• Record meteorite hit Norway (June 9, 2006) - As Wednesday morning dawned, northern Norway was hit with an impact comparable to the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima. At around 2:05 a.m. on Wednesday, residents of the northern part of Troms and the western areas of Finnmark could clearly see a ball of fire taking several seconds to travel across the sky. A few minutes later an impact could be heard and geophysics and seismology research foundation NORSAR registered a powerful sound and seismic disturbances at 02:13.25 a.m. at their station in Karasjok. Farmer Peter Bruvold was out on his farm in Lyngseidet with a camera because his mare Virika was about to foal for the first time. more... | Earth Changes |
• Iran's Positive Response Offers Hope (June 7, 2006) - Iran has begun to give positive signals for the first time about a peaceful settlement in the international crisis that resulted from the country’s controversial nuclear studies. Though the Tehran administration responded positively to the incentives package prepared by the five United Nations (UN) permanent members and Germany, Iran; however, pointed out the existence of some ambiguities in the package. European Union (EU) Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana presented the incentives package intended to settle the crisis over Iran’s nuclear studies to Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Ali Larijani yesterday. Larijani found the incentives package “positive”; though he cited some “ambiguities” which “should be removed.“ Solana also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Muttaqi. “The proposal is on the table. I hope that we will get a positive response, which will be useful for both sides,” he said. The EU official’s remarks, who said he had “very fruitful talks” both with Larijani and Muttaqi, gave hope to the world about Iran’s “positive response” for a nuclear deal. more... | Iran | EU/UN | Solana |
• US to allow Iran convert uranium (June 7, 2006) - World powers have compromised on a demand that Iran commit to a long-term moratorium on uranium enrichment and are asking only for suspension during talks on Teheran's nuclear program, diplomats said Wednesday. In another concession, Iran would be allowed to carry out uranium conversion - a precursor to enrichment - if it agrees to multination talks, the diplomats said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to divulge the contents of the offer made by six countries to Teheran Tuesday in a bid to defuse the Iranian nuclear standoff. Such changes to long-standing international demands on enrichment are important because they signal possible readiness to accept some limited form of the activity, despite fears that it can be misused to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads. Since talks between key European nations and Iran broke off in August, the public stance by the European negotiators and the United States has been that Iran must commit to a long-term moratorium on enrichment to establish confidence as a precondition for talks on the nuclear standoff. more... | Iran | America |
• The Plan to Replace the Dollar With the 'Amero' (May 22, 2006) - The idea to form the North American Union as a super-NAFTA knitting together Canada, the United States and Mexico into a super-regional political and economic entity was a key agreement resulting from the March 2005 meeting held at Baylor University in Waco, Tex., between President Bush, President Fox and Prime Minister Martin. A joint statement published by the three presidents following their Baylor University summit announced the formation of an initial entity called, “The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America” (SPP). The joint statement termed the SPP a “trilateral partnership” that was aimed at producing a North American security plan as well as providing free market movement of people, capital, and trade across the borders between the three NAFTA partners: We will establish a common approach to security to protect North America from external threats, prevent and respond to threats within North America, and further streamline the secure and efficient movement of legitimate, low-risk traffic across our borders. more... | America | NewWorldOrder |
• North American Union to Replace USA? (May 19, 2006) - President Bush is pursuing a globalist agenda to create a North American Union, effectively erasing our borders with both Mexico and Canada. This was the hidden agenda behind the Bush administration's true open borders policy. Secretly, the Bush administration is pursuing a policy to expand NAFTA politically, setting the stage for a North American Union designed to encompass the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. What the Bush administration truly wants is the free, unimpeded movement of people across open borders with Mexico and Canada. President Bush intends to abrogate U.S. sovereignty to the North American Union, a new economic and political entity which the President is quietly forming, much as the European Union has formed. The blueprint President Bush is following was laid out in a 2005 report entitled "Building a North American Community" published by the left-of-center Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The CFR report connects the dots between the Bush administration's actual policy on illegal immigration and the drive to create the North American Union. more... | America | NewWorldOrder |

