Friday 31st August 2007: -

• Services mark Diana anniversary - The 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris is being marked with a memorial service in London and tributes across the UK. Princes William and Harry will lead readings for their mother at Guards' Chapel, near Buckingham Palace. Prince Charles and the Queen will be at the service, although Charles's second wife Camilla will not be attending.   (RELATED: See our popular Diana Assassination archive for more info.)

We won't let history be written by your killers Diana...

• CONFRONTING EMPIRE: The West Yorkshire Truth Campaign will be hosting a talk by former member of the US House of Representatives Cynthia McKinney on Sunday 9th September 2007.
  
  Cynthia will be giving a talk entitled 'Confronting Empire' - see confrontingtheempire.org.uk
  
  Venue:
  Lecture Theatre B
  James Graham Building
  Leeds Metropolitan University
  Headingly Campus
  Leeds LS6 3QS
  
  Time: 
  Doors 6.30pm
  Begins 7.00pm
  
  Admission:
  Free (£5.00 suggested donation)

Thursday 30th August 2007: -

• Student suspended for sketching a gun - Last week, a Chandler middle school student was suspend for sketching a gun during class -- something his parents say was harmless doodling. Now comes word that that an eighth-grader in Florence also has been suspended for sketching a gun during class. Stephanie Vardarkis tells the East Valley Tribune that her son, Joshua, had drawn the images on index cards, sort of like a cartoon that included a stick figure holding a gun.

• Some 9/11 groups want Giuliani silent at ceremony - Families of September 11 victims and emergency responders raised alarms on Wednesday that former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani might politicize the sixth anniversary memorial of the attacks. Giuliani has attended all five previous September 11 commemorations but this is the Republican's first engagement as a presidential candidate seeking the White House. "Families and first responders are outraged and call for this speaking invitation to be rescinded and insist that politics be kept out of the 9/11 anniversary ceremony," said a statement by four September 11 groups. "Rudy Giuliani should attend in silence with other invited guests."

• EU referendum petition signed by 70,000 - More than 70,000 people have now signed the Telegraph petition calling for a referendum on the EU reform treaty, as cross-party support for a public vote continues to grow. As of midday 46,224 people had returned coupons calling for the Government to "let the people decide", with 24,329 more signing the online petition. The news came after it emerged that some Liberal Democrats could join the more than 120 Labour MPs planning to rebel against Gordon Brown in demanding a referendum.

• HCC Fluoride/Infant Formula Warning - The Policy and Strategy committee last night resolved to advise parents and caregivers of Lower Hutt of advice issued by the American Dental Association (ADA) with regards to fluoridated water. In a November 9th 2006 email alert sent to all of its members, the ADA noted that "Infants less than one year old may be getting more than the optimal amount of fluoride if their primary source of nutrition is powdered or liquid infant formula mixed with water containing fluoride." The ADA went on to advise: "If using a product that needs to be reconstituted, parents and caregivers should consider using water that has no or low levels of fluoride."

• Why talking to plants may not make you such a Charlie after all - WHEN Prince Charles suggested plants responded to his words of endearment, it was dismissed by many as eccentric nonsense. But now researchers in South Korea claim to have discovered evidence that the heir to the throne may have been right all along. The scientists said they had found "a set of sound-responsive genes in plants" in what other experts said would be an astonishing finding. Plants are known to respond to light, temperature, touch and vibration, and the South Korean team, led by Dr Mi-Jeong Jeong, decided to investigate whether they could also respond to sound in some way.

• Google Censors Another 9/11 Documentary: A spate of viewings prompts shut down of classic Alex Jones film - Google Video is once again censoring one of Alex Jones' documentary films after it received a huge jump in viewings last week and briefly entered the top ten on the back of heightened warnings of an impending terror attack. Viewing figures for the 2004 Feature film Martial Law 9/11: Rise of the Police State suddenly sky rocketed to a total of 850,000 after we featured articles on Clergy Response Teams being trained by the federal government to "quell dissent" in the event of a declaration of martial law. The viewing jump also coincided with the History Channel's 9/11 hit piece and continued warnings of an upcoming terror attack on U.S. soil. As the film began to go viral it was suddenly disabled and at time of writing no longer plays at google video.

Tuesday 28th August 2007: -

• Russia suggests Berezovsky was behind journalist's killing - Russian prosecutors have announced a breakthrough in the hunt for the killers of Anna Politkovskaya, the crusading journalist and prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, who was murdered last year. Conveniently for the Kremlin, the finger of suspicion points directly at President Vladimir Putin's main enemy, the exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky. The announcement came three days before what would have been Politkovskaya's 49th birthday, and almost a year after she was shot dead in a hail of bullets in the lift of her Moscow apartment building early last October.

• UN reports record production of opium in Afghanistan - UNITED NATIONS, Aug 27: Opium production in Afghanistan has hit a record $3 billion this year, accounting for more than 90 per cent of the world’s illegal output, a United Nations report said on Monday. The production concentrated mainly in the strife-torn south of the country, where the Taliban, who once banned poppy cultivation, now profited from the drug trade, the report alleged. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showed that the area under opium cultivation rose to 193,000 hectares from 165,000 in 2006, while the harvest soared by more than a third to 8,200 tons from 6,100 tons.

• Asthma Rates High Among 9/11 Workers - A new survey of Sept. 11-related illnesses has found an alarming increase in asthma _ 12 times higher than normal _ among those who toiled on the toxic debris piles of ground zero. The study was released Monday by the New York City Department of Health, based on responses gathered by the World Trade Center Health Registry. The data show 3.6 percent of the 25,000 rescue and recovery workers in the registry reported developing asthma after working at the site _ more than 12 times the expected figure for adults over a similar time period.

