Tuesday 31st July 2007: -

• Korey Rowe Could Be Sent Back To Iraq: Loose Change producer 'sent back to unit' - Korey Rowe, one of the producers of the huge 9/11 truth film Loose Change, may be sent back into the heart of battle in Iraq within a month if he is officially returned to his unit according to a story run by the New York Daily Star today. The Star reports that Rowe has been returned to his unit, the 187th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, which is gearing up for its third deployment to Iraq sometime this summer, according to announcements made by the Pentagon back in May.

• ID Chip Implants in Humans - With surveillance cameras and increased security just about everywhere you go, there's high tech equipment used just about everywhere. Some recent reports surfaced about a surveillence equipment company implanting microchips in two of its employees. This brings up some serious issues about personal privacy. A lot of pet owners rely on tiny microchips implanted in their animals to help find them if they get lost or stolen. "I thought better safe than sorry," said Jennifer Kellis. "I didn't want to invest a lot of money, and it's a good way to find them if they run away." Putting the tracking device in animals is one thing, but what about implanting the chips in your body?

• Couple Terrorized, Assaulted and Arrested For Flying an Upside Down U.S. Flag: Police officer recently returned from Iraq smashed into Kuhn's home, choked husband and then claimed they assaulted him - A North Carolina couple who were terrorized by a police officer who had recently returned from Iraq are now fighting back, after sheriff's deputy Brian Scarborough broke into their house, assaulted them and then arrested the Kuhns for the crime of flying an upside down U.S. flag. Mark and Deborah Kuhn of Asheville, North Carolina made headlines last week when they were arrested for flying an upside down U.S. flag, a commonly recognized sign of distress, in their backyard, after police claimed they were violating a statute for "desecration of the flag".

• White House pushes wider surveillance authority - Congress and President Bush's aides worked Monday to expand the government's surveillance authority without jeopardizing citizens' rights, aides to lawmakers and the White House said. As it pressed for congressional approval, the Bush administration sought to soothe a sore spot in its relationship with lawmakers over a related matter — whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales misled a Senate panel about internal dissent concerning the program, which nearly prompted mass resignations at the Justice Department. The White House relented on several fronts in its drive to update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act this week.

• Forced education will cause 'mass truancy' - Forcing teenagers to stay in education until 18 will cause "mass truancy" and criminalise thousands of young people, a teachers' leader has warned. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's plan to raise the leaving age for the first time in 35 years will "prolong the agony" of school for many teenagers already bored by the classroom, said Geraldine Everett, chairman of the Professional Association of Teachers. It is the latest in a series of attacks aimed at the Government's proposals to fine 16 to 18-year-olds if they skip school, college or on-the-job training. Under plans being considered by ministers, persistent truants will be given £50 fixed penalty notices and a possible criminal record when the change is introduced in 2013.

• Special 'fingerprint' lamps to boost crime fighting in Kensington - Scenes of crime officers in Kensington and Chelsea will have more state-of-the-art equipment to help track down criminals thanks to council funding. The forensic team, based at Kensington Police Station, is buying new drug testing kits, special lamps to view fingerprints, electrostatic footprint lifting kits, a cabinet to dry exhibits recovered from crime scenes and new digital cameras. The equipment is being bought thanks to nearly £30,000 of Council funds via the Community Safety Team - a joint Council and police team working with other agencies to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.

• Secret evidence keeps terror suspects in UK - Two suspected Algerian terrorists cannot be deported for reasons that are too secret to disclose, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday. Evidence heard behind closed doors suggests that the human rights of at least one of them would be breached if he were returned to Algeria. In the case of a third man, acquitted two years ago in the so-called "ricin trial", the appeal judges said more consideration should have been given to the risk that he might be tortured in Algeria.

• Warning: a salad may be saltier than a hamburger - salads and prepacked pasta meals contain more salt than a hamburger and chips and should carry health warnings, a campaign group said today. One noodle salad was found to have 4.4g of salt in a single portion – 73 per cent of an adult’s recommended daily intake. A survey by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) found that one in five of 156 meals analysed contained more than a third of the 6g recommended maximum daily salt intake for adults.

• Stronger warnings for diabetes drug - A DIABETES drug used by 30,000 Australians will carry stronger warnings in light of new research linking it to heart attacks and deaths. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has ordered that product information for Avandia be boosted and that doctors and patients be informed of the risks of using the medication. It comes as a US expert advisory board overwhelmingly recommended to allow Avandia to remain on the market there. The US committee voted 20 to three that the product did raise the risks of heart attacks and said warnings should be strengthened.

• Parents of Diana driver 'were told he wasn't drunk' - The parents of Henri Paul, the chauffeur driving Princess Diana on the night she died, have spoken for the first time about fresh claims over whether he had been drunk. They said Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner who investigated the 1997 Paris crash which killed Diana, Dodi Al Fayed and Mr Paul, had assured them he had not been drunk. But a month later in his official report into the tragedy Lord Stevens said Mr Paul had been three times over the French drink-drive limit when his Mercedes crashed.   (RELATED: See our popular Diana Assassination archive for more info.)

Monday 30th July 2007: -

• Prison Planet.com Hit By Major Hack Attack - Prison Planet.com suffered a major attack last night after it was hacked. The perpetrators could be trolls acting in response to our article about Wikipedia censorship yesterday or they could be acting on behalf of all manner of government agencies that we have clashed with over the years. We have the command prompt information for the hack and are now in the process of identifying the culprit, with a view to pursuing criminal charges.

• Shots Fired At Browns Probable Attempt at Provocation: Numerous incidents last night around New Hampshire couple's property had frantic observers worried siege was underway - 30 to 40 shots were fired outside Ed and Elaine Brown's house last night in what was a probable attempt at provocation to goad the Browns and their supporters into a violent response. Alex Jones spoke to Elaine Brown at around 11:30pm last night and confirmed that what sounded like automatic weapon fire was heard coming from a wooded area behind the house. Another supporter of the Browns who was staying on the property in a trailer was also startled when his mobile home was violently pounded on in the middle of the night, but the perpetrator escaped.

