6 die from brain-eating amoeba in lakes

It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die. Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future. "This is definitely something we need to track," said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better," Beach said. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect to see more cases." According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s. In Arizona, David Evans said nobody knew his son, Aaron, was infected with the amoeba until after the 14-year-old died on Sept. 17. At first, the teen seemed to be suffering from nothing more than a headache. "We didn't know," Evans said. "And here I am: I come home and I'm burying him." After doing more tests, doctors said Aaron probably picked up the amoeba a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu, a popular man-made lake on the Colorado River between Arizona and California. Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment. Beach said people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose — say, by doing a somersault in chest-deep water — the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve. The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain, where it continues the damage, "basically feeding on the brain cells," Beach said. People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes, he said.

La Nina Could Wreck World’s Weather

Experts predict a run of severe weather in the coming months, with devastating floods striking some parts of the world while severe droughts afflict other regions, as the climate phenomenon known as La Niña gathers momentum. A chronic drought afflicting southern California and many southeastern states of America could be exacerbated, with Los Angeles heading for its driest year on record. In contrast, western Canada and the northwestern US could turn colder and snowier. Mozambique, southeast Africa, and northern Brazil may face exceptionally heavy rains and floods, while southern Brazil and much of Argentina suffer drought. La Niña could even rearrange the pattern of sea ice around the Antarctic.

China Aiming Smart Missiles At US Ships

China's DF-21 and DF-15 ballistic missiles use inertia plus gyroscope guidance at the middle course, and as a result the flight trajectories are quite inflexible. Even if new optical and radar image guidance technologies are applied at the terminal course, it is still extremely difficult to quickly adjust the direction when attacking a moving target. Suppose a DF-21M middle-range ballistic missile were to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier from a distance of 1,000 kilometers at an average speed of 7 Mach, or flying at a speed of 2,380 meters per second -- the whole course would take approximately seven minutes.

Psychotronic Pain Ray Heading for LA

It could soon get a lot hotter in LA. The Los Angeles County Sheriff is apparently looking at the Active Denial System, a directed energy weapon that created a burning sensation, for possible use in the City of Angels: Charles "Sid" Heal stands excitedly in the parking lot of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's station in San Dimas, tinkering with a prototype for the ominously named "Active Denial System." With one zap from what looks like a satellite dish on a tripod, those within target range feel a burning sensation on their skin.

Iran Threatens "EMP" Nuclear War

Not just computers in banks, Wall Street and similar high value financial targets but also subways, trains, traffic lights, auto engines, truck engines, electricity grids, shipping and harbor control, aircraft in flight and on the ground etc., etc. Anything that uses or relies on electronics and these days what does not? Telephone communications, landlines or cellular, radios and so on would cease to operate. Which is why I screamed to high heaven and anyone who would listen to me in the corridors of power the previous time Ahmadi-Nejad wanted to come to the USA. In a PRIVATE aircraft with some 20 or 30 armed security personnel who would remain on his aircraft and not pass custons or immigration. Luckily soneone heard and he was not granted permission for the private aircraft, nor as far as I remember the motley crew he wished to bring in. What purpose would they have? Other than to prevent access to the aircraft AND to either the electronic surveillance equipment on board to monitor and evaluate the New York area communications or implement other Russian or Chinese supplied spying techniques. The most dangerous, however, was the ability of this lunatic President of Islamic Iran to be making a speech at the United Nations, be behind the podium when this aircraft took off and detonated an EMP device.

Warship Being Made for Drone Battles

The UXV Combatant is a new class of warship being developed by BAE Systems to fight in the drone wars. BAE believes that the future battlefield will be full of intelligent robots fighting against each other, The ships looks and specs, expected to enter service around 2020, look terrifying: The 8,000-tonne carrier is designed "to launch, operate and recover large numbers of small unmanned vehicles for extended periods" that will operate in land, sea and air. According to BAE, it will have: Flexible and efficient twin flight decks, Variable ski jump, Rotary aviation facilities, Below-deck hangar and Smart munitions. For power, the UXV Combatant could be able to use "full integrated electrical propulsion with twin propeller shafts/motors supplied by gas turbine and diesel alternators. Alternatively, cruising power can be supplied by two shafts/motors and diesel alternators with boost power from one gas turbine driving two water jets."