Bank Holiday Monday 27th August 2007: -

• Market Crash Forecast Suggests New 9/11: Mystery trader bets on huge downturn that could only be preceded by catastrophe - A mystery trader risks losing around $1 billion dollars after placing 245,000 put options on the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index, leading many analysts to speculate that a stock market crash preceded by a new 9/11 style catastrophe could take place within the next month. The anonymous trader only stands to make money if the market crashes by a third to a half before September 21st, which is when the put options expire. A put option is a financial contract between two parties, the buyer and the writer (seller) of the option, in which the buyer stands to benefit only if the price of the asset falls.

• Alarm as police offenders keep jobs in force - More than 30 police officers serving in forces throughout Yorkshire were convicted of criminal offences last year, it has emerged. Revelations that so many law enforcers, most of whom are still in post, have turned law-breakers were dubbed "deeply worrying" by a road safety campaigner. The disclosures – made under the Freedom of Information Act – showed that of the four forces in Yorkshire, West Yorkshire had the highest number of serving officers convicted between January 2006 and April 2007. Fourteen of the convictions were for motoring offences. The force would not disclose what the other convictions were for, but last year an exclusive Yorkshire Post report prompted outrage when it was revealed 10 of its serving officers had been convicted of assault.

• Safety fears over new register of all children - Senior social workers have given warning of the dangers posed by a new government register that will store the details of every child in England from next year. They fear that the database, containing the address, medical and school details of all under-18s, could be used to harm the children whom it is intended to protect. The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ACDS) has written to officials outlining its “significant” concerns about the new system, called ContactPoint, The Times has learnt. Confusion over who is responsible for vetting users and policing the system “may allow a situation where an abuser could be able to access ContactPoint for illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions”, Richard Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS Information Systems and Technology Policy Committee, said.

• Fury over roll-out of biometric testing for hotel staff - THE national privacy watchdog has expressed concern at the growth in 'Big Brother'-style clock-in systems that read workers' physical data after another hi-tech attendance procedure was launched at a major hotel. Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes issued his warning after it emerged that the Gresham Hotel in Dublin is the latest employer to introduce a 'biometric' system. Workers claim they were not consulted about the introduction of the system that reads handprints. It was brought in just months after the Abbey Theatre came under fire for launching a system that reads fingerprints. The Data Protection Commissioner said he was "concerned" about the growing use of biometric systems in the workplace "regardless of the type of biometric information collected or the technology used".

• Labour given £300,000 by unregistered 'friends' - A group which has donated more than £300,000 to Labour was not properly registered, the party has admitted. Labour Party officials asked Muslim Friends of Labour to register as a members' association with party funding watchdogs after they were informed of the problem by the Electoral Commission. The commission asked the party to clarify the status of the organisation last week after releasing figures showing that it has donated £312,000 to Labour so far this year. Muslim Friends of Labour was listed as an "unincorporated association" which does not have to declare the source of its funds.

• Bank customers urged to keep pushing for penalty refunds - SCOTTISH bank customers who want to get unfair penalty fees refunded are being urged to continue making claims - despite banks calling a halt until the outcome of a test case. Last month, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) issued a waiver to banks in relation to the handling of unauthorised overdraft complaints until a landmark ruling is given in the courts. A pause on all pending claims was also applied for by the banks ahead of the test case brought by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and due to be heard in the High Court in England early next year. Rather than imposing a blanket stay on all cases, it was decided that judges could, if they wanted, grant them on a case-by-case basis.

• Aaron Russo Tribute Page: Videos, MP3 interviews and articles featuring the work of a great freedom fighter - We were saddened to hear of the passing of activist, film maker, freedom fighter and all round maverick Aaron Russo, who died Friday after a long battle with cancer at the age of 64. Included are videos, audio interviews and articles featuring Aaron from over the course of the past year.

• Trafficked women auctioned in pubs and locked up in brothels - A major police operation to crack down on the trafficking of women has discovered that some victims are being 'sold' at auctions in pubs before they are forced to work in brothels. In the largest operation of its kind, police in Cambridgeshire have raided 73 suspected brothels in the past few months. They have already rescued seven women, some with serious injuries sustained as they tried to escape. The scale of the abuse has horrified the officers and other agencies working with them, who have found women being forced to work in the sex trade in houses in villages as well as city centres, being unable to go out and having sex with up to 60 men a day, earning thousands of pounds for the gangs.

• Chemicals in non-stick pans may retard babies' growth: Toxin in daily use in the home should be phased out, says researcher - Chemicals used in non-stick pans, fast-food containers, carpets, furniture and a host of other everyday household products are retarding babies' growth and brain development, two startling new studies suggest. The studies – from the United States and Denmark, both published in the past month – found that babies with increased levels of the chemical in their umbilical cords were born smaller and with reduced head sizes. Though the changes were small, reductions in weight and brain development at birth have been associated with health problems throughout life.

• School spies: Parents to view their child's lessons via webcam - Gordon Brown is to abolish the annual school report and allow parents to spy on lessons through the internet. Currently, families are entitled to receive only very basic information about their children's academic performance.

• US won't tell Britons why they're banned from travelling to America - British holidaymakers and businessmen banned from travelling to America under anti-terror laws will no longer have any right to know why they have been turned away. The US Department of Homeland Security, set up following the September 11 attacks, last week applied for a blanket ban on disclosing the information it holds on Britons and other EU citizens. Last month, Britain agreed to send the secretive US department all details of UK passengers before they fly to America.

