Cop Warns Nuclear Attack Is Inevitable

A nuclear attack by terrorists causing widespread panic, chaos and death is inevitable and will happen soon, a senior Scottish police officer has warned. Ian Dickinson, who leads the police response to chemical, biological and nuclear threats in Scotland, has painted the bleakest picture yet of the dangers the world now faces. Efforts to prevent terrorist groups from obtaining materials that could be made into radioactive dirty bombs - or even crude nuclear explosives - are bound to fail, he said. And the result will be horror on an unprecedented scale.

Holy Land overdue for major quake

Based on 400-year historical cycles a the pattern of recent tremors, the Middle East should be expecting a major earthquake in the near future, a geologist said. A leading Israeli geologist has assessed that the Middle East, particularly, the Levant, was ripe for a major earthquake. The geologist based his forecast on seismological data as well as historical patterns. "All of us in the region should be worried," Shmuel Marco, a geologist at Tel Aviv University, said. Seismologists have often warned of the prospect of a major earthquake in the Middle East. The Levant has undergone a series of serious tremors on the magnitude of five on the Richter Scale, but without causing significant damage. On Nov. 20, an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale shook Israel and Jordan. The earthquake, whose epicenter was in the area of the Dead Sea, did not cause major damage. Marcos a member of Tel Aviv University's Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, has sought to predict the next major earthquake in the Levant through historical examination. The geologist has examined ancient records from the Vatican and other religious sources in his research. The major earthquakes in the Levant took place along the Jordan Valley. Earthquakes were reported in 31 BCE, 363 CE, 749 CE and 1033 CE. "So roughly, we are talking about an interval of every 400 years," Marcos said. "If we follow the patterns of nature, a major quake should be expected any time because almost a whole millennium has passed since the last strong earthquake of 1033." Based on history, Marcos predicts a major earthquake that would affect Israel, Jordan, Palestinian Authority and Syria. He said the sites important to Christianity, Islam and Judaism could be particularly vulnerable.

Human Radio Tagging Ethics Needed

An area requiring urgent attention is the issue of implanting humans with radio frequency identification tags to enable remote identification or enable access to information.... California has recently become the third US state to pass legislation prohibiting employers or others from requiring individuals to submit to an RFID implant under their skin. The bill, signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last month, which comes into force on January 1, seeks to balance the potential benefits of RFID technology with individual rights and personal security. It follows reports of RFID chips being used in nightclubs, hospitals, and even by governments, to identify individuals and access personal records. The Baja Beach nightclub in Barcelona reportedly uses RFID implants to track regular patrons and allow them to pay for drinks electronically, while the Mexican Attorney-General's Office implanted 18 of its staff with tags to control access to a secure data room.

Sheriff Investigated for Christmas

A county sheriff who had publicly expressed frustration with "politically correct" antagonism from secular America toward the religious foundations of Christmas now is under investigation for his thoughts, according to a county commissioner. Larimer, Colo., County Sheriff Jim Alderden's opinions were expressed in his "Bulls-Eye" website column recently. He had been prompted to write after watching the ongoing dispute in the city of Fort Collins, where a task force recommended white lights, as well as neutral and non-religious decorations such as snowflakes, snowmen, snowballs, ice skates, skis, penguins and polar bears for this time of year. "Penguins? This is dangerous territory. What about those of us who were traumatized by Danny DeVito's performance as Oswald Cobblepot in 'Batman Returns?' Skis? What about the poor who can't afford to go skiing? How elitist and insensitive!" he wrote. "The fact that we are even engaged in a discourse of whether Christmas trees and Christian symbols of faith should be allowed on city property is absurd. When one is sliding down a slippery slope, there comes a time to dig in your heels, grab the nearest branch, and hold on for dear life. Our country, and sadly our own community, has reached that point where people of faith and good conscience can no longer stand silently while a belligerent minority usurps our heritage and dictates how and where we express our religious freedoms. It is time to make a statement – to grab that branch, in this case a pine bough," he said.

