Brown: We want to create a global society

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on world leaders to set about reforming international financial institutions to prevent a repeat of the circumstances that led to the current financial crisis.

Brown said the world needed a new Bretton Woods agreement, referring to the 1944 conference that laid the foundations of the post-World War II economic order by creating the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"We've got to be far bolder and far more imaginative," Brown said. "We want to create a global society. But we need to have global institutions that work and the problem is the institutions we built 60 years ago are out of date."

With world financial ministers due to gather in London in April for the G20 summit, Brown said governments were dealing with the "first financial crisis of the global age."

CNN.com

When you watch these ads, the ads check you out

Watch an advertisement on a video screen in a mall, health club or grocery store and there’s a slim - but growing - chance the ad is watching you too.

Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer’s gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity - and can change the ads accordingly.

That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.

And even if the ads don’t shift based on which people are watching, the technology’s ability to determine the viewers’ demographics is golden for advertisers who want to know how effectively they’re reaching their target audience.

comcast.net

Obama's Half-Brother Arrested on Drug Charges in Kenya

The half-brother of President Barack Obama was arrested for alleged possession of marijuana on Saturday near his home in a Nairobi shantytown, police said.

George Obama, who is in his 20s and barely knows the president, had one joint of marijuana on him, said Joshua Omokulongolo, the police chief in the area.

"He is not a drug peddler," Omokulongolo told The Associated Press. "But it's illegal, it's a banned substance."

George Obama has a court appearance scheduled Monday morning. He and the president have the same father, who died in a car crash in 1982.

FOXNews.com

Mediators called in as wildcat strikes spread across UK

The government called in mediators from Acas last night in an urgent attempt to end the dispute over the exclusion of British workers from construction contracts which led to a wave of wildcat strikes across the country yesterday.

The attempt to halt the protest came as it emerged that hundreds more workers were ready to join the nationwide strike action. Bosses at Sellafield nuclear power plant confirmed that 900 contractors will vote on a walkout on Monday morning in solidarity with oil industry contractors in Lincolnshire which is at the heart of the dispute after around 300 new jobs were taken by Italian and Portuguese workers.    The Guardian

'Immortal' jellyfish swarming across the world

An 'immortal' jellyfish is swarming through the world's oceans, according to scientists. The Turritopsis Nutricula is able to revert back to a juvenile form once it mates after becoming sexually mature.

Marine biologists say the jellyfish numbers are rocketing because they need not die.

Dr Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute said: "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion." The jellyfish are originally from the Caribbean but have spread all over the world.

Turritopsis Nutricula is technically known as a hydrozoan and is the only known animal that is capable of reverting completely to its younger self. It does this through the cell development process of transdifferentiation. Scientists believe the cycle can repeat indefinitely, rendering it potentially immortal.  Telegraph

Alex Collier

This is part 1 of 12 of a 1994 private interview of Andromedan Contactee Alex Collier, where he reveals very IMPORTANT stuff that we should aware of by now. He predicts 9/11, talks about various ET races, the truth, not told stories by our media, the ET presence on Earth, the Reptilian control of our government and institutions, the Greys Agenda,the Orion Group, ETs and history leaders, the truth about our Moon, bases on Mars, The Lyran Wars, cloned world leaders, ETs violating our human rights and mocking how stupid we are, treaties signed with EVIL Alien races, where do missing children go, our planet Earth as a living entity, our TRUE human History, higher planes of existence,on RAISING OUR CONSCIOUSNESS, on our human emotions, on our Apathy, on Time Travel, our POTENTIAL as a united race, and the importance to STOP THE WARS, to JOIN AS A RACE, stop ET induced belief systems to control us like they have been doing for centuries, the Staging planned to deceive us, and that we HAVE TO begin TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OURSELVES AS A RACE and our ascension to the 4th Density or Dimension, "Earth´s Dilemma" and our government SELLING US as a race for GREED and Technology to an Elite ...

more on YouTube

Turkish PM given hero's welcome

Turkey's PM has received a hero's welcome on his return to Istanbul after he stormed out of a debate about Gaza at the World Economic Forum in Davis.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan had reacted angrily when he was refused the chance to respond to Israeli President Shimon Peres' defence of the operation. Thousands of people turned out in the capital to greet Mr Erdogan's plane.

