Pathetic Security Failure of USA

US admits airline security failed on Northwest flight (plus 48 more items)

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• US admits airline security failed on Northwest flight
• Gene modification can prevent Huntington's
• In Iran, extent of unrest damage determined
• A Single State, with Liberty and Justice for All
• West condemns Iran protest crackdown
• Cairo forces Viva Palestina to take detour
• Russian police free 15 child slaves
• Cancer protects against Alzheimer's disease
• Terror suspect was on UK, US watch list
• The Occupied West Bank Latroun Villages
• Palestinians slam new Israeli settlement expansions
• Obama orders air security review
• Iranian commander calls protests disgraceful
• In Pakistan, bomb blast leave 22 mourners killed
• CIA present in Yemen since 2008: Report
• Riyadh arrests 40 officials over Jeddah flood
• Germans lose faith in political system
• Opposition figures arrested after Iran protests
• Scientists find aggressive brain cancer genes
• Polls close in Uzbekistan parliamentary election
• 'Jewish People, Decent People, Freedom, Democracy...' says Abe'le Foxman
• Britain hails anti-government Iran protesters
• Airline shares fall after bombing attempt
• Moroccan seizes on Sarkozy holiday for 'justice'
• Ten Afghan civilians killed in NATO airstrikes
• Cao Cao's tomb found in China
• Inner ear involved in more than balance
• Vitamin C enhances cell regeneration
• Homemade bomb explodes in central Athens
• Police: 2 Afghan officers killed, 3 missing
• SNSC: Eight killed in Iran protests
• Israel invites tenders for expanding settlements
• Coal mine blast kills 12 workers in China
• Stoking the fires of fear and hatred
• Mubarak Blows His Big Chance
• Stop building steel wall, Nasrallah tells Egypt
• 10 hurt as Kurds clash with police in southeast Turkey
• Iraqi police defuse 9 bombs, prevent Ashura bloodbath
• Croatian presidential election to head to 2nd round
• Viva Palestina members start hunger strike
• 1000s pay tribute to Bhutto on anniversary of her death
• Death toll for US forces in Afghanistan doubles in 2009
• Dubai TV says reporter missing in Tehran
• Somali MPs must return in 10 days, parliament speaker says
• Second incident in 48 hours for Flight 253
• Is Congress Planning to Destroy Every Middle East TV Channel That Criticizes Israel?
• A Monster Beyond Control?
• Avalanches kill seven in Italian Alps
• Cash-strapped US running out of unemployment money

US admits airline security failed on Northwest flight Posted: 28 Dec 2009 09:44 AM PST US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has admitted that airline security measures failed to prevent a bomb suspect from getting aboard Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. "Here, clearly, something went awry. We want to fix that problem," Napolitano told Fox News on Monday. "No secretary of Homeland Security would sit here and say that a system worked prior to this incident which allowed this individual to get on this plane." Napolitno's latest remarks run counter to a statement she made on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday claiming that US airline security "system worked." Read more...

Gene modification can prevent Huntington's Posted: 28 Dec 2009 09:44 AM PST US researchers have discovered that a molecular switch can prevent the development of the fatal Huntington's disease in mice. Huntington's disease is a neurological condition caused by the mutation of a gene that codes a brain protein known as huntingtin. The condition starts in midlife and impairs an individual's ability to walk, talk and think properly in a gradual form. There is no cure for the illness, indicating that the treatment only focuses on the symptoms. Read more...

In Iran, extent of unrest damage determined Posted: 28 Dec 2009 09:44 AM PST One day after clashes erupted between anti-government protestors and security forces in the Iranian capital, Tehran's Firefighting Organization talks of the extent of the damage. Speaking to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Monday, Head of the Public Relations office of Tehran's Safety Services and Firefighting Organization Behrouz Tashakkor said 838 firefighters were dispatched to various locations in Tehran on Ashura. "Nine residential buildings, 9 vehicles, 7 shops, 2 banks and 3 power stations were set on fire [by anti-government protestors], " Tashakkor said. Read more...

