could repair space stations, conduct safer surgical procedures and work in hazardous environments such as landmine fields. Biology Professor Barry Trimmer and biomedical engineering Professor David Kaplan are co-directors of the Biomimetic Technologies for Soft-bodied Robots project, funded under a $730,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation. "A major characteristic that distinguishes man-made structures from biological ones is the preponderance of stiff materials," said Trimmer. "In contrast, living systems may contain stiff materials, such as bone and cuticle, but their fundamental building blocks are soft and elastic. "This distinction between biological and man-made objects is so pervasive that our evaluation of artificial or living structures is often made on the basis of the materials alone," he added. "Many machines incorporate flexible materials at their joints and can be tremendously fast, strong and powerful, but there is no current technology that can match the performance of an animal moving through natural terrain."

Transgenic Creatures Being Genetically Modified To "Like" Their Environment

The harsh conditions of factory farms have lead scientists to investigate ways to genetically modify the animals to be more complacent toward their surroundings, but experts warn such tampering could lead to "farmyard freaks." The fact that a U.S. cow has been recently cloned on a British farm has brought additional scrutiny to the issue. The impact of genetically modified and cloned animals is huge, according to Nottingham University applied bioethics professor Ben Mepham. "The question of whether humanity should take it upon ourselves to alter animals by G.M., involving in many cases mixing the genes of different species -- and sometimes those of human origin -- is undoubtedly critical for many people," said Mepham, a former Agriculture, Environment Biotechnology Commission member.

'Faith healers and Psychics' an option for many in the UK

More than half of people would turn to therapists such as faith healers rather than endure long NHS waiting lists, according to a new poll. And more than two thirds (67%) believe in the psychic powers of mediums and clairvoyants, 54% in ghosts, and 41% in an intelligent life on another planet, the poll found. Seven out of 10 people questioned could name a paranormal expert, compared with one in 10 who could name a nationally acclaimed doctor. Regionally, 72% of those in Scotland said they would turn to an alternative therapist to get better, followed by 66% of those in Wales and 45% of Londoners. When people were asked what mystery of life they would like the answer to, 40% said they would like to know if there is life after death. One in five (22%) wanted to know if there was life on another planet while 15% would like to find out if there is a God. Just over a third (36%) of the 3,000 people questioned said they already believed in God. "These ancient arts are returning to the forefront of society and, combined with the constant press on the state of the NHS and an increase in the belief of these arts, it's no wonder people are looking elsewhere for healing."

Flesh-eating disease making a comeback

A virtually eradicated disease that eats through people's skin, cartilage and bones is reappearing in Africa, Asia and South America, the World Health Organisation has warned. Yaws, which is triggered by bacterial infection and can cause debilitating deformations, particularly in children under 15, once affected 50 million people worldwide before a massive treatment program in the 1950s almost succeeded in wiping it out. When the disease's incidence went down by 95 per cent, control programs were gradually dismantled. "People assumed that the last few cases would be caught by public health systems, but yaws made a comeback," said Dr Kingsley Asiedu, a WHO disease expert. At present, 500,000 people mostly in poor, rural areas are affected by yaws, according to WHO.

U.S. Military Looks To 'Black Ice' Weapon

The U.S. military has appealed to scientists to help develop a novel weapon - artificial black ice. The plastic-like substance, the brainchild of the U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), would be used to force slip-ups from enemies. The "polymer ice" would be designed for hot, arid environments, "as found in Iraq and Afghanistan", it said. A spray-on "reversal agent" could be incorporated into boots and tyres to prevent friendly forces sliding around. In a document published on the agency's website, officials point out that "to get from point A to point B, one must have sufficient traction with the ground". Darpa believes a polymer-based compound could replicate the properties of black ice - a thin, translucent slippery coating, typically found on roads in winter - to reduce traction. The agency's wish list for the "Mobility Control System" includes the polymer ice or raw materials to produce it very quickly, a spray-on reversal agent and a means to clean the ice up. "Such a system will provide unprecedented situational control and sustained operational tempo," said Darpa. "It would degrade the ability of our adversaries to shoot and chase us."

Singapore Launches Contest To Build 'Urban Warrior' Robots

Singapore has launched a contest to build a robot that can operate autonomously in urban warfare conditions, moving in and out of buildings to search and destroy targets like a human soldier. The country's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) said on its website it is offering one million Singapore dollars (652,000 US) to the developers of such a robot that completes a stipulated task in the fastest time. DSTA said individuals, companies, universities and research institutes are welcome to participate in the contest, dubbed TechX Challenge. Foreigners must to collaborate with local partners to join the contest. "Operation in urban areas represents a significant challenge to militaries," DSTA chief executive Richard Lim said at the launch of the contest on Tuesday. "Recent military experiences in Iraq, the Middle East and other locations have clearly illustrated these challenges." Currently, robots deployed for urban warfare missions are remotely operated by a human, limiting their effectiveness and tying down resources, Lim said. The robot DSTA wants "must, on its own, be able to navigate both indoors and outdoors in an urban landscape and accomplish a set of assigned tasks within a stipulated time," he said. This robot must be able to negotiate a staircase and use the elevator to dash from one floor to another even without the aid of satellite navigation which may not be available indoors.