He told them Mr Peres' language and tone had been unacceptable, so he acted to stand up for Turkish honour. "I only know that I have to protect the honour of Turkey and Turkish people," said Mr Erdogan. "I am not a chief of a tribe. I am the prime minister of Turkey. I have to do what I have to do."

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul said there had been huge anger in Turkey at Israel's operation in Gaza and there now appears to be widespread support for Mr Erdogan's actions in Davis.

Huge crowds were waiting at Istanbul airport in the early hours of the morning, with many people waving Turkish and Palestinian flags. Correspondents said the crowds were shouting "Turkey is with you," and that some were holding signs greeting Mr Erdogan as "a new world leader".

BBC NEWS

Bigger Stronger Faster

In America, they define themselves in the superlative: we are the biggest, strongest, fastest country in the world. Is it any wonder that so many of their heroes are on performance enhancing drugs? Director Christopher Bell explores America’s win-at-all-cost culture by examining how his two brothers became members of the steroid-subculture in an effort to realize their American dream.

Architects of Control

Michael Tsarion Architects of Control: Program One - Mass Control and Future of Mankind

UK Terror Law To Make Photographing Police Illegal

New laws set to be passed in England and Canada would make it illegal to use bad language or take photographs of police officers, moving us further away from the idea of police as public servants and more towards the notion of cops assuming God-like status.

According to the British Journal of Photography, the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, which is set to become law on February 16, “allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.” The punishment for this offense is imprisonment for up to ten years and a fine.

However, even before the passage of the legislation, police in Britain have already been harassing and arresting fully accredited press photographers merely for taking pictures of them at rallies and protests.

Prison Planet - More on Simon’s

Rahm Emanuel: 'The Second Most Powerful Person In The USA'

Early this month, Barack Obama was meeting with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other lawmakers when Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, began nervously cracking a knuckle.

Mr. Obama then turned to complain to Mr. Emanuel about his noisy habit.

At which point, Mr. Emanuel held the offending knuckle up to Mr. Obama’s left ear and, like an annoying little brother, snapped off a few special cracks.

The episode, confirmed by Mr. Emanuel’s office, underscores some essential truths about Mr. Emanuel: He is brash, has a deep comfort level with his new boss, and has been ever-present at Mr. Obama’s side of late, in meetings, on podiums and in photographs

NYTimes.com

Canadian National Anthem Banned Due To Immigrants' Objections

Some immigrant parents complained that the Canadian National Anthem was "divisive" and a liberal principal agreed and banned it from being sung in an elementary school. Two little girls want it back.

LiveLeak.com

US Army to report record number of suicides

The U.S. Army will report Thursday the highest level of suicides among its soldiers since it began tracking the rate 28 years ago, CNN has learned.

Statistics obtained by CNN show that the Army will report 128 confirmed suicides last year and an additional 15 suspected suicides in cases under investigation among active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves.

The confirmed rate of suicides was 20.2 per 100,000. Army officials were reviewing the suspected suicides Wednesday. If any of them are confirmed, the rate will rise.

In 2007, the Army reported 115 confirmed suicides, the highest level since 1980, when it began tracking suicides.

The Army is expected to announce a new effort to study the problem and determine why its suicide-prevention programs appear not to be working, and the extent to which post-combat stress may be a contributing factor. Many of the suicides occur after troops return home.

CNN.com

Chaos reigns at International Criminal Court trial of Thomas Lubanga

The opening day of testimony at a landmark trial of an alleged Congo warlord ended in shambolic fashion today with the star first witness dramatically retracting his claim to have been a child soldier.

Amid concerns about his protection the witness, whose name and age were not released, told the International Criminal Court in the morning that he was recruited for a military training camp on his way home from primary school by soldiers under the ultimate command of Thomas Lubanga, the defendant.

But to the embarrassment of the prosecution, in the afternoon the witness started to contradict his account and suddenly suggested that he had been told what to say by an unnamed NGO (non-governmental organisation).

Times Online

Congo warlord trained children to kill, court told - Clackamas Review

The 12 bankers who made £1bn

Gallery on the Guardian with 12 pictures of Bosses who took huge salaries and bonuses as their banks were bailed out.

The Guardian

Ron Paul Talks About the Economy

On MSNBC's Morning Joe of 1-27-09, Ron Paul answers questions about fixing the economy. MSNBC presenters do not know what to say…

The Curious Case of Richard Holbrooke

In wee morning hours on Friday, January 23, a U.S. spy plane killed at least 15 in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. It was Barack Obama’s first blood and the U.S.’s first violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty under the new administration. The attack was an early sign that the newly minted president may not be overhauling the War on Terror this week, or even next.

