Thursday 30th November 2006: -

• Full text of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's letter to the American people - "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. O, Almighty God, bestow upon humanity the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers. Noble Americans, Were we not faced with the activities of the US administration in this part of the world and the negative ramifications of those activities on the daily lives of our peoples, coupled with the many wars and calamities caused by the US administration as well as the tragic consequences of US interference in other countries; Were the American people not God-fearing, truth-loving, and justice-seeking, while the US administration actively conceals the truth and impedes any objective portrayal of current realities;..."

• Study drugs: the new coffee? - With exam week on the frontier and study time mounting for University of Wisconsin students, some will be relying on more than soda and coffee to get them through long nights at the library. UW students are among the growing population of young adults using prescription attention deficit disorder medications to aid in all-night study sessions, regardless of whether they have a prescription.

Wednesday 29th November 2006: -

• WITH REGARDS TO OUR HEADLINES WHICH WE WORK HARD AT UP-DATING ON A DAILY BASIS; PLEASE BEAR WITH US OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS OUR TEAM IS CURRENTLY VERY BUSY ORGANISING AN UPCOMING 9/11 TRUTH EVENT (SEE ABOVE) WHICH WILL TAKE UP MUCH OF OUR TIME.  Webmaster, cremationofcare.com

• Apology over Royal phones tap plot - The News of the World has publicly apologised to members of the royal family for invading their privacy after a senior journalist admitted a plot to hack into personal phone calls. The unreserved apology from the paper's editor Andy Coulson and its royal correspondent Clive Goodman came as an Old Bailey court heard details of a phone tapping operation targeting both royals and celebrities. One of the public figures whose voicemail was intercepted - MP Simon Hughes - immediately condemned the practise as "completely unacceptable".

• Your "smellprint" is just as unique as your fingerprint - Your fingerprint may not be the only unique thing about you, for a new study has found that your odour is also just as distinctive. The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dustin Penn from the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology in Vienna, Austria, who now suggest that the "smellprint" of an individual may be as unique as the fingerprint.

• Death by Dust: The frightening link between the 9-11 toxic cloud and cancer - It was October 6, 2004, three years after Ernie Vallebuona's three-month stint as a rescue and recovery worker at ground zero in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, and he was hunched over and trembling, racked by a pain like nothing he had experienced in his 40 years of sound health. He had just returned to his Rockland County home after finishing the midnight-to-8 a.m. shift in the NYPD vice unit, where he'd reported to work for the last six years. Vallebuona had bought some fish from a street vendor near his office, on the Lower East Side. And as he drove the 35 miles from Manhattan to New City, he chalked up a searing stomachache to food poisoning. Maybe the vendor had filleted that fish with a dirty machete?

• Depleted Uranium Situation Worsens, by Doug Rokke - The delivery of at least one hundred GBU-28 "bunker buster" bombs containing depleted-uranium warheads by the United States to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon will result in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination, with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the Middle East. Israeli tank gunners are also using depleted-uranium tank rounds, as photographs verify. Today, US, British, and now Israeli military personnel are using illegal uranium munitions—America and the United Kingdom's own "dirty bombs"—while US Army, US Department of Energy, US Department of Defense (DOD), and UK Ministry of Defence officials deny that there are any adverse health or environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing, or use of uranium munitions, so that they may avoid liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive toxic material—depleted uranium (DU).

• Big Brother comes home: Panasonic launch two home network cameras for added home security - Panasonic has launched two home network cameras that will allow consumers to monitor their homes whilst they are away. The BL-C1 (wired) and BL-C20 (wireless) have built-in network web servers which enable consumers to connect directly to a personalised network from a PC or mobile phone.

• RIAA Legal Ruling Could Shut Down The Internet: U.S. government supports legal case that would criminalize making any files available on the world wide web - A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government. Ray Beckerman, a lawyer representing clients in cases against the RIAA, recently took part in a conference call organized by DefectiveByDesign.org, an organization which opposes DRM Technology, content restricting programs embedded into software that blocks users access to music, movies, software and other forms of digital data.

• Mobile Biometrics from Motorola Help Catch Convicted Murderer - For law enforcement, catching criminals has always been a top priority. Now, thanks to new technologies and specifically biometrics, catching criminals and closing cases is faster and more frequent. Harris County Sheriffs Office (HSCO) demonstrated this benefit when the biometric solutions they use from Motorola (News - Alert) helped in catching a murderer felon who would have otherwise gone unidentified at the time of the incident. A recent news release explains that the officers had entered a home to serve an arrest warrant to a wanted suspect in an unrelated case, who was not in the home at the time. When looking to ID those at the home, all of which did not have proper identification on them, the officers used Motorola's Mobile Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), a hand held device that captures fingerprints of suspects and the Printrak Biometric Identification Solution (BIS) to fingerprint the men and check them against a database of fingerprints taken at prior crime scenes. In doing so, they were able to positively identify one of the men as a murder felon.

• GOP lawmaker alleges Bush wants to merge U.S. with Mexico, Canada - A veteran Republican lawmakers is accusing President Bush of pushing a behind-the-scenes agenda that will result in the United States being merged with Mexico and Canada. State Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, said she believes the Security and Prosperity Partnership, being run out of the White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce, is little more than a secret plan to end U.S. sovereignty by 2010. And she said Congress is being kept in the dark until the point that it becomes a done deal. Johnson, who will head the Senate Education Committee this coming session, said the signs already are there, from an "inland port'' in Kansas City and construction of a superhighway corridor through Texas to the lack of any real action in building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

• Samples of Di’s driver belonged to a suicide victim - Officials investigating the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, have reportedly uncovered the identity of the suicide victim whose blood was mixed up with samples taken from her driver Henri Paul. It is now known that the blood, previously thought to be Paul's and which was used to prove the chauffeur was three times over the legal drink-driving limit, belonged to somebody else. Forensic pathologist Professor Dominique Lecomte faces an investigation over the mix-up after it emerged in September (06) that she confused the identity numbers of the bodies, reports Contactmusic.   (RELATED: See our popular Diana Assassination archive)