Summit will bring destruction to US

A fringe group of prominent ultranationalist rabbis issued a harshly-worded letter to United States President George W. Bush earlier this week, warning him that the upcoming Annapolis peace conference would bring destruction upon America. The rabbis evoke their previous prediction in 2005, when they published an open letter to Bush in the New York Times, demanding the US rescind its support of the disengagement plan. "We wrote to President Bush, a man who believes in the Bible, to warn him against the terrible danger to which he is exposing his country by hosting such a conference," said Rabbi Meir Druckman, one of signatories to the letter. "The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. God punishes anyone who coerces Israel to give up its land," he said. "There is no doubt the New Orleans flood from the Katrina hurricane was God's punishment for evicting the settlements," said Druckman, "with hundreds of thousands left homeless, hundreds killed or wounded and billions of dollars sent down the drain – can we really ignore God's hand collecting an eye for an eye?" The disengagement from Gaza and the northern West Bank was completed August 23rd, 2005 – which was also the date Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas. "Despite those consequences, yet again we find ourselves facing an initiative to expel Jews from Judea and Samaria and cede their cities to terror organizations. And once again the patrons of the event are President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "This time the Almighty is warning the US in advance: if the plague of water was not enough now he shall send flames. While hundreds of thousands of families have already fled the terrible fires in California, and we ask you, will you really forge ahead with this malevolent plan?" added Druckman. The letter was authored by SOS Israel, a right-wing movement which earlier this year distributed citations to IDF soldiers who disobeyed orders and refused to take part in the disengagement. The rabbis urged Bush's administration to back down from the current direction of the peace process, saying that not an inch of Israeli land should be ceded. "Be merciful to yourselves and the beloved America and its citizens. Lay down the hand you have raised against the Creator in war. Help the people of Israel fight without compromise against the terrorists who rise against it, and then, with a pure heart, you will truly be able to pray: May God bless America," the rabbis said.

Iran Extends Submarine Range

The Iranian Navy plans to deploy two submarine fleets – mini-subs in Persian Gulf waters for attacks on US shipping and Gulf oil facilities, and the Kilo class sub of Russian, Chinese and Iranian manufacture, for long-range targets in the Mediterranean, such as the US Sixth Fleet and Israel coastal towns, primarily Tel Aviv.

Natural disasters have quadrupled

More than four times the number of natural disasters are occurring now than did two decades ago, British charity Oxfam said in a study recently that largely blamed global warming. "Oxfam... says that rising green house gas emissions are the major cause of weather-related disasters and must be tackled," the organisation said, adding that the world's poorest people were being hit the hardest. The world suffered about 120 natural disasters per year in the early 1980s, which compared with the current figure of about 500 per year, according to the report. "This year we have seen floods in South Asia, across the breadth of Africa and Mexico that have affected more than 250 million people," noted Oxfam director Barbara Stocking. "This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people." She added: "Action is needed now to prepare for more disasters otherwise humanitarian assistance will be overwhelmed and recent advances in human development will go into reverse." The number of people affected by extreme natural disasters, meanwhile, has surged by almost 70 percent, from 174 million a year between 1985 to 1994, to 254 million people a year between 1995 to 2004, Oxfam said. Floods and wind-storms have increased from 60 events in 1980 to 240 last year, with flooding itself up six-fold.

Ethiopia and the Ark of the Covenant

"They shall make an ark of acacia wood," God commanded Moses in the Book of Exodus, after delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. And so the Israelites built an ark, or chest, gilding it inside and out. And into this chest Moses placed stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, as given to him on Mount Sinai. Thus Jews came to revere the ark as an earthly manifestation of God. The Old Testament describes its enormous powers—blazing with fire and light, halting rivers, blasting away armies and bringing down the fabled walls of Jericho. (Steven Spielberg's 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark provides a special-effects approximation.) According to the First Book of Kings, King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem to house the ark. It was venerated there during Solomon's reign (c. 970-930 B.C.) and beyond. Then it vanished. Much of Jewish tradition holds that it disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem in 586 b.c. But through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country's northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die."

Child Aborted To Help Save the Planet

Giving birth is a burden on the world. This is according to British born, Toni Vernelli, 35, who had an abortion 10 years ago to ensure her carbon footprint would be kept to a minimum, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reported recently. Vernelli -- who works for an environmental charity -- was later sterilized to help "protect the planet", the Mail reported. "Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet," Vernelli told the Daily Mail, adding she believes bringing new life into the world only adds to the problem. The Mail also reported that Sara Irving, 31, also underwent sterilization to because she felt "a baby would pollute the planet". Irving’s become an environmentalist as a teenager, it was reported, when she realized saving the environment was her top and foremost priority in life. After going through several boyfriends she finally found her now husband Mark Hudson who is also an advocate of the ‘no kid’s policy'.

Cloning Could "Return" Deceased Beings

Now that biologists in Oregon have reported using cloning to produce a monkey embryo and extract stem cells, it looks more plausible than before that a human embryo will be cloned and that a cloned human will be born some day. But not necessarily in the Americas or Europe. While some critics have been fretting about the morality of stem cell research and genetic engineering, prominent Western scientists have been going to Asia, like the geneticists Nancy Jenkins and Neal Copeland, who left the National Cancer Institute in the United States and moved last year to Singapore. Asia offers researchers new labs, fewer restrictions and a different religious viewpoint. In South Korea, when Hwang Woo Suk reported creating human embryonic stem cells through cloning, he justified it by citing his Buddhist belief in recycling life through reincarnation. His claim was later exposed as a fraud, but before that happened, his approach was supported by the Venerable Ji Kwan, executive director of South Korea's largest Buddhist order, the Jogye, who said research with embryos was in accord with Buddha's precepts and urged Korean scientists not to be guided by Western ethics. "Asian religions worry less than Western religions that biotechnology is about 'playing God,' " says Cynthia Fox, the author of "Cell of Cells," a book about the global race among stem cell researchers. "Therapeutic cloning, in particular, jibes well with the Buddhist and Hindu ideas of reincarnation."

