'1000s' of Russian spies in U.S

The Russians are coming? The Russians are here.

America is infested with more Russian spies than at any point in history, say former intelligence agents who spoke with The Post.

"I would say there are a few thousand here," said Boris Korczak, a former double agent who worked for the CIA, spying on the KGB from 1973-1980.

That's because each mole is a long shot, and the Russians want to maximize their odds. "Out of 1,000 spies, one or two will perform, will get access to our nuclear secrets," Korczak said.

"The current atmosphere in the US is that we're having a love affair with Russia, that the Cold War is over," agreed Eugene Poteat, a retired senior CIA operative who served from 1960-1990. "But there are more Russian spies here now than during the Cold War."

Among the 10 accused Russian spies taken into custody last week is Anna Chapman, 28, a flame-haired bombshell who, unsurprisingly, has attracted the most attention. She is currently being held in solitary confinement in a federal prison in Brooklyn and her lawyer, Robert Baum, told The Post that she is "very unaware" of the media frenzy she's sparked.

Chapman, a Russian native who once said her father was a high-ranking member of the KGB, spent her time in New York City circulating among rich and powerful men. In 2002, she married a British student named Alex Chapman, now 30. They divorced in 2006, after she began spending a lot of time without him and with her "Russian friends" instead.

Read more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/record_mole_russia_cold_surpass_K6S6j9QENZeRCOSEvhvYtO#comments_block

Saudi Arabia’s King halts oil exploration

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has ordered a halt to oil exploration operations to save the Gulf country’s massive hydrocarbon wealth for the future generations, the official Saudi media reported yesterday.

Addressing Saudi students sent for studies in the United States, the Monarch said his instructions were part of an ongoing strategy to save the country’s natural resources and ensure part of them are left for the future.

“I will reveal to you something that will make you laugh…..I was heading a cabinet meeting and told them (Ministers) to pray to God the Almighty to give it a long life,” King Abdullah told the surprised students.

“They asked me what that was but I again asked them to pray to God…then I told them it was oil…I told them that I have ordered a halt to all oil explorations so part of this wealth is left for our sons and successors God willing.”

Saudi Arabia already controls around 265 billion barrels in extractable crude deposits, more than a fifth of the world’s total proven oil reserves.

But officials believe the real oil deposits in place are far larger than those that can be recovered by present drilling and production technology.

According to state-owned Saudi Aramco, which controls the Kingdom’s hydrocarbon sector, oil reserves in place are estimated at around 722 billion barrels, of which nearly 110 billion barrels have been produced since Aramco began pumping crude 70 years ago. The amount that can be pumped with present technology is around 265 billion barrels, said Mohammed Saggaf, Manager of Saudi Aramco’s Advanced Research Centre.

“Saudi Aramco’s long-term goal is two-fold…we want to increase total oil in place to 900 billion barrels by 2020 and to push the limits of recovery from around 50 per cent to 70 per cent in our major producing fields, using both improved conventional recovery and enhanced oil recovery,” he said.

“Globally, the average ratio of recoverable reserves to oil in place is mostly 30 to 40 per cent, with a level of 50 per cent, Saudi Aramco is already doing much better than the average…however we intend to go further and push the limit to achieve recovery rates as high as 70 per cent…these are not dreams but are hard and fast targets.”

In a recent study, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), which groups Saudi Arabia, the UAE and eight other regional hydrocarbon producers, put the total Arab oil deposits in place at more than 2,700 billion barrels at an extraction rate of about 35 per cent.

“Assuming an extraction rate of 35 per cent, the Arab oil deposits in place could reach 2,738 billion barrels. This means the oil quantities that can not be extracted by present technology are around 1,809 billion barrels, which are nearly 645 billion barrels above the world’s proven oil resources….these quantities, if they can be extracted, will meet the world needs for 60 years …even if only 10 per cent of them could be extracted, they could be enough for seven years.”

OAPEC said four Gulf countries—UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq—controlled around 50 per cent of the world’s recoverable oil potential and more than 86 per cent of the total Arab crude reserves.

But it noted large quantities of oil and gas remained undiscovered or undeveloped in the region, totaling around 175 billion barrels of oil, 43,368 billion cubic metres of natural gas and 67 billion barrels of gas liquids.

Saudi Arabia pumps around eight million barrels per day of oil in line with OPEC’s collective quota agreement but its sustainable output capacity exceeds 12 million bpd, allowing it to hold over 70 per cent of the world’s idle capacity. At the current output level, its proven oil wealth could last nearly 90 years.

The Kingdom has just completed a $100 billion (Dh367 billion) investment programme launched over the past few years to expand its hydrocarbon industry and maintain its position as the world’s dominant oil power.

Aramco said the largest hydrocarbon investment programme in the Gulf Kingdom’s history has added nearly 3.8 million bpd to the country’s crude output capacity, including around two million bpd in 2009 alone.
http://www.business24-7.ae/companies-markets/energy-utilities/saudi-king-halts-oil-exploration-to-save-wealth-2010-07-04-1.262586

Rockets Fired at U.S. Embassy as Biden Visits Iraq

Rockets were fired at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad while Vice President Biden visits Iraq.

The rockets were fired at the embassy, located inside the International Zone.

Vice President Biden is currently in the country to meet with U.S. troops and talk to Iraqi political leaders.

Two soldiers inside the compound reported there was an impact from the incoming fire.

An all clear was given after the attack.

"According to Embassy Public Affairs there was a small explosion in the International Zone," a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said. "The incident is being investigated. There were no injuries or property damage."

