| The US and China: One Side is Losing, the Other is Winning Posted: 03 Jan 2010 09:27 AM PST  Asian capitalism, notably China and South Korea are competing with the US for global power. Asian global power is driven by dynamic economic growth, while the US pursues a strategy of military-driven empire building. One Day's Read of the Financial Times Even a cursory read of a single issue of the Financial Times (December 28, 2009) illustrates the divergent strategies toward empire building. On page one, the lead article on the US is on its expanding military conflicts and its 'war on terror', entitled "Obama Demands Review of Terror List". In contrast, there are two page-one articles on China, which describe China's launching of the world's fastest long-distance passenger train service and China's decision to maintain its currency pegged to the US dollar as a mechanism to promote its robust export sector. While Obama turns the US focus on a fourth battle front (Yemen) in the 'war on terror' (after Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan), the Financial Times reports on the same page that a South Korean consortium has won a $20.4 billion dollar contract to develop civilian nuclear power plants for the United Arab Emirates, beating its US and European competitors. Read more...  |
| Iran certain of foreign involvement in riots Posted: 03 Jan 2010 08:09 AM PST Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said Sunday it has become evident for the country that the recent anti-government riots were led by foreigners. "The rioters are encouraged and supported by Britain, the US and the Zionist regime [Israel]," Mohammad-Najjar told reporters. "The involvement of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), enemies and those who seek to take revenge on the Islamic establishment during the past 30 years is quite clear." Read more...  |
| Top Israeli diplomat scolds ambassadors Posted: 03 Jan 2010 06:36 AM PST Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman chastised the regime's foreign envoys for their tendency to appease their host states. "I have seen that some ambassadors identify themselves with the other side to such an extent that they are all the time trying to justify and explain [the position of the other side]," Lieberman said at a conference last week with Israeli ambassadors. Read more...  |
| Witness - A girl called Jewel Posted: 03 Jan 2010 05:16 AM PST Just days into Israel's war on Gaza, in early January, the extended Al Samouni family, some 48 men, women and children, was attacked in the homes they occupied together in the south of Gaza - and almost all of them were killed. Thirteen-year-old Almaza - 'jewel' - is one of the very few who survived the attack in which 30 members of her family died, many before her own eyes. A Girl Called Jewel is Almaza's story, a heart-breaking eye-witness account of the war in Gaza. Read more...  |
| Anti-Mousavi slogans purged in Tehran Posted: 03 Jan 2010 05:08 AM PST The Tehran Municipality has been clearing the Iranian capital of graffiti containing negative comments about defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. On January 1, Mousavi issued a statement, wherein he put forward a series of proposals for overcoming the current situation in the country. Read more...  |
| Witness - Ma Yan's story Posted: 03 Jan 2010 04:12 AM PST It was the writing of a 14-year-old girl in western China that gave a voice to countless children in rural China, whose families' struggle to make a basic living often kept them from completing their education, which in turn, might help move their families out of the cycle of poverty. Now, nearly seven years after Ma Yan wrote her diary, she is marking a new milestone: She is heading to university. She will be only the second person from her village to receive a higher education. We catch up ... Read more...  |
| Death toll hits 99 at volleyball bombing Posted: 03 Jan 2010 03:37 AM PST More bodies have been pulled from the rubble of a sports complex in northwestern Pakistan, raising the death toll in Friday's attack on a volleyball game to at least 99. The number of victims is likely to increase as recovery efforts moved through their second day, authorities said Sunday. Read more...  |
| Rare chimpanzees threatened by volcano's eruption Posted: 03 Jan 2010 03:37 AM PST The eruption of Africa's most active volcano, Mount Nyamuragira, has threatened rare chimpanzees in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to a report from the Congolese Wildlife Authority, Mount Nyamuragira spewed lava off its southern flank after erupting at 3:45 a.m. local time on Saturday. Read more...  |
