Beast System: Laying The Foundation Of The Beast

[oneofmany]

”Worst Coverup In The History Of The Military”, SECRET SHOTS

”Worst Coverup In The History Of The Military”, SECRET SHOTS

 

[oneofmany]

Police fire water cannon on anti-Bush protesters in South Korea

Police fire water cannon on anti-Bush protesters in South Korea​

SEOUL, South Korea — Police fired water cannons at thousands of protesters Tuesday as U.S. President George W. Bush got a volatile reception in South Korea at the start of his Asian trip.

Duelling demonstrations reflected mixed sentiments in South Korea, where public opinion surveys remain generally positive about America, though many people decry Washington for a variety of issues.

Bush will meet Wednesday with President Lee Myung-bak for the third time since the conservative, pro-American leader took office in February.

Some 18,300 police were on high alert with riot gear and bomb-sniffing dogs to maintain order during Bush's brief visit, the National Police Agency said.

About 30,000 people gathered in front of Seoul City Hall for an afternoon Christian prayer service supporting Bush's trip. Large South Korean and U.S. flags were held aloft by balloons overhead along with a banner reading, "Welcome President Bush."

As evening approached, an estimated 20,000 anti-Bush protesters gathered nearby. Police turned water cannons on them as they tried to move onto the main central downtown boulevard, telling the crowd that the liquid contained markers to tag them so they could be identified later.

"I don't have anti-U.S. sentiment. I'm just anti-Bush and anti-Lee Myung-bak," said Uhm Ki-woong, 36, a businessman who was wearing a mask and hat like other demonstrators in an apparent attempt to conceal his identity.

Twelve demonstrators were arrested, along with another 12 at an earlier attempted demonstration near the military airport where Bush landed, police said.

Bush held off on visiting Seoul earlier this year when protesters staged nightly candlelight vigils and repeatedly clashed with riot police over imports of American beef, saying Lee ignored public health concerns over the possibility of mad cow disease and failed to consult with citizens. Lee has promised to patch up relations with Washington that became strained under Seoul's previous decade of liberal governments.

Bush calls Lee a friend, which is good considering the raft of sensitive topics they will tackle before the American president heads to Thailand, then to the Beijing Olympics.

At the top of the list is getting North Korea to live up to its commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

 

[oneofmany]

Army recruiter caught threatening teen with jail

YOUTUBE VIDEO

Army recruiter caught threatening teen with jail

 

[oneofmany]

Spy chiefs warned Blair and Bush Saddam had no WMDs, Pulitzer prize winner claims

Accused: US President George Bush, shown here at Andrews Air Force Base on Monday, has been accused of an 'impeachable offence'​

Spy chiefs warned Blair and Bush Saddam had no WMDs, Pulitzer prize winner claims in explosive new book​

Spy chiefs warned Blair and Bush Saddam had no WMDs, Pulitzer prize winner claims in explosive new book

Tony Blair and US President George Bush were told emphatically by British spy chiefs before the invasion of Iraq that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, a new book alleges.

The Prime Minister authorised a mission by an MI6 agent to make secret contact with the head of Iraqi intelligence at the beginning of 2003, just three months before US and British troops invaded Iraq, says the explosive book by an American journalist.

But when the agent, named as Michael Shipster, reported that it was highly unlikely that the Iraqi regime had stockpiles chemical and biological weapons that could fall into the hands of Islamist terrorists, his conclusions were roundly rejected by the American military establishment, led by the US Vice President Dick Cheney.

The book, called The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, also accuses the White House of faking a letter from the same Iraqi intelligence chief linking Iraq with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The author, Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former Wall St Journal reporter, claims President George Bush ordered the CIA to forge the letter after the 2003 invasion to provide justification for the war.

He claims that Iraqi intelligence boss Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti was in American custody after Saddam was toppled in April 2003 when CIA officers ordered him to write the note and backdate it to July 2001.

Before the war, Habbush met Shipster in Jordan for a series of meetings that were allegedly confirmed to Suskind by Nigel Inkster, the former assistant director of MI6. Shipster was told by Habbush that there were no illicit weapons in Iraq and that Saddam was more worried about a potential military threat from Iran than by a possible invasion by a western coalition.

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of British intelligence, was also interviewed by Suskind. The author says Sir Richard confirmed Shipster's meetings and report. The author says he asked why Mr Blair did not act on the spy's intelligence and was told that Shipster's mission was an 11th-hour "attempt to try, as it were, I'd say, to diffuse the whole situation".

Sir Richard said: "The problem was the Cheney crowd was in too much of a hurry, really. Bush never resisted them quite strongly enough. Yes, it was probably too late, I imagine, for Cheney. I'm not sure it was too late for Bush." He then repeats: "I don't think it was too late for Bush."

Sir Richard flew to Washington in February 2003 - a month before the invasion - to present the Habbush report to George Tenet, then the CIA director, according to Suskind.

The report stated that according to Habbush, Saddam had ended his nuclear programme in 1991, the same year he destroyed his chemical weapons programme and had ended the biological weapons programme in 1996. It emerged later that Habbush had been telling the whole truth.

But Suskind writes: "The White House then buried the Habbush report. They instructed the British that they were no longer interested in keeping the channel open."

Rob Richer, a former CIA office in the Near East division, told Suskind: "The Brits wanted to avoid war - which was what was driving them. Bush wanted to go to war in Iraq from the very first days he was in office. Nothing was going to stop that."

Suskind also claims that after the invasion of March 2003 Habbush was paid £2.5 million for helping the Americans to justify the war by fabricating evidence to show that Saddam had links to international terrorism.

The Iraqi agreed to copy out the letter from a rough draft written for him on White House stationery. The note detailed a three-day Iraqi training programme which 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta had supposedly taken part in early 2001.

Supposedly written by Habbush, it said Atta had “displayed extraordinary effort and showed a firm commitment to lead the team which will be responsible for attacking the targets we have agreed to destroy.”

The implication is that the "targets" were the buildings struck by the hijacked planes on 9/11.

The letter also hinted that Iraq was importing uranium from Niger as part of Saddam’s nuclear programme.

Suskind's suggestion is that Bush was so desperate to persuade an increasingly sceptical world public in the months after the invasion that Saddam was connected to the 9/11 outrage and was seeking nuclear weapons, that he authorised the faking of the letter.

"The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001," Suskind wrote. "It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al-Qaida, something the vice president's office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link."

Suskind said the letter's existence had been reported before - news of it was published in The Sunday Telegraph on the day Saddam was captured - and that it had been treated as if it were genuine.

Suskind argues that the “false pretenses” for war and the illegal White House use of the CIA constitutes an impeachable offence.

A White House spokesman last night attacked the author’s credibility. “Ron Suskind makes a living from gutter journalism. He is about selling books and making wild allegations that no one can verify," the spokesman said.

Former CIA director George Tenet also denied that anyone in the CIA had been involved in the forgery adding: “The CIA resisted efforts on the part of some in the administration to paint a picture of Iraqi-al Qaeda connections that went beyond the evidence.

“The notion that I would suddenly reverse our stance and have created and planted false evidence that was contrary to our own beliefs is ridiculous.”

 

[oneofmany]

UK economy 'worse than thought'

Many UK manufacturers face an 'uncomfortable' time, the CBI says.​

UK economy 'worse than thought'​

The CBI, the UK's largest employers' organisation, has warned that the UK economy is deteriorating faster than it previously thought.

There was "no doubt that the mood has darkened in the last two or three months," its director general Richard Lambert warned members in a letter.

Forecasters, including the CBI, had been "over-optimistic" about the economic outlook, he added.

High inflation and slowing growth have prompted fears of a possible recession.