Earlier Sunday, Biden urged rival Iraqi politicians Sunday to end months of delays and select new leaders for their wobbly democracy, predicting a peaceful transition of power even as suicide bombers struck government centers in two major cities.

The attacks in Mosul and Ramadi underscored persistent fears that insurgents will exploit Iraq's political uncertainty to stoke widespread sectarian violence. Four people were killed and 25 injured in the two blasts that occurred hundreds of miles apart.

The twin explosions on the Fourth of July illustrated the vexing nature of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and its efforts to nudge the country toward stability and democracy.

On his fifth trip to Iraq since he was elected, Biden sat down separately with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who is struggling to keep his job after his party lost the March 7 election, and his chief challenger, former premier Ayad Allawi.

The Sunni-backed Iraqiya political alliance that Allawi heads won the most seats in the vote, but it fell far short of securing enough seats in parliament to control the government. That has led to four months of both men trying to woo support from allied lawmakers, ultimately delaying the decision of who will be the next prime minister.

Biden made clear that a government that is not represented by all sides -- no matter who leads it -- will fall short of a thriving democracy.

"All are going to have to play a meaningful role in this new government in order for it to work," Biden told Iraqi leaders of some of the top vote-getting political coalitions at a U.S. Embassy reception Sunday evening. "My plea to you is finish what you started."

Earlier, talking to U.S. troops, Biden said: "When the new government is formed, it will mark something absolutely extraordinary: a peaceful transition of power encompassing all the people of Iraq, maybe for the first time in their history."

Biden met first with Allawi, where he was kept waiting for a few minutes at the home of Deputy Prime Minister Rafia al-Issawi, an Iraqiya lawmaker. After the hourlong, closed-door talk, Allawi said that Biden offered no specific proposals to end the impasse "but there was an interest in Iraq's stability, and that the forming of the government should not be prolonged."

Allawi called the discussion "frank and constructive."

Several hours later, al-Maliki spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Biden warned the prime minister in their 90-minute meeting that delays in forming the government "will bring crisis in Iraq, and the political alliances should make an effort to avoid this crisis."

Al-Dabbagh, who attended part of the meeting between the two, said Biden also expressed fears by the Obama administration over "the regional interference in Iraq." That generally refers to Iranian meddling, but al-Dabbagh said Biden did not single out any nation.

A statement on the prime minister's official website said al-Maliki and Biden also discussed the U.S. troop withdrawal that is scheduled to bring the number of American soldiers in Iraq to 50,000 by the end of August. After a peak of about 170,000 just a few years ago, all troops are set to leave Iraq by December 2011.

The military drawdown also has alarmed some Iraqis who believe their own security forces are not ready to protect them from a dwindling insurgency still strong enough to attack.

Around 9 a.m., a female suicide bomber blew up a reception room outside the Anbar provincial governor's office in Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, local councilman Aeefan Sadoun said. Four people were killed and 23 injured. The governor was not among them.

Less than two hours later, police shot a suicide bomber near the Ninevah provincial government's headquarters in Mosul, an al-Qaida in Iraq haven located 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. The bomber still managed to detonate his explosive belt, officials said, wounding two policemen.

The targeting of government offices is a hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq, which may have sought to use Biden's visit and the U.S. Independence Day holiday as a reminder of Iraq's continuing instability.

Biden is keenly aware that Iraq's security could crumble if formation of a new government results in alienating any of Iraq's mainstream political groups. However, he pointedly did not meet with lawmakers aligned with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose followers captured 40 of the 163 seats in parliament.

The U.S. does not consider the Sadrists a legitimate political entity, and Sadrists have long targeted American troops in Iraq.

Biden will meet Monday with Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Iraqi National Alliance, which has joined forces with al-Maliki, and with President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.

Mahmoud Othman, a senior Kurdish lawmaker in Iraq's parliament, said it was too soon to tell if Biden would be able to break the political deadlock.

"This will depend on to what extent the political parties will be flexible," Othman said in an interview. "But if they stay adamant to their demands then, in my opinion, it will be hard to go forward."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/04/biden-urging-iraqi-leaders-end-political-rivalry/

Socialism by design

Barack Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he
is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming
the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social
chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.

Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University, class of
'83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the
plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University . They
outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with
government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken
individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant,
Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist
state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for
survival ... and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why
not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.

Obama Universal Health Care. The health care bill had very little to
do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of
hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS
agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that
giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the
national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of
those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist
revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a
depression?


Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with
health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has
everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the
economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those
powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC
and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They
will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and
the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new
taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama
"spread the wealth around."

Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's
asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement
addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But
this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat
senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters
who are dependent on big government.

Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million
potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and
bankrupt America . But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who
can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion
dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical,
education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.

Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to
Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including
billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across
the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could
keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed
out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering
$125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All
those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated
salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America . The country goes
broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat
Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the
means.

Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job
creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers,
redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to
deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes
in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes
to starve his political opposition.

With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a
vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big
government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big
government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and
installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.

Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by
my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama using the Cloward and
Piven Plan.

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT

Google Gay's only Employee Benefit

A new Google policy is raising some eyebrows after the company revealed it will be compensating employees for taxes paid on domestic partners' health benefits – but only if they’re gay.

The company said in its blog Thursday, that it will be “grossing-up imputed taxes on health insurance benefits for all same-sex domestic partners in the United States.”

In other words, the company will be paying homosexual employees who include domestic partners on their health insurance plans more money to make up for the federal taxes they pay on that benefit. (Married couples don't have to pay taxes on spousal health benefits.)