Reported from harpazo Ready:

• Central Asian Bloc Considering Iran For Membership (June 9, 2006) - An obscure regional security group will consider admitting Iran as a member at a summit this month, accelerating its transformation into a political and military bloc with the potential to challenge U.S. interests. U.S. analysts think Russia and China already are using the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) -- which links the two with four Central Asian neighbors -- to try to squeeze the United States out of the region. SCO foreign ministers said at an earlier meeting that consideration is being given to extending membership to four countries with observer status -- Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to attend the summit on June 15 in Shanghai. Expansion of the organization into Iran and other countries could make it "an enormous power," said David Wall, a professor at the University of Cambridge's East Asia Institute. "An expanded SCO would control a large part of the world's oil and gas reserves and nuclear arsenal. It would essentially be an OPEC with bombs," he said, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld alluded to the coming summit on his way to a weekend security conference in Singapore. Comparing the openness of the Singapore meeting to other unnamed gatherings, he said: "There are some efforts and systems that leave us out, and we obviously favor institutions that are inclusive, rather than exclusive." A warning shot was fired at last year's SCO summit, where the group issued a declaration calling for the United States to set a timeline for withdrawing from air bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, established to support the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Delegates from Kazakhstan, Washington's closest friend in the SCO, argued at that meeting to head off an even stronger resolution. more... | Iran | Gog/Magog |
• Russia Urges Israel Against Iran attack (June 9, 2006) - Russia sent messages to Israel through US intermediaries recently, voicing opposition to a possible military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, The Jerusalem Post has learned. While Israel and Russia have good relations and a direct line of communications, the Russians chose to use the US to deliver this message of military restraint out of a belief that Jerusalem pays closer attention to messages from Washington. According to assessments reaching Jerusalem, while the Russians don't want to see Iran get the bomb, they believe this may still be a decade away and that in the meantime diplomatic efforts might succeed in keeping Teheran from reaching that point. Moscow is concerned any military conflagration would eventually spill over the Russian-Iranian border into the Caucasus, central Asia and even Chechnya, and be detrimental to Russian interests. more... | Iran | Gog/Magog | Israel |
• Robot device mimics human touch (June 9, 2006) - US scientists have created a sensor that can "feel" the texture of objects to the same degree of sensitivity as a human fingertip. The team says the tactile sensor could, in the future, aid minimally invasive surgical techniques by giving surgeons a "touch-sensation". The research is reported in the journal Science. "If you look at the current status of these tactile sensors, the frustration has been that the resolution of all these devices is in the range of millimetres," explained Professor Ravi Saraf, an engineer from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, US, and a co-author of the paper. "Whereas the resolution of a human fingertip is about 40 microns, about half the diameter of a human hair, and this has affected the performance of these devices." more... | Technology |
• Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Killed in Air Raid (June 8, 2006) - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed in an air raid north of Baghdad _ a major victory in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the broader war on terror. Iraq's prime minister and U.S. officials said his identity was confirmed by fingerprints and a first- hand look at his face. The announcement came six days after the Jordanian-born terror leader appeared in a videotape, railing against Shiites in Iraq and saying militias are raping women and killing Sunnis and the community must fight back. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a house 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, al-Maliki said. "Today, al-Zarqawi was eliminated," al-Maliki told a news conference, drawing loud applause from reporters as he was flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Al-Maliki said the air strike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and U.S. forces acted on the information. "Those who disrupt the course of life, like al-Zarqawi, will have a tragic end," he said. He also warned those who follow the militant's lead that "whenever there is a new al-Zarqawi, we will kill him." more...