Sunday 26th August 2007: -

• The police are becoming an anti-terror law unto themselves - THE Metropolitan Police took a lot of flak last week for using anti-terrorism powers to manage the Heathrow climate change protest. In my opinion they deserved it, guilty as they were of a breach of trust and of undermining their case for greater powers to combat terrorism. I don't say that as someone who opposes anti-terror legislation. I don't have a problem with the state protecting its citizens from those who wish to kill or maim them. That's not to say I've not protested against specific anti-terror laws in the past or, more accurately, against their abuse, but I have never been in doubt of the need for them. Since 9/11 there has been a rapid increase in anti-terrorism powers and a consequent diminution in our own civil liberties. Indefinite detention without charge for foreign nationals, subsequently replaced (following legal challenge) by the control order regime; pre-charge detention increased from 14 days to 28 days; new infringements on freedom of speech; banning orders on non-violent groups which promote terrorism; restrictions on the right to protest ... the list goes on.

• Chinese officials predicted 9/11 attacks - Imagine someone predicting the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in the US two years before the terror strike! Such a forecast was part of an analysis of the weaknesses of the American military system by two Chinese military planners, who also identified Osama bin Laden as one of the likely perpetrators of a possible attack.

• ABC/NBC Footage Captures White Smoke From WTC 2 Base Moments Before Collapse - In the following 9/11 network footage, ABC television captures white smoke beginning to emerge from the base of WTC 2 within moments of its ... all » collapse. A fuller view of this smoke is recorded by NBC television during this same time. A smoke-free region quickly fills with smoke, followed quickly by WTC 2's collapse. Demolition device use at the base of these buildings cannot be entirely ruled out until such time that this smoke, which only appeared just prior to WTC 2's collapse, can be explained: -

• Britain will spend millions on EU opt-outs - Space research, French films and tropical tuna may not be taxpayers' priorities but they are among causes Britons will be spending millions to promote, courtesy of the European Union, next year. A copy of the proposed EU budget for 2008 seen by this newspaper reveals that bureaucrats in Brussels will spend swathes of their £84 billion budget, including £10.5 billion of British money, on politically correct initiatives which would seem to have little benefit to Britain.

• Central National Bank issues first-ever student ID/Financial card - Debt is often a reality for college students, who are bombarded with credit card applications and left with loans to repay. But at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, coeds, faculty and staff, are pulling out their plastic to pay for everything from books to sodas, and doing so without fear of high interest rates or overdraft fees. The first-of-its-kind on a college campus in America, the prepaid “ROCK Dollar Card” was recently rolled out to Slippery Rock students and University employees. The card’s first function is that of a campus ID card. But through a collaborative effort between the card issuer, Central National Bank, a community financial institution headquartered in Enid; ITS, a card processor and subsidiary of CNB’s; and Heartland Payment Systems; a leading provider of credit/debit/prepaid card processing, payroll and payment services, the card is also a fully-functional financial instrument.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive)

• China Prevents Forced Abortion Opponent's Wife From Accepting Award - Chinese authorities have prevented the wife of a prominent activist against forced abortions from going to the Philippines to accept a prestigious award on his behalf. Chen Guangcheng's wife Yuan Weijing had hope to fly there to accept what is considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel prize. Fellow human rights activists tell the media that Chinese officials revoked her passport even though it is a valid one she has used before. Authorities prevented her from board her flight to the Philippines and removed her luggage from the plane. According to an AP report, they confiscated her passport and cell phone as she attempted to go through security at the airport in Beijing. Yuan attempted to call fellow activist Hu Jia to let him know of her troubles but the call was cut off and his attempts to call her back failed. She was able to make contact again later in the day to say her luggage had been removed and that she had been "kidnapped" but provided no other details.

Saturday 25th August 2007: -

• Paxman takes aim at BBC and 24-hour news culture - Jeremy Paxman last night attacked the 24-hour television news culture, which he says prizes emotion over reasoned argument and live reportage over uncovering stories. He also used the flagship opening night speech at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival to attack the BBC, claiming its future could be in jeopardy because of the quality of its programmes. "In the very crowded world in which television lives, it won't do to whisper, natter, cogitate or muse," he told the audience of TV executives. "You have to shout. The need is for constant sensation. The consequence is that reporting now prizes emotion over much else.

• Robert Fisk: Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11 - Each time I lecture abroad on the Middle East, there is always someone in the audience – just one – whom I call the "raver". Apologies here to all the men and women who come to my talks with bright and pertinent questions – often quite humbling ones for me as a journalist – and which show that they understand the Middle East tragedy a lot better than the journalists who report it. But the "raver" is real. He has turned up in corporeal form in Stockholm and in Oxford, in Sao Paulo and in Yerevan, in Cairo, in Los Angeles and, in female form, in Barcelona. No matter the country, there will always be a "raver". His – or her – question goes like this. Why, if you believe you're a free journalist, don't you report what you really know about 9/11? Why don't you tell the truth – that the Bush administration (or the CIA or Mossad, you name it) blew up the twin towers? Why don't you reveal the secrets behind 9/11?   (COMMENTARY: Don't get too excited, this article is a hit-piece on 9/11 truth... or at least it is written as a 'hit-piece'. Often a mainstream news reporter (do 'journalists' exist anymore?) will want to cover 9/11 questions for sensible reasons, but because of the politics - not to mention corruption - in the status quo of their job, they will have to write such an article as a smear... all the time giving out details, for example, of how WTC7 was clearly brought down by planned explosives.  As if to say: 'Yeah look at all these idiots who think that WTC7 was a controlled demolition, look at all these physics professors and engineers, check out the evidence... errr.... I mean what a load of crackpots! (wink wink!)')