Palm-Print Biometrics Aid Atlanta Police

The Police Department of Atlanta, which makes 63,000 arrests per year, is getting a new kind of weapon to catch criminals: a workflow-based biometrics system that can scan palm prints in addition to fingerprints. "A lot of criminals will leave a palm print when they try to break into a car or door," says Capt. Shirley Britton, chief of the Atlanta Police Deptartment. "The benefit of our new system is we can put the palm print into the system along with the fingerprints we now hold."

Iran Produces Nuclear Pellets

An official in Iran's nuclear program says Tehran has produced its first nuclear fuel pellets for use in a nuclear reactor currently under construction. Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's atomic energy organization, said recently there would be enough enriched uranium pellets by September of 2008 to power the 40 megawatt Arak research reactor. The issue of uranium enrichment is the basis for the standoff between Iran and the West. Iran says it is processing uranium in order to generate electricity for its population. Western countries believe Tehran is developing the technology needed to build nuclear weapons. Recently, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that in spite of greater cooperation from Tehran in key areas, the agency is not able to confirm that Iran's nuclear work is entirely peaceful.

North American Union 'coming fast'

The next giant step toward world government will be integration of the U.S., Canada and Mexico in European Union-style merger in the next few years, says the author of a best-selling book on the power of shadowy international organizations promoting the move. "I would say [it's just] a couple of years away," reports Daniel Estulin, author of "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group." Estulin, a Canadian now living in Europe, says the original plans for a North American Union involved the U.S. and Canada as the prime participants. It was motivated primarily by the desire to harvest Canada's abundant natural resources. In his new book, Estulin reveals the first efforts in this plan date back to 1996 when the elite Bilderberg Group first discussed plans for the dismantlement of Canada as an independent nation and proposed its merger – minus Quebec – with the United States into a Greater North America. "Actually, the North American Union, or rather a Canada-U.S. merger, was initially discussed shortly after the Reagan-Bush candidacy won the White House," he says in an interview with WND. "Upon taking over the reins of the country, George Bush and Ronald Reagan called in the presidents of the key trans-national companies and asked them for the real picture. The money people told them that if the United States were a corporation it would have to be shut down immediately, as it was bankrupt."

Astronaut confirms ET's are here

Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-80 took a crew of five astronauts into a 17 day, 15 hour and 54 minute mission around the earth, the longest flight in the history of this vehicle. During this lengthy flight a very strange event occurred that even had crewman Dr. Story Musgrave unable to explain what he observed from the shuttle windows. A large disc shaped object appeared below the Columbia. The shuttle was approximately, 190 Nautical miles high. The disc was first observed to miraculously appear from out of nowhere, flying through the clouds below and progressing from right to left as the astronauts stared in utter amazement. The outer rim of the craft appeared to be rotating counter-clockwise. It was very large (compared to common space junk and breakaway ice), approximately 50 to 150 feet in diameter.

Get Ready For US Martial Law

New federal legislation shows the Bush administration has begun systematically putting in place authorization for the president to federalize the National Guard and use the U.S. military in domestic emergency situations. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (H.R. 1585) requires the secretary of defense to prepare and submit to Congress by March 1, 2008, and each subsequent March 1 a plan to coordinate the use of the National Guard and members of the Armed Forces on active duty when responding to natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.

Metal Storm reaches Navy test range

After years of development, a new class of weapon that uses computer-controlled electronic ignition instead of primers to fire projectiles may be finally taking its much coveted place in the U.S. military inventory. Brisbane, Australia-based Metal Storm has delivered a four-barrel weapon to the Naval Surface Warfare Center for testing that uses a small electrical current instead a conventional firing pin to deliver stacked rounds at an astounding rate. How astounding? Try 1 million rounds per minute. That's the rate, by the way, not the volume; still, there's no way you want to be anywhere near the wrong end of one of these puppies. One version, the Redback, features a remotely operated 40mm that can automatically track targets by slewing around at almost 2 complete revolutions per second, according to the company. "The employment of Metal Storm's stacked round technology for a U.S. military weapon system is a huge step for us," Metal Storm CEO Lee Finniear said in the company's press release.

Chipping People Can Be Great?

Technology has advanced to the point where it is technologically feasible to implant advanced microchips in humans, explains analyst Matthew Sollenberger in a recently released brief—part of a series on “wildcard” events by the futurist research and consulting firm Social Technologies. “GPS, medical implant technology, and radio frequency identification (RFID) chips could be used for a variety of functions, from surveillance to identification,” Sollenberger says. “Chipping people would be simple, and could assist with child and elder safety, debit and credit payment, and personal medical records.

