Pakistan is in the news again. It's not good. Christians (men and women) attacked simply because they're Christians. Some Christians are acting out of fear and hating Muslims -- calling them enemies.

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Christian attacks in Pakistan continue

Christian student nurse has regained consciousness following being raped, beaten, and thrown from the fourth floor of a hospital. A Muslim doctor and his accomplices are being charged with attempted murder. President of Open Doors USA Carl Moeller says, "Christians, by definition, in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are an underprivileged minority religion in Pakistan, with few rights. In fact, the Christians are at the lowest rung of the social ladder." Moeller says there are hundreds of rapes that go unreported

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Federal judge blocks key parts of Arizona immigration law

A federal judge has halted the most controversial elements of Arizona's new immigration law, which had been scheduled to take effect at midnight. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton on Wednesday halted implementation of the parts of the law that require police to determine the status of people they stop and think are in the country illegally. She also forbade the state from charging anyone for a new crime of failing to possess immigration documents. Bolton's ruling found that the Obama administration was likely to prevail at trial in proving the two provisions, and two other ones in the sweeping law, were an unconstitutional attempt by Arizona to regulate immigration. Arizona is expected to immediately appeal the decision to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco

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Oil in gulf is degrading, becoming harder to find, NOAA head says

Oil from the BP blowout is degrading rapidly in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and becoming increasingly difficult to find on the water surface, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. "The light crude oil is biodegrading quickly," NOAA director Jane Lubchenco said during the response team daily briefing.

***WATCHMAN...LIES...the millions of gallons of dispersants have kept it from coming to the surface...

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Barge Hits Well Near Gulf, Sends Oil and Gas Spewing

A barge slammed into an abandoned well in a coastal inlet early, sending a shower of water, natural gas and oil spewing about 100 feet into the air. Emergency officials said about 6,000 feet of containment boom was in place around the site in a lake just north of Barataria Bay, which has already been fouled by oil from the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While there was no estimate of how much oil was spewing, officials said the mile-long slick it created was small compared with the Gulf spill. The Coast Guard said the towboat Pere Ana C was pushing the barge on Mud Lake when it hit the wellhead about 1 a.m. No one was hurt. The towboat captain told investigators the well was not lit as required, Coast Guard Capt. John Arenstam said.

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Crews try to contain 877,000 gallons of oil that leaked from pipeline into major Mich. river

Southern Michigan residents are learning that devastating oil spills aren't limited to the Gulf Coast. Crews were working to contain and clean up an estimated 877,000 gallons of oil that coated birds and fish as it poured into a creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River, one of the state's major waterways.

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West Siberian research institute to help clean up Deepwater Horizon spill

Russian scientists from a research institute in the West Siberian town of Tyumen will help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico under a contract signed with U.S. Global Remediation Group, the institute's marketing specialist said on Tuesday. ...Under a contract signed by the Research and Development Institute of Ecology and the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources (RSI), Tyumen scientists will carry out a set of measures to clean up the leak, recycle waste oil and clean the coast contaminated by the ecological disaster, Elena Filipchuk said.

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Franken warns that GOP Congress would bring ‘truly dangerous agenda’

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), addressing a convention of liberal bloggers and activists Saturday evening, implored the left to fight to stay in power in the midterm elections. “If Republicans take back Congress they’ll implement a truly dangerous agenda,” Franken told the Netroots Nation gathering in Las Vegas. “Everything is on the table, from repealing healthcare reform to privatizing Social Security.”

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Majority of Small Business Sector Facing Higher Taxes Under Obama Plan

The Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats have said that they want to raise taxes in the top two income tax rates in January 2011. Under their plan, the 33 percent rate will rise to 36 percent, and the 35 percent rate will rise to 39.6 percent automatically in January. These rates affect families and small business owners earning at least $200,000 per year.

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North Korea, don't mess with South, US signals to Kim Jong-Il

The United States and South Korea today concluded four days of highly publicized military exercises with a volley of shots against carefully submerged practice targets and the sense of accomplishing what they set out to do: intimidate North Korea. While no one was writing “mission accomplished” on banners in reference to the spectacle of 20 US and South Korean navy vessels and 200 planes playing war games off the South’s east coast, South Korea's commanders were clearly buoyed by the massive display of US support. South Korean Rear Adm. Kim Kyung-sik said the US and South Korea were now “better prepared to respond to any challenge” after warplanes from both countries practiced zeroing in on targets as elusive as the mini-submarine that sunk a South Korean navy vessel in March in the Yellow Sea off the South’s west coast. Admiral Kim told Korean reporters that US and South Korean “impressive” firepower “sent a strong warning to North Korea that its aggressive behavior won’t be forgiven,” with the two sides “enhancing our combined defense capabilities.” Although North Korea did not make good on threats to challenge the exercises militarily, skeptics see the war games as sharpening a sense of confrontation in the region while setting back peace and reconciliation efforts between the two Koreas

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U.S. Cities, Counties Poised to Cut 500,000 Jobs, Report Finds

U.S. local governments may cut almost 500,000 jobs through next year to cope with sliding property taxes, a decline in state and federal aid and added need for social services, according to a report released today. The report, a result of a survey by the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties, showed local governments are moving to cut the equivalent of 8.6 percent of their workforces from 2009 to 2011. That suggests 481,000 employees will lose their jobs, according to the report, which said the tally may yet rise. While a separate report by the National Conference of State Legislatures Tuesday said U.S. state revenue is recovering from the drop in tax collections caused by the 2007 recession and the slow pace of job growth since, the greatest blow to local governments will be felt from now through 2012, the local groups said.

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Police, activists prepare days ahead of Ariz. law

The sheriff of Arizona's most populous county is making room in a vast outdoor jail and determined to round up illegal immigrants to fill it. Police from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Grand Canyon are getting last-minute training. And protests and marches are planned throughout Phoenix. Arizona's new immigration law takes effect Thursday, creating a potentially volatile mix of police, illegal immigrants and thousands of activists, many planning to show up without identification as a show of solidarity. At least one group plans to block access to federal offices, daring officers to ask them their immigration status. As both sides prepare

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Obama's Soft-Core Socialism

The truth is that not even the Franklin Roosevelt Administration was as hostile to and ignorant about free enterprise as this Administration is. Almost every action Obama officials take underscores their belief in the stereotype that businesspeople are mostly amoral, corner-cutting, consumer-shafting, pollution-loving menaces. The economy itself needs to be tightly controlled and rigidly guided by Washington mandarins because free markets are inherently and destructively unstable

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America, the Odd Man Out

At long last, a good portion of mainstream economists now concede that a ‘double dip’ recession is in the cards for the United States. To head off the pain, sixteen top economists addressed an open letter to the President urging him to “stimulate” the economy with a massive new round of government spending. We feel this is a recipe for driving a recession into a depression. However, there can be few doubts that such a move is being considered in the highest policy circles

