Several of the UK's largest banks fear they could face the full legislative wrath of the US government unless they bow to Washington's pressure to shut their operations in Iran.
It is believed that officials in President George Bush's administration have also put pressure on banks with operations in the US, including RBS, HSBC and Barclays, to stop acting on behalf of UK business customers in Iran. Barclays, it is thought, has already told its corporate clients that it will not a... (more)
Children: Japanese authorities decided to start chipping schoolchildren in one primary school in Osaka a couple of years ago. The kids' clothes and bags were fitted with RFID tags with readers installed in school gates and other key locations to track the minors' movements.
Legoland also introduced a similar scheme to stop children going astray by issuing RFID bracelets for the tots.<... (more)
Ministers have been accused of ignoring consumers and risking contamination of the countryside after giving the green light for genetically modified potatoes to be grown in the UK. The Government granted permission for the GM variety to be cultivated at two trial sites, prompting claims that they are stealthily trying to reintroduce the technology after previously being forced to back away from it by public opposition.
Adults in Israel are divided on whether their country should pursue military action against Iran, according to a poll by Teleseker published in Maariv. 49 per cent of respondents would support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities if all international diplomatic efforts fail, while 46 per cent disagree.
After being branded as part of an "axis of evil" by United States president George W. Bush in January 2002, Iran has contended that its nuclear program aims to produce en... (more)
Acclaimed screen star DUSTIN HOFFMAN has slammed US President GEORGE W BUSH for manipulating the 9/11 terrorist attacks to facilitate the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
The RAIN MAN actor now feels "self-conscious" about being American because he can understand why the nation has become a focus for resentment around the world.
He says, "I think that the administration manipulated the grief of 9/11. They did it then and they do it now.
... (more)
An endemic crackdown on peaceful protest and dissent has continued with President Bush signing the 'Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,'. Under the guise of protecting researchers, scientists and their staff who conduct experiments and tests on animals, the latest terror bill seeks to class as "terrorists" those who seek to protest against such activities.
The bill expands criminal prohibitions against the use of force, violence, and threats involving ... (more)
Summary: Echoing columnist Dennis Prager, Sean Hannity claimed that incoming Rep. Keith Ellison's reported intention to use a copy of the Quran apparently during the ceremonial photo op on the day he is sworn in "will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones" and suggested that using the Quran for a swearing-in is comparable to using "Hitler's Mein Kampf, which is the Nazi bible."
During a discussion on the November 30 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes... (more)
This past weekend 5 NYPD officers emptied 50 shots into a car with unarmed men inside. One officer, by himself, emptied 31 shots......that's two clips worth. We had the situation 7 years ago of Amadou Diallo killed with 41 rounds. Last year 10 L.A. cops fired 120 rounds into a car within 18 seconds. And now we have NY Mayor Mike Bloomberg who (as Sir William S Gilbert said in PINAFORE .."... can not tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin") i... (more)
I want to be nice to Richard Cohen, op-ed regular for the CIA’s favorite newspaper, the Washington Post, because he seems so harmless, even innocuous.
But with his November 21 installment, it is obvious he is minor neocon, even if he does not have the right stuff, that is to say the requisite moral depravity, the sociopathic personality. Instead, Mr. Cohe... (more)
Once again, an “al-Qaeda” affiliate nobody has ever heard of, and will never hear from again, is threatening damnation and ruin.
“The U.S. government warned American private financial services on Thursday of an al Qaeda call for a cyber attack against online stock trading and banking Web sites beginning on Friday, a source said,” Reuters reports. “The source, a person familiar with the warning, said the Islamic militant group aimed to penet... (more)
“Although the Democrats are very uncomfortable with the way the Iraq policy is being executed, they are at pains not to appear that they are shortchanging troops in the field,” Loren Thompson, CEO of the Lexington Institute, yet another “think tank,” this one connected at the hip to the neocon infested Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Associated Pr... (more)
There will be a war next summer. Only the sector has not been chosen yet. The atmosphere in the Israel Defense Forces in the past month has been very pessimistic. The latest rounds in the campaigns on both fronts, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, have left too many issues undecided, too many potential detonators that could cause a new conflagration. The army's conclusion from this is that a war in the new future is a reasonable possibi... (more)
As the dollar goes into free fall and the housing market accelerates in sales yet plunges in price, the quickening of an agenda of economic catastrophe allied to the "solution" of predatory globalism and the creation of a North American Union is afoot, and it spells potential disaster for the livelihood of all Americans.