Friday 24th August 2007: -

• Canadian Police Caught Attempting To Stage Riots: Authorities admit rock-wielding "black bloc anarchists" were really police infiltrators - Quebec provincial authorities have admitted that three rock-wielding mask-wearing "anarchists" were in fact police infiltrators used to gather information on protesters at this week's SPP summit, but authorities are still ludicrously denying the fact that the provocateurs were intent on causing a riot in order to justify a heavy-handed response. Yesterday, debunkers attempted to claim that identical yellow marks on the boots of the "anarchists" and the police were simply Canadian Safety Industry seals and dismissed allegations that the three "anarchists" were undercover cops. Those same trolls and apologists for the authorities have egg on their face today after the police were forced to admit their role in using disguised cops to infiltrate the protesters before staging their arrests when they were exposed as agent provocateurs.

• Scientists develop technique to induce out-of-body experiences: Breakthrough could be used in remote surgery / Virtual reality games may also be improved - Scientists have induced the age-old phenomenon of out-of-body experiences in healthy volunteers for the first time. The technique, which uses a virtual-reality-style set up of cameras linked to a head-mounted video display, will help researchers understand how the brain assimilates sensory information to determine the position of its body. The technique could also improve virtual reality games and remote surgery by creating the illusion that a person is somewhere other than in their own body.

• ‘Put CCTV in addicts’ homes to protect children’ - A controversial plan for CCTV to be used to protect children in the homes of chaotic drug-abusing parents has been proposed by one of Scotland's most eminent drugs experts. Professor Neil McKeganey, head of the centre for Drug Misuse Research at Glasgow University, believes radical measures are required to protect the estimated 160,000 children in Scotland living with an alcoholic or drug-addicted parent. He believes the sheer scale of the problem, which was previously estimated as being far lower, makes it impossible for social workers to guarantee children's safety.

• Outcry over rise in forced adoptions - Record numbers of young children are being removed from their parents and adopted unjustly because of government targets and the "secrecy" of the family courts, it was claimed today. Campaigners say there are now more than 100 cases of possible miscarriages of justice where children have been forcibly adopted. The figures, revealed in BBC Radio 4's Face the Facts programme, claims the number of parents in England who have had to give up their children, despite insufficient evidence they were causing them harm, has now hit record levels. It says 1,300 babies under a month old are being adopted every year, up from 500 when the government came into power in 1997. Social workers told the programme, to be broadcast later today, that they were being put under pressure to meet the government adoption targets set in 2000.

• US jet kills three British soldiers in 'friendly fire' blunder in Afghanistan - Three British soldiers were killed by a bomb dropped on their position by a US war plane during fierce fighting in Afghanistan, it was confirmed today. At least two other men from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment were injured in the friendly fire incident. One of these was described as critically ill. The 60-strong foot patrol had called in air support after they came under intense attack from Taliban insurgents in Helmand province yesterday evening.

• More WMD lies exposed - Alastair Campbell placed the September 2002 WMD dossier in the hands of the propaganda unit that later produced the plagiarised "dodgy dossier", the New Statesman can reveal. New evidence shows how the government misled both the Hutton Inquiry and the Butler Review about the genesis of the dossier. There was an even earlier version of the document than Foreign Office press secretary John Williams's "missing" draft, whose existence was revealed in the NS last November. The revelations have prompted fresh calls for the government to come clean about the document that took Britain to war in Iraq.

• Iraq Government doomed to weaken: US intelligence - In a bleak outlook of the political situation in Iraq, US intelligence officials warned that Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's Government will become "more precarious" in the coming months. "The IC [intelligence community] assesses that the Iraqi Government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months because of criticism by other members of the major Shia coalition" as well as Sunni and Kurdish parties, a new US intelligence estimate warned. The key judgements of the assessment were released after being declassified by the Director for National Intelligence and come amid mounting frustration inside the US administration at the lack of political progress in Iraq.

• CITY POLICE TO USE TASER GUNS - Lincoln police officers will be armed with Taser guns from next month. Twenty operational support officers are in the process of being trained to use the weapon and will be among the first rank and file policemen and women in Britain to have them. Course leader PC Steve Belshaw said the stun guns were a huge step forward for modern policing.

• Facebook to open goldmine of data to advertisers - Facebook is preparing an advertising model that would allow advertisers to target its users based on information that they reveal about themselves on the social networking website. The group has soared in popularity to a record 30.6 million visitors last month, but is expected to make a profit of only $30 million (£15 million) this year on revenues of $150 million. Facebook’s new advertising system is central to the group’s efforts to “monetise” the social phenomenon that it has created, by which millions of people worldwide avidly log in to swap information about themselves.

• Fingerprint scanning at nursery - A fingerprint scanning system is being introduced at a nursery in Bath to allow only parents and staff access. The biometric controls are being introduced at the First Steps nursery to "enhance existing security arrangements". The company behind the system, UK Biometrics, said no fingerprints were actually stored and no human rights were infringed. Manager Lysha Goode said: "Security is a prime concern for parents and staff."

• Zoo to link biometric technology with staff data and payroll - The world renowned Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland has installed a 3D facial recognition system. The biometric technology enables the rapid capture and identification of facial images for a range of applications from physical access control, time and attendance, border control, ePassports and visa programs. Australia Zoo is using the system to control access to its administration building and to ensure a high level of security for peace of mind.

Thursday 23rd August 2007: -

• Memo for Merkel visit: Don't mention the treaty - Gordon Brown will want to talk about anything but the EU reform treaty when he hosts Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, at 10 Downing Street today. Europe is about the only issue where Mr Brown is on the defensive, in the face of demands for a referendum backed by four fifths of the public. Unlike, say, the Irish Republic, Britain does not have explicit rules for when a referendum should be called. It has always been a question of political expediency, or rather prime ministerial weakness, as when Tony Blair in 2004 promised a referendum on the original constitution before its rejection by French and Dutch voters.