• A FRIEND IN NEED: DAVID ICKE SERIOUSLY NEEDS YOUR HELP FOR THIS FINAL PUSH - "Next week David Icke goes to court in the United States to secure the survival of everything he has built and worked for over more than 20 years of effort against all the odds. There are forces, of course, who wish to destroy it, and him, and bring an end to all that he communicates and has already produced to wake up a slumbering world sleepwalking into the global Nazi state. Virtually everything he has ever earned has gone into paying massive legal bills over the last 9 months to meet this challenge to everything he has done and everything that he stands for. People have no idea of the challenges he and his family have been facing, while still continuing to communicate the information that the world so desperately needs to hear. Next week will decide the outcome and we need some serious financial support for the legal costs this will incur. If we don't get that support, the work of David Icke is basically over. Thank-you for your help"

• Children killed in US raid in Iraq - Five girls and a baby have been killed in a US raid on a house in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, the US military has told Al Jazeera. The US military said two armed men had opened fire from the roof of a house on a US patrol disarming a roadside bomb, prompting the soldiers to reply with tank fire on Tuesday. Following the pre-dawn barrage, US troops carried out "an extensive search of the house and found one male and five females, ages ranging from infant to teenaged, dead", the statement said.

Tuesday 28th November 2006: -

• EU nations 'knew about CIA jails' - Many EU member states were aware of secret CIA jails and transfers of terror suspects, a European Parliament draft report has said. The report follows months of investigation by a special committee of MEPs led by an Italian, Claudio Fava. "Many governments co-operated passively or actively (with the CIA)," said Mr Fava, quoted by the AFP news agency. He accused top EU officials including foreign policy chief Javier Solana of failing to give full details to MEPs. The report echoed allegations made in June by the Council of Europe - Europe's leading human rights watchdog - that European states were complicit in illegal CIA operations as part of the US-led "war on terror".

• More radiation found in spy case - Traces of polonium-210 radiation have been found at two more central London addresses, police probing ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko's death say. One address, in Down Street, reportedly houses the offices of his friend, exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky. The other location, in Grosvenor Street, is the headquarters of security and risk management company Erinys. Traces of the substance have already been found at a sushi restaurant, hotel and Mr Litvinenko's north London home.

• Jailed cleric Abu Hamza loses appeal - Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Muslim cleric who was jailed for seven years after being found guilty on a string of race-hate and terrorism-related charges, has lost his appeal against conviction. Three senior Court of Appeal judges - including the Lord Chief Justice - ruled that any risk to the fairness of his trial, resulting from the adverse media publicity which followed the 9/11 attacks and changed world environment, had been successfully dealt with by the trial judge. They formally refused Mr Hamza's lawyers permission to appeal to the House of Lords, Britain's top court - although he could still try to persuade the Law Lords to take the case directly.

• WHY AREN'T I JUMPING UP AND DOWN WITH EXCITEMENT?: Blair vows nothing will hamper spy murder hunt - Tony Blair vowed today that "no diplomatic or political barrier" would be allowed to hamper the police investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy who died of radiation poisoning last week. Speaking in Copenhagen, before he travelled to Riga for a Nato summit, the Prime Minister described the case as "very serious". If necessary, he said that he would take up the matter with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. "I have not spoken to President Putin but I will do so at any time that is appropriate," said Mr Blair."There is no diplomatic or political barrier in the way of (the) investigation going wherever it needs to go."

• Princess Diana's Death Report May Be Revealed By December - It was revealed on Monday that Princess Diana's death report could be published as early as Christmas. Met Commissioner Lord Stevens has submitted a draft copy of the final report to Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss - the judge appointed to oversee the inquest into the deaths of Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed killed in the Paris car crash in 1997 - and is in current discussion with Scotland Yard police about making the report public at a press conference next month. Lord Stevens' report dismisses many of the conspiracy theories put forward by Dodi's father Mohammed Fayed, and the Harrods' boss is now considering taking legal action to prevent the report from being made public.

• Illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily: Death toll in 2006 far overshadows total U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan – While the military "quagmire" in Iraq was said to tip the scales of power in the U.S. midterm elections, most Americans have no idea more of their fellow citizens – men, women and children – were murdered this year by illegal aliens than the combined death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since those military campaigns began. Though no federal statistics are kept on murders or any other crimes committed by illegal aliens, a number of groups have produced estimates based on data collected from prisons, news reports and independent research.

• Feeling A Draft - When Gen. John Abizaid, the 4-star who runs Central Command, tells 60 Minutes he has “not precluded the notion of more troops coming into Iraq,” there’s a lot of heartburn in the Pentagon about how hard it would be to find fresh troops to meet the demand. Abizaid himself admitted as much recently when he told the Senate Armed Services committee “ we can put in 20,000 more Americans tomorrow...but when you look at the ability to sustain that commitment it’s simply not something we have right now with the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.” Fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with an active duty army of 600,000 is like fighting World War II with "the tiniest army we've had since 1939," retired General Barry McCarffrey said in a speech to the Military Officers Association.

• Truth is hard to find behind doublespeak - The government's annual accounting of hunger in the U.S. reported no hunger in its last outing. Instead, it found "food insecurity." Likewise, no one is even considering retreating from Iraq. "Redeploying" the heck out of there is, however, an option. In Washington, words are a moving target that conceal at least as much as they reveal. Doublespeak runs through the discourse on Iraq, terrorism and domestic matters to a point at which it's hard to tell what is going on.