Sunday 29th July 2007: -

• A secret agent's story: 'I helped MI5. My reward: brutality and prison' - When Bisher al-Rawi agreed to work for the British government, he thought he was doing the right thing. He spent four gruelling years at Guantanamo Bay for his efforts. In this remarkable interview he breaks his silence and tells his extraordinary story to David Rose.

• MI5 'is keeping bomber alive' - SEVERELY burned Glasgow Airport attack suspect Kafeel Ahmed is being kept alive on the orders of MI5, senior police sources have told Scotland on Sunday. Ahmed has third degree burns to 90% of his body and virtually no chance of surviving but insiders claim the security services are keeping him alive to avoid a backlash from radical Muslims.

• Fingerprints to speed up lunch lines - Using fingerprints, voice tones and eye-movement patterns has long been the stuff of spy movies, but the use of biometrics is now coming to the Lancaster School District. The district plans this fall to use a fingerprint scanner at El Dorado School to help speed up the lunch line. Officials say it backs up when youths enter their ID numbers on a keypad to buy lunch. "With kindergartners and first-graders, even students who go away for summer or for break, there are issues of remembering their number," said Connie Conrad, director of child nutrition. "It's a lot easier not to have a crying child, trying to get their name from them."

• THAILAND: Police to fingerprint anti-coup protesters - Police said yesterday they were planning to set up operations to take the fingerprints of protesters turning up at anti-coup protests at Sanam Luang. Police said the move was an attempt to prevent suspected ''foreigners'' from trying to stir up trouble at the future gatherings of the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). Metropolitan police chief Adisorn Nonsi said the move to tighten security was prompted after police received intelligence reports from the military and Special Branch police that some ''alien elements'' might try to infiltrate the protests.

• Should parents really be pill-pushers? - Parents today are, rightly, tormented by the worry of someone offering illegal drugs to their children: there are few more loathed figures in the popular imagination than the school-gate pusher. In contrast, they seem increasingly sanguine about the notion of their children being handed powerful psychiatric drugs by their GPs. It emerged last week that in the last decade the number of school children prescribed anti-depressants such as Prozac has risen fourfold, while the prescription of "behaviour-altering" drugs has risen tenfold.

Friday 27th July 2007: -

• Wesley Clark On MSNBC: "Possible" Tillman Death Was Murder, Cover Up Came From Very Top - Gen. Wesley Clark joined Olbermann on MSNBC's Countdown show last night to discuss the shocking new details concerning the death of Pat Tillman. Olbermann and Clark speculate that the suppressed Army medical report that stated Tillman was shot three times in the head from just 10 yards indicates that a greater cover-up than "friendly fire" has been at work, that it came from the very top, and that Tillman was likely murdered.

• France to "triple" CCTV surveillance across the country - French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie announced Thursday the government is planning to " triple" the existing CCTV surveillance capacities across the country, with a view to curbing the risks of terrorism and acts of violence. After chairing a meeting over the issue, the minister told the press she intended to develop CCTV surveillance "as a priority within the framework of an upcoming law on interior security orientation and programming (LOPSI)" which is expected to be submitted to the council of ministers in autumn. In order to "cover as much territory as possible," she said, there is a need for "enhanced networking with all those" who are already using this technology, notably citing "local authorities, Paris transport authorities (RATP), French national railway company (SNCF), and large shopping complexes."

• US astronauts sloshed in space: Houston, we have a (drink) problem - Accusations that two Nasa astronauts were drunk in charge of space vehicles, and revelations of sabotage, have overshadowed the next mission which is due to lift off on 7 August. Officially Nasa maintains a 12-hour 'bottle-to-throttle' rule. But, according to a report in Aviation Week, on at least two occasions astronauts who broke the rule were still allowed to fly. This was despite warnings from flight surgeons and fellow crew members that they were too drunk.

• Some Who Covered 9/11 Now Experiencing Health Woes, Group Says - The New York Press Photographers Association is asking members of the media to come forward if they are suffering from long-term health effects of covering the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. David Handschuh, the NYPPA intergovernmental affairs chair and a photographer for the New York Daily News, says he has heard from about a dozen 9/11 media workers who are experiencing health problems. Handschuh, who was hit by debris and suffered a broken leg while covering the attack, said he is among those now experiencing breathing problems.

• Defiant Korey Rowe: "I'm Not Going Anywhere": Loose Change producer released, heads to Fort Campbell to clear his name - A defiant Korey Rowe promised his detractors "I'm not going anywhere" in a brief You Tube video last night after he was released from Fort Drum and headed to Fort Campbell to clear his name for good. Rowe, an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran, is one of the producers of Loose Change, a wildly popular documentary that alleges U.S. government involvement in the 9/11 attack. He was arrested on Monday night on charges of desertion even though he had been out of the Army for two years and had made numerous public appearances since at which authorities could have apprehended him.

• Rescue dog who made a name after 9/11 dead - A black Labrador who became a canine hero after burrowing through white-hot, smoking debris in search of survivors at the World Trade Center site after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks has died after a battle with cancer. Owner Mary Flood had Jake put to sleep on Wednesday after a last stroll through the fields and a dip in the creek near their home in Oakley, Utah. He was in too much pain at the end, shaking with a 105-degree-Fahrenheit (40-degree-Celsius) fever as he lay on the lawn. No one can say whether the dog would have gotten sick if he had not been exposed to the smoky air at ground zero, but cancer in dogs Jake's age - he was 12 - is quite common.

• Family businesses to lose out in tax review - Hundreds of thousands of small businesses and family partnerships will be forced to pay more tax under reforms proposed by the Government today. The crackdown on "income-splitting" arrangements will target husband-and-wife companies where one spouse performs the main service and the other has a lower paid, support role. The changes follow a victory by husband-and-wife team Geoff and Diana Jones, who won their four-year battle against the taxman at the House of Lords yesterday.