Has Peruvian meteorite brought disease

The recent fall of the meteorite in the district of Desaguadero in Puno, Peru, has already evoked many rumors and speculations. Eye-witnesses have reported that the enflamed ball collided with the Earth and went inside to the depth of six meters, leaving a crater of about 30 meters with a gushing fountain of boiling water. After some time people felt an acrid smell and began to suffer from nausea and headaches. A representative from the Peruvian Health Ministry hastened to blame this on poisonous fumes from fragments of meteorites, which contain cyanide. Dr. Mikhail Nazarov, head of the meteoritics laboratory ay the Vernadsky Institute of Geo- and Analytical Chemistry, said that the reports from Peru describe phenomena typical for meteorites. But he pointed out that reports of the meteorite-linked "strange disease" sounded dubious: "In the past 250 years, 102 large meteorites have been registered; 70 of these have been found and 50 are kept in the Meteorite Collection of the Russian Academy of Sciences. But none have had any adverse effect on human health." No consequences were produced even by the unique Sikhote-Alin Fall (February 12, 1947), when a whole stream of meteorites with a general mass of up to a hundred tons crushed the Ussuri taiga in the Far East, covering a territory of 35 square km. There is no information about any meteorite-related negative influence on human health. All in all, there are about a thousand registered meteorites. "To the knowledge of scientists, the meteorite substance is harmless and sterile compared with the earth. No microbes, bacteria or extra-terrestrial viruses have been found on meteorites. As for radioactivity, it is much stronger in granite," Nazarov said.

DARPA Leads New AI Research

Computer scientists have long sought to develop computers that can match the subject expertise that humans acquire during a career or a lifetime. Despite intensive work with expert systems and other forms of artificial intelligence, researchers have discovered that building a computer that can learn like a person is more difficult that they expected. Now, with a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program called Bootstrapped Learning, the agency wants to generate renewed interest in achieving that objective. SRI International recently won a $10 million contract to lead the first 15-month development phase of the program.

UN-Led 'New World Order'

The United Nations should avail itself as an instrument for a "new world order of the 21st century," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said September 25, in his first address to the General Assembly. Sarkozy, who won the presidency this year on a strong reform platform to modernize France, urged the world body to embark on programmes ranging from equal wealth distribution to fighting corruption in his speech full of references to France's past revolutionary ideals. "In the name of France, I call upon all states to join ranks in order to found the new world order of the 21st century on the notion that the common goods that belong to all of humankind must be the common responsibility for us all," he told the General Assembly.

Robot Soldiers With Guns Coming Soon

"Transformers," the summer blockbuster movie about war on Earth between two robot forces, foreshadows a world that may be closer to reality than you think. As part of the Army's $160 billion Future Combat Systems, to be deployed within the next decade, robot soldiers will be programmed to invade hostile terrain and shoot to kill. If all goes according to plan, there could be virtually no humans on the battlefield -- at least on our side -- by the end of this century. And while "Transformers" remains science fiction today, "RoboCop" is already real: Over the summer, iRobot Corp. and Taser International announced that the iRobot's bomb-disposal PackBot can be equipped with a Taser X26 stun gun, which lets it double as a law-enforcement officer and "engage, incapacitate and control dangerous suspects." These cyborgs are only part of the coming robotic revolution.

Children Trafficked From Asia To UK

Hundreds of young children illegally trafficked into the UK are the new victims of Britain's booming cannabis trade. Figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday reveal that, as organised criminals push cannabis production to record levels, at least one child a week is being found by police raiding cannabis factories. Experts warn that children as young as 13 are been smuggled from south-east Asia to work as "slaves" for gangs in dangerous conditions, being kept captive in towns and suburbs across the UK. They believe there has been a five-fold increase in the trade in the past 12 months.

‘Hot’ Ice Could Lead To Medical Device

Harvard physicists have shown that specially treated diamond coatings can keep water frozen at body temperature, a finding that may have applications in future medical implants. Doctoral student Alexander Wissner-Gross and Efthimios Kaxiras, physics professor and Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics, spent a year building and examining computer models that showed that a layer of diamond coated with sodium atoms will keep water frozen up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. In ice, water molecules are arranged in a rigid framework that gives the substance its hardness. The process of melting is somewhat like a building falling down: pieces that had been arranged into a rigid structure move and flow against one another, becoming liquid water.

War Inches Closer to Iran

Iran's role with the violence in Iraq remains a major preoccupation of the Bush administration, with the U.S. military now building a base, practically within shouting distance of Iran — an extraordinary step to curb what it says is the smuggling of advanced weapons into Iraq. It will be called Combat Outpost Shocker, and it will hardly come as a pleasant surprise to Iran that the United States will have a new base just 5 miles from their border. Col. Mark Mueller, of the 3rd Infantry Division, said it is the first time the U.S. military will be that close to Iran.