A Single State, with Liberty and Justice for All Posted: 28 Dec 2009 08:25 AM PST Prior to the establishment of Israel, Palestine had been multi-religious and multi-cultural. Christians, Muslims and Jews, Armenians, Greek Orthodox, to name a few, all had a place there; and all lived in relative harmony. Other nations fought wars and waged epic struggles to attain the kind of coexistence that was already a reality in Palestine.But while the world strives toward the noble truths that we are all created equal, Israel legislates the notion of a Chosen People with exclusive rights and privilege for Jews. Where countries have worked to integrate their citizens to create the richness of diversity, Israel is working in reverse, employing racist policies to "Judaize" the land whereby property and resources are confiscated from Christians and Muslims for the exclusive use of Jews. Where there is consensus that certain human rights are inalienable, Palestinians have lived subject to the whims of soldiers at checkpoints; of airplanes and helicopters raining death onto them with impunity; of curfews and restrictions and denials; and of violent armed settlers who fancy themselves disciples of God. Read more...

West condemns Iran protest crackdown Posted: 28 Dec 2009 08:24 AM PST Western countries condemned the crackdown on anti-government Iranian protesters during the religious ceremony of Ashura on Sunday. Tehran accuses foreigners of orchestrating and backing the unrest. The Iranian capital was the scene of protests on the anniversary of the Shia Muslim Ashura religious event, with security forces clashing with anti-government demonstrators and using tear gas to disperse the crowds. Press TV learned that the official death count from the unrest has reached eight. In a statement, Tehran's police headquarters named six of the dead while two of the victims have yet to be identified. Police insist that the force neither used violence nor shot a single bullet on Sunday. Read more...

Cairo forces Viva Palestina to take detour Posted: 28 Dec 2009 08:24 AM PST Thanks to Cairo's obstruction, Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy en rout to the Gaza Strip will take a detour and head to Syria Latakia, in a bid to enter Egypt through El-Arish. The convoy of 250 vehicles has been stranded in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba after Egypt refused to allow it to go through the Red Sea port of Nuweiba — the most direct route. Cairo insisted that the convoy can only enter through the Mediterranean port city of El-Arish. "The aid convoy will leave Aqaba for (the Mediterranean port of) Latakia in Syria before going to El-Arish, in line with Cairo's decision," said Maysara Malas, of Jordan's powerful trade union federation, which has been helping to organize the aid convoy. Read more...

Russian police free 15 child slaves Posted: 28 Dec 2009 07:08 AM PST Russian police have reportedly exposed a sweatshop in the Moscow region, where 15 Kyrgyzstan children under the age of 18 were kept as slave laborers. The illegal workshop was forcing labor on underfed children as young as 11, while some of the children were also mistreated, RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday. "An illegal sewing workshop was discovered at the site of a factory in the town of Noguinsk. Among the workers, were minors from Kyrgyzstan," the police said. Read more...

Cancer protects against Alzheimer's disease Posted: 28 Dec 2009 07:08 AM PST Different types of cancer can protect individuals against the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vice versa, a new study finds. According to the study published in Neurology, dementia and cancer have protective effects against one another. Alzheimer's sufferers are 69 percent less likely to develop different types of cancer. Cancer victims, on the other hand, had a 43 percent lower tendency to develop AD. Read more...

Terror suspect was on UK, US watch list Posted: 28 Dec 2009 07:08 AM PST The Nigerian terror suspect, who made a failed attempt to detonate a bomb on a plane on Christmas day, has been on UK and US terrorist watch lists. Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, who graduated from the renowned University College London in 2008 with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, was placed on UK's watch list after he was denied a UK student visa earlier this year to attend an unauthenticated academic institution. The 23-year-old's name was also placed last month on the US's central repository of information on international terrorists known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (Tide). Read more...