Virulent cold virus worries experts

A new and virulent strain of adenovirus, which frequently causes the common cold, killed 10 people in parts of the United States earlier this year and put dozens into hospitals, U.S. health officials said recently. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report detailed cases of people ill in May of 2006 and from March to June of 2007 with a strain of the virus called adenovirus 14 in New York, Oregon, Washington state and Texas. "Whether you're a healthy young adult, an infant or an elderly person, this virus can cause severe respiratory disease at any age," said John Su, who investigates infectious diseases for the CDC and contributed to the report. "What makes this particular adenovirus a little different is that it has the capability of making healthy young adults severely ill. And that's unusual for an adenovirus, and that's why it's got our attention," Su said in a telephone interview. Two of the 10 people who died from the new strain were infants, Su said. The CDC report said about 140 people were sickened by the virus and more than 50 hospitalized, including 24 admitted to intensive care units. One of those who died was a 19-year-old female recruit at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas where other cases were found.

Chavez, Ahmadinejad: US power on decline

Venezuela's outspoken president joined with Iran's leader recently in boasting that they are "united like a single fist" in challenging American influence, saying the fall of the dollar is a sign that "the U.S. empire is coming down." Hugo Chavez also joked about the most serious issue the U.S. is confronting regarding Iran — nuclear weapons — during his get-together with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The visit came after a failed attempt by the firebrand duo to move OPEC away from pricing its oil in dollars. OPEC's weekend summit displayed the limits of their alliance — their proposal was overruled by other members, led by Saudi Arabia — but it also showed their potential for stirring up problems for the U.S. and its allies. Making his fourth trip to Tehran in two years, Chavez has built a strong bond with Ahmadinejad that has produced a string of business agreements as well as a torrent of rhetoric presenting their two countries as an example of how smaller nations can stand up to the U.S. "Here are two brother countries, united like a single fist," Chavez said upon his arrival in Tehran, according to Venezuela's state-run Bolivarian News Agency. "God willing, with the fall of the dollar, the deviant U.S. imperialism will fall as soon as possible, too," Chavez said after a two-hour closed meeting with Ahmadinejad, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. As the dollar weakens, oil prices have soared toward $100 a barrel. Chavez said at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that prices would more than double to $200 if the U.S. attacked Iran or Venezuela. "The U.S. empire is coming down," he told Venezuelan state television, calling the European Union's euro a better option and saying Latin American nations were also considering a common currency.

Robotic Bugs coax the real things

Here's a first: Bug-size robots have been used to coax cockroaches into unnatural acts. Research reported recently in the journal Science described how a team of European scientists placed tiny robots in a colony of laboratory cockroaches. Using behavioral modification methods, the whirring, partly-disguised faux insects were able to induce the real creepy-crawlies to follow their lead in seeking shelter in bright spaces. Bent behavior, indeed, for critters famous for lurking in dark, moist cracks. No one cares too much if cockroaches can be hoodwinked into acting against their own interests. Still, it's surprising that robots can insinuate themselves into colonies of living things, however wee-witted, and more or less take charge. Although not designed to address major philosophical issues, the research nonetheless points to how robot science appears headed in weird and unpredictable directions. Some scientists say it is inevitable that advances will ultimately affect the fundamental relationship between humanity and its machines. And many analysts say it is high time that societies start seriously considering the ethical dimensions of the technological advances, although others contend the dangers are exaggerated.

Witness to Roswell Tells His Story

Retired Air Force veteran Milton Sprouse clearly remembers the summer day in 1947 when he returned to Roswell Army Air Field aboard the B-29 bomber Dave's Dream from a three-day maneuver in Florida. Sprouse, then a corporal and engine mechanic in the Army Air Forces, could not believe what his ground crew was telling him: A UFO had crashed in the New Mexico desert, on a ranch 70 miles away... A staff sergeant in his barracks was called to the hospital shortly after the crash, he said. "He and two doctors and two nurses were in the emergency room, and they brought in one of those five humanoid bodies that they had recovered," he said. "They said, 'We want this dissected and we want a complete history of how it functions and the parts and everything.'" The next day, the man from his barracks was transferred from the base, Sprouse said. "We never heard from him again," he said. "We asked and (they said), 'Oh, we don't know nothing about it.' ... I heard later that both nurses and both doctors were shipped different directions and nobody ever knew where they went."

EU 'should expand beyond Europe'

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has suggested the European Union should work towards including Russia, Middle Eastern and North African countries. He said enlargement was "our most powerful tool" for extending stability. In his first major speech on the UK's relationship with Europe, he said the EU should be a "role model" for the world. It could be a "model power of regional co-operation" dedicated to free trade, the environment and tackling extremism. He said the EU must "keep our promises to Turkey", adding: "If we fail.... it will signal a deep and dangerous divide between east and west. "Beyond that we must keep the door open, retaining the incentive for change and the prospect of membership provides."