The Middle East's Gathering Storm

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran's Islamofascist regime and a holocaust denier who says he wants Israel wiped off the map, apparently will not be allowed by New York City to visit the Ground Zero area during his trip to the United Nations next week. Like his other acts and statements, Ahmadinejad's request seems designed to provoke outrage from Americans. Is his apocalyptic Shiite belief in the coming of a 12th imam to fight a war against the antichrist behind his repeated "asking for it" from the West? Iran will fire 600 Shihab-3 missiles at targets throughout Israel in the event of an attack on either Iran or Syria, according to the Jerusalem Post. Former President Jimmy Carter says we shouldn't take the Iran threats seriously. "I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel," he said. Many of Churchill's critics said the same about Nazi Germany in the 1930s. But apocalyptic fanatics have been known to be suicidal, and Carter, of course, has been wrong about Iran before.

Spy Towers Being Developed

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s plan to build hundreds of all-seeing networked surveillance towers along American borders has run into further problems. The project in question is the technology portion of the Secure Borders Initiative (SBI). Under SBI, contractor Boeing would erect perhaps 1800 towers, each 98 feet tall, equipped with ground-sweeping moving target radar that would sniff out huddled masses yearning to breathe free, terrorist infiltrators, possible Canadian raiding columns etc. Once a radar blip was flagged up, the all-seeing day/night video eye would swivel round to get a more exact idea what was moving. Once the invader/terrorist/migrant had been analysed by a control room watchkeeper, an icon moving in real time would appear on the DHS networked map, or Common Operating Picture (COP). Border-patrolmen on the ground could then access the COP map, and so plan their operations more efficiently. That's the plan, anyway. For now, Boeing has only a $67m demonstration contract to set up a nine-tower, 28-mile barrier zone in the Arizona desert. This was supposed to go live three months ago, but in fact has yet to reach a suitable state of readiness for government testing to begin. On September 24, AP reported that Homeland Security overlord Michael Chertoff has said he will cut off SBI net payments to Boeing until the pilot project succeeds. It is thought that most of the money has already been paid, but Boeing will be expecting to receive around $5m more once it gets the initial nine towers up and running. "We are now looking to begin acceptance testing in about a month," Chertoff said. "We will then kick the tires again... like buying a car. We don't want to get stuck with a lemon." A Boeing mouthpiece said that the firm was "working with our customer to solve some remaining technical issues".

Educated Nuts Becoming The Norm

Students at many of the country's most prestigious colleges and universities are graduating with less knowledge of American history, government, and economics than they had as incoming freshmen, with Harvard University seniors scoring a "D+" average on a 60-question multiple-choice exam about civic literacy. According to a report released yesterday by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the average college senior at the 50 colleges and universities polled did not earn a passing grade. "At the most expensive colleges, they actually graduate knowing less," the executive director of the Jack Miller Center at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Michael Ratliff, said.

Surveillance net watches U.S. Travelers

The Bush Administration has been collecting detailed records on the travel habits of Americans headed overseas, whether you fly, drive or take cruises abroad -- not simply your method of transit but the personal items you carry with you and the people you stay with, according to documents and statements obtained by the Washington Post. They even keep sometimes keep track of what books you read. For as long as 15 years. In a terrifying front-page article September 23, the Post outlines the latest in US government surveillance. According to officials, the records are intended "to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country." The new details suggest a much broader net than that. The details of the program were revealed when a group of activists requested copies of records on their travel and found someone had written a note about their flashlight carrying the symbol of a marijuana leaf. "The Automated Targeting System has been used to screen passengers since the mid-1990s, but the collection of data for it has been greatly expanded and automated since 2002, according to former DHS officials," the Post said. "The federal government is trying to build a surveillance society," said John Gilmore, a civil liberties activist in San Francisco whose records were requested and then first revealed in Wired News. The government, he said, "may be doing it with the best or worst of intentions. . . . But the job of building a surveillance database and populating it with information about us is happening largely without our awareness and without our consent."

Team To Perfect Plan For Iran Strike

The United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with Iran. Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June. It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air Force chief, and consists of 20-30 top air force officers and defence and cyberspace experts with ready access to the White House, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

The Police State Is Here, Right Now

One of the most frightening realities of teaching college history is that most students rarely have a clue what fascism is. They know about Hitler and the extermination of Jews, but they see little connection with Nazi rule in the 1930s and 40s and the current political milieu in the United States. Overwhelmingly, they cannot define fascism, nor can they define socialism or democracy. After all, they were pre-occupied during grammar school with becoming standardized human beings by way of taking standardized "No Child's Behind Left" tests, five hours a day, four days a week. So why would they know the definitions of fascism, socialism or democracy?

