31st JANUARY 2006: -

• POLICE STATE SCARE TACTICS: ID protester stopped and filmed under terror law will have police record for life - A campaigner against ID cards who was stopped under counter-terror laws while collecting signatures for a petition has been told by police that his details will be kept on file indefinitely. Mark Wallace was outside the Labour Party conference in Brighton last autumn when he was detained under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The measure gives officers wide powers to stop anyone in a designated area, whether or not they are acting suspiciously.

• The religious hatred laws battle - Government plans to outlaw incitement to religious hatred have provoked some of the biggest demonstrations since the row over fox hunting. And, as ministers attempted for the third time since 2001 to push legislation through parliament, they were facing opposition from a wide range of religious groups, politicians, secularists and entertainers.

• Enron prosecutor vows insider glimpses - Prosecutors in Houston`s trial of two former Enron Corp. leaders promised jurors Tuesday he would spell out the sleaze that brought down the company. Ken Lay, Enron`s founder, and Jeff Skilling, its president, are on trial for fraud and conspiracy in the energy company`s 2001 collapse, the Houston Chronicle said.

• Experts Claim Official 9/11 Story is a Hoax: Scholars for 9/11 Truth call for verification and publication by an international consortium - A group of distinguished experts and scholars, including Robert M. Bowman, James H. Fetzer, Wayne Madsen, John McMurtry, Morgan Reynolds, and Andreas von Buelow, have concluded that senior government officials have covered up crucial facts about what really happened on 9/11.

• UK forces suffer 100th Iraq death - A British soldier has died in a blast in southern Iraq - the 100th UK forces fatality since the 2003 invasion. The soldier, from the Scots Dragoon Guards, was killed in Umm Qasr, Basra province, the Ministry of Defence said. It follows the death of L/Cpl Allan Douglas, 22, who was shot and killed in Maysan province on Monday.

• THE PHONY 'LEFT VS RIGHT': Is there a new member of the Bush family? - President George W. Bush says Bill Clinton has become so close to his father that the Democratic former president is like a member of the family. Former President George Bush has worked with Clinton to raise money for victims of the Asian tsunami and the hurricane disaster along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Asked about his father and Clinton, Bush quipped, "Yes, he and my new brother."

• Big brother style surveillance growing on Britain’s roads - Big Brother-style surveillance is growing on Britain’s roads, where police will have the greatest ability in the world to scrutinise, control and record the movements of drivers by the end of the year. Thousands of cameras reading vehicle number plates and comparing data with a central data base will analyse some 35 mn pieces of information per day.

30th JANUARY 2006: -

• Face and fingerprints swiped in Dutch biometric passport crack: Chip skimmed, then security breached - Dutch TV programme Nieuwslicht (Newslight) is claiming that the security of the Dutch biometric passport has already been cracked. As the programme reports here, the passport was read remotely and then the security cracked using flaws built into the system, whereupon all of the biometric data could be read. The crack is attributed to Delft smartcard security specialist Riscure, which here explains that an attack can be executed from around 10 metres and the security broken, revealing date of birth, facial image and fingerprint, in around two hours.

• US plans to 'fight the net' revealed - A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks. Bloggers beware. As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer.

• Alleged abuse victim to continue testimony against former priest - An alleged sex abuse victim of ex-priest Michael Wempe will be back in a Los Angeles courtroom this morning to testify against the former clergyman. The 26-year-old identified in court as Jayson-B recounted two instances of abuse during his testimony on Friday. At one point he burst into tears and declared that he hates the former priest for getting close to his family, and then abusing him.

• Cub Foods installs biometric payment system - Cub Foods' three stores in the Madison area installed fingerprint scanners last week so shoppers can pay with a swipe of the finger – and at lower cost to the supermarket. Scanning a finger calls up a stored profile in the supermarket's computers that includes payment information. Pay By Touch, the San Francisco-based provider of the biometric technology, claims the payments cost retailers 12 cents each, versus an average 72 cents for a credit card and 36 cents for a check.

• U.S. Army Has Seized Wives of Insurgents in Iraq to Force Them to Talk - The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show. In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife."

• Police chief admits fatal shooting errors - Police chief Ian Blair told a newspaper on Monday his force made errors in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of an innocent Brazilian man whom officers mistook for a suicide bomber. Blair, who is facing an investigation by an independent watchdog over comments he made after Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police last July, said in an interview with the Guardian that false reports in the media should have been immediately corrected.

• 'RFID tag' - the rude words ID card ministers won't say: Lengthy descriptions of duck, but no d-word - When it comes to RFID, is MP Andy Burnham lying or drowning? If it's lying, then in principle the Home Office Minister is no more lying than other people are - the US Department of Homeland Security, the EU's Justice & Home Affairs Committee and impressive numbers of RFID, sorry, contactless, proximity chip vendors. But if he's not, the drowning act is pretty convincing.

29th JANUARY 2006: -

• ID cards are of 'limited value' - ID cards would be of "limited value" against terror and would not have prevented the London attacks in July, says the reviewer of anti-terror laws. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile said he had changed his mind on identity cards, which he had previously backed. "I can't think of many terrorist incidents, in fact I can think of very few... that ID cards would have brought to an earlier end," he told GMTV.

• Police 'covered up' Menezes blunder - Special Branch officers launched a "blatant" cover-up to try to conceal their fatal role in the shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, it has been claimed. Undercover police tried to change a surveillance log to hide the fact they had mistakenly identified the 27-year-old electrician as a suspected suicide bomber, a newspaper has reported.        (RELATED: See our 'Jean Charles Menezes Assassination' archive)

• Now Mr Blair must tell us why we really went to war - The most serious accusation that can be made against a Prime Minister is that he knowingly misled Parliament. Such a charge would be graver still if the deception involved hiding from MPs - and the nation - that he was acting according to a secret agreement with a foreign power. And if the result of this were to be that this country went to war, a war which is quite possibly illegal and in which many British Servicemen and many innocent civilians have been killed or maimed, the offence might be so grave that the Prime Minister could face calls for his impeachment.

• Suspect Dies After Struck With Taser: Came After Police With Garden Hoe - The San Jose police department is investigating its third death of a suspect who was shot with a taser gun. Jorge Luis Trujillo died Friday. Officers used a taser to subdue Trujillo Wednesday night after they say he came after them with a garden hoe in the 1200 block of Woodborough Place.

• Big Google is watching you: Every web move you make is recorded for ever. And the Chinese government for one is getting wise to the potential, says John Lanchester - ‘Don’t be evil.” That’s the motto of Google, which was founded in 1997 and is now worth $129 billion (£72 billion), making it the fastest growing company in the history of the world. The mixture of unprecedented financial growth and squeaky-clean ethics has made Google the only company in the world which is perceived as simultaneously cool, successful and on the side of the good guys. Or at least that was the case until last week, when Google announced that it was switching its search facilities in China to servers based inside the country, and that as part of that process it would be co- operating with Chinese government censorship of the internet.

• ID cards 'will track where people go' - Anti-ID cards campaigners accused the Home Office yesterday of misleading parliament and the public over plans to include radio tracking devices in ID cards. Only last month, Andy Burnham, the Home Office minister, said in a parliamentary written answer that there were "no plans to use radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in ID cards". However, a leaked letter from Mr Burnham indicates that the chips will use radio frequencies to allow "contactless" reading of the card by special scanners.

• Australia: Has the police state arrived? - A close-circuit video camera in every bank, on every shop front, every shopping mall, every train station, every local government camera, any private business with a camera, every corner shop – centrally linked with live feeds to police command – not science fiction or a left-wing paranoia, but a reality in Australia's state of New South Wales – and soon to an urban center near you.

• Russia 'makes second arrest' over British spy scandal - The Foreign Office was last night making urgent diplomatic checks after it was reported that a fresh arrest has been made in Russia of a person accused of spying for Britain. The claim was made by the former head of the FSB security service, Nikolai Kovalyov, in an interview with a Russian TV channel due to be broadcast today. In an extract from the interview shown last night, Mr Kovalyov, now an MP, says that two people allegedly working as spies for Britain have been arrested in Moscow, adding: "Of course they are not silent, they are talking."

28th JANUARY 2006: -

• Rock producer Spector says mind clouded by Taser - Rock producer Phil Spector said in a sworn deposition made public on Friday he was sober when arrested in the shooting death of an actress but that his mind was clouded from having been zapped by police with a stun-gun. Contrary to police accounts that he appeared drunk when they arrived at his home after the February 2003 shooting, Spector said in the deposition he had not been drinking that night and was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when arrested. Instead, Spector repeated under oath his assertion that police had beaten and subdued him with a Taser-like device even though he was "being very cooperative" with them.

• Getting the kids used to the cashless society: Mastercard introduces credit cards for children - Mastercard is to introduce credit cards directly aimed at children, encouraging them to go into debt and consume products without the use of cash. Supporters regard the cards, which are issued by Bluecorner, as the natural step in an increasingly cashless society. They argue that the prepayment cards will familiarise children with plastic without spending too much. Says the London Times.

• Defense Minister Plays Down Brutal Torture Incident in Russian Army - Russia’s defense minister on Thursday downplayed a brutal attack that resulted in a conscript having his legs and genitals amputated, AP reported. A military commission has begun probing the incident, in which senior soldiers at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy forced Pvt. Andrei Sychev to squat for several hours, tied him to chairs and beat him, resulting in gangrenous infection, prosecutors say.

• Cars burn as anger at Fatah poll defeat turns to violence - Cars were set alight and buildings vandalised in Gaza yesterday as thousands of mainly young members of Fatah angrily denounced the party's leadership for this week's spectacular electoral defeat by Hamas. In the worst outbreak of violence since Wednesday's election a mob converged on the local Gaza outpost of the Palestinian parliament, led by gunmen firing in the air, calling for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, to resign and rejecting any coalition with Hamas.

• AG's memo raises questions on Patriot Act: Suggests it's not needed for domestic spying - A footnote in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's 42-page legal memo defending President Bush's domestic spying program appears to argue that the administration does not need Congress to extend the USA Patriot Act in order to keep using the law's investigative powers against terror suspects. The memo states that Congress gave Bush the power to investigate terror suspects using whatever tactics he deemed necessary when it authorized him to use force against Al Qaeda. When Congress later passed the Patriot Act, Bush already had the power to use enhanced surveillance techniques against Al Qaeda, according to the footnote.

• Broadcaster says serious news at risk - The anchorman whose boss once characterized him as ice compared with his successor's fire was anything but chilly in the impassioned speech he delivered Tuesday at The Society of the Four Arts. "Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news," said Aaron Brown, whose four-year period as anchor of CNN's NewsNight ended in November, when network executives gave his job to Anderson Cooper in a bid to push the show's ratings closer to front-runner Fox News.

• 'Grand Theft Auto' makers sued by US city: The makers of the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are being sued for allegedly hiding pornographic material in the game, officials said - Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said today his office sued game developer Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, for allegedly violating the state's business code by making misleading statements in marketing the game and engaging in unfair competition. The game, released in October 2004, features characters who commit crimes such as murder, drug dealing and pimping. The game also had an embedded "mini game" in which characters could engage in explicit sexual acts.