• Iran Begins Fresh Nuclear Enrichment Despite Offer (June 8, 2006) - Iran began a fresh phase of uranium enrichment this week just as world powers presented it with incentives to halt nuclear fuel work, according to a U.N. nuclear watchdog agency report obtained by Reuters on Thursday. The report, emailed to the 35 states on the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board ahead of a meeting starting on Monday, also said Iran was pressing ahead with installing more cascades of centrifuge enrichment machines. Authored by IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei, the report said Iran resumed feeding "UF6" uranium gas into its pilot 164-centrifuge cascade in Natanz on Tuesday after a pause of several weeks to do test runs of the machines without UF6. Tuesday was the day European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited Tehran to hand over a packet of economic, technological and security incentives for Iran to suspend work which could eventually produce atomic bombs. The Islamic Republic says the goal of its nuclear fuel programme is solely electricity generation for its economy. The West suspects that Iran, the world's No. 4 oil producer, of creating a smokescreen for atomic bombmaking. more... | Iran | Gog/Magog |
• 55 Die in China's Worst Flooding in 30 years (June 8, 2006) - At least 55 people have been killed and 12 are missing amid the worst flooding in eastern China in three decades, the government said on Thursday. More rain was forecast, with a trough of low pressure bringing more unsettled weather to coastal areas. At least 378 000 people have already been evacuated from the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Guizhou due to floods prompted by an unusually heavy seasonal monsoon, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. Fujian has recorded 28 flood deaths since the end of May, with the other two provinces reporting 11 each. Other provinces further inland and to the north have also reported scattered deaths and flood damage. more...  | Earth Changes |

• China Starts Oil Drilling Off Florida (June 9, 2006) - While Washington dithers over exploiting oil and gas reserves off the coast of Florida, China has seized the opportunity to gobble up these deposits, which run throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and along the U.S. Gulf coast. The Chinese have forged a deal with Cuban leader Fidel Castro to explore and tap into massive oil reserves almost within sight of Key West, Florida. At the same time, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who controls the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, is making deals to sell his country’s oil to China, oil that is currently coming to the United States. Meanwhile, a new left-wing populist regime in Bolivia has nationalized the natural gas industry, threatening to cut off supplies to the United States. more... | America | NewWorldOrder | Here's another example of how the US is being attacked without firing a shot. China is snatching up all the resources they can to fuel their massive needs. Environmentalists meanwhile attempt to block every attempt to get oil because it's bad. While I agree and know that the technology to be totally independent of fossil fuel is already here, we should get what oil we can where we can. In an ideal world where we aren't under the thumbs of the rich and powerful, this technology that uses ordinary water to produce hydrogen fuel to run car engines and welding torches would already be available. It works and several inventors, one of which was just murdered, are trying to get it out. With that, we could fill up our car's fuel with tap water. It's free and when it burns, the exhaust is water. See more on that in the Technology topic.
• Israel threatens to hit Hamas over Qassam attacks (June 7, 2006) - Hamas is directly responsible for firing Qassam rockets at Sderot, defense officials said Tuesday. As a result, for the first time after a long hiatus, Israeli officials threatened to attack Hamas members. A Qassam rocket fired from Gaza fell Tuesday afternoon in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. No injuries were reported. The Israel Defense Forces have generally refrained from targeting Hamas operatives since the Palestinian group committed to maintaining a security "lull" in the territories about 18 months ago. The escalated Israeli tone comes as Fatah is fighting Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees in the streets of the Gaza Strip. more... | Israel | Islam |
• Shin Bet chief: First signs of World Jihad visible in West Bank (June 7, 2006) - The security forces have recently identified initial signs that World Jihad has begun building an ideological foothold in the West Bank, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin said on Tuesday. The head of the domestic security service told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that security forces recently arrested individuals in the Jerusalem and Nablus areas found with plans for terror attacks. The plans were very general and did not include specific timetables. Diskin reminded the Knesset committee that World Jihad also has an infrastructure set up in neighboring Jordan, but added that the Jordanian authorities are operating widely against the organization. Egypt, however, has not managed to successfully combat World Jihad cells operating within Sinai and the peninsula is thus flooded with weapons smugglers. Diskin said Egypt has had very limited success in combating terrorism. more... | Israel | Islam |
