Iran's spies watching us, says IsraelIran has set up a sophisticated intelligence gathering operation in southern Lebanon to identify targets in northern Israel in the event of a military confrontation over its controversial nuclear programme.
Senior Israeli military commanders say Iran has spent tens of millions of pounds helping its close ally, Hizbollah, the Shia Muslim militant group that controls southern Lebanon, to set up a network of control towers and monitoring stations along the entire length of Israel's b... (more)
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Chavez grabs oil field to fund anti-US campaignVenezuela's president Hugo Chavez yesterday seized control of a French-run oil field, strengthening his control of the country's vast oil wealth, the lifeblood of his "Bolivarian Revolution".
Total SA confirmed from its Paris headquarters that the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, "took control of our operations" during the weekend after it refused to turn the site over to a state-run joint venture.
Mr Chavez has decided to redefine the terms under which... (more)
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Chávez seeks to peg oil at $50 a barrel · Price could see Venezuela producing for 200 years
· Country's reserves may exceed Saudi Arabia's
Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is poised to launch a bid to transform the global politics of oil by seeking a deal with consumer countries which would lock in a price of $50 a barrel.
A long-term agreement at that price could allow Venezuela to count its huge deposits of heavy crude as part of its official reserves, which Caracas says wou... (more)
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Iran, Syria call for withdrawal of occupiers from IraqIran's Ambassador to Damascus Mohammad Hassan Akhtari conferred here Monday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on regional developments.
At the meeting, Iranian and Syrian officials underlined the need to support Iraqi nation and called for withdrawal of the occupying forces from Iraq.
The Syrian minister highlighted issues discussed in the latest Arab summit such as backing the new Palestinian government, Lebanese resistance and Liberation of Shebaa... (more)
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John McCain Warns of Iran 'Armageddon'2008 presidential hopeful John McCain said Sunday that the consequences of a military conflict with Iran over that country's nuclear program could be so serious they could lead to "Armageddon."
The Arizona Republican issued his dire warning after saying that before any military option against Iran is exercised, the world community must first put maximum pressure on Tehran through sanctions.
"We're going to the United Nations Security Council with our European allies... (more)
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Tensions rise as Iran's Revolutionary Guards test underwater missileIran announced its second major new missile test within days, saying it has successfully fired a high-speed underwater missile capable of destroying warships and submarines.
The tests came during war games that elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday at a time of increased tensions with the US over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The Iranian-made underwater missile has a speed of 223mph, said General Ali Fadavi, the depu... (more)
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Government in secret talks about strike against IranThe Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.
A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.
It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations ... (more)
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US and UK forces establish 'enduring bases' in Iraq: Despite talk of withdrawal 'when the job is done', there are signs that coalition troops will be there for the long termThe Pentagon has revealed that coalition forces are spending millions of dollars establishing at least six "enduring" bases in Iraq - raising the prospect that US and UK forces could be involved in a long-term deployment in the country. It said it assumed British troops would operate one of the bases.
Almost ever since President Bush claimed an end to "major combat operations" in Iraq on 1 May 2003, debate has focused on how quickly troops could be withdrawn. The US and British go... (more)
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Russia’s Former PM Kasyanov Warns Kremlin Builds DictatorshipA former Russian prime minister has warned that his country is slipping into a dictatorship similar to the harsh regime in neighboring Belarus, The Sunday Times reported.
Mikhail Kasyanov, 48, sacked by President Vladimir Putin in 2004 for questioning his commitment to democracy, said the Kremlin had become so despotic that people increasingly lived in fear.
“If Russia continues along the current course it will end up like the regime of Alexander Lukashenko,&r... (more)
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Sleuths look for the tiniest smoking gun that could lead to war on IranWhen David Donohue hunts for clues to Iran building a secret nuclear bomb, the smoking gun he looks for is likely to be 100 times smaller than a human hair.
A single stray picogram of plutonium, one trillionth of a gram, is all that is needed to raise suspicions that a civilian nuclear plant could be making weapons-grade material. "It is like looking for fingerprints," said Mr Donohue. "To make a bomb you need about 10kg of plutonium or enriched uranium, but we can find nanograms ... (more)
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Foreign Minister says Iran will stick to nuclear pathIran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic will continue to pursue its nuclear program despite having been given a 30-day deadline by the United Nations Security Council to suspend all of its uranium enrichment activities.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has chosen a legal and logical path which is in accordance with international laws. Therefore, in this path, we can not ignore our rights”, Mottaki told reporters on his a... (more)
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MI5 Archives Reveal Link Between Israeli PM and Soviet InteligenceBritish MI5 counter-espionage archives reveal a link between Soviet intelligence and the sixth prime Minister of Israel Menahem Begin, the Axis Information and Analysis agency reported Friday.