But under Google's new policy, the company isn't offering any extra pay to heterosexual domestic partners, because it says heterosexual employees have the option of avoiding the tax by getting married.

Daryl Herrschaft, director of the Workplace Project at Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group, says Google's policy is a step in the right direction.

“They’re picking up the slack where the federal government hasn’t recognized the reality of diversity in the workforce today,” Herschaft told FoxNews.com. “This is eliminating existing discrimination that ... gays and lesbians face in the workplace as result of federal law that doesn’t acknowledge their families.”

But Focus on the Family, a Christian organization aimed at providing practical help for marriage and parenting, says this far from levels the playing field.

“If Google wants to be truly fair to its employees, it should consider extra compensation to married heterosexuals who are bitten every April 15 by the marriage-penalty tax,” spokesman Gary Schneeberger told FoxNews.com. “How is offering more money to only one group to offset a perceived inequity not a form of discrimination against those groups not fortunate enough to receive such bonuses?”

Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl says even if the idea seems good in practice, it could become a legal issue because it's deciding which domestic partners get these benefits based solely on sexual orientation.

“There’s a potential for a reverse discrimination suit because of the equal pay for equal work statute which says that if I’m doing the same job as the person next to me that my marital status or sexual orientation shouldn’t be taken into consideration. It’s my work performance that should be taken into consideration,” Wiehl told FoxNews.com.

As for the disparity in the federal tax structure, Wiehl says, legally, it has nothing to do with the employer: You get paid a salary, and it's up to you to pay your taxes, not your employer.

Google's not the first company to implement such a policy.

The Kimpton hotel and restaurant chain is one example of another company that "grosses up imputed taxes" on domestic partner benefits. But unlike Google, Kimpton's policies do not single out same-sex couples.

"It didn’t even come as a thought to us to not open it up to everyone. When we designed all of our policies we try to see to it that they’re inclusive to everybody so that we cover all of our employees," Alan Baer, senior vice president of people and information for the Kimpton Hotel Group told FoxNews.com. "So if heterosexual couples choose to be in domestic partnership, why would we discriminate against them?"

But Google doesn’t seem concerned, calling its policy "another reason to celebrate."

In addition to the added compensation, the company says as it will also be providing the equivalent of the Family and Medical Leave Act for all same-sex domestic partners and is working with its insurance carriers to eliminate the one-year waiting period to qualifying for infertility benefits.

“Google supports its LGBT employees in many ways: raising its voice in matters of policy, taking a moment to remember the plight of transgender people around the world and going the extra mile to ensure that its employees are treated fairly,” the company said in the blog.

The company says its new health benefits compensation will be retroactive to January 1, 2010.

Google denied requests to comment any further on the policy.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/01/google-raises-eyebrows-new-gay-employee-benefit/

The Civilian Expeditionary Force

During his town hall in Racine, Wisconsin today President Obama spoke about the civilian expeditionary force within his National Security Strategy.

“We just got to be smart about using all the elements of American power, not just one element of American power,” he said.

The president pointed to Iraq and Afghanistan where military personnel are having to engage in work that he said really should be civilian work– like building schools and bridges -- because of under-resourcing on the civilian side

“The problem is -- is that we don't have a civilian effort that has always matched up to the military effort. So the military goes in there, they clear out everything, they're -- they're making everything secure, and now the question is, all right, can we get the civilians to come in to work with the local governments to improve the situation? And a lot of times that civilian side of it has been under-resourced.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fO-usAlqak
Mr. Obama said the burden should not be all on the military.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/06/the-civilian-expeditionary-force-obama-says-burden-cant-be-all-on-the-military-.html

Scanned to death

http://www.columbia.edu/~djb3/papers/ijrb11.pdf










http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/pdfs/SC_1_12_Rep_x_ray_SecurityScreening1.pdf?tag=mncol;txt

Americans openly calling for armed uprising.

Across the militia boards and forums Americans are calling for rebellion. After the euphoria of the Obama election on "Change.Yes we can" Americans are uniting in their opinion that they just got "More of the same".

The government is now seen as made up of two party's that are a shade of gray. Gray in that they are no different than the one before. Gray in how legal they are.And gray in the morality of how a government should represent the people. And it is the old gray area of the southern states this is most strongly expressed. By a population armed to the teeth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKJ1IZPx2M

To this day the war of secession has never been declared ended. Under the articles of war it is still going on. There is still a constitution of the southern states anyone can sign up to and join, though I won't post a link here today as I am not recruiting for them.

Below is a link to one of the more reasonable forums. But you will see from it that even the most patient are losing patience with the government as what they see more and more as criminals in charge.
http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/showthread.php?t=108936

Obama declares state of emergency in South Texas

The declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency "to coordinate all disaster relief efforts" and "provide appropriate assistance."

The declaration includes Aransas, Atascosa, Bee, Bexar, Brooks, Cameron, Comal, Duval, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, McMullen, Medina, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Starr, Webb, Willacy, Wilson, and Zapata counties in south Texas.

Previous coverage:

Gov. Rick Perry contacted the White House Tuesday requesting a pre-landfall emergency declaration for 19 South Texas counties that face possible damage from Tropical Storm Alex.

More Greek Riots

ATHENS, Greece — Dozens of masked youths clashed with police at a union protest Tuesday in Athens during the country's fifth general strike this year against the cash-strapped government's planned pension and labor reforms.

Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse troublemakers who threw chunks of marble smashed off metro station entrances and set rubbish bins on fire. Running clashes continued along a major avenue — lined with shuttered shops and banks — as rioters armed with wooden clubs made repeated sallies against police.