• Harvard defies Bush with therapeutic cloning program (June 7, 2006) - The richest university in the US has thrown its reputation and financial resources behind efforts to clone human embryos for medical science. Scientists at Harvard University were yesterday awarded ethical approval and private funds to pursue therapeutic cloning experiments that are strongly opposed by the Bush administration and the US's religious Right. The researchers hope their work could lead to cures for conditions such as diabetes and motor neurone disease. The Harvard team will seek to clone embryos using cells from patients with these disorders and then create "disease-specific" colonies of embryonic stem cells that can be used to develop new treatments. The work is contentious in the US, where experiments on embryonic stem cells created since 2001 cannot receive federal funding and attempts to outlaw the use of cloning for medical research have narrowly failed to pass in Congress. The Bush administration has campaigned for a global ban on all forms of human cloning. The approval at Harvard is particularly significant because of the university's vast reputation and wealth. The university, the richest in the world, took more than two years to vet the ethical and scientific credentials of the project. Harvard president Larry Summers said: "While we respect the beliefs of those who oppose this research, we are equally sincere in our belief that the life-and-death medical needs of suffering children and adults justify moving forward with this research." more... | Technology |
• Solana: 'We will not let the Palestinians down' (June 7, 2006) - European foreign policy chief Javier Solana pledged to continue the European Union's financial support of the Palestinians. Solana also promised to talk to Israeli officials to ensure that the main crossings into the Gaza Strip can work more efficiently. Solana said European officials were still working on a mechanism to allow humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians while bypassing the Hamas-led government. "The EU continues to be the most important donor to the Palestinians. More money is being given in the year 2006 than 2005," he said at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We will not let the Palestinians down." more... | Israel | Islam | EU/UN |
• Over One-Third of Russians See U.S. as Enemy (June 7, 2006) - The Yuri Levada polling center released the results of their yearly opinion poll, in which Russians were asked which countries they consider to be friends or enemies. According to Komsomol'skaya Pravda, in this year's poll, Russians warmed up a bit to China and Kazakhstan, but strongly grew cold towards the U.S., Ukraine, Moldova and Poland. Incidentally, Russians were inclined to consider Ukraine as both a friend and an enemy. That is to say, either it is yet to be determined what the Russian attitude is to their closest neighbor, or, perhaps it is Ukraine's unpredictable politics that are affecting Russians' attitudes. more... | America |
• Britons begin to turn away from alliance with America (June 7, 2006) - The British public has become increasingly cool towards American policy and critical of its role in the world after the sustained violence in Iraq. A Populus opinion poll in The Times indicates that fewer than half the public believe that America is a force for good in the world, and nearly two thirds believe that Britain's future lies more with Europe than with the US. There is also evidence of a longer-term shift in views about the US. However, while President Bush and his Administration remain unpopular in Britain, Americans as a people remain popular. The poll was undertaken between last Friday and Sunday, when there were several news reports about a high level of killing in Iraq, and particularly in Basra, the main area of operation for British forces. more... | America | EU/UN |
• Russia warns of 'colossal' impact if NATO takes in Ukraine, Georgia (June 7, 2006) - Russia warned against NATO taking in the ex-Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia, saying such a colossal geopolitical shift would threaten relations. "Membership in NATO for countries like Ukraine or Georgia would mean a colossal geopolitical shift," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during questioning in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. "We evaluate all possible consequences first and foremost from the point of view of the national interest of Russia, interests in the area of security, our economic interests and interests in relations with countries which relate to Russia in one way or another," Lavrov said. more... | America | EU/UN | NewWorldOrder | Gog/Magog |
• Olmert, King Abdullah to Discuss Mideast peace (June 7, 2006) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Jordan's King Abdullah II here Thursday for talks on reviving the stalled Mideast peace process, Jordanian and Israeli officials said Tuesday. The Israeli leader's trip will be his second to an Arab country since taking office in May, and his second meeting with an Arab head of state this week. Olmert held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, on Sunday. Olmert will meet the king in Amman, said Israeli Embassy press attache Jacob Raber. Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh told The Associated Press the king will press for Israel to restart talks with the Palestinians, and to put aside thoughts of unilateral action. Judeh said Abdullah will articulate to Olmert Jordan's position that "Palestinians and Israelis must return to the negotiating table." Palestinian-Israeli peace talks broke off amid violence nearly six years ago. Abdullah, a key Arab ally for the U.S and a staunch proponent of a Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement, conveyed the same message to President Bush in talks last week in Washington. more... | Israel |