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Congress clears war funding

Tens of billions of dollars in new Afghanistan war funding cleared Congress, even as the House easily upended a liberal challenge to the increased U.S. military presence — and drone attacks — across the border in Pakistan. (The measure, sponsored by anti-war Reps. Dennis Kucinich (R-Ohio) and Ron Paul (R-Texas), was in reaction to reports that the government is running a secret war in Pakistan, which the lawmakers say violates the War Powers Act. It was voted down 38-372.) The back-to-back votes buy precious time for President Barack Obama to show progress on his strategy for the region. But even as the anti-war movement remains weak in Congress, Obama can’t ignore a growing split among House Democrats over the cost of his military commitments at a time of tighter budgets and economic troubles at home

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Yet another apocalyptic theory to worry about

In March 1989, six million in Quebec lost power for nine hours after a massive solar flare—an explosion of magnetic energy from the sun—created electric ground currents here on Earth, collapsing the power grid. Another geomagnetic storm, in 1921, brought ground currents 10 times as strong. But the fiercest one ever recorded, called the Carrington Event of 1859, electrified telegraph lines—even setting telegraph papers on fire—and created northern lights visible as far south as Cuba and Hawaii. If such a storm were to strike today, the consequences would be devastating. NASA researchers say severe space weather could be on the way.

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Earth's Shrinking Atmosphere Baffles Scientists

Scientists are mulling over why part of the Earth's atmosphere recently suffered its biggest collapse since records began, and is only now starting to rebound. The collapse occurred in a region known as the thermosphere, a rarefied layer of the planet's upper atmosphere between 90 and 600 kilometers (56 to 373 miles) above the surface, which shields us from the sun's far and extreme ultra violet (EUV) radiation. A report in Geophysical Research Letters by a team led by John Emmert from the United States Naval Research Laboratory has found that the thermosphere went through its biggest contraction in 43 years. The thermosphere usually expands and contracts in line with the sun's 11-year solar cycle. During solar maximum when solar activity increases, it causes the thermosphere to heat up -- reaching temperatures of 1100°C -- and expand like a marshmallow in a camp fire. The opposite happens during solar minimum.

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Supply concerns push global wheat prices up

World wheat prices staged an impressive rally during July, with production setbacks in the Northern Hemisphere sending prices to their highest level in over 12 months in the US and since September 2008 in Europe, where crop conditions have been most affected. Nearby Chicago wheat futures gained 35% during the first 2 weeks of July, but for the second time in 2010 failed to break through the $6.00 resistance level. After 3 straight days of failing to break this level, prices eased marginally but remain near the top end of our forecast range for the 2010/11 season.

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North Korea sold missiles to Taliban

North Korea sold missiles to the Taliban in Afghanistan in November 2005 even as the North was taking part in six-party nuclear disarmament talks, a U.S. intelligence report claims. The report is among confidential documents that constitute the so-called "war logs" released by the website WikiLeaks, according to a news source. "A powerful Afghan insurgent leader and a man identified as Osama Bin Laden's financial adviser purchased ground-to-air missiles from North Korea in 2005," the paper said.

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Build us a Better Ray Gun, Pentagon Pleads

The Department of Defense continues its quest for the ultimate (or at least a working) ray gun, asking small businesses to submit ideas for lasers that sense, communicate, illuminate targets and shoot missiles out of the air. No surprises here — the military wants ‘em small, light, efficient and devastatingly powerful. To date, real-life ray guns are still too big, bulky and complicated for the battlefield, even when they’re powerful enough to blow things up. Take the lethal-yet-unwieldy Airborne Laser, which shot down a ballistic missile in midair last February. The laser weapon took up every last corner of a tricked-out Boeing 747, but according to the Missile Defense Agency the megawatt-class chemical laser is “too large and expensive to field in large numbers on many operational airborne platforms.”

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Chinese army to target cyber war threat

The People's Liberation Army has unveiled its first department dedicated to tackling cyber war threats and protecting information security, Chinese media reported. The move comes just over a year after the United States created a cyber command. The source said the military announced the creation of the Information Security Base, giving few more details in its brief report. But an officer in the General Staff headquarters, which directly oversees the new department, said: "It is a 'defensive' base for information security, not an offensive headquarters for cyber war." He said the base would be used to gather online information and "build up walls" to safeguard confidential military information.

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Russia violated '91 START till end, U.S. report finds

Russia continued to violate provisions of the 1991 START nuclear-arms treaty up until the agreement expired in December, raising new concerns that Moscow will violate the pending "New START" treaty now being debated for ratification in the Senate. The 2010 State Department report on arms-control compliance, which had been requested by Senate Republicans as part of the START ratification debate, also discloses new details showing Iran is secretly working on nuclear-missile warheads, and includes new information about nuclear programs by North Korea and Syria. On Russia's START violations, the report stated: "Notwithstanding the overall success of START implementation, a number of long-standing compliance issues that were raised in the START Treaty's Joint Compliance and Inspection Commission (JCIC) remained unresolved when the Treaty expired on December 5, 2009."

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8.7 billion dollars in Iraq funds not accounted for: audit

The Pentagon cannot properly account for nearly nine billion dollars in Iraqi oil revenues and other funds received for reconstruction programs after the 2003 US invasion, a US audit found. "The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss," the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said in a report. The Pentagon received 9.1 billion dollars in 2004 from the fund set up by the US-led occupation authority to benefit Iraqis with Iraqi oil and gas revenues and assets seized from the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein. But the audit found the Pentagon cannot properly account for 8.7 billion dollars because defense agencies that received the money failed to set up required Treasury accounts and no single organization was created to manage the funds. The audit found that "weaknesses" in the Department of Defense (DOD) financial and management controls meant it could not account properly for the funds.

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UK BASHING FOR HOSPITALS OVER BAN ON THE BIBLE

HOSPITAL bosses who want to ban Bibles from patients’ bedside lockers have been attacked by religious leaders.

They warned that sick people will be deprived of spiritual comfort just when they need it most. The ban, at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, is intended to help cut levels of infectious superbugs such as MRSA. Trust bosses said the Gideon International Bibles are hard to clean. They want all bedside areas in Queen’s Medical Center and City Hospital kept tidy and “clutter-free” to stop deadly viruses breeding. But Christian protesters said the holy texts pose a “minimal” risk of infection and called for the plans to be scrapped. A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, which oversees 300 churches, said: “For many patients Bibles have been a source of comfort and support through uncertainty and illness. It is unsatisfactory that patients may now have to ask a nurse for a Bible to look at.” She urged the trust to look at solutions such as shrink-wrapping or placing plastic covers on the Bibles. Hospital officials are now consulting staff, patients and chaplains before bringing in the ban. Director of nursing Jenny Leggott said: “We will take into account all needs and views before coming to a final decision.” Other religious texts and prayer mats are kept in the trust’s multi-faith center and are available to all patients who want them.