• ITN journalist arrested over Stockwell shooting case: AN ITN journalist has been arrested over a story the station broadcast about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes - ITV are standing by their story revealing that the innocent Brazilian was held down by armed police at Stockwell underground station while bullets were pumped into his head. The reporter has been arrested on suspicion of theft by detectives investigating the leaking of statements from the official inquiry. The arrest comes as police anxiously await the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over whether any police officers should face criminal charges following the fatal shooting on 22nd July last year.

• A watched America is not a free America - I stopped for gas on my way home last night, inserting my credit card into the reader at the gas pump at the Exxon station on North Main Street in Floyd, Virginia. It cost just under $40 to fill the 19-gallon gas tank on my Jeep Wrangler. With the tank filled, I retrieved the receipt and climbed back into the Jeep but before I could start the engine a bank of high speed computers operated by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at 3801 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia, 300 miles away, already knew I had purchased 17.3 gallons of unleaded regular at $2.29.9 a gallon in a small community in the Blue Ridge Mountain. The computer compared that purchase with my last gas purchase – 14.7 gallons at the Travel America Truckstop just outside Roanoke four days ago and added the information to the computerized profile it keeps on me and millions of other American citizens.

• Galloway: I was promised soapbox - George Galloway has said he was promised he could use Celebrity Big Brother as a "soapbox" for his political views. As he returned to his Bethnal Green and Bow constituency office, the MP said he had been told he would not be censored. Mr Galloway said he went in the house to gain a platform for his Respect party but his views were blanked out. Channel 4 said: "George was aware that we are bound to operate under the Ofcom broadcasting guidelines."

27th JANUARY 2006: -

• APOLOGIES TO ALL OF THE VISITORS WHO HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO VIEW CREMATIONOFCARE.COM TODAY - WE ARE CURRENTLY IN THE PROCESS OF INCREASING OUR BANDWIDTH LIMITS - SERVICES SHALL RESUME AS NORMAL VERY SOON.

26th JANUARY 2006: -

• Baby, I'm desperate - Wannabes queued up to conceive a baby with a stranger live on air for a £100,000 prize. The show was a spoof, but what does it say about reality TV? It started as a challenge - to come up with the ultimate tasteless reality TV show and test the boundaries of the format.

• Labour ID card rebellion weakens - Labour MPs opposed to identity cards believe that they will not rally enough support to defeat the proposal in the Commons because potential new rebels are preparing to concentrate their fire on education reforms instead. While maintaining their own opposition to the Identity Card Bill, a number of Labour MPs who voted against the measure last year believe that the Government has done a good enough job in explaining the need for ID cards to prevent a bigger rebellion. Mike Wood, the MP for Batley and Spen, an opponent of the Bill, said: "Opposition in the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] is lessening."

• Britain commits 3,300 more troops to Afghanistan - More than 3,300 British troops are to be sent to patrol and rebuild a lawless province of southern Afghanistan, the Defence Secretary announced today. A force of 850 servicepeople drawn from 39 Regiment Royal Engineers, and 42 Commando Royal Marines will be sent out first to Helmand province to build a camp for the main deployment of 3,300, which should be completed by July, John Reid said in a Commons statement.

• 24' hours of torture-loving - The new season of "24" has begun and my fellow devotees already have glowing things to say about it. I find the shows so compelling that I never watch them on network television; I wait for the DVD so I can watch them without interruption. But when I finally get to watch this season, I will come to it with a new sense of skepticism. You see, "24" may not express overt political partisanship, but there's little doubt about its cheap, manipulative messages. For one thing, it rather dislikes people who express doubts about the efficacy, pervasiveness and immediacy of the threat posed by terrorism. Fair enough. For another, the show is ardently, unambiguously, proselytizingly pro-torture.

25th JANUARY 2006: -

• Google submits to China censorship - Online search engine leader Google, in a bid to strengthen its competitive position in the world's second-largest Internet market, launched its first local site, Google.cn. But to do so, it agreed - as its competitors have already - to censor its search results to comply with mainland laws and regulations.

• Iran accuses UK of bombing link - Iran has accused the UK of co-operating with bombers who killed eight people in attacks in the restive south-western city of Ahwaz on Tuesday. "Britain must respond to the doubts of Iranians concerning the events," said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Mr Mottaki said the masterminds of the bombing "or people of their mind" had been photographed with UK officials.   (RELATED: See our 'Problem > Reaction > Solution' archive for more background info)

• BANK OF AMERICA & COMPASS BANK MANAGERS WERE TOLD HOMELAND SECURITY WILL CONFISCATE SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES - A family member from Irvine, CA (who’s a branch manager at Bank of America) told us two weeks ago that her bank held a "workshop" where the last two days were dedicated to discussing their bank’s new security measures. During these last two days, the workshop included members from the Homeland Security Office who instructed them on how to field calls from customers and what they are to tell them in the event of a national disaster. She said they were told how only agents from Homeland Security (during such an event) would be in charge of opening safe deposit boxes and determining what items would be given to bank customers.

• New super-gun to be tested in Feb - Next month a new high-explosive munition will be fired in Singapore and then tested again by the U.S. Army, heralding what may be a sea change in weaponry: a gun that can fire 240,000 rounds per minute. That's compared to 60 rounds per minute in a standard military machine gun. Metal Storm Inc., a munitions company headquartered in Virginia but with its roots in Australia, has been developing a gun that can shoot at blistering speeds, albeit in short bursts as each barrel is reloaded.

• Unfathomed Dangers in Patriot Act Reauthorization: Patriot Police - A provision in the "Patriot Act" creates a new federal police force with power to violate the Bill of Rights. You might think that this cannot be true as you have not read about it in newspapers or heard it discussed by talking heads on TV. Go to House Report 109-333 - USA PATRIOT IMPROVEMENT AND REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 and check it out for yourself. Sec. 605 reads: "There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the 'United States Secret Service Uniformed Division'."

24th JANUARY 2006: -

• Peers reject ID-card database plans as attack on freedom - Angry peers last night invoked the memory of fascist regimes which forced citizens to carry their papers as they tore the heart out of the Government's planned legislation for identity cards. The House of Lords overturned proposals to place everyone who applies for a new passport or driving licence on the database that will underpin the controversial scheme.  (COMMENTARY: The National Biometric Database of course continues to be constructed, encompassing information gathered whenever a citizen applies for a passport or drivers licence. And when put into context with all of the ‘Anti-terror’ scanners and Orwellian surveillance systems that are being implemented up and down the country, you have to ask the question, what exactly – if at all- is the setback?)

• Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has claimed the Foreign Office and the media are controlled by Jews. Under cross-examination, he told the Old Bailey he did not believe in the state of Israel "because it means state of my death - holocaust". And he said Jews in the UK and the US also "controlled money supply". Mr Abu Hamza, 47, from west London, denies 15 charges including soliciting others to murder Jews and other non-Muslims and inciting racial hatred. "There are people who are Zionists who live outside (Israel) who are helping Zionists in Israel," he told the court on his fourth day in the witness box.

• Britain 'ordered torture of 9/11 suspect' - A Moroccan wanted in Spain over his alleged links to the 9/11 attackers today told his extradition hearing he had been tortured on the "direct orders" of British intelligence. Farid Hilali said the alleged torture took place while he was being held by the intelligence services of the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. The hearing, at the high court in London, was adjourned to give the government the opportunity to deal with the accusation.

• Are Governments Searching For Subversives Through School Exams? - According to the Resistance Blog, A-level students (16-18) in Britain are being asked questions about alternative 9/11 beliefs, conspiracy theories and how much faith they have in government. Is this part of a vetting process to try and identify the next generation of political dissidents or is it simply an assessment of how deep the alternative truth movement has penetrated the mass collective unconscious?

• Report alleges 'outsourcing of torture' by US: Council of Europe report says European governments knew rendition was happening, despite claims to the contrary - Despite claims to the contrary, European governments probably knew that the US was flying prisoners across their territory for "interrogation and torture" in other countries, a report claims Tuesday. The interim report from the 46-nation Council of Europe confirms the rendition of more than 100 prisoners through Europe, but it also found "no firm evidence" of a network of secret prisons in Europe. The Council of Europe is guardian of the Human Rights Convention, to which all 25 European nations are signatories.

23rd JANUARY 2006: -

• Former US spy slams UK's ID card plans: "Governments abuse their power. That's a fact," says former NSA agent - A former US spy turned leading privacy activist has slammed the UK's ID card plans, saying they will weaken national security and lead to abuses of government power. Bill Scannell is a former agent at the National Security Agency (NSA) and now a huge privacy advocate, currently heading up a campaign against the introduction of a national driving licence across the US.

• Bush defends practice of secret surveillance (yet again) - President George W. Bush defended a secret surveillance program and questioned Iranian nuclear ambitions during a relaxed appearance Monday at a Kansas university that lasted nearly two hours. The president spoke on a serious topic - the "global war on terrorism" - at a packed indoor coliseum at Kansas State University in Manhattan. He aggressively defended the National Security Agency's surveillance of communications between terror suspects abroad and people in the United States.

• DANGEROUS PRECEDENTS: Japanese Biometric Cell Phone - Japanese Radio has introduced a new phone targeted at security conscious business users. The Willcom WX310J includes a biometric fingerprint scanner in the center of the phone for security. In order to gain access to the phone you must swipe your finger over the scanner. The phone apparently comes with the added ability to secure your computer. By plugging it in to your PC, you can lock up the desktop so that it can only be accessed once your fingerprint has been authenticated.

• We don't live in a police state yet, but we're heading there: With barely a protest, Britain's liberties are being eroded in the name of a dubious campaign against terrorism and crime - The argument for social control goes like this: if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear from a national data bank of identity/the terrorism act/the tapping of MPs' phones/the use of the public-order act to control protest and limit free expression/the new powers of arrest/the retention of DNA samples taken from innocent juveniles.

• U.K. Lords Defeat Government Plan to Make ID Cards Compulsory - Britain's House of Lords rejected government plans to make a system of national identity cards compulsory, dealing a second blow to Prime Minister Tony Blair's flagship proposal for fighting fraud in just over a week. The upper chamber of Parliament voted 186-142 for an amendment that would make registration voluntary. On Jan. 16, the Lords backed an amendment that would force the government to provide an audited estimate of the costs of introducing the cards.

• Blair evades questions over British 'spy ring' - Tony Blair today dodged questions about accusations made by the Russian security service, the FSB, that British spies at the embassy in Moscow had been caught "red handed" using high-tech gadgetry to collect intelligence. The FSB has backed up the claims, first made on a television programme last night, that four spies at the British embassy in Moscow had been using a secret transmitter device hidden underneath a fake stone in a central square. The programme also said a UK diplomat made regular payments to Russian non-governmental organisations.