However, Tuesday's clashes were far more muted than the riots that erupted during a previous general strike on May 5, when three people died after becoming trapped in a bank torched by rioters.

Riot police chased demonstrators into a main subway station. An AP photographer saw police detain one young man in a metro carriage, spraying him with pepper spray.

The demonstration ended soon after, and rioters melted away towards the central Exarcheia district — a traditional anarchist hangout.

No arrests were immediately reported, but AP reporters saw at least six people being detained. One motorcycle policeman was injured by a chunk of marble thrown at him, while rioters smashed bus stops and phone booths.

The violence came as some 10,000 people took part in a demonstration organized by the country's two main labor unions and fringe left-wing groups. An earlier separate march by some 6,000 members of the Communist Party-backed PAME union ended peacefully.

Tuesday's strike shut down public services, disrupted transport, left hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air. The country's airports, however, remained open, and international flights were operating normally although nearly 100 domestic flights were canceled.

Unions fiercely oppose draft legislation submitted to parliament last week that would increase retirement ages and make it cheaper for companies to fire workers. The measures — which include raising women's retirement age to 65 to match those of men and require 40 years of social security contributions for a full pension — are aimed at fixing the country's debt crisis, which has shaken the entire euro zone.

"They've declared war on you, fight back!" PAME demonstrators chanted as they walked down a major avenue in the center of the capital.

Greece is caught in a major debt and deficit crisis; it avoided bankruptcy last month only after receiving the first installment of a euro110 billion ($136 billion) emergency loan package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

In return, Athens passed painful austerity measures, cutting pensions and salaries and raising consumer taxes, and is now pushing through labor and social security reforms.

Parliament is to start discussing the proposed reforms Tuesday, in a debate expected to last more than a week. Despite opposition from several of its own lawmakers, the center-left government — which holds a seven-seat majority in the 300-member house — is expected to win the final vote.

Tension mounted once more in the country's main port of Piraeus early Tuesday morning, where hundreds of PAME demonstrators attempted to prevent tourists and locals from boarding ferries to Aegean islands, even though a court had declared seamen's participation in the strike illegal.

"They want to put us in a straitjacket so we work for free all our lives so that some can have their wealth and get very rich at our expense," said Sotiris Poulikogiannis, a protester in Piraeus. "We don't accept this. Day by day we'll grow stronger and more aware of how to overturn this situation."

The Civil Protection Ministry said all ships scheduled to leave in the morning did set sail, with about 350 passengers. However, about 50-100 people didn't manage to board their ferries as strikers prevented them from entering the port. Authorities said their tickets would also be valid Wednesday.

Another four ships that were to sail for Crete and the Cycladic islands in the early afternoon had informed passengers that they would depart at midnight, the ministry said.

A similar strike by two seamen's unions last week — which was also declared illegal — left thousands of travelers stranded in Piraeus for a day.

Shipping companies and officials in Greece's vital tourism industry strongly criticized the government for not taking action to stop the strikers.
__________________

Drug Money Laundering by U.S. Banks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8lGjhuH4J4&playnext_from=TL&videos=fkrkOm0rmIw

Islamist fighters battling Somalia’s fragile government have released new video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opK7ZxaBms8

Back to the cold war.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7859900/Russian-secret-agents-arrested-in-US.html

McChrystal packs it in.

WASHINGTON — Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was fired last week as the top U.S. general in the stalemated Afghanistan war, has told the Army that he will retire.

Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said McChrystal notified the service of his plans on Monday, but he has not yet submitted formal retirement papers. It is not clear when he will leave the service, but the process usually take a few months.

President Barack Obama has praised McChrystal's long Army career but says his intemperate remarks in a magazine article that appeared last week could not be abided.

McChrystal apologized for the remarks in Rolling Stone magazine and flew to Washington last week to resign as commanding general of the war.

Nailed

Polish police question 2 Canadians over suspected theft of railroad nails at Auschwitz
WARSAW, Poland — Polish officials say they detained two Canadian men after visitors to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp reported seeing them pick up loose nails from a railway track at the memorial.

Prosecutor Mariusz Slomka says the two 30-year-old men, both teachers, were released after being questioned Saturday and telling authorities they had wanted souvenirs. The nails were recovered from the men's backpacks, and the men were allowed to leave Poland.

Authorities will decide whether to bring charges. Local police chief Robert Chowaniec said Monday the men could face up to 10 years in prison if the nails prove to be historic artifacts.

The nails had been lying along tracks the Nazis used to transport trainloads of Jews to gas chambers.

Wanted for wrecking the economy

Money Tsunami

There is a wave of money rolling around the world looking for somewhere to land. But the problem for it is what can it get for landing.? And the options are.- not much. So it just keeps on rolling on. but sooner or later it has to land or run out of steam. In the meantime the distribution networks are trying to follow while the actual things of production dwindle in supply. What safe haven is there for this cash? Only gold,but not too fast or that could be fatal too.One false move now by this money and gold prices could go over the moon. Every body is looking at every body else's eyes. Who will blink first? Some will win.Some will lose. But any one with any gold will not regret holding on to it.