***WATCHMAN...PRAYER MATS???? It's Muslims behind this not hygene...

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Australian Farmers brace for 'worst' locust plague on record

There is a warning the spring locust plague could be the worst on record due to the increasing use of modern farming methods. A central west New South Wales agronomist says direct drilling to sow crops in the western region has not destroyed the egg beds and the tall, dry pasture will make it almost impossible to detect hatchings. Forbes district agronomist Graham Falconer says time is running out to check for signs of the pest. "It could be one of the worst plagues ever on record if control is not taken; there is no doubt about that. You'd be probably looking as early as August out in the western areas to do surveys and probably right through till the middle of October," he said. The State Government is being urged to increase funding and conduct a coordinated aerial sweep for signs of the locusts as part of its $18.5 million assistance package.

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The Next Big Privacy Concern: RFID “Spychips”

Radio-frequency I.D. (RFID) tags are a convenient way to track items and cut costs for companies. But this technology is increasingly being used to track other things, like security badges — or even people — giving it the potential to cause a horrific erosion of privacy. Tracking people with smart tags, their shopping preferences, their activities, and their personal belongings sounds like something from a sci-fi thriller. But If you got your pants in a twist over Walmart's decision to track your undies via RFID smart tags, then you'll be doublely concerned at how close we are to cradle-to-grave surveillance. RFID tags reached a tipping point with Walmart's announcement that, starting next month, the retailer will place removable "smart tags" on consumer goods. The RFID tags can be read by hand-held scanners to track inventory levels and keep a better eye on loss prevention. Recent drops in the cost per RFID tags have encouraged adoption of this technology. With Wal-Mart publicly embracing RFID, you'll see other retailers quickly fall in line.

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General Electric pays $23 million to settle Iraq bribery charges

US industrial titan General Electric has agreed to pay over 23 million dollars to settle allegations that it bribed Iraqi officials, a US financial watchdog said. GE had been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of being part of "a 3.6 million dollar kickback scheme with Iraqi government agencies to win contracts to supply medical equipment and water purification equipment." Four subsidiaries of the Connecticut-based company were accused of bribing officials at the Iraqi ministries of health and oil, trading cash, computer equipment and medical supplies to win lucrative contracts. The SEC said the four GE units -- two of which were not part of the firm when the alleged bribery took place -- earned around 18.4 million dollars as a direct result of the kickbacks.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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WORLDWIDE EVENTS

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Barack Obama enlists Afghan war leaks in support of policy switch

Barack Obama said the disclosures about the mishandling of the Afghanistan war contained in leaked US military documents justified his decision to embark on a new strategy.

Speaking on the White House lawn after a meeting with Congressional leaders to discuss funding for the war and other issues, the US president deplored the leak, saying he was concerned the information from the battleground could jeopardize the lives of US soldiers.

But he went on to say that the material, which catalogues a series of blunders, revealed the challenges that led him to announce late last year a change in strategy that involved sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.

He ended with a plea to the House of Representatives to join the Senate in passing a bill needed to provide funds for the Afghan war.

The leaks have put attention on Afghanistan at a time when the Obama administration would rather focus on the economy, the main issue among voters, and have put pressure on him to explain why he thinks his new strategy will stand any better chance of success than the old one.

Obama is also facing pressure to explain continued financial, military and other support for Pakistan

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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The Ugly Truth About Afghanistan and Iraq Begins to Emerge From the Shadows

Britain’s new leadership team of Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

They have embarked on a second Battle of Britain. Britain’s two youthful leaders have launched the biggest political revolution since 1832, one that aims to revive Britain’s battered economy, and restore the nation’s debauched finances.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats aim to slash government spending 25% over five years, shrink Britain’s bloated government, which consumes half of national income and employs half of the nation’s work force. Large numbers of bureaucrats will be laid off or eliminated by attrition.

No more "nanny" state. The era of savage austerity has dawned. Britain is in for some very fraught years.The Cameron-Clegg revolution promises to be even more sweeping and dramatic than Margaret Thatcher’s reforms.

Britain will likely begin withdrawing from Afghanistan, which Cameron and Clegg consider a failed war and waste of British lives.

Back in London, Baroness Manningham-Buller, former director of Britain’s internal security agency, MI5, made a damning indictment of the Blair and Bush governments in the 2003 Iraq War.

Manningham-Buller’s testimony, and previous high-level commission witnesses, further exposed Bush and Blair’s untruths, deceptions, and egregious violations of international law over Iraq.

This weekend, WikiLeak revelations over Afghanistan erupted, opening the way for the truth to finally emerge about the ugly imperial war in Afghanistan

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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U.S. hunts for leaker of Afghan war documents

The Pentagon said it was launching a manhunt to find whoever leaked tens of thousands of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan, one of the largest security breaches in U.S. military history.

U.S. defense officials said the person behind the release of some 91,000 classified documents appeared to have "secret" clearance and access to sensitive documents on the Afghan war.

More leaks were possible, officials acknowledged. "We will do what is necessary to try to determine who is responsible for the leaking of this information," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

"Until we know who's responsible, you have to hold out the possibility that there could be more information that has yet to be disclosed.

And that's obviously a concern." The Pentagon said its review of the documents being made public by the organization WikiLeaks would take "days if not weeks" and that it was too soon to assess any damage to national security.

Still, U.S. military officials played down any revelations within the documents revealed so far, saying they appeared to be low-level assessments that largely confirm the military's publicly stated concerns about the Afghan war

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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Ahmadinejad says expects U.S. to attack Mid East soon

Iran expects the United States to launch a military strike on ‘at least two countries’ in the Middle East in the next three months, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told state-run Press TV.

In an interview recorded on Monday, Ahmadinejad did not specify whether he thought Iran itself would be attacked nor did he say what intelligence led him to expect such a move.

The United States and Israel have refused to rule out military action against Iran's nuclear program which they fear could lead to it making a bomb, something Iran denies.

‘They have decided to attack at least two countries in the region in the next three months,’ Ahmadinejad said in excerpts broadcast on the rolling news channel

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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Turkey, Iran, Brazil Holding Talks on Nuclear Plan

Turkey's foreign minister says Iran is ready to hold talks on its nuclear program with the European Union after the Muslim month of Ramadan ends in September.

The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Brazil met in Istanbul to discuss Iran's next steps for nuclear negotiations.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu says Iran will send a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency Monday, asking to start ‘technical’ negotiations on a nuclear fuel swap.

The United Nations Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in June after the country did not accept a U.N.-backed plan to swap low-enriched uranium for uranium fuel rods needed for an Iranian medical research reactor. The deal would have reduced Iran's uranium stockpile and delayed its capability to produce nuclear weapons.

Instead, Iran wanted a nuclear fuel swap deal negotiated by Turkey and Brazil, which included the uranium exchange without demanding a halt in Iran's uranium enrichment.