• DAVID ICKE'S REAPPEARANCE ON 'WOGAN': It could be the 1980s all over again as the broadcasting phenomenon that is Sir Terry finds himself back in the armchair with a new chat show on UKTV Gold.  David Icke had better watch out - ...The remainder of the interview consisted of a stream-of-consciousness from Icke on how the world and international media are run by a sinister cabal, while Wogan interjected with the occasional "But who are these hidden hands?" and "But America is an open society, isn't it?". This latter comment provided the only burst of laughter from the studio audience as Icke retorted: "Oh pur-leese, I've got some seafront property in Birmingham Terry you might like to buy. And they say I'm crazy."   (COMMENTARY:  I believe that David Icke has recently opened a new online bookstore at www.davidickebooks.co.uk - researchers may want to check out the material on offer. Although it may not be up everyone's street, it is certainly well put together and worth looking at).

22nd JANUARY 2006: -

• Security checks raise privacy concerns: The government wants Registered Travelers to go through even more extensive background checks - Airline passengers who buy a preapproved security pass could have their credit histories and property records examined as part of the government's plan to turn over the Registered Traveler program to private companies. In announcing the plan Friday, the Transportation Security Administration said the Registered Traveler card would let frequent fliers go through airport security lines more quickly if they pay a fee, pass a government background check and submit 10 fingerprints. The program will begin June 20.

• Westminster 'misled' over CIA torture flights - Pressure over the use of British airports for secret CIA torture flights increased dramatically yesterday after it emerged that a Foreign Office minister misled Parliament over a meeting between the UN and UK civil servants about the issue. The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Lord Triesman, the Foreign Office minister, misled peers when he told the House of Lords that no such meeting had ever occurred.

• Google in court over refusal to let US examine search requests - GOOGLE users will face US government monitoring if the American authorities win a court case aimed at getting the website to hand over copies of every search conducted. The world’s most popular search engine, used by 90 million people every month, has been asked to hand over an entire week of search requests made at Google.com. The US Department of Justice wants the information to help it to establish how much child pornography is available on the internet, but Google is unhappy that it is being used as part of what it calls a “research experiment”. Although the contents of most searches are anonymously entered phrases such as “weather in Rome”, some could reveal personal information.

• Confronting the Evidence: A Call To Reopen the 9/11 Investigation - Jimmy Walter is the multi-millionaire who is seeking to expose the lies of 9/11... 'To get a free copy of the DVD produced by Jimmy Walter and ReOpen911.org subtitled in 10 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese, please complete the information on this link. We ask you to pass the DVD along to a friend or better yet, host a party.'

21st JANUARY 2006: -

• 24,000 'innocents' on DNA database - DNA profiles of 24,000 juveniles who have never been cautioned, charged or convicted of an offence are stored on the UK database, it has been disclosed. MP Grant Shapps obtained the Home Office figures when a constituent's son was wrongly arrested in a case of mistaken identity and DNA taken. After protests, the local chief constable agreed to remove the teenager's details, but Mr Shapps then discovered profiles of 24,000 youngsters aged 10 to 18 were stored. "Police can take information without asking permission from parents since a change in the law in April 2004 and you can't get details removed even though they are not guilty," he said.

• MIND CONTROLLING A GENERATION: Homeland Security to launch preparedness program for kids - After more than a year of delays, the Department of Homeland Security says it plans to launch a preparedness program next month aimed at alerting and preparing children for terror attacks and natural disasters. The program, called Ready Kids, is scheduled to roll out with TV ads, school programs and other events. "Ready Kids is a tool for parents and teachers to use to be able to speak to their students and children about how to be prepared for any type of disaster," said DHS spokeswoman Joanna Gonzalez.

• Police State in the US and Canada: The Radio Frequency ID Card: Tracking device that will tell authorities where the holder is at any time - Let us be very clear! The radio frequency ID now required in the USA and intended for Canada is a tracking device that will tell authorities where the holder of this PASS card is at any time.

• Bin Laden tapes: Fact or fiction? - The audiotapes of OSAMA BIN LADEN have become an important medium between AL-QAEDA network and the outside world. If authentic, these tapes could enable BIN LADEN to convey his opinions to his enemies and followers, issue threats and even claim responsibility for terror attacks carried out by his group. It is obvious that the usefulness of such tapes cannot be questioned, but how can people be sure of their origin and authenticity? Little time is dedicated to such examinations. But an analysis can really influence the way we judge similar evidence in the future. There is no reason whatsoever to believe that these audiotapes are authentic. While they are always followed by reports of scientific voice analyses, these studies have been invariably done by CIA experts. In fact, only one occasion was an independent analysis done. And while American officials were certain of the tape’s authenticity, Swedish scientists were convinced that it was fake.

20th JANUARY 2006: -

• Straw denies cover-up of rendition flights (Anyone want to buy a used car?) - The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, today denied there had been any cases of so-called extraordinary rendition involving the UK about which parliament had not been informed. Mr Straw was forced to rush out a written ministerial statement after the leak of a memo from the Foreign Office to No 10 suggested that there could have been more requests from the United States than the four about which parliament has been told.

• Grocery stores add gadgets to speed shopping - With self-checkout stations now commonplace at grocery stores around the country, a new generation of technology is taking convenience to a whole new level. Shoppers can pay with the swipe of a fingertip, ring up groceries as they place them in their carts and even track down recipes as they navigate the aisles. The technology, which ranges from hand-held scanners to stand-up kiosks, is being tested at stores in Charlotte, N.C., and selected cities across the country.

• Cheney Says Domestic Surveillance Vital: Vice President Dick Cheney Calls Domestic Surveillance Program Essential to U.S. Security - Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday defended the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program, saying it is an essential tool in monitoring al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. But Cheney stressed that the program was limited and conducted in a way that safeguarded civil liberties.

• ‘Stun gun’ introduced - A safer alternative to combating terrorism and violence in the community has been unveiled by Surrey Police, to coincide with a nationwide initiative. The "taser" is a pistol-like electrical device designed to incapacitate targets rather than injure them. It has been well publicised in the fight against terror where officers have faced potentially dangerous suspects.

• NEW MEXICO BEGINS PROCESS TO BAN ASPARTAME - A senate bill to rid New Mexico of what has been called "Rumsfeld's Disease" was introduced Thursday by Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, as 15 other senators from both sides of isle also signed on, supporting legislation to ban the deadly artificial sweetener, aspartame. Linked to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his efforts in the 1970s for putting the sweetener on the market, New Mexico is the first state to consider banning the artificial additive linked to numerous ill-health affects, including cancer. If passed, no food containing any amount of the sweetener could be manufactured, sold or delivered in Mew Mexico, beginning July 1.

• Blair rejects demands to drop ID card plans - Prime Minister Tony Blair, has stoutly rejected the Opposition's demand to reconsider his controversial plans to introduce ID cards in Britain, insisting that it was needed to tackle illegal migration, crime and identity fraud. "The ID cards are needed to fight identity fraud and illegal immigration," Blair told the House of Commons after Conservative party leader David Cameron claimed the scheme was becoming a monument to the failure of big government. Rejecting claims by Cameron that Chancellor Gordon Brown was also opposed to the idea, Blair said: "I certainly can give a guarantee that the government as a whole is absolutely behind identity cards."

• BRITAIN: MEMO REVEALS GOVERNMENT STRATEGY TO DENY TORTURE FLIGHTS - The British government has prepared a secret strategy aimed at rebutting accusations that it knew of covert US "torture flights" two British publications have alleged. The Guardian daily and the New Statesman weekly base their allegations on an internal memo sent by the British foreign office to prime minister Tony Blair's offices. The document, a copy of which has been obtained by the New Statesman, shows that the government has been aware terrorism suspects captured by US and British security forces may have been sent to secret interrogation centres.

• Sex offenders 'could still teach' - Sex offenders could still be allowed to teach in schools despite Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's promised crackdown, an MP has warned. Ms Kelly announced a complete ban on anyone who has been convicted or cautioned for sex offences against children from working in schools. But, the automatic ban is not retrospective and anyone already convicted or cautioned for a child sex offence will instead go before an independent review panel.

• Mind over matter could cure back pain - Mental exercises could be just as effective as physically working the muscles to ease back pain, researchers have suggested. Their work could bring relief to the thousands of chronic back pain sufferers in the UK. The study, published in the journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, found that training the mind was just as effective as using more physical methods to deal with chronic lower back pain.

• Money really does worry us sick - Money worries are a significant cause of worry, anxiety and stress according to GP and leading mental health expert, Dr Roger Henderson, who has published a paper identifying the condition Money Sickness Syndrome (MSS). Almost half (43%) of the UK adult population is affected by money worries and have experienced MSS symptoms, and in support of the work Dr Henderson has done AXA has conducted national research to explore the extent of the problem and better understand its implications.

19th JANUARY 2006: -

• GIVE US FINGERPRINTS SO YOU CAN PICK UP YOUR KIDS FROM NURSERY HI-TECH SCANNER ON DOOR - A NURSERY has become the first to install a James Bond-style fingerprint-scanner entry system to keep its youngsters safe. Parents have had their prints fed into a computer which is used to identify them every time they call to drop off or pick up their child. The system is similar to the security measures used to protect military and government buildings. Nursery manager Sue Charlton said: "It is using technology to create the safest possible environment for parents and children. It is a much more efficient way of doing checks."

• SYMBOLISM: THE CABLE-TOW - During initiation rituals of many Satanically inspired religious ceremonies, a common theme crops up in which the initiate (traditionally a male - although not always) is made to accept a noose being placed around their neck. In doing so, the initiate is actively gesturing that they surrender their life and faith to the 'Brotherhood' and that they will gladly 'hang themself' for the higher purpose, or those further up in the Brotherhood hierarchy. In many cases - Satan himself.

• Father of all plots: the kidnap that wasn't and the end of a protest group - It was a story guaranteed to grab headlines; Special Branch officers had foiled a plot by Fathers4Justice to kidnap the Prime Minister's five-year-old son Leo. Members at the "extreme" fringes of the organisation had been overheard talking about the plot, which would be a bid to gain publicity for their cause.

• Men enjoy revenge more than women do - Men get greater satisfaction than women from seeing someone they dislike suffer pain, according to a study of how people react when witnessing revenge. Scientists found highly significant differences between the two sexes in terms of how the male and the female brain responds to acts of retribution. Both men and women feel empathy towards people they know experiencing pain but in men the empathy turns to pleasure when the victim is someone they dislike.

• Proponent of referendum petition drive says questioning by police led to pulling of sheets - Months after collecting signatures for last year’s failed effort to force a citywide referendum on downtown, Mike Saman got a phone call from the police about his work on the referendum. The former Republican City Council candidate said recently he got a message from a police detective who wanted to talk to him about "a criminal investigation."

18th JANUARY 2006: -

• MEP's call on rendition flights - The Scottish Executive has been asked to co-operate fully with a new European committee's investigation into US flights carrying terror suspects. It follows a report by the SNP which it believes details US intelligence flights through Scottish airports. The party said the document lists in detail the planes, dates on which they landed and 10 firms which allegedly operated on behalf of the CIA. The executive said it has no knowledge of Scottish airports being used.