The level of inflation - which most analysts expect to surpass 4% when the July figures are released this week - had taken people "by surprise", Mr Lambert said in the letter, seen by the BBC.

And he added that the credit crunch had been "bigger and broader" than first expected.

"A year ago it seemed reasonable to hope that the worst would be over by now. That has not turned out to be the case."

Growth forecast cut

Economic activity is slowing in all key sectors of the economy, business confidence is waning and falling house prices and tight credit conditions have dented consumer spending.

"This is why most analysts are now suggesting that the economy will at best only manage to stagnate in the coming few quarters, and that the growth prospects through 2009 and into 2010 look no better than anaemic," Mr Lambert said.

The CBI earlier cut its forecast for growth in 2009 from 1% to 0.4%.

And last week the International Monetary Fund again revised down its forecast for UK economic growth this year and next year.

It now expects growth of 1.4% this year and 1.1% in 2009, although the government still expects the figures for both years to be 2% or above.

'Uncomfortable'

"The CBI, along with most other forecasters, has been consistently over-optimistic about the economic outlook over the last 12 months," Mr Lambert added.

He added that there were still many companies who were doing well - especially in the manufacturing of high value items.

But he conceded that it was going to be an "uncomfortable time" for many.

"A sharp economic slowdown is a new experience for many people in government and in business," he said.

 

[oneofmany]

Cheney threatens Russia over Georgia

Cheney threatens Russia over Georgia​

US Vice President Dick Cheney has threatened Russia after the country was forced to reply Georgia's attack on South Ossetia's region.

In a phone conversation with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Sunday, Cheney said Russia's military actions in Georgia 'must not go unanswered'.

Continuation of Russian attack 'would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community,' Cheney's press secretary, Lee Ann McBride, quoted him as telling Saakashvili.

"The vice president expressed the United States' solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," McBride said.

Earlier, Chairman of Russia's State Duma Security Committee Vladimir Vasilyev announced that US helped Georgia start military operation in South Ossetia.

"The further the situation unfolds, the more the world will understand that Georgia would never be able to do all this without America," said Vasilyev.

Georgian military forces launched a large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia on Thursday evening hours before the start of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Russia, in response, moved its forces to the region.

The conflict has left at least 2000 people dead.

 

[oneofmany]

Iran warns against 'surprise attack'

Iran warns against 'surprise attack'​

Iran's Defense Minister Mohammad-Najjar has warned that its response to a surprise enemy attack would be a greater surprise for the aggressor.

He said Iran has developed an extensive defense force to repel any possible attack, adding the Islamic Republic is currently a major defensive power.

Najjar said the armed forces have mass-produced a range of advanced defensive equipment including a radar-evading warship and an unmanned mid-jet submarine as well as a high-tech naval weapons system capable of targeting any warship within a range of 300 kilometers from its shores.

He added that Iran's newly-developed strategic products have considerably increased the country's naval capabilities.

Najjar comments follow reports about an armada of US naval battle groups heading toward the Persian Gulf with the aim of reinforcing US strike forces in the region.

On Monday, DEBKAfiles, a source close to Israeli intelligence agency, reported that the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima are sailing toward the Persian Gulf accompanied by a British Royal Navy carrier battle group and a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine.

The deployment is believed to be the largest naval task force assembled by the United States and its allies in the region since the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

The move comes almost a week after Operation Brimstone, which was conducted by the US, British and French naval forces in the Atlantic Ocean. The 12 warships taking part in the war games were apparently, preparing for a possible attack against Iran.

Washington and its allies have threatened to take military action against Iran if it does not give up the right that international law has bestowed on all NPT signatories to enrichment uranium as part of a civilian nuclear program.

Tehran, however, has refused to give into pressure. In response to the threats, Iran has further enhanced its defensive power by conducting several maneuvers and testing new homemade weaponry.

“The maneuvers that have been carried out recently are held one after another to keep our armed forces prepared and strong. Fortunately, these exercises have shown our great defensive capabilities to the world,” concluded the Iranian defense minister.

 

[14damoney]

Re: Iran warns against 'surprise attack'

[Iran warns against 'surprise attack'

Yeah, I've been keeping an eye out on this issue too. Especially with that armada sailing over there during the Olympics...

 

[oneofmany]

Israel: Iran war not okayed by US

Israel: Iran war not okayed by US​

Israel's defense minister says the regime has not received approval from the US to carry out a strike against Iran's nuclear sites.

"The Americans are not ready to allow us to attack Iran," Ehud Barak told army radio on Wednesday.

"Our position is that no option is to be taken off the table but in the meantime we have to make diplomatic progress," he added.

Israel, which is widely believed to have over 200 ready-to-use atomic warheads, says Iran's nuclear program is a main strategic threat, although the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Tehran's uranium enrichment activities are within the limits of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Barak's comments follow reports about an armada of US naval battle groups heading toward the Persian Gulf with the aim of reinforcing US strike forces in the region.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima are sailing toward the Persian Gulf accompanied by the British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and the French nuclear hunter-killer submarine Ametlyste.

The deployment comes almost a week after Operation Brimstone, which was conducted by the US, British and French naval forces in the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently, the 12 warships taking part in the war games were preparing for a possible confrontation with Iran.

Iran has reacted to threats of a military strike by enhancing its defense capabilities, conducting several maneuvers, and testing new homemade weaponry.

Tehran has also pledged to give the 'maximum response' to any threat against the country's security.

On Tuesday, Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar warned that Tehran's response to a surprise enemy attack would turn into a greater surprise for the aggressor.

 

[oneofmany]

VeriChip And Remote-Controlled Societies

The use of VeriChip was approved in 2004.​

VeriChip And Remote-Controlled Societies​

Despite efforts by proponents of implantable identification microchips to popularize them, most Americans are strongly against the use of VeriChip.

In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted clearance for VeriChip, an identification system using implantable Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, consisting of a handheld reader, a microchip approximately the size of a grain of rice (containing a unique 16-digit ID number), which is implanted in the right arm, and a database.

VeriChip Corporation, the producer of the microchips, considers them as a fast and secure way of accessing medical information for thousands of patients brought in emergency departments either unconscious or unable to communicate due to medical conditions.

The US and certain other countries are currently implanting these microchips in the body of infants. There has also been talk of replacing ID and credit cards with VeriChip.

However, there has been widespread opposition to the product as these microchips not only allow authorities to control ones private life, but there is also the danger of hackers getting their hands on personal information.

On the other hand, the VeriChip seems to have been only a means of distracting the public from a far more sophisticated project, conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- the central research and development organization for the US Defense Department.

DARPA has been investing in a new implantable chip called Multiple Micro Electrode Array (MMEA); a chip which is surgically implanted directly into a human nerve or into specific area of the brain and connects the brain to a computer.

While the medical advantages of these implantable microchips cannot be denied, a grain of rice in the right arm may prove to be much more decisive.

Perhaps the Wachowski brothers were right about a computer-controlled world of the future.

 

[LennyNero1972]

^^^^^ Let another major terrorist attack happen they will FORCE people to take them.

 

[oneofmany]

Water prices leap up to 25 per cent by 2015

Water prices leap up to 25 per cent by 2015​

Water firms want to raise their prices by up to 25 per cent above the rate of inflation, it was revealed yesterday.

Draft business plans suggest that over a five-year period many intend to raise their prices in real terms every 12 months for millions of families.

The companies submitted their figures for 2009-10 to 2014-15 to regulator Ofwat and yesterday it became clear that consumers face soaring bills.

If approved, water prices across the country would go up by an average of 8.9 per cent in real terms, which works out at £16.60.

But that masks some shocking proposed increases - such as in the Bristol and Sutton and East Surrey regions, which could face 26.4 per cent and 25.8 per cent rises above inflation over five years.

