| WASHINGTON - The timetable of President Hosni Mubarak's departure lies with the Egyptian people but his early departure could raise electoral complications, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday. Under pressure from mass protests, Mubarak has pledged to step down after
September polls but many protesters demand his immediate departure and US news reports [...] 
| BAGHDAD - Hundreds of Iraqis took part in scattered demonstrations on Sunday, calling for an improvement in basic services and the resignation of local government officials as unrest sweeps much of the Arab world. In Baghdad, around 250 people gathered in the impoverished district of Bab al-Sham to protest against a lack of services. "It [...] |
| TEHRAN - The delayed trial of three Americans detained in Iran on spying charges held its first session on Sunday, more than 18 months after their arrest on the unmarked border with Iraq during a hiking trip. The prosecution of Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal began at a time when anti-American rhetoric is [...] |
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| WASHINGTON - Two men were arrested and charged with murder after they allegedly fired into a university fraternity party in Ohio, killing one student and wounding 11 others, police said. The men had been thrown out of the early morning party near the campus of Youngstown State University after a fight, but returned a short [...] |
| CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak came under fresh pressure on Monday to step down as opponents said concessions made in landmark talks were not enough to halt a revolt against his 30-year rule. Thousands of demonstrators spent Sunday night under blankets and tarpaulins in central Cairo's Tahrir Square, or Liberation Square, which over two [...] |
| WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama called Sunday for a "representative government" in Egypt and said that regardless of when President Hosni Mubarak steps down the country had changed forever. "The Egyptian people want freedom, free and fair elections, they want a representative government, they want a responsive government. We've said, you have to start [...] |
| WASHINGTON - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg sharply criticized the White House on Sunday for what he described as its unwillingness to clamp down on illegal gun sales on the US-Mexican border. The Obama administration recently denied a request by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) for an emergency rule that [...] |
| Nine years ago today, the Bush administration decided that international law does not apply to prisoners of war. It was a watershed moment in US history, resulting in a policy of torture that pervaded and darkened the Bush years, and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. To mark that grim anniversary, two men who claim to have [...] |
| The online group of hacktivists known as "Anonymous" infiltrated the network and websites of an Internet security company after learning the company planned to sell information about the group to the FBI. The website of Washington DC-based HBGary Federal was hijacked Sunday along with the Twitter account of CEO Aaron Barr. The company's website was [...] |
| Concessions made by Egypt's vice president Sunday haven't been enough to clear Cairo's Tahrir Square of thousands of protesters. Vice President Omar Suleiman has promised to allow freedom of the press, to release detained protesters and eventually lift the country's emergency laws, but demonstrators have pledged not to leave until President Hosni Mubarak steps down. [...] |
| South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak called Monday for new strategies to help secure a stable supply of food amid growing concerns about a global food crisis. "The likelihood of a global food crisis is rising due to climate change. We need to set up national strategies and research to tackle the issue," Lee's spokesman quoted [...] |
| brindafella writes "Look out, Stonehenge, here come the Wurdi Youang rocks in the Australian state of Victoria. The semi-circle of stones has been examined by an astrophysicist from Australia's premier research group, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), who says this arrangement of rocks is a carefully aligned solar observatory that may be 10,000 years old. It would have been created by local Aborigines, the Wathaurong people, who have occupied the area for some 25,000 years."Read more of this story |
| 4phun found a wired story that talks about the military options when a dictatorship decides to cut off internet to its population. "The American military does have a second set of options, if it ever wants to force connectivity on a country against its ruler's wishes. There's just one wrinkle. 'It could be considered an act of war,'" Hopefully the same options will be available for us when our government gets around to implementing our own kill switch.Read more of this story |