• BNP leader 'predicted UK terror attacks' - The leader of the British National Party predicted that Islamic terrorists would set off bombs in major British cities causing blood on the streets more than a year before the July 7 attacks, a court heard today. Nick Griffin, 45, and fellow party activist Mark Collett, 24, are on trial on a series of race-hate charges arising out of speeches featured in an undercover BBC documentary.    (COMMENTARY: This is not exactly a good example of 'prediction' - the fact that a racist political frontman like Nick Griffin can even rub two brain-cells together and say 'right, those black-faced ones are going to bomb us!' is no surprise.  I have had a number of debates with those peddling the party line of fear who frequently use the cop out "They're gonna blow us up unless... " in order to empower their argument.  Real hate-mongers like Nick Griffin use this all the time, because they know that eventually when something is blown up, they can give it the whole "I told you so" answer.)

• Universities applaud rejection of terror bill clause - Universities today welcomed a resounding defeat in the House of Lords for the government over a clause in the terrorism bill that they feared would penalise lecturers and librarians. It was the second reverse inflicted by opposition and crossbench peers on a bill that has caused continual problems for the government in its attempts to crack down on terrorist activity in the wake of the bombings in London on July 7 last year. MPs voted down plans to hold terror suspects for up to 90 days - Tony Blair's first Commons defeat.

• Torontonians greet Guardian Angels as police, politicians give cold shoulder - Walking through a rundown Toronto neighbourhood where two young men were shot dead last year, members of the Guardian Angels civilian patrol group received a warm welcome Saturday, despite some critics saying their presence could incite further violence. "I know they're upsetting a good part of the Toronto city council and I know they're upsetting the mayor, but frankly, I don't have any eloquent way to put it: We don't care, we need some sort of presence," said Andrew Ferguson, while walking his dog in the Parkdale community.

17th JANUARY 2006: -

• Mental illness linked to diet - According to new research released this week, mental health is linked to diet and changes to diets over the last 50 years may hold the key to the rise of mental illness. The findings support a growing body of evidence that food can have an effect upon a person's mental health and behaviour that is both immediate and long lasting because of the way it affects the structure and function of the brain. Food campaigners Sustain and the Mental Health Foundation say the way food is now produced has altered the balance of the key nutrients people consume.

• Defeat in Lords fails to deter ministers over terror bill - Ministers vowed on Tuesday to push ahead with controversial plans to make the “glorification” of terrorism an offence despite suffering an overwhelming 126-vote defeat in the House of Lords. In the second Lords’ defeat for the government in two days, Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers united to vote 270 to 144 to remove the offence of glorification from the bill. The government shrugged off the vote, pledging to restore the clause when the bill goes to the Commons next month. “It’s a manifesto commitment and we will re-introduce it in the Commons,” one official said.

• Small brothels may be legalised - The law could be changed to allow up to three prostitutes to work legally in a brothel, the Government has said. Currently only one prostitute can work from a single address without breaking the law. Launching the Home Office's new prostitution strategy, minister Fiona Mactaggart said the current law meant women were forced to work in unsafe conditions. Ms Mactaggart said the three working together could include a "maid" or receptionist. She added: "My understanding is that it should be two women working as a prostitute but they might have a receptionist. "I'm not encouraging the commercial sale of women's bodies.

• Bug Spray Use Linked to Childhood Leukemia - Exposure to bug spray during pregnancy and in early childhood has been associated with a doubling of the risk for acute leukemia, French researchers reported. The association included not only insecticides used during household gardening but also the shampoo used to treat lice, investigators reported in the January issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The associations remained significant after accounting for other factors, such as socioeconomic status.

• Protect consumers' digital rights, British MPs urged - A U.K. consumer rights watchdog has urged new laws to protect consumers' digital rights. The National Consumer Council told a parliamentary inquiry into digital rights management that companies are already eroding consumer rights. The inquiry is studying technologies that limit what people can do with CDs, DVDs and downloaded recordings. Consumers cannot make compilations for their own use or move recordings from one device to another because of anti-piracy technology installed by recording companies and film distributors, the NCC said.

• THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!: Walking could 'ward off dementia' - Regular walks could help to ward off dementia among the over 65s, according to a new study. Those who take a 15-minute walk just three times a week are up to 40 per cent less likely to develop dementia than those who are less active. US researchers followed the progress of over 1,700 volunteers for six years. All were over 65 years old and in good health.

• SIGN OF THE TIMES: Having children 'is bad for your mental health' - If you thought that the joys of watching your young ones grow up was one of life's simple pleasures, think again. Parenthood is actually bad for your mental health, according to the latest research. George Clooney, the actor who famously vowed never to have children, seems destined to live a happier life than many of his Hollywood peers, according to a new report which found that parents suffer greater depression than people without children. The study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, surveyed 13,017 adults who were asked how many times in the past week they had experienced symptoms of depression.

16th JANUARY 2006: -

• Junk food link to mental illness - CHANGES in diet over the past 50 years appear to be an important factor behind a significant rise in mental ill health, say two new British reports. The Mental Health Foundation said yesterday that studies had clearly linked attention deficit disorder, depression, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia to junk food and the absence of essential fats, vitamins and minerals in industrialised diets.

• Conservatives say reform police to tackle crime - Conservative leader David Cameron called on Monday for a "fundamental shake-up" of policing, saying the service should be modernised so that underperforming officers could be fired. "You can't be tough on crime unless you are also tough on police reform", he said in a speech in east London. "Police pay and conditions must be modernised to ensure much better police performance. That means, amongst other things, making it easier to sack officers who aren't performing."   (COMMENTARY: In other words, they want to make it easier to get rid of those 'old school' cops who wont want to go along with the militarisation of the police which is in store for us!)

• MP phone tap ban 'may be lifted' - The Cabinet is considering allowing the tapping of MPs' telephones, Defence Secretary John Reid has acknowledged. The covert surveillance has been banned for 40 years under a convention known as the Wilson Doctrine. Mr Reid told ITV1's Dimbleby that the proposal to lift the ban was suggested by the Interception of Communications Commissioner Sir Swinton Thomas.

• ID cards dealt double blow in Lords - The Government's plan for identity cards suffered a double blow this evening after Lords ordered a detailed investigation into the cost of the scheme and demanded a more secure method of recording and storing citizens’ personal information. Peers voted by 237 to 156, a majority of 81, on an amendment ordering an inquiry to put a precise figure on the revenue and capital costs of implementing the controversial Identity Cards Bill. The Government suffered a second defeat when peers voted by 206 to 144, a majority of 62, to demand a secure and reliable method of recording and storing citizens’ personal data.

• Iran bans CNN for misquoting president - Iran has banned activities of the U.S.-based CNN TV channel for its misinterpretation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. Press cards of CNN reporters are being invalid and CNN reporters will not longer be granted press cards because they have violated professional ethics, a statement of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance was quoted as saying. However, the statement said any revision in the decision "depends on performance of CNN in future."

• EU dockers' protest turns violent - Police in Strasbourg have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse dock workers who marched to the European Parliament in a mass protest. Protesters threw firecrackers, stones and metal missiles, smashing windows and causing "considerable damage". The dockers, from across the EU, had converged on Strasbourg to protest at controversial proposals to open up port services to greater competition.

• Police to test the business case for using biometric face recognition - The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) has been given a mandate from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to develop a business case for the deployment of face recognition technology on a national basis for the police service. A pre-requisite for such a capability is the creation of a national mugshot database and PITO's FIND project (Facial Images National Database) is currently working to deliver this to the police forces of England, Wales and Scotland. The FIND project end-game is the provision of a national database of facial images to which still/video facial images, marks, scars and tattoos can be stored, retrieved and shared between forces. Such images will be taken to agreed standards, linked to a person's criminal history record on the Police National Computer and used to support the identification and apprehension of persons arrested for, or convicted of, criminal offences.

15th JANUARY 2006: -

• Anti-US anger mounts in Pakistan after airstrikes - Leaders of Pakistan's opposition Islamic alliance – the Muttahida Majlis e Amal [MMA] - were preparing on Sunday to launch a fresh campaign against president Pervez Musharraf's government, as anti-US anger mounted in the wake of US airstrikes on a remote village in the north. The weekend attack, believed to have been carried out by a CIA-operated unmanned drone aircrafts on Friday, left at least 18 people dead including women and children. But Pakistani officials said Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command believed to have been targeted by the US, was nowhere near the site of the strike.

• Brown mades call for British pride - Britons should not shy away from showing more patriotism because it would help create a more defined sense of what it means to be British in the modern world, Chancellor Gordon Brown said on Saturday. Speaking at a meeting of Labour supporters, Brown called on Britons to "embrace the Union flag", a symbol which has become increasingly associated with the far right or hooligans. "We should assert that the Union flag is a flag for tolerance and inclusion," Brown, widely tipped to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister within the next couple of years, said. "All the United Kingdom should honour it, not ignore it; and we should assert that the Union flag is a flag for tolerance and inclusion."   (COMMENTARY: Yes lets all rally behind Gordon (Bilderberger 'Let's sell the UK out to Europe' &Trilateral Commissioner) Brown and cling to what makes Britain 'British' like Fish and Chips, Bridget Jones, children waving a plastic Union Jack (made by slaves in China)... in the mean time were sinking into police state hell and being taken over by private foreign companies, loyal to the globalists - but let's not talk about that!, you're not one of those wierdos are you?).

• USDA Using Satellites to Monitor Farmers - Satellites have monitored crop conditions around the world for decades, helping traders predict futures prices in commodities markets and governments anticipate crop shortages. But those satellite images are now increasingly turning up in courtrooms across the nation as the Agriculture Department's Risk Management Agency cracks down on farmers involved in crop insurance fraud. The Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency, which helps farmers get loans and payments from a number of its programs, also uses satellite imaging to monitor compliance.

• US giant takes over GP practices - A giant US health firm is to take over GP services in Derbyshire, starting what is expected to be a new era of private sector involvement in the NHS. The European arm of United Health has been chosen by local health chiefs to run two practices. The move comes as the government prepares to unveil new plans for NHS community services later this month. Ministers have already indicated they want more private and voluntary sector involvement in NHS community services.

• Bush to criminalize protesters under Patriot Act as "disruptors" - Bush wants to create the new criminal of "disruptor" who can be jailed for the crime of "disruptive behavior." A "little-noticed provision" in the latest version of the Patriot Act will empower Secret Service to charge protesters with a new crime of "disrupting major events including political conventions and the Olympics." Secret Service would also be empowered to charge persons with "breaching security" and to charge for "entering a restricted area" which is "where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting." In short, be sure to stay in those wired, fenced containments or free speech zones.

• Campaigners hold vigil against alleged CIA torture flights - Human rights campaigners are holding a vigil outside the US consulate in Edinburgh today against alleged CIA torture flights touching down on Scottish soil. It's been claimed flights transferring prisoners in American custody to foreign countries for interrogation have landed at Scottish airports. Today's vigil follows demonstrations by Scotland Against Criminalising Communities and Stop the War Coalition outside the country's airports last month.