The Occupied West Bank Latroun Villages Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:11 AM PST On June 6, 1967, when Israeli forces invaded Gaza and the West Bank, on the second day of the so-called Six-Day War (June 5 - 10, 1967), they entered three Palestinian villages in the Latroun salient - Imwas, Yalo and Beit Nouba, forcibly expelling the residents, numbering over 10,000 at the time. By the next day, most were gone while Israel began razing village lands and erasing their memory in an area well-known for its water resources and fertility, located northwest of Jerusalem along the Green Line. One soldier at the time explained that they: "were told to take up positions around the approaches to the villages in order to prevent those villagers - who had heard the Israeli assurances over the radio that they could return to their homes in peace - from returning to their homes. The order was - shoot over their heads and tell them there is no access to the village," even though Fourth Geneva's Article 49 states: "Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive." Doing so is a "grave breach," and those responsible are criminally liable. Read more...

Palestinians slam new Israeli settlement expansions Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST The Palestinian Authority has condemned Israel's move to build hundreds more housing units for settlers in the occupied East Jerusalem. "The Palestinian Authority strongly condemns the new decision to build in East Jerusalem and wonders whether there is a freeze of settlement activity or an intensification of it," AFP quoted chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat as saying. Erekat addressed the US President Barack Obama's administration, saying Washington "needs to realize that the policies of the Israeli government embody settlements and not peace and that their choice is settlements and not peace." Read more...

Obama orders air security review Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of air security following an attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas Day. On Friday, a Nigerian man wearing an explosive device managed to board a Detroit-bound airliner with 290 passengers in Amsterdam with a valid US visa, after he flew from Lagos to the Dutch capital on Christmas Eve. Controversy rose when it came to light that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was already on a terrorist watch-list of some 550,000 names after his father in Abuja, warned of his son's growing radicalism. Read more...

Iranian commander calls protests disgraceful Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST A senior Iranian commander has condemned sporadic anti-government protests in the Iranian capital of Tehran as "disgraceful" and "reproachable." Protestors on Tuesday took to some central and downtown streets during ceremonies commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) grandson, Imam Hussein (PBUH), known as Ashura. Brigadier-General Masoud Jazayeri, the deputy commander of Iran's armed forces, on Monday defined the "actions of a group of hooligans on such days of mourning" as another "low act" incomparable to anything seen before. Read more...

In Pakistan, bomb blast leave 22 mourners killed Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST In Pakistan's commercial capital of Karachi, at least 22 mourners have been killed in a bombing during a mourning procession marking the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (PBUH). "It was a bomb blast. It is premature to say whether it was a suicide attack or a planted bomb," a local media outlet quoted Karachi city police chief Waseem Ahmad as saying. Sindh Health Minister Saghir Ahmed said that 80 others were also wounded in the Monday blast, a Press TV correspondent reported. Read more...

CIA present in Yemen since 2008: Report Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST The US has opened a covert front against 'al-Qaeda' in Yemen by offering support to the country's military operations, a US intelligence sources says. Citing an unnamed former CIA official, The New York Times reported late on Sunday that about a year ago the CIA sent many field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country. The report revealed that some of the most secretive special operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces. Read more...

Riyadh arrests 40 officials over Jeddah flood Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST At least 40 Saudi officials and contractors have been arrested following a probe into the November flood, which killed over 120 people in Jeddah. The authorities, including a number of senior officials of the Red Sea city's mayor office were rounded up by two dozen police officers on Sunday, AFP reported. An assistant to the Jeddah mayor, four department heads, and the former head of the city's projects division were among the detainees. Read more...

Germans lose faith in political system Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST A poll shows that the German public now has less faith in their political system than at any other time since World War II, mainly due to the financial crisis. The survey conducted by Bertelsmann Foundation found on Sunday that about 70 percent of those questioned did not feel that they could count on their political and business leaders, or the education system and the social welfare network. Nearly fifty percent of respondents said they have reservations about representative democracy as a political system. Read more...