• Bush 'Amused' By 'North American Union' Fears - Montebello, Quebec (CNSNews.com) - Leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico on Tuesday downplayed fears that their trilateral Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) is setting the foundation for a "North American Union." But they did not promise more openness to quell such fears. "I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place," President Bush said at a news conference in Montebello, Quebec. He is in Canada with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon for the fourth SPP meeting since its creation in 2005.

• 'Diana was pregnant when she died - but Dodi was not the father' claims French journalist - Princess Diana was "almost certainly" nine to ten weeks pregnant when she died, it has been claimed. French investigative journalist Chris Laffaille says he uncovered evidence of the pregnancy from official archives of the Paris hospital where the princess was taken after the crash on the night of August 31, 1997. If genuine, says Laffaille, it would mean Diana's unborn child would not have been fathered by Dodi Fayed because she had not met him nine weeks before her death.   (RELATED: See our popular Diana Assassination archive for more info.)

• Schoolboy, 11, shot dead by 'hoodie gunman on a BMX' - A schoolboy of 11 was gunned down by another youth in a pub car park as Britain's growing gang culture claimed another victim last night. Rhys Jones was on his way home from a football match with friends when he was attacked at around 7.30pm. Witnesses claimed he was shot in the head by another boy, possibly as young as 12, who was wearing a hooded top and riding a BMX bicycle, after a 'turf war' erupted between rival gangs in the Croxteth district of Liverpool.  (COMMENTARY: But I thought that guns were illegal in the UK!...)

• Bush: there will be no pullout from Iraq while I'm president - President George Bush sought to buy more time for his Iraq "surge" strategy yesterday by making a risky comparison for the first time with the bloodshed and chaos that followed the US pullout from Vietnam. Making it clear he will resist congressional pressure next month for an early withdrawal, he signalled that US troops, whom he hailed as the "greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known", will be in Iraq as long as he is president. He also said the consequences of leaving "without getting the job done would be devastating", and "the enemy would follow us home". Mr Bush's speech came on the day that the US suffered one of its highest daily death tolls since the 2003 invasion, with 14 troops killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed.

Wednesday 22nd August 2007: -

• History Channel Fraudsters Pass Off Joke Website as Representative Of 9/11 Truth: Liar Bradley Davis used 'Jews Did 9/11' parody to smear truthers during dirty tricks broadcast - As part of a catalogue of dirty tricks employed to smear the truth movement in its 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction special, The History Channel used screenshots of an inane parody website and passed it off as representative of people asking questions about the official story. During the introduction to the show, images from the website http://jewsdid911.ytmnd.com were flashed up and associated with the 9/11 truth movement. The website is nothing more than a ludicrous fast moving slideshow of 9/11 images with giant letters that read "JEWS DID 9/11" superimposed on top. Some of the images contain the Star of David and more scribbled "Jews did 9/11" epitaphs appear on other shots in neon green type.

• Police accused of using provocateurs at summit – Protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the North American leaders' summit in Montebello, Que. Such accusations have been made before after similar demonstrations but this time the alleged "agents provocateurs" have been caught on camera.

• Pupils face tracking bugs in school blazers - A school uniform maker said yesterday it was "seriously considering" adding tracking devices to its clothes after a survey found many parents would be interested in knowing where their offspring were. Trutex would not say whether it was studying a spy in the waistband or a bug in the blazer but admitted teenagers were less keen than younger children on the "big brother" idea. The Lancashire company, which sells 1m blouses, 1.1m shirts, 250,000 pairs of trousers, 200,000 blazers, 60,000 skirts and 110,000 pieces of knitwear each year, commissioned an online survey for 809 parents and 444 children aged between nine and 16. It said 44% of the adults were worried about the safety of pre-teen children and 59% would be interested in satellite tracking systems being incorporated in schoolwear. While nearly four in 10 pupils aged 12 and under were prepared to go along with the idea, teenagers were more wary of "spying".

• 'Pay to throw' rubbish plans unveiled - Wheelie bins fitted with microchips and pre-paid sacks for general household waste could be introduced to make householders pay for their rubbish under plans outlined by council leaders today. People could also be charged according to the size of the wheelie bin they choose under the "pay to throw" proposals, put forward by the Local Government Association. They are designed to encourage recycling and reduce the amount of waste being thrown into landfill. The LGA said the measures – which it has called "save as you throw" – would not be used by local authorities as a stealth tax to raise extra cash, and that any scheme should be supported by residents.

• More formaldehyde in food than clothes - Consumers should be more concerned with the levels of formaldehyde in food and drink than in clothes, the Soil and Health Association of New Zealand says. The Consumer Affairs Ministry has launched an investigation after scientists from TV3's Target consumer watchdog programme found dangerous levels of formaldehyde in woollen and cotton clothes imported from China. Exposure to formaldehyde can cause skin irritations, respiratory problems and cancer. Soil and Health spokesman Steffan Browning said formaldehyde produced in children's bodies as a by product of the aspartame, a low energy sweetener in diet drinks, chewing gum, cereals and many processed foods, was likely to be an even greater health hazard than that in clothing.   (RELATED: See our Compromised Health archive)

• Cheney's Office Says It Has Wiretap Documents - Vice President Cheney's office acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has dozens of documents related to the administration's warrantless surveillance program, but it signaled that it will resist efforts by congressional Democrats to obtain them. The disclosure by Cheney's counsel, Shannen W. Coffin, came on the day that the Senate Judiciary Committee had set as a deadline for the Bush administration to turn over documents related to the wiretapping program, which allowed the National Security Agency to monitor communications between the United States and overseas without warrants.