• GENETICALLY MODIFIED PEAS CAUSED DANGEROUS IMMUNE RESPONSE, PART 1 of 2: NewsWithViews.com - Genetically modified (GM) peas under development created immune responses in mice, suggesting that they may also create serious allergic reactions in people. The peas had been inserted with a gene from kidney beans, which creates a protein that acts as a pesticide. When this protein is produced naturally in beans, it does not elicit a response from mice. When produced in the GM peas, however, it did cause a reaction. Using sensitive testing methods, scientists discovered subtle differences between the bean and the GM proteins—the added sugar chains were slightly different. They speculate that this difference caused the immune reactions. Based on the results of the study, the Australian developers abandoned their 10-year, $2 million project.

14th JANUARY 2006: -

• DTI suggests iPods as ID card alternative - A government manager has suggested that everyone should be given an iPod in the fight against online fraud, ZDnet UK has reported. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) head of applications and data services Patrick Cooper suggested that iPods or mobile phones could be installed with a user specific digital certificate, which could be used during transactions with both private and public websites. Mr Cooper said that the idea could be an efficient solution to identity management problems, claiming that the proliferation of broadband connections such as ADSL had come at a price of security. "If you had a mobile phone with a digital certificate you could dock it into your PC - an iPod with a digital certificate would also work," said Mr Cooper to a gathering organised by software house Adobe.

• Japan to build own surveillance plane - Japan will soon start selecting long-endurance, unmanned spy planes that it intends to introduce in fiscal 2007. Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters Wednesday in London that he expected the drones to allow his agency to gather ballistic missile launch information quickly, apparently aiming to bolster Japan's reconnaissance capabilities to keep watch against North Korea and other potential threats.

• US terror strategy illegal: expert - US policies in the war on terror are contravening international laws on human rights, a top European investigator says. "The strategy in place today respects neither human rights nor the Geneva Conventions," said Dick Marty, the head of a European investigation into alleged CIA prisons in Europe. "The current administration in Washington is trying to combat terrorism outside legal means, the rule of law." Marty, a Swiss politician leading the probe on behalf of the Council of Europe, said there was no question that the CIA was undertaking illegal activities in Europe in its transportation and detention of prisoners.

• Student With Pellet Gun Is Shot at His School - A 15-year-old student who took a pellet gun to class was shot by a deputy on Friday in a confrontation at the Milwee Middle School here, law enforcement officials said. The boy was reported to be on life support. The teenager, identified as Christopher Penley, was shot once by Lt. Mike Weippert after he pointed a weapon at the officer, Sheriff Don Eslinger of Seminole County said. Sheriff Department SWAT team members cornered the boy in a restroom alcove and pleaded with him to drop the weapon, the sheriff said, but he refused and aimed it at Lieutenant Weippert. At a news conference, officials displayed the weapon, a black pellet gun that resembled a 9 millimeter Beretta.

• WRITER IS JAILED FOR THIRTY YEARS FOR CRITICISING THE U.S. PUPPET GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ: A lot of conflicting reports have been circulating about the legal case involving Dr. Kamal Sayid Qadir, who was arrested according to law and an established court system for writing an article criticising the puppet U.S.-led government in Iraqi Kurdistan - In accordance with law no. 21, article 1, enacted by the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA) in 2003 pertaining to defamation of public institutions, Dr. Qadir, a leading Kurdish academic and one of the region's most prominent writers, has been sent to jail for 30 years for harshly criticising leaders of the U.S.-backed, KDP.

• I cleared sex offender to teach, admits Howells - The minister who cleared registered sex offender Paul Reeve to work with children was revealed last night as Kim Howells. Mr Howells, 59, was Higher Education Minister when he approved the case, allowing Reeve to be employed as a PE teacher. The Government had refused to confirm which of the six junior ministers dealt with the case on May 5 last year. Now a Foreign Office Minister, Mr Howells's office had insisted he was abroad and therefore could not be contacted.

• New Body Screeners in use in London: We are living in a dystopian nightmare... Witness The "Panopticon" mass surveillance prison in operation - A high-tech body scanner for detecting would-be terrorists has been unveiled at London's Paddington station ahead of a four-week trial, the BBC reports. Passengers will be randomly selected to pass through the seven-metre box at the Heathrow Express platforms, while baggage is also screened. Other technology being tested includes advanced closed circuit television systems programmed to sound an alarm when they spot suspicious behaviour.

• Calling a police horse gay almost cost my job - An Ulster student last night spoke of his relief at hearing he will not be prosecuted for calling a mounted policeman's horse "gay". Sam Brown (21), a former student at Oxford University, was arrested for making homophobic remarks during a night out to celebrate the end of his finals last May. Yesterday, the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not proceed with the case. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, Mr Brown said: "I am relieved the case has been dropped now, it nearly cost me my job.

13th JANUARY 2006: -

• British scientists plan work on human-rabbit embryos - BRITISH scientists are planning to create embryos that are part-human and part-rabbit to use in investigating treatments for motor neuron disease. The hybrid embryos would be used to make stem cells for studying the wasting condition that killed the actor David Niven and the former England football manager Don Revie, under proposals from a team that includes the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep. Although the group, led by Ian Wilmut, of the University of Edinburgh, and Chris Shaw, of King’s College, London, has a licence to clone human embyros for this research, it has been held back by a shortage of the human eggs without which cloning is impossible.

• Bush Defends Guantanamo Bay Prison Camp - President Bush rejected on Friday a suggestion by Germany's new chancellor that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down. The camp on the U.S. Navy base there is "a necessary part of protecting the American people," Bush said after meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House. In a joint news conference, Merkel said she raised the issue with Bush, and she described it as one of the differences between the United States and Germany.

• Electric shock and drugs 'are best hope for depressives' - TWO treatments that have been castigated in the media, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and antidepressants such as Prozac and Seroxat, remain the best hope for people suffering from depression. ECT has never recovered in public esteem from the way it was presented in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but it works, three psychiatrists say in The Lancet. “Despite public and professional misgivings, ECT remains the most effective treatment for depression, especially if it presents with psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations,” Professor Klaus Ebmeier, of the University of Edinburgh, and colleagues claim.   (And where did you learn this Professor?  On a beach in the Bahamas or was it the Caribbean?)

12th JANUARY 2006: -

• NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying: Former Employee Admits to Being a Source for The New York Times - Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency would like to keep quiet. For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the United States spy on other people's conversations around the world. "I specialized in what's called special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and operations." But now, Tice tells ABC News that some of those secret "black world" operations run by the NSA were operated in ways that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell Congress all he knows about the alleged wrongdoing in these programs run by the Defense Department and the NSA in the post-9/11 efforts to go after terrorists.

• Britain (Air Strip One) ups roadway surveillance tactics - Britain will boost its reputation as the surveillance capital of the West in March by recording movements of vehicles on the nation's roads, a report said. New cameras will be added to Britain's already extensive roadside system to create the automatic number plate recognition, or ANPR, system to capture images of 50 million license plates a day -- data that will be stored two years, the Christian Science Monitor reported. While police chiefs hailed the system as a crime-fighting and terror-fighting tool, civil liberties activists worried about potential abuses.

• Violent computer games lead to aggression: study - Violent computer games may make gamers more likely to act aggressively, and the links between computer images of brutality and the real thing may go further than was at first thought, US researchers say in a new study. While many previous studies have identified a link between violent games and aggression, their findings are debated on the basis of whether violent games cause aggression or simply attract players more prone to violence.

• Colombia plans teenage condom law - Colombian teenagers could be forced to carry condoms in an effort to stop unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The man proposing the scheme says people over the age of 14 in the town of Tulua should carry condoms, just as they carry ID cards, or face a fine.

• Create an e-annoyance, go to jail - Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.

• UK rejects 80,000 passport photos following new rules - More than 80,000 passport photos were rejected by the UK Passport Service (UKPS) within less than two and a half months following the introduction of tough new standards on how images should be submitted. The standards introduced last September led to 81,927 photos being rejected from 597,863 applications – at total of 13.7%, according to figures obtained by SDW (see Table below). The figures relate to a period between 12 September 2005 and 24 November 2005.

• New claims of Guantanamo torture - Fresh claims of torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay have been published by Amnesty International to mark the US detention centre's fourth anniversary. The London-based human rights group said 500 detainees continued to be held without charge or trial and repeated its call for the centre to be shut.

• Mecca Stampede Kills 345, Wounds 289 During Hajj Pilgrimage - At least 345 people died today during a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, the Saudi Arabian health minister said. About 289 people were mildly wounded in the incident just after sunset, which resulted from ``unruly pilgrims and a problem of luggage,'' the minister, Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Maneh, was quoted by the official Saudi Arabian news agency as saying.

• Report: Doctor says PM's brain disease hidden for political reasons - A member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's medical team said that the information about the brain disease diagnosed after his first stroke on December 18 had been concealed out of "political reasons," Channel 10 television reported Wednesday. The controversy surrounding Sharon's medical treatment has continued unabated, with his doctors coming under further criticism for concealing the diagnosis of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA).

• Town halls to snoop on homeowners for ID card evasion - Conservatives have expressed concern after it emerged that council bureaucrats are to be armed with sweeping new powers to snoop on private homes for ID card evasion. Shadow Constitutional Affairs Secretary Oliver Heald accused Labour ministers of adopting "Big Brother" methods to enforce planned new ID card rules, which could include imposing fines of up to £2,500.

• Some parks may get surveillance cameras to combat lewd acts; privacy issues raised - Putting surveillance cameras in various city parks to combat people committing lewd acts is being considered by the Metro Board of Parks and Recreation, Metro officials said yesterday. Councilman Michael Craddock asked the board on Tuesday to place cameras in Cedar Hill, Hamilton Creek and Two Rivers parks, where several people have been arrested for indecent exposure and lewd conduct.

• Blair Criminalizes His Critics: by John Pilger - On Christmas Eve, I dropped in on Brian Haw, whose hunched, pacing figure was just visible through the freezing fog. For four and a half years, Brian has camped in Parliament Square with a graphic display of photographs that show the terror and suffering imposed on Iraqi children by British policies. The effectiveness of his action was demonstrated last April when the Blair government banned any expression of opposition within a kilometer of Parliament. The High Court subsequently ruled that, because his presence preceded the ban, Brian was an exception.

11th JANUARY 2006: -

• 'Anti-terror' body scanners go on trial at Paddington - THE first trial of body scanners that detect explosives is to start in a move to boost security for rail passengers in the wake of the July 7 bombings. Passengers travelling to Heathrow Airport from Paddington station in west London are to be randomly tested, but participation will be voluntary. The scanner is being unveiled before a four-week trial starts tomorrow. The Government hopes lessons can be learned about how such technology could aid the fight against terrorism.

• Beer advert banned for sex link - A beer advert has become the first to fall foul of rules banning any link between alcohol and sexual success. The Young's Bitter billboard poster of a man with a ram's head surrounded by scantily clad women, had the strap line "This is a Ram's World". The Advertising Standards Authority said it and a second Young's poster breached rules introduced on October 1 last year and they should be withdrawn. Young's denied implying drinking its beer led to sexual or social success.   (COMMENTARY: We are currently putting together a 'Subliminal Imagery' archive.  If any of our visitors want to help us out with material and weblinks, it can be sent to us here - thanks, Webmaster)

• Schools 'failing one million pupils' - One million children are being let down by Labour as they are taught in poorly-performing schools, according to a new report from the National Audit Office. Despite ministers spending £840million on measures to improve struggling schools last year and another £160million on replacing failing comprehensives with new city academies, pupils are still being denied a decent education. But despite recent improvements and initiatives, about one in eight pupils are still not getting the education they deserve, the NAO said.