China Doing Vast Industrial Spying

China is running an "aggressive and large-scale industrial espionage campaign" against American technology, a US congressional commission says, in a report that will exacerbate growing tensions between the two countries. The hard-hitting report, by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, accused China of backsliding over free trade reforms and of using spies to enable its companies to get hold of technology without having to pay for the research.

School puts a chip on pupils

School pupils are having their "every step traced" under a new monitoring system which sees a microchip embedded in their school uniform. Currently ten pupils at Hungerhill School in Edenthorpe are having their movements monitored by radio technology, but its Doncaster makers hope the system could soon be attached to every school uniform in the country, if the pilot scheme proves successful. Under the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) surveillance system the Hungerhill pupils have a memory microchip discreetly embedded onto their school badge which produces a radio signal. It means the pupils can be identified the moment that they step into a classroom. Its inventor, Trevor Darnborough, says the technology has many advantages including; offering accurate and speedy registration of pupils, ensuring child security, providing visual confirmation of attendance to help cover teachers and easy data input for the school's behavioural and reporting system.

Arms Underway For Space Battles

While wrestling with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is preparing weapons to fight the next battle from space, according to information in the 621-page House-Senate conference report on the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill. The $459 billion bill, which awaits President Bush's signature, provides $100 million for a new "prompt global strike" program that could deliver a conventional, precision-guided warhead anywhere in the world within two hours. It takes funds away from development of a conventional warhead for the Navy's submarine-launched Trident Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and from an Air Force plan for the Common Aero Vehicle.

Software To Back Up Your Brain

As any Baby Boomer will tell you, Americans have more information to cram into their memories than ever. Yet, as we age, our capacity for recall grows weaker. But what if you could capture every waking moment of your entire life, store it on your computer and then recall digital snapshots of everything you've seen and heard with just a quick search? Renowned computer scientist Gordon Bell, head of Microsoft's Media Presence Research Group and founder of the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, thinks he might be able to do just that. He calls it a "surrogate memory," and what he considers an early version of it even has an official name: MyLifeBits. "The goal is to live as much of life as possible versus spending time maintaining our memory system," Bell explains. Perfect surrogate memory would be supplemental to, but ultimately as good as, your original memory. It could let you listen to every conversation you had when you were 21 or find that photograph of the obscure date you had on summer vacation. As Bell says, it would "supplement (and sometimes supplant) other information-processing systems, including people." MyLifeBits isn't quite there yet, but Bell's nevertheless "gone paperless" for the past decade as part of the project, keeping a detailed, digitized diary that documents his life with photographs, letters and voice recordings. So that he doesn't miss out on important daily events, Bell wears a SenseCam, developed by Microsoft Research, that takes pictures whenever it detects he may want a photograph. The camera's infrared sensor picks up on body heat and takes snapshots of anyone else in the room, adjusting itself as available light changes. Not only does MyLifeBits record your life's digital information, but the software, developed by Bell's researchers Jim Gemmell and Roger Lueder, also can help you retrieve it. "MyLifeBits is a system aimed at capturing cyber-content in the course of daily life with the goal of being able to utilize it in various ways at work, in our personal life — e.g. finances, family, health and for our future memory," Bell says. Simply enter a keyword such as "pet," for example, and the search engine will find all available information on your childhood puppy.

VeriMed Expands to ER Medical Responders

VeriMed Patient Identification System has expanded to Emergency Medical Responders. The Company has equipped 27 American Medical Response (AMR) ambulances in three counties in the Atlanta metro area with Bluetooth®-enabled scanners. These ambulances are the first fleet of its kind in the country to be equipped with the VeriMed system for both emergency and non-emergency transport of residents and patients from more than 20 senior independent living facilities, assisted living facilities and nursing homes in Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton Counties.

Control The Electro-Magnetic Spectrum

Defence Donald Rumsfeld signed a document called the Information Operation Roadmap which outlined, among other things, the Pentagon's desire to dominate the entire electromagnetic spectrum... "We Must Improve Network and Electro-Magnetic Attack Capability. To prevail in an information-centric fight, it is increasingly important that our forces dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with attack capabilities."... "Cover the full range of EW [Electronic Warfare] missions and capabilities, including navigation warfare, offensive counterspace, control of adversary radio frequency systems that provide location and identification of friend and foe, etc."... "Provide a future EW capability sufficient to provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, denying, degrading, disrupting, or destroying the full spectrum of globally emerging communication systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependant on the electromagnetic spectrum."