• Record number of people leave UK - More people left the UK last year than in any year since current records began in 1991, statistics show. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate that some 385,000 people left the UK for the long term in the year to mid-2006. Long-term migration into the UK, meanwhile, was 574,000. The figures show the UK's population grew to 60,587,000 - an increase of 349,000 (0.6%). They also suggest there were 159,000 more births than deaths.

• Children killed in Israeli strike - Two Palestinian children have been killed and three others wounded by Israeli forces in northern Gaza, Palestinian health officials have said. The dead boys, aged 13 and 14, were close to an area from which militants had been firing rockets at Israel, the officials said. Israel said its ground forces had fired upon two people who were seen near a rocket launcher near Beit Hanoun. Earlier, three militants were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza.

• Former CIA officer: US to attack Iran within 6 months - Fox News asked former CIA field officer Bob Baer on Tuesday whether the US is "gearing up for a military strike on Iran." Baer has written a column for Time indicating that Washington officials expect an attack within the next six months. "I've taken an informal poll inside the government," Baer told Fox. "The feeling is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps." His Time column also suggested that "as long as we have bombers and missiles in the air, we will hit Iran's nuclear facilities."

• Amazon forest sold off in housing scam, claims Greenpeace - The Brazilian government stands accused of selling off huge swaths of the Amazon rainforest - including its oldest protected national park - to unscrupulous logging companies, under the cover of a flawed sustainable development project. The Brazilian President, Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva, won power in 2003 with a promise to settle 400,000 homeless families during his four-year term, an unrealistic target he is accused of reaching in last-minute deals prior to last year's election.

Tuesday 21st August 2007: -

• History Channel Hit Piece: Dirty Tricks, Malicious Lies & Journalistic Fraud: The real story behind Brad Davis, NBC, Popular Mechanics and the History Channel - media whore stooges who engaged in deliberate deception, manipulation and chicanery to please their corporate bosses - The History Channel 9/11 special that aired last night was by far the worst hit piece we have ever witnessed, a completely savage, dishonest and deceptive abomination, replete with dirty tricks, malicious lies and a level of journalistic fraud that goes way beyond simple bias. Bradley Davis, the producer of the show, is a paid liar and a hit piece specialist who deceives people by gaining their confidence and then attacking them behind their back.

• CIA Releases Harsh Internal Report on 9/11 Failures - Under a direct order from Congress, the Central Intelligence Agency today released the executive summary of a top-secret report by its inspector general detailing the agency's shortcomings leading up to the September 11 attacks. While the report concluded that there was "no single point of failure," it was otherwise very critical of the CIA leadership, from former CIA director George Tenet on down, for failing to work as "effectively and cooperatively" as possible on counterterrorism. For example, the report found that while Tenet had signed a memo saying, "We are at war" against terrorists, he did not follow up on his warnings or create a comprehensive plan to guide counterterrorism efforts. The CIA's Counterterrorist Center, the report added, was also "not used effectively as a strategic coordinator" of efforts across the intelligence community.

• Liberal Democrats launch attack on Brown's 'surveillance society' - Liberal Democrat leaders are to mount an attack on Britain's "surveillance society'' that threatens to wreck Gordon Brown's hopes of a cross-party consensus on measures to tackle the threat of terrorism. In a strategic break with the Prime Minister, Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, and his home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg will launch their offensive at their party conference next month. They have decided that Mr Brown's clear support for an extension of detention without charge beyond 28 days for terrorist suspects has destroyed any hope of a cross-party deal. But they claim they are also responding to public anxiety highlighted by the Government's Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, who has warned that Britain is in danger of "sleep-walking into a surveillance society".

• Local Students Pay For Lunches With Swipe Of Finger - Parents in the central Ohio town of Circleville might not have to worry about lost or misspent lunch money any more. This week Circleville schools are joining Akron, Huron, Rocky River and at least five other school districts in Ohio implementing new fingerprint technology, which allows students to pay for lunch with a touch. The cost of the meals is then deducted from prepaid accounts. Schools who use the fingerprint software system, called biometrics technology, say swiping fingers increases speed in lunch lines and helps schools keep a more accurate count of how many students are served meals. Distributors of the software say the systems typically cost between $1,000 and $5,000 per cafeteria line register.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive)

• Scores In Congress Protest North American Union Agenda: 22 Congressmen write to President in opposition to SPP as secret Montabello confab begins - As a secretive "Security and Prosperity Partnership" (SPP) meeting between the Mexican, Canadian and U.S. heads of states begins this week in Quebec, 22 members of the House of Representatives have put their names to a letter to president Bush demanding their concerns be heeded and that the administration back off the stealth program. "As you travel to Montebello, Canada later this month for a summit with your Canadian and Mexican counterparts, we want you to be aware of serious and growing concerns in the U.S. Congress about the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) you launched with these nations in 2005," the letter said.

• MESSAGE FROM THE LOOSE CHANGE TEAM: -

We here at Loose Change would like to thank all of you who made donations this past week!

We are overwhelmed by your support and generosity! "Loose Change - Final Cut" would not exist with out the support of Patriots like you. 

Through your donations, millions of people will be exposed to the information.

If you would still like to donate and haven’t had the chance, please visit our donations page. Even as little as $5 will help "Loose Change - Final Cut" be completed! We will ship one free copy of Loose Change, Final Cut, from the first pressing of DVDs, to anyone that donates more than $100.00. Anyone donating $250 and over will receive a limited edition autographed version of Final Cut. We expect the Final Cut to sell out its initial pressing quickly, and this is one way to assure that you'll get yours.

Rest assured that none of us are driving around in a new Mercedes - all of your support goes to spreading the truth. Once again we appreciate all you do for us and for believing in the truth!