• Hamas amassing large stockpiles of weapons (June 7, 2006) - Hamas has been amassing large stockpiles of weapons so its members will be ready to launch attacks immediately should its leadership decide to end a long-term truce with Israel, according to Israeli security officials. The report follows a WorldNetDaily exclusive interview in which Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' so-called military wing, stated his group is developing electronically guided missiles to target Jewish communities and is seeking the ability to fly explosive-laden airplanes 9/11-style into important targets, possibly Tel Aviv skyscrapers. "In the last 15 months, even though the fighters of Hamas kept the cease-fire, we did not stop making important advancements and professional training on the military level. In the future, after Hamas is obliged to stop the cease-fire, the world shall see our new military capabilities," said Abu Abdullah. Abdullah is considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas' declared "resistance" department. A senior Israeli security official said Hamas is preparing large-scale attacks. more... | Israel | Islam |
• Israel braces for new terror war (June 7, 2006) - The Jewish state is headed toward a major, violent confrontation with the Palestinians while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria will "not help" to decrease the terrorism, according to an Israeli army assessment. The prognosis will be released in an official Israeli Defense Forces report to be published next month. It follows a series of WorldNetDaily exclusive interviews in which the leaders of every major Palestinian terror organization said recent events here are leading them to launch what they call a third intifada – or violent confrontation against Israel. The terrorists warned of suicide bombings, rocket attacks against Jewish communities and "a few new surprises in our arsenal." "The new intifada is only a question of time and this will be the hardest and the most dangerous one. It's just about timing until the order to blow up a new wave of attacks will be given," Abu Nasser, a senior Al Aqsa Brigades leader from the Balata refugee camp in northern Samaria told WorldNetDaily in an interview. more... | Israel | Islam |
• Islamic Militia Seizes Somalia's Capital (June 6, 2006) - Thousands of chanting Somalis took to the streets of Mogadishu on Tuesday in the aftermath of the takeover of the capital by extremist Islamic militiamen. Two rallies were held just miles apart, with some demonstrating for the Islamic Courts Union and others calling for the militiamen to get out. The advance of the Courts Union, which has alleged links to al-Qaida, came despite U.S. support for a secular alliance of warlords. The militia's growing power has raised fears that Somalia could fall under the sway of al-Qaida. But Tuesday's protests show it may be difficult to keep control of the capital, and that the Courts Union likely still has to negotiate with the clan leaders who have run the city for more than a decade. The city's largest and historically strongest clan, the Abgals, came out in force Tuesday and drew about 3,000 people to the northern part of the city, shouting "We don't need Islamic deception!" and "We don't want Islamic courts, we want peace!" "If the so-called Islamic courts don't stop invading our territories ... the country will return to civil war," said Sheik Ahmed Kadare, an Abgal clan elder. The clan did not give a timetable for a potential attack. Somalia has been without a real government since largely clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, dividing this nation of 8 million into rival fiefdoms. more...  | Islam |
• 11,000 Flee Indonesia Volcano (June 6, 2006) - Officials evacuated 11,000 villagers from around Mount Merapi volcano as it shot out lava and superheated clouds of gas, authorities said Tuesday. The mountain's lava dome has swelled in recent weeks, raising fears that it could suddenly collapse and send scalding clouds of fast-moving gas and debris into populated areas. The government of nearby Magelang district mobilized more than 40 trucks and cars to evacuate about 11,000 villagers from three subdistricts near the foot of the mountain, said Edy Susanto, a district official. He said the villagers were taken to temporary shelters, including school buildings. "Of course it is dangerous. But we don't know for sure whether the lava dome will collapse," said Subandriyo, a government volcanologist who uses only one name. Red-hot lava flowed as far as a half-mile from the mountain's crater, while gas clouds called pyroclastic flows streamed as far as 1½ miles down its southwestern slope, Subandriyo said. The 9,800-foot mountain is one of the world's most active volcanoes. more...  | Earth Changes |

Reported from Steve Quayle:

• Alex Jones Detained on Orders of Bilderberg Groups (June 9, 2006) - Alex Jones and his team were detained by Canadian immigration on orders of the Bilderberg Group for a 15 hour nightmare of interrogation, accusations and threats of arrests in anticipation of the conference in Ottawa which starts today. The group was detained at 11:45pm last night and only released after 2pm today. Customs openly told Alex as soon as they brought him into custody that the Bilderberg Group was aware of his arrival and that this was the reason for his detainment. All three members of the team were instantly detained despite going through different immigration desks. Officials knew everything about Alex, even the fact that George W. Bush had once had him arrested in 1998. "I was screamed at, I was cussed at, I was interrogated," said Alex. Jail threats were issued as officials seized and searched through Alex's equipment