U.S. To Launch Huge "Eye In The Sky" Armada

Perhaps, though not yet - those who live in fear of an eye in the sky tracking their every move have until 2009 to dig a bunker and set of underground tunnels to the nearest shops. But yes, the American defence contractor Lockheed Martin has been working for three years on a $40m contract awarded by the US Missile Defence Agency to build 11 High-Altitude Airships. Each airship will float 12 miles (20km) above the surface (in the low stratosphere), be powered by solar panels and could oversee an area of 600 square miles. Put 11 of them over the US with suitably powerful cameras, and they could keep watch on every square metre of the whole country. The project's aims include being used as "a mobile, retaskable, high-altitude, geostationary long-endurance platform" whose functions "will span from communications and weather/environmental monitoring to short- and long-range missile warning, surveillance, and target acquisition". ("Target acquisition" is what civilians call "aiming a weapon at something".)

Deadly H5N1 Burd Flu May Be Mutating In Cats

Bird flu hasn't gone away. The discovery, announced last week, that the H5N1 bird flu virus is widespread in cats in locations across Indonesia has refocused attention on the danger that the deadly virus could be mutating into a form that can infect humans far more easily. In the first survey of its kind, an Indonesian scientist has found that in areas where there have been outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry and humans, 1 in 5 cats have been infected with the virus, and survived. This suggests that as outbreaks continue to flare across Asia and Africa, H5N1 will have vastly more opportunities to adapt to mammals than had been supposed. Chairul Anwar Nidom of Airlangga University in Surabaya, Indonesia, told journalists last week that he had taken blood samples from 500 stray cats near poultry markets in four areas of Java, including the capital, Jakarta, and one area in Sumatra, all of which have recently had outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry and people. Of these cats, 20 per cent carried antibodies to H5N1. This does not mean that they were still carrying the virus, only that they had been infected - probably through eating birds that had H5N1. Many other cats that were infected are likely to have died from the resulting illness, so many more than 20 per cent of the original cat populations may have acquired H5N1.

U.S. Military Unveils Heat-Ray Gun to Public

The U.S. Defence Department today unveiled what it called a revolutionary heat-beaming weapon that could be used to control mobs or repel foes in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. The so-called Active Denial System creates an intense burning sensation causing people to run for cover, but no lasting harm, officials said. "This is a breakthrough technology that's going to give our forces a capability they don't now have," Theodore Barna, an assistant deputy undersecretary of defence for advanced systems and concepts, said. "We expect the services to add it to their tool kit. And that could happen as early as 2010." The weapon, mounted on a Humvee vehicle, uses a large rectangular dish antenna to direct an invisible beam toward a target. It includes a high-voltage power unit and beam-generating equipment and is effective at more than 500 metres. Existing counter-personnel systems designed not to kill - including bean bag munitions and rubber bullets - work at little more than "rock-throwing distances," said Marine Colonel Kirk Hymes, director of the Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. The weapon was shown off publicly for the first time at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, where it has been undergoing operational tests by the 820th Security Forces Group, which protects US Air Force assets. The directorate invited reporters to be zapped as part of what its spokeswoman, Marine Major Sarah Fullwood, called an effort to "demystify" the technology at issue. At a distance of several football fields, the sensation from the exposure was like a blast from a very hot oven, too painful to bear without scrambling for cover. The burning sensation is achieved by high-power energy waves that heat the skin to 54 degrees Celsius. The pain ended as soon as the target jumped from the line of fire. Documents given out during the demonstration said more than 10,000 people had been exposed to the weapon since testing began more than 12 years ago.

Israel Raises Nuclear War Stakes

The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, dramatically raised the stakes in the international showdown with Iran last night, with a clear warning that his country was prepared to use military force to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "The Jewish people, with the scars of the Holocaust fresh on its body, cannot afford to allow itself to face threats of annihilation once again," Mr Olmert said in a speech to a high-level security conference in Herzliya. "No nation has the right even to consider its position. It is the obligation of every country to act against this will all its might." "We can stand up against nuclear threats and even prevent them," he said. The Israeli officials say that action should be taken to stop Iran before it reaches the “point of no return” in progressing towards the possible production of a nuclear bomb. They are referring to the moment when Iran, which announced last year that it is capable of enriching uranium to the 5% necessary for nuclear energy, is able to overcome technical problems with centrifuges used in the process so that they can run on a sustainable basis. Once that happens, Iran would be theoretically capable of enriching uranium to the 90% required for a nuclear weapon, depending on the number of centrifuges.