• UK Police Adorn Nazi Chic: Uniforms begin to befit fascist policies abolishing freedom of speech - British police have been photographed wearing bizarre Nazi-like insignia on their uniforms as the attire of Tony Blair's enforcers begins to compliment the totalitarian society the Prime Minister is creating by openly abolishing freedom of speech and freedom of assembly under draconian crime and terror laws. The image was sent to us by a protester who joined around 200 others to march against the presence of the British National Party in Blackpool England on Saturday. Many consider the BNP to be a neo-Nazi front organization but some demonstrators probably left the event more worried about the similar direction in which UK police are heading, as exemplified by their changing uniforms.

• Palestinians shot dead in West Bank - A Palestinian fighter and a woman have been killed in an Israeli military operation near Jenin in the northern West Bank. Abd al-Raziq Nassir, a local leader in the Popular Resistance Committees, died during an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in Kabatiyeh. The woman, a neighbour, was killed as she tried to help, sources said. Palestinian fighters fired two rockets towards the Gaza Strip after the Israeli operation on Monday.

• Biometric System Yet To Be Used To Ease Traffic Problems - The Road Transport Department has yet to use the biometric system to detect traffic offences and car thefts, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Abu Bakar said. However, he said, a proposal could be submitted to the Transport Ministry for RTD to adopt the system in future to overcome such problems. "The biometric system is the RTD's approach to upgrade quality in the issuing of driving licences in an effort to overcome the 'guaranteed' licence by driving institutes" he added in is reply to Datuk Ruslie Ajirol (BN-Libaran) in the Dewan Rakyat Tuesday.

• Cashless society creeps in at the edges - Walking from the Tube the other day I noticed that the parking meters in Great Pulteney Street are adorned with stickers, informing motorists that they will shortly no longer be able to pay with cash. Since early October it's been possible to park and pay by phone, as part of an experiment being run by Westminster Council, but the removal of the cash option seems to be a new and, I think a rather divisive change. People may welcome technology in these kinds of situations when they find they haven't got any coins, say, but the same people will resent the removal of old ways when they have the cash. In other words, people tend to react badly to change accompanied by the removal of choice.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive)

• MasterCard testing new technologies for consumer spending - When detective Dick Tracy radioed to police with his futuristic wristwatch, the image became a cultural icon in cartoons and movies. If Art Kranzley has his way, a high-tech wristwatch may be more than a cartoon fantasy in coming years. Wristwatches, cell phones and key chains are some of the gadgets that Kranzley and other executives at MasterCard Inc. are evaluating as potential tools for consumers to load credit or debit card information. People would then use the gadgets to buy a cup of coffee, a hamburger, concert tickets or countless other items.

• Slain woman's family: 'We just want to see the truth': Mourners gather at service for Kathryn Johnston - Friends and family who gathered at an East Point funeral home Tuesday for the funeral of Kathryn Johnston said they just want to know the truth about the drug raid that led to the elderly woman's death. "When this occurred, we were shocked that this could be real," said Johnston's niece, JoAnne Trawick. "I've always believed from the beginning that this was a mistake." Commenting on revelations that the informant narcotics officers say led them to the Johnston's house is accusing the officers of asking him to lie about his role, Trawick said, "I hope he is telling the truth.

Monday 27th November 2006: -

• Heathrow kicks off 'fingerprint fast-track' security checks - The Telegraph reveals that the UK government is plotting fingerprinting of air passengers as a matter of routine, to check the identity of departing passengers and to tighten up border controls for incoming. Which, given the firmness of the regime's plans for ID cards, is scarcely news in the long term - but in the interim, turkeys are apparently being asked to volunteer for Christmas, now.

• Police want power to crack down on offensive demo chants and slogans - Present curbs are too light, Met chief to tell Goldsmith, Rights groups say officers would be 'censors in chief' - Police are to demand new powers to arrest protesters for causing offence through the words they chant and the slogans on their placards and even headbands. The country's biggest force, the Metropolitan police, is to lobby the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, because officers believe that large sections of the population have become increasingly politicised, and there is a growing sense that the current restrictions on demonstrations are too light. Trouble at recent protests involving Islamic extremists has galvanised the Met's assistant commissioner, Tarique Ghaffur, into planning a crackdown. His proposals are due to be sent to Lord Goldsmith, who is reviewing how effective the current laws are in tackling extremists.

• Last man out of Twin Towers to speak in Skipton - THE last man to emerge from the collapsed North Twin Tower on 9/11 is coming to speak in Skipton this week. William Rodriguez will be speaking at The Narrowboat Pub, Skipton on Thursday. Mr Rodriguez, from New Jersey, was employed as a maintenance worker at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when it was attacked and destroyed.   (RELATED: See our 9/11 archive and our affiliated site 911truthskipton.com)

  

• Beyond "Bobby": Exposing the continuing conspiracy and cover-up of the RFK assassination - With the film Bobby, director-writer Emilio Estevez captures a snapshot of 1968 America, and the many hopes and dreams lifted and crushed on the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. But the real story that still begs to be told begins where Bobby leaves off: with the assassination itself. For it is only through investigation of the assassination and its cover-up, the murder’s direct connection to the other 1960s assassinations (JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and others), and its relevance to subsequent (and also directly connected) wars and political crimes (Nixon/Watergate, Iran-Contra, and both Bush administrations) -- that the soul of the American Empire is truly revealed.

• Online video 'eroding TV viewing' - The online video boom is starting to eat into TV viewing time, an ICM survey of 2,070 people for the BBC suggests. Some 43% of Britons who watch video from the internet or on a mobile device at least once a week said they watched less normal TV as a result. And online and mobile viewing is rising - three quarters of users said they now watched more than they did a year ago. But online video viewers are still in the minority, with just 9% of the population saying they do it regularly.

• Disneyland brings in biometric ticketing - It may have needed a dose of creativity to create the endless fairy tales and wondrous fantasies for kids and adults alike, but when it comes to the adoption of technology and IT security, Disneyland takes a strictly pragmatic approach. The world-renowned theme park and entertainment resort implements technology only if it is able to derive real business value, said David Shek, senior analyst of IT security, Hong Kong Disneyland, in an interview with ZDNet Asia. In town this week as a speaker at the Secure IT conference, Shek oversees IT security at Hong Kong Disneyland and is responsible for the company's IT security policies and strategy.