Opposition figures arrested after Iran protests Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST Iranian security forces on Monday arrested a number of opposition figures one day after anti-government protests erupted in Tehran on the religious ceremony of Ashura, Press TV has learned. The Iranian capital on Sunday was the scene of anti-government protests on the anniversary of the Shia Muslim Ashura religious event, during which people commemorate the 7th century death of Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) grandson, Imam Hussein (PBUH). Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters who used the religious ceremony to chant slogans against the government. Eight people were killed during the unrest. Read more...

Scientists find aggressive brain cancer genes Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST US researchers have discovered two genes reported to be responsible for the development of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer. According to a study published in Nature, C/EPB and Stat3 are active in about 60 percent of patients suffering from glioblastoma, the most lethal human malignancy that rapidly invades the normal brain and produces inoperable tumors. "When simultaneously activated, they work together to turn on hundreds of other genes that transform brain cells into highly aggressive, migratory cells," said lead researcher Antonio Iavarone. Read more...

Polls close in Uzbekistan parliamentary election Posted: 28 Dec 2009 06:08 AM PST Polls have closed in Uzbekistan's parliamentary elections and vote counting is underway, after a high turnout in Central Asia's most populous nation. Despite rumors of voter apathy, some 88 percent of those eligible have cast their ballot, according to the country's central election commission. Candidates from four parties are contesting for 150 seats in Uzbekistan's lower house of parliament, with the election being described as free and fair by Western observers. Read more...

'Jewish People, Decent People, Freedom, Democracy...' says Abe'le Foxman Posted: 28 Dec 2009 01:09 AM PST Read more...

Britain hails anti-government Iran protesters Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:09 PM PST British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday hailed the "great courage" of pro-opposition supporters who took part in illegal protests in Tehran one day earlier, during which several people were killed and public property was damaged. In a statement in London, Miliband condemned the crackdown on the protesters, saying it was "particularly disturbing" as it happened during the holiest event for Shia Muslims, Ashura — which commemorates the 7th century martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) grandson, Imam Hussein (PBUH). At least eight people, according to Tehran's police headquarters, were killed in the protests which resulted in clashes between security forces and the demonstrators. Police say the force neither used violence nor shot a single bullet during the crackdown. Read more...

Airline shares fall after bombing attempt Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:09 PM PST Airline shares plummeted on Monday as investors predict a decrease in air-travel due to new security restrictions implemented shortly after a botched bombing attempt on a transatlantic airliner. On Monday morning's trading at the New York Stock Exchange, Delta Air Lines, Inc.'s stock dropped by 4.3 percent to USD 11.27, as Continental Airlines, Inc. dropped from USD 18.13 to USD 17.95 a share. The stocks of American Airlines, United and JetBlue Airways Corp. fell by two to three percent. Following the failed bombing attempt of a 23-year-old Nigerian on a Northwest flight arriving in Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day, US President Barack Obama ordered an immediate increase in airline security procedures. Read more...

Moroccan seizes on Sarkozy holiday for 'justice' Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:09 PM PST French President Nicolas Sarkozy's holiday in Morocco has impelled the father of a young man who died in French police custody to plea for the reopening the 17-year-old case. The letter was sent Monday by Mohammed Tais to Sarkozy and Morocco's King Mohammed VI, AFP reported. In the letter, Tais calls for a fresh probe and more transparency in the case. Tais wishes that the "truth about the circumstances surrounding my son's death be known." Read more...

Ten Afghan civilians killed in NATO airstrikes Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:08 PM PST Ten civilians including eight school children have been killed the latest episode of NATO's imprecise airstrikes in Afghanistan. "Initial reports indicate that in a series of operations by international forces in Kunar province... 10 civilians, eight of them school students have been killed," Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said Monday. Karzai has strongly condemned the killings in the airstrikes and appointed a delegation to investigate the event. Read more...