Executive Order Expands Presidential Power Over Agencies

The White House has quietly amended a key executive order to tighten the president’s grip on federal agencies that enforce health, safety and environmental protections.
The new order, recently issued, gives the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) enhanced tools to oversee and interfere with federal regulations on everything from warning labels on medicines to safety standards for construction worksites. In a statement responding to the executive order, the watchdog group Public Citizen called the initiative "an appalling arrogation of power," charging the White House with claiming more executive will over federal agencies while circumventing congressional oversight. The new powers build on a Clinton-era executive order that authorized OIRA to use cost-benefit analysis and other market-based calculations to evaluate rules and regulations proposed by federal agencies. Under that order, OIRA can compel executive-branch agencies, like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Fish and Wildlife Service, to change proposed public-health, environmental and other regulations according to White House priorities. The amended order enables the White House to oversee not only regulations, but also "guidance" documents that agencies issue to inform the public about how rules will be enforced – for example, an explanation of how a ruling in an environmental lawsuit will change the way polluters are regulated. OIRA can now scrutinize all "significant" guidance materials – defined according to criteria such as having the ability to "adversely affect" the economy in a "material way."

Deadly Strain Of Bird Flu Confirmed In Hungary

European Union officials have confirmed the first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in an EU country this year. European Commission officials say laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the deadly strain in geese found dead in Csongrad County in southeastern Hungary. They say tests were conducted because of an abnormally high mortality rate among the birds. Hungarian officials have slaughtered all 3,000 birds in the affected flock. They also have set up a three-kilometer protection zone and a 10-kilometer surveillance zone around the area. The discovery is the first in an EU country since last August. EU experts are to meet Friday to review the situation. Meanwhile, Croatia has banned poultry imports from Hungary following the announcement.

Big Brother Storms The Playground in Britain

Children in Britain are having their fingerprints taken at what some parents believe is an alarming rate. Over the past four years, more than 700,000 schoolchildren aged three to 11 have been fingerprinted and photographed as part of the Junior Librarian scheme. More than 3,500 schools have signed up and new schools are joining at a rate of 20 a week. Many of them do not even seek parental consent before fingerprinting children. Junior Librarian is the brainchild of Micro Librarian Systems. The child presses his or her thumb on to a scanner; the machine takes a reading, converts it into a unique number, and stores the child's information. This means children no longer have to carry around (and lose) library cards. Instead they stick their thumb in a scanning machine that records which books they've borrowed. Other schools are using fingerprint scanners and State-of-the-art technology maps children’s vein patterns using near-infrared to confirm their identity. This allows for a 'cashless' system, where children use their fingers to record how much they've spent on lunch.

Iran demands UN nuclear inspector removed from country

Iran has demanded the removal of the United Nations official overseeing nuclear inspections in the country, accusing him of breach of trust, and barred all inspectors from nations behind sanctions, diplomats said. Tehran's moves, following a ban on 38 inspectors from four major Western nations recently announced, appeared aimed at testing Western resolve over its disputed nuclear activity while stopping short of violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The United Nations slapped preliminary sanctions on Iran last month for refusing to stop enriching uranium, the pathway to fuel for atomic energy or bombs, and impeding International Atomic Energy Agency probes into the nature of its program.

U.N. climate report will shock the world -chairman says

A forthcoming U.N. report on climate change will provide the most credible evidence yet of a human link to global warming and hopefully shock the world into taking more action, the panel's chairman recently said. The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due for release on Feb. 2 in Paris, draws on research by 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries and has taken six years to compile. "There are a lot of signs and evidence in this report which clearly establish not only the fact that climate change is taking place, but also that it really is human activity that is influencing that change," R.K. Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, told Reuters. "I hope this report will shock people, governments into taking more serious action as you really can't get a more authentic and a more credible piece of scientific work. So I hope this will be taken for what it's worth." The IPCC will say it is at least 90 percent sure than human activities, led by the burning of fossil fuels, are to blame for global warming over the past 50 years, sources say.

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. British Special Forces already use 6-inch MAV aircraft called WASPs for reconnaissance in Afghanistan. The $3,000 WASP is operated with a Gameboy-style controller and is nearly silent, so it can get very close without being detected. A new development will reportedly see the WASP fitted with a C4 explosive warhead for kamikaze attacks on snipers. One newspaper dubbed it "The Talibanator." Fred Davis, technical director of the Assessment and Demonstrations Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, confirmed that the United States has ambitious plans for future micro-munitions, which he says will be pocket-sized with mission-specific payloads.

Ahmadinejad again says: "Israel and the United States will soon be destroyed"

“Israel and the United States will soon be destroyed, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently during a meeting with Syria's foreign minister, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website said in a report. ‘Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives,’ the Iranian president was quoted as saying. ‘Sparking discord among Muslims, especially between the Shiites and Sunnis, is a plot hatched by the Zionists and the US for dominating regional nations and looting their resources,’ Ahmadinejad added, according to the report. The Iranian president also directly tied events in Lebanon to a wider plan aimed at Israel's destruction. He called on ‘regional countries’ to ‘support the Islamic resistance of the Lebanese people and strive to enhance solidarity and unity among the different Palestinian groups in a bid to pave the ground for the undermining of the Zionist regime whose demise is, of course, imminent.’