'Greens' Movement May Have Darker Agenda

Some environmentalists, such as Britain's Prince Phillip, formerly the president of the World Wildlife Fund, are showing us the hidden hand behind the eco-environmental movement. When asked what he would be were he to be reincarnated, he said he would wish to return as "a killer virus to lower human population levels." Unfortunately, as a longtime proponent of population control, he was not kidding. To find out about the "Greens," we have to pay attention to what those who purport to be its leaders are saying. Does this movement to save the planet have another, darker agenda such as population control? Everyone wants clean air and water. Everyone is for not trashing our planet. Not everyone, however, is of the extreme opinion that in order to accomplish these things, we must drastically reduce human population levels.

Proving Einstein's Relativity Of Time

In 1905, Albert Einstein wrote his own treatise on the relativity of time, famously theorising that time speeds up or slows down according to how fast an object is moving in relation to another object. Thus, according to his hypothesis, a clock which is in motion ticks more slowly than an identical clock which is at rest -- a phenomenon that Einstein called time dilation. In a study published on Sunday, the most accurate experiment yet into time dilation has proven the great German physicist to be bang on target. An international team of researchers used a particle accelerator to whizz two beams of atoms around a doughnut-shaped course to represent Einstein's faster-moving clocks. They then timed the beams using high-precision laser spectroscopy and found that, compared with the outside world, time for these atomic travellers did indeed slow down. "We were able to determine the effect more precisely than ever before," said lead researcher Gerald Gwinner of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. "We found the observed effect to be in complete agreement."

Yellowstone: Time Bomb Under America

Deep beneath Yellowstone National Park lies a vast super-volcano which, if it blew up, could devastate much of the US. Recently, it's been a bit too restless for comfort. Startling new geological data published recently in the journal Science suggests that it might be a good idea for most of us – and certainly those living in the region – to be aware that there is more to Yellowstone than grand vistas and abundant wildlife. The hot springs are a clue to what lies beneath: seething layers of molten magma, super-heated gases and hydrothermal liquids. Yellowstone straddles one of Earth's most studied "hot-spots", where fissures in the crust, created by volcanic eruptions of eons past, have allowed giant streams of molten rock, or magma, to push closer than normal to the planet's surface. In recent years something intriguing – if not to say thoroughly nerve-rattling – has been going on. The magma is on the move. And so is Yellowstone. Over the past three years, according to the report, the ground in the volcanic caldera that spans about 925 square miles and accounts for much of the park's terrain has been rising towards the sky at the rate of almost three inches per year. That is three times faster than has ever been observed before. It raises the obvious question: what is happening under the park? And what might be about to happen?

Researchers to look into warp speed

Captain Kirk and his crew may someday be followed on their travels across the universe at warp speed by the rest of us. If scientists meeting for a one-day international conference next week have their way, the starship Enterprise's warp drive will no longer be the stuff of science fiction but a viable means of travelling vast distances at faster than the speed of light. Anyone wanting to boldly go on a trip to a far-off galaxy should not hold their breath though. Scientists admit there is little chance of anyone building a warp drive this century, but there is serious academic interest in the subject. The British Interplanetary Society is bringing together physicists for a conference entitled Faster than Light: Breaking the Interstellar Distance Barrier. "The main purpose is to raise awareness of this obscure field of research within general relativity and quantum field theory and attract new and particularly young researchers to work on the technical problems," said organiser Kelvin Long. Although the subject is firmly in the realm of exotic physics, he said previously controversial ideas often find their way into the mainstream eventually. "Historically, black holes and worm holes were not taken seriously. Now, dozens of papers are published every year on these topics. It is desirable for warp field theory to receive similar attention, if we are to realistically appraise its potential," he said. The theory behind travelling at warp speed is that you bend the fabric of space and time in a small region around a space craft by creating an anti-gravitational field. This causes space behind the warp bubble to expand away from the vehicle. In front space collapses like in a black hole. This theoretically allows you to move your craft across enormous distances at a faster spped than light. One of the central tenets of Einstein's theory of special relativity is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light within spacetime, but the idea with warp speed is that a small region of spacetime itself moves. It is a bit like standing on a moving walkway at an airport: because the walkway is moving you travel forward faster than you could by walking the same distance on solid ground.

High-Tech Policing To Britain’s Borders

The Eborders system will link the databases of government departments to those of transport providers to allow the speedy identification of passengers the government would want to exclude. It is part of the wider strategy that includes biometric passports and visas and the controversial identity-card scheme. Meanwhile, two defence contractors, BAE Systems and Thales, are understood to have made the Home Office’s long list for a “roster” of companies that will provide the ID-card system.

Shell: Payments With Biometric Scan

If you happen to run low on gas in Chicagoland and you stop at a Shell, you'll be able to pay for your fill-up with a simple scan of your fingertip. Shell is the world's first gasoline retailer to adopt secure biometric payment technology. The pilot project is a collaboration between Shell and a company called Pay By Touch- a world leader in biometric authentication, data management and payment solutions. Biometrics is a means of verifying personal identity by measuring and analyzing unique characteristics like fingerprints or voice patterns. Chicagoland shoppers are largely familiar with such technologies already, and if set up with PBT elsewhere, they can use the payment method at Shell without having to sign up again. The system simply associates each registered customers fingerprint with their preferred method of payment- like a Shell Card or Mastercard.