for 15 hours. He was told that if any trace of pornography was found on his three computers that he would be arrested. "They were talking about how I was a criminal - they hooked our laptop computers up and said that if they found any porn, even mainstream porn, that it's illegal to take it across lines and that we'd be going to jail," said Alex, thanking God that no trace of any porn was found on his office computers. Searches continued throughout the night and again in the morning. Towards the end of the ordeal national media, including the Ottawa Citizen and CBC, got wind of what was unfolding and sent journalists to the airport to talk to Alex. A CBC journalist vouched for the fact that Alex was in the media and that she was planning on interviewing him, after also being subjected to a barrage of questions by officials. At this point immigration officials sharply changed their attitude, reversed a likely decision to deport the team and by the end were apologetic and conciliatory about the entire issue. Alex would like to make it clear that the immigration officials on the whole were just doing what they were told in trying to prove who Alex was and they should not be the focus of any vitriol. Alex himself admits that his behavior was not perfect and he smarted off a couple of times when he should have remained quiet. The major element of this story is that the pressure was brought to bear by Bilderberg. The point to emphasize again is that it was brazenly stated that the Bilderberg Group were behind the decision to detain Alex and his team. Bilderberg have acquired a notorious reputation of harassing journalists, including Jim Tucker and Daniel Estulin, who are simply trying to report on a meeting of the world's most influential powerbrokers. more...  | NewWorldOrder |
• International Community Recognizes Russia as One of World's Most Powerful Superpowers (June 9, 2006) - Gallup and TNS-EMNID research centers exposed the results of an international opinion poll in New York yesterday. Over 10,000 people took part in the research conducted in Brazil, Great Britain, Germany, India, China, Russia, the USA, France and Japan. The people placed Russia on the sixth place on the list of world’s leading superpowers and organizations of our times. Almost one-third of the polled (27 percent) believe that Russia has preserved the status of a superpower despite all drastic changes and reforms that it had to go through after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The percentage of those sharing this opinion is quite higher in Russia – 45%. The USA has left Russia behind with 81 percent. George W. Bush is full of energy and ideas to cut the percentage of those people thinking that the USA is the strongest superpower in the world. China takes the second position on the list with 45 percent. Japan completes the top three with 37 percent with USA’s staunch ally Great Britain (32%) and the EU (29%) following.  more...  | Gog/Magog |
• More Than Drought Affecting Wheat Yields (June 8, 2006) - Wheat producers have more than the drought cutting into their yields this year, said two Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers. Dr. Tom Allen, Experiment Station assistant research scientist and plant disease diagnostician, saw more than 150 wheat samples sent to the Great Plains Diagnostic Network lab this growing season, in addition to 400-plus samples the plant pathology staff gathered across the Panhandle. Ninety-five percent of these samples were diagnosed with the wheat streak mosaic virus. In addition, 50 percent of the samples contained maize red stripe virus, more commonly known as High Plains virus. Both diseases are vectored by the wheat curl mite, Allen said. And so far, there's no treatment for either the viruses or the mite. more... 
• Grape Growers Contend with Cold Weather, Damaged Crops (June 8, 2006) - Grape growers in northeast Ohio are struggling to recover from a rare run of cold nights that have destroyed as much as half of some farmers' crops, agriculture officials say. A drop in temperatures to the low 20s on April 26 likely caused more than $1 million in damage to juice and wine grapes in Ashtabula County, said David Marrison, a county agricultural official. "There are some people in their 70s here who have been farming all their lives and have never seen this bad of a frost or a flash freeze," he said. Temperatures also dropped below freezing April 28, May 7 and May 23. Debonne Vineyards in Madison, one of the largest growers of wine grapes in the state, has lost 30 percent to 35 percent of its crop, worth about $200,000, according to owner Tony Debevc. He said the family business will just break even this year. more... 
• Iran Hoarding Gold (June 7, 2006) - Iranians are going for the gold - at least until someone else cuts them off. To forestall an effort by the West to seize Iranian assets in Europe, the Iranian leadership decided last fall to begin a massive, secret repatriation of its international currency reserves, according to Central Bank of Iran documents. The documents were obtained by an Iranian opposition group and shared with Newsmax. The documents detail eight shipments in chartered jumbo jets from Zurich's Kloten airport. The shipments, from October through late November, brought 250 tons of gold bullion from the vaults of Swiss banks to Tehran. The gold was purchased by Bank Markazi (the Central Bank of Iran) from Credit Suisse in Zurich, the documents showed. Three of the eight flights attracted the attention of amateur aircraft spotters, because the planes were painted in the distinctive livery of Iran Air, which rarely flies into Zurich. The spotters noted a 747-200 at the airport on Oct. 24, 2005, and an Airbus A-300 that made two rotations, on Nov. 14 and Nov. 23. They provided that information to Jetstream, a glossy, German-language monthly published in Zurich. more... | Iran |