Israel announces let-up to Gaza siege - but only in English

Prime Minister's office issues two statements, one in English announcing plan to ease blockade, one in Hebrew omitting to mention the decision.
The Prime Minister's Office announced on Thursday that the security cabinet had agreed to relax Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip, but as it turns out, no binding decision was ever made during the cabinet meeting. The Prime Minister's Office issued a press release in English following the meeting, which was also sent to foreign diplomats, was substantially different than the Hebrew announcement – according to the English text, a decision was made to ease the blockade, but in the Hebrew text there was no mention of any such decision.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-announces-let-up-to-gaza-siege-but-only-in-english-1.296809

Klu Klux Klan Byrd dies

West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress, has died, the senator's office said. He was 92. Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan when he was 24 in 1942. His local chapter unanimously elected him the top officer of their unit.

According to Byrd, a Klan official told him, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd later recalled, "suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did." Byrd held the titles Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops.

In 1944, Byrd wrote to segregationist Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo:
"I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.
wonder if he will get an eternal flaming cross?

Shalit family march surpasses police expectations

Ministers Eli Yishai and Yaakov Margi of Shas and Michael Eitan of Likud announced on Sunday that they intend to join the protest march by the family of the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Police estimated that 10,000 marchers participated in the first day of the procession, which began on Sunday at the Shalit family home in Mitzpeh Hila, in the north of the country and is scheduled to end across from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/mass-support-for-shalit-family-march-surpasses-police-expectations-1.298650

Salmon-eely

Genetically modified salmon have become the first victim to be put on the list for human consumption. The fish take three years to mature fully. But by implanting the genes from an eel called pout geneticists have reduced that time to eighteen months.The US Food and Drug administration are considering if it is fit for human consumption and could be in the shops next year.

No Whites, this time.

John Bercow stepped in yesterday to stop the appointment of a white man as cleric. Cannon Andrew Tremlett was over ruled in place of the Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin, a Jamaican born vicar in east London.

Aggregated News

Corruption Suspected in Airlift of Billions in Cash From Kabul More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug money to financial safe havens abroad.

The cash—packed into suitcases, piled onto pallets and loaded into airplanes—is declared and legal to move. But U.S. and Afghan officials say they are targeting the flows in major anticorruption and drug trafficking investigations because of their size relative to Afghanistan's small economy and the murkiness of their origins.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704638504575318850772872776.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

Oil spill hits Mississippi shore

Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, had sustained winds of 45 mph and was about 60 miles west-southwest of Campeche, Mexico. The system was moving west-northwest at 7 mph. Forecasters from the U.S. National Hurricane Center say Alex could become a hurricane in the next 48 hours.

World Cup squabble ends in fatal shootings

DALLAS (AP) - Two men are dead and one is hospitalized with a leg wound after what Dallas police say was an argument over an upcoming World Cup soccer game ended in gunfire.

Police Cpl. Gerardo Monreal tells The Dallas Morning News that four men were at a party in southern Dallas when the argument erupted around 3 a.m. Sunday.

Monreal says one man went to his car, got a handgun and opened fire, killing two men, aged 17 and 28. That triggered a struggle in which several more shots were fired, one wounding the suspect in the leg. He was taken to Methodist Dallas Medical Center for treatment.

No names have been released, and Monreal says charges will be filed after the suspect is discharged from the hospital and booked into jail.

http://www.kwes.com/global/story.asp?s=12717215

Medvedev: CIA warning on Iranian nukes 'troubling'

TORONTO — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday that a CIA warning that Iran has enough uranium to build two atomic bombs was "worrying," and criticized Tehran's secrecy over its nuclear program.

"This information has to be checked but such information is always worrying and all the more so because the international community does not recognize the Iranian nuclear program as transparent," he told reporters.

Earlier, US spy chief Leon Panetta had said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believes Iran now has enough low-enriched uranium to produce two nuclear weapons if it finds a way to further enrich it.

"If this is proved, it would make the situation even more tense," Medvedev said, adding that Russia might need to re-examine its position on the matter.

Russia has traditionally been an ally of Iran, but Medvedev has expressed increasing public concern over its nuclear program, which Washington and other Western capitals fear is on course to build a nuclear weapon.

Despite complaints from the West, Russia is helping build Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. In 2008 Russian energy giant Gazprom signed an agreement with Iran to develop its oil and gas fields.

Russia, which unlike the United States has diplomatic ties with Iran, has in the past been reluctant to impose tough sanctions but backed the latest UN move following Tehran's repeated defiance of orders to halt uranium enrichment.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ixq_CF6zFxFXwc3jnX8RuggL69Gw

Hamid Karzai Meeting Haqqani

9 years in Afghanistan for this? Not merely meeting some members of the Afghan Taliban, but the leader of the Haqqani network, known to be close to al-Qaeda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMIig64JtOQ&feature=player_embedded

ISRAEL 'PLOTS TEHRAN RAID

Israel is massing warplanes in the Caucasus for an attack on Iran, it was revealed yesterday.

Preparations are underway to launch the military attack from Azerbaijan and Georgia, reports our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej, quoting military sources.

Israel was, in fact, training pilots in Turkey to launch the strike and was smuggling planes into Georgia using Turkish airspace, they said.

However, Turkey was unaware of Israel's intention of transferring the planes to Georgia, the sources said.

The unexpected crisis between Israel and Turkey following an Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza Strip hit Israeli calculations.

Azerbaijan-based intelligence units, working under the cover of technicians, trainers and consultants, have helped with the preparations, the sources said.

Military equipment, mostly supplied by the US, was transported to a Georgian port via the Black Sea.

Georgian coastguard and Israeli controllers are co-operating to hide the operations from Russian vessels, said the sources.

They point out that according to Israel, it will not be in a position to launch a strike on Iran without using bases in Georgia and Azerbaijan due to the limited capabilities of its nuclear submarines stationed near the Iranian coast.