| mvar writes "On Feb. 6th, NASA's twin STEREO probes moved into position on opposite sides of the sun, and they are now beaming back uninterrupted images of the entire star-front and back. "For the first time ever, we can watch solar activity in its full 3-dimensional glory," says Angelos Vourlidas, a member of the STEREO science team at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC. NASA released a 'first light' 3D movie on, naturally, Super Bowl Sunday."Read more of this story |
| A Google executive who has been missing in Egypt for over a week is to be released Momday, according to family members and friends who say they've been contacted by Egyptian authorities. In addition to being the top Google marketing executive in the Middle East, Wael Ghonim is also an internet activist who had been critical of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in the days leading up to the violence that has paralyzed Egypt. |
| The last three decades have seen a monumental decline in virtually every qualitative measurement in America. This can be directly linked to the conservative political paradigm that was ushered into dominance starting with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Stagnant wages, rising costs, decreasing benefits, ballooning national debt, and a loss of freedoms have been the keynote of the Reagan Era. |
| World prices of food are surging, and one major factor is the disruption caused by extreme weather. |
Anonymous takes out security firm intended to pursue Anonymous [link]
So let me get this right ... they KNOW defense contractors stole billions from us, still are, and we are NOT going to recoup these billions by seizing these company's assets, but instead are cutting taxpayer social programs? Seize the terrorist's assets or - IT IS TIME FOR REVOLT. [link]
I remember a Ronald Reagan who broke the Air Traffic Controllers Union, increased the Federal Budget Deficit by a staggering 3 trillion dollars, increased government s
pending, illegally sold arms to Iran and used the proceeds to fund death squads in Nicaragua [link]
| Attempts to return Egypt to normality after two weeks of anti-government protests have suffered a number of setbacks, with protesters on Tahrir Square forming a human chain around a key building. |
| A volcano in Russia has begun erupting, spurting ash up to four kilometres into the sky. |
| Online activist group Anonymous hacks an American security firm that claimed to know the identities of the group's leaders. |
| Customers of Nationwide have been unable to access the building society's website - the gateway to its online banking operation. |
| The Netherlands recalls its Tehran ambassador and formally protests over the "sudden burial" of executed Dutch-Iranian Sahra Bahrami. |
| Kuwait's interior minister steps down over torture allegations, amid rising political tensions that include calls for the first major Gulf street protests. |
| Chilean police end the occupation of a hotel by a group of indigenous Rapa Nui, who say the land on which it was built was stolen from their ancestors. |
| French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, facing calls to resign, admits she was wrong to fly on a Tunisian businessman's plane. |
| Bushfires raging on the outskirts of Perth in Western Australia destroy more than 60 homes, with the area declared a natural disaster zone. |
| Bus controllers were not told there had been explosions on three Tube trains before a fourth bomb went off, the inquest into the 7/7 attacks has heard. |
| Attempts to return Egypt to normality after two weeks of deadly anti-government protests suffer a number of setbacks as protesters stand firm. |
| There is a risk of "flagrant denial of justice" if Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is tried for rape in Sweden, his lawyer tells a UK extradition hearing. |
The latest release of US embassy cables from whistleblower website WikiLeaks shows that the US Department of State ordered its diplomats to actively report on the personal lives of British Foreign Office officials. On several instances, American diplomats in London appear to have reported on the personal life of Ivan Lewis, a Labour Party politician who served as Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs during the closing days of Gordon Brown's government. Continue reading → |
| The United States has a long history of practical compromises in the Middle East.read more |
| Bianca Jagger and Jemima Khan were among those who attended a court hearing for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, fighting extradition to Sweden over sex crime charges.read more |
| Stock market to reopen as sense of normalcy begins to return to Cairo.read more |
| Frank Wisner, a U.S. envoy sent to Cairo, draws questions over his employment by a law firm that has advised the Egyptian military. read more |