• Internet companies 'must respect free speech' - Reporters without Borders has called on companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo to respect human rights, even if the countries they are operating in don't. IT companies operating in countries with repressive regimes should face tighter regulation when it comes to supporting freedom of speech, according to a leading anti-censorship organisation.

10th JANUARY 2006: -

• AUSTRALIA: Nationals warm to ID card proposal - THE campaign for a national identity card gathered momentum yesterday when the Nationals joined calls for a serious debate. Nationals Senate leader Ron Boswell, a fierce opponent of the Australia Card proposal 20 years ago, said yesterday that times had changed and an ID card should be reconsidered.

• Hinchey calls for probe into legality of domestic surveillance - A “critical deviation from the law” is how Democrat Congressman Maurice Hinchey views President Bush’s secretly authorized domestic surveillance initiative, being conducted without warrants. Bush has defended the limited intercepting of phone calls he says were placed by known Al Qaeda operatives to U.S, citizens. Hinchey says the practice is not needed because the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, adopted in the 1970s, gives the administration very liberal authority to engage in surveillance, even without a warrant, for up to 72 hours. What the administration is doing now, however, goes far beyond that, argues Hinchey.

• Get out of MySpace, bloggers rage at Murdoch - Angry members of MySpace, the personal file-sharing website for young adults, are accusing Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation of censoring their postings and blocking their access to rival sites. The 38 million subscribers to MySpace, which News Corp bought for $629m (£355m) last July, discovered that when they wrote to each other about rival video-swapping site YouTube, the words were automatically deleted, and attempts to download video images from YouTube led to blank screens.

• 9/11 Firefighter's Gear Stolen from Truck - Jon Wright responded to the World Trade Center on September 11 and spent several weeks at Ground Zero site after the terrorist attacks. Jon lives in Wilmington now, and Sunday night a thief took one of his most prized possessions: his turn-out gear.

• More Security Bugs Hit Windows: After Microsoft’s latest patch, two new bugs are discovered in its operating system - Less than a week after Microsoft released a patch to fix a security breach in its Windows operating system, antivirus companies warned Tuesday about two additional bugs related to image files. The newly discovered issues, while not as critical as the earlier flaws, can cause programs to crash and lead to what security experts call a denial-of-service attack.

09th JANUARY 2006: -

• Man who shot Pope 'will be in grave danger after release' - The Italian judge who investigated the 1981 murder attempt on John Paul II has warned the Turkish would-be assassin that his life will be "in grave danger" when he is released from jail because he "knows too much". Mehmet Ali Agca, 48, is to be released from Kartal high security jail in Turkey for good behaviour, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

• No identity card? You could be fined £2,500 - Town hall bureaucrats are to be given sweeping new powers to investigate homes for identity card evasion and to impose heavy fines on occupants found without one. The revelation, in an obscure Whitehall consultation paper, calls into serious doubt the Government's repeated promises that planned ID cards, already hugely controversial, will be voluntary and that no one will be forced to carry one.

• NEW ZEALAND: Database will list good and bad tenants - Up to 380,000 New Zealanders could be listed on the national database, an Auckland paper reported today. Real Estate Institute president Howard Morley said the database, launched quietly in August, was only available to licensed real estate agents who managed properties, and was being updated by them. Private landlords cannot access it. The database could include many Housing New Zealand tenants whose homes are managed by property managers at licensed agencies. "We're trying to stop people who are deliberately out to avoid paying rent and leave houses in poor repair," Mr Morley told the newspaper.

• Obese in denial over cancer risk - Many obese and overweight people in the UK are unaware that they could reduce their risk of developing a number of forms of cancer by losing weight, indicates a survey by Cancer Research UK. The charity, which is currently launching the second year of its Reduce the Risk campaign, estimates that half of all cancers are preventable.

• Army investigating new reports of bullying - Army prosecutors are investigating two people following allegations that a teenage recruit was attacked and left unconscious by instructors. The investigation -- in the latest accusation of bullying to hit the army -- followed a complaint from Darren Jacques, 18, who said that he and other recruits at a base in Catterick, north Yorkshire were routinely bullied and abused.

• Impeach Blair over Iraq: UK general - A LEADING British Army officer believes Prime Minister Tony Blair should be impeached for his role in the war in Iraq, the Mail on Sunday reported. General Sir Michael Rose, a former UN commander in Bosnia, was quoted by the right-of-centre Mail on Sunday as saying: "I think the politicians should be held to account ... my view is that Blair should be impeached.

08th JANUARY 2006: -

• Protesters Call on Rigali to Address Sex Abuse "Cover Up": Protesters held a noontime demonstration Friday outside the headquarters of the Philadelphia Archdiocese - Members of the group Voices of the Faithful of Greater Philadelphia were calling on Cardinal Justin Rigali to address the clergy sex abuse crisis in greater depth. The group wants Cardinal Rigali to admit publicly that the Archdiocesan leadership conducted, in their words, an "immoral cover-up." And they want the Cardinal to take the initiative to meet with all survivors of clergy sex abuse.

• D.C. Mayor Supports Adding Surveillance Cameras: (and utilizes the usual "they're here to protect you" rhetoric that we see all the time from power freaks) - Mayor Tony Williams is supporting efforts by D.C. Police to start putting surveillance cameras near crime hotspots. Police Chief Charles Ramsey has said he'd like to add cameras in such areas to help police disrupt drug activity and other crimes, but he'll have to work with the D.C. Council to address privacy concerns before cameras can be used in city neighborhoods. Williams says that most people are already under the watch of cameras for many hours every day -- when they go to banks, supermarkets, airports and other places. He says a community should be able to use cameras as well to keep commercial districts safe.

• Frontline police demand to carry Taser stun guns - SCOTTISH police are to demand that they are routinely armed with Taser stun guns, amid growing concerns about the safety of officers on the beat. The call is to be made in April at the annual conference of the Scottish Police Federation, which represents all frontline officers. Full arming of the police will also be discussed for the first time in a decade. Although opposition to routine issue of firearms is likely, the introduction of Tasers will probably be supported.

• Eyes on us: Before the NSA spying controversy, intrusions into privacy have redefined the land of the free - In the novel "1984," George Orwell imagined a world in which everyone was watched by Big Brother, the symbol of a brutal, totalitarian regime. It has taken another 20 years, but Big Brother has arrived. But with an irony that surely would have moved Orwell to smile, it turns out that Big Brother is us.

• Retired professor confused, angered when letter from abroad is opened - In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect that their friendship was anything but spectacularly ordinary. But now he believes that the relationship has somehow sparked the interest of the Department of Homeland Security and led the agency to place him under surveillance.

• RBS used to channel funds to terrorist group, claims lawsuit - Royal Bank of Scotland, the country's second-biggest bank, stands accused of acting as a conduit for terrorist funding. An American lawsuit brought by 14 victims of terrorism and their families alleges that the London-based charity Interpal funnelled millions of dollars to Palestinian terrorists through accounts held in Britain with the NatWest Bank, which was bought by RBS in 2000. Gary Osen, the co-head counsel for the families, said: "We claim that NatWest, in maintaining accounts for Interpal, has transferred millions of dollars to Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organisation by America and Israel."

• The lie detector you'll never know is there - THE US Department of Defense has revealed plans to develop a lie detector that can be used without the subject knowing they are being assessed. The Remote Personnel Assessment (RPA) device will also be used to pinpoint fighters hiding in a combat zone, or even to spot signs of stress that might mark someone out as a terrorist or suicide bomber.

• Computer chips get under skin of U.S. enthusiasts - Forgetting computer passwords is an everyday source of frustration, but a solution may literally be at hand -- in the form of computer chip implants. With a wave of his hand, Amal Graafstra, a 29-year-old entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Canada, opens his front door. With another, he logs onto his computer.

• Bush Writes Himself an Exemption to Anti-Torture Law: White House wiggles out of deal with McCain - You probably missed this, since that was exactly the point. Over New Years weekend the Bush Administration “took out the trash,” as they say in the business. And this was some particularly smelly garbage. Remember last month when President Bush agreed to Sen. McCain’s legislation banning the use of torture on enemy prisoners? Unfortunately, it now appears he didn’t really mean it. Just as we all headed out for the long weekend, Bush released what’s known as a “signing statement,” which is basically the Presidential version of crossing your fingers behind your back when you make a promise. In the statement, the President says, in short, “Sure, we don’t torture people, unless I think we should.”

07th JANUARY 2006: -

• London bomber who worked in chip shop left £121,000 fortune - DETECTIVES investigating the 7 July bombings in London are trying to establish how one of the four-man gang involved in the attack managed to amass a personal fortune of £121,000 while working part-time in a chip shop. The revelation fuels speculation that the bomb gang received outside financial assistance to mount their attacks.

• Judge Stops New Orleans Bulldozing Federal Judge Threatens To Throw New Orleans City Attorney In Jail "If One More Home is Bulldozed Down" In The 9th Ward: Article By Greg Szymanski - A federal judge Friday threatened to throw the New Orleans City Attorney in jail if "one home was bulldozed down" in violation of temporary restraining order obtained by activists and lower income homeowners, trying to save their property from what is playing out to be an illegal government land grab.

• Your phone records are for sale - The Chicago Police Department is warning officers their cell phone records are available to anyone -- for a price. Dozens of online services are selling lists of cell phone calls, raising security concerns among law enforcement and privacy experts. Criminals can use such records to expose a government informant who regularly calls a law enforcement official.

• Did Jesus exist? Court to decide - Forget the U.S. debate over intelligent design versus evolution. An Italian court is tackling Jesus -- and whether the Roman Catholic Church may be breaking the law by teaching that he existed 2,000 years ago. The case pits against each other two men in their 70s, who are from the same central Italian town and even went to the same seminary school in their teenage years.

• Microsoft pulls plug on China protest blog - Microsoft has been accused of co-operating with Chinese censorship by deleting the blog of a journalist who protested at the sacking of an editor. The computer giant yesterday issued a statement justifying its decision to remove the web diary of the writer, known as Michael Anti, from its MSN Spaces server. "Most countries have laws and practices that require companies to make the internet safe for local users," it said.

06th JANUARY 2006: -

• Flawed of the rings (Not our headline!): Health bracelets are a 'waste of money' - THE mystical draw of magnetic therapy has seen world leaders from Cleopatra to Bill Clinton convinced of its healing power. But despite such longstanding popularity with the rich and powerful, new research has led to warnings from the United States that the "alternative" treatment has no proven benefits and simply targets vulnerable people looking for pain relief.