Meanwhile, Iran's Press TV reported that a very large contingent of US ground forces had massed in Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border. The independent Azerbaijani news website Trend confirmed the report.

Those reports came just days after the Pentagon confirmed that an unusually large fleet of US warships had indeed passed through Egypt's Suez Canal en route to the Gulf. At least one Israeli warship reportedly joined the American armada.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?srch=1&storyid=281041

Iran has enough uranium for 2 bombs

WASHINGTON — CIA Director Leon Panetta says Iran probably has enough low-enriched uranium for two nuclear weapons, but that it likely would take two years to build the bombs.

Panetta also says he is doubtful that recent U.N. penalties will put an end to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

He says the penalties could help to weaken Tehran's government by creating serious economic problems. But he adds, "Will it deter them from their ambitions with regards to nuclear capability? Probably not."

Panetta tells ABC's "This Week" that there is "some debate" as to whether Iran will proceed with the bomb.

Asked about a potential Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, Panetta said he thinks Israel is giving the U.S. room on the diplomatic and political fronts.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director Leon Panetta says Iran probably has enough low-enriched uranium for two nuclear weapons, but that it likely would take two years to build the bombs.

Panetta also says he is doubtful that recent U.N. penalties will put an end to Iran's nuclear ambitions.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iZfgLuKrg3QBRltJ0qQMIzgIohdQD9GJM7IO0

Costner cleanup device gets high marks from BP

It was treated as an oddball twist in the otherwise wrenching saga of the BP oil spill when Kevin Costner stepped forward to promote a device he said could work wonders in containing the spill's damage. But as Henry Fountain explains in the New York Times, the gadget in question — an oil-separating centrifuge — marks a major breakthrough in spill cleanup technology. And BP, after trial runs with the device, is ordering 32 more of the Costner-endorsed centrifuges to aid the Gulf cleanup.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts2851

Suiting Up for a Post-Dollar World

The global financial crisis is playing out like a slow-moving, highly predicable stage play. In the current scene, Western governments are caught between the demands of entitled welfare beneficiaries and the anxiety of bondholders who fear they will be stuck with the bill. As the crisis reaches an apex, prime ministers and presidents are forced into a Sophie's choice between social unrest and bankruptcy. But with the "Club Med" economies set to fall like dominoes, the US Treasury market is not yet acting the role we would have anticipated.

Our argument has always been that the US benefits from its reserve-currency status, allowing it to accumulate unsustainable debts for an unusually long period without the immediate repercussions of inflation or higher borrowing costs. But this false sense of security may be setting us up for a truly monumental crash.

There is fresh evidence that time is running out for the dollar-centric global monetary order. In fact, central banks outside the US are already making swift and discrete preparation for a post-dollar era.
To begin, the People's Bank of China has just this week decided to permit a wider trading range between the yuan and the dollar. This is the first step toward ending the infernal yuan-dollar peg. While the impetus behind this abrupt change remains a mystery, I have a sneaking suspicion that, as my colleague Neeraj Chaudhary explained in his commentary last week, the nationwide labor strikes were a prime motivator.

In response to the 2008 credit crunch, the Fed printed so many dollars that the People's Bank of China was forced to drive Chinese inflation into double digits to maintain the peg. The pain has fallen on China's workers, who have seen their wages stagnate while prices for everything from milk to apartments have skyrocketed. This week's move indicates that, regardless of its own policy motives, the Communist Party can no longer afford to keep pace with the dollar's devaluation. The result will be a shift in wealth from America to China, which may trigger a long-anticipated run on the dollar, while creating investment opportunities in China.

Just days before China's announcement, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev rattled his monetary sabre by telling the press of his intention to lead the world toward a new monetary order based on a broad basket of currencies. Giving strength to his claim, the Central Bank of Russia announced that it would be adding Canadian and Australian dollars to its reserves for the first time. Analysts suggest that the IMF may follow suit. While Russia floats in the limbo between hopeless kleptocracy and emerging economy, it does possess vast natural resources and a toe-hold in both Europe and Asia. In other words, it will be a strategically important partner for China as it tries to cast off dollar hegemony.

Speaking of Europe, the major powers there are moving toward a post-dollar world by rejecting President Obama's calls to jump on America's debt grenade. The prescriptions coming from Washington translate loosely to: our airship is on fire, so why don't you light a candle under yours so that we may crash and burn together. Given that dollar strength is largely seen as a function of euro weakness (as Andrew Schiff discussed in our most recent newsletter, debt troubles in the eurozone's fringe economies have created a distorted confidence in the greenback. However, as you might imagine, Europe has higher priorities than being America's fall guy. Led by an ever-bolder Germany, the European states are wisely choosing not to throw themselves on our funeral pyre, but to wisely clean house in anticipation of China's rise.

In another ominous sign for the dollar, the Financial Times reported Wednesday that after two decades as net sellers of gold, foreign central banks have now become net buyers. What's more, more than half of central bank officials surveyed by UBS didn't think the dollar would be the world's reserve in 2035. Among the predicted replacements were Asian currencies and the euro, but - by far - the favorite was gold. This is supported by Monday's revelation by the Saudi central bank that it had covertly doubled its gold reserves, just about a year after China made a similar admission. There is no reason to assume these are isolated incidents, or that the covert trade of dollars for gold doesn't continue. To the contrary, this is compelling evidence that foreign governments are outwardly supporting the status quo while quietly preparing for the dollar's almost-inevitable devaluation. What people like Paul Krugman believe to be a return to medieval economics may, in fact, be the wave of the future.