The plans will stun families across the country who in February learned water bills will increase by an average 5.8 per cent this year, with some hit by eight per cent rises.

The UK's largest water and wastewater services company, Thames Water, announced it expects to raise bills by around three per cent, excluding inflation, each year between 2010 and 2015.

The Consumer Council for Water warned that meant an increase of 16 per cent above inflation by 2015. Its chairman David Bland said: "High price increases and more water meters, combined with rising energy bills, could hurt many households. The Government needs to consider ways to help those who cannot afford to pay for their water."

United Utilities, which manages water and wastewater distribution in the North West of England, said customers were set to see average bills increase in real terms by more than two per cent a year.

Severn Trent, which has eight million customers, said bills would rise "only slightly above inflation".

Thames Water and United Utilities revealed the bill increases as they outlined aims for multi-billion pound investments in water and sewerage services as well as cost-cutting schemes to drive efficiency.

Thames Water chief executive David Owens claimed: "Thames customers have enjoyed the lowest bills in the industry for many years, but we now need to make essential investment to secure their services for the future."

5.8% AVERAGE RISE IN ENGLAND AND WALES THIS YEAR

£350 AVERAGE BILL BY 2015. A RISE OF £30 OVER FIVE YEARS

 

[oneofmany]

Government admits national DNA database holds records of 40,000 INNOCENT children

Scanned: 39,095 uncharged ten to 17-year-olds​

Government admits national DNA database holds records of 40,000 INNOCENT children​

Nearly 40,000 innocent children have been placed on the Government's enormous DNA database for life, ministers admitted tonight.

The number of 10 to 17-year-olds who have done nothing wrong yet have had their genetic profiles seized by police has soared by 60 per cent in two years.

It will fuel mounting fears that forces are arresting youngsters who have committed no crime simply to build up their DNA database by 'stealth'.

The sheer scale of the DNA-gathering operation, revealed by Home Office minister Meg Hillier, bolstered widespread alarm.

She revealed there were 303,393 children on the database, which can be checked against any crime scene.

Of these, 39,095 - or 12.8 per cent - had 'not been convicted, cautioned, received a final warning or reprimand and had no charge pending against them'.

The controversial figures, slipped out in a written Parliamentary answer, sparked a torrent of criticism.

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'This is yet more evidence that the DNA database is totally arbitrary with tens of thousands of innocent kids on it but not every offender in our prisons.'

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said it was wrong to store the DNA of innocent people and argued there were serious shortcomings when it came to convicted criminals.

He said: 'These startling figures show that the Government is building a national DNA database by stealth.

'There can be no excuse for storing the DNA of innocent adults, let alone children, who are entirely blameless.

'This is an intrusive policy that gives far too much sensitive information to the state, when we know that ministers cannot be trusted with its security.

'The DNA that should be on the database is that of past offenders, yet when it comes to them, there are major gaps in the database.'

Since April 2004, anyone aged ten or above who is arrested in England or Wales can have their DNA and fingerprints taken without their consent, or that of their parents.

The DNA samples - plus the computerised profiles - are kept permanently, even if the person arrested is never charged or is acquitted. A minuscule amount are ever destroyed.

Britain has the world's largest DNA database, with 4.5 million genetic fingerprints on record. Up to 1.5 million - one-third - are from innocent people.

Criminologists have warned that, in order to make policing simpler, officers are targeting for arrest those they see as potential troublemakers.

By making arrests for a minor offence such as criminal damage, they can take the DNA of a group of youngsters at the same time.

But those who have had their DNA taken include two schoolgirls charged with criminal damage after drawing chalk on a pavement and a child in Kent who removed a slice of cucumber from a tuna mayonnaise sandwich and threw it at another youngster.

Last month a Government-appointed advisory body, the Ethics Group, said samples obtained from innocent people during police investigations should be destroyed at its conclusion.

 

[oneofmany]

Texas Truant Students To Be Tracked By GPS Anklets

Texas Truant Students To Be Tracked By GPS Anklets​

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Court authorities here will be able to track students with a history of skipping school under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System monitoring.

But at least one group is worried the ankle bracelets will infringe on students' privacy.

Linda Penn, a Bexar County justice of the peace, said she anticipates that about 50 students from four San Antonio-area school districts — likely to be mostly high schoolers — will wear the anklets during the six-month pilot program announced Friday. She said the time the students wear the anklets will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

"We are at a critical point in our time where we can either educate or incarcerate," Penn said, linking truancy with juvenile delinquency and later criminal activity. "We can teach them now or run the risk of possible incarceration later on in life. I don't want to see the latter."

Penn said students in the program will wear the ankle bracelets full-time and will not be able to remove them. They'll be selected as they come through her court, and Penn will target truant students with gang affiliations, those with a history of running away and skipping school and those who have been through her court multiple times.

"Students and parents must understand that attending school is not optional," Penn said. "When they fail to attend school, they are breaking the law."

Penn said the electronic monitoring is part of a comprehensive program she started four years ago to reduce truancy. She cited programs in Midland and Dallas as having success with similar electronic monitoring measures.

But Terri Burke, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said requiring students to wear the GPS bracelets full-time raises privacy concerns.

"We're all for keeping kids in school, and we applaud any efforts to make that happen," Burke said. "But the privacy issue: What happens with the bracelet or anklet after school is out? Is that appropriate for the school or courts to know where and what this person is doing outside of school?"

Asked why the students have to wear the ankle bracelet all the time instead of just the school day, Penn cited problems with runaways.

"Sometimes, as I said, students are runaways. Parents don't know where they are," Penn said. "So it's for the safety of the child, as well as the safety of the community."

Burke said truant students and runaway kids are different issues.

Asked specifically about privacy concerns, Penn said she didn't have a comment. But, she added, her priority is "looking for the good of making these children accountable ... it's for the concern of these children getting an education."

 

[oneofmany]

MI5 Criticised For Role In Case Of Tortute, Rendition And Secrecy

MI5 Criticised For Role In Case Of Tortute, Rendition And Secrecy​

MI5 participated in the unlawful interrogation of a British resident now held in Guantánamo Bay, the high court found yesterday in a judgment raising serious questions about the conduct of Britain's security and intelligence agencies.

One MI5 officer was so concerned about incriminating himself that he initially declined to answer questions from the judges even in private, the judgment reveals. Though the judges say "no adverse conclusions" should be drawn by the MI5 officer's plea against self-incrimination, they disclose that the officer, Witness B, was questioned about alleged war crimes under the international criminal court act, including torture. The full evidence surrounding Witness B's evidence, and the judges' findings, remain secret.

The MI5 officer interrogated the British resident, Binyam Mohamed, while he was being held in Pakistan in 2002. Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian national, was later secretly rendered to Morocco, where he says was tortured by having his penis cut with a razor blade. The US subsequently flew him to Afghanistan and he was transferred to Guantánamo Bay in September 2004 where he remains.

In a passage which appears to contradict previous assurances by MI5, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones concluded: "The conduct of the security service facilitated interviews by or on behalf of the United States when [Mohamed] was being detained by the United States incommunicado and without access to a lawyer." They added: "Under the law of Pakistan, that detention was unlawful."

Asked last month about unrelated allegations involving detainees held in Pakistan, the Home Office said on behalf of MI5: "All security service staff have an awareness of the Human Rights Act 1998, and are fully committed to complying with the requirements of the law when working in the UK and overseas."

It added that the security and intelligence agencies "do not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhumane or degrading treatment".

In their ruling yesterday, the judges found that MI5 "continued to facilitate" the interviewing of Mohamed at the behest of the US even after he was secretly flown out of Pakistan. It did so, they said, by providing information to America although its officers "must also have appreciated" he was being detained and questioned in a facility which was "that of a foreign government". That government is believed to be Morocco.