Technology Is Taking Over Americans' Lives

If there was any doubt that computers and technology are taking over the lives of Americans, it was dispelled Monday by two studies -- one noting that most Americans spend more time with their computers than with their spouses, the other revealing many drivers are e-mailing and instant messaging while driving. After reviewing PC and broadband Internet usage by 1,001 Americans, Kelton Research found that 65% of U.S. consumers are spending more time with their computers than with their significant others; moreover, they aren't very happy with their technology experience. It's no surprise that Kelton Research found that consumers are frustrated. "A majority of Americans (52%) describe their most recent experience with a computer as one of anger, sadness, or alienation," according to the announcement of the study.

Israel faces nuclear Holocaust warns Gingrich

The Israeli people are facing the threat of a nuclear Holocaust, former US Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich warned the Herzliya Conference held by the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya recently. Meanwhile, he said, the United States could lose a few million people or a number of cities to a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction. Gingrich, who addressed the conference via satellite from the United States, said he thought Israel's existence was under threat again for the first time in 40 years. "Israel is in the greatest danger it has been in since 1967. Prior to '67, many wondered if Israel would survive. After '67, Israel seemed military dominant, despite the '73 war. I would say we are (now) back to question of survival," Gingrich said. He added that the United States could "lose two or three cities to nuclear weapons, or more than a million to biological weapons." Gingrich added that in such a scenario, "freedom as we know it will disappear, and we will become a much grimmer, much more militarized, dictatorial society." "Three nuclear weapons are a second Holocaust," Gingrich declared, adding: "People are greatly underestimating how dangerous the world is becoming. I'll repeat it, three nuclear weapons are a second Holocaust. Our enemies are quite explicit in their desire to destroy us. They say it publicly? We are sleepwalking through this process as though it's only a problem of communication," Gingrich said.

Man's Inventiveness Looking More Like The Borg

Will we remain human or are we facing a future that overtakes our humanness, creating monstrous beings? Half organic and half machine. Some of you might remember Star Trek's Captain Picard, captured and turned into a Borg connected and directed by one collective mass mind. It may be imaginative to see all humans connected to a one-mind, mass-directed organic-machine, Borg, controlling our minds and bodies. But aren't we just a few steps away from such development with the ongoing research into Artificial Intelligence and the introduction of biological components into machines and vice versa? Could this happen? As man's exploration and inventiveness continues gathering strength and future generations, reared in the daylight of "push the envelop" technology, absorb it, the world will be transformed. But Pandora's Box has opened alongside creating problems and complications which may over time accumulatively cross some invisible line leading to our downfall. How this technology affects humans, from individuals to nations and governments, is the real question. Some universities offer whole courses devoted to exploring the effects of modern technology on humans. Tech tools are changing us, even if we find these cyborg tools convenient. Questions abound as to the deeper ramifications on mankind and our world. Chips under the skin, laser scanners, bionics, gene mixing, designer babies, global communications, cloning, genetic interventions, nano robotics, etc., - we are already living a global, pre-Borg lifestyle.

North Korea is helping Iran with it's nuclear testing

North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year. Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran's nuclear scientists.
North Korea provoked an international outcry when it successfully fired a bomb at a secret underground location and Western intelligence officials are convinced that Iran is working on its own weapons programme. A senior European defence official told The Daily Telegraph that North Korea had invited a team of Iranian nuclear scientists to study the results of last October's underground test to assist Teheran's preparations to conduct its own — possibly by the end of this year. There were unconfirmed reports at the time of the Korean firing that an Iranian team was present. Iranian military advisers regularly visit North Korea to participate in missile tests. Now the long-standing military co-operation between the countries has been extended to nuclear issues. As a result, senior western military officials are deeply concerned that the North Koreans' technical superiority will allow the Iranians to accelerate development of their own nuclear weapon. "The Iranians are working closely with the North Koreans to study the results of last year's North Korean nuclear bomb test," said the European defence official. "We have identified increased activity at all of Iran's nuclear facilities since the turn of the year," he said. "All the indications are that the Iranians are working hard to prepare for their own underground nuclear test."

Czechs Give Go-Ahead for US "Son of Star Wars" Base

The Czech government has announced that it wants to host a large US military site for the Pentagon's much-criticised missile shield system, confirming for the first time that Washington had asked Prague for permission to build a radar site for the national missile defence programme. In one of his first acts as the new Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek said that building the facilities in the Czech Republic, the first extension of the "son of star wars" project beyond the US, would boost European security.
Mr Topolanek referred only to a radar site, a strong indication that the Pentagon is hoping to locate the bigger part of the European project - a large missile interceptor silo that would theoretically fire off rockets to destroy incoming missiles - in neighbouring Poland. Russia warned earlier this month that any US extension of its missile defence project to eastern Europe would force it to review its military planning to counter the perceived threat.