| Abdullah: Cabinet disapproval adds to Afghan woes Posted: 03 Jan 2010 02:37 AM PST Afghan leader Hamid Karzai's main rival in the August presidential race, Abdullah Abdullah, says parliament rejections of Karzai's cabinet will add to the crises in the country. "What we have is crises in the country not only this one: governance, politics, and security all have been sort of a one-man calamity. There is no doubt that it (rejection of Karzai cabinet) adds to the existing problems and we know who is responsible for this situation," Abdullah said on Sunday. Read more...  |
| Rebels kill '25 Eritrean soldiers' Posted: 03 Jan 2010 02:36 AM PST |
| Mousavi's statement draws varied reactions Posted: 03 Jan 2010 02:36 AM PST The Tehran Municipality has been clearing the Iranian capital of graffiti containing negative comments about defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. On January 1, Mousavi issued a statement, wherein he put forward a series of proposals for overcoming the current situation in the country. Read more...  |
| Watches worth $3.2mn stolen from Tokyo store Posted: 03 Jan 2010 02:36 AM PST Thieves have made off with watches worth about 3.2 million dollars after boring a 40-50cm hole through the concrete wall of a jewelry shop in Japan. According to a Metropolitan Police Department Spokesman, about 200 luxury watches were stolen from the Tenshodo store in the Tokyo's fashionable Ginza shopping district. Read more...  |
| Saudi authorities remove posters of Shia Imam Posted: 03 Jan 2010 02:36 AM PST Saudi authorities have pulled down posters of the third Shia Imam in the coastal city of al-Qatif, which hosts the country's largest community of Shia Muslims. Municipality staff escorted by a security team and a police convoy removed the posters during the morning hours when the city's residents were at work or school, leaving most streets fairly clear of any bystanders, IRIB reported on Saturday. The posters displayed Hadith (Arabic for narrations) of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) about Imam Hussein (AS), as well as quotes by the Imam himself. Read more...  |
| Israel: Abbas does not represent all Palestinians Posted: 03 Jan 2010 02:36 AM PST Israel's ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says Palestinian Authority's acting Chief Mahmoud Abbas lacks legitimacy to represent Palestinians. "Our Palestinian partner Abu Mazen (Abbas) is problematic. Does he represent all of the Palestinian people? It is clear that he does not represent Gaza and that his legitimacy in the West Bank is in doubt," AFP quoted Lieberman as saying on Sunday. Read more...  |
| Two Passenger trains collide in Turkey Posted: 03 Jan 2010 02:36 AM PST Two passenger trains have collided in Bilecik in northwestern Turkey, killing at least one and injuring four others, Turkish media has reported. The incident took place between the Vezirhan and Bayirkoy cities on Sunday morning. Read more...  |
| People & Power - Gilad Shalit: Bargaining Chip Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:43 AM PST How much is a life worth? Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier, was captured on June 25, 2006, in a Hamas raid. He has been held ever since as a bargaining chip for the release of some or all of the estimated 10000 or more Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Israel has one unwritten code with those it sends to war - no one will be left behind. So the Israeli response was quick and has been continuous. However, failure to resolve the issue has served only to heighten tension in the region. Zeina ... Read more...  |
| US revolution is near — economist Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:09 AM PST Capitalism brings immense suffering to the world and needs to be overthrown that is according to political economist and author Raymond Lotta from New York. He told RT he thinks a revolution is coming. Read more...  |
| Mexico says alleged drug lord arrested Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:09 AM PST Mexican drug cartel boss Carlos Beltran Leyva has been arrested, the Public Safety Department has announced in a statement. Federal police captured Beltran Leyva in Culiacan on Wednesday while carrying two guns and ammunition, according to a Saturday statement. Read more...  |
| Gerrard saves Liverpool against Reading in FA Cup Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:08 AM PST Steven Gerrard has helped Liverpool come from behind to earn a 1-1 away draw to Championship strugglers Reading in the FA Cup third round. Liverpool fell behind in the 24th minute when striker Simon Church netted on a cross from Grzegorz Rasiak at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday. Read more...  |