Sunday 26th November 2006: -

• Privacy warning over PM's card plan - PRIVACY groups have warned that a new single smartcard to be issued to 17 million Australians to replace cards such as those used for Medicare could result in increased identity theft and fraud. Consumers have been told the proposed Access Card is a fraud risk because it would include a digitised photograph, signature and personal number displayed on the card as well as encoded on a microchip. Privacy advocates say the Federal Government has ignored several key recommendations of the Consumer and Privacy Taskforce, set up to investigate privacy and security concerns.

• Minister slams Putin's 'attacks' on democracy - Tensions between Britain and Russia burst into the open today when a leading Cabinet minister voiced criticism of President Putin's "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy. Peter Hain, the outspoken Northern Ireland Secretary, indicated that relations with Moscow had hit a low as he exhorted the Russian leader to return to democratic processes. His comments come as the Government has been treading carefully with Russia amid claims that the Kremlin ordered the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.

• DNA of suspects' families to be held on police files - Relatives of suspects in criminal investigations are to face having DNA tests and their confidential medical records released to the authorities if they refuse to co-operate with the police. Internal government guidelines on the use of the DNA database seen by The Independent on Sunday instruct the police to ask for medical files belonging to the relatives of criminals so their blood and tissue samples can be tested for DNA. The secret document, prepared for police forces by the Home Office, reveal that families of suspects, and those with similar genes, are being targeted by investigators.

• Controversial diagnoses split up two families - That Saturday morning, Cindy Becvar was in the shower, getting ready to take her daughter to the Long Island Performing Arts Center to pose for dance recital pictures. Her husband, Greg Becvar, was about to take their son to his baseball picnic in the ballfield behind their North Babylon house. Then the doorbell rang. It was a caseworker from Suffolk County Child Protective Services. Greg asked what she wanted and she asked to come inside. He called his wife downstairs. At that point, Cindy Becvar said, "Things got really hairy." "Some days I like my job, some days I don't. Today I don't because I'm taking your kids," the caseworker told her, Cindy recalled. "She goes, 'We have a report that you're hurting your children. You're making your kids sick,' is what she said. 'We have a report that you're making your son sick.'"

• Democrats Blame Iraqis for U.S. Induced Misery - Steny Hoyer, nicknamed “boy wonder,” is speaking tough to the besieged Iraqis. Hoyer, as incoming House Majority Leader, wants the Iraqis to understand they only have themselves to blame for all the murder and misery in their country. “In the days ahead, the Iraqis must make the tough decisions and accept responsibility for their future,” said Hoyer during the weekly Democratic radio address. “And the Iraqis must know: Our commitment, while great, is not unending.” “Once in power, Hoyer said, the Democrats hope to work with Republicans and the Bush administration to change direction in Iraq war plans,” reports ABC News.

• Visa to introduce 'wave and pay' system in Britain - Visa announced on Thursday that it would be introducing a "wave and pay" system in Britain from the next year. Items that can be brought in such a manner are typically low-cost ones like a pint of beer or a newspaper. Visa UK said the contactless system, which allows consumers to pay by simply tapping their cards on a card reader, would be in place by the end of 2007. The main aim of the system is to reduce waiting times for payments on small items to go through or even having to tap in the PIN numbers on each transaction.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive)

• Fluoride And Babies Don't Mix, Says ADA - Most cities in Tennessee add fluoride to their water systems. Experts have debated for and against the practice. A new recommendation has put fluoride back in the spotlight, with babies in the center of the debate. Julie Pusser prepares her 10-month-old's formula only with bottled water. "It's all ready, I don't have to boil it, sterilize it and it stays at the room temperature," she said. According to the American Dental Association's website, Julie Pusser is doing the right thing for little Jacquline. The ADA now recommends parents not mix baby formula with fluoridated city water.   (RELATED: See our Compromised Health archive)

• Londoners tested as Litvinenko poison fears grow - A "HUGE amount" of radioactive poison was used to kill Alexander Litvinenko, a source close to the investigation into his death revealed last night, increasing fears other people could have been contaminated by Polonium-210. As health chiefs offered medical checks to concerned Londoners, it was also revealed that an aerosol-style spray was most likely used to administer the dose, potentially spreading the poison. Yesterday, the Health Protection Agency urged members of the public who may have come into contact with the dissident to come forward for tests. Britain's top doctor has also issued guidance to GPs on spotting possible radioactive contamination in their patients.

• Rumsfeld okayed abuses says former U.S. general - Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison's former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday. Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told Spain's El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation. Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods.

• Wyoming law requires count and recount by machine - America's least populous state might seem like the perfect place to count votes the old-fashioned way - by hand. But many voters were surprised to learn following this month's general election that in Wyoming, computers count every vote and a hand recount is not an option allowed by state law. Secretary of State Joe Meyer said recounting ballots by hand is not done "unless a ballot has been physically damaged or otherwise can't be run through a counter." In some Wyoming counties, voters don't fill out ballots at all, but instead use touch-screen computers.

Saturday 25th November 2006: -

• Rare radioactive substance killed former Russian spy: British government - A rare radioactive substance killed a former Russian spy turned Kremlin critic, the British government said Friday. In a dramatic statement written before he died, the man called Russian President Vladimir Putin "barbaric and ruthless" and blamed him personally for the poisoning. Putin, in Finland, offered his condolences for the death of Alexander Litvinenko and denied any involvement. He called the release of the deathbed statement a "political provocation" by his opponents.