• Britons are drinking themselves to death - Britons are drinking themselves to death at the fastest rate in Europe. And health experts claim the Government is turning a blind eye to the problem. Figures published today show a massive increase in deaths from liver disease in the UK at a time when rates are falling across the rest of Europe. In the 1980s and 1990s, cirrhosis death rates for men rose by over two-thirds in England and Wales, says a report in The Lancet. Deaths more than doubled in Scotland.

05th JANUARY 2006: -

• Australia won't investigate ADHD drugs - Australia has no plans to investigate drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), despite US health authorities examining claims they may cause strokes or heart attacks. The US government authorised the study into the safety of ADHD medications following reports of sudden deaths and hypertension in both children and adults taking the drugs.

• Bush appears to contradict anti-torture pledge - President George W. Bush has asserted that he retains the right to authorise abuse of detainees under extreme circumstances, despite agreeing to legislation last month that explicitly prohibited such treatment. In a statement attached to Mr Bush’s signing of a defence spending bill last week, the White House said it would construe the bill’s ban on “cruel, inhumane and degrading” treatment of detainees “in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president” and his powers as commander-in-chief.

• Big Brother Britain has world's biggest DNA database - More people in Britain have had their DNA stored by the police than in any other country in the world, it has emerged. By 2008, the state will have access to the genetic data of 4.25million - or one citizen in 14. Hundreds of thousands of those on the database - which already contains three million names - will never have been charged with a crime. Last night, critics warned of grave infringements on civil liberties and the danger of the Government selling the highly valuable information to insurers and mortgage companies.

• Taser sparks outrage: Dead man's sister wants a fatality inquiry - The death of a man who was Tasered on Christmas Eve has stirred up outrage in a city woman who is now demanding a fatality inquiry in the case of her brother. Jennifer Bosse's 28-year-old brother Ronald Perry died March 23, 2004, after suffering a massive heart attack brought on by excited delirium. He was taken to hospital four days earlier following a struggle with police that saw him Tasered.

• Petition calls for removal on surveillance cameras - In late November, the School Committee raised more than a few eyebrows by approving a video surveillance policy, allowing the use of surveillance cameras at CCHS and around the district. The policy authorizes school officials at CCHS to install cameras as a means to deter theft and vandalism at the school. But resident Jim Catterton said Concordians are trading liberty for security in permitting surveillance equipment to be installed in their schools and other town buildings.

• LONDON POLICE URGE PEOPLE TO SPY ON EACH OTHER IN A TYPICAL ORWELLIAN MANNER: Terrorism advertising campaign launched - "Terrorists won’t succeed if someone reports suspicious activity - and you are that someone. That is the message of the new counter-terrorism advertising campaign launched by the Met today. DAC Peter Clarke, head of the Met’s Anti-Terrorist Branch said, “Everyone who lives in London, or visits the city for work or pleasure, has a role to play in making it as difficult as we can for terrorists to operate here. We can all help by being vigilant and aware of what is happening around us. If it seems suspicious to you, please make that call".

• Clarke promises health campaign on cannabis - The home secretary, Charles Clarke, today promised a major public education programme about the health and legality of cannabis, as a decision loomed on whether to reverse a downgrading in the drug's classification. Mr Clarke said he was "very worried" about links with schizophrenia, after spending Christmas reading a review of the medical complications associated with new higher-strength varieties of cannabis.

• MI6 agents 'present during torture' - Pressure is increasing on the British government over allegations that its intelligence agents participated in the kidnap and torture of 28 Pakistanis in Greece following the July 7 bombings. Three of the men told a press conference in Athens on January 3 of alleged beatings, threats and psychological torture that they had suffered during their seven-day detention.

• Germany to seek NATO planes for World Cup surveillance - Germany is preparing a request to NATO to provide AWACS surveillance aircraft to patrol its airspace during this year's soccer World Cup, an interior ministry spokesman said on Thursday. Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has asked the defence ministry to draw up a formal request to NATO to supply the aircraft, part of a huge security operation to protect the month-long tournament from terrorist attack, the spokesman said.

04th JANUARY 2006: -

• Israeli PM suffers serious stroke - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suffered a "significant" stroke and is unconscious, doctors at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital say. Officials said the 77-year-old leader was on a respirator and had experienced "massive" cerebral bleeding. The Israeli leader's powers have been transferred to his deputy Ehud Olmert.

• Cheney Says Eavesdropping Program Might Have Prevented 9/11 - Vice President Cheney today offered a staunch defense of a secret government eavesdropping program, saying it might have been able to thwart the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks if it had been in place at the time.   (COMMENTARY: What Dick isn't telling you is that he had little or no desire on that fateful day to actually stop the attacks... FLASHBACK TO A CNN NEWS REPORT: "Cheney recalls taking charge from bunker - After the planes struck the twin towers, a third took a chunk out of the Pentagon. Cheney then heard a report that a plane over Pennsylvania was heading for Washington. A military assistant asked Cheney twice for authority to shoot it down.")

• Fury over US mine 'rescue' fiasco - Families of 11 US miners found dead have expressed anger and disbelief at communications failings which led them to believe their loved ones were alive. Several US newspapers went to press with headlines such as "Miracle in the Mine" and "Alive!". Three hours later, joy gave way to grief and anger when mine officials broke the terrible news. A witness said one relative lunged for an official and had to be wrestled to the ground. State troopers and an armed Swat team were posted alongside the road by the church in the small town of Tallmansville near Buckhannon, in case relatives' anger spilled over into violence.

• National Security Agency Whistleblower Warns Domestic Spying Program Is Sign the U.S. is Decaying Into a “Police State” - Former NSA intelligence agent Russell Tice condemns reports that the Agency has been engaged in eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without court warrants. Tice has volunteered to testify before Congress about illegal black ops programs at the NSA. Tice said, “The freedom of the American people cannot be protected when our constitutional liberties are ignored and our nation has decayed into a police state."

• Cheney-Rumsfeld Surveillance Plans Date Back to 1980s - Revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has engaged in warrantless eavesdropping in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act prompted President Bush to admit last month that in 2002 he directly authorized the activity in the wake of 9/11. But there are reasons to suspect that the illegal eavesdropping, and the related program of illegal detentions of U.S. citizens as well as foreign nationals, began earlier. Both may be part of what Vice President Dick Cheney has called the Bush administration's restoration of "the legitimate authority of the presidency" -- practices exercised by Nixon that were outlawed after Watergate.

• Police Lieutenant Kills Suspect After Taser Fails - A Portland police officer shot and killed a suspect in a stolen car early Wednesday. He found a man unconscious behind the wheel and tried to wake him while calling for a second officer. Shortly after backup arrived, the suspect woke up and hit the gas, driving over the curb and into a tree. They tried to remove the man from the car, but he reportedly hit the gas again to free himself from the curb and tree. The officer fired his taser while the car was apparently rocking back and forth. The lieutenant then shot the suspect, and they immediately called for paramedics and started CPR. The man died at the scene.

• Smart Cards still in Security Surveillance fray - The technology of smart cards comes in contact with entrants by holding the biometric identification data such as of blood group, retina scan, finger print scan etc in a tiny chip. The finance and point of purchase terminal i.e., kiosks enables the plastic smart card to identify the authenticity of purchase and other similar transactions as in insurance and health areas. This is irrespective of the extensive and advanced development in security surveillance and access control.

• U.S. military 'shuts down' soldiers' blogs: Troops are detailing their experiences in online journals, but military says some are revealing too much - Letters home filled with tales of death and danger, bravery and boredom are a wartime certainty. And now, as hundreds of soldiers overseas have started keeping Internet journals about the heat, the homesickness, the bloodshed, word speeds from the battlefront faster than ever. More and more, though, U.S. military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan are clamping down on these military Web logs, known as milblogs.

• State board unanimously delays aspartame issue - Diabetics and diet-soda drinkers need not fret that New Mexico will ban sugar-substitute products anytime soon. In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the seven-member state Environmental Improvement Board decided to wait for Attorney General Patricia Madrid’s opinion on whether the board has the authority to outlaw or put warning labels on products that contain aspartame.

03rd JANUARY 2006: -

• Non-paying parents may be tagged - Parents who fail to pay child support money could be tagged, Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton said. Mr Hutton said the idea was being examined as part of reforms of the powers of the Child Support Agency. "I want to get tough with those dads who are not paying for their kids," he told BBC News.   (COMMENTARY: Similar to a comment we made yesterday about the 'Smoke Ban' issue - this idea has little to do with cracking down on 'dead-beat' parents when put into perspective.  The real agenda is to get as many people as possible to rally behind the police state as long as it is only the 'bad people' that are going to be tagged.  Yesterday it was murderers, today it is 'dead-beat' parents, tomorrow it will be anyone who say's no to the out of control police state - J.R.Skelton)

• Military fears big Afghan losses - BRITISH troops set to deploy to southern Afghanistan this spring could sustain losses on a scale not seen since the Falklands war, military intelligence officers have warned. They say insurgent forces in the south are preparing for a large offensive by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, backed by sophisticated weapons and training from Iran.

• US air strike hits Iraqi family - Several members of the same family, including women and children, have been killed in a US air strike that destroyed their home in northern Iraq. There was confusion over the number of casualties, but local authorities in the town of Beiji, north of Tikrit, have confirmed at least six dead.

• Could Vitamin D actually be a miracle in a bottle? - IT'S KNOWN as the sunshine vitamin and, last week, you could have been forgiven for thinking it was the miracle vitamin: Vitamin D, it transpired, could prevent cancer. It can also, according to a 40-year review of research published in the American Journal of Public Health, play a role in preventing heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, rickets and osteoporosis. So can the world's drugs companies pack up and go home?

• PC thinking 'is harming society' - Britain's institutions are infected with political correctness which is damaging society, according to a book published by a right-wing think-tank. Civitas says political correctness has allowed the creation of "Muslim ghettos" which produce suicide bombers. PC thinking now dominates schools, councils and the media, Anthony Browne says in The Retreat of Reason. But Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said even the term ghetto was inflammatory.

• 'Sex for visas' claims to be investigated - The Home Office today announced that it is to investigate claims of a sex for visas racket at its main immigration centre in Croydon, south London. According to the Sun newspaper, a former employee at the centre, Anthony Pamnani, alleged that corrupt officials gave women leave to remain in return for sex. He claimed more attractive female applicants were given preferential treatment.

• Microsoft Security Advisory (912840): Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution - On Tuesday, December 27, 2005, Microsoft became aware of public reports of malicious attacks on some customers involving a previously unknown security vulnerability in the Windows Meta File (WMF) code area in the Windows platform.

• Huge virus threat rocks Microsoft: Report says a newly discovered flaw could expose hundreds of millions of Windows PCs to virus - The new year is off to a rocky start at Microsoft, where security experts are scrambling to confront a potentially massive virus threat to Windows PCs. According to a report Tuesday in the Financial Times, the latest vulnerability involves a flaw which allows hackers to infect computers using programs inserted into image files. The threat was discovered last week. But it mushroomed over the weekend, when a group of hackers published the source code they used to exploit the flaw.