| Am heutigen Montag um 10 Uhr Ortszeit - also 11 Uhr deutscher Zeit - wird in Großbritannien die Auslieferungsverhandlung gegen WikiLeaks-Sprecher Julian Assange beginnen. Gegen Assange wird in Schweden aufgrund angeblicher Sexualverbrechen ermittelt. Momentan befindet er sich im Hausarrest in der Nähe von London. Riddle wird nicht beurteilen, ob die Vorwürfe der schwedischen Staatsanwaltschaft gegen Assange gerechtfertig werden.....in Frage kommen vor allem Formfehler oder humanitäre Gründe - gegen eine Auslieferung sprechen....... |
| "Out of Area" US-Eingreiftruppen und Expeditionsstreitkräfte an ägyptischer Küste stationiert - erweiterte US-Kriegsflotte wartet für unvorhergesehene Zwecke in Bereitschaft |
| Obwohl in den USA der Anbau genmanipulierter Zuckerrüben bereits Mitte 2010 verboten wurde, ist in Deutschland wieder ein Freisetzungsversuch beantragt worden. Anmelder ist die Monsanto Agrar Deutschland GmbH |
| Berlin wolle dabei "helfen", einen "geordneten Übergang" zu ermöglichen. Gemeint ist die westliche Kontrolle über den ägyptischen Verfassungsprozess, der auf den Kairoer Straßen von der Bevölkerung beansprucht wird. Die Ankündigungen in München und die Rolle Wisners lassen eines der größten Geheimdienstmanöver seit 1948 erwarten, um die westliche Kontrolle über Ägypten und die arabische Welt aufrecht zu erhalten |
| Zwei Nachrichten kamen heute über den Ticker, die nur auf den ersten Blick gar nichts miteinander zu tun haben. Was hat das Computervirus Stuxnet mit dem Ende des israelischen Baustopps im Westjordanland zu tun? |
| Islamophoben aller Länder, haltet die Schnauze und hört auf den Klang der Macht des Volkes. Eure künstliche Nahost-Dichotomie - entweder unsere Diktatoren oder Jihadismus - war niemals mehr als ein billiger Trick. Politische Unterdrückung, Massenarbeitslosigkeit und steigende Lebensmittelpreise sind tödlicher als eine Armee von Selbstmordbombern |
| Der Satellit, NROL-66, gehört wahrscheinlich zum Rapid Pathfinder Program und soll neue Technologien testen, die auf späteren Spionagesatelliten eingesetzt werden sollen. Weitere Infos sind aufgrund der militärischen Geheimhaltung nicht bekannt |
| Wenn sich Zocker mit einer Zockerbude verzocken: Die Deutsche Bank investiert vier Milliarden Dollar in ein Casino in Vegas, mietet sich "The Killers" - und hat nun ein Problem |
| Der US-Landwirtschaftsminister erlaubt manipulierte Zuckerrüben, trotz Verbots durch einen Richter. Für die US-Gentechnik-Lobby ist das der zweite Erfolg binnen einer Woche |
| Ein ägyptischer Lehrer, also einer mit einem ähnlichen Beruf wie ich, bekommt von der ägyptischen Schulbehörde den Gegenwert von 38 Euro im Monat, bei einem Preisniveau wie bei uns. Er versucht, sich und seine Familie mit Privatunterricht durchzubringen, mit Geschäftchen und Artistik. In der Schule schlafen Lehrer wie Schüler, wenn sie überhaupt hingehen. Kurz: Er und seine Familie kümmern vor sich hin |
| Im Streit um einen Tempel an der Grenze zwischen Thailand und Kambodscha haben sich Soldaten beider Länder am Montag erneut Gefechte geliefert. «Die Schüsse haben heute morgen zum vierten Mal begonnen», sagte der kambodschanische Ministerpräsident Hun Sen am Montag in Phnom Penh |
| Gestern wurde die israelische Journalistin Anat Kam wegen Spionage in einem Geheimprozess schuldig gesprochen. Die Journalistin hatte während ihrer Dienstzeit beim Militär in den von Israel besetzten Gebieten Palästinas Dokumente fotokopiert, aus denen hervorging, dass die israelische Armee, wie eine Todesschwadron, Palästinenser erschießt, die verdächtig sind, Terrorakte zu planen oder ausgeführt zu haben |
| In Ägypten haben sich am Sonntag erstmals Vertreter der Opposition mit Vizepräsident Omar Suleiman getroffen. Anders allerdings, als die meisten Agenturen gestern berichteten, ging es dabei nicht um Verhandlungen, sondern lediglich um ein Zusammentreffen, um Gesprächsbereitschaft zu signalisieren |
| Venezuela hält sich an die vom UN-Sicherheitsrat verhängten Sanktionen gegen Iran und liefert derzeit kein Benzin an den Bündnispartner in Vorderasien. Das erklärte der venezolanische Minister für Energie und Erdöl, Rafael Ramírez |
| Eine deutsche Zeitzeugin berichtet - Ich erinnere mich daran, wie ich vor dem Parlament stand und in letzter Minute hinter eine Säule sprang, als die Polizei mit Gummigeschossen auf die Demonstranten schoss. Ein junger Ägypter, er trug einen grauen Kapuzenpullover, griff meine Hand und zog mich hinter sich. Er stellte sich schützend vor mich "Ducke dich, ducke dich", rief er mir zu |
| Die IG-Metall-Spitze geht weiterhin mit administrativen Maßnahmen gegen linke Aktivisten vor. Nach dem Berliner Daimler-Werk sind auch Gewerkschafter am Kasseler Standort des Autobauers von Ausschlußverfahren betroffen, weil sie mit einer eigenen Liste zur letztjährigen Betriebsratswahl angetreten sind |