Home prices have dropped 24% in the last year and most of that fall has happened in the last six months. The dollar has devalued around ... (more)
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. legislator who backs tough anti-immigrant measures and more security at the Canada-U.S. border is warning Americans that President George W. Bush is plotting to integrate the continent.
And he says Prime Minister Stephen Harper “buys into it.”
Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo, revered by some U.S. conservatives for his efforts to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico, said this week that Bush is a dangerous international... (more)
“Hammering Hank,” as he’s better known to colleagues, is at it again. According to Reuters, AP, and CNBC at msn.Money Maurice “Hank” Greenberg has been buying up shares of The New York Times Company to try to break the Sulzberger family’s “hold” on it. Watch out.
As you may remember, Greenberg resigned as CEO from the board of AIG (American In... (more)
The latest serpent at which a drowning Washington Establishment is grasping is the idea of sending more American troops to Iraq. Would more troops turn the war there in our favor? No. Why not? First, because nothing can. The war in Iraq is irredeemably lost. Neither we nor, at present, anyone else can create a new Iraqi state to replace the one our invasion destroyed. Maybe that will happen after the Iraqi civil war is resolved, maybe not. It is in any case out of our... (more)
Motorists should be asked to pay to drive on the nation's road network, a report commissioned by the government has recommended. Former British Airways chief Sir Rod Eddington has examined options for modernising the UK transport network. He has reported that road tolls could bring £28bn a year of benefits to bus and rail users.
With road charging, drivers would pay more to use roads when they were busy or more congested.
A brief history of the implantable microchip. Dating back to Dr. Jose Delgado's experimentation on animals up to implanting pets and all people for tracking and finally, man becoming machine. www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com
Video presentation charting the history of how societies that are morphed into being ID-centric eventually turn fascistic, with many comparisons to modern day developments.
The Registered Traveler program, which was just cleared for deployment the nation's airports, has nothing to do with security and is simply a way to pay $100 to cut to the front of the line. While $28 out of the approximately $100 fee goes to a security check performed by the Department of Homeland Security, there's actually no rational reason to do the ch... (more)
Congress is considering legislation that would make it illegal to program and record music from digital radios and transfer those songs to MP3 players -- something many music fans enjoy.
Supporters of the proposed law Audio Flag said it would ensure people are actually paying for digital music.
"In theory, as these hard drives get bigger and bigger in these devices, you can build an entire music library (and) never buy another CD," said Patrick Ross, a music industr... (more)
The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.
Celebrex - the only Vioxx-like drug still on drugstore shelves - could soon be sold specifically as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in children if the Food and Drug Administration approves a Pfizer request to do so.
The FDA has already approved Celebrex (celecoxib) to fight pain and inflammation but not specifically for use in children. Only 20 percent to 30 percent of FDA-approved drugs are specifically labeled for pediatric use.
JONESBORO, Ga. -- A middle school security officer used a Taser on a sixth-grade boy to break up his fight with a girl Wednesday, school officials said.
Officials said the 11-year-old shocked twice with the device at Jonesboro Middle School weighs 200 pounds and refused to obey orders to stop attacking the girl, also 11, and the Taser was used as a last resort to prevent her from being seriously injured.
The two had been taken to the office to resolve an argument th... (more)
WASHINGTON — The federal government plans this month to launch the nation's first airport screening system that takes potentially revealing X-ray photos of travelers in an effort to find bombs and other weapons.
Transportation Security Administration screeners at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will test a "backscatter" machine that could vastly improve weapons detection but has been labeled a "virtual strip search" by the American Civil Liberties Union. Backscatter... (more)