• FBI Wants Its Own Stasi: Proposes building network of US informants - In a move startlingly similar to that of the East German government during the Cold war, the FBI wants to recruit thousands of covert informants in the US and work with the CIA to train them in an effort to expand and adopt more aggressive intelligence capabilities. ABC's The Blotter reports that according to a recent unclassified report to Congress, the FBI, driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush, wants to recruit more than 15,000 informants in the US, entailing a complete overhaul of its database systems at a cost of around $22 million.

• Bloggers are terrorists, government claims: Lock them up without trail - IF YOU post about religion or politics in Malaysia you could end up being prosecuted using the same laws designed to stop terrorists. The Malaysian government says it has had a gutsful of boggers who insult them, the King, or Islam and it will treat them like terrorists if they are not careful. Already one of Malaysia's leading online commentators Raja Petra Kamarudin has had a visit from the local plod after the main governing party didn't like what he said in his blog.

• Thousands of jobs to go as councils are scrapped - Ministers face a string of legal challenges after announcing that 35 councils are to be scrapped in a move to streamline services and save £150 million a year. John Healey, the Local Government Minister, announced yesterday that ten new larger unitary authorities would be created by abolishing 35 councils and merging their services. But the reorganisation, planned for 2009, is likely to involve thousands of redundancies and has been widely opposed by those councils duem to disappear. Although there is no right of appeal, several town halls are expected to seek a judicial review.

• Bank charges: customer accounts 'threatened' - Thousands of people who have complained to their bank about unfair charges have been threatened with having their accounts closed, a survey claimed yesterday. More than one person in eight who has tried to reclaim penalty fees for going overdrawn or breaching an overdraft limit has been told they could have their account and overdraft facilities closed. The financial website thisismoney.co.uk said many of these people were in debt, and some had incurred fees of hundreds of pounds for going only slightly overdrawn. But it said threats to close accounts ran against principles laid down in the Banking Code, under which banks must treat customers fairly when they are in financial difficulties.

Thursday 26th July 2007: -

• Political Prisoner: Loose Change Producer Korey Rowe Arrested: Iraq, Afghanistan veteran handed over to military officials by police under charges of "deserting the Army" - Loose Change producer and Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Korey Rowe has been arrested and handed over to military officials without bail for allegedly "deserting the Army". According to a report in the New York Daily Star, Rowe was arrested on Monday night at a county Route 47 residence in Oneonta.

• Neo-Cons Cheer Arrest Of Korey Rowe - Neo-Con website Newsbusters and Michele "put every Muslim in a concentration camp" Malkin's Hot Air are both lauding the arrest of Loose Change producer Korey Rowe, advocating the internment of American citizizens for their political opinions. Hot Air laments the fact that Rowe wasn't apprehended earlier at his previous public appearances while Newsbusters columnist Noel Sheppard goes further - identifying Rowe's 9/11 activism as a legitimate reason for his arrest on behalf the Army. Under this logic, Michele Malkin herself should have been incarcerated for questioning the official story of 9/11 in a column she wrote in March 2002. Frothing comments on the Digg page of our earlier article also triumph the fact that the military are now kidnapping American citizens as political prisoners.

• MPs warn over air security checks - Heightened security checks at airports could create a potential new target for terrorists, MPs have warned. A report by the Commons transport select committee said queues of hundreds of passengers in cramped spaces could become a security hazard. The committee recommended that reducing queues at security and speeding up check-in times should be a priority.

• 9/11 Victim's Family Member Demands News Coverage - During a rally cry for more groups within the anti-war movement to help expose 9/11 truth, Manny Badillo, whose uncle, Thomas J. Sgroi, died in the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, took time out to bullhorn a local news van in attempt to persuade greater news coverage of 9/11 truth. Badillo, along with other truthers, give a spirited effort, particularly as it was undertaken spontaneously.

• Student guilty of terrorism charge for altered 9/11 poster - A FIFTH student was found guilty yesterday of a terrorism offence. Awaab Iqbal, 20, of Bradford, had swapped his face and those of friends for the faces of the 9/11 terrorists on a poster. He was found guilty under Section 57 of the Terrorism Act of having articles for terrorism. The charge related to material found on his computer and in his room after an investigation was launched when 17-year-old Mohammed Irfan Raja ran away from home to be a martyr. Iqbal had admitted editing the 9/11 picture to include himself, two other defendants and friends.

(Whooops!, how did that get there?)

• Brown warned on terror detention - Shadow home secretary David Davis has said the Government should look at other options before introducing longer time limits on holding terror suspects without charge. Mr Davis told GMTV there was "no evidence" that it was necessary to increase the present 28-day limit amid reports the Prime Minister is considering doubling it to 56 days. Gordon Brown is to make a major statement on security to the House of Commons, when he is expected to reaffirm his backing for the controversial ID card project championed by his predecessor Tony Blair.

• House Intelligence Chairman: Bush administration withholds key information on surveillance - As House Republicans and officials in the administration of President George W. Bush aggressively promoted reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said the executive branch had refused for almost two months to turn over key information on spying activities to Congress. "It has been 54 days since Ranking Member [Pete] Hoekstra and I sent a bipartisan letter requesting information from the Administration about its surveillance activities," said the Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), Intelligence Committee Chairman, in a statement released to RAW STORY late on Tuesday. "Specifically, we asked for copies of the Presidential Authorizations and legal opinions for surveillance outside of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."

• Surveillance cameras watch kissing Beijing couples - Beijing couples who steal a kiss in public are being warned they could be caught on closed-circuit television — and suspected of committing a crime. China’s Xinhua News Agency reports “intimate acts of lovers may be initially categorized as ’kidnapping’ or ’robbery’ by the computers, which are programmed to be sensitive to violations of safe distances.” Police officers monitoring the cameras will decide if the situation really is dangerous. Signs will go up next month in areas covered by the cameras, saying in Chinese and English “you are entering a camera-monitored zone.”

• Putting Surveillance in Remote, Outdoor Locations: New technology allows battery-powered surveillance in harsh environments - Video surveillance has long been an outstanding tool for security and law enforcement, but there were places where you just couldn't put cameras and recorders. Mainly that was outdoor surveillance, where lack of power, and weather conditions played havoc with surveillance systems. Special enclosures were designed by companies like Pelco to overcome the issues, and heaters and fans were added to keep sensitive equipment working. But the one thing that remained was that all such systems required power. Additionally, spinning discs and gears, like those in traditional DVRs and VCRs respectfully, don't fare well to temperature changes and issues of moisture.