Turkey's foreign minister and his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim, said Sunday they support a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear standoff with Western countries

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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Iran nuclear sanctions by EU unacceptable, says Russia

Russia has branded EU sanctions against Iran as ‘unacceptable’, saying they undermine international efforts to rein in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The European Union on Monday adopted new sanctions targeting Iran's foreign trade, banking and energy sectors.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman has condemned the ‘deeply regrettable’ sanctions and vowed to continue its uranium enrichment work.

The EU measures go beyond the fourth set of UN sanctions adopted on 9 June.

They include a ban on dealing with Iranian banks and insurance companies, as well as steps to prevent investment in Tehran's oil and gas sector.

Russia, one of six world powers negotiating with Iran, supported the UN sanctions last month, but has objected to extra unilateral measures imposed by the US and EU since then.

‘This not only undermines our joint efforts to seek a political and diplomatic settlement around Iran's nuclear program, but also shows disdain for the carefully calibrated and co-ordinated provisions of the UN Security Council resolutions,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The use of sanctions outside of the UN Security Council framework is ‘unacceptable,’ the statement said

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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Globe Tabloid: "Obama Was Not Born in U.S."

Since President Obama’s campaign in 2008, a growing number of Americans have raised questions regarding Obama’s birthplace and whether he is indeed eligible to serve as President of the United States.

Those citizens have been labeled “birthers” and have been assigned a reputation as looney conspiracy theorists by the mainstream media.

Now Globe magazine has jumped into the citizenship controversy with a July 12 cover story that states, “Obama was not born in the U.S.”

The supermarket tabloid may not have the best track record for accurate reporting among mainstream publications, but it does have a large circulation and its voice

and what it has to say will undoubtedly bring the issue of Obama's citizenship to the attention of a lot more people and cause them to consider seriously if there is anything to it.

The introduction of the article reads:

A former Hawaii records official is sending shock waves through Washington, D.C., by revealing there is absolutely no birth certificate for Barack Obama!

The bombshell revelation backs up long-standing claims that Obama — who insists he was born in a Honolulu hospital — really took his first breath in Kenya and, as a result, violates the U.S. Constitution's requirements for the President to be a “natural born” American.

The official, Timothy Adams, claims to have had access to Social Security records, drivers’ license, and passport information, and “just about anything you can imagine to get someone’s identity.”

He reportedly confirmed that there exists no proof that President Obama was born in Honolulu.

Adams alleges that upon his request for two different local hospitals to provide Obama’s birth certificate, he was told that no such record exists, defending his inquisition by asserting that it was part of his job requirements to “verify the voters’ identity and citizenship.”

The Globe goes on to claim, “America’s current Commander-in-Chief, 48, has not only refused to produce his official birth certificate but has gone to great lengths — and expense — to seal records from his past, according to sources.

He once mistakenly named two different hospitals where he was supposed to be born — and his paternal grandmother insists she witnessed his birth in Kenya!”

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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ACLU: Bill aimed at toppling Citizens United decision would ‘compromise free speech’

On its face, the DISCLOSE Act sounds like a good idea: by forcing big political advertisers to name the group behind their message, a greater level of transparency becomes possible. But dig a bit deeper into the particulars of the legislation and, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, red flags aplenty appear.

The Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act is a direct response to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which lifted restrictions on corporate funding of campaign advertising.

In the wake of the court's action, President Obama cautioned that it could herald "a potential corporate takeover of our elections" and urged Democrats to prepare new campaign finance legislation.

The ruling meant that corporations foreign and domestic would be allowed to run political television advertisements ahead of national and local elections without telling voters who was paying for them, Obama said.

The purpose of the DISCLOSE Act is to require groups to declare who paid for political advertising, including the naming of donors who've given as little as $600, according to the ACLU. "Demanding disclosure for such a small amount of money violates Americans’ right to privacy, and will have a chilling effect on free speech in our elections," the rights group declared in a July 1 post.

"Regulation like this can become a serious problem for supporters of controversial issues where anonymity is not just a matter of preference or convenience. The harassment and attacks on members of the civil rights movement show that anonymity can in fact be a matter personal safety."

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Dagestan church lays their pastor to rest

A Dagestan church mourned the loss of their pastor, Artur Suleimanov, as he was laid to rest last week. Suleimanov was gunned down on July 15 and died hours later from his injuries. Russian Ministries says Suleimanov received threats from Muslims over the years, and officials haven't ruled out radicals being responsible for the attack. Even as his congregation celebrates his commitment to Christ in life and death, they know they must continue ministry without him

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North Korea Urged To Release American Christian Amid War Games

Rights investigators expressed concerns Monday, July 26, about the plight of a jailed American Christian in North Korea, while U.S. and South Korean warships practiced anti-submarine maneuvers off the Korean peninsula to warn Pyongyang against aggression.

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TV announces arrest in the Pakistan brothers murder case

Christians in Pakistan continue to be in shock, following last week's murder of two brothers. Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel were falsely accused of blaspheming Mohammad. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says Christians began protesting blasphemy laws used to falsely imprison Christians. "They're saying as long as these blasphemy laws are on the books, we are at risk because any Muslim can point to us and say, 'Hey I heard him say something about Mohammad.' [Those accused of blasphemy] are locked up in jail while they wait for the trial to go on; they lose literally years of their lives."

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Megachurch Pastor Seeks 100,000 Christians to 'Save America'

An Egyptian-born megachurch pastor is calling out for 100,000 “Bible-believing” Americans to pray for the United States. Dr. Michael Youssef, founding pastor of The Church of The Apostles and president of the ministry Leading the Way in Atlanta, has found 42,450 people so far to join him in daily prayer for the United States since the “God Save America” campaign launched on July 4. “The greatest battle of our time is the battle for the biblical truth,” stated Youssef in an e-mail

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BP Oil Spill: Clean-Up Crews Can't Find Crude in the Gulf

For 86 days, oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200 million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems. BP and the federal government have amassed an army to clean the oil up, but there's one problem -- they're having trouble finding it.

***WATCHMAN...now that is a LYING COVER-UP if I ever heard one...

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HERE WE GO AGAIN

Barge crashes into oil well in Gulf of Mexico, new oil leak reported

The US Coast Guard dispatched emergency teams Tuesday after a boat crashed into an oil well off the coast of New Orleans, reportedly sending crude spewing some 20 feet into the air. The wellhead, located about 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of New Orleans, was ruptured when it was struck by a dredge barge being pulled by a tug. The Coast Guard said it could not immediately confirm reports that a giant fountain of oil was now spewing from the damaged wellhead, which was situated only six feet (1.8 meters) below the surface of the sea. A strike Coast Guard team from Mobile, Alabama had been dispatched by boat to the scene as well as a helicopter from New Orleans with a marine pollution investigator on board. "There have been reports of oil from the elision and we are investigating those reports to mitigate any environmental concerns," petty officer William Colclough, a Coast Guard spokesman, told. "The oil spill liability trust fund has been enacted to provide monetary support for any clean-up operation."