 Richard Holbrooke and Lum Haxhiu (UCK)

As the U.S. government fired upon alleged terrorists in the rugged outback of Pakistan, Obama was back in Washington appointing Richard Holbrooke as a special U.S. representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, like the remote control bombing that claimed human life, Obama’s vision for the region, in the embodiment of Holbrooke, may not be a drastic departure from the failed Bush doctrine. Or a departure at all.

"[Holbrooke] is one of the most talented diplomats of his generation," Obama said during a January 22 press conference at the State Department. In his speech Obama declared that both Afghanistan and Pakistan will be the "central front" in the War on Terror. "There, as in the Middle East, we must understand that we cannot deal with our problems in isolation," he said.

More on counterpunch.org

Crisis unfolding in Sri Lanka

A major humanitarian crisis is unfolding in northern Sri Lanka with 250,000 unprotected civilians trapped in the crossfire between government troops and rebel forces, the Red Cross says.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has appealed to both sides to facilitate the movement of civilians out of the combat zone which has seen intensified fighting.

"People are being caught in the crossfire, hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded," Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia in Geneva said in a statement on the ICRC Web site."

More on CNN.com

Gordon Brown's lost his marbles

Gordon Brown was last night accused of “losing his marbles” after hailing Britain’s bloodbath of job cuts as the “birth pangs of a new global order”.

In a speech that risked a furious backlash, the Prime Minister said the recession was his opportunity to forge a new global financial system.

Astonishingly, Mr Brown even claimed to have predicted the current financial crisis 10 years ago. His boasts came as the tally of jobs axed or under threat this month hit 50,000

Daily Express

Beyond The Cutting Edge

David Icke at Brixton Academy, London. 2008

Political Leaders and Central Bankers flock to Davos

Political leaders and central bankers will dominate this week's annual Davos forum as a chastened business elite is sidelined in the drive to reboot the world economy, improve global security and slow climate change.

More than 40 heads of state and government -- almost double the number last year -- will be joined by 36 finance ministers and central bankers, including the central bank chiefs of all the G8 group of rich countries except the United States.

About 1,400 business executives will also be in Davos but fewer top bankers and captains of industry are expected as they struggle to keep their businesses afloat -- and themselves in a job, mindful of the event's glitzy image in more austere times.

Reuters - World Economic Forum Website

Unnecessary Censorship

Because you can’t say **** on American TV.

Call to protect Sri Lanka civilians

Pressure is building on Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tiger rebels to protect thousands of civilians caught up in the fighting on the island.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has expressed deep concern over the fate of the civilians - the UN says dozens are dead or injured.

And the European Union has asked the government to ensure that the civilians are spared in the fighting.

Sri Lanka's army has pushed the rebels from their strongholds.

Mullaitivu, their last major base, fell on Sunday.

There is no way of confirming claims from either side in the conflict zone as independent journalists are barred.

Mr Ban said in a statement that he "is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of civilians caught in intensified fighting in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka" between government troops and rebels.

BBC NEWS

The Obama Deception Trailer

A Film by Alex Jones - The Obama Deception will be the first hard-hitting film to expose Obama, his agenda & handlers cutting through all the media hype, side-issues and Left/Right rhetoric. Alex has made several films exposing the Bush agenda and will approach the Obama Administrations plans from the same non-partisan point of view looking past the frontman in the White House to the real owners on Wall Street, in the Bilderberg group and at the Federal Reserve.

The Obama Deception hits the internet on March 15.

More on Infowars.com

BBC condemned for blocking charity broadcast

Fifty-one MPs will today urge the BBC to back down over its refusal to screen an emergency appeal for humanitarian aid to Gaza. Richard Burden, the Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, will table an Early Day Motion stating that the House of Commons is "astonished" by the broadcaster's decision not to show the appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee because it would "threaten the impartiality of its news reporting".