The archives reveal that back in 1947 MI5 analysts suspected that Begin was receiving or asking the Soviet secret services for financial help for his Zionist organization.
Soviet intelligence archives confirm the fears of British counter-espionage, the agency adds.
... (more)
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Schools urged to prepare for globalizationAn international education expert warned area educators Tuesday that schools are charged with ``preparing our children for a world we can't even conceptualize'' -- an increasingly globalized world.
America is ``so busy on our institutional debates that Rome is burning, and we don't even see it,'' said Willard ``Bill'' Daggett. ``Globalization is real, folks, whether we like it or not.''
Elected officials, educators, business leaders gathered throughout the day Tuesd... (more)
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Presidential adviser says he would 'welcome' Chinese attackThere will "never" be a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait and it is a "mistake" for the U.S. government to think that maintaining the status quo is the only way to handle the Taiwan issue, Senior Adviser to the President Koo Kuan-min (???) told reporters in an interview on Wednesday.
"China will not attack Taiwan because it needs five to 10 years of peace to develop itself into an economic and military power so it can dominate the Asian region," Koo claimed.
Al... (more)
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Mosul slips out of control as the bombers move inWhen the 3,000 men of the mainly Kurdish 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Iraqi Army go on patrol it is at night, after the rigorously enforced curfew starts at 8pm. Their vehicles, bristling with heavy machine guns, race through the empty streets of the city, splashing through pools of sewage, always trying to take different routes to avoid roadside bombs. "The government cannot control the city," said Hamid Effendi, an experienced ex-soldier who is Minister for Peshmerga Affairs in the K... (more)
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Sanctions against Iran 'bad idea'Iran is not an imminent threat and sanctions against the Islamic Republic would be a "bad idea", the UN nuclear watchdog chief has warned.
"We need to lower the pitch," Mohamed ElBaradei said.
Earlier, ministers from six powers stressed Iran must heed a statement by the UN Security Council, which urged the state to halt uranium enrichment.
Tehran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful and has rejected the Security Council's call.
The UK's ... (more)
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Russia Blasts Japanese Claim to Disputed South Kuril IslandsRussia’s Foreign Ministry bristled at the Japanese authorities’ claim to disputed Pacific islands in government-approved Japanese schoolbooks, saying that they remained an “inalienable” part of Russia, The Associated Press reported.
Russia refuses to cede control of the four cold, sparsely-populated islands, which were seized by the Soviet army in the closing days of World War II. The dispute over the islands (called “the Northern Territories” i... (more)
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Neocon Forever War Plan Creeps ForwardIf you believe the line towed by the corporate media, a line manufactured in the deep recesses of the Pentagon, the United States stumbled into Iraq based on “intelligence failures.” According to Vernon Loeb of the Washington Post, former CIA analyst and PNAC conspirator Reuel Marc Gerecht, writing under the pen name Edward G. Shirley, tells us the CIA has “grown intellectually dishonest” and the intelligence the agency produced is “often nearly worthless.” Be... (more)
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'Saudi secretly working with Pak experts'Saudi Arabia is working secretly on a nuclear programme, with help from Pakistani experts, the German magazine Cicero reports in its latest edition, citing western security sources.
It says that during the Haj pilgrimages to Mecca in 2003 through 2005, Pakistani scientists posed as pilgrims to come to Saudi Arabia in aircraft laid on by the oil-rich kingdom.
Between October 2004 and January 2005, some of them took the opportunity to "disappear" from their hotel room... (more)
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Venezuela postpones ban on US airlines Venezuela has agreed to postpone a ban on US airline operations until next month.
The decision to postpone the ban was made after talks with US officials and Venezuela's INAC aviation authority said on Wednesday (30 March) that it would suspend the ban until 25 April. The decision was made to allow time for the results of a safety audit performed by a delegation from the US Federal Aviation Administration, Reuters reported.
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