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House Dems unveil oil spill plan ahead of Friday debate

House Democrats on Monday unveiled their strategy to respond to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a package headed for the floor late this week that would shore up offshore rig safety standards and block BP from obtaining new offshore drilling leases. The bill, slated for debate Friday, also increases oil companies’ liability for damages from offshore spills

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Europe's Prospects Brighten as U.S. Fades

What's odd about this scenario? German business confidence is soaring while U.S. consumer sentiment sinks. Britain's second-quarter economic growth was almost twice as fast as expected, the strongest in four years. Meanwhile, economists have steadily marked down forecasts for U.S. gross domestic product report.

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Israel lauds new EU nuclear sanctions on Iran

Israel on Monday praised the EU after it imposed a new set of sanctions on Iran in an attempt to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table over its contentious nuclear program.

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Netanyahu: Palestinians are dodging direct Mideast peace talks

The Palestinian Authority is determined to sabotage attempts to upgrade the ongoing proximity Middle East peace talks with direct negotiations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that direct talks were the only way to ensure Israel's security interests.

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Iran sends letter to nuclear watchdog about restarting talks

Iran submitted a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, proposing to restart limited talks on an exchange of nuclear fuel.

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WikiLeaks Data Seem to Show Pakistan Helped Attack American Troops

Perhaps the single most damming collection of data in a massive trove of secret documents from Afghanistan released by the website WikiLeaks is some 180 files that seem to show Pakistan's premiere intelligence service, the ISI, helping the Afghan insurgency attack American troops.

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Is the 'Red-Dead Sea Conveyance Project' viable?

The Dead Sea's shoreline is sinking by a meter a year, and it is feared that it will literally "dry up" by the year 2050 - unless immediate efforts are made to save what many are calling one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. While the facts are well known, experts are divided regarding a solution as to how to save the "lowest point on earth."

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Migrants sell up, flee Arizona ahead of crackdown

A few paces up the street, her undocumented Mexican neighbor Wendi Villasenor touts a kitchen table, some chairs and a few dishes as her family scrambles to get out of Arizona ahead of a looming crackdown on illegal immigrants. "Everyone is selling up the little they have and leaving," said Villasenor, 31, who is headed for Pennsylvania. "We have no alternative. They have us cornered." The two women are among scores of illegal immigrant families across Phoenix hauling the contents of their homes into the yard this weekend as they rush to sell up and get out before the state law takes effect. The law, the toughest imposed by any U.S. state to curb illegal immigration, seeks to drive more than 400,000 undocumented day laborers, landscapers, house cleaners, chambermaids and other workers out of Arizona, which borders Mexico.

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Tancredo spars with GOP boss, makes bid for governor official

In a move that complicates Republican efforts to take back the Colorado governor's office, former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo said that he plans to change parties and run on the American Constitution Party ticket. Tancredo issued a terse, one-sentence statement saying he intends to register his new party affiliation with the secretary of state then seek the nomination for governor.

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Who cares what the Church teaches?

Forty-eight percent of self-identified Catholics oppose any changes to California’s liberal abortion laws, and 14% say the law should make it even easier for women to get abortions, a Field Poll released revealed. Just 34% of poll respondents who identified themselves as Catholics said state law should be changed to make getting an abortion more difficult, while 4% had no opinion one way or the other, according to the Field Poll results. The results were part of an overall portrait of California residents, painting them as one of the most pro-abortion electorates in the U.S. “There has been no change in California voters long-standing support for allowing women the right to a legal abortion,” said a summary of the results released by the Field Poll. “About seven in ten voters (71%) favor making no change to the state’s current abortion laws or making abortion easier to obtain. In addition, a similar 71% endorse the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that granted women a constitutional right to abortion.”

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Inhofe Defends Aide Working as Church Missionary

Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe is standing by a part-time adviser after it was revealed that the adviser remains on staff at the Assemblies of God church as a Christian missionary to Africa. Though Inhofe accepted the resignation of two part-time staff members over separate concerns, spokesman Jared Young said the senator has no intention of letting Mark Powers, his director of African affairs, go. Young said Powers, who used to live in Africa, has a "deep understanding" of the culture and is capable of keeping his church work separate from his legislative work. "There's a very clear line between what Mark does as a Senate employee in his public role and what he does in his private role outside of the Senate," he said.

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Paula White, Benny Hinn deny report of affair

Without Walls International Church senior pastor Paula White and worldwide televangelist and faith healer Benny Hinn posted statements on their websites denying a report that they've become romantically involved. White, who could not be reached for comment at her Tampa church, called the article "misguided and untruthful" in the statement directed to "friends, partners and ministry colleagues." "The publication, which is known for its bias and slanting of the truth, tries to mislead readers regarding the ministerial relationship and friendship I have had with Pastor Benny for over 20 years," she wrote. The article appears in the Aug. 2 issue of the tabloid, now on newsstands. It includes photos identified as Hinn and White holding hands on a supposed "romantic trip to Rome." White, host of "Paula White Today," seen on several Christian networks, is twice divorced. Hinn's wife of 30 years, Suzanne, filed for divorce in February.

***WATCHMAN...could be some truth in this...

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Lawsuit claims school bias on Christian views

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have sued Augusta State University in Georgia on behalf of a counseling student who claims the university told her to deny her Christian beliefs in order to graduate. Jennifer Keeton, 24, who is pursuing a master's degree in counseling, said she was ordered to undergo a re-education plan that requires her to attend "diversity sensitivity training," complete additional remedial reading and write papers to describe their effects on her beliefs, according to the lawsuit filed. The ultimatum: Complete this re-education plan or be expelled from ASU's Counselor Education Program.

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Satanists Jailed for Ritual Murders

Seven self-confessed members of a Satanist sect were sentenced by the Yaroslavl Regional Court to prison terms for killing four teenagers and desecrating their bodies in a 2008 initiation ritual. The sentencing follows a similar case in May in St. Petersburg, where two men who called themselves Goths were handed nearly 20-year prison terms for drowning and cannibalizing a 16-year-old girl in January 2009.

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New Health Official Faces Hostility in Senate

Unlike many other health policy experts, Dr. Donald M. Berwick, the new chief of Medicare and Medicaid, has extensive real world experience. As co-founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass., he worked with doctors and nurses to upgrade care at hundreds of hospitals from Contra Costa County, Calif., to Green Bay, Wis., to Florence, S.C. — and from Britain to Sweden to South Africa. He led efforts to reduce medical errors, eliminate hospital-acquired infections, standardize treatments and cut waste. One of his students, Dr. John S. Toussaint, former president of ThedaCare in Appleton, Wis., said his hospital had reduced the cost of inpatient care by about 25 percent, “using principles of continuous improvement espoused by Dr. Berwick.”