Clinics to Grow Human Eggs

A major advance in fertility treatment is signalled today as doctors unveil details of a technique that will allow human eggs to be grown in the laboratory from ovarian tissue samples. The procedure, which is being pioneered by two British fertility clinics, involves taking a piece of ovary tissue from a woman and "banking" it in a laboratory until she is ready to start a family. It would allow career women, or those waiting to meet the right partner, to delay motherhood for years.

vCJD 'Could Infect Thousands in the UK'

Thousands of people could be infected with variant CJD (vCJD) without showing symptoms, Professor James Ironside, of the National CJD Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh University, said. As a result, they could undergo blood transfusions and have surgical equipment used on them which could lead to the spread of the disease. Prof Ironside will tell a lecture audience on September 25, that scientists must develop a rapid screening test for the disease. He will also challenge the perception that the vCJD outbreak in the 1990s was an isolated threat to humans. Prof Ironside said: ‘Although the number of BSE and vCJD cases is dropping, we ignore these diseases at our peril. ‘We know that a significant number of people could be infected with vCJD without showing symptoms. However, we do not know how many people may be affected, and there is no cure or treatment. ‘Until we develop a rapid screening test, the unknowing carriers pose a great risk of infecting others through donating blood or having surgical operations.’ Prof Ironside was a member of the team in the National CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh that identified variant CJD in 1996. It is a rare and ultimately fatal progressive degenerative brain disease and is linked with BSE in cattle.

Human-Animal Clones and Healthy Lives

The creator of Dolly the sheep has predicted that treatments using stem cells could become as common as antibiotics. Professor Ian Wilmut, director of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University, said the first of these revolutionary therapies is expected to be available in around a decade and will develop rapidly over the coming years. His comments come in the wake of the decision by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to allow British scientists to create human-animal embryos for research, which Wilmut described as an "important opportunity" in the search for new treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Parallel Universes Do Exist

Parallel universes really do exist, according to a mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists that sweeps away one of the key objections to the mind boggling and controversial idea. The work has wider implications since the idea of parallel universes sidesteps one of the key problems with time travel. Every since it was given serious lab cred in 1949 by the great logician Kurt Godel, many eminent physicists have argued against time travel because it undermines ideas of cause and effect to create paradoxes: a time traveller could go back to kill his grandfather so that he is never born in the first place. But the existence of parallel worlds offers a way around these troublesome paradoxes, according to David Deutsch of Oxford University, a highly respected proponent of quantum theory, the deeply mathematical, successful and baffling theory of the atomic world. He argues that time travel shifts between different branches of reality, basing his claim on parallel universes, the so-called "many-worlds" formulation of quantum theory. The new work bolsters his claim that quantum theory does not forbid time travel. "It does sidestep it. You go into another universe," he said yesterday, though he admits that there is still a way to go to find schemes to manipulate space and time in a way that makes time hops possible.

Gender-Bender Bugs Baffle Scientists

Scientists have discovered a real gender-bender of a bug, a species in which most females impersonate males. Past research had already revealed the male bugs possessed fake female genitalia. "We ended up uncovering a hotbed of deception," said evolutionary biologist Klaus Reinhardt at the University of Sheffield in England. "Nothing like this exists anywhere else in the animal kingdom."

Archeologists find 2nd Temple quarry

In a major archeological discovery, an ancient quarry that supplied huge high-quality limestone for the construction of the Temple Mount has been uncovered in Jerusalem, Israel's Antiquities Authority announced on September 23. The quarry, which is located four km northwest of Jerusalem's Old City, in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, was used two thousand years ago during the construction of the Second Temple, archeologist Yuval Baruch said. "This unique and sensational find is the first Second Temple quarry ever found," he said. According to Baruch, the site, which spans at least five dunams, was uncovered by chance during a "salvage excavation" carried out by the state-run archeological body over the last two months following municipal plans to build an elementary school in the area. Dozens of quarries have previously been uncovered in Jerusalem - including ones larger than the present find - but this is the first one that archeologists have found which they believe was used in the construction of the Temple Mount, Baruch said. Archeologists had previously assumed that the quarry which was used to construct the Temple Mount was located within the Old City itself, but the enormous size of the stones discovered at the site - up to 8 meters long - as well as coins and fragments of pottery vessels dating back to the first century CE indicated that this was the site used 2,000 years ago in the construction of the Temple Mount walls - including the Western Wall. "We have never found any monument in Israel with stones of this size except for the Temple Mount walls," Baruch said.