Yesterday, members of the Stop the War protest group occupied the BBC's Glasgow offices, saying they would stay in the building until the corporation agreed to air the DEC's fundraising advert for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

independent.co.uk

Singapore Dissident

Despite Lee Kuan Yew's attempts to show Singapore as a democracy, it is far from it. Today, Singaporeans live in mortal fear of their government. The constitution is completely ignored. Singapore Parliament is merely a rubber stamp, the country being run entirely on the dictates of this one man, Lee Kuan Yew. Although the constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, the law requires permits to engage in such activity and permits are never granted. With one party rule, the people have no legal means to voice their dissent. Dr. Chee Soon Juan and other activists have engaged in peaceful protests for which they have been repeatedly charged and sent to prison. At this very moment, Singapore human rights activists, Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Gandhi Ambalam, Chee Siok Chin and Yap Keng Ho are undergoing a trial for having engaged in a peaceful assembly, one of the many they have suffered.

In Singapore today, there is no free press. Every single newspaper and news media is controlled by the government. The judiciary is entirely politicized and they invariably abuse the law to punish political opponents. The Internal Security Act, giving the government the right to detain people without trial is being used. There are a number of people presently detained in Singapore under this law. The police force is being used as Lee Kuan Yew's private army to arrest detain and charge his political opponents.

Singapore Dissident

Obama administration warns public to expect rise in US casualties

The Obama administration warned the US public yesterday to brace itself for an increase in American casualties as it prepares to step up the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan.

Against a background of widespread protests in Pakistan and Afghanistan over US operations since Obama became president, the vice-president, Joe Biden, said yesterday that US forces would be engaged in many more operations as it takes the fight to its enemies in the region.

The Obama administration is to double the number of US troops in Afghanistan to 60,000 and when asked in a television interview if the US public should expect more American casualties, Biden said: "I hate to say it, but yes, I think there will be. There will be an uptick."

More about this CHANGE in the guardian.co.uk

David Icke on Obama

Obama's speeches are a mass of mind-control techniques and Neuro-Linguistic-Programming, or NLP, and they are carefully constructed to implant beliefs and perceptions into the mind of the viewer. Click here for a description of his psycho-babble, headed An Examination of Obama's Use of Hidden Hypnosis Techniques in His Speeches.

As I keep emphasising, the whole Obama circus is an exercise in mass mind control and it has been so successful because so many people live their lives in a permanent state of trance. All of which brings me to the parallels with Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and similar regimes throughout history.

Obama may not look like Hitler, nor sound like Hitler, but the themes are just the same. Germany was in a terrible state economically and militarily in the 1930s in the aftermath of the First World War and the reparations inflicted on the country by the Rothschild/Illuminati-controlled Versailles 'Peace' Conference in 1919.

Much more on David Icke Website - Obama Article

Guantanamo Case Files On Detainees Non-Existent Or "Scattered"

President Obama's plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials - barred until the inauguration from examining classified material on the detainees - discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them.

Instead, they found that information on individual prisoners is "scattered throughout the executive branch," a senior administration official said. The executive order Obama signed Thursday orders the prison closed within one year, and a Cabinet-level panel named to review each case separately will have to spend its initial weeks and perhaps months scouring the corners of the federal government in search of relevant material.

Several former Bush administration officials agreed that the files are incomplete and that no single government entity was charged with pulling together all the facts and the range of options for each prisoner. They said that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were reluctant to share information, and that the Bush administration's focus on detention and interrogation made preparation of viable prosecutions a far lower priority.

CBS News

Noah's Ark found off Peru

The Chilean Navy has uncovered a "Noah's Ark" of contraband exotic animals - some of them endangered - which were being shipped from Peru.  Reuters.com

Former Seattle Police Chief tells Pres. Obama to legalize Marijuana

Pope stirs up Jewish fury over bishop

Tension between the Vatican and Jewish groups looked set to explode yesterday after Pope Benedict XVI rehabilitated a British bishop who has claimed no Jews died in gas chambers during the second world war.

Benedict yesterday welcomed back into the Roman Catholic Church Richard Williamson and three other men who were excommunicated in 1988 after being ordained without Vatican permission. The three had been appointed by breakaway French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The Vatican decree issued yesterday spoke of overcoming the "scandal of divisiveness" and seeking reconciliation with Lefebvre's conservative order, the Society of Saint Pius X, which opposes the modernisation of Catholic doctrine.

But Jewish groups have warned the Pope that the decision could damage Catholic-Jewish relations after Williamson claimed in an interview, broadcast last week, that historical evidence "is hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler ... I believe there were no gas chambers".