• Bomb suspect tells of 'torture' - A defendant in an Old Bailey terror trial broke down in the witness box as he was questioned about claims he was tortured by Pakistani security forces. Salahuddin Amin said he was forced to make a confession about sending co-defendant Omar Khyam the formula for an explosive device. He said his interrogators threatened to "drill another hole in his backside".

• Ex-employee says FAA warned before 9/11 - From 1995 to 2001, Bogdan Dzakovic served as a team leader on the Federal Aviation Administration's Red Team. Set up by Congress to help the FAA think like terrorists, the elite squad tested airport security systems. In the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Dzakovic says, the team was able to breach security about 90% of the time, sneaking bombs and submachine guns past airport screeners. Expensive new bomb detection machines consistently failed, he says. The team repeatedly warned the FAA of the potential for security breaches and hijackings but was told to cover up its findings, Dzakovic says.

• US helicopter fires on Iraqi funeral party-ministry - A U.S. helicopter fired on a funeral party in Baghdad, one of dozens taking place after Thursday's devastating bombings in Sadr City, in response to ritual shooting, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. A ministry official said two people were wounded in Friday's air strike, which came after mourners fired into the air.

• British troops were 'supplied with defective ammunition' - The Ministry of Defence has admitted supplying defective ammunition to soldiers in Afghanistan. The Daily Telegraph reports today that a platoon from the 3Bn The Parachute Regiment refused to go on patrol until the problem was resolved. The MoD has confirmed British troops were forced to borrow ammunition off American and Canadian troops as they battled the Taliban.

• Archbishop attacks Labour's 'spider's web' of terror laws - The Archbishop of York warned that Labour's obsession with creating new laws to combat terror was creating a "legal spiders web" from which society may not be able to escape. In an impassioned maiden speech in the House of Lords, Dr John Sentamu said that he feared institutions and individuals may "never escape" from a raft of recent Big Brother-style legislation. Ugandan-born Dr Sentamu, the second most senior figure in the Church of England, warned that "unlimited power" can corrupt political leaders.

Friday 24th November 2006: -

• Poisoned Litvinenko Blames Kremlin in Last Interview Before Death - In his last interview the poisoned former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko said that the hit on him had been ordered from the Kremlin, The Times daily reported on Friday. “I want to survive, just to show them,” Alexander Litvinenko said in an exclusive interview given just hours before he died. The former Russian security officer suggested that he knew he may not win his struggle against the lethal chemicals destroying his vital organs. But he said the campaign for truth would go on with or without him.

• CNN: Kevin Barrett of University of Wisconsin 911 Inside Job - Kevin Barrett gets some notice by CNN. Truly, anyone doing some investigating will find that 9/11 was an inside job. You can find the transcript of the show here as well.  See the following video: -

• Study Finds Bleeding Problem with Antidepressants - Some patients who are new users of antidepressants such as Paxil and Prozac and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may run a risk of abnormal bleeding, researchers said. The problem may develop because serotonin appears to play a role in blood clotting and manipulating its levels may lead to abnormal uterine and gastrointestinal bleeding, said the report from the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Netherlands. The study, which ran from 1992 to 2000, looked at 64,000 patients recently been put on the depressants, of whom 196 suffered abnormal bleeding. The patients were classified as to whether the drugs worked at high, medium or low levels as far as serotonin was involved.   (RELATED: See our Compromised Health archive)

• Biometric scanning used by millions - More than 3.3 million consumers now use biometric technology to pay for their purchases at several USA retailers, reports Parade Magazine. One prominent church founder shares his thoughts on the biblical implications of such technology. Customers at several retailers can now literally pay by touch”, says the magazine in its November 12, 2006 issue. „By placing their finger on a scanner at the checkout and entering their home phone number, these tech-savvy shoppers can deduct the cost of a carton of milk directly from a bank account or credit card.” Such futuristic technology, often relegated to scenes in high-tech thrillers or science fiction novels, is available now.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive)

• Revealed: how food giants use 'dirty tricks' to target children - Big companies stand accused of selling junk food to children behind their parents' backs with a variety of "underhand" tricks, despite claiming only to use responsible marketing methods. A report yesterday from the consumer organisation Which? found that a dozen multinationals had been using up to 20 different marketing ploys to push unhealthy products. Some companies bypassed parental control by using new technology such as viral marketing campaigns which encourage children to e-mail each other cartoons or spoof adverts with a brand message. Others offered free toys or ran promotional tie-ins with popular children's films.

• Met police to do the beat with head-mounted cameras - Police officers in London have begun to use a camera mounted on their headgear in an effort to tackle anti-social behaviour. Officers in the 19 safer neighbourhood teams in the Haringey area have been issued with eight cameras, each the size of an AA battery, that record video images to a special utility belt. They are activated by a switch on the belt. The equipment, which costs around £1,800 per pack and is funded by Haringey Council's Safer Communities Partnership, will be used to gather images that could be used as evidence in future court proceedings, the Metropolitan Police announced.

• Biometric passports 'could lead to ID theft' - With the advent of biometric passports could come a wave of identity theft and privacy infringement, according to a group of professors in Belgium, reports Expatica News. The RFID technology used in the new passports could expose the holder's personal information and lead to identity theft, the group has said. Biometric passports use an RFID chip which contains the signature, picture, finger-prints and personal details of the holder.

Thursday 23rd November 2006: -

• Excessive fluoride threatens some regions, UN says – A report recently issued by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warns that excessive exposure to fluoride in drinking water increases the risk of health problems, ranging from mild dental conditions to crippling skeletal problems, the UN News Centre reported. The report noted that naturally occurring concentrations of fluoride in drinking water can help prevent tooth decay, but the widespread effects of excessive exposure remain largely neglected. Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and South Asia are three regions where unusually elevated concentrations of fluoride are causing concern, the WHO reported.   (RELATED: See our Compromised Health archive)

• Couple plan to sue RCMP over 911 reaction - A North Vancouver couple has complained to District of North Vancouver council and said they will sue the North Vancouver RCMP after officers responded to their hang-up 911 call by breaking down their door, making a forceful arrest and jailing them overnight when the couple refused to allow a house-search. The RCMP said, however, that in this case, federal policy commands a home-check, designed to ensure public safety. North Vancouver resident Marget Lieder said that in the early evening of Oct. 25 she was having wine with her partner and a guest when she misdialed the emergency number, meaning to call 411 instead. After promptly hanging up, the police contacted her, saying two officers were dispatched and warned her her home would be searched to confirm she wasn't in danger.