02nd JANUARY 2006: -

• Axis unveils biometric ATM - ...Axis has developed an innovative biometric automated teller machine (ATM). It is the first Indian company to develop such an ATM machine. The machine works by recognising finger print rather than the usual ATM card. “We have developed three models of this biometric ATM. Further, a new model, combining the virtues of a regular and biometric ATM, will be launched soon. A special ‘retrofit kit’ which could be attached to a normal ATM machine to make it a biometric one is in the pipeline. The new model and kit will be launched within six weeks,” Khinvasara added. “There is no need to insert card to operate the biometric ATM. This system supports a very user-friendly interface with both audio as well as visual display.

• Prescott satellite to spy on your home: Hi-tech cameras brought in to police home improvements and council tax dodgers - John Prescott has told tax inspectors to use satellites to snoop on householders' attempts to improve their homes. Images of new conservatories and garages taken from space will be used to hike up council taxes and other property levies, official guidance obtained by The Independent on Sunday reveals.

• Rumsfeld Admits to "Ghosting" Detainee - By U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has admitted that he "ghosted" a detainee, meaning that he made the decision to hold a prisoner without keeping any records of the fact. While prisoners of war can be theoretically stripped of their rights by calling them other names (like "unlawful combatants"), they are probably most effectively stripped of all rights by keeping their imprisonment secret.

• Bush again defends warrantless domestic surveillance - U.S. President George W. Bush on Sunday launched another strong defense for the controversial secret domestic spying program he authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The program was legal and vital to thwart terrorist attacks against the United States, Bush told journalists during a visit to soldiers wounded in Iraq at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

• IRELAND: McDowell eyes €1.5m CCTV roll-out - THE number of security cameras in towns is set to increase dramatically in the new year after grants were awarded to dozens of projects as part of a €1.5 million scheme. Close circuit television (CCTV) camera systems are to be installed shortly in 13 towns, including Tralee, Sligo, Waterford and Drogheda, while another 24 towns have been granted preliminary funding under the community CCTV scheme.

• Total surveillance state takes giant leap in Britain - Britain is constructing a system of surveillance cameras that will be able to record and store for years every trip taken by every driver. This step toward the total surveillance state is unwise in light of governments’ habitual tendency to abuse whatever tools are available to them. The headline in the Independent tells it all: Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey: From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored.

• Her Majesty’s Secret Service?: As official denials grow ever more opaque, evidence which points to Britain’s involvement in torture grows ever more transparent - LIKE the nightmare instruments themselves, the screws of proof are being slowly tightened around Britain’s complicity in the international kidnapping, interrogation and torture of terrorist suspects. A series of allegations and an increasing pattern of reports of British involvement in the trade of “extraordinary rendition” is cornering the government in narrower and narrower denials.

• Nashville police investigating 6 Taser incidents - Nashville police have started an internal investigation into six incidents involving use of stun guns on suspects. Five of the cases to be reviewed next month by the Use of Force Review Board involve one officer, Marcus Ryherd. A re-examination of how Nashville officers used the Tasers they got in November 2004 was launched after a man died following repeated shocks in September.

• Stabbings and drunken violence mar New Year's Eve across country - Thirty-five people were treated for stab wounds during New Year's Eve celebrations in London as the capital's ambulance service reported a "horrifying" spate of knife attacks and a record number of emergency calls. While many senior police officers played down the effect of the change in drinking hours, there were violent incidents across the country as a night of partying extended well into the morning under the revised licensing laws.

• 3 Austin officers charged with beating handcuffed suspect - Three police officers accused of punching a handcuffed suspect and shocking him with their Tasers were indicted today on misdemeanor official oppression charges. If convicted, Christopher Gray, William Heilman and Joel Follmer face up to a year in jail and could be fined up to $4,000. Gray, a six-year veteran with the Austin Police Department, and Follmer, a rookie, were suspended without pay on Friday, Assistant Chief Robert Dahlstrom said. Heilman, a four-year veteran, resigned Dec. 2 for unrelated reasons, Dahlstrom said.

• Tesco on defensive over MPs' fears for small shops - Tesco hit back yesterday at accusations that it is threatening independent retailers by claiming that an inquiry by MPs into the retail sector had exaggerated the threat to cornershops and newsagents. The High Street Britain 2015 report, by the influential all-party parliamentary small shops group, is expected to warn that food wholesalers and independent newsagents are "not expected to survive" more than 10 years because supermarkets will squeeze them out.

• Tough Anti-Smoking Law Starts Across Spain - Spanish smokers faced a wrenching change New Year's Day as a nationwide ban on tobacco in the workplace came into force in a country known for its smoky bars. It became illegal to smoke in office buildings, shopping malls, cultural centers and public transportation, among other indoor spaces. Bars and restaurants with more than 1,100 square feet of floor space now must have nonsmoking areas, the first step in a process that will eventually require the areas to be physically sealed off from the rest of the establishment.

• Pope, at New Year, decries terrorism, calls on UN - Pope Benedict ushered in the first New Year of his papacy on Sunday urging humanity to take a leap of faith in God to prevent terrorism, nihilism and fanatical fundamentalism undermining peace. The Pope addressed his homily to thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for New Year's Day mass, celebrated on the Roman Catholic Church's annual World Day of Peace.

• Cookies Are Recipe for Controversy at NSA - The National Security Agency has been inserting files known as cookies onto the computers of individuals who visit the NSA Web site, a violation of federal rules meant to protect privacy. The cookies, which can be used to track visitors' online activities, vanished this week following complaints from a privacy activist and inquiries from The Associated Press. On Wednesday, NSA officials admitted using the cookies, but said that the agency had made a mistake.

• High protein diet 'under attack' - The benefits of high-protein diets have again been questioned. The Total Wellbeing Diet, similar to the Atkins diet, advises eating around twice the daily amount of protein in a typical Western diet. But an editorial in the magazine Nature suggests the diet only helps a small number of people.

• What Price Freedom?: Domestic spying: Be afraid. Be very afraid - The FBI, it seems, has been keeping an eye on any number of domestic organizations that appear to have little to do with its stepped up counterintelligence assignment -- shades of Cointelpro, "Commie" hunting, black-bag jobs, and a variety of other notorious activities from the '50s, '60s, and '70s that made the bureau the scourge of any protester who might disagree with prevailing government policy in a demonstrative fashion.

• 2005: The year the US government undermined the internet - 2005 will be forever seen as the year in which the US government managed to keep unilateral control of the internet, despite widespread opposition by the rest of the world. However, while this very public spat went on, everyone failed to notice a related change that will have far greater implications for everyday internet users and for the internet itself. That change will see greater state-controlled censorship on the internet, reduce people's ability to use the internet to communicate freely, and leave expansion of the internet in the hands of the people least capable of doing the job.

• Harper pledges military for cities, Up to 500 troops in major centres, Force could help with disasters - Conservative Leader Stephen Harper wants to beef up military detachments in the GTA and other major metropolitan areas to help deal with emergencies. "Obviously, we would anticipate that its domestic need would be in case of disaster," Harper said during a federal election campaign stop late yesterday on Vancouver Island.

• CUFF JUSTICE: NEW POWERS COULD MAKE US POLICE STATE: 'New powers of arrest could turn Britain into police state' - SWEEPING new powers to arrest people for even minor offences risk turning Britain into a police state, it was claimed yesterday. From Sunday police will be able to hold anyone they suspect of any offence - even motorists who do not wear seatbelts or drive in bus lanes and litterbugs who drop rubbish in the street - if they believe it is "necessary". And they will be able to store digital photos of them on a massive database, even if they have been found not guilty by a court. Previously they could only hold someone suspected of an offence punishable by at least five years' jail.

• Pentagon Propaganda Program Orders Soldiers To Promote Iraq War While Home On Leave: 'Operation Homefront' launched on unsuspecting Americans - Good soldiers follow orders and hundreds of American military men and women returned to the United States on holiday leave this month with orders to sell the Iraq war to a skeptical public. The program, coordinated through a Pentagon operation dubbed "Operation Homefront," ordered military personnel to give interviews to their hometown newspapers, television stations and other media outlets and praise the American war effort in Iraq.

01st JANUARY 2006: -

• Smoking ban 'could include parks' - Some Scottish councils could move to extend anti-smoking laws to outdoor areas used by children, it has emerged. The smoking ban which comes into force at the end of March covers enclosed public places. But Dundee City and East Renfrewshire Council have also expressed interest in restricting smoking in parks.   (COMMENTARY: Our emphasis on this is not that we think that smoking should be allowed in public, but more that this is one of the issues being brought to the attention of the public as we generally 'give up our liberties in exchange for security' - and bear in mind that smoking in public is one of the more common 'rights' that citizens have enjoyed (be it at the expense of others who prefer breathing fresh air) for some time now.  Once we - as such a society - are prepared to relinquish this, who knows what more fundamental rights we will be giving up next?... And what would Bill Hicks have said about all of this eh?!)

• Churchill may have let Gandhi die - Winston Churchill favoured letting Gandhi die if he went on hunger strike, newly published Cabinet papers show. The UK's WWII prime minister thought India's spiritual leader should be treated like anyone else if he stopped eating while being held by the British. But his ministers persuaded him against the tactic, fearing Gandhi would become a martyr if he died in British hands.

• Churchill wanted Hitler killed in electric chair - Wartime leader Winston Churchill wanted Adolf Hitler to be summarily executed like a common gangster in a U.S.-supplied electric chair, according to previously secret documents released on Sunday. Churchill also believed that putting Hitler and other Nazi German leaders on trial after World War Two would be a farce and they should instead be treated as outlaws and promptly executed. The fresh glimpse into history was revealed in newly declassified records from war cabinet meetings.

• 'Leap second' subject of long debate: Scientists disagree over how to account for the minute discrepancy between atomic and astronomical time - Time marches on, but Earth is falling behind. The solution again this year is to add a "leap second" as 2006 arrives, so Earth can catch up with the atomic clocks that have defined time since their unerring accuracy trumped the heavens three decades ago. This will be the first leap second in seven years, and its arrival will be closely watched by physicists and astronomers enmeshed in a prolonged debate over the future of time in a world increasingly dominated by technology.

• NSA Gave Other U.S. Agencies Information From Surveillance: Fruit of Eavesdropping Was Processed and Cross-Checked With Databases - Information captured by the National Security Agency's secret eavesdropping on communications between the United States and overseas has been passed on to other government agencies, which cross-check the information with tips and information collected in other databases, current and former administration officials said.

• Satanic jeans sweet among young Swedes — A punk-rock style, trendy tight fit and affordable price have made Cheap Monday jeans a hot commodity among young Swedes, but what has people talking is the brand's ungodly logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead. The jeans' makers say it's more of a joke, but the logo's designer said there's a deeper message. "It is an active statement against Christianity," Bjorn Atldax said. "I'm not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion."   (FLASHBACK: Illuminati Symbolism on Levi Jeans Flyers)

• Top surgeon, NHS reforms are Stalinist: Medics savage Hewitt's 'choose and book' agenda - Plans to revolutionise the way patients are admitted to hospital have been attacked as 'Stalinist' by Britain's leading surgeon. Bernard Ribeiro, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the system would destroy the professionalism of the NHS and put people's care at risk.