The Observer
Wikipedia Page Richard Williamson

For more Catholic fun see FORMER CATHOLICS FOR CHRIST

Gates Predicts U.S. Will be in Iraq and Afghanistan ‘for Years to Come’

The former and recent (No Change here!) Defense Secretary Robert Gates predicts the U.S. will be in Afghanistan for years to come.

In an article in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, Gates laid out the state of the U.S. military -- and how well it is poised to face the future.
Gates, who came to his post under Bush and was asked to stay by Obama, said the ability of the United States to deal with future threats will depend on how it performs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“To be blunt, to fail -- or to be seen to fail -- in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a disastrous blow to U.S. credibility, both among friends and allies and among potential adversaries,” Gates wrote.
Gates said the number of U.S. combat units in Iraq will decline over time – “as it was going to do no matter who was elected president in November,” he added.

CNSNews.com

Icelandic government becomes first to be brought down by the credit crunch

The government of Iceland today became the first to be effectively brought down by the credit crunch.

After several nights of rioting over the financial crisis, Prime Minister Geir Haarde, surrendered to increasing pressure and called a general election for May. A poll would not normally be held until 2011.

- Geir Haarde Prime minister of Iceland gets attacked -

The global financial crisis hit Iceland, which has a population 320,000, in October, triggering a collapse in its currency and financial system under the weight of billions of dollars of foreign debts incurred by its banks

Mail Online

UFO At OBAMA's Inauguration: As Seen On CNN

UFO At OBAMA's Inauguration: As Seen On CNN Not A Joke!

More on this in The Sun website

Change to a New World Order

Obama's Unconstitutional Agenda - Plan For A New World Order

Castro writes of death and illness

Cuba's Fidel Castro, ailing and 82, signalled on Thursday that thoughts of mortality were on his mind as he wrote in an Internet column about death and failing health.

In his second column in as many days, after a prolonged silence that fuelled speculation about his health, Castro also praised new U.S. President Barack Obama, who he said had become "a living symbol of the American Dream."

Reuters

Islamic cleric Samir Abu Hamza “must back down”

An Australian  Islamic cleric tells his male followers they can force their wives to have sex and beat them if they are disobedient must apologise.

The Islamic cleric contends that rape of a married woman by her husband simply cannot happen.

Video lectures posted on the internet claim Islamic law gives a man the right to demand sex from his wife whenever he feels like it.

If she disobeys him, says this misguided mullah, a husband can beat his wife but should not draw blood or leave bruises.

In another video the cleric says non-Muslim Australians are lost in a world of booze and prostitutes and should be converted to Islam. Just as astonishing is that he openly mocks Australian law.

Herald Sun

The Dark Face of the E.U.

Most see the European Union of today as an inefficient conglomeration of states run by self-serving career politicians anxious to guarantee their survival by safely nesting in the EU's cocoon of endless bureaucracies.
Many don't really see a threat at the moment. They believe that an integrated Europe makes sense; that it would prevent any chance of a third European war; that it is the modern, forward-thinking way to go. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

More of this here

Obama shuts network of CIA 'ghost prisons'

Barack Obama embarked on the wholesale deconstruction of George Bush's war on terror, shutting down the CIA's secret prison network, banning torture and rendition, and calling for a new set of rules for detainees. The repudiation of Bush's thinking on national security yesterday also saw the appointment of a high-powered envoy to the Middle East.

Obama's decision to permanently shut down the CIA's clandestine interrogation centres went far beyond the widely anticipated move to wind down the Guantánamo Bay detention centre within a year.

He cast his scrapping of the legal apparatus set up by Bush as a way for America to reclaim the moral high ground in the fight against al-Qaida.

"We are not, as I said during the inauguration, going to continue with the false choice between our safety and our ideals," Obama said at the signing ceremony. "We intend to win this fight. We are going to win it on our own terms."

The Guardian

More about Torture, rendition, and other abuses against captives in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere here

The Government Is Watching

Budget Travel Magazine's Sean O'Neill finds out what happens when the government watches where you go.

LiveLeak.com

Did the Moon's far side once face Earth?

Billions of years ago, the man in the moon may have performed the ultimate about-face, when an asteroid flipped the moon around.

The far side of the moon never faces us, because the moon rotates once for every orbit it makes of the Earth. Yet an analysis of impact craters shows the far side may once have pointed our way.

Mark Wieczorek and Matthieu Le Feuvre at the Paris Institute of Earth Physics in France studied the relative age and distribution of 46 known craters, gouged out by impacts from debris originating in the solar system's asteroid belt.