The judgment contains two particularly stinging passages. The judges said Witness B worked with the US "to the extent of making it clear to [Mohamed] that the United Kingdom government would not help [him] unless he cooperated fully with the United States authorities". They added: "The relationship of the United Kingdom government to the United States authorities in connection with [Mohamed] was far beyond that of a bystander or witness to the alleged wrongdoing."

Mohamed is due to be tried for terrorist offences before a US military commission in Guantánamo Bay as a result of confessions he says were extracted by torture. He faces the death penalty if found guilty. Without information held by the British government, he could not have a fair trial "as he will not be able to try to establish the only answer he has to the confessions - namely that they were involuntary and abstracted from him by wrongful treatment", the judges said.

Richard Stein, of Leigh Day, Mohamed's lawyer, said outside the court that the government was clearly committed to a fair trial and opposed to the practices of torture and extraordinary rendition. He added: "However, unfortunately when faced with the choice between the rule of law and upsetting its allies the Americans, it waivers in this commitment".

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, has provided the US with documents about the case, though the US has so far refused to release them. Miliband has declined to release further evidence about the case on grounds of national security, arguing that disclosure would harm Britain's intelligence relationship with the US.

The judges will decide which documents about the case must be released after a private court hearing next week.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the implications of the judgment were being considered very carefully. He added: "For strong reasons of national security, to which the court accepted we were entitled to give the highest weight, we could not agree to disclose this information voluntarily."

Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve, the legal rights group also defending Mohamed, said: "The British government may have been accused of being Bush's poodle, but the British courts remain bulldogs when it comes to human rights."

Senior security sources said last night that the judgment was being carefully looked at to see whether changes should be made in MI5's procedures.

They added that the court recognised that Mohamed in 2002 was regarded as someone potentially significant. "Talking to people who could provide life-saving intelligence is MI5's bread and butter," they said.

 

[oneofmany]

Study: Respiratory Problems Still Persist For 9/11 Workers

Study: Respiratory Problems Still Persist For 9/11 Workers​

The city's annual report on the health of rescue workers at the World Trade Center site and nearby residents released Thursday reveals that seven years after the terror attacks, New Yorkers continue to suffer from 9/11-related health conditions.

"Nine-eleven is still with many New Yorkers. One of the things that we found is that the findings across different studies and different groups have been remarkably similar in their outcome," said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.

The World Trade Center Medical Working Group, a group of medical and health experts appointed by the mayor last year, reviewed more than 100 scientific articles published since 2001 on the health of those affected by 9/11.

The study's key findings indicate respiratory diseases have persisted for 25 percent of firefighters, two to four years after 9/11.

Asthma is a common issue for many Lower Manhattan residents, as are mental health problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder. Substance abuse and depression have not been fully examined by the report.

The report calls for action, expanding research on WTC-related conditions, and determining whether cancer rates and other potentially terminal illnesses are elevated in New York City.

"We don't know if these diseases will emerge; we do know that we should be alert to the potential for their occurrence," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The report also calls for the re-opening of the federal victim compensation fund and for increased long-term funding from the federal government for treatment and monitoring – something those who suffer from 9/11-related issues say is mandatory.

"People are having cancers now, people are getting sick, they need the medical coverage, and the government seems to be turning their back on them, and I don't think that's the right thing to do," said Retired FDNY Chief Jimmy Riches.

The city is also reaching out to more people exposed to the attacks who may not have 9/11-related problems, but who may not yet have sought treatment – a population the report says that could be in the hundreds of thousands. The tagline of this campaign is: Live There, Work There, You Deserve Care.

"We think that most people had symptoms early on and many of them may have gotten better," said World Trade Center Environmental Health Center Dr. Joan Reibman. "Some of them may actually have then re-occured. We think that some people also may have developed symptoms over the subsequent few years."

The city is encouraging anyone who thinks they may be suffering to call 311 for help.

 

[oneofmany]

EU begins secret drive to force Ireland to vote again on rejected Lisbon Treaty

Gordon Brown smiles as he signs the Lisbon Treaty​

EU begins secret drive to force Ireland to vote again on rejected Lisbon Treaty​

A secret European Union plan to force Ireland to vote again on the Lisbon Treaty emerged yesterday.

French officials have penned an explosive document entitled 'Solution to the Irish Problem', in which they say the EU should push Ireland into re-running its referendum next year, opening the way for the treaty to come into force next year.

In return, Europe would offer Dublin a few promises, in a bid to ensure its people vote in favour of the treaty.

Critics say it is almost identical to the EU Constitution, rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005.

Labour promised British voters a referendum on the constitution - but then reneged on their promise when it was re-fashioned as a treaty.

Ireland's support is vital because the Lisbon Treaty cannot come into force across the EU until all 27 countries have ratified it. Ireland was the only country which gave its voters a referendum.

The leaked document predicts that Ireland will cave in at a meeting of Europe's leaders next month, and agree to hold a second referendum next Autumn.

In return, the EU will guarantee that Ireland will not lose its own EU commissioner, and will make 'declarations' that Ireland's neutrality and stance on abortion will not be affected by the treaty.

The 'no' campaign claimed during the referendum campaign that Ireland's outlawing of abortion, unless the mother's life is in danger, was under threat if the treaty was passed.

The document says there will be 'a political declaration confirming that the Treaty of Lisbon does not jeopardise Irish neutrality, or the rule of unanimity on tax matters and will not oblige Ireland to modify its position on abortion.'

It adds: 'The second Irish referendum could take place, on this basis, during Autumn 2009, pushing back the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon until 2010.'

It was written by a senior EU official based in Paris who is a member of a group called Friends of the Lisbon Treaty.

The treaty creates an EU president, a foreign minister and establishes and EU diplomatic service. Britain went ahead with ratification, despite its rejection by Irish voters.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: 'It cannot be right for the Irish to be made to vote twice on the renamed EU constitution before the British people are allowed to vote once.

'Gordon Brown has cheated British voters of their say, By denying people any decision on this treaty he is actually undermining the EU's own democratic legitimacy. The least he can do now is make it absolutely clear that there must be no bullying of Ireland to get them to vote again.

'The right response to the Irish "no" vote is to abandon the Lisbon treaty altogether and call a total halt to the centralisation of power in Brussels.'

Neil O'Brien, of Eurosceptic think-tank Open Europe, said: 'The EU simply won’t take no for answer. They will make Ireland vote again and again until they are bullied into coming up with the so-called "right" answer.

'The British Government should be ashamed of itself for being part of the attempt to bully and isolate the Irish. The polls show that people in most other countries would say to the EU Treaty too. That’s why Gordon Brown is terrified of allowing us to have the vote on Europe which he promised at the last election.'

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said: 'It's deja vu all over again. In Europe, yes means yes and no means: "We'll do it again later".'

 

[oneofmany]

Vicente Fox tells American Workers To "Get Over It" 09/12/08

 

[oneofmany]

'US seeks secret bases in Iraq'

'US seeks secret bases in Iraq'​

Former Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmad Chalabi says the United States is seeking to establish secret military bases in the oil-rich country.

In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, Chalabi said within the framework of the controversial security deal, US officials are trying to open secret military bases in Iraq.

"Within the framework of the security pact, the United States does not wish to merely have open military bases (in Iraq), rather secret military bases (there)," he said.

Washington currently is trying to persuade Baghdad to sign a controversial Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) to give legal basis to its military in Iraq after December 31 when the UN mandate defining its status expires.

Referring to the recent US-Russia row over Georgia, Chalabi said that heightened diplomatic tensions between the Washington and Moscow made securing the deal a top priority for US officials.