Crisis in the Church

What is happening to the leadership of the Church today? Why do so many seem to care more for popularity and publishing contracts than for the souls of men and women dying in their sins? Since when does preaching the gospel take a back seat to public image? Mega-church pastors preach sermons casting Judas as a poor, misunderstood guy caught up in the politics of his time. Maybe he didn’t mean to betray Jesus—it was his destiny after all, so how can it be fair? Maybe God forgave him in the end. Other pastors spend Sunday mornings bottle-feeding their sheep before sending them out to the coffee shop in the lobby; still others talk about everything under the sun except what will happen to people who turn their backs on God. And then we have some front-line defenders of the faith—Christian apologists—worshipping with Mormons in their Tabernacle and making plans to celebrate Joseph Smith’s birthday. Bringing up the rear are the prosperity name it and claim it preachers who shout about faith, and then beg us for money. I ask you: where is their faith? Why do they ask me for money when they can ask God? And why do they visit doctors and schedule surgeries? We are looking apostasy in the eye . . . it is coming.

Guardian Missile Defense System For Commercial Aircraft

It finally happened. Five years and four months after Sept. 11 2001, an MD-10 aircraft flew out of Los Angeles International Airport this week to begin operational testing and evaluation of an anti-missile defense system to protect U.S. civilian airliners from ground-launched missiles. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security team will carry out the testing and evaluation program on the long awaited Guardian system developed by the Northrop Grumman Corporation. The Guardian remains the front-runner to provide what is potentially an enormous and very lucrative contract to install a Counter-Man Portable Air Defense System, or C-MANPADS on all U.S. commercial airliners.
Northrop Grumman in a statement released this week described the new testing procedures as "phase III of the DHS-sponsored program." "During the test and evaluation effort, which concludes in March 2008, nine MD-10 aircraft equipped with the Guardian system will be in continual revenue service operation," the company said. Northrop Grumman described the Guardian as "a defensive aid utilizing proven military technology to defend against the threat posed by anti-aircraft, shoulder-fired missiles. Once launched, the missile is detected by the Guardian system, which then directs a non-visible, eye-safe laser to the seeker head of the incoming missile, disrupting its guidance signals."

Hybrid Human-Bird Flu Virus Nearly Escapes

Last April, a researcher at the University of Texas, Austin, put tubes into a centrifuge to separate out their contents, which included a human flu virus modified to carry a gene from H5N1 bird flu. The centrifuge became unbalanced and stopped, and when the researcher opened it he found the lid of a safety cup holding one of the tubes had fallen off. Fearing that the tube inside had leaked, the researcher disinfected everything and called the lab's safety officers. He was wearing a protective hood and respirator, and the whole room was at negative pressure to prevent leaks to the outside. But the researcher had made one mistake: he opened the centrifuge and removed the samples without waiting the recommended 30 minutes to allow any virus-laden aerosol to settle. In fact, the tube was intact. But if aerosol had escaped, the consequences could have been serious, since the virus would have been able to infect humans, with unknown effects. Experiments since the accident show that the virus replicates more slowly in the lab than human flu, says Bob Krug, head of the Austin lab. But its behaviour in people might be different, and an escapee could also share its new gene with other flu viruses.

India To Put Biometric Banking On Test Pilots

A pilot program will put 15 biometric ATMs at village kiosks in five districts across southern India. The machines are expected to serve about 100,000 workers who will use fingerprint scanners, rather than ATM cards and PINs, to obtain their funds. Biometric ATMs are already in use in Colombia and a few locations in Japan, but haven't caught on in much of the rest of the world. As a result, biometrics companies are watching the experiment closely as a potential watershed for the industry. Nagaraj Mylandla, managing director of Financial Software and Systems, which helped design security protocol for the new system, said there are 35,000 non-biometric ATMs in India today. In three years the number of machines is expected to triple to more than 100,000, leaving a window of opportunity for suppliers to make the new technology standard issue for all new machines. The increase will mean that just about every rural village and outpost will have access to the world's financial backbone and, if the pilot program is successful, fingerprint identification could become standard, even for private bank transactions.

Report Has 'Smoking Gun' On Climate

Human-caused global warming is here, visible in the air, water and melting ice, and is destined to get much worse in the future, an authoritative global scientific report will warn next week. "The smoking gun is definitely lying on the table as we speak," said top U.S. climate scientist Jerry Mahlman, who reviewed all 1,600 pages of the first segment of a giant four-part report. "The evidence ... is compelling." Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist and study co-author, went even further: "This isn't a smoking gun; climate is a batallion of intergalactic smoking missiles." The first phase of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is being released in Paris next week. This segment, written by more than 600 scientists and reviewed by another 600 experts and edited by bureaucrats from 154 countries, includes "a significantly expanded discussion of observation on the climate," said co-chair Susan Solomon, a senior scientist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She and other scientists held a telephone briefing on the report Monday. That report will feature an "explosion of new data" on observations of current global warming, Solomon said.