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States face another $12 billion budget shortfall

States filled an $84 billion gap to balance their 2011 fiscal year budgets, which took effect earlier this month. But they could collectively face a new $12 billion hole if Congress fails to help cover growing Medicaid costs. Without another injection of government money for Medicaid, four states -- California, Texas, North Carolina and New York -- could face new gaps exceeding $1 billion each, while 21 others could see shortfalls over $100 million, according to a budget report issued by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Recovery Act initially paid out additional money for the insurance program -- which helps the poor -- through Dec. 31, the halfway point for most states' 2011 budgets.

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Anti-vaccination campaigners slapped with safety warning

The New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission has taken the unusual step of issuing a safety warning against a group of anti-vaccination campaigners. The Commission says the group, known as the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), has refused to include a prominent disclaimer on its website stating the information should not be taken as medical advice. Australia faced a whooping cough epidemic last year. More than 19,000 cases were reported and three babies died, including four-week-old Dana McCaffery from the NSW north coast. Pediatrician Chris Ingall treated the sick babies and says immunization rates have fallen dramatically since the AVN became active in the region. "They spook many young families into believing that vaccinations are bad, that the risk outweighs the benefit, which is quite wrong," Dr Ingall said.

***WATCHMAN...So Dr Ingall THERE ARE RISKS---RIGHT?????....

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Basel Group Agrees to New Global Rules for Banks

Central bankers and regulators have reached an almost-unanimous preliminary agreement on new standards to reinforce the stability of the global financial system, adding to investor confidence in the outlook for many banks. Under the new requirements, banks would have to hold more in capital reserves and more cash on their balance sheets to cushion against unexpected shocks, though regulators have not specified a minimum amount. One country — Germany — felt that it needed more time to negotiate accords that it feels could disadvantage some of its lending institutions. The rules, developed after lengthy negotiations among regulators on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, would not take effect for at least seven years.

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Vatican puts its euro coins into circulation

After years of serving as items for collectors, the euro coins issued by the Holy See will now be used on the streets of the Vatican City. The first is a 50-cent coin bearing the image of Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican adopted the currency of the eurozone in 2002, but its coins could rarely be found in the free circulation. The initial series of the coins with a value amount of €310,400, which featured Pope John Paul II, were issued only in collector sets.

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Russia turns on 'irresponsible Iran'

Russia turned on Iran, accusing it of "fruitless and irresponsible rhetoric" and adding its voice to a diplomatic assault which included unilateral sanctions from both the EU and Canada, as well as warnings from Iran's opposition party that Ahmadinejad's regime could suffer the same fate as the deposed Shah. The Russian remark came after criticism from Tehran over Moscow's support for UN sanctions last month. In the past, Iran had depended on allies Russia and China — and their veto power at the Security Council — to block tough penalties, but Russia sided with the US and its allies and endorsed the sanctions, levied in a bid to force Iran to halt its nuclear ambitions.

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'US psywar plan includes 2 hot wars'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the United States and Israel plan to attack two countries in the Middle East as part of a conspiracy to apply pressure on Iran. "We have precise information that the Americans have devised a plot, according to which they seek to launch a psychological war on Iran," Ahmadinejad stated in an exclusive interview. "They plan to attack at least two countries in the region within the next three months," he added. He said the US seeks to achieve two main objectives with the scheme. "First of all, they want to hamper Iran's progress and development since they are opposed to our growth, and secondly they want to save the Zionist regime because it has reached a dead-end and the Zionists believe they can be saved through a military confrontation," Ahmadinejad explained.

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EU hits Iran with tough sanctions against oil industry over nuclear program

EU foreign ministers adopted new punitive measures, going beyond a fourth set of UN sanctions imposed over Tehran's refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment work. Canada also imposed new sanctions on Iran within hours. The moves, which follow similar sanctions imposed by the United States, are aimed at reviving moribund talks between Iran and six world powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US.

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BP swings to massive $17.2 billion loss

BP posted a massive quarterly loss of $17.2 billion due to costs stemming from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. BP (BP) said it took a pretax charge of $32.2 billion in the quarter related to the oil spill, the worst in U.S. history. That charge includes the $20 billion fund the company agreed to set up in June to cover damages related to the spill. The second-quarter results were the first look at company's financials since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people.

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Pentagon can't account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi funds

The Defense Department is unable to properly account for $8.7 billion out of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil revenue entrusted to it between 2004 and 2007, according to a newly released audit that underscores a pattern of poor record-keeping during the war. Of that amount, the military failed to provide any records at all for $2.6 billion in purported reconstruction expenditure, says the report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which is responsible for monitoring U.S. spending in Iraq. The rest of the money was not properly deposited in special accounts as required under Treasury Department rules, making it difficult to trace how it was spent. Though there is no apparent evidence of fraud, the improper accounting practices add to the pattern of mismanagement, reckless spending and, in some instances, corruption uncovered by the agency since 2004, when it was created to oversee the total of $53 billion in U.S. taxpayer money appropriated by Congress for the reconstruction effort.

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‘Minority Report’ technology used by police to predict crimes

Two police forces have begun trialing the sophisticated program, which has echoes of the Tom Cruise film Minority Report, where psychics are used to stop criminals before they commit a crime. The system, known as Crush (Criminal Reduction Utilizing Statistical History) evaluates crime records, intelligence briefings, offender profiles and even weather reports, to identify potential flashpoints where a crime is most likely to occur. The “predictive analytics” technology has been credited as a key factor behind a 31 per cent fall in crime and 15 per cent drop in violent crime in Memphis, Tennessee. John Williams, of the Memphis Crime Analysis Unit, said: “This is more of a proactive tool than reacting after crimes have occurred. “This pretty much puts officers in the area at the time that the crimes are being committed.” The software has been developed by IBM which has invested $11 billion in analytics over the past four years.

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Google eyes more government deals for online apps

Google Inc. is gearing up to sell its e-mail and other Web-hosted applications to a wider range of government agencies after winning a prized security clearance. The sales push announced marks Google's latest attempt to siphon customers away from rival Microsoft Corp., whose Office suite of e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet and other programs is widely used by government agencies and businesses. Google is hoping that more federal, state and local government agencies will feel comfortable buying its online applications now that they have the U.S. government's seal of approval. The Federal Information Security Management Act certification means that Google's system for running the online programs is considered reliable enough to store most electronic data handled by U.S. government employees. The clearance doesn't cover classified information. It's the first time the U.S. government has certified a bundle of software programs delivered over the Internet, a trendy concept known as "cloud computing."