• Government Heads Back to the Bunker (June 6, 2006) - On Monday, June 19, about 4,000 government workers representing more than 50 federal agencies from the State Department to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will say goodbye to their families and set off for dozens of classified emergency facilities stretching from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs to the foothills of the Alleghenies. They will take to the bunkers in an "evacuation" that my sources describe as the largest "continuity of government" exercise ever conducted, a drill intended to prepare the U.S. government for an event even more catastrophic than the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The exercise is the latest manifestation of an obsession with government survival that has been a hallmark of the Bush administration since 9/11, a focus of enormous and often absurd time, money and effort that has come to echo the worst follies of the Cold War. The vast secret operation has updated the duck-and-cover scenarios of the 1950s with state-of-the-art technology -- alerts and updates delivered by pager and PDA, wireless priority service, video teleconferencing, remote backups -- to ensure that "essential" government functions continue undisrupted should a terrorist's nuclear bomb go off in downtown Washington. more... | America |
• Russian Rifles Arrive in Venezuela (June 6, 2006) - Venezuela received a shipment of 30,000 new Russian rifles on Saturday, weeks after Washington restricted U.S. arms sales to Caracas over concerns about President Hugo Chavez's ties to Cuba and Iran. Venezuela says the AK103 Kalashnikov rifles and 25 million rounds - the first lot of 100,000 weapons - are part of efforts to modernize its military, but the U.S. government has opposed the arms purchases it believes could destabilize the region, Reuters reports. Allied with Cuba, Chavez is locked in an increasingly tense standoff with Washington, which accuses the self-styled socialist revolutionary of eroding democracy and using Venezuela's oil wealth to muscle in on his South American neighbors. Chavez, who says Washington wants to oust him or invade Venezuela, has reduced military cooperation with the United States and ordered officers and civilian reservists to train for a possible guerrilla war against U.S. troops. "This is another defeat we've given to U.S. imperialists. They just can't touch us," Chavez told a rally of students late on Saturday. "We don't want war, we are not going to attack anyone. We are just preparing to defend our blessed land, our nation and our revolution." more...  | America |
• Iran to Build Oil Refinery in Venezuela (June 6, 2006) - Iran and Venezuela, both at political loggerheads with the Bush administration, are deepening their economic ties. Iran will build an oil refinery in Faga, in Venezuela's oil-rich Orinoco province. IRNA news agency reported on June 1 that the refinery will refine heavy oil into gasoline and other oil derivatives. energy Minister and head of Petroleos de Venezuela Rafael Ramirez said the agreement would benefit both countries, adding that after the refinery comes online Iran will import gasoline from Venezuela. Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh is in Caracas to attend the 140th extraordinary meeting of the Organization of petroleum Exporting Countries, which opened June 1. Ramirez said that geopolitical tensions are the primary reason oil prices are currently above $70 a barrel. OPEC has kept its production ceiling at 28 million barrels per day since July 2005. Ramirez stated that Venezuela plans to increase its production to 5.8 million bpd in 2012. | Iran |
• Volcano Erupts in South Japan (June 6, 2006) - Sakurajima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, has erupted near the southern Japanese city of Kagoshima. Smoke and ash rose high above the island's northern peak 1 117m high as residents of the nearby capital of Kagoshima prefecture looked on. Over 600 000 people live in the shadow of the volcano which is only a few kilometres off the port serving Kagoshima city. Thousands of small explosions occur each year on Sakurajima, throwing ash thousands of kilometres into the sky. The last major eruption occurred in 1914, though most of the residents fled before the volcano engulfed several islands nearby and swallowed part of the bay of Kagoshima. The UN has designated Sakurajima as a mountain worthy of particular study due to the presence of a highly densely populated city nearby. The city conducts regular evacuation drills, and a number of shelters have been built where people can take refuge from falling volcanic debris. | Earth Changes |

• Corn, Soybeans May Rise; Hot, Dry Weather Threatens U.S. Crops (June 5, 2006) - Corn prices may gain for a third week and soybeans may reach a six-month high on speculation that hot, dry Midwest weather will damage the two biggest U.S. crops. Fifteen of 23 farm advisers, grain merchants and traders surveyed June 2 recommended buying corn, and 16 advised buying soybeans. Corn advanced 2.2 percent last week, the second straight rise. Soybeans jumped 4.6 percent for the week, the biggest increase this year. Newly planted crops may be hurt during the next 10 days by temperatures as much as 7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal and rainfall 25 percent below average for this time of year, said David Tolleris, a meteorologist at Windsong Forecast in Richmond, Virginia. A Great Plains drought that has damaged wheat crops since December may spread to the Midwest, he said.