Endless GPS Tracking Crosses The Line Into Too Much Information

Parents once sent their children off with a little trust and a prayer that they would be all right. Today it's big business helping parents track of their kids no matter what the hour. More and more parents know exactly where their children are. They can pinpoint them to within a few inches, thanks to the Global Positioning System. The parents can track children throughout the school day, or while a teenager is out driving or partying at a friend's house. Most parents use GPS through a cell phone. But that's not the end of it. In some schools, a GPS tracker is sewn into the school blazers. According to the Miami Herald, we'll soon seen GPS trackers installed in sneakers. The Wall Street Journal reports that the next trend will mix GPS tracking with social networking. In other words, not only can you keep text messaging your friends on your cell phone, but your GPS monitor will track them wherever they go. Pets and employees won't escape surveillance either. Products will be out soon to allow pet owners to track animals' whereabouts. A special phone speaker hung about a pet's neck will allow the owner to talk to it no matter where the owner wanders. Employers, in the meantime, are keeping track of employees through GPS-implanted cell phones in order to boost productivity. That might cut out long lunches, but, as one privacy expert noted, do employers turn off trackers at the end of the work day? Soon GPS devices will be everywhere. One researcher said this will be a $2 billion business in a few years.

Zeus worshippers demand access to temple

After all these centuries, Zeus may have a few thunderbolts left. A tiny group of worshippers plans a rare ceremony Sunday to honor the ancient Greek gods, at Athens' 1,800-year-old Temple of Olympian Zeus. Greece's Culture Ministry has declared the central Athens site off-limits, but worshippers say they will defy the decision. "These are our temples and they should be used by followers of our religion," said Doreta Peppa, head of the Athens-based Ellinais, a group campaigning to revive the ancient religion. "Of course we will go ahead with the event ... we will enter the site legally," said Peppa, who calls herself a high priestess of the revived faith. "We will issue a call for peace, who can be opposed to that?" Peppa said the ceremony will be held in honor of Zeus, king of the ancient gods, but did not give other details. The daily Ethnos newspaper, citing the group's application to the Culture Ministry to use the site, said the 90-minute event would include hymns, dancers, torchbearers, and worshippers in ancient costumes.

Iran bars 38 IAEA nuclear inspectors

Iran has barred 38 nuclear inspectors on a United Nations list from entering the country, the foreign minister said Monday in what appeared to be retaliation for the U.N. sanctions imposed last month. The rejected officials are on a list of potential inspectors drawn up by the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit and monitor Iran's nuclear facilities. "The act of rejecting some inspectors is legal and in accordance with the agency's regulations," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the official Islamic Republic News Agency. He said others on the U.N. nuclear watchdog's list remain eligible, but did not explain how Iran decided which inspectors to bar. The IAEA "submits a long list of inspectors to member countries and the countries have the right to oppose the visit by some inspectors," Mottaki said. Last month, the U.N. Security Council imposed limited trade sanctions on Iran over its refusal to cease uranium enrichment, a process that can produce the material for nuclear energy or bombs.

American Hiroshima Called Very Real Possibility

Two manufactured events took place last week that lend credence to the notion that we live in very dangerous times. The first, the detonation of a "suitcase nuke" nuclear device on American soil by Islamist terrorists, as portrayed on the FOX series "24," was fiction. The second, the updating of the "Doomsday Clock" to five minutes to midnight, though based in scientific reasoning, is also artificial. But when viewed through the terroristic chaos in which the world is embroiled only the naïve and those in denial can afford the luxury of discounting the probability of an "American Hiroshima" taking place in the near future.

North Texas Family Searches For The Ark of the Covenant

A family is about to embark on an unusual expedition. Their journey will begin in Egypt, and they hope it will end with the discovery of the lost Ark of the Covenant. "This is the great adventure. This is the one that everybody wants," Jacob Bonnema says. "It would sure be exciting to see it," says his father, Arch Bonnema. Local businessman Arch Bonnema and his wife, son, daughter-in-law and a family friend are leaving Saturday. They're part of a group of 15 setting out to find the ark that held the Ten Commandments. One theory about its whereabouts places the ark in Axom, Ethiopia. "After examining all of the evidence, we think that this one is the most likely one of them," Arch Bonnema says. Bonnema's confidence is high because his last expedition far exceeded his hopes. A trip to Iran yielded pieces of petrified wood. "We've got so much evidence that what we found was Noah's Ark," Bonnema says. "We can't prove it's Noah's Ark. We look everywhere we could on the side of the mountain for a plaque that said S.S.Noah, and we couldn't find one." The discovery rekindled his faith in both the Bible and in archaeology. "It's a great encouragement, since we found what everyone said was impossible and everybody's been looking for centuries, and we believe we found it. That encouraged us to take the next step, which is the other ark," Bonnema says. It's a daunting and dangerous task, especially given the unrest in Ethiopia today. Jacob and Kelly Bonnema will leave their four young children behind to make the trek. They say their faith motivates them. "It's dangerous, but I know there's angels protecting us," says Kelly Bonnema. "I'm nervous beyond words, but that's what an adventure is all about!" her husband says. It's a journey they hope will change them and the history books.