• Diana inquest: Fayed lawyers to question driver's blood sample - Lawyers are expected to argue about the authenticity of blood samples from princess Diana's driver when an inquest into her death resumes, a spokesman for her late partner's father said Wednesday. Michael Cole, who represents Dodi Fayed's father Mohammed, told AFP their legal team and those for driver Henri Paul's family would submit that the blood tested after the fatal crash in Paris in 1997 was not his.   (RELATED: See our popular Diana Assassination archive for more info.)

• VA turns away cardiac victim: The man was not a vet. Paramedics were told to take him to a more distant emergency room. He did not survive - The man had suffered a heart attack in a building about 200 feet from the bustling emergency room at Bay Pines VA Medical Center. But when Bay Pines worker Mark A. Surette collapsed on June 26, Pinellas paramedics weren't sure where to take him. Surette wasn't a veteran. So the county asked Bay Pines if its emergency room would treat him. The response: Go to St. Petersburg General Hospital, 3 miles away. Listen to 911 call. Surette, 51, of St. Petersburg died.

• Norcross man dies after Taser shock - A Norcross man died Wednesday after a fight with Gwinnett sheriff's deputies at an apartment complex, authorities said. Deputies had to use a Taser to subdue Carlos Rodriguez, 27, said Stacey Bourbonnais, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office. The man appeared to be heavily intoxicated when deputies arrived at the complex on Lia Hills Drive, she said. Apartment management alerted deputies about Rodriguez. Deputies had been at the complex for an unrelated eviction. The man started fighting with deputies when they approached him, she said. One of the man's friends tried to keep him from fighting by placing him in a chokehold. The man was transported to Gwinnett Medical Center, where he later died.

• The EU constitution is back and more dangerous than ever! - Do you remember the European Constitution? Yes, the one rejected by the French and Dutch? That same European Constitution on which the Labour Government promised the British people a referendum before the last General Election? Well, it's back with a vengeance. Like some old Hammer horror movie, the constitution has returned from the dead, now repackaged as a 'treaty'. But the so-called 'new' EU Treaty has all the same ingredients as the old constitution. In fact, it was revealed yesterday that it is 96 per cent identical to the old constitution.

Wednesday 25th July 2007: -

• Detention limit changes - GORDON Brown will today tell MPs he wants to raise the 28-day limit on pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects in light of recent plots. The Prime Minister will also unveil "hearts and minds" measures aimed at British Muslims. Speaking to MPs yesterday, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said MI5 is now aware of 2,000 terrorist suspects in the UK, up from a figure of 1,600 revealed last November. "The time is right to reconsider whether we should allow longer than 28 days for pre-charge detention," she added.

• Astronauts chuck fridge off space station: Fatal fridge-frag meteor space dump shocker - Litterbug astronauts have hurled almost a ton of junk off the International Space Station, including an old refrigeration system weighing 1400lb, risking a fiery meteoric death for innocent Earth-dwellers. In sharp contrast to green consumers worldwide, NASA has brazenly revealed that the fly tipping spacemen hadn't even used the fridge before throwing it overboard. Outrage is expected from the sandal-wearing, lentil-friendly elements of society.

• 9/11 Health Programs Faulted - Federal efforts to coordinate health care programs for sick ground zero workers have been hampered by shaky cost estimates and unsteady spending to keep the programs running, a new report has found. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, on Tuesday released the results of its fifth study of 9/11 health programs, concluding that five years after the attacks the government still doesn't have a consistent set of programs _ or a good sense of what ground zero illnesses will cost.

• Biometric data in schools: New guidance on data protection published by Becta - Guidance on how the Data Protection Act 1998 applies to the use of biometric data in schools has been published by Becta, the Government's schools ICT agency. It advises schools to fully involve parents in any decision to introduce biometric or fingerprint technology to run cashless lunch queues, school libraries and attendance systems. It restates schools' freedom to run their own affairs - including introducing new technology to free up teacher time and making day-to-day administration easier.

Tuesday 24th July 2007: -

• Baring your backpack to bolster school safety: Wissahickon High will join other institutions this fall in permitting only clear or mesh bags in the hallways - It has come to this in the quest for safe schools: Cloth backpacks, for decades a fixture in the lives of most high school students, will be banned from the hallways of Montgomery County's Wissahickon High School starting this fall. If students walking between classes want to use a backpack, it must be made of clear plastic or mesh so its contents can be seen at a glance. Cloth backpacks can be carried into the school in the morning but must be stored in lockers. Wissahickon is the most recent district to mandate see-through backpacks, joining several other area suburban districts and private schools as they look to avert tragedies like the 1999 gun killings at Columbine and last December's gunshot suicide by a student inside Montgomery County's Springfield Township High School.   (RELATED: See our Total Global Surveillance archive)

• Students to use mobile phone for secure campus payments - Heartland Payment Systems has been selected by Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania to deliver the convenience and security of contactless payments by cell phone to students and faculty. This first-of-its-kind college campus solution in the United States – developed by Heartland's new micro-payments division – capitalizes on two well-established trends: the ubiquity of the mobile phone among college students; and the popularity of new contactless, or tap-and-go, payments among American consumers. Beginning in July, Slippery Rock University's 8,500 students, faculty and staff will receive a new official campus ID card and a separate contactless token designed for use with their mobile phones.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive.)

• Australian University sticks to letter of privacy law - THE University of Wollongong would not release student information to police unless they produced a subpoena or it was a next-of-kin request, an official has confirmed. This adherence to privacy laws contrasts with the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney, who have given information to police after little more than an email request. Two weeks ago the president of the University of Technology's Students Association, Darren Loasby, said it was part of a wider trend of police targeting student activists before the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. The vice-principal of administration at Wollongong University, Chris Grange, said local police knew not to try to obtain information without a subpoena. "I can't think of a recent request for information without a warrant," he said. "And the last time one came in several years ago we said: 'You can't do that. You have to get a warrant first."'