Illegals to get driver's licenses in NY

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is preparing to announce a new policy that will enable illegal aliens to obtain a driver's license. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles no longer will require applicants to provide Social Security numbers or proof they're eligible for Social Security cards, the New York Post and New York Sun reported. Under the new rules, valid foreign passports, previous state driver's licenses and other verifiable proofs of ID will be considered on a point-based system, according to a source who spoke to the Post. "The DMV does not believe it's in the business checking a person's legal status; it's not the INS," the source said. The Sun said county clerks around the state came to Albany yesterday to discuss the new policy with DMV officials, according to a source. Spitzer said last year during the gubernatorial campaign he would allow illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses, because banning them would make life worse for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without adding to security.

Irish defence forces eyed UFOs for years

Ireland's defence forces maintained a dossier on unidentified flying objects (UFOs) for 37 years, according to details released September 20, under the country's freedom of information laws. The documents dating back to 1947 that were released to the Irish Times newspaper log a range of strange sightings. Descriptions of UFOs that were reported range from being like fried eggs to a household iron with fins at the back, according to the newspaper. An early entry in the file from a shopkeeper and farmer in County Kerry in the southwest of the country in 1947 says he told police he saw a circular object moving "faster than a motor car" through the sky. "It was flat and was like a big wheel or large plate... the rim was white and it was hollow in the centre."

Sweeping Stun Guns to Target Crowds

Weapons that can incapacitate crowds of people by sweeping a lightning-like beam of electricity across them are being readied for sale to military and police forces in the US and Europe. At present, commercial stun guns target one person at a time, and work only at close quarters. The new breed of non-lethal weapons can be used on many people at once and operate over far greater distances.

Spy Station unleashes new cold war

Australia this week marked the 40th anniversary of a joint Australia-U.S. surveillance station in the Central Australian outback by indicating that the base could play a role in American ballistic missile defense plans. In rare public comments on the Pine Gap base, Defense Minister Brendan Nelson told lawmakers in Canberra that intelligence obtained there is critical for both countries, providing information relating to terrorism, proliferation and military and weapons developments. Critics argue that instead of making the world safer, BMD systems could unleash a new nuclear arms race, if nuclear powers like China or Russia respond by increasing the size of their arsenals so they will be capable of penetrating the shields

UK Christians Worry About Equality Laws

Christian groups here are warning that proposed new equality laws could wreak havoc on British churches, and lead to the further secularization of society. As part of its efforts to streamline decades' worth of anti-discrimination law, the British government is currently drawing up a new Single Equality Bill, which is due to be put before parliament in the near future. The (Anglican/Episcopalian) Church of England said in a formal response that the new laws could be twisted and turned against religious charities that operate in the public sector. For example, it charged that charities might be accused of harassment if they displayed crucifixes on their walls or said grace before meals.

Russian Bombers Buzz Alaska - Canada

Two Russian strategic Tu-95MS Bear-H bombers carried out a flight along the coasts of Alaska and Canada during recent command and post exercises, the Russian Air Force announced on September 20. "Each Tu-95 plane took about 30 tons of fuel on board, for the first time since the Soviet era. Their average flight duration was about 17 hours, during which the planes covered a distance of over 13,000 km [8,000 miles]," said Alexander Drobyshevsky, an aide to the Air Force commander. According to the Air Force, the bombers were refueled in the air by Il-78 Midas tankers. Drobyshevsky also said another pair of Tu-95MS flew around Greenland into the eastern Atlantic, a flight that took about 12 hours.

Presidental Candidate Ron Paul Says - ' Our American way of life is under attack. And it is up to us to save it.'