According to earlier computer simulations, the moon's western hemisphere as viewed from Earth should have about 30 per cent more craters than the eastern hemisphere. That's because the west always faces in the direction in which the moon orbits, which makes it more likely to be hit by debris, for the same reason that more raindrops strike a moving car's front windshield than its rear.  More on New Scientist

Did it happen to Earth too?  See Wikipedia: Pole shift hypothesis or Polar Shift - When the Earth's Poles Flip By Jim McElwee:

“Let me start off by saying, factual evidence shows firm proof that the Earth's Poles have flipped several times in the past. It has been roughly 780,000 years Since the last polar shift, and Scientists believe we are overdue for another.”

But also read The Wild Side of Geoarchaeology Page with Alleged "Evidence" of Earth Crustal Displacement (Pole Shift) compiled by Paul V. Heinrich.

Dutch politician faces charges over anti-Islam film

Dutch authorities will file charges against a lawmaker for inciting religious hatred in speeches and a film he made about Islam last year, an Amsterdam district prosecutor told CNN Wednesday.

Prosecutors had originally decided not to press charges against Geert Wilders, 43, a member of parliament for the right-wing Party for Freedom.

"We thought a conviction would not be possible," prosecutor Otto Van Der Bijl told CNN. But nine people filed complaints with the Court of Appeal, he said. The court found there was a "reasonable suspicion that Mr. Wilders is guilty of the charges and the prosecution should in fact proceed."

Wilders blasted the court decision as "an all-out assault on freedom of speech," in a statement posted on his party's Web site.

"Apparently this is the Netherlands today. If you speak out you might be prosecuted. To participate in public debate has become a dangerous activity," he said in the statement, which also called for donations to the party to help him fight the charges in court.

CNN.com

Barack Obama to use BlackBerry as president

Barack Obama could become the first sitting US president to use email, after reports suggested he may be in line for a new spy-proof smartphone.

The 44th president of the United States, who was sworn into office yesterday, is famous for his love of his BlackBerry – even suggesting that somebody would have to "pry it from his hands" before he would give it up.

But after concerns about security and legal issues, close advisers and government agents have been delaying a decision on whether Obama would be able to use a similar device while in office.

According to blogger Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic, however, a government agency has provided the president with a special, highly encrypted mobile which would satisfy security demands.

"Obama will be able to use it still for routine and personal messages," he wrote, adding that "It's not clear whether he yet has the device".

Traditionally, US presidents have shied away from using hi-tech communications such as email and mobile phones for a variety of reasons – including possible interception from foreign powers.

guardian.co.uk

In-flight confrontations can lead to charges defined as terrorism

At least 200 passengers have been convicted of felonies under the Patriot Act, often for behavior involving raised voices and profanity. Some experts say airlines are misusing the law.

Tamera Jo Freeman was on a Frontier Airlines flight to Denver in 2007 when her two children began to quarrel over the window shade and then spilled a Bloody Mary into her lap.
She spanked each of them on the thigh with three swats. It was a small incident, but one that in the heightened anxiety after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would eventually have enormous ramifications for Freeman and her children.

A flight attendant confronted Freeman, who responded by hurling a few profanities and throwing what remained of a can of tomato juice on the floor.
The incident aboard the Frontier flight ultimately led to Freeman's arrest and conviction for a federal felony defined as an act of terrorism under the Patriot Act, the controversial federal law enacted after the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

Los Angeles Times

Israel 'admits' using white phosphorus munitions

The Israeli military came close to acknowledging for the first time yesterday its use of white phosphorus munitions during the war in Gaza, but continued to insist that it did not breach international law.

As fresh evidence emerged of Gazan civilians being burned by phosphorus, Avital Leibovich, the army spokeswoman, said its use was “legal according to international law...All the munitions we were using were legal, like the French, American and British armies. We used munitions according to international law.

“They [Hamas] were committing war crimes by putting the civilians in the front line,” she said. “If Hamas chooses to locate training camps, command centres...in the middle of the [civilian population]...look how populated it is...naturally they are endangering the lives of civilians. Hamas is accountable for the loss of the civilians.”

Major-General Amir Eshel, the army's head of strategic planning, said that firing shells to provide a smoke screen was legal. “It is the most nonlethal kind of weapon we used. I don't see any issue with that,” he said.