| Burglars steal Picasso, Rousseau works in France Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:08 AM PST Burglars have stolen about 30 works of art, including paintings by Spanish master Pablo Picasso and a French Post-Impressionist Henri Rousseau. According to police on Saturday, the art works were stolen from the home of a private collector in the southern French region of Provence. Read more...  |
| PA urges Israel to drop controversial prisoners law Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:08 AM PST The Palestinian Authority (PA) has urged Israel to cancel a controversial law that it uses to hold prisoners without a trial. Israel also uses the law to keep prisoners in jail after their terms are over. Read more...  |
| Venezuela 'better at anti-narcotics without US' Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:08 AM PST Venezuela says its anti-narcotics effort has improved since it ended cooperation with the US with an increase in drug confiscations throughout 2009. Drug confiscations rose by 11 percent from 2008 as the Latin American nation reported 60 tonnes of drugs captured for the 2009 year. Read more...  |
| New Zealand crude oil production rises 17% Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:08 AM PST New Zealand crude oil production has increased nearly 20 percent in the quarter ending September, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee has said. The jump in the country's crude production is largely attributable to the Maari field in the Taranaki Basin reaching full production. Read more...  |
| US embassy in Yemen closed amid threats Posted: 03 Jan 2010 01:08 AM PST The US has closed its embassy in Yemen after receiving threats from al-Qaeda, the embassy and foreign diplomats say. The US has also instructed its embassy staff to stay in their homes until further notice, Reuters reported on Sunday. Read more...  |
| A matter of life and debt Posted: 02 Jan 2010 11:45 PM PST Over the past year healthcare has become one of the greatest tests for Barack Obama, the US president. He made reform of the system that leaves 47 million people uninsured his top domestic priority. Congress passed two bills that are expected to be merged in the coming weeks. If Obama signs a final bill into law, he will be the first US president in a century to deliver on his promise of reform. But many in his own Democratic party say the new measures fall short of his campaign promise to ... Read more...  |
| Russian-made Hollywood: super hero blockbuster Posted: 02 Jan 2010 11:39 PM PST Black Lightning the latest film to hit the big screen in Moscow has been dubbed Russias answer to Batman and Transformers. Some also see it as the beginning for the revival of the Russian film industry. Read more...  |
| UK to follow US intervention in Yemen Posted: 02 Jan 2010 11:36 PM PST The British premier's office says that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama have agreed to fight what they call terrorism in Yemen and Somalia. The UK and the US have agreed to fund a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising threat from the country. Read more...  |
| Indian consortium to invest in Iran gas field Posted: 02 Jan 2010 11:36 PM PST An Indian Consortium led by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is to finalize a deal to invest in the development of an Iranian gas field, an Iranian official says. "The new round of discussions between Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) and the Indian consortium led state-run firm ONGC over the details of a $5bn contract for the development of Farzad B gas field will be conducted in Tehran or New Delhi in the next few months," the head of IOOC Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh said Saturday. Read more...  |
| Karzai raps civilian casualties in US operations Posted: 02 Jan 2010 11:36 PM PST Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned US-led forces for unpopular tactics which result in civilian deaths, amid public anger across the country. "We strongly request foreign forces in Afghanistan to stop irregular house searches and operations that are not coordinated (with Afghan forces), especially airstrikes," Karzai said on Sunday during his surprise visit to the southern Helmand province. Read more...  |