Cao Cao's tomb found in China Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:08 PM PST Chinese archeologists say they have found an ancient tomb belonging to the country's legendary politician and general, Cao Cao. The large third-century tomb was found in Xigaoxue village near the ancient city of Anyang in Henan Province, Reuters reported. The remains of a man in his 60s and two women were discovered in the tomb. Cao Cao was reportedly in his 60s at the time of his death. Read more...

Inner ear involved in more than balance Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:08 PM PST Minute balance organs located deep within the inner ear are reported to directly alter blood flow to the brain, a new study finds. Previous studies had reported that balance control is the main role of the inner ear comprised of the semi-circular canals, utricle and saccule. The Harvard Medical School team, however, reported that these organs also affect the brain blood flow. Read more...

Vitamin C enhances cell regeneration Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:08 PM PST Vitamin C can enhance the process through which adult stem cells are reprogrammed into embryonic stems cells, a new study finds. "The low efficiency of the reprogramming process has hampered progress with this technology and is indicative of how little we understand it," said lead researcher Duanqing Pei from the South China Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative. According to the study published in Cell Stem Cell, vitamin C can reverse the aging process in adult cells. Read more...

Homemade bomb explodes in central Athens Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:08 PM PST A makeshift bomb has exploded outside an insurance company in central Athens, damaging the office and nearby cars, but causing no injuries, police say. A warning was sent to a local newspaper about 15 minutes before the device exploded on Sunday outside the National Insurance company, Reuters reported citing an unidentified police official. Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Read more...

Police: 2 Afghan officers killed, 3 missing Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:08 PM PST At least two Afghan police officers have been killed after militants attacked a checkpoint in the western province of Badghis. The incident took place in the Qadis district of Badghis, Afghan National Police spokesman Raouf Ahmadi said on Monday. Three other officers are also missing, Ahmadi added. Read more...

SNSC: Eight killed in Iran protests Posted: 27 Dec 2009 11:08 PM PST Iran's Supreme National Security Council has announced that eight people have been killed in anti-government protests. The Iranian capital on Sunday witnessed sporadic anti-government protests on the anniversary of the Shia Muslim Ashura religious event, with security forces clashing with protesters. In Tehran, protestors took to some central and downtown streets on Sunday, hijacking the Ashura ceremonies, during which people commemorate the 7th century death of Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) grandson, Imam Hussein (PBUH). Read more...

Israel invites tenders for expanding settlements Posted: 27 Dec 2009 10:24 PM PST Israel has invited tenders for construction of more housing units in the occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds, Israel's Channel 10 says. The housing ministry has sought bids for building a total of 696 new homes in the settlements of Neve Yaacov, Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa, the channel said. The expansion of Israeli settlements is considered the main hindrance to the resumption of peace talks. Read more...

Coal mine blast kills 12 workers in China Posted: 27 Dec 2009 10:24 PM PST Coal mining accidents continue in China with a latest explosion killing 12 in the north of the country, according to local authorities. The blast occurred at the Donggou coal mine in the city of Jiexiu in Shanxi province late Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported. A spokesman for the local work safety administration said the incident happened after workers violated safety rules. The blast also injured four other coal miners. Read more...

Stoking the fires of fear and hatred Posted: 27 Dec 2009 07:39 PM PST Never let it be said that Zionists can't run an effective propaganda campaign. They're at it again, giving all to stimulate fear with clever patterns of deception. David Harris is spreading his fear-mongering widely. For European audiences, his propaganda is targeting Germany through Der Tagesspiegel and Italy through L'Opinione. His article on "Iran policy: what price failure" also spreads the message of fear through the Huffington Post to Americans. Read more...