Ex-US Defense Chief Suggests Military Action Against North Korea

The United States should consider military action against North Korea if China and South Korea refuse to prod Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program, former US defense secretary William Perry proposed. Although the move is dangerous, there is no alternative left if China and South Korea, the two key economic lifelines to North Korea, do not join any US-led "diplomatic coercive" action against Pyongyang, he told a Congressional hearing. Perry, the Pentagon chief under former president Bill Clinton, said the United States should consider destroying a large reactor under construction in North Korea capable of making about 10 nuclear bombs a year. In addition to the Yongbyon reactor, which produces spent fuel that can be "reprocessed" to yield plutonium for a nuclear weapon, Pyongyang is reportedly building a large reactor in Taechon. Perry said that the danger of the North Korean nuclear weapons program was by now obvious to China and South Korea and that they should be willing to join the United States in any concerted diplomatic initiative. "An additional inducement for China and South Korea would be the concern that if they did not provide the coercion, the United States might take the only meaningful coercive action available to it -- destroying the reactor before it could come on line," Perry said.

O’Hare UFO Sighting May Be Part Of New ‘Flap’

In the wake of the O’Hare International Airport UFO report that was carried on CNN and other news media in November, further recent sightings suggest we may be experiencing what those in ‘ufology’ refer to as a ‘flap,’ which is a period of time in which very many of these mysterious craft are seen in the skies. On November 7, a flying saucer-like object hovered low over O'Hare International Airport for several minutes before it flew off into thick clouds with such energy that it left a hole in the overcast sky, and dozens of United Airlines employees observed the phenomenon. Officials at the airport initially said they knew nothing of the mysterious object, however, the Federal Aviation Administration admitted its air traffic control tower at O'Hare airport had received a call from a supervisor there who wanted to know if the controllers had spotted an elliptical-shaped craft staying motionless over Concourse C of the United Airlines terminal.

National ID to Be Privatized, Activist Says He Has Docs

A program to standardize state driver's licenses to create a de facto national I.D. should use a third-party -- most likely a private contractor -- to verify that a person is eligible for a driver's license or state identification card, according to a document provided to 27B by a privacy activist. The document appears to be a portion of the rules that Homeland Security is proposing for the program, which are currently being evaluated by the Office of Management and Budget before they are presented to the public for comment. According to the document (.txt) that Bill Scannell of UnReal ID says he got from a government official (but which 27B has not yet verified), DHS suggests that there are three models for states to follow to insure that a person has the right documents and does not have a driver's license in another state. One is to let them figure out how to communicate with each other. The second is to create a federated model, where a central service includes pointers to records in all the states' databases which all have a standard lookup interface. This is similar architecture to the one used for trucking licenses, where a state can find information about an applicant by checking a central clearinghouse that doesn't store all the records, but simply knows where to look for records. The third, and favored option, according to the document, is to have a centralized service, likely a private company, that vets anyone seeking to get a driver's license. The state would collect the necessary information -- including social security numbers, certified birth certificate and possibly fingerprints -- send it along to the service, which would then check all the states, run the name against watchlists, verify the social security number through the immigrant-verification program known as SAVE and verify birth certificate information through EVVE.

Is the Antichrists 7 year Peace Plan with Israel coming in 2007

The European Union joined Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday in suggesting that Middle East peace talks move straight to the disputes at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. For the past few years, peace attempts such as the "road map" of 2003 have concentrated on small confidence-building measures, leaving aside bigger questions such as the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state and refugees. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also said a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators in February would try to find ways to ensure progress toward peace before the summer. "What we would like to do with our friends is to know what is the endgame -- once we have the endgame, to know really how we can get there," Solana told a news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. "Endgame" is the diplomatic code for negotiating aspects of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors.

Israel Readies Nuclear Bunker

The Israeli government is building a massive war bunker in the hills outside Jerusalem – a refuge for top government officials in the event of a biological, chemical or nuclear attack. The maze of tunnels and underground rooms is scheduled to be completed in the next year or two as fears of an attack from Iran intensify. Israel’s top intelligence officer told the Knesset last month that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by 2009, and Israelis increasingly fear that Tehran would seek to carry out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threat to "wipe Israel off the map.” Ephraim Sneh, Israel’s deputy defense minister, said recently regarding Iran: "Imagine that this regime – the powerhouse of terrorism in the region, with its ambitions of expansion and domination of the entire region – would have the power of nuclear blackmail. What would life in this region look like? Not only [for] Israel, but other countries as well.” A November poll by the Israeli newspaper Maariv found that 66 percent of Israelis believe Iran, if it develops a nuclear weapon, would try to use a bomb to destroy Israel.