In peacetime, hardened troops will likely tolerate a blowhard general for an extended period; but when the artillery opens up with live ordnance, an ineffectual leader risks rapid demotion. The newspapers are now riddled with hints that foreign governments have lost faith in Washington and the dollar reserve system. It seems to me only natural that after a century of war, inflation, and socialism, the next hundred years would belong to those people who hold the timeless values of hard money and fiscal prudence. Unfortunately, our policymakers are not those people.
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=968

Hezbollah joining Mexican drug cartels

WASHINGTON – North Carolina Congresswoman Sue Myrick warned Friday that Hezbollah may be colluding with drug cartels on the US-Mexican border, and called on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to investigate the matter.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3910808,00.html

Protests turn violent, storefront glass smashed and police cars set ablaze

Protests turn violent, storefront glass smashed and police cars set ablaze

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/toronto/protesters-turn-violent-smashing-storefront-glass-and-police-cars/article1619460/

British soldier dies in hospital after Afghan explosion

A British soldier from 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, part of Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj North, has died in hospital in Birmingham.

The soldier, who has not yet been named, died as a result of the injuries he suffered in an explosion in Afghanistan on 10 June.

The Ministry of Defence said the soldier's family has been told.

His death takes the total number of service personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 308.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10426424.stm

Satellite firm cuts Hamas TV broadcasts to Europe

PARIS (AFP) – A Gaza-based television station, accused of inciting hatred of Jews and Israel, has had its broadcasts to Europe shut off, Eutelsat satellite firm said on Friday.

Paris-based Eutelsat said its client Noorsat, the operator which handles the broadcasting of Al-Aqsa TV to parts of Europe and throughout the Middle East, cut the satellite signal on Thursday.

Reacting to the move, Al-Aqsa director Hazem al-Charawi said: "The legal battle has just started and we are determined to pursue it."

He told a news conference in Gaza City late on Thursday that the shutdown of its broadcasts to Europe amounted to "another layer of the Gaza blockade imposed by the Zionist lobby with Fr

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100625/wl_mideast_afp/mideastfrancehamasmediaeutelsatance's help."

Obama calls for bank tax as next step in reform

Obama wants to slap a 0.15 percent tax on the liabilities of the biggest U.S. financial institutions to recoup the costs to taxpayers of the financial bailout.

"We need to impose a fee on the banks that were the biggest beneficiaries of taxpayer assistance at the height of our financial crisis -- so we can recover every dime of taxpayer money," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

Obama, who is in Canada to attend gatherings with leaders of the world's biggest economies, also used the address to welcome a deal by congressional negotiators on a historic rewriting of U.S. financial regulations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65P0VP20100626

Celebrated writer Alan Plater dies at 75

TRIBUTES have been paid to Alan Plater, the popular and prolific writer whose death from cancer, at the age of 75, was announced yesterday.
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2010/06/26/celebrated-writer-alan-plater-dies-at-75-61634-26729120/

Twin Blasts in Lahore Injure Six

Two low-intensity blasts rocked Lahore Saturday evening, injuring six people, police said.

The first blast occurred in Zaitoon Plaza and the other at Yasir street, Online news agency reported. Several CDs shops located in the Zaitoon plaza were believed to be the target of the blasts because terrorists had warned them several times to close their businesses.

Terrorists had warned the local administration five minutes before triggering the blasts. The chief minister’s house, the governor’s house and provincial assembly building are also located on the same road.

Rescue teams and bomb the disposal squad rushed to the site and began rescue operations. Law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and started search operations.

http://www.vamban.com/news/twin-blasts-in-lahore-injure-six/

Bishops detained in Belgian child sex raid

A Belgian archdiocese is considering legal action over police raids during which Roman Catholic bishops were detained and a cathedral crypt was searched.

Police raided several buildings of the Brussels archdiocese on Thursday looking for evidence of child sex abuse by priests.

Brussels prosecutors say the raid, which involved dozens of officers and investigators, followed a string of accusations of abuse.

A senior Vatican official says the detention of bishops was "serious and unbelievable", and compared it to the practices of communist regimes.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/27/2937996.htm?section=justin

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/world/europe/26belgium.html?src=mv

Israelis kill suspected Egyptian drug smuggler

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) – Israeli soldiers shot dead a suspected Egyptian drug smuggler after he illegally crossed the border with the Jewish state on Saturday, Egyptian security officials said.

Another man in his group was wounded and taken to hospital in Israel, while two others were arrested, they said.

"The Israeli side said they were drug dealers," one of the officials said, adding they were told the men were fired upon after they ignored warnings to stop.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100626/wl_mideast_afp/israelegypttraffickingdrugs_20100626140030

Time for critics to say sorry, says Maradona

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - Diego Maradona says it's time for the critics to stand up and hang their heads in shame.

He'd been branded a liability back home before the World Cup - a legend on the playing field, of course, but a naive tactician and attention-grabber who would squander the nation's best chance of winning the title in years.

Three wins later in South Africa and the tone's changed. Argentina, many now believe, could win the tournament.

But Maradona was having none of it Saturday.

"Many journalists should apologize to the players," he said, oozing confidence and never losing his cool. "I'm not suggesting you drop your trousers, but it would be honest and great so we all get along better."

http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=12714103

Rwanda denies any link to South Africa journalist murder

KIGALI (AFP) – The Rwanda government on Saturday denied any involvement in the murder of a journalist who accused the regime of attempting to assassinate a dissident general in Johannesburg.

Jean-Leonard Rugambage was gunned down in Kigali on Thursday.