Mubarak Blows His Big Chance Posted: 27 Dec 2009 09:42 AM PST Gee, thanks President Mubarak... Thanks for ruining Christmas for so many. But that's par for the course in the cesspit of treachery that is the Middle East. The human tragedy of Gaza just gets worse and worse. Nobody seriously believed the Viva Palestina convoy would get through unmolested; and so it came to pass… It is stranded at Aqaba, and its precious cargo is spoiling in the heat, because Mubarak's henchmen will not allow it to enter Egypt through the port of Nuweiba. Read more...

Stop building steel wall, Nasrallah tells Egypt Posted: 27 Dec 2009 08:08 AM PST Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has called on the Egyptian government to halt the construction of a huge steel wall along its border with the besieged Gaza Strip meant to cut supply tunnels. "In addition to the siege, there has been news about [building] a steel wall ... to terminate the thin veins which are giving some life and some hope to Gaza," Nasrallah said in an address to thousands of people in Beirut on Sunday as part of ceremonies for Ashura, which is the anniversary of the martyrdom of the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Imam Hussein (PBUH). "We call on the government in Egypt and the leadership to stop the wall and the flooding of the tunnels and to end the siege. Otherwise, it should be condemned by all Arabs and Muslims," he stated. Read more...

10 hurt as Kurds clash with police in southeast Turkey Posted: 27 Dec 2009 08:08 AM PST At least 10 people have been hurt and a dozen others arrested as bitter clashes broke out between demonstrators and police in predominantly Kurdish towns in southeastern Turkey. The skirmishes between masked youths and anti-riot police erupted on Sunday in the towns of Hakkari and Yuksekova during protests against last week's spate of detentions of Kurdish officials over alleged connections to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The group includes eight mayors and prominent Kurdish activist Hatip Dicle, a former lawmaker who previously served ten years in prison for PKK membership. Read more...

Iraqi police defuse 9 bombs, prevent Ashura bloodbath Posted: 27 Dec 2009 08:07 AM PST Iraqi security forces have defused nine bombs across the war-torn country as millions of Muslims observed the holy day of Ashura. According to Iraqi security forces, terrorists had a plan to target visitors and even put several IEDs (improvised explosive devices) on the main road to Karbala, which is the focal point of the ceremony of Ashura, which is the anniversary of the martyrdom of the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Imam Hussein (PBUH). Police stepped up security in Iraq to prevent attacks against Shias. A curfew was slapped on Baghdad and 10 Iraqi provinces. Some 12,000 Iraqi soldiers and police were deployed along with 3,000 members of a police rapid response unit in Karbala. Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and police were also on duty in nearby Najaf for Ashura. Read more...

Croatian presidential election to head to 2nd round Posted: 27 Dec 2009 08:07 AM PST Results are in from nearly all polling stations in the Croatian presidential election and show that Ivo Josipovic and Milan Bandic will face each other in a runoff. Josipovic, 52, of the opposition Social Democrats, garnered 32.44 percent of the vote while independent Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic, 54, took 14.84 percent in Sunday's first round of the presidential election. Andrija Hebrang of the governing conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) came in third with 12.01 percent, the electoral commission said late on Sunday, citing a tally of 99 percent of the polling stations. Read more...

Viva Palestina members start hunger strike Posted: 27 Dec 2009 08:07 AM PST Members of the Viva Palestina international aid convoy heading to the blockaded Gaza Strip have made the decision to go on hunger strike in protest at the Egyptian government's refusal to allow the convoy entry into its territory. "Volunteers on the convoy are on a hunger strike and will only take fluids until the Egyptian side gives them the nod," said the convoy's press officer, Alice Howard. She said the hunger strike began at 11:25 on Sunday, marking the first bombs Israel dropped on the besieged population of Gaza on December 27, 2008. Read more...

1000s pay tribute to Bhutto on anniversary of her death Posted: 27 Dec 2009 06:45 AM PST Thousands of people from across Pakistan have flocked to the burial site of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto on the second anniversary of her assassination. On Sunday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and some of his cabinet members showered her grave with rose petals at the mausoleum in Sindh province. Bhutto's widower, President Asif Ali Zardari, made a private visit to the grave with his three children. Read more...