World's Largest Database For Police Use

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved recently the establishment of a police search engine, which, if passed by the Knesset, would be the largest legal database in the Western world for police use. The database is to include names, unlisted and listed phone numbers, Internet addresses, computer and modem numbers, and cell-phone identifiers to pinpoint signals and allow the police to track individual conversations. Access to the information will be given not only to police, but to several investigative authorities, including the military criminal investigation department, the Police Investigation Unit, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry, the Tax Authority and more.

CBS News Asks: Could We Live Forever?

Although Ponce de Leon never found the legendary fountain of youth, today in labs like the one at the University of California, San Francisco, scientists are trying to stop the clock or at least slow it down. In San Francisco, Professor Cynthia Kenyon is conducting experiments on microscopic worms. Their usual life span is little more than 13 days, but she has been able to get some to live as long as six times that by altering one specific gene.... But to some people, like inventor Ray Kurzweil, a pill like that is just the first of innovations that he and others think could extend our lives for hundreds - yes hundreds - of years. "We've gone 20,000 years without significantly changing the software that runs in our body. We have the tools now to do that," he said. Kurzweil - you may have heard of his keyboards - foresees what he calls "the singularity," when technology and human biology merge. He's banking on the advance of technology continuing to accelerate, yielding devices like nanobots - microscopic robots that would roam your blood stream, curing what ails you.

Breakthrough In Cloning Primates

A technical breakthrough has enabled scientists to create for the first time dozens of cloned embryos from adult monkeys, raising the prospect of the same procedure being used to make cloned human embryos. Attempts to clone human embryos for research have been dogged by technical problems and controversies over fraudulent research and questionable ethics. But the new technique promises to revolutionise the efficiency by which scientists can turn human eggs into cloned embryos. It is the first time that scientists have been able to create viable cloned embryos from an adult primate – in this case a 10-year-old male rhesus macaque monkey – and they are scheduled to report their findings later this month. The scientists will also demonstrate that they have been able to extract stem cells from some of the cloned embryos and that they have managed to encourage these embryonic cells to develop in the laboratory into mature heart cells and brain neurons. Scientists who know of the research said it was the breakthrough that they had all been waiting for because, until now, there was a growing feeling that there might be some insuperable barrier to creating cloned embryos from adult primates – including humans.

NJ School Cameras Fed Live To Cops

Surveillance cameras rolling inside our local schools is nothing new, but what's taking place inside Demarest's public schools is truly cutting edge: a live feed from more than two dozen cameras with a direct connection to the police. It's an expensive, but effective tool that could be a sign of the times with an increase in school shootings over the years. The system, which cost about $28,000, can even track movement in a crowded room. "When they arrive, they can pull up the school's live feed and do a sweep instantly," Patrolling officers have access to the video feed from headquarters and several laptops. To address privacy concerns, all of the cameras are installed in public areas and are not equipped to pick up audio. The video capabilities are extremely impressive. Each of the laptops can pick up 16 different angles at one time, turning a single operator into a mobile surveillance team. In an emergency situation, Powderley says the cameras -- complete with zoom and pan functions -- also cut down search and response times. "One officer has 17 eyes in multiple locations. It's amazing," he says. Schools Superintendent Larry Hughes says if nothing else, the ability to digitally timestamp and archive the video should discourage bad, even criminal behavior. "It doesn't hurt that people know and that if something is going to take place at your facility, if it does deter people from doing that, it's an added benefit," says Hughes. Students seem pleased with the high-tech devices. "I would want the police to be there right away if something happened to our school. Especially with all these bomb scares happening now, I know the high school had a couple," says one student. Plans are already underway to install a more advanced system in Northern Valley High school, which can alert a patrolling officer when someone is in distress or suddenly falls down.

Pentagon Wants Missiles In Space

Buried in the 621-page House-Senate conference report on the Defense Department appropriations bill -- and page A19 of Monday's Washington Post, is a $100 million request to enhance space warfare. As if it didn't already have enough work in Iraq, the Pentagon plans to divert funds from an appropriation to improve submarine-launched Trident missiles to develop a "global strike" program which would allow the US to target and dispatch a "precision-guided" warhead anywhere in the world within two hours.

Swiss Offers Suicide In A Parked Car

The Swiss suicide charity Dignitas has been forced to reinvent its assisted death operation after losing its lease on the apartment in a Zurich suburb where hundreds of people had gone to die. Other residents in the building had complained about having to use the same elevator as "customers" going up to the third floor flat, and dead bodies being taken down to ambulances or hearses parked below. Dignitas had hoped to book a suite of hotel rooms to carry out the assisted deaths but withdrew when the Association of Zurich Hoteliers threatened legal action if clients checked in to die. Use of their former premises in an industrial area was also denied them by local authorities. With nowhere to turn, the group has been reduced to offering its killing service in rental vans where clients are given a concoction of chemicals which they voluntarily drank - which means there is no possibility of prosecution under Swiss law. Assisted suicide, where the patient carries out the final act himself, is legal in Switzerland while active euthanasia, or deliberate killing to end suffering, is not. The organization intends to continue offering mobile suicide services until it finds a permanent base.