| The Israel Lobby's War on Al Manar TV Posted: 02 Jan 2010 10:48 PM PST Having inherited the Bush administration's rising stack of terrorism lists, President Obama's team had expressed interest in culling them 'so they are more accurate and manageable and Americans experience less stress', according to Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano. These lists, plus the reported existence of others that have not been made public, are supposed to reduce the fear and stress on Americans just knowing there are such lists and that someone is 'watching out'. Read more...  |
| The Iron Wall of Egypt Posted: 02 Jan 2010 10:48 PM PST Something odd, almost bizarre, is going on in Egypt these days. About 1400 activists from all over the world gathered there on their way to the Gaza Strip. On the anniversary of the "Cast Lead" War, they intended to participate in a non-violent demonstration against the ongoing blockade, which makes the life of 1.5 million inhabitants of the Strip intolerable. At the same time, protest demonstrations were to take place in many countries. In Tel-Aviv, too, a big protest was planned. The "monitoring committee" of the Arab citizens of Israel was to organize an event on the Gaza border. Read more...  |
| Batman Gotham Knight review Posted: 02 Jan 2010 10:39 PM PST |
| Ecuador: US extremists trying to destabilize us Posted: 02 Jan 2010 10:36 PM PST Ecuador has accused right-wing extremists in the United States of planning to destabilize the South American country. President Rafael Correa's accusations, in his weekly radio program on Saturday, targeted US-based groups and not the US government, the Associated Press reported. Read more...  |
| How the French were lobotomized Posted: 02 Jan 2010 08:04 PM PST In Cabala, evil takes on a mysterious existence of its own, which its precepts trace back to the physical appearance of life on Earth, or Adam. Cabala claims that Adam throws the entire stream of life out of balance, and that the Church, or Christianity, by formalizing the existence of the Adamite people on Earth, have become a problem which must be resolved. This is the essence of the basic anti-life principle underlying all Cabala and its heir, Freemasonry. These precepts declare that Satanism will achieve its final triumph over the Church and Christianity, thus ending the "dualism" of this world, the struggle between good and evil. In short, the problem of good and evil will all be ended when evil triumphs and good is eliminated from the earth. This program may sound somewhat simplistic, but it is the basic premise of the Cabala and Freemasonry. - Eustace Mullins, The Curse of Canaan, p. 42 Read more...  |
| Iranian soccer official resigns over email to Israel Posted: 02 Jan 2010 08:08 AM PST A high-ranking official of the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) has been compelled to resign after a Happy New Year greeting was accidentally sent to the Israel Football Association. The director of the IFF Foreign Relations Department, Mohammad-Mansour Azimzadeh, stepped down after the message, apparently sent on his behalf, reached Israeli officials — a mistake that should have never taken place. Read more...  |
| 4 more Iranian policemen die in anti-drug campaign Posted: 02 Jan 2010 08:07 AM PST Iran's law enforcement forces have lost four more soldiers in a confrontation with drug traffickers in a desert area of eastern Iran, which lies on a major drug smuggling route from neighboring Afghanistan to Europe. "In clashes between police and an illicit drug convoy headed from south to north, seven policemen were killed and four others were injured, who died later of their severe injuries," Colonel Seyyed Kazem Hashemabadi was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency on Saturday. Read more...  |
| US led strikes on Al-Qaeda in Yemen, report says Posted: 02 Jan 2010 08:07 AM PST The United States, with the full support of the Yemeni government, led the recent ground and air strikes on suspected Al-Qaeda positions killing more than 60 militants, a television report says. According to CBS television report broadcast on Saturday, the recent attacks on Al-Qaeda positions in Yemen, including cruise missile strikes, were led by the United States. Read more...  |
| Ugandan army kills LRA second in command Posted: 02 Jan 2010 06:36 AM PST A top leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Bok Abudema, was killed by the Ugandan army on New Year's Day in the Central African Republic. "This was a New Year's gift to Uganda," Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye told AFP on Saturday. Read more...  |