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Cow gives birth to triplets of different breeds

Holstein Friesian cow Coco delivered three healthy calves without any assistance, which is a one-in-105,000 chance. Owner Anthony Gothard, 37, who runs a dairy farm at Stoke St Gregory, Somerset, said this is because Coco was inseminated using a ''concoction'' of different bulls. He said: ''We were really surprised because we'd never seen it. ''There's three generations on the farm now and my grandfather came out to see them because he's never experienced it before. ''But what's quite uncanny as well as they're two different breeds of calf. ''Because we artificially inseminate our cattle we sometimes use a concoction of different bulls in the insemination. ''On rare occasions you might get a pare of twins where one is one breed and one another. ''What we've got here is two Belgian Blue Cross calves, and one Charolais Cross, which makes it even more amazing.'' Even more rarely, two of the calves are from the Belgian Blue Cross breed and the third is a Charolais Cross.

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Natural gas could lead to new Lebanon-Israel war

The discovery of large natural gas reserves under the waters of the eastern Mediterranean could potentially mean a huge economic windfall for Israel and Lebanon, both resource-poor nations - if it doesn't spark new war between them. The Hezbollah militant group has blared warnings that Israel plans to steal natural gas from Lebanese territory and vows to defend the resources with its arsenal of rockets. Israel says the fields it is developing do not extend into Lebanese waters, a claim experts say appears to be correct, but the maritime boundary between the two countries - still officially at war - has never been precisely set. "Lebanon's need for the resistance has doubled today in light of Israeli threats to steal Lebanon's oil wealth," Hezbollah's Executive Council chief Hashem Safieddine said. The need to protect the offshore wealth "pushes us in the future to strengthen the resistance's capabilities."

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US Taxpayers On Hook For $23.7 Trillion?

U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies, said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Treasury’s $700 billion bank-investment program represents a fraction of all federal support to resuscitate the U.S. financial system, including $6.8 trillion in aid offered by the Federal Reserve, Barofsky said in a report. “TARP has evolved into a program of unprecedented scope, scale and complexity,” Barofsky said in testimony prepared for a hearing tomorrow before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said the U.S. has spent less than $2 trillion so far and that Barofsky’s estimates are flawed because they don’t take into account assets that back those programs or fees charged to recoup some costs shouldered by taxpayers.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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WORLDWIDE EVENTS

QUAKES

5.1 MORO GULF, MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES

5.3 SALTA, ARGENTINA

5.3 MORO GULF, MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES

5.4 TAIWAN

5.8 KURIL ISLANDS

6.0 TONGA

HAITI - Anger grows as U.N. rates the earthquake response as good. U.N. officials in Haiti are saying that the response given by the international community to the devastating earthquake disaster was good. But six months after the earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people, survivors in makeshift tent cities continue to express growing discontent with aid relief efforts.

An officials said, “I am not saying more could not have been done, but I think the response provided so far, six months after the disaster, was good compared to previous disasters in other parts of the world...Six months after the tsunami in Aceh 700 temporary shelters were built. However in Haiti we have more than 3,700. In Aceh 14,000 people got temporary jobs through high labor intensity programs, while we have more than 200,000 working here." He also mentioned the case of Kobe, in Japan, that was devastated in 1995 by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that killed 6,400 people and left 300,000 people homeless. He said after 5 years of recovery, it’s only this year Kobe is getting back to the situation it was before the disaster. “And all that occurred in an industrialized country with advanced social and economic infrastructures", showing how difficult it has been for the poorest country in the western hemisphere to cope with the aftermath of the disaster.

Despite all these figures, many homeless survivors, have expressed growing frustration with the lack of access to some of the most basic living conditions. Others complain about the unbearable heat generated by the plastic tents exposed to a burning sun in wide open areas, mostly without any vegetation to provide shade. Survivors also expressed concern about the current rainy and hurricane seasons that could cause another disaster if appropriate precautionary measures are not taken immediately. “Here, it’s like hell. When it rains we are flooded, when it is sunny, the heat is killing us." The international donor community pledged $5.3 billion over the next two years as part of $9.9 billion aid package to help rebuild the country over the next several years. But officials say only about 10 percent of pledged funds have been disbursed and continues to trickle in slowly.

VOLCANOES -

COLUMBIA - Authorities declared a yellow alert for the Machin volcano located in Colombia's central Tolima department, following an increase in registered seismic activity in the area. Registered 68 tremors over the weekend, one measuring 2.6 on the Richter scale which was felt by locals in the zone. An eruption of the Machin volcano could potentially affect close to a million people in the departments of Tolima, Quindio, Valle del Cauca and Cundinamarca. Machin is one of the Colombia's volcanoes that has the most propensity to affect widespread damage on the Andean nation. The volcano has a great potential to explode, due to its chemical composition, the magnitude of its eruptions and extensive deposits to feed those eruptions. The Machin volcano's geographical location means it has the potential to adversely affect an area important to Colombia's economy.

TROPICAL STORMS

Tropical Storm Chanthu killed 11 people and injured four others in Vietnam. Chanthu, which hit the Vietnam-China border on July 23 before weakening into a low-pressure system, brought heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides, damaging roads, houses and crops in many provinces in northern Vietnam. Among the victims was a 2-year-old child who was killed when a landslide caused the family home to collapse. The three other members of her family suffered injuries but were rescued. More than 100 houses collapsed and some 100 hectares of rice were destroyed. The storm dumped rainfall of between 83 and 382 millimeters in northern areas. Rain was forecast to continue in northern provinces today. 13 fishermen in Quang Ngai province still missing after Tropical Storm Conson hit Vietnam last week.

HEAVY RAINS, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES

IOWA - A nine-mile-long Iowa lake has disappeared after heavy rains led a dam holding back its waters to collapse. Lake Delhi in eastern Iowa drained through the breached dam within hours on Saturday, flooding the nearby town of Monticello. Lakeside homes now overlook a stinking, muddy pit. The 92-year-old Lake Delhi dam failed on Saturday, destroyed by rising water from the Maquoketa River. "There was just more water than it was designed for." About 900 homes were built on the lake front.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE

RUSSIA - Residents of Moscow were gasping today as the Russian capital was blanketed in a heavy cloud of smoke from forest and peat fires sparked by the MOST SEVERE HEAT WAVE FOR DECADES.

The spires of the city's famous Stalin-era skyscrapers were barely visible behind the curtain of fog and smoke in the early morning hours as the authorities sent in water-bombing aircraft to attack the fires in the Moscow region. Over the last 24 hours, firefighters have been battling 60 forest and peat fires covering a total area of 59 hectares.

The concentration of toxic particles in the air exceeded the norm by 5-8 times. Visibility on Moscow's roads in the morning was no more than 500m but airports carried on working normally. Throughout the city center, the air smelled of smoke. The Russian capital and much of the country from the Baltic to the Pacific coasts have been suffering from the severest heat wave for decades which has DESTROYED 20% OF ALL OF RUSSIA'S ARABLE LAND.