• Man recalls false detention after 9/11 - Soon after the September 11 terror attack in 2001, faces of two youth from Hyderabad were flashed across the world. Mohd Ayub and Javed Azmath were branded terrorists and were detained in the US. Eighteen months later, they returned home because there was no evidence to prove they had any terror links. Javed Azmath and his wife Tasleem say they can understand what Mohd Haneef's family in neighbouring Karnataka is living through. ''My case and Haneef's case are similar. The government framed but could not prove anything in court. It is the same here as well. They have framed but the court has not approved. So they are trying to prolong the case,'' said Javed Azmath, 9/11 accused.

Monday 23rd July 2007: -

• 9/11 Truth is Truth 101 (An Apple is an Apple) - It is hard to believe, as we watch the actions of the criminals in the government day after ominous day, there are still those who haven’t wrapped their minds around the lie of 9/11. We are watching the end of liberty and the destruction of everything that we have built and believed in and hoped to leave behind for our children and grandchildren. We are watching as the GOP acts and even accelerates their actions, in spite of the will of the people and the very real threat (even with the rigged electronic voting machines) of being, not only driven from power, but being destroyed as a party. And yet, as if immune from the laws, immune from the will of the people, immune from the Congress, immune from world opinion and immune from journalistic oversight; the Cheney/Bush regime expands the disaster in Iraq and is planning to attack Iran.

• 9/11 – Fool me once... - As George Bush tried to say some time ago “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”. With a great deal of evidence suggesting that the American people were fooled over the 9/11 attack in 2001, and indications that a new attack (equally horrific) might be on the way, these words should be imprinted on our minds. Many leading figures in the government (and military) have been hinting at such an event, and if we are to believe the signs, this could happen in just a matter of weeks. If it does take place, when and where will it occur? In April of this year Dick Cheney said a 9/11 with terrorists using “a nuclear weapon in the middle of one of our own cities” was the greatest threat. But could this be an attempt to distract us from the real location, a carrier in the Persian Gulf, or a chance for him to say “I told you so” later? There are numerous articles on the internet that suggest Bush and Cheney are planning a “staged” attack, so that they can introduce martial law. One story even goes so far as to say that there will be no election in 2008!

• Science chief: cut birthrate to save Earth: New museum head says lower population would cut CO2 at a fraction of renewable energy cost - The new head of the Science Museum has an uncompromising view about how global warming should be dealt with: get rid of a few billion people. Chris Rapley, who takes up his post on September 1, is not afraid of offending. 'I am not advocating genocide,' said Rapley. 'What I am saying is that if we invest in ways to reduce the birthrate - by improving contraception, education and healthcare - we will stop the world's population reaching its current estimated limit of between eight and 10 billion.

• 'We'll continue fight for justice' - The family of Jean Charles de Menezes vowed to continue their fight for justice as they marked the second anniversary of their loved one's death. The Brazilian's cousins and supporters held a minute's silence at Stockwell Tube Station where the 27-year-old electrician was shot by counter terrorist police exactly two-years ago. Mr de Menezes' four cousins have campaigned for someone to be held accountable for the shooting. They stood in front of a makeshift shrine at the station, erected soon after the Brazilian was shot seven times at point-blank range on the underground on July 22 2005.

• Bush's anti-torture Executive Order authorizes torture - President Bush's Executive Order prohibiting torture does exactly the opposite as White House and Pentagon have a very narrow definition of "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment", human rights groups alleged yesterday. They also point out that because the order interprets for the United States "Common Article 3" of the Geneva Conventions, only as authorized in the Military Commissions Act, and under the Act detainees can be held incommunicado forever, US authorities can carry on violating the Geneva Conventions with any restrictions.

Sunday 22nd July 2007: -

• AUSTRALIA: Moroney's Big Brother laws - POLICE will need a host of invasive forensic powers such as iris-scanning technology and a DNA database - which could include innocent people - not only to fight terrorism but also lesser crimes such as car theft, the NSW Police Commissioner has warned. Ken Moroney yesterday dismissed civil liberties concerns as he repeated a call for enhanced identification checks when people buy mobile phone SIM cards and confirmed police might soon have expanded powers to collect DNA. "I hear oppositions that these are breaches or potential breaches of civil liberties," Mr Moroney said. "Let me say this, every police officer … [has] to be concerned about the civil liberties of everybody - not just a small few. We have to be concerned about the civil liberty of being able to leave your car on the street without it being stolen.

Saturday 21st July 2007: -

• Heathrow to check fingerprints: Terminal 5 passengers will have fingers and faces scanned, says Jeremy Skidmore - Fingerprinting of passengers, a process that has irritated many visitors to the United States, will soon be happening on some domestic flights within Britain. Domestic passengers departing from Heathrow's Terminal 5, which opens in March, will have to give a fingerprint and have their faces scanned as part of a security check before take-off. The checks are being brought in because both domestic and international passengers will share a common departure lounge and there are fears that those arriving on international flights may be able to bypass immigration control by booking an onward domestic flight to a regional airport.

• Microchips implanted in humans: High-tech helpers, or Big Brother surveillance tools? - CityWatcher.com, a provider of surveillance equipment, attracted little notice itself - until a year ago, when two of its employees had glass-encapsulated microchips with miniature antennas embedded in their forearms. The "chipping" of two workers with RFIDs - radio frequency identification tags as long as two grains of rice, as thick as a toothpick - was merely a way of restricting access to vaults that held sensitive data and images for police departments, a layer of security beyond key cards and clearance codes, the company said. "To protect high-end secure data, you use more sophisticated techniques," Sean Darks, chief executive of the Cincinnati-based company, said. He compared chip implants to retina scans or fingerprinting. "There's a reader outside the door; you walk up to the reader, put your arm under it, and it opens the door."