"If a security deal is not signed … by Dec. 31, regarding the recent US-Russia row over Georgia and the Iraqi government's decision not to extend the US forces' presence in Iraq for another year, the US presence in Iraq will become illegal," he said.

Under the current provisions of the agreement, Baghdad would be required to allow American military bases in the country and immunity from prosecution for all US personnel.

The deal however has been opposed by Iraqi from all walks of life including political and religious leaders as well as parliamentarians. The critics of the deal say it would turn the country into a US colony.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said on Thursday that there were very serious and dangerous obstacles to the deal.

"If they (US negotiators) meet our demand quickly, the deal will be signed soon, but if they refuse our demands, it will face obstacles and could lead to new negotiations," the Prime Minister said.

Press TV correspondent in Iraq, Wisam al-bayat, said the issue of granting immunity to American soldiers, a timetable for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and the number of US bases in the war-torn country could be among the serious obstacles.

One day after al-Maliki's remarks, US forces in a pre-down air strike in Iraq's northern city of Tikrit, killed eight Iraqi civilians, all members of a family.

 

[oneofmany]

Foreign National ID Card Unveiled

Foreign National ID Card Unveiled​

The first identity cards from the government's controversial national scheme have been unveiled.

The biometric card will be issued from November, initially to non-EU students and marriage visa holders.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would allow people to "easily and securely prove their identity".

Critics say the roll-out to some immigrants is a "softening up" exercise for the introduction of identity cards for everyone.

The card will also include information on holders' immigration status.

"We want to be able to prevent those here illegally from benefiting from the privileges of Britain," she said.

Employers and colleges want to be confident people are who they say they are, she said, and immigration and police officers want to verify identity and detect abuse.

"We all want to see our borders more secure, and human trafficking, organised immigration crime, illegal working and benefit fraud tackled. ID cards for foreign nationals, in locking people to one identity, will deliver in all these areas," she added.

The UK Border Agency will begin issuing the biometric cards to the two categories of foreign nationals who officials say are most at risk of abusing immigration rules - students and those on a marriage or civil partnership visa.

Both types of migrants will be told they must have the new card when they ask to extend their stay in the country.

The cards partly replace a paper-based system of immigration stamps - but will now include the individual's name and picture, their nationality, immigration status and two fingerprints.

Immigration officials will store the details centrally and, in time, they are expected to be merged into the proposed national identity register.

The card cannot be issued to people from most parts of Europe because they have the right to move freely in and out of the UK.

The Conservatives oppose the UK's identity card scheme but say they support the use of biometric information in immigration documents.

"The Government are kidding themselves if they think ID cards for foreign nationals will protect against illegal immigration or terrorism - since they don't apply to those coming here for less than three months," said shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve.

Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary Chris Huhne said identity cards "remained a grotesque intrusion on the liberty of the British people" and the scheme "will prove to be a laminated Poll Tax".

"The government is using vulnerable members of our society, like foreign nationals who do not have the vote, as guinea pigs for a deeply unpopular and unworkable policy," he said.

SNP Home Affairs spokesman Pete Wishart MP said his party had opposed ID cards from the outset but the government's "abysmal record on data protection" was reason enough to cancel them.

He said the government looked "absurd" for pushing ahead with such a costly project.

"These cards will not make our communities more secure, they will not reduce the terrorist threat and they will not make public services more efficient," said Mr Wishart.

Phil Booth, head of the national No2ID campaign group, attacked the roll-out of the cards as a "softening-up exercise".

"The Home Office is trying to salami slice the population to get this scheme going in any way they can," Mr Booth told the BBC.

"Once they get some people to take the card it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"The volume of foreign nationals involved is minuscule so it won't do anything to tackle illegal immigration."

But Sir Andrew Green of Migrationwatch UK said the cards should be supported.

"We welcome the introduction of ID cards for foreign nationals as part of wider measures to tackle illegal immigration," he said. "These reforms are essential if we are to restore order to our immigration system as the public certainly wish to see."

 

[oneofmany]

Chinese regulator says US lending was 'ridiculous'

Chinese regulator says US lending was 'ridiculous'​

TIANJIN, China - U.S. lending standards before the global credit crisis were "ridiculous" and the world can learn from China's more cautious system as it considers financial reforms, the top Chinese bank regulator said Saturday at an economic forum.

The global financial crisis was a hot topic at the World Economic Forum — the Chinese leg of the forum based in Davos, Switzerland. Despite the global turmoil, China's Premier Wen Jiabao said China still has "huge potential for growth" because of its large labor pool, vast domestic market and the improved competitiveness of its companies.

Wen gave no growth forecast. But China's bank regulator said the annual growth rate should fall from last year's 11.9 percent to between 9 percent and 9.5 percent.

Liu Mingkang, chairman of the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission, said his country's prudent approach to banking had enabled the country to avoid the credit crunch so far.

Beijing curbed mortgage lending in 2003 and 2006 to keep debt manageable amid a real estate boom, while American regulators responded to a similar situation by letting credit grow, Liu said.

"When U.S. regulators were reducing the down payment to zero, or they created so-called 'reverse mortgages,' we thought that was ridiculous," Liu said at a World Economic Forum conference in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin.

He said debt in the United States and elsewhere rose to "dangerous and indefensible" levels.

Liu's comments were unusually pointed criticism of U.S. financial regulation for a Chinese official. They added to suggestions by countries that are under U.S. pressure to liberalize their financial markets that Washington's model might not be ideal.

China has based its reforms on the U.S. system but has moved gradually. It has kept its financial markets isolated from global capital flows, prompting complaints by its trading partners.

As China made changes, "a lot of the time, we learned that what we had learned from our teacher the day before was wrong," Liu said, referring to the U.S.

China's state-owned banks have avoided the turmoil roiling Western markets. Chinese banks hold bonds from failed Wall Street house Lehman Brothers, but they are a tiny fraction of their vast assets.

Liu called for governments to create international standards and regulatory systems for globalized financial markets. He said Beijing has signed information-exchange agreements on financial regulation with 32 other countries since the turmoil began.

Liu pointed to China's experience with real estate and the collapse of a stock market boom.

As stock prices in China soared, banks were ordered to make sure customers were not using loans or credit cards to finance speculation. As a result, Liu said banks have suffered no rise in loan defaults even though stock prices have plummeted 63 percent since the October 2007 peak.

"We Chinese can share our own experiences with all the market practitioners," Liu said. "Maybe our experience cannot be applicable to developed markets fully. But still, I think it might be useful and helpful to those in emerging markets."

Chinese and foreign businesspeople at the forum said the credit crisis is likely to increase the influence of China and other emerging economies in the world financial system, though Wall Street will retain its leading role.

The crisis is also likely to reduce resistance in the West to investments by government funds as companies urgently seek capital, said Thomas Enders, CEO of the European aircraft producer Airbus Industrie.

However, European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson defended the global capital markets structure, warning that drastic change might hurt prosperity.

"The capital market system, fundamentally, is not flawed," Mandelson said. "We are not looking for some alternative, and I hope that people in the emerging markets, in China for example, are not looking for an alternative to properly functioning capital markets."

 

[oneofmany]

Rep. Burgess: Congress under Martial Law to pass banker bailout bill

Rep. Burgess: Congress under Martial Law to pass banker bailout bill

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[LennyNero1972]

Re: Vicente Fox tells American Workers To "Get Over It" 09/12/08


The North American Union and the Amero (or some form of it) WILL happen. They are just keeping it quiet until after the elections. The new President will not be President of the USA, but of this new Union.

 

[oneofmany]

Government Will Spy On Every Call And E-Mail

Government Will Spy On Every Call And E-Mail​

Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.

GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project.

Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers - thought to be BT and Vodafone. BT has nearly 5m internet customers.

Ministers are braced for a backlash similar to the one caused by their ID cards programme. Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “Any suggestion of the government using existing powers to intercept communications data without public discussion is going to sound extremely sinister.”

MI5 currently conducts limited e-mail and website intercepts which are approved under specific warrants by the home secretary.

Further details of the new plan will be unveiled next month in the Queen’s speech.

The Home Office stressed no formal decision had been taken but sources said officials had made clear that ministers had agreed “in principle” to the programme.

Officials claim live monitoring is necessary to fight terrorism and crime. However, critics question whether such a vast system can be kept secure. A total of 57 billion text messages were sent in the UK last year - 1,800 every second.

 

[oneofmany]

Orwellian U.K. Angers People With Tree Cameras, Snooping Kids

Orwellian U.K. Angers People With Tree Cameras, Snooping Kids​

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Hidden in foliage next to a path in the southeast England seaside town of Hastings are digital cameras. Their target: litterbugs and dog walkers.

The electronic eyes feed images to a monitoring unit, where they're scanned and stored as evidence to prosecute people who discard garbage or fail to clean up after pets, a spokeswoman for the town council said.

"It's becoming a bit Big Brother-like,'' said Sandra Roberts, 50, a Hastings kiosk manager, invoking George Orwell's 1949 book "Nineteen Eighty-Four,'' about a Britain where authorities pry into all aspects of citizens' lives.

Local authorities are adopting phone-record logging, e-mail taps and camera surveillance to police such offenses as welfare fraud, unlawful dumping of waste and sick-day fakery. Telecommunications companies are about to join the list of crime monitors. Already, 4.5 million closed-circuit cameras watch public places across Britain, or about 1 camera for every 15 people, the highest ratio in the world.

"There's too much of it now, all this spying,'' said Ivor Quittention, 80, a retired owner of three hardware stores who lives in Hastings. The town's spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said spying is the most effective way of dealing with something residents complain about most.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, dubbed "the snoopers charter'' by London-based civil-rights group Liberty, was passed by the ruling Labour Party in 2000 to legislate methods of surveillance and information gathering. The purpose of the law, known also as Ripa, was to help prevent crime, including terrorism, according to the Home Office.

'Too Much Power'

Initially, only security and intelligence services could invoke the Act's provisions. In 2003, Parliament extended powers to the 474 local councils in England, Scotland and Wales, as well as to 318 other state bodies, including 11 Royal Parks, the Post Office and Chief Inspector of Schools.

Since then, local authorities have been expanding their use of the provisions to dozens of lesser offenses.

The law has loopholes and councils like Hastings aren't doing anything wrong when they invoke it for minor crimes, according to Gus Hosein, a professor from the London School of Economics specializing in technology and privacy.

"Ripa just gives too much power to any Tom, Dick or Harry related to government,'' he said.

The latest proposed expansion of the Act requires telecommunications providers to store the text of all e-mails and details of all phone calls transmitted over their lines.

The government is seeking the views of the public on the proposal until Oct. 31. The bill will then go to Parliament for consideration.

'Sleep-Walking'

Of the 163 U.K. councils that replied to calls and Freedom of Information requests from Bloomberg, 95 percent said they use Ripa. Nine said they don't, including Barnet, Basingstoke and Deane, Broadland, Halton, Harrogate, Shepway, West Devon, Slough and the Shetlands, a group of islands off Scotland where sheep outnumber people. Three declined to provide details without payment of an administrative fee.

East Hampshire, in south England, applied the law to catch vandals defacing tombstones. Derby, in northern England, invoked it to send children with recording gear into shops to see if they'd unlawfully be sold cigarettes and alcohol.

"It's unreal,'' said Dean Price, 24, a graphic designer in London. "We've been sleep-walking into this. Everyone talks about Orwell and 1984 but no one ever does anything about it.''

A spokesman for the Home Office, which oversees Ripa, said the extension is vital to intelligence gathering and will help investigators identify suspects, track them and examine their contacts. He declined to be identified, in line with policy.

Petty Offenses

The Association of Local Government, which represents councils, said through a statement by outgoing Chairman Simon Milton that the "crime-busting powers'' are an essential tool in gathering evidence needed to stop criminal activity.

At the same time, Milton said he wrote to all councils in June asking them not to invoke the law for petty offenses.

"It's ironic that a nation that was once a bastion of privacy, one in which `an Englishman's home is his castle' and that did away with National ID Cards in 1952, is now one of the most surveilled in the world,'' said Toby Stevens, founder of London's Enterprise Privacy Group.

The opposition Conservative Party is against Ripa in its current form and will amend it if it wins the next election, due by 2010, home affairs spokesman Dominic Grieve said.

Mark Jewell, a councilman for the U.K.'s third party, the Liberal Democrats, said more checks and balances are needed to ensure Ripa isn't abused. "At the moment, you don't need to have done anything wrong to get snooped on,'' he said. No other European Union government has similar regulations.

'Hugely Disproportionate'

Among councils which responded to Bloomberg's questions, those in northern England, Wales and Scotland used the law more than those in the south. Durham, in northeast England, was the biggest user, invoking the provisions 144 times in the past year, as authorities cracked down on offenses including fraud.

In April, council workers spent two weeks tailing a couple in Poole, southeast England, they wrongly suspected were planning to send their daughter to a school outside their designated area. Tim Joyce and Jenny Paton called the intrusion into their lives "hugely disproportionate.''

In August, Paul Griffiths was taken to court and fined 1,000 pounds for allowing his dog to foul grass outside his home in Bristol. Griffiths said he's innocent and his pet had only been urinating when she was spotted on camera.

Brian Clements, a 79-year-old retired teacher from Clacton- on-Sea, south England, said the measures are "like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut.''

"Wouldn't the Gestapo have loved all those little cameras,'' he said.

 

[oneofmany]

The Death Of Canada: Police State

THE DEATH OF CANADA: POLICE STATE

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[oneofmany]

Royal Mail criticised for stamp honouring 'racist' Marie Stopes

Stope is said to have been a supporter of Adolf Hitler​

Royal Mail criticised for stamp honouring 'racist' Marie Stopes​

Royal Mail has been criticised for releasing a stamp honouring Marie Stopes, the birth control pioneer who is accused of being a racist and a Nazi sympathiser.

Stopes, who is best known for opening Britain's first family planning clinic in 1921, will feature on the new 50p stamp as part of a commemorative series celebrating women of achievement.

Others honoured with black and white photographs in the new release include the Labour cabinet minister Barbara Castle, for her work promoting equal pay, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first British woman to qualify as a doctor, and her sister the women's rights campaigner Millicent Garrett Fawcett.

To her supporters Stopes, who has a sexual health charity now working in 40 countries named after her, helped liberate women and transform society with her campaigning in favour of family planning.

But Stopes, who died in 1958, was also a supporter of eugenics, the pseudo-scientific theories which promoted sterilisation of diseased or weak people to "perfect" the race, which was openly promoted by the Nazis in Germany.

She is also said to have been a supporter of Adolf Hitler, even sending a book of her poems to the Nazi dictator on the eve of the Second World War, enclosed with a warm letter declaring: "Dear Herr Hitler, Love is the greatest thing in the world."

In 1935 she attended a conference in Berlin to promote "population science".

She openly advocated sterilisation of those deemed "unfit for parenthood" including those who were ill or suffered alcohol problems as early as 1919. She called for this to be compulsory in her book Radiant Motherhood.

Last month Father Ray Blake, priest of the Catholic church of St Mary Magdalen in Brighton, announced that any letters arriving at the parish bearing stamps commemorating Stopes would be returned to sender. He called on others, including Jewish groups, to follow suit.