Daytime temperatures in Moscow have been over 35C for days and are nudging closer to the all time temperature record in the capital of 36.8C recorded back in 1920. The heat wave has claimed the lives of hundreds of people who drowned in an attempt to cool off from the record temperatures. The horrific toll has been blamed on drunkenness and the use of poorly-equipped beaches. This weekend alone, 65 people drowned in Russia.

Storms and heat batter and blister U.S. - Large parts of the United States faced another day of extreme weather yesterday, with temperatures in the capital and on the Southeast coast forecast to be near or above 38 degrees Celsius and more storms likely in the mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley regions.

Powerful thunderstorms will stretch from the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia region on the Atlantic coast into Kentucky, Accuweather said. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where heavy rains shut the city's main airport on Thursday, local media reported the body of a 19-year-old man who disappeared as flood waters peaked had been recovered from a creek. Many Midwest cities and states were dealing with the aftermath of heavy flooding on Friday and Saturday. Chicago's beaches remained closed for a second day due to possible water contamination after the rains overwhelmed the sewer system, which flowed into Lake Michigan. Half a dozen areas in Illinois, including northern sections of the city, remained under flood warnings. Damage to crops and livestock in Illinois, Iowa and other key agricultural areas of the Midwest Corn Belt was still being assessed but was not expected to be significant.

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Climate Weapons: More Than Just a Conspiracy Theory?

The abnormally hot weather in the central regions of Russia has already caused serious economic damage. It has destroyed crops on roughly 20% of the country's agricultural land lots, the result being that the food prices are clearly set to climb next fall.

On top of that, fires are raging over peat lands around Moscow. These days, the majority of forecasts concerning the climate are alarming: droughts, hurricanes, and floods are going to be increasingly frequent and severe.

Director of the climate and energy program of the Wildlife Fund A. Kokorin says that the current trend is not a random phenomenon and should not be expected to subside.

In this particular context, the credibility of projections emanating from the Wildlife Fund, an influential international organization running worldwide operations styled as environment-protection programs, is beyond question2.

The reason is that the global warming which is the subject of heated academic (or, occasionally, absolutely unscholarly) debates is not necessarily an uncontrolled process.

At least, the incidence of the current anomalously high temperatures exclusively in Russia and some adjacent territories invites alternative explanations.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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Immigrant groups criticize fingerprint initiative

The federal government is rapidly expanding a program to identify illegal immigrants using fingerprints from arrests, drawing opposition from local authorities and advocates who argue the initiative amounts to an excessive dragnet.

The program has gotten less attention than Arizona's new immigration law, but it may end up having a bigger impact because of its potential to round up and deport so many immigrants nationwide.

The San Francisco sheriff wanted nothing to do with the program, and the City Council in Washington, D.C., blocked use of the fingerprint plan in the nation's capital.

Colorado is the latest to debate the program, called Secure Communities, and immigrant groups have begun to speak up, telling the governor in a letter last week that the initiative will make crime victims reluctant to cooperate with police "due to fear of being drawn into the immigration regime."

Under the program, the fingerprints of everyone who is booked into jail for any crime are run against FBI criminal history records and Department of Homeland Security immigration records to determine who is in the country illegally and whether they've been arrested previously.

Most jurisdictions are not included in the program, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been expanding the initiative.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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Freedom of photography: Police, security often clamp down despite public right

A few weeks ago, on his way to work, Matt Urick stopped to snap a few pictures of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's headquarters. H

e thought the building was ugly but might make for an interesting photo. The uniformed officer who ran up to him didn't agree. He told Urick he was not allowed to photograph federal buildings.

Urick wanted to tell the guard that there are pictures of the building on HUD's Web site, that every angle of the building is visible in street views on Google Maps and that he was merely an amateur photographer, not a threat.

But Urick kept all this to himself. "A lot of these guys have guns and are enforcing laws they obviously don't understand, and they are not to be reasoned with," he said. After detaining Urick for a few minutes and conferring with a colleague on a radio, the officer let him go.

Courts have long ruled that the First Amendment protects the right of citizens to take photographs in public places. Even after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, law enforcement agencies have reiterated that right in official policies.

But in practice, those rules don't always filter down to police officers and security guards who continue to restrict photographers, often citing authority they don't have.

Almost nine years after the terrorist attacks, which ratcheted up security at government properties and transportation hubs, anyone photographing federal buildings, bridges, trains or airports runs the risk of being seen as a potential terrorist.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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Barak: If Hezbollah attacks, we'll strike Lebanese gov't

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview to the Washington Post that if Hezbollah resumes firing rockets at Israel, the Israel Defense Forces will respond with a direct attack on Lebanese government institutions.

In an interview to the American paper ahead of his landing in the United States for an official visit, the defense minister warned that Israel would strike directly at the Lebanese government, since it is allowing Hezbollah to rearm.

He said that if Hezbollah fires rockets at Tel Aviv, ‘we will not run after each Hezbollah terrorist or launcher. . . . We will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to Hezbollah

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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NASA's Deep Space Camera Locates Host of 'Earths'

Scientists celebrated Sunday after finding more than 700 suspected new planets -- including up to 140 similar in size to Earth -- in just six weeks of using a powerful new space observatory.

Early results from NASA’s Kepler Mission, a small satellite observing deep space, suggested planets like Earth were far more common than previously thought.

Past discoveries suggested most planets outside our solar system were gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn -- but the new evidence tipped the balance in favor of solid worlds.

Astronomers said the discovery meant the chances of eventually finding truly Earth-like planets capable of sustaining life rose sharply.

NASA so far formally announced only five new exoplanets -- those outside our solar system -- from the mission because its scientists were still analyzing Kepler’s finds to confirm they are actually planets.

‘The figures suggest our galaxy, the Milky Way [which has more than 100 billion stars] will contain 100 million habitable planets, and soon we will be identifying the first of them,’ said Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astronomy at Harvard University and a scientist on the Kepler Mission

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

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South Korea signs on to finance first Jordan nuclear reactor

Jordan and South Korea have signed a $70 million loan agreement to finance the kingdom's first nuclear research reactor.

The state-run Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute and Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. are expected to start building a 5-megawatt reactor November 1 at the Jordan University for Science and Technology near the northern city of Irbid.

A planning ministry statement said Monday the reactor will be ‘fully commissioned within five years and a nuclear power plant will be built by 2017.’

Resource-barren Jordan is developing a peaceful nuclear program with U.S. support. But the U.S. has expressed reservations over Jordan's desire to enrich its large reserves of uranium.

Jordan says alternative energy sources are needed to generate electricity and desalinate water.

Last month, Jordan's King Abdullah accused Israel of trying to prevent his kingdom from developing a peaceful nuclear program.

The king revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Israel had approached South Korea and France with requests to refrain from selling Jordan nuclear technology. Israel's ‘underhanded’ actions are adding tension to already strained relations with Jordan, bringing ties between the two countries to their lowest point since they signed a peace agreement in 1994, the king said

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!