Make donations at: 
http://lc911.com/lc911/catalog/Donations-orderby0-p-1-c-6.html

Also, to get a sneak peak at what you’ve helped to create, join us in New York City on September 9-11th. There will be a "Loose Change - Final Cut" test screening on Monday, September 10th. Join us for peaceful demonstrations and paying our respects to those we have lost the most in this tragedy. Seats for the screening are limited. Visit www.wearechange.org for information on the events. Make sure to sign up and RSVP for the screening!

Thank you again for you support!
Ask Questions! Demand Answers!

Thanks,
The LC Crew

Monday 20th August 2007: -

• Blair’s deal on new EU treaty ‘largely revives the rejected constitution’ - A group of Europe’s “wise men” has pronounced that the European Union treaty agreed by Tony Blair in June is substantially the same as the constitution rejected two years ago. The elder statesmen’s verdict was seized on yesterday by critics who insisted that Gordon Brown must honour the Government’s promise of a referendum on the document. The group, led by the former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, and including Lord Patten, the former Conservative minister and European Commissioner, concluded that the new treaty was only symbolically different to the proposed constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

• Banks using 112 'sneaky' charges to recoup lost fees - Banks are using "sneaky" charges to recoup their losses since being ordered to slash penalty fees by industry regulators, it has been revealed. A study has identified 112 charges across key financial products such as credit cards, current accounts and mortgages. Banks have been under pressure to cut the size of penalty fees and other charges imposed on consumers following allegations they are illegal and unfair.

• 'Cover-up' over casualties in Afghanistan - The Government was accused of hiding the true casualty rate of troops in Afghanistan yesterday as it emerged that nearly one in two soldiers fighting on the front line had been wounded. The Conservatives claimed that the Ministry of Defence was guilty of deception and not giving the full picture on the number of wounded despite being asked to do so in Parliamentary questions.

• ‘Behavior detection officers’ are keeping a close eye on travelers - Next time you go to the airport, more eyes may be following you than you notice. Reading your body language. Studying the facial cues of the passenger in front of you. Scanning for signs of bad intentions, the watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket checker. Or even curbside with the baggage attendants. Called behavior detection officers, they are part of recent security upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month, “a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk management prior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowded checkpoint.”

• Dark fruit and veg may fight colon cancer cells - Dark-coloured fruits and vegetables may help to protect against colon cancer, research has shown. Scientists found that the chemicals that give foods such as grapes, radishes, purple carrots and bilberries their colour significantly slow the growth of colon cancer cells. Evidence from experiments on rats and on human colon cancer cells suggests that anthocyanins, the compounds that colour most red, purple and blue fruits and vegetables, slow the growth of the cells by anything from 50 to 80 per cent.

• Stores 'warned over food hygiene' - Two supermarket stores linked to the fatal E.coli outbreak in Paisley had previously been warned over contravening food hygiene procedures. Renfrewshire Council has confirmed that environmental health issues were raised about the Falside Road and Lonend branches of Morrisons. They included meat pies on display for 12 hours at room temperature and raw eggs being stored on warm surfaces.

Sunday 19th August 2007: -

• Terror law puts Britons at risk of surveillance by US agents - A new law swept through Congress by the US government before the summer recess is to give American security agencies unprecedented powers to spy on British citizens without a warrant. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was approved by Congress earlier this month to help the National Security Agency in the fight against terrorism. But it has now emerged that the bill gives the security services powers to intercept all telephone calls, internet traffic and emails made by British citizens across US-based networks.

• Jack Bauer is watching you: US agencies train spy satellites on civilians - FICTIONAL agent Jack Bauer famously uses America's spies in the sky in his personal war on terror in TV series 24. But that's make-believe. In real life, US civilian agencies have used limited spy-satellite images of their country only to track hurricane damage, monitor climate change and create topographical maps. But a plan to allow emergency response, border control and, eventually, law enforcement agencies greater access to the sophisticated satellites and other sensors that monitor American territory has drawn sharp criticism from civil liberties advocates, who say the government is overstepping the use of military technology for domestic surveillance.   (RELATED: See our Total Global Surveillance archive)

• Rudy plays the security card: ID for all tourists - EVERY foreigner in America, including British visitors, would be required to carry an ID card bearing photograph and fingerprints under plans drawn up by Rudolph Giuliani, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. Giuliani is hoping to cement his status as the Republican favourite by promising to enforce immigration and border controls, drawing on expertise in combating crime from his time as mayor of New York. He announced last week that all foreigners, including holiday-makers, would be obliged to carry a “tamper-proof” biometric card, which could be issued at ports of entry.

• After the Taser.. police gun that makes you sick - The latest weapon in the fight against crime is a "sick gun" that makes you vomit. It looks like a normal torch but sends out rapidly-changing, different-coloured strobelights which blind and disorientate whoever it is shined at. Like the Taser stun gun it is designed as a "non-lethal" weapon to disable suspects so they can be arrested. And it could soon be used by police forces over here. Authorities in the US have already ordered the LED Incapacitator which has a range of 30 feet. It is expected to be used by border guards and air marshals. Its creator, Bob Lieberman, said: "There are often confrontations with illegal aliens or drugs runners. "You don't want to hurt or kill them, just take them into custody." The effects of the gun, which can incapacitate several people at once, wear off after a few minutes.

• WA crackdown on over-prescription of ADHD drugs - The Western Australian government aims to cut reliance on amphetamines in treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) under a multi-million-dollar program. Studies show dexamphetamines account for a substantial amount of amphetamine use by young people in WA. The state has the nation’s highest rate of amphetamine usage overall, and the highest rate of prescriptions of amphetamines for children diagnosed with ADHD.