• Duel over Tasers in Colorado schools: State senator, ACLU raise fears about stun guns - A Democratic state senator and the American Civil Liberties Union are concerned about the use of Tasers by people assigned to keep order in public schools. Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, said Thursday he's confident that police officers who patrol schools have the training to use Tasers properly. But he's concerned that the weapons, which deliver a shock, will be issued to school district security personnel, who have less training. "We know a Taser can indeed kill an adult, and . . . a child is not a full-grown adult," Hagedorn said.

• GOP lawmaker urges probe into possible CIA leak on secret prisons - A top Republican legislator Friday called for an investigation into whether CIA agents leaked classified information to Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty about secret prisons for detaining suspected terrorists. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, requested the probe in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. In the letter, Hoekstra said that every intelligence official swears an oath to protect the people and national secrets of this great land. To willingly discuss the details of any classified government program with an agent of a foreign power without authorization is absolutely unconscionable. This would represent an egregious violation of the public's trust.

• More Sydney bus routes to become cashless - More of Sydney's major bus routes will be made cashless, with the New South Wales Government announcing an additional 13 pre-pay services for the city. The next pre-pay only services will be the 891 and the 895 express routes to the University of New South Wales. Transport Minister John Watkins says he expects commuters will welcome the introduction of more cashless routes.

• Obesity pill 'could lead to suicide' - A weight-loss pill heightens the risk of suicide among those taking anti-depressants, a watchdog has warned. Patients with severe depression should not be prescribed Acomplia, said the European Medicines Agency. More than 40,000 Britons have been treated with the pill, also known as rimonabant, since it was unveiled last June. It was hailed as a wonder drug after trials showed it could help dieters lose up to 10 per cent of their body weight - as well as helping smokers quit cigarettes.

Friday 20th July 2007: -

• Cash for honours: No charges brought - The Metropolitan Police is likely to face a furious political backlash today with an expected announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service that no-one will be charged following the 16-month "cash for honours" inquiry. The decision - predicted by the BBC and ITV last night - will come as a huge relief to Tony Blair and former members of his inner circle following claims that criminal charges could be brought. The ex-Prime Minister's final year in Downing Street was blighted by the allegations that some of his closest allies conspired to "sell" seats in the House of Lords in return for donations totalling £14 million to the Labour Party before the 2005 general election.   (COMMENTARY: Unbelievable... and yet believable!)

• Three UK Iraq servicemen killed - Three RAF servicemen have been killed after encountering an "indirect fire attack" in Basra, southern Iraq, according to the Ministry of Defence. Two of the men were from 1 Squadron RAF Regiment, while the other served with 504 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Next of kin have already been informed, the spokeswoman added. Following the latest fatalities, the total number of UK service personnel killed during operations in Iraq now stands at 162.

• Pupil history knowledge 'patchy' - Pupils in primary and secondary schools across England lack an overview of world history and have little sense of chronology, Ofsted inspectors warn. The watchdog said the curriculum was too England-focused, ignoring the rest of the UK and Europe. They also complained that after the age of 13, only one in three children study history at all.

Thursday 19th July 2007: -

• Comic Relief among shows that deceived BBC viewers - The BBC was plunged into its biggest crisis since the Hutton inquiry yesterday after uncovering a "hornet's nest of deception" involving some of its biggest programmes, including the Comic Relief and Children in Need appeals. After discovering at least six more incidents of viewers being seriously misled, the BBC immediately suspended all its competitions across its television, radio and web operations. Some "editorial leaders" at the heart of the problems have been suspended.

• Terrorist no-fly list includes name of 8-year-old boy - Bryan Moore doesn’t fit the profile you would expect for a suspected terrorist — he’s 8 years old. But the youngster was prevented from flying on a plane in an airport in Cortez, Colo., last week after his name popped up on a terrorist no-fly list. “Poor Bryan was just looking at me and saying, ‘What?’” said his sister, Tammy Wallace, who took him to the airport for his flight to Kansas City. But a spokesman for Great Lakes Airlines said there would have not been a problem if the boy had not arrived late to the airport. The late arrival, the airline said, did not allow enough time to clear up the problem.

• McCain Loses It and Flees After 9/11 Truth Questions: Senator Refuses Demands for a New Investigation, Claims "Additional Information" About 9/11 and Leaves Event Irritated and Angry - Republican presidential candidate John McCain was literally overwhelmed by reporters from WeAreChange.org and Infowars.com seeking 9/11 truth during a campaign stop. McCain, who wrote the forward to Popular Mechanics' Debunking 9/11 Myths, repeatedly told reporters, "I do not support a new investigation" and stated that he believes the "9/11 Commission did a good job."

• Bush Administration Official Thought WTC Towers Were "Charged": Cheney was "surprised" that buildings collapsed, his counsel David Addington thought they were imploded, according to official biography - A senior Bush administration official's first reaction to seeing the twin towers collapse on 9/11 was that the buildings had been deliberately imploded with explosive charges according to an account in Dick Cheney's new official biography, which also reveals that Cheney thought Flight 93 had been shot down after hearing of its demise in Pennsylvania.   (RELATED: See our 9/11 archive and our affiliated site 911truthskipton.com)

• Attorney For New Black Panther Party: Bush Had 9/11 Foreknowledge: Defends Muslim Congressman's comparison of Bush to Hitler - Appearing on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes yesterday, Malik Shabazz, the attorney for the New Black Panther Party, reiterated that many 9/11 families are taking action against the government and the FAA for at the very least having foreknowledge of the attacks.

• Explosion rocks Manhattan, reviving 9/11 memories - An 83-year-old steam pipe exploded underground in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, shaking buildings, creating a towering geyser of debris and sending people fleeing in scenes reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks. Officials in New York and Washington promptly ruled out terrorism. One person died of cardiac arrest and about 20 others were injured, some seriously, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference.

• Police 'to access road cameras' - Road pricing cameras could be used by police to track drivers' movements in England and Wales under new proposals. A Home Office document accidentally released suggests police should be given instant access to cameras which monitor congestion and road charging. It comes after anti-terror officers were given real time access to congestion charge cameras in London. The Lib Dems accused the government of using that announcement as a "Trojan Horse" for more wide-ranging proposals.