The move was also criticised by the Rev Peter Mullen who said: "She campaigned to have the poor, the sick and people of mixed race sterilised."

Juliette Edgar, head of special stamps at the Royal Mail, said: "These stamps commemorate six unique individuals whose dedicated work not only changed the lives of other women, but society as a whole."

 

[oneofmany]

ECB's Nowotny Sees Global 'Tri-Polar' Currency System Evolving

EBC's Nowotny Sees Global 'Tri-Polar' Currency System Evolving​

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank council member Ewald Nowotny said a “tri-polar” global currency system is developing between Asia, Europe and the U.S. and that he's skeptical the U.S. dollar's centrality can be revived.

“What I see is a system where we have more centers of gravity” Nowotny said today in an interview with Austrian state broadcaster ORF-TV. “I see for the future a tri-polar development, and I don't think that there will be fixed exchange rates between these poles.''

The leaders of the U.S., France and the European Commission will ask other world leaders to join in a series of summits on the global financial crisis beginning in the U.S. soon after the Nov. 4 presidential election, President George W. Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Barroso said in a joint statement yesterday.

Nowotny said he was “skeptical” when asked whether the Bretton Woods System of monetary policy, set up after World War II and revised in 1971, could be revived to aid global currency stability. The U.S. meeting should aim to strengthen financial regulation, define bank capital ratios and review the role of debt-rating agencies.

European leaders have pressed to convene an emergency meeting of the world's richest nations, known as the Group of Eight, joined by others such as India and China, to overhaul the world's financial regulatory systems. The meetings are to include developed economies as well as developing nations.

’Real Economy’

Bush, 62, has cautioned that any revamping must not restrict the flow of trade and investment or set a path toward protectionism. The G8 nations are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. The U.S. hasn't committed itself to the sweeping terms of Europe's agenda, White House press secretary Dana Perino said yesterday.

Sarkozy wants the G8 to consider re-anchoring their currencies, the hallmark of the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement that also gave birth to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The current financial crisis, in which European governments have pledged at least 1.3 trillion euros ($1.7 trillion) to guarantee loans and take stakes in lenders, should be “under control” by mid-2009, Nowotny said. The economy will suffer longer.

“What comes then, unfortunately in parallel, will be the problems for the real economy,'' Nowotny said. “The growth rate in 2009 will be significantly below what we have in 2008.''

He predicted gross domestic product growth around 1 percent in Austria next year.

 

[oneofmany]

Cnbc Speak Of Illuminati And Stock Markets

CNBC SPEAK OF ILLUMINATI AND STOCK MARKETS

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[oneofmany]

Nursery chain to launch fingerprint scanners to check parents before they are allowed

Nursery chain to launch fingerprint scanners to check parents before they are allowed to collect their children​

A chain of nurseries is to require parents to use fingerprint scanners before collecting their children, it emerged yesterday.

Fifty nurseries run by kidsunlimited, a national group catering for children aged three months to five years, will phase in the technology over the next few months.

Six, including those in Cambridgeshire, Wilmslow in Cheshire and Notting Hill, West London, already operate the system. At least 100 other private or voluntary nurseries are already thought to be using scanners.

Lee Pearson, kidsunlimited chief executive, said: 'We aim to remain at the forefront of innovative childcare and to challenge traditional views of the sector.'

Manufacturer Honeycomb Solutions claims fingerprint security systems will be 'commonplace' in private schools and nurseries within five years.

But critics have condemned the increase in surveillance society. Parents, carers or guardians will register a fingerprint in advance and then swipe a scanner on entering and leaving the nursery.

Head office staff will use the systems to monitor who is on their premises and as an additional check that correct staff-child ratios are maintained at all times.

Honeycomb Solutions managing director George Bathurst said the system should replace key fob recognition and access-coded doors. 'The system gives children a safe environment,' he said.

 

[oneofmany]

Russia president tells police to crush crisis unrest

Russia president tells police to crush crisis unrest​

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered police on Friday to stamp out any social unrest or crime arising from the global financial crisis.

"We have a stable state ... We do not need a return to the 1990s when everything was boiling and seething," Medvedev told a meeting of senior officials.

"The law enforcement agencies should keep track of what is happening," he said.

"And if someone tries to exploit the consequences of the financial crisis ... they should intervene, bring criminal charges. Otherwise, there won't be order."

The longest economic boom in a generation has helped the Kremlin maintain political stability but some analysts say the financial crisis could give rise to a wave of social unrest.

Russia's benchmark RTS <.IRTS> stock exchange has fallen about 70 percent since May, making it one of the worst performers among emerging economies.

High oil prices which fueled Russia's economic boom have fallen from a peak of over $140 in July to just over $60 now.

The impact on ordinary people so far has been limited, partly because share ownership is not widespread and few people have private pensions. But firms in some sectors have started laying off staff.

EXTREMISM

Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told Medvedev at the meeting, in Russia's second city of St Petersburg, that higher unemployment could lead to a rise in crime.

He also said there was a risk of greater extremism and racial tension centred on the millions of immigrants working in Russia, most of them from former Soviet republics.

"The mounting consequences of the world financial crisis could well have an unpredictable effect," he said. "Anti-crisis groups have been set up in the regions ... to intercept any early indications of destabilisation."

Analysts say the financial crisis poses no political threat to the Kremlin for the time being because opposition parties are too weak and divided to mount a serious challenge.

Kremlin opponent and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov predicted this week the crisis would bring new recruits to the opposition. He has announced the creation of a new anti-Kremlin coalition, called Solidarity.

"The processes happening in the opposition ... will of course be connected to the 10 to 15 percent of people who will feel the crisis breathing down their neck," Kasparov told a news conference.

Kasparov and his allies in the past have staged street protests that were dispersed by police but they have failed to gather widespread support or win any seats in parliament.

 

[oneofmany]

Gordon Brown calls for new world order to beat recession

Gordon Brown calls for new world order to beat recession​

Mr Brown will call on fellow world leaders to use the current worldwide economic downturn as an opportunity to thoroughly reform international financial institutions and create a new "truly global society" with Britain, the US and Europe providing leadership.

His call comes ahead of an emergency summit of world leaders and finance ministers from 20 major countries, the G20, in Washington next weekend.

Mr Brown will say that the Washington meeting must establish a consensus on a new Bretton Woods-style framework for the international financial system, featuring a reformed International Monetary Fund which will act as a global early-warning system for financial problems.

The original Bretton Woods agreements, signed in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in 1944, established post-war international monetary protocols governing trade, banking and other financial relations among nations, including fixed exchange rates and the IMF.

Mr Brown's plan for strengthening the global economy 60 years later involves recapitalisation of banks to permit the resumption of normal lending to households and businesses, better international co-ordination of fiscal and monetary policy and a new IMF fund to help struggling economies and stop financial problems spreading between nations.

He also wants agreement on a world trade deal and reform of the international financial system based on principles of "transparency, integrity, responsibility, sound banking practice and global governance with co-ordination across borders".

As Britain moves into a painful recession Mr Brown has staked his own leadership on helping to find a way out of the global crisis.

In a speech to City financiers at the annual Lord Mayor's banquet in London he will say: "The British Government will begin to begin a new Bretton Woods with a new IMF that offers, by its surveillance of every economy, an early warning system and a crisis prevention mechanism for the whole world.

"The alliance between Britain and the US, and more broadly between Europe and the US, can and must provide leadership, not in order to make the rules ourselves, but to lead the global effort to build a stronger and more just international order.

"My message is that we must be internationalist not protectionist, interventionist not neutral, progressive not reactive and forward-looking not frozen by events. We can seize the moment and in doing so build a truly global society."