Burma 'orders Christians to be wiped out'

The military regime in Burma is intent on wiping out Christianity in the country, according to claims in a secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry. Entitled "Programme to destroy the Christian religion in Burma", the incendiary memo contains point by point instructions on how to drive Christians out of the state. The text, which opens with the line "There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practised", calls for anyone caught evangelising to be imprisoned. It advises: "The Christian religion is very gentle – identify and utilise its weakness." Its discovery follows widespread reports of religious persecution, with churches burnt to the ground, Christians forced to convert to the state religion, Buddhism, and their children barred from school. Human rights groups claim that the treatment meted out to Christians, who make up six per cent of the population, is part of a wider campaign by the regime, also targeted at ethnic minority tribes, to create a uniform society in which the race and language is Burmese and the only accepted religion is Buddhism. In the past year, an estimated 27,000 members of the predominantly Christian Karen tribe were driven from their homes in eastern Burma.

U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran

U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst recently said. "I've seen some of the planning ... You're not talking about a surgical strike," said Wayne White, who was a top Middle East analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research until March 2005. "You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years, White told the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington think tank. "We're not talking about just surgical strikes against an array of targets inside Iran. We're talking about clearing a path to the targets" by taking out much of the Iranian Air Force, Kilo submarines, anti-ship missiles that could target commerce or U.S. warships in the Gulf, and maybe even Iran's ballistic missile capability, White said.

2007 Could Be The Year RFID Gets "Minority Report" Smarter

RFID is poised to help retailers and service providers enhance customers' experiences and deliver precise ad messages, according to panelists at the National Retail Federation show. Soon, RFID could track items as customers pick them up from store shelves throughout America and immediately trigger displays with very specific information and advice -- like which top will match those pants you're holding and where exactly you can find that top. Radio-frequency identification, or RFID, is poised to help retailers and service providers tap into the seemingly infinite potential for enhancing customers' experiences and delivering precise ad messages, according to members of a panel at the National Retail Federation show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Panelists said that after a year of hype (2005) and a year of validation (2006), RFID will likely bring advancements in terms of how to apply the technology so businesses can glean and share information about customer behavior and their own inventory, then act on it. Early adopters are already beginning to show how it's done. Best Buy employees restocked and organized CDs and DVDs more frequently and more enthusiastically when RFID did some of their work for them. An RFID application that created a list of out-of-place and under-stocked items made the employees' jobs easier, said Mark Roberti, panelist and founder and editor of RFID Journal. The technology can trigger surveillance cameras in some stores when an item or box goes into a dumpster out back. It also can mark the time an item left a stockroom and vanished, allowing investigators and prosecutors to view video footage from that time to build theft cases. Now that the industry has published standards and moved the technology beyond its initial stages of development, companies are beginning to figure out how to use RFID to cut time and costs for customer service, training, and labor.

Navy Tests High-Tech Railgun

Normally, new weaponry tends to make defense more expensive. But the Navy likes to say its new railgun delivers the punch of a missile at bullet prices. A flashy demonstration of the futuristic and comparatively inexpensive railgun weapon recently at the Naval Surface Warfare Center had Navy brass smiling. The weapon, which was successfully tested in October at the King George County base, fires nonexplosive projectiles at incredible speeds, using electricity rather than gun powder. The technology could increase the striking range of U.S. Navy ships more than tenfold by the year 2020. "It's pretty amazing capability, and it went off without a hitch," said Capt. Joseph McGettigan, commander of NSWC Dahlgren Division. "The biggest thing is it's real not just something on the drawing board," he said. "It could go to the field right now. We just want to improve it, to make it better." The railgun works by sending electric current along parallel rails, creating an electromagnetic force so powerful it can fire a metal projectile at tremendous speed. Because the gun uses electricity and not gunpowder to fire projectiles, it's safer, eliminating the possibility of explosions on ships and vehicles equipped with it. Instead, a powerful pulse generator is used. The prototype fired at Dahlgren is only an 8-megajoule electromagnetic device, but the one to be used on Navy ships will generate a massive 64 megajoules. Current Navy guns generate about 9 megajoules of muzzle energy. The railgun's 200 to 250 nautical-mile range will allow Navy ships to strike deep in enemy territory while staying out of reach of hostile forces. Future railgun ordnance won't be large and heavy, either, but will deliver the punch of a Tomahawk cruise missile because of the immense speed of the projectile at impact. Garnett compared that force to hitting a target with a Ford Taurus at 380 mph. "It will take out a building," he said. Warheads aren't needed because of the massive force of impact.