Wednesday 18th July 2007: -

• Confessions Of The Neo-Cons: Pray for Fox news, want war dissenters in gas chambers - A recent exposé in the London Independent, when stripped of its heavily lefty leaning bias, has provided a stark picture of neocon worshippers in America today as a bunch of bigoted wannabe elites who have swallowed whole the mantra of the Bush cabal and now believe that real conservatism consists of invading every oil producing country in the world and killing American citizens who protest. Johann Hari's recent article, while being laced with overly liberal padding, contains at its heart a detailed picture of the fallout of the neoconservative hijacking of America in the 21st century. Hari, reporting from the annual cruise organised by the staunchly neocon publication the 'National Review', details casual comments made by attendees that highlight how the self made reality of right wing lobbyists and elites has filtered through to a bandwagon of greasy ladder climbing yuppies who consider total servitude and worship of the globalist run government to be the key to a strong and healthy American society.

• Police Report: Face Recognition CCTV Unreliable - New tests conducted by police yet again prove an increasing number of surveillance systems are unreliable. 200 people were enrolled to test CCTV face recognition software on three systems which failed to recognise 8 out of 10 people, even when the system was fed images of people standing still - one of the easiest settings often used to suggest the software is reliable. The tests were conducted on software produced by Cognitec, Bosch and Cross Match. The federal police in Germany who conducted the test are citing “bad lighting” as the reason for the failure and required the test subjects to be fitted with RFID tags to help with the identification process.

• AMA Issues Ethics Code for RFID Chip Implants: The American Medical Association recommends that physicians disclose uncertainties about the risks of implants, add extra layers of security to protect patient privacy and support ongoing research regarding the implantation of RFID devices in human beings - The American Medical Association (AMA) has officially established a code of ethics designed to protect patients receiving RFID implants. The recommendations focus on safeguarding a patient's privacy and health, and are the result of an evaluation by the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) regarding the medical and ethical implications of RFID chips in humans, as well as a follow-up report recently released. The latter discusses the possible advantages and specific privacy and ethical issues of using RFID-enabled implantations for clinical purposes.

• Trouble in Bohemian Grove Paradise - It’s high summer and little boys everywhere are planning to take over the world from treetop forts. Little Johnny’s home from school swing easily into Long John Silver mode on dreamy summer afternoons. That’s California dreamin’ for the lovable Kool-Aid set. In Monte Rio, California, toupee-wearing, cigar chomping little boys grown tall are beginning to arrive for this year’s secret Bohemian Club male-bonding session, where a today-the-pond-tomorrow-the-world agenda gets underway.

Tuesday 17th July 2007: -

• Ailing 9/11 workers to sue WTC - Ailing ground zero workers went to court on Tuesday to demand that the company overseeing a $1-billion (about R7-billion) September 11 insurance fund uses it to pay for their health care. Attorneys for the workers argue that federal officials meant for the money in the WTC Captive Insurance Company to be used as compensation for sick workers. The workers have already filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the toxic dust from the World Trade Center site gave them serious, possibly fatal diseases. On Tuesday they sought compensation from the company in charge of money appropriated by Congress to deal with September 11 health-related claims.

• Giuliani, Thompson trail “None of the Above” in AP Poll - Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson top the list of named candidates in the latest Associated Press poll on GOP presidential preferences, but they’ve both fallen behind “none of the above.” The AP story on the poll says that “23 percent [of Republicans] can’t or won’t say which candidate they would back, a jump from the 14 percent who took a pass in June.” Giuliani comes in at 21%, down from 27% in June and 35% in March, while Thompson garnered 19%. John McCain, whose campaign is nearly broke and hemorrhaging staffers, still pulls 15%, while champion fundraiser and all-around handsome guy Mitt Romney managed 11% despite the recent Fred Thompson-orchestrated attacks on his humanity.

• High Court backing for school ban on 'purity' jewellery - A TEENAGER spoke of her "disappointment" after the High Court in London ruled yesterday that she had no legal right to wear a "purity ring" to school as an expression of her Christian values. Lydia Playfoot, 16, said wearing the ring, which is engraved with a Biblical verse, was a demonstration of her commitment to refrain from sex before marriage. But the Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, banned rings as contrary to its "no jewellery" policy. Lydia, who recently left the school after completing her GCSE examinations, said the stance was "anti-Christian" as the school allowed Muslim and Sikh students to wear headscarves and religious bracelets.

• Fluoride Damages Teeth, New Warning by Dentists - Fluoride supplements put children six and under at significant risk of permanently discolored teeth, according to a review of studies recently posted on the American Dental Association's (ADA) website in their new section, "evidence-based dentistry," for dentists and their patients. Fluoride supplements, in graduating amounts up to 1 mg daily, are often prescribed to children who don't drink fluoridated water, ostensibly to reduce tooth decay. "This review confirmed that in non-fluoridated communities the use of fluoride supplements during the first 6 years of life is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing dental fluorosis, write researchers Ismail & Bandekar and first published in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, February 1999,  but posted to the ADA's website July 2007. Fluoride ingestion, once thought to reduce cavities, can lead to dental fluorosis -- white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted tooth enamel.

• Q&A: What is 'reasonable force'? - A survey has suggested that almost a third of householders in the UK keep items such as golf clubs, cricket bats and heavy torches at hand ready to tackle intruders. But where do victims stand when confronted with an unwanted presence in their home?

Monday 16th July 2007: -

• Robot Air Attack Squadron Bound for Iraq: Robot Air Attack Squadron Bound for Iraq; 'Reaper' Packs Bombs, Missiles - The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It's outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles. The Reaper is loaded, but there's no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles away in Nevada. The arrival of these outsized U.S. "hunter-killer" drones, in aviation history's first robot attack squadron, will be a watershed moment even in an Iraq that has seen too many innovative ways to hunt and kill.   (RELATED: See our Cybernetic Dawn archive)

• Cheques may soon stop checking out - ONE of the most well-worn excuses for the late payment of a bill is: "The cheque is in the post." But it could be curtains for that excuse and indeed for the cheque itself as its use appears to be in terminal decline. Cheques have edged closer to possible extinction as Sainsbury's announced it will ban them from its tills from August 1. A spokesman said: "The use of cheques has been in steady decline. As a result, cheques account for a lower percentage of our takings, and we have taken the decision we will no longer accept them at our tills."   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive.)