Saturday 18th August 2007: -

• Doctors 'Over-Diagnosing Depression' - Doctors are over-diagnosing depression meaning thousands of people are being wrongly prescribed drugs to treat it, claims an expert. Psychiatrist Professor Gordon Parker says the current threshold for what is considered to be "clinical depression" is too low and fears it could lead to the condition becoming less credible. He argues that the problem has been reduced to the "absurd" and that we risk medicalising normal human distress and viewing any expression of depression as necessary of treatment.

• Cop: Put boozer yobs into care - PARENTS who refuse to tackle their children’s underage boozing should face having them put into care, a top cop said last night. Police chief Peter Fahy hit out a week after dad-of-three Garry Newlove was killed after confronting a gang of teenage yobs outside his home in Cheshire. Mr Fahy said parents should pay the penalty if they spurn police and social services’ help to sort out their boozy kids. He said one option would be to launch care proceedings in cases where parents refused help or did not co-operate.

• Another dent in Rudy's 9/11 image? - Busted? A front-page New York Times story notes that on at least three occasions, Giuliani -- responding to accusations that New York City failed to protect the health of Ground Zero workers -- has boasted that he faced similar risks himself. But: "A complete record of Mr. Giuliani’s exposure to the site is not available for the chaotic six days after the attack, when he was a frequent visitor. But an exhaustively detailed account from his mayoral archive, revised after the events to account for last-minute changes on scheduled stops, does exist for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001. It shows he was there for a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts."

Friday 17th August 2007: -

• U.S. pre-9/11 memos: Pakistan backs Taliban: Documents allege nation showed ‘resistance’ to helping nab bin Laden - Newly declassified intelligence documents reveal the depth of U.S. officials’ concern that Pakistan was providing funds, arms — and even combat troops — to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for years before the Sept. 11 attacks. They also show rising frustration at what U.S. officials called Pakistan’s “resistance and/or duplicity” toward Washington’s repeated requests for help in getting the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden. A top official at one point said hauling Pakistan before the U.N. Security Council should be considered.

• New row over 'misleading EU treaty' - Pressure for a referendum on the controversial European constitution grew last night amid growing signs of public concern and fresh claims that voters are being misled. Almost 50,000 have now signed The Daily Telegraph's petition calling for a referendum on the proposed new settlement. All three main parties originally pledged a referendum on the original EU draft constitution. And yesterday, there were claims that the new document was essentially a revival of the constitutional settlement famously rejected by referendums in France and Holland in 2005.

• Federal ID plan raises privacy concerns - Americans may need passports to board domestic flights or to picnic in a national park next year if they live in one of the states defying the federal Real ID Act. The act, signed in 2005 as part of an emergency military spending and tsunami relief bill, aims to weave driver's licenses and state ID cards into a sort of national identification system by May 2008. The law sets baseline criteria for how driver's licenses will be issued and what information they must contain. The Department of Homeland Security insists Real ID is an essential weapon in the war on terror, but privacy and civil liberties watchdogs are calling the initiative an overly intrusive measure that smacks of Big Brother.

• Ministers accused over casualty figures cover-up in Iraq and Afghanistan: Casualty figures are being covered up on two fronts - Ministers are covering up the extent of combat injuries suffered by British troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was claimed last night. Many soldiers are being patched up and sent back to the front line without ever appearing in official casualty reports.

• Pentagon Paid $999,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers to Texas - A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas base, U.S. officials said. The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show. The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.

Thursday 16th August 2007: -

• Chavez proposes scraping term limits: Venezuelan's plan would let him stay in power indefinitely. Other changes would incorporate socialist ideology in the constitution - President Hugo Chavez presented his long-awaited plan to revise the Venezuelan Constitution on Wednesday, including a proposal to eliminate presidential term limits -- a move critics fear would allow the fiery anti-U.S. leader to further concentrate power in his hands. In an address to the National Assembly, Chavez laid out 33 changes that he says would incorporate socialist ideology into the constitution that he pushed through in 2000, and redistribute power and resources to the poor and disadvantaged.

• Wishing For Another 9/11? - In last Thursday’s Philadelphia Daily News, conservative columnist Stu Bykofsky gave voice to the thought that many supporters of the so-called global war on terror are thinking right now. Bykofsky's piece, entitled "To save America, we need another 9/11," was a lament for "how splintered we are politically — thanks mainly to our ineptitude in Iraq — that we've forgotten who the enemy is." While he admitted that wishing for another 9/11 is "sick," Bykofsky wrote that he misses "the community of outrage and resolve" that existed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

• ALL THE LIES EVENTUALLY LEAD TO DICK CHENEY - Absolute power absolutely corrupts and the Libby conviction was the very tip of an Iceberg of deceit, deception, hubris and abuse of power by the Cheney/Bush administration ~ which began with the 9/11 cover-up, extended to the illegal War, occupation and economic rape of Iraq and is fully visible in the tragedy of New Orleans . Karl Rove's resignation leaves only the dark master himself ~ for all the lies eventually lead to Dick Cheney.

• US and Israel in $30bn arms deal - US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has signed a deal that will provide Israel with $30bn (£14.8bn) of military aid over the next 10 years. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has said the aid will preserve his country's military advantage over other countries in the Middle East. The new military aid package represents a 25% increase from present levels.

• Mattel's real toy story: Slave labour in sweatshops - This week Mattel recalled nearly two million Chinese-made toys over concerns they contain excessive levels of lead paint and loose parts. Dirt-cheap labour and a massive expansion in capacity means China makes more than three-quarters of the world's toys, with an export value in excess of £7 billion. But increasingly, there is evidence of inadequate safety standards, poor quality control and slave labour.