• Big Brother is watching you! - SMOKERS stubbing out cigarettes in the street have been chased by environmental wardens armed with cameras in a city centre litter crackdown. A council team has been scouring the Old Town this week trying to catch litter louts in the act, a drive which has raised more than a few eyebrows. One girl was stopped and quizzed after discarding the end of her sandwich, while another untidy citizen was reprimanded during his music class after being followed by the wardens.   (RELATED: See our Total Global Surveillance archive)

• Child database 'will ruin family privacy' - Parents will be devalued and family privacy shattered by the mass surveillance of all 12 million children in England and Wales, says a report today commissioned by Parliament's Information Commissioner. In what is likely to be a major embarrassment to Tony Blair, it says proposals for a £224 million database containing details of every child will waste millions of pounds, undermine parental authority and actually put children in more danger.

• It's Time to Re-Open the Investigation of RFK and JFK Assassinations - Planning to write a film script about the case, Shane O’Sullivan, an independent researcher, investigated the assassination of RFK. But, O’Sullivan found much more than he had hoped. On Monday night, the BBC broadcast O’Sullivan’s report on their high-profile programme, "Newsnight." O’Sullivan’s findings shocked many people. Working through an exhaustive analysis of videotapes made at the Ambassador Hotel on the night of RFK’s assassination, O’Sullivan identified three figures as former agents of the CIA. Two of the agents O’Sullivan identified could be seen moving away from the hotel pantry shortly after the shooting of RFK.

• Private spies track extremists across world - IT SAYS its members brought about the conviction of radical Egyptian-born cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, uncovered insurgent tactics in Iraq and are now working to provide intelligence from North Korea. The organisation is not the US Central Intelligence Agency or Britain's MI6 but Vigil, a shadowy network of retired spies, senior military personnel, anti-terrorism specialists and banking experts. The group's director Dominic Whiteman said he set up Vigil with two other businessmen last year to act as an conduit between retired spies who were still party to good, raw intelligence, and the police and security services.

• Blair is wildly exaggerating the threat posed by terrorism: Craving a monstrous enemy, the prime minister has vastly overstated this supposed threat to world security - What is it about a desert that drives men mad? On Monday morning the prime minister stood on the Afghan sand and said: "Here in this extraordinary piece of desert is where the fate of world security in the early 21st century is going to be decided." Tony Blair was talking to soldiers he had sent to fight the toughest guerrillas on earth for control of southern Afghanistan. He told them: "Your defeat [of the Taliban] is not just on behalf of the people of Afghanistan but the people of Britain ... We have got to stay for as long as it takes."

• RFID accelerates safety checks: Flybe tags life vests and safety manuals - Low-cost airline Flybe is considering attaching radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to onboard safety equipment such as life jackets to speed up the turnaround times of its planes. The budget carrier has conducted limited trials of the technology on the ground, involving staff using handheld readers to confirm the presence of life jackets and other equipment. The results proved that the technology worked and achieved sufficient read rates. The company is now creating a businesses case for using RFID on its planes.

• Your Credit Card Info As You Walk Around Town! - The thieves no longer have to physically ‘pick your pocket’ to steal your wallet’s credit card and personal information. The new RFID technology used in the plastic cards (not all cards use RFID yet) may be transmitting that financial & personal info right now from your pocket or purse. Millions of today’s new credit cards and IDs, including the new US Government’s e-passports are RFID. As Wikipedia tells us: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is an object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves. Chip-based RFID tags contain silicon chips and antennas.

Wednesday 22nd November 2006: -

• Suspect Nation - The man who crossed swords with Tony Blair on civil liberties sets out to discover just how far the state is prepared to go to monitor the nation's movements in Suspect Nation. From CCTV cameras to internet searches and Oyster cards to iris scans, Observer columnist Henry Porter asks: How is information being collected? What is it being used for? And could new identity technology actually put at risk the very people it seeks to protect? (ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Thanks to Narinder of multi-illusion.com for recording this)

• Crowds mark 43rd anniversary of JFK assassination at museum - Today's 43rd anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy has been marked by visitors to the museum in Dallas where investigators say the fatal bullet was fired. Hundreds stopped by the Sixth Floor Museum that overlooks Dealey Plaza. Investigators determined Lee Harvey Oswald fired out a window of what was the Texas School Book Depository as the Kennedy motorcade passed below.   (COMMENTARY: Don't get me started on the Kennedy 'Lone Nutter' and 'Magic Bullet' theory... what is there to say on the back of 43 years of pulling apart the official fraud?  We have a small but interesting JFK Assassination archive if you want to check it out.)

• Report: UCLA cop had previous violent encounters, won award - The UCLA campus policeman who was videotaped shocking a student with a Taser stun gun also shot and wounded a homeless man three years ago and once was suspended for using his nightstick to choke someone outside a fraternity, it was reported Tuesday. Terrence Duren remained on duty this week. Duren, 43, has been with the University of California, Los Angeles, police for 18 years. He was named officer of the year in 2001. "In this line of business, you have to have a thick skin," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I am proud of my service as a cop." "I have nothing to hide," he said.

• Agency in fresh denial over spy poisoning - Russian former security agent Alexander Litvinenko was still seriously ill in intensive care tonight as his country's foreign intelligence agency issued a fresh denial of involvement in his apparent poisoning. University College Hospital in London said Mr Litvinenko's condition had deteriorated slightly from yesterday, while friends also said he looked worse.