Mr Brown has already discussed IMF reforms with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and has called on countries including China and the oil-rich Gulf states to fund the bulk of an increase in the IMF's bailout pot.

The Prime Minister wants the markets to be subjected to morality and ordinary people's interests are put first.

He believes that in electing Barack Obama, US voters have showed their belief in a "progressive" agenda of government intervention to help families and businesses through the current crisis.

He will say: "Uniquely in this global age, it is now in our power to come together so that 2008 is remembered not just for the failure of a financial crash that engulfed the world but for the resilience and optimism with which we faced the storm, endured it and prevailed."

However, the head of the IMF played down expectations of a new Bretton Woods system ahead of the G20 summit.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, said: "Expectations should not be oversold. Things are not going to change overnight. Bretton Woods took two years to prepare. A lot of people are talking about Bretton Woods II. The words sound nice but we are not going to create a new international treaty."

The European Union has called for an overhaul of the IMF with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, saying: "We want to change the rules of the game".

The US, however, has been more lukewarm on the possibility of radical change.

 

[oneofmany]

People 'can't wait for ID cards'

People 'can't wait for ID cards'​

Jacqui Smith says public demand means people will be able to pre-register for an ID card within the next few months.

The cards will be available for all from 2012 but she said: "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long."

The home secretary made the claim as she unveiled revised ID scheme plans.

Opposition parties say they would scrap the ID card scheme. The Tories call it a "complete waste of money". The Lib Dems call it a "laminated poll tax".

They accused Ms Smith of backtracking on plans to issue ID cards in 2009 for all airside workers, by announcing they would pilot them at just two airports.

UThe first biometric cards are being issued to students from outside the EU and marriage visa holders this month, and it had been planned to make them compulsory for all 200,000 airside workers from 2009.

'Saving face'

But instead the government announced there would be an 18-month trial, for airside workers at Manchester and London City airports only, from late next year.

Campaigners No2ID said it was a "transparent attempt to save ministerial face" amid opposition from unions and airline bosses, who say it is unjustified and would not improve security.

Unions had argued airside workers were already extensively vetted and believe they would have to pay £30 for a card - although it is understood they would be free during the trial period.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve described the decision to trial ID cards at just two airports as "clearly a climbdown" and "just a gimmick" aimed at selling the scheme to the public.

But a Home Office spokesman said they had always said that "ID cards for critical workers would be starting in the second half of 2009 and we are on track to meet this commitment".

He added ID cards would definitely be issued to the remaining airside workers in due course, before being rolled out to the wider population.

Supermarket enrolment

In a speech to the Social Market Foundation Ms Smith said cards would be issued on a voluntary basis to young people from 2010 and for everyone else from 2012.

She added: "But I believe there is a demand, now, for cards - and as I go round the country I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long.

"I now want to put that to the test and find a way to allow those people who want a card sooner to be able to pre-register their interest as early as the first few months of next year."

She told the BBC: "We'll see where that interest is, and then we'll see if we can issue some cards to those who've expressed an interest by the end of next year."

People applying for cards and passports from 2012 will have to provide fingerprints, photographs and a signature, which Ms Smith believes will create a market worth about £200m a year.

And in changes to earlier plans the Home Office is talking to retailers and the Post Office about setting up booths to gather biometric data.

'Trusted environment'

The government believes it would be "more convenient" for people and cheaper than setting up its previously planned enrolment centres in large population centres.

In her speech Ms Smith rejected claims handing enrolment over to private firms would compromise security.

"Provided that it is conducted in a secure and trusted environment, by service providers accredited and verified by the IPS and to high and rigorously enforced standards, enrolment should be able to happen at the convenience of the customer - on the high street, at the nearest post office, or at the local shopping centre."

The overall cost of the ID card scheme over the next 10 years has risen by £50m to £5.1bn in the past six months, according to the government's latest cost report.

Phil Booth, national coordinator of the NO2ID campaign, said Jacqui Smith's claim that people were saying they wanted an ID card "beggared belief" and would "come back to haunt her".

"She must be ignoring twice the number of people who are coming up to her and saying I don't want my details on any database whatsoever," said Mr Booth.

He said the government would struggle to find private firms willing to bid for the ID card contract.

"What company is going embarrass itself to the tune of millions for a contract that everyone outside the Home Office itself knows will be cancelled by a new administration?" he said.

For the Conservatives Mr Grieve said his party would axe the whole scheme because it was "a complete waste of money" and had asked for "break clauses" to be inserted into government contracts so it could be ended "without massive cost and waste to the public purse".

The government's plan to involve retailers in enrolling people was "worrying" given the government's IT track record, he added.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Ministers are choosing a limited number of guinea pigs at two smaller airports because they are aware of how unpopular ID cards are.

"The government is too scared to force ID cards on voters before an election because they know it would be a laminated poll tax.

"The problem is not the ease with which we can give up sensitive personal data, but the ease with which the Home Office loses it. The Government cannot be trusted to keep personal information safe."

 

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Why veins could replace fingerprints and retinas as most secure form of ID

Why veins could replace fingerprints and retinas as most secure form of ID​

Forget fingerprinting. Companies in Europe have begun to roll out an advanced biometric system from Japan that identifies people from the unique patterns of veins inside their fingers.

Finger vein authentication, introduced widely by Japanese banks in the last two years, is claimed to be the fastest and most secure biometric method. Developed by Hitachi, it verifies a person's identity based on the lattice work of minute blood vessels under the skin.

Easydentic Group, a European leader in the biometric industry based in France, has announced that it will be using Hitachi's finger vein security in a range of door access systems for the UK and European markets.

In Japan, thousands of cash machines are operated by finger vein technology. Hitachi announced today that it will introduce 20,000 finger vein authentication systems at shops and kiosks belonging to two Japanese companies, which will use the devices to protect the privacy of customer information by requiring storeworkers to authenticate themselves before accessing the customer database.

The pattern of blood vessels is captured by transmitting near-infrared light at different angles through the finger, usually the middle finger. This can be done in a small instrument attached to a wall or as part of an ATM machine. The light is partially absorbed by haemoglobin in the veins and the pattern is captured by a camera as a unique 3D finger vein profile. This is turned into a simple digital code which is then matched with a pre-registered profile to verify an individual's identity. Even twins are said to have different finger vein patterns.

Hitachi claims that because the veins are inside the body, invisible to the eye, it is extremely difficult to forge and impossible to manipulate. While fingerprints can be "lifted" and retinas scanned without an individual realising it, it is extremely unlikely that people's finger vein profiles can be taken without them being aware of it, the company says.

The gruesome possibility that criminals may hack off a finger has already been discounted by Hitachi's scientists. Asked if authentication could be "forged" with a severed finger, the company says: "As blood would flow out of a disconnected finger, authentication would no longer be possible."

Hitachi says finger vein authentication is less expensive than iris scanning or face/voice recognition and that the false rejection rate is much lower than with fingerprinting. And people don't have to remember a pin number. Hitachi's system is being used to verify user identities for ATMs, door access systems and computer log-in systems in Japan.

An alternative technique, developed by Fujitsu, scans the palms of people's hands to identify a similarly unique vein pattern. This system has also been gaining international recognition. It was recently installed at Carolinas HealthCare System, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the first healthcare provider in the United States to implement this technology.

The palm scanners, which are linked to hospitals' patient registration databases, are used at admitting, the emergency department, one-day surgery, and all inpatient and outpatient registration points. "Most recently, we have begun a rollout to physician practice settings for our physicians network," said Steve Burr, vice president of patient financial services.

 

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Dennis Kucinich "Racketeering On A Scale This Country Has Never Seen Before!!!"

Dennis Kucinich "Racketeering On A Scale This Country Has Never Seen Before!!!"

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