The world’s elites are busy forming a North American Union. If they succeed, as they were in forming the European Union, the good ol’ USA will only be a memory. We cannot let that happen. The UN wants to confiscate our firearms and impose a global tax. The UN elites want to control the oceans with the Law of the Sea Treaty. And they want to use our military to police the world. Our right to own and use property is fading because bureaucrats and special interests are abusing eminent domain. Our right to educate our children as we choose is under assault. “No Child Left Behind” is seeing to that. And our right to say “no” to forced mental screening of our school-aged children is nearly gone. The elites gave us a national ID card. They also gave us the most misnamed legislation in history: The Patriot Act. And these same people are pushing to give amnesty to illegal immigrants and erase our national borders. Record government debt is putting a burden on our children and grandchildren that is shameful. Yes. Our American way of life is under attack. And it’s understandable that many are concerned, even discouraged, about the kind of country our children and grandchildren will inherit. But we must never let discouragement become surrender. One reason I am NOT discouraged is because I know I am not fighting alone. Each day I head out I know that you and thousands of other patriotic, freedom-loving Americans are right beside me, standing brave and true for what is good and right. I need your help now, more than ever, to save the country we love…for the people we love. My wife Carol and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary early this year. We are proud parents of five children and 18 grandchildren. We love them very much, as I know you love your family. As a U.S. congressman, I always think about the well-being of my family and of all the families of our great nation when I cast a vote or introduce legislation. I also remember that I have sworn a solemn oath to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States. For me, upholding that oath is the first and best way to preserve and protect the blessed American way of life for our children and grandchildren. And now you know why I’m running for president of the United States.

Israel to Syria: Use Chemical Weapons & We'll Wipe You Off Map

Israeli officials vowed to wipe Syria off the map if it is attacked with chemical weapons like one that reportedly exploded in July at a secret Syrian base staffed with Iranian engineers. Politicians in Israel said yesterday they were not picking a fight with their neighbor, but pledged to forcefully retaliate if chemical warheads come screaming across its shared border. "We will not attack them first. But if they ever use these weapons against Israel, then we must be clear — it will be the end of this evil and brutal dictatorship," Yuval Steinitz, a right-wing member of the Israeli parliament, told the Daily News yesterday. Sparking shock waves across the Middle East was a report in Jane's Defence Weekly about an accidental explosion at a top secret Syrian base in July. Citing Syrian intelligence sources, the report claimed a team of Iranian and Syrian engineers were killed July 26 while trying to arm a Scud-C missile with a mustard gas warhead.

'Brat Nav' keeps track of children in Britain

The Buddi - or "Brat Nav" as it is known - is no bigger than a matchbox. It uses GPS technology, a satellite-based navigation system, which enables parents to trace their children to within three metres anywhere in Britain. If they become worried - or just want to snoop - they log on to a website, and a detailed street map will show where their child is. The gadget, which can be attached to a belt, placed in a bag or worn around the neck, also allows parents to contact a call centre, which will give them their location. Sara Murray, 38, an Oxford-educated businesswoman from London, created the device after losing her young daughter in a supermarket and on a skiing holiday. "I was in a total panic when I lost my daughter and never wanted to go through that again," she said. "I couldn't believe there was nothing on the market which allowed parents to trace their children so I decided to look into it and the technology and I came up with the Buddi. "We live in difficult times and any service that can provide people with the confidence that they can be traced within seconds, or alert people in the case of emergencies, is something that I am sure will be seen as a benefit." The person given the device - a child or an elderly relative - can also use the gadget to alert friends or relatives in an emergency by pressing the panic button. This sends an alert to the emergency call centre, which informs parents, carers or friends, as well as local authorities and the police if necessary. Since it was launched a month ago - at a cost of £299 plus a £20 monthly subscription fee - more than 2,000 have been sold.

China, Russia spying on U.S.

China and Russia are spying on the United States nearly as much as they did during the Cold War, according to the top U.S. intelligence official. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, says in testimony prepared for a September 18, congressional hearing that a law passed last month expanding the U.S. government's eavesdropping power is needed to protect not just against terrorists but also against more traditional potential adversaries, such as those two Cold War foes. "China and Russia's foreign intelligence services are among the most aggressive in collecting against sensitive and protected U.S. systems, facilities and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels," McConnell says in his testimony. "Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect the nation and preserve our security."

U.S. War With Iran Predicted As Tension Rises Over Arms Smuggling, Nuclear Fears

The growing US focus on confronting Iran in a proxy war inside Iraq risks triggering a direct conflict in the next few months, regional analysts are warning. US-Iranian tensions have mounted significantly in the past few days, with heightened rhetoric on both sides and the US decision to establish a military base in Iraq less than five miles from the Iranian border to block the smuggling of Iranian arms to Shia militias. The involvement of a few hundred British troops in the anti-smuggling operation also raises the risk of their involvement in a cross-border clash. US officers have alleged that an advanced Iranian-made missile had been fired at an American base from a Shia area, which if confirmed would be a significant escalation in the "proxy war" referred to this week by General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq. "The proxy war that has been going on in Iraq may now cross the border. This is a very dangerous period," Patrick Cronin, the director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said.