• SEEMS A LITTLE AMBITIOUS BUT HERE IS THE REPORT: One in 12 schools 'inadequate' - One in 12 schools in England and Wales is "inadequate", the annual Ofsted report has found. The education watchdog finds 13 per cent of secondary schools and seven per cent of primaries are inadequate, and highlights the gap between the best and worst provision as a major cause for concern. Chief inspector of schools Christine Gilbert demanded "swift" action, saying this gap was "unacceptable", particularly because of the major impact education had on children's life chances.

• Newly disclosed documents show U.S. Defense Department tracked anti-Iraq war activities - An anti-terrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks on military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show. One tip in the database in February 2005, for instance, noted that "a church service for peace" would be held in the New York City area the next month. Another entry noted that antiwar protesters would be holding "nonviolence training" sessions at unidentified churches in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

• Global Hawk Spy Drone Makes First Official Air Combat Command Flight Across USA - On yesterday morning's FOX & Friends Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade announced that a Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) had flown across the United States. "It's the first time anywhere in the United States that one of these big things has flown on an official air combat command mission," Steve Doocy noted. Brian Kilmeade followed up: "Well, you know what? I love it. They gotta be listening in, listening to the right people. If they're listening in at my house, they're gonna be bored to tears." Doocy jumped in to say that he "wasn't sure" that the drone could listen in, but "they can certainly see what's going on in your back yard. ... I don't think you have anything to worry about as long as you're not doing anything against the law."

• Questions surround fatal shooting of woman, 92: 3 Atlanta officers wounded after breaking down her door to serve warrant - There are more questions than answers this morning in a northwest Atlanta neighborhood where a 92-year-old woman was killed in a shootout with police on Tuesday night. Three officers were wounded in the shooting. State Rep. "Able" Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta) on Wednesday called Kathryn Johnston's death "unfortunate" and said a number of upset neighbors and other residents called to say neither Johnston nor her Neal Street home were in any way connected to illegal drug activity, as police suggested. Police investigate the scene on Neal Street in northwest Atlanta where a 92-year-old woman was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. Three officers were shot serving a warrant at her house. Thomas said neighbors who have contacted her described Johnston as a "good neighbor" and "law abiding."

• Drink-drivers may be tested by cars: Next step is skin test for alcohol... 1,000 deaths from drink every month - Convicted drink-drivers in America may soon have to fit a device that requires them to pass an in-car breath test before the engine will start and disables the ignition if it detects alcohol. The scheme has been in force in New Mexico for first-time and repeat offenders over the past year, during which time there has been an 11.3 per cent decrease in alcohol-linked road deaths. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) called this week for similar changes in traffic laws in America’s other 49 states, some of which already use the so-called ignition interlocks, but only for drivers with multiple convictions. But these devices can be easily circumvented by the driver getting a sober friend to blow into the tube instead.

Tuesday 21st November 2006: -

• ID card centre to be set up in the city - A passport centre which people fear will help pave the way for the government's controversial ID cards to be introduced looks likely to be opened up in Norwich. The Home Office wants to set up an “interview and administration” centre - one of 69 across Britain - at St Crispin's House in Duke Street. Government private finance initiative (PFI) contractor Mapeley Abi Provider Ltd has applied for planning permission to use part of the building for short interviews for people applying for a first passport, arguing it is needed to stamp out fraud.

• GP database 'not confidential' - Four out of five GPs think that confidentiality would be at risk if they place patient records on a new national database, a survey indicates. As a result, almost half are threatening to defy government instructions to put files into the new NHS computer system that will store information on 50 million patients. The survey by Medix, an online health research group, in today’s Guardian showed that doctors feared that the records would be vulnerable to hackers, bribery and blackmail.

• Study of Gulf War syndrome criticized - The British Ministry of Defense is being criticized for a study showing Gulf Warf veterans didn`t suffer adverse effects from vaccines they received. The Royal British Legion says the research funded by the government 'effectively tells veterans nothing of value,' The London Telegraph reports. The 9-year research program looked into the practice of giving the troops whooping cough vaccine to speed up the effects of anthrax vaccine. Two years ago doubts about the move emerged when the Ministry of Defense revealed that tests on mice given the vaccine combination produced serious side effects such as weight loss.

• To catch crooks in cyberspace, FBI goes global - On Aug. 16, 2005, a CNN television news bulletin alerted viewers that computers at the network's New York and Atlanta offices were infected with a new virus called Zotob. Soon, U.S. companies from coast to coast were hit. Halfway around the world, two young computer hackers in Turkey and Morocco got spooked by the ensuing media coverage, but mocked the ability of authorities to track them down. "They can't find me," wrote Atilla Ekici, a 23-year-old Turk, in an email to his accomplice, a 19-year-old Moroccan called Farid Essebar. "Ha, ha, ha," replied Mr. Essebar. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, however, was already hot on their trail. The 98-year-old FBI, which has traditionally focused on domestic crime, is extending its reach beyond U.S. borders and boosting cooperation with other law-enforcement agencies in pursuit of cybercriminals, much as the agency has done in tracking down terrorists overseas.

• Big Brother? Maybe just a 'chip' off the old block - Microchips implanted in humans, doorways, ceilings, floors, garbage, food and clothing may soon make privacy a thing of the past, one author of the book "Spychips" said in a lecture at Essex County College Nov. 13. According to Liz McIntyre, radio frequency identification is an automatic data-capture technology that uses tiny tracking chips affixed to products. The bugs have antennas that vary in size from a fingernail to a sheet of paper, McIntyre said. Chips will be implanted in everything, from doorways and pets to currency, computers, and even human beings, McIntyre said. They will be transmitting signals to hidden databases, telling whoever is on the other end the person's whereabouts.