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• Peru Volcano Activity Has Authorities Preparing Evacuation (June 5, 2006) - Authorities in southern Peru said Monday they are evacuating about 480 families due to an increase in seismic activity at the Ubinas volcano. "We are currently at work readying shelters for the temporary evacuation of the inhabitants of five communities," Cristala Constantinides, president of the Moquegua region where the Ubinas volcano is located, told the press. The regional authority said that they are collecting tents, blankets and whatever else is needed to move the families, while at the same time they have asked the National Police of Peru and the army to put their vehicles at the service of the evacuation effort. Volcano experts put the Ubinas area on orange alert (medium intensity level of seismic activity) on Saturday, after registering several explosions since May 31, including one that spewed glowing hot lava 200 meters (656 feet) into the air. In April, the last time the Ubinas volcano registered an alarming increase in seismic activity, its crater doubled in size to 80 meters (262 feet) in less than a week and more than 200 people fled from their homes by their own means. Toxic emissions from the volcano on that occasion caused the death of about 50 llamas and alpacas. As many as 40 people, most of them farmers and ranchers in the valley near Ubinas, experienced conjunctivitis and/or respiratory problems as a result of the volcanic discharge. more...  | Earth Changes |
• USA Out-Flanked in Eurasia Energy Politics? (June 5, 2006) - Curiously and quietly the United States is being out-flanked in its now-obvious strategy of controlling major oil and energy sources of the Persian Gulf, Central Asia Caspian Basin, Africa and beyond. The US's global energy control strategy, it's now clear to most, was the actual reason for the highly costly regime change in Iraq, euphemistically dubbed 'democracy' by Washington. George W. Bush restated his democracy mantra as recently as May 28 at the West Point military graduating ceremony where he declared that America's safety depends on an aggressive push for democracy, especially in the Middle East. 'This is only the beginning,' Bush said. 'The message has spread from Damascus to Tehran that the future belongs to freedom, and we will not rest until the promise of liberty reaches every people in every nation.' If the trend of recent events continues, it won't be Bush-style democracy that is spreading, but rather, Russian and Chinese influence over major oil and gas energy supplies. The quest for energy control has informed Washington's support for high-risk 'color revolutions' in Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kyrgystan in recent months. It lies behind US activity in the Western Africa Gulf of Guinea states, as well as in Sudan, source of 7% of China oil import. It lies behind US policy vis-à-vis Hugo Chavez' Venezuela and Evo Morales' Bolivia. In recent months, however, this strategy of global energy dominance, a strategic US priority, has shown signs of producing just the opposite: a kind of 'coalition of the unwilling,' states who increasingly see no other prospect, despite traditional animosities, but to cooperate to oppose what they see as a US push to control it all, their energy future security. Some in Washington are beginning to realize they might have been too clever by about half, as is evident in recent public statements to both China and Russia, two nations whose cooperation in some form is essential to the success of the global US energy project. more...  | America | Iran | NewWorldOrder |
• Water Fuel Experimenter and Team Threatened (June 2, 2006) - On May 16, a technician who was one of a team of garage experimenters investigating a hydrogen-on-demand technology was run off the road near a rural intersection and accosted by four white, middle-aged males in black suits, carrying Glocks and Mac tens.  The assailants were driving a late model, black Lincoln Town Car. This comes just one month after Bill Williams was similarly threatened because of his alleged experimentation with running a vehicle on a Joe cell. The victim in this latest incident is an associate of New Energy Congress member, Ken Rasmussen, who had been working together with him on the project. Rasmussen also runs an alternative energy news service at  http://www.commutefaster.com/Energy.html  A week before the incident, Rasmussen learned of the work being done by Professor Kanarev in Russia.  Both use a pulsed signal, and both were seeing similar performance rates.  Kanarev holds multiple patents, and is widely published.  A day before the incident, a person who was interested in funding the project of Rasmussen et al., and who had been trying to reach him since November, had finally made contact. Rasmussen reported the incident for the first time publicly in his news today.  He said, "As editor of this page, my life has now been threatened by 2 loaded guns pointed in the face of a good friend." more... | Technology |
• Hot, Dry Weather Threatens Del. Crops (May 31, 2006) - Corn prices may gain for a third week and soybeans may reach a six-month high on speculation that hot, dry Midwest weather will damage the two biggest U.S. crops. Fifteen of 23 farm advisers, grain merchants and traders surveyed June 2 recommended buying corn, and 16 advised buying soybeans. Corn advanced 2.2 percent last week, the second straight rise. Soybeans jumped 4.6 percent for the week, the biggest increase this year. Newly planted crops may be hurt during the next 10 days by temperatures as much as 7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal and rainfall 25 percent below average for this time of year, said David Tolleris, a meteorologist at Windsong Forecast in Richmond, Virginia. A Great Plains drought that has damaged wheat crops since December may spread to the Midwest, he said. more... 

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