Behold The Age Of Living Machines

Apart from buying a new computer every year it seems you need to upgrade your old machine on a regular basis to keep pace with ever bigger software packages and image files. Apart from the hassle of having to perform major surgery on your computer, these upgrades cost money. But, what if these upgrades were no longer necessary? What if your desktop computer came standard with the ability to store more data than you could ever possibly need and was able to function at unbelievable speeds? This would be too good to be true, right? Besides, who has the space for such a megacomputer. Well, imagine that this megacomputer could be packaged as a smaller device than current laptops, and cost only a fraction of today’s prices? This sounds like hard core science fiction, but like so many radical science fiction ideas - the real thing might happen sooner than you think. As chip designers are nearing the physical limits of Moore's law (some say that the exponential increase in the cost of semiconductor production will most likely stop the current miniaturization trend before its physical limits are reached), scientists around the globe are working hard on developing the field of molecular electronics. An interdisciplinary science that includes physics, chemistry, nanotechnology, materials science and even biology, molecular electronics involves using molecular building blocks in the manufacture of electronic components.

Treaty could pave way for European ID card

Euro passports and ID cards could be on the way under new powers written into the EU Treaty, disclosed on September 16. The Daily Telegraph has learned that existing safeguards preventing EU interference with national identity documents have been quietly dropped. Sources close to negotiations suggest that Britain has allowed the safeguards to be removed in order to participate in EU security measures, such as biometric passports and ID cards. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "Gordon Brown has absolutely no democratic mandate to sign Britain up to a possible Euro ID card scheme. "It illustrates how important it is that the British people have their promised say on this treaty." Derek Scott, chairman of the I Want A Referendum campaign, said: "Under the Constitutional Treaty, work on harmonisation of identity documents would gain momentum. "The EU is doing a lot of radical things in this area with far too little scrutiny, so it's no wonder that many people are uncomfortable with this."

British invention creates MORE energy than you put into it - and could soon be warming your home

It sounds too good to be true - not to mention the fact that it violates almost every known law of physics. But British scientists claim they have invented a revolutionary device that seems to 'create' energy from virtually nothing. Their so-called thermal energy cell could soon be fitted into ordinary homes, halving domestic heating bills and making a major contribution towards cutting carbon emissions. Even the makers of the device are at a loss to explain exactly how it works - but sceptical independent scientists carried out their own tests and discovered that the 12in x 2in tube really does produce far more heat energy than the electrical energy put in. The device seems to break the fundamental physical law that energy cannot be created from nothing - but researchers believe it taps into a previously unrecognised source of energy, stored at a sub-atomic level within the hydrogen atoms in water. The system - developed by scientists at a firm called Ecowatts in a nondescript laboratory on an industrial estate at Lancing, West Sussex - involves passing an electrical current through a mixture of water, potassium carbonate (otherwise known as potash) and a secret liquid catalyst, based on chrome. This creates a reaction that releases an incredible amount of energy compared to that put in. If the reaction takes place in a unit surrounded by water, the liquid heats up, which could form the basis for a household heating system. If the technology can be developed on a domestic scale, it means consumers will need much less energy for heating and hot water - creating smaller bills and fewer greenhouse gases.

Mahdi Return Imminent and end of U.S. and Israel Nears, Says Ahmadinejad

In several recent speeches, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad outlined Iran's nuclear policy and set forth his vision regarding the interrelationship between Iran and the West. In a speech about Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad declared that Iran has become a global power, and that it would place its nuclear technology at the service of those determined to confront the U.S. and other Western countries. He announced that Iran was now successfully operating over 3,000 centrifuges, continued to downplay the impact of the U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran, and reiterated Iran's official stance of refusal to freeze its nuclear activity. Ahmadinejad also harshly censured senior Iranian officials who had called for compromise with the West on Iran's nuclear program out of fear of a possible U.S. attack on Iran, hinting that they were traitors. In addition, Ahmadinejad declared that the world was now at an historic turning point. The history of the West, he said, had reached its end, and the appearance of the Hidden Imam, heralding the era of Islamic Shi'ite rule, was nigh. Thus, he called on the nations of the world to rise up against the hegemony of the West, headed by the U.S., and predicted the imminent collapse of Israel, which he called "Satan's standard-bearer."

Humberto Grew Faster Than Any Storm On Record

Call it the instant hurricane. Humberto, which grew faster than any storm on record from tropical depression to full-scale hurricane landfall, surprised the Texas-Louisiana coast early Thursday with 85-mph winds and heavy rain that knocked out power to more than 100,000 and left at least one person dead. Meteorologists were at a loss to explain the rapid, 16-hour genesis of the first hurricane to hit the U.S. since 2005. "Before Humberto developed, you looked at the satellite imagery the day before, and there was virtually nothing there. This really spun up out of thin air, very, very quickly, said National Hurricane Center specialist James Franklin in Miami. "We've never had any tropical cyclone go from where Humberto was to where Humberto got."