| India releases 31 Pakistani fishermen Posted: 02 Jan 2010 06:36 AM PST Indian authorities released 31 Pakistani fisherman held in Gujarat jails and handed them over to Pakistan's Rangers at the Wahga border on Saturday. According to the terms of the Agreement on Consular Access signed by India and Pakistan on May 21, 2008, both countries are required to exchange a list of prisoners in their custody twice a year on January 1 and June 1. Read more...  |
| Ten killed in clashes in Niger Posted: 02 Jan 2010 06:36 AM PST Niger has announced that seven of its soldiers and one civilian have been killed in a region on the border with Mali. In clashes between soldiers and armed bandits on Wednesday and Thursday, seven soldiers and a civilian were killed in the Tahoua region, which borders Mali and is located 750 kilometers north of Niamey. In the battles, two of the gunmen were also killed by Nigerien soldiers. Read more...  |
| Basques protest against Spain's detention polices Posted: 02 Jan 2010 05:09 AM PST Thousands of people in Spain's Basque Country have held demonstrations to protest against Spanish detention policies. On Saturday, many of the protesters urged the Spanish government to grant amnesties to members of the Basque separatist group ETA, calling them "political prisoners." Read more...  |
| Colombian troops mopping up after attacks on FARC camps Posted: 02 Jan 2010 05:08 AM PST Colombian troops are conducting mopping-up operations after attacking two FARC camps. Colombia's aerial bombardment of two leftist guerrilla camps in the southern region of Meta on New Year's Day left 22 FARC rebels dead, including three unit leaders. Read more...  |
| An International Crime Called Gaza Posted: 02 Jan 2010 04:47 AM PST A fully pre-meditated international crime of genocide has been taking place during the last 62 years in the heart of the Arab World. The victims are the Palestinian people especially those in the Gaza Strip. The assassin is the worst ever terrorist group deceptively called the Israeli Defense Forces under the leadership of the theocratically most racist "god's chosen" deceitfully self-proclaimed "democratic Jewish-only" Israel. Israel had been created, financed, armed, and politically protected by, mainly, British and American rapture-vision-obsessed Talmudist power elites consisting of profit-seeking financiers and military-industrial complex. Read more...  |
| Ahmadinejad wishes for global justice in '10 Posted: 02 Jan 2010 04:36 AM PST Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed hope that justice and peace will be established across the world in the New Year 2010. "The year 2010 will turn into the year of peace and prosperity for the human community in the light of spirituality, morality and justice," said President Ahmadinejad in a New Year message to the heads of Christian states. Read more...  |
| Iran to test artificial windpipe on humans Posted: 02 Jan 2010 04:36 AM PST Iranian scientists announce that the first artificial windpipe will be ready to be transplanted on a human in the coming month. The head of Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Ali Akbar Velayati told Fars News Agency that Iranians are the first in the world to have succeeded in developing a whole artificial windpipe (trachea), adding that the organ already developed in Spain is a bronchiole rather than a trachea. Read more...  |
| Laughing matters for Indian yoga teacher Posted: 02 Jan 2010 04:25 AM PST The discipline of Yoga is not all stretching and meditation. One Mumbai-based yoga teacher has developed "Laughter Yoga", and now he is on a social mission to get some of India's most disadvantaged people to smile. Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman reports from India. Read more...  |
| Bomber strikes Pakistan tournament Posted: 02 Jan 2010 04:24 AM PST A suicide bomber has killed at least 88 people and injured dozens more in northwest Pakistan. The attack on Friday at a volleyball tournament in the city of Lakki Marwat was one of the deadliest Pakistan has seen in recent months. There has been no claim of responsibility, but officials say the attack could be in retaliation to local tribal efforts to combat the Taliban. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reports. Read more...  |
| Inside Iraq - Cancer fears Posted: 02 Jan 2010 04:23 AM PST Doctors in Iraq are recording a shocking rise in the number of cancer victims south of Baghdad. Sufferers in the province of Babil have risen by almost tenfold in just three years. Locals blame depleted uranium from US military equipment used in the 2003 invasion. Many Iraqi doctors say its radiation causes an alarming rise in cancer rates and birth defects among Iraqi children. All over Iraq 300 sites are said to be contaminated by depleted Uranium. Read more...  |
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