• Biometric access system benefits from smoking ban - The smoking ban which came into force on the 1st of July is providing a boost for Newcastle upon Tyne based ‘fingerprint entry’ specialist UK Biometrics Ltd, as nightclubs seek a secure way to allow customers out of their venue for a cigarette. The city centre location of many nightclubs means installing an outdoor smoking area is not an option. Current ticket, swipe card or hand-stamp identification methods are open to abuse since they can be swapped outside the venue, putting owners at risk of allowing under age drinkers or known trouble makers entrance. With the UK Biometrics Membership System, developed on Tyneside, nightclub management know that the person re-entering the club after a cigarette break is the person who originally paid to enter.

• Bomb hits British embassy in Chile - A small package has been detonated outside the British Embassy in Santiago, Chile, causing limited damage to some of the buildings. There are no reports of casualties. The blast struck the British Embassy and the neighbouring Israeli Embassy around at around 10pm local time. Police believe a quantity of gunpowder was detonated. Windows were broken and doors dented, a police spokesman told CNN. The Foreign Office website says 50,000 British tourists visit Chile annually and the threat from terrorism is low.

• TVs and computers breeding generation of 'screen kids': Generation losing out on family life, says report / Affluent children less likely to have bedroom TV - TVs and computers are the "electronic babysitters" for a generation of children who are losing out on family life and becoming more materialistic, a report says today. The study paints a picture of a breed of "screen kids" who are spending more and more time watching TV and surfing the net in their bedrooms, unsupervised by adults. The Watching, Wanting and Wellbeing report from the National Consumer Council found nearly half the children from better-off families surveyed had televisions in their bedrooms, compared with 97% of the nine- to 13-year-olds from less well-off areas.

• "Bin tax" plan likely to fail, say MPs - Government plans to introduce a "bin tax" to encourage recycling are likely to fail, a cross-party committee of MPs said on Monday. The Communities and Local Government select committee said the government's proposed waste strategy -- including moves to allow councils to levy "pay-as-you-throw" rubbish taxes, in which people would be charged according to the amount of rubbish they produce -- are too complicated and unlikely to work. The scheme could lead to public protest, more fly-tipping of household waste and non-payment, iT said.

• ST911 Scientist to Sue BBC for Public Deception - A British scientist and member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, John A. Blacker MSc IMI (Physical Systems), is planning to sue the BBC for mass public deception via their “9/11: The Conspiracy Files” program, RINF Alternative News can reveal. The program program which aired on 18 February, 2007, promised to offer a thorough examination of the events of 9/11 and answer many of the questions posed by the 9/11 Truth Movement. However, the hour long program failed to investigate the tough questions and ignored hard evidence that points towards a deeper conspiracy, while presenting an unfair and unbalanced view of 9/11 research. Scientist and member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, John A. Blacker, is taking action against this portrayal on the grounds of ‘Total Public Deception’.

Sunday 15th July 2007: -

• 'New' al Qaeda tape may contain old clip of bin Laden - Osama bin Laden stresses the importance of martyrdom for Muslim causes in a videotape that purportedly contains a 50-second message from the al Qaeda leader. The 40-minute videotape, whose audio was being translated from Arabic by CNN, was intercepted before it was to appear on several Islamist Web sites known for carrying statements from al Qaeda and other radical groups. The videotape, titled "A Special Surprise from As-Sahab. Heaven's Breeze Part I," was made in the last four weeks, but the clips appear to be old, said Octavia Nasr, CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs. There is no indication of where it was shot, and CNN cannot verify its authenticity.

• Fixer for 21/7 plot free in London - A SUSPECTED Al-Qaeda operative who is believed by MI5 to have played a key role in the events leading up to the July 21 failed bombings is at liberty and living in east London. Mohammed al-Ghabra, a 27-year-old Syrian who has been given British citizenship, is said by security sources to have arranged for the leader of the failed 21/7 London suicide attacks to travel to Pakistan for terrorist training. The sources said al-Ghabra instructed a second terrorist suspect to facilitate a four-month trip to Pakistan by Muktar Said Ibrahim, the leader of the July 21 gang.

• Brat Nav... the GPS that can tag your teenager (or errant husband) absolutely anywhere in Britain - It could be the perfect answer for parents anxious about their children's whereabouts. A device the size of a large matchbox is being launched that exactly pinpoints a carrier's location through a global positioning system accessed by computer or mobile phone. The gadget, called buddi, can be clipped to children's clothing or carried in their pockets. Parents then log on to see their child's position on a detailed map via satellite tracking.

• Firefighters still paying price for 9/11 - A lung specialist from Israel who went to examine firefighters who had been at the World Trade Center on 9/11 found that as many as eight in 10 had some respiratory disorder. Dr. Izbicki Gabriel, a senior physician at the pulmonary institute of Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center, was with a team that examined firefighters and found widespread "sarcoid-like" granulomatous pulmonary disease. Their study, which appeared in the prestigious journal Chest, revealed a high incidence - five times more among the same population, compared to the 15 years before the terror attack - of the lung disease sarcoidosis. "Maybe the most important message is that most of the lung damage could have been avoided if the firefighters had worn masks. This is of course also important for Israeli firefighters, policemen, soldiers and others."

• BBC boss tells staff to root out inaccuracies - BBC boss Mark Thompson has ordered staff to root out inaccuracies after the public broadcaster was hit by two embarrassing blunders and had to apologise to the Queen. The BBC was fined 50,000 pounds this week after the results of a competition in the popular children's programme Blue Peter were found to have been faked.   (RELATED: 9/11 and the British Broadcasting Conspiracy)

• BBC in row over doctored TV footage with Gordon Brown - The BBC was at the centre of a new row over doctored TV footage after it admitted that its flagship Newsnight programme changed the sequence of events in a film highly critical of Gordon Brown. Mr Brown's officials have complained to the Corporation about an 'unfair, unbalanced, unnec