Hackers Breaking Into Homeland Security

The Homeland Security Department, the lead U.S. agency for fighting cyber threats, suffered more than 800 hacker break-ins, virus outbreaks and other computer security problems over two years, senior officials acknowledged to Congress. In one instance, hacker tools for stealing passwords and other files were found on two internal Homeland Security computer systems. The agency's headquarters sought forensic help from the department's own Security Operations Center and the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team it operates with Carnegie Mellon University. In other cases, computer workstations in the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration were infected with malicious software detected trying to communicate with outsiders; laptops were discovered missing; and agency Web sites suffered break-ins. The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said such problems undermine the government's efforts to encourage companies and private organizations to improve cyber security. "What the department is doing on its own networks speaks so loudly that the message is not getting across," Thompson said. Congressional investigators, expected to testify September 12, during an oversight hearing about the department's security lapses, determined that persistent weaknesses "threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of key DHS information and information systems," according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office being released later in June. The Homeland Security Department's chief information officer, Scott Charbo, assured lawmakers his organization was working to prevent such problems. "We need to increase our vigilance to ensure that such incidents do not happen again," Charbo wrote in testimony prepared for Wednesday's hearing. "The department takes these incidents very seriously and will work diligently to ensure they do not recur." The computer problems disclosed to the House Homeland Security subcommittee occurred during fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2006, and occurred at DHS headquarters and many of the department's agencies, including TSA, the Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Customs and Border Protection and others. The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., said break-ins to government computer networks and theft of information are "one of the most critical issues confronting our nation, and we must deal with this threat immediately."

A New Russia is Emerging from History's Shadow

While the population issue is complex and multi-faceted, one reason why the Kremlin would like to see the population grow is that it’s hard to be a world superpower when you’ve got a huge elderly population and fewer potential soldiers at your disposal. Russia has been beefing up it’s military arsenal, and has been eager to show the world that they’re still a force to be reckoned with—a fact high-lighted by Russia’s recent testing of the world's most powerful vacuum bomb. Dubbed the "father of all bombs", the device unleashes a destructive shockwave with the power of a nuclear blast, but without the radioactive aftermath. "Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon," said Alexander Rukshin, Russian deputy armed forces chief of staff, told Russia's state ORT First Channel television. "You will now see it in action, the bomb which has no match in the world is being tested at a military site."

Like something out of the Sci-Fi Movie 'The Andromeda Strain' - Mystery Illness Strikes After Meteorite Hits Peruvian Village

Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said on September 17. Around midday on September 15, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia. Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP. Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said. Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache. "Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

600 Iranian Missiles Pointed At Israel

Six hundred Iranian Shihab-3 missiles are pointed at targets throughout Israel, and will be launched if either Iran or Syria are attacked, an Iranian website affiliated with the regime reported on Monday. "Iran will shoot at Israel 600 missiles if it is attacked," the Iranian news website, Assar Iran, reported. "600 missiles will only be the first reaction." According to the report, dozens of locations throughout Iraq, which are being used by the US Army, have also been targeted. The Shihab missile has a range of 1,300 km, and can reach anywhere in Israel. On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that the nuclear Iranian crisis forces the world "to prepare for the worst," and said that in this case it "is war."

Biometric Scanning To Verify Voters?

Biometric technology could be used to identify voters at the ballot box without requiring Muslim women to remove facial veils, but setting up a nation-wide system would be expensive and risks disenfranchising many electors. The same kind of fingerprint readers or iris scanners employed in some airports to identify pre-screened frequent fliers could be used to quickly confirm the identity of voters and prevent fraud at the ballot box. The problem with biometric authentication is the time-consuming and expensive process of "enrolling" potential voters in the system. Participants first have to be "scanned" to create baseline data to which their fingerprints or irises will be compared at the polling station. "Something that people often underestimate is the cost of doing that enrolment," said Steven Kent, a Massachusetts-based expert on identity authentication. "Whenever we talk about making changes, we have to realize there is a tremendous start-up cost." Once captured, a voter's biometric data could then be stored on a so-called smart card or in a central database. Voters would present the smart card at a polling station and a machine would scan their irises or fingerprints to electronically match against the information stored on the card. Or, the voter's biometric data could be compared against the reference data in a database, but that would require a stable electronic connection between the polling station and the database.