Times Online

Barack Obama’s Oath of Office

Chief Justice Roberts botched it. From the US Constitution, here is how the oath reads:
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

See all 1084 reactions on YouTube..

UPDATE 22 JAN: Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts' mistake - CNN

President Obama’s Rise Due to “Blue Blood” Ancestry

After this nation-wide debut, Obama served as a junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and then was simply catapulted to the Presidency.  Is Obama’s ascension to power an “All-American” story attainable by any hard-working “common” American or is Obama’s coronation a result of his “blue blood” ancestry?

(picture by the New York Post)

Based upon genealogical evidence, the Presidential Election of 2008 clearly involved both Republican and Democratic Presidential nominees that descend from prominent royal and presidential “blue blood” sharing common progenitors directly to William I, King of Scots. Coincidentally or not, the victor, Obama, has the more affluent pedigree. What percentages of “common”American family trees have such ancestral pedigree? Nevertheless, did Americans really have a “real choice” between Obama and McCain in casting their votes for a candidate that would bring about “change we can believe” in? Or did the elites contrive another election predicated upon the Hegelian dialectic where the result would be the same regardless for whom we cast our votes?

Much more on Infowars.com

Human rights lawyer murdered in Moscow

One of Russia's top human rights lawyers was assassinated in the centre of Moscow yesterday in a killing apparently linked to his work defending opponents of the pro-Kremlin government in Chechnya.

Stanislav Markelov, 34, was shot in the head by a man using a pistol with a silencer in the middle of the afternoon on a busy Moscow street. Markelov worked as a lawyer for Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper whose special correspondent Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in Moscow in 2006. The paper's co-owner Alexander Lebedev last night said Markelov had dealt with Politkovskaya's case.

Before escaping, his killer also shot Anastasia Barburova, a 25-year-old trainee journalist also employed by Novaya Gazeta. She had been walking with the lawyer to the metro when the killer, who wore military fatigues, opened fire. Barburova died last night in hospital.

Witnesses said she tried to chase the assassin, who turned and shot her in the head. Lebedev said the newspaper had grown concerned for the safety of its staff on Saturday after it published an article about Chechen execution squads roaming around Moscow. Several staff were put under protection, he added.

The Guardian and Novaya Gazeta

Inauguration for the Rich

President-elect Barack Obama billed his inauguration an event "for all Americans." But in the nation's capital this long weekend, wealthy visitors are finding themselves a bit more equal -- and warmer -- than others.

Most Americans here to see President-elect Obama make history crammed onto buses and trains, slept on floors and fought crowds and cold. But the wealthiest Americans coming to see the event are enjoying all the perks their money and power ever warranted.

For CEOs and stars arriving by private jet, local airports have shut down entire runways to serve as parking lots for their planes. Officials are prepared to handle hundreds of private aircraft for the long weekend.

ABC News

Bye bye G.W. Bush

NKorean newspaper renews threats against SKorea

North Korea's main newspaper said Monday that the communist nation does not engage in "empty talk," heightening tensions surrounding its threat to take military action to counter what it calls South Korean plans to invade.

North Korea's military accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Saturday of plotting an invasion of the North and warned of strong military steps in retaliation and "an all-out confrontational posture." South Korea denied it was planning to invade, and puts its military on alert.

South Korea said Monday it had detected no unusual moves by the North's military, and Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said Seoul will cope with the situation in a "calm" manner.

The North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper renewed the country's warnings on Monday, saying it would "destroy and wipe out" invaders in "one strike" if South Korean "war maniacs ignite the fire of war."

"The Lee Myung-bak group should bear in mind that our guns and bayonets ... are aimed at their throats," the paper said in a commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "We know no empty talk."

The Associated Press

Gaza doctor's tragedy caught on Israeli TV

Palestinian doctor Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish was giving Israel's Channel 10 his daily account from inside the war zone in Gaza when three of his daughters were killed in an Israeli attack. (17 jan. 2009)

Reporters Call Israeli FM Tzipi Livni a "Terrorist" and a "Murderer" During DC Press Conference.....

Security guards stood tensely in front of the press podium while Livni answered strident questions from reporters from Al-Jazeera and other Middle East news organizations, CNN and NBC.
One reporter was physically removed from the microphone when he charged Livni was a terrorist.
A moderator from the National Press Club, where the event was held, tried to cut off another reporter who read at length from a Human Rights Watch report detailing the killing and 'murder' of Palestinian children.