His assassination raised concerns from media watchdogs that the press was increasingly operating in a climate of fear ahead of August 9 presidential elections, while Rugambage's publication blamed the government.

"Of course, this is not true, it's baseless," Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told AFP. "We are not a government that assassinates journalists, we are a responsible government.

"There have been all kinds of activities over the past few days which have been orchestrated in order to instill a climate of fear in the run-up to the elections but also in an attempt to smear the government," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100626/wl_africa_afp/rwandamediavoterightscrime

G20: Battles within and outside

As world leaders gather in Canada for the G8 and G20 meetings, they are divided on what is to be done about the global economy, with debates over banking reform and stimulus spending taking centre stage.

On stimulus spending, initially everyone wanted to borrow to make sure the great recession did not become another great depression.

Today, Europe wants to cut, while America and China want to spend.

Jan Randolph, head of Sovereign Risk Country Intelligence at Global Insight, said the US worries that leading economies will "collectively withdraw these supports too soon there could be an economic relapse, just like what happened in the 1930s that extended the great depression."

When to spend and how much? These are not new debates.

Politicians in the great depression of the 1930s and the stag-flation period in the 1970s fought elections on these very questions.

Academics and economists have been arguing about this stuff, without pause, since the depression.

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/06/201062571713780493.html

World's largest gold coin weighing 220 pounds sold for $4 million at Austrian auction

VIENNA - The world's largest gold coin has been sold at auction in Austria for €3.27 million ($4 million).

The coin — a 2007 maple leaf coin with a face value of 1 million Canadian dollars ($960,000) that weighs 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and has a diameter of 21 inches (53 centimetres) — went under the hammer Friday at Austria's prestigious Dorotheum auction house.

It was pocketed by Spanish precious metal trading company Oro Direct.

The Dorotheum said on its website that the impressive sum the coin fetched was largely influenced by the high price of gold.
http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/world/article/563579--world-s-largest-gold-coin-weighing-220-pounds-sold-for-4-million-at-austrian-auction

Tropical Storm Alex.

000
WTNT31 KNHC 261147
TCPAT1
BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM ALEX INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 3A
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL012010
700 AM CDT SAT JUN 26 2010

...ALEX HEADING TOWARD BELIZE AND THE YUCATAN PENINSULA...


SUMMARY OF 700 AM CDT...1200 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...17.0N 85.3W
ABOUT 200 MI...320 KM E OF BELIZE CITY
ABOUT 225 MI...360 KM ESE OF CHETUMAL MEXICO
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...40 MPH...65 KM/HR
PRESENT MOVEMENT...WNW OR 285 DEGREES AT 8 MPH...13 KM/HR
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1004 MB...29.65 INCHES


WATCHES AND WARNINGS
--------------------
CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY...

NONE.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* THE COAST OF BELIZE AND THE EAST COAST OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA OF
MEXICO FROM CHETUMAL TO CANCUN
* THE ISLANDS OF ROATAN...GUANAJA...AND UTILA IN HONDURAS

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* THE COAST OF HONDURAS FROM LIMON WESTWARD TO THE BORDER OF
HONDURAS AND GUATEMALA

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 36 HOURS.

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 48 HOURS.

ADDITIONAL WATCHES AND WARNINGS MAY BE REQUIRED FOR PORTIONS OF THE
YUCATAN PENINSULA LATER TODAY.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.


DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 700 AM CDT...1200 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM ALEX WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 17.0 NORTH...LONGITUDE 85.3 WEST. ALEX IS
MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 8 MPH...13 KM/HR. A GRADUAL
TURN TOWARD THE NORTHWEST WITH AN INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS
EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE
CENTER OF ALEX WILL APPROACH THE COAST OF BELIZE AND THE YUCATAN
PENINSULA TONIGHT OR SUNDAY MORNING. SOME ERRATIC MOTION IS
POSSIBLE TODAY AS THE CIRCULATION OF ALEX CONSOLIDATES.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 40 MPH...65 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS EXPECTED BEFORE THE CENTER OF
ALEX REACHES THE COAST OF BELIZE OR THE YUCATAN PENINSULA.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES...165 KM
TO THE EAST OF THE CENTER.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1004 MB...29.65 INCHES.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1PrmpEXeTc&feature=player_embedded

HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
----------------------
RAINFALL...ALEX IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF
4 TO 8 INCHES OVER THE YUCATAN PENINSULA...EASTERN GUATEMALA...MUCH
OF HONDURAS AND BELIZE THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING. ISOLATED MAXIMUM
AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER MOUNTAINOUS AREAS. THESE
RAINS COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES.

WIND...TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH THE BAY
ISLANDS OF HONDURAS BY THIS AFTERNOON...AND REACH THE COAST OF
BELIZE AND THE YUCATAN PENINSULA WITHIN THE WARNING AREA BY
TONIGHT.


NEXT ADVISORY
-------------
NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY...1000 AM CDT.

Monsanto tricks

http://www.wvago.gov/pdf/monsanto_mcgrawletter.pdf

India makes fast move on Afghan resources

Afghanistan is looking for Indian and Chinese investors to help develop giant mineral deposits in the country, officials said.

U.S. defense officials estimated earlier this month that there could be as much as $1 trillion worth of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni.

Subsequently, Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani met with his Indian counterpart B.K. Handique to discuss exploiting the mineral reserves, Indian newspaper The Hindu reports.

http://www.chinamining.org/News/2010-06-25/1277449898d37295.html

Not The BBC

Test.