Monday 20th November 2006: -

• Did the CIA kill Bobby Kennedy?: In 1968, Robert Kennedy seemed likely to follow his brother, John, into the White House. Then, on June 6, he was assassinated - apparently by a lone gunman. But Shane O'Sullivan says he has evidence implicating three CIA agents in the murder - At first, it seems an open-and-shut case. On June 5 1968, Robert Kennedy wins the California Democratic primary and is set to challenge Richard Nixon for the White House. After midnight, he finishes his victory speech at the Ambassador hotel in Los Angeles and is shaking hands with kitchen staff in a crowded pantry when 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan steps down from a tray-stacker with a "sick, villainous smile" on his face and starts firing at Kennedy with an eight-shot revolver.   (RELATED: Shane O'Sullivan's investigation will be shown tonight on Newsnight, BBC2, 10.30pm - UP-DATE: For a short period only you can view the Newsnight broadcast here)

• A MESSAGE FROM JOHN CONNER OF THERESISTANCEMANIFESTO.COM - JOHN CONNER (UNAUTHORIZED) BOOK SIGNING. FRIDAY DECEMBER 15. BARNES AND NOBLE IN ENCINITAS, CA. 8:00 P.M. IN THE STARBUCKS. BE THERE AT 8:00 SHARP BECAUSE HE'LL PROBABLY GET THROWN OUT...AND DON'T CALL B&N AND ASK THEM ABOUT IT, BECAUSE ITS UNAUTHORIZED. AND DON'T ASK THE CLERKS WHERE THE JOHN CONNER BOOK SIGNING IS BECAUSE THEY'LL HAVE NO IDEA. NO BOOKS WILL BE SOLD...YOU MUST BRING YOUR OWN BOOK. FREE MANIFESTOS TO THE FIRST 20 PEOPLE. Apparently there are laws against doing business inside another business without permission so we will not be conducting business by selling manifestos. B&N doesn't carry the book. Stop on by, meet John, meet others in The Resistance in the San Diego area. He'll give a short speech about the NWO, and have a Q & A. BRING SIGNS AND BANNERS ABOUT 9/11 TRUTH AND THE NWO IF YOU LIKE, AND WE CAN HANG THEM UP ALL OVER THE BOOKSTORE AND HAVE SOME FUN. If you haven't seen the college campus crashing videos then check the site.

• Be good, cameras are rolling - When Hillsborough Tax Collector Doug Belden made drunken advances toward several women in a Tampa bar, he almost certainly didn't realize that cameras were documenting his every move. He should have. With each passing year, more and more cameras record every aspect of our daily lives, from the most mundane activities to the most shameless behavior. These days, whether you notice or not, cameras capture your image multiple times each day - in the parking lot at Wal-Mart, in the aisles of the grocery store, at traffic intersections, in the fast food drive-through, at the mall.   (RELATED: See our Total Global Surveillance archive)

• New England families sue over mercury in childhood vaccines - A New Hampshire lawyer is representing 85 New England families that claim a mercury-based compound in vaccines caused autism and other disabilities in their children. Michael Noonan said thimerosal, used for decades as a preservative in childhood vaccines, is a neurotoxin that damaged thousands of children. Studies that have tracked thousands of children have found no association between autism and thimerosal. That hasn't dissuaded critics, who claim the studies are flawed.   (RELATED: See our Compromised Health archive)

• UCLA tasing was an abuse of power - Students hold signs at a protest rally before marching to the University of California, Los Angeles Police Department on the Westwood campus Friday, Nov. 17. Tuesday's incident at the University of California, Los Angeles involving a student getting repeatedly tasered by police was completely unacceptable. UCLA student Mustafa Tabatabainejad was in the campus library after 11 p.m. It is procedure for the school's campus police to randomly check IDs at night. Tabatabainejad had failed to produce his ID when police officers first asked him to leave. Students who witnessed the incident said Tabatabainejad was gathering his belongings to leave when the police officers grabbed him by the arm. Tabatabainejad told them to get off him, and then the police tasered him. Tabatabainejad, a student of Iranian decent, could be heard screaming and afterward yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act; here's your-abuse of power!"

• Study says more shoppers reach for debit, check cards: But 30% still use credit, few pay cash - Cash, credit or debit? When it comes to paying for your Christmas gifts, chances are you will choose the latter. According to a survey of shoppers conducted earlier this month by the Washington, D.C.-based National Retail Federation, 39.1 percent of holiday shoppers will swipe a debit or check card --spending money in an account -- when paying for stocking stuffers. Still, 30.5 percent will spend on credit and use credit cards. And for the first time in two years, fewer consumers are paying with cash -- 24.3 percent. The rest resort to writing checks.   (RELATED: See our Cashless Society Control Grid archive)

• Ritalin not right for children - Children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), are not "Ritalin deficient," so why are they given this addictive drug with serious side effects to suppress symptoms instead of looking for what is causing the symptoms? Hidden food allergies have proved to be culprits, especially wheat and sugar. Environmental sensitivities, such as perfume and pollens, "set off" susceptible children.

• Operators want RFID in phones: Mobile phones could have moved a step closer to being used as credit cards, car keys and concert tickets, after operators around the world said they would work together on the technology - The GSM Association (GSMA), which represents operators serving more than 40 percent of the world's phone users, said on Monday that it was pushing for a global standard on near field communications (NFC). The short-range wireless technology would be based on having a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip embedded in the handset, along with some sort of NFC software. As for cost, a GSMA spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Monday that "we don't have a figure for it but we reckon it's a relatively modest cost to add it to the handset".

• Group calls on China to disclose details about its use of executed prisoners’ organs - A human rights group urged China on Sunday to disclose details surrounding its practice of removing body organs from executed prisoners for use in transplants after a health official spoke recently of the practice. Little information about China’s transplant business is publicly available, and critics contend it is profit-driven with little regard for medical ethics. China has long defended the practice as legal.   (RELATED: See our Chinas Sale of Human Organs archive)

Sunday 19th November 2006: -