Death toll for US forces in Afghanistan doubles in 2009 Posted: 27 Dec 2009 06:44 AM PST The number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year has increased twofold compared with 2008. Based on an AFP tally, foreign forces recorded 506 casualties in Afghanistan this year, 310 of which were US troops. The second figure showed that twice as many US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in 2009 compared to 2008, when 155 US soldiers were killed. Read more...

Dubai TV says reporter missing in Tehran Posted: 27 Dec 2009 06:44 AM PST A Syrian reporter working for Dubai TV in Iran has reportedly gone missing during anti-government protests in Tehran, a colleague says. 27-year-old journalist Reza al-Basha last contacted his family around 11 a.m. local time (0730 GMT) on Sunday, saying that he was stuck downtown, AFP quoted a colleague, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying. "His two mobile lines have been off since then. We contacted the Foreign Press Bureau. The last thing they told us is that he is not among the dead and injured so he has most likely been arrested," the colleague added. Read more...

Somali MPs must return in 10 days, parliament speaker says Posted: 27 Dec 2009 05:08 AM PST The speaker of Somalia's parliament, Sheikh Aden Madobe, has called on lawmakers living abroad to return to Mogadishu in 10 days. On Sunday, Madobe said any parliament members who fail to return to the capital by January 6, 2010 will face legal action. He made the call after the parliament was forced to postpone a session on Saturday because not enough members were present. Read more...

Second incident in 48 hours for Flight 253 Posted: 27 Dec 2009 04:24 AM PST The FBI has cleared Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to return to the air after a second incident within 48 hours was deemed to be not serious. Security officials at Detroit Metropolitan Airport said that the incident on Sunday of an unruly passenger aboard the same Northwest Flight 253 that a Nigerian national attempted to blow up on Christmas Day (Friday) was a "non-serious incident." The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) permitted the plane to land after the pilot of the incoming flight from Amsterdam to Detroit requested an emergency landing because a passenger had spent a lengthy time in the restroom. Read more...

Is Congress Planning to Destroy Every Middle East TV Channel That Criticizes Israel? Posted: 27 Dec 2009 02:34 AM PST "Regarding Al Manar it's personal for Israel. The reason is that Al Manar did to the Israeli government propaganda machine during and following the July 2006 war what Hezbollah fighters did to Israeli troops. Al Manar kicked butt. That station must be made to disappear. The plan is to stop the 15-20 million daily viewers of Al Manar from receiving its transmission and well as to intimidate all the other Middle East TV channels that are suspected of moving toward the growing "Culture of Resistance' spreading in the Middle East from Lebanon." Read more...

A Monster Beyond Control? Posted: 27 Dec 2009 02:34 AM PST On the first anniversary of the beginning of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip – in my view it was a demonstration of Israeli state terrorism at its most naked - it's not enough to say that the governments of the Western powers (and others) are complicit in Israel's on-going collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians, 53% of whom are children. Read more...

Avalanches kill seven in Italian Alps Posted: 27 Dec 2009 01:44 AM PST In separate incidents, seven people, including a German teenager, have been killed by avalanches in northern Italy. In one incident on Saturday, two Italian tourists were trapped in an avalanche while mountain climbing in the Trentino Alto Adige region. Another avalanche killed four rescue workers of the seven-person team sent out to find the two trapped tourists. Read more...

Cash-strapped US running out of unemployment money Posted: 27 Dec 2009 12:28 AM PST Twenty-five US states are running out of federal funds to pay unemployment benefits to jobless Americans. According to The Washington Post, currently 25 states have been forced to borrow USD 25 billion from the federal government to keep their unemployed a float. The Department of Labor estimates that by 2011 some 40 states will have run out of employment money and will be in need of borrowing USD 90 billion from the federal government. Read more...

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