Bush Talk: Prelude To War?

President George W. Bush is developing a new strategy for tackling Iran’s determined pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. He sounded out French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on his new ideas when they came over separately for talks in the last few days. He is also in rapport with Russian president Vladimir Putin through confidential channels. DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report that the US president’s plan is to put before the public new findings on Iran’s nuclear secrets, drawn from data gathered by the United States, Russia, France, Germany and Israel... US naval, air and marine forces are again beginning to pile up around Iran’s Gulf shores, while Tehran threatens to unleash “wave upon wave” of suicide fighters against “aggressors.” DEBKAfile’s military sources report that in recent months, the USS Enterprise was the only US nuclear carrier cruising Gulf waters with its strike force. It has now been joined by the USS Nimitz Strike Group, one of the largest warships afloat today. Furthermore, on Nov. 5, a third nuclear carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman set out quietly from its Norfolk base for the Gulf with 7,500 sailors and marines aboard the carrier and its strike force. All three carrier groups are escorted by fast nuclear submarines, cruisers and missile destroyers.

More People Talking with the dead

The age-old practice of mediumship has received a pop-culture boost in recent years. The TV shows "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium" explore the theme, and high-profile psychics — including John Edward of "Crossing Over" fame and Lisa Williams and Sylvia Browne — are nabbing TV contracts and book sales. "People are more aware of [mediumship] since it's caught on with the mainstream," said Sue Fattarini, a self-described psychic who works at the Crystal Barn in Visalia. What are customers looking for? "The main thing is that they need to know that their loved one is doing OK," Fattarini said. "It gives them a sense of closure." Skeptics remain, of course. Father Ray Dreiling, pastor at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Visalia, likened the determination of many to contact the dead to primitive people's use of spirits or phantasms to explain the unknown. "Without knowing the reality of the situation, people looked toward the spirits for some kind of omen," he said. "They wanted the best answer they [could get]." Today, he said, many turn to the occult as a problem-solving shortcut.

Potter books read more than the Bible

More people re-read Harry Potter than the Bible, new research has shown. Almost 80 per cent of UK readers re-read books they have enjoyed, with JK Rowling's magical series topping the list. Lord Of The Rings and Pride And Prejudice were second and third in the top 20 re-read books, with the Bible at number 16. Almost a fifth of readers read their favourite book more than five times. Coffee shop chain Costa studied the reading habits of Britain to mark their 2007 Book Awards. It also shows that 43 per cent of the 2034 people questioned decide whether they will finish the book after only the first chapter. Simon Trewin, a literary agent, said: "There has never been a more important time to remind the reading public not to judge a book by its cover."

Area 52, The Secret Sister of Area 51

Some of the greatest and most secretive airplanes in history have been developed in the Nevada desert, most of them at the now-infamous base known as Area 51. It turns out Area 51 has a sister facility -- Area 52 -- and it's a place with secrets of its own. Area 52 isn't quite as secretive as Area 51. For one thing, you can at least find it on some maps. But it's off limits to most of us because of the classified work that goes on out there. The base has been bombed, blasted, poisoned, and nuked in the pursuit of cutting edge technology that probably can't be tested anywhere else.

Protect Rights Of Human Clones

'Human reproductive cloning could profoundly impact humanity,' said UN Under-Secretary-General Konrad Osterwalder. 'This report offers a plain language analysis of the opportunities, challenges and options before us - a firm and thoughtful base from which the international community can revisit the issue before science overtakes policy.' Without a global ban, the International Court of Justice could judge human reproductive cloning in certain countries perfectly legal, warned Brendan Tobin, Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy, Darryl Macer and Mihaela Serbulea, co-authors of the report. Tobin of the National University of Ireland said: 'Failure to outlaw reproductive cloning means it is just a matter of time until cloned individuals share the planet. If failure to compromise continues, the world community must accept responsibility and ensure that any cloned individual receives full human rights protection. It will also need to embark on an extensive awareness building and sensitivity program to ensure that the wider society treats clones with respect and ensure they are protected against prejudice, abuse or discrimination.'

Hotel Bibles Being Replaced With Porn

In the rooms of Manhattan's trendy Soho Grand Hotel guests can enjoy an eclectic selection of underground music, iPod docking stations, flat-screen TVs and even the living company of a complimentary goldfish. But, alas, the word of God is nowhere to be found. Unlike traditional hotels, the 10-year-old boutique has