Blackjack – Put Fear into the People

Operation Blackjack: The Story of Terrorist Nuclear Attacks on Major Western Cities
This little curiosity comes to us from the Telegraph’s Culture Picture Galleries section.
As of now, there’s an entry called: Operation Blackjack: The Story of Terrorist Nuclear Attacks on Major Western Cities.

Telegraph

This disgusting and pointless “gallery” cannot be classed as culture, art or anything of the sort - it is nothing more than gratuitous and macabre pornography for those in establishment, and believe me there are many, that yearn for another 9/11 or worse in order to unravel their contemptuous political agenda.

What kind of sick mind created this and why was it allowed to feature so prominently on a major UK newspaper website? This is vile, vulgar propaganda and downright offensive, especially to the millions of people who live in London and New York City and have already suffered terrorist attacks, both of which were carried out with the complete complicity of the British and U.S. governments, within the past decade.

We need answers as to who created this, what its implausible artistic merit is, and why the London Telegraph allowed it to appear on their website.

PrisonPlanet

Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on Gaza village

Israel stands accused of perpetrating a series of war crimes during a sustained 12-hour assault on a village in southern Gaza last week in which 14 people died.

In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:

• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;

• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;

• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;

• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.

If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.

The denunciations over what happened in Khuza'a follow repeated claims of possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human rights organisations.

The Observer

Mexico in danger of collapse, says US army

A report on the "Joint Operating Environment", compiled by the army's high command, places Mexico alongside Pakistan as a possible failed state of the future. America, which shares a 2,000 mile border with Mexico, would be the obvious destination for massive refugee flows if its neighbour descended into civil war.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed Mexico's army in a new offensive against organised crime. This battle against four major drug cartels, along with a myriad of local syndicates, claimed the lives of 5,367 members of the security forces or suspected criminals last year alone.

"Two large and important states bear consideration for rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico," reads the US army's report.

"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state."   Telegraph

All aboard the atheist bus campaign

The atheist bus campaign launches today thanks to Comment is free readers. Because of your enthusiastic response to the idea of a reassuring God-free advert being used to counter religious advertising, the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" could now become an ad campaign on London buses – and leading secularists have jumped on board to help us raise the money.

The British Humanist Association will be administering all donations to the campaign, and Professor Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, has generously agreed to match all contributions up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we raise the full amount. This will be enough to fund two sets of atheist adverts on 30 London buses for four weeks.

If the buses hit the road, this will be the UK's first ever atheist advertising campaign. It's an exciting development, which I never expected when I first proposed the idea on Cif in June. Back then, I was just keen to counter the religious ads running on public transport, which featured a URL to a website telling non-Christians they would spend "all eternity in torment in hell", burning in "a lake of fire". When I suggested the atheist counter-slogan (now shortened for readability), the response was extremely positive, and hundreds of you pledged your support after the follow-up article.

As you read this, a new advertising campaign for Alpha Courses is running on London buses. If you attend an Alpha Course, you will again be told that failing to believe in Jesus will condemn you to hell. There's no doubt that advertising can be effective, and religious advertising works particularly well on those who are vulnerable, frightening them into believing. Religious organisations' jobs are made easier because there's no publicly visible counter-view to refute their threats of eternal damnation.

From the Comment is free website by the guardian.co.uk

Gaza: Residents waving white flags 'shot dead as they flee their homes'

Israeli forces said they had pushed deeper into Gaza City amid heavy fighting, with some units within a mile of the densely populated urban centre. Terrified residents were said to be fleeing from many homes which had been set alight.

At least three Palestinians in Gaza were shot dead yesterday after Israeli soldiers fired on a group of residents leaving their homes on orders from the military and waving white flags, according to testimony taken by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. The testimony was rejected by the military after what it said was a preliminary investigation. Belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Also see: Fresh evidence of Israeli phosphorus use in Gaza emerges (video and article on guardian.co.uk)

Top Saudi cleric: Ok for young girls to wed

"It is incorrect to say that it's not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger," Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, the kingdom's grand mufti, said in remarks quoted Wednesday in the regional Al-Hayat newspaper. "A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her."

In December, Saudi judge Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib refused to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.

The judge rejected a petition from the girl's mother, whose lawyer said the marriage was arranged by her father to settle a debt with "a close friend." The judge required the girl's husband to sign a pledge that he would not have sex with her until she reaches puberty.   CNN.com