| Die Nato will zukünftig sogar den Bündnisfall im Falle einer "Cyber-Attacke" ausrufen. Sicherheitspolitiker aller Länder drehen langsam frei und entblöden sich nicht einmal, "Internet-Notausknöpfe" zu fordern. Die Aufregung ist groß, der Untergang des Abendlandes steht kurz bevor. Alle möglichen und unmöglichen Experten äußern sich gefühlt im Minutentakt zum Thema |
| An der Universität Bremen regt sich Protest gegen die zunehmende ökonomische Durchdringung von Wissenschaft und Lehre. Auf einer Pressekonferenz am 1. Februar warnten die Bremer Professoren Rudolph Bauer und Hans-Jörg Kreowski eindringlich vor einem Wissenschaftssponsoring durch Rüstungsschmieden |
| Irland, noch vor wenigen Jahren zu den reichsten Ländern der Erde zählend, ist pleite, und die Regierung wird am 25. Februar abgewählt. Das steht fest. Aber es könnte ein juristisches Nachspiel geben. Die Regierung hat sich offenbar des betrügerischen Bankrotts schuldig gemacht |
| Ein junger Mann erfährt durch eine Panne bei seinem Mobilfunkbetreiber, dass er von Verfassungsschutz und BKA abgehört wird. In einer Zeitung, der Polizisten die Abhörprotokolle verkauft haben, liest er ein Gespräch seiner Freundin im Wortlaut |
| Das Eidgenössische Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten hat den Anhang der Verordnung über Massnahmen gegen gewisse Personen aus Tunesien geändert |
| In Deutschland wird weiter über die richtige Position gegenüber Kairo gestritten. Der Grünen-Fraktionschef Jürgen Trittin warf Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel einen "unerträglichen Schlingerkurs" vor. "Man muss in dieser Umbruchsituation ganz klar Partei ergreifen für das ägyptische Volk", sagte er der "Hannoverschen Allgemeinen Zeitung". "Alles andere wird von den Machthabern als Ermunterung verstanden, sich davonzustehlen." |
| Montag, 7. Februar, Tag 14. In Kairo haben sich die Ägyter auf dem Tahrir Platz mittlerweile häuslich eingerichtet. Eine Zeltstadt ist entstanden, um es im sich im Machtkampf mit dem Diktator wenigsten den Umständen entsprechend bequem zu machen. Gestern war der Tag des dritten offensive Versuchs von Omar Suleiman, dem faktischen Machthaber in Ägypten, die Demokratiebewegung in den Griff zu bekommen und den Status Quo der Machtarchitektur zu retten. |
| US President Barack Obama says he believes there was progress in Egypt, one day after Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with oppositions groups in the country. |
| Inspired, no doubt, by protests across the Middle East and North Africa, more than 100 students reportedly "mutinied" over baggage fees onboard a Ryanair flight from the Canary Islands. Alas, their revolution was quashed, and the students were removed. |
| Almost anyone in the United States, and especially soldiers or the families of US Air Force members, could be under the threat of prosecution by the military, according to a recent "guidance" document issued by the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) public affairs office. The advisory took on new significance Monday as Julian Assange, founder [...] |
| pbahra writes "French mobile telephone infrastructure manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent today unveiled technology that shrinks a mobile cell tower to a box the size of a Rubik's cube, potentially changing the structure of the cellular network, reducing greenhouse emissions and bringing mobile broadband into new areas. According to Wim Sweldens, president of wireless activities for Alcatel-Lucent, by reducing the technology from something the size of a filing cabinet, networks would reduce the total cost of ownership by half, as well as halving the global CO2 emissions from the mobile industry - currently equivalent of 15 million cars a year."Read more of this story |
| NEW YORK - The United States risks making an Afghan peace settlement ever harder by wrongly lumping together the Taliban and Al-Qaeda as a single force, US academics said in a study published Monday. The study, by two scholars from New York University's Center on International Cooperation, challenges US policy that treats the Taliban guerrilla [...] |
| In October 2001, Habib was seized from a bus by Pakistani security forces. While detained in Pakistan, at the behest of American agents, he was suspended from a hook and electrocuted repeatedly. He was then turned over to the CIA, and in the process of transporting him to Egypt he endured the usual treatment: his clothes were cut off, a suppository was stuffed in his anus, he was put into a diaper - and 'wrapped up like a spring roll'. In Egypt, as Habib recounts in his memoir, My Story: The Tale of a Terrorist Who Wasn't, he was repeatedly subjected to electric shocks, immersed in water up to his nostrils and beaten. His fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks. At one point, his interrogator slapped him so hard that his blindfold was dislodged, revealing the identity of his tormentor: Suleiman. |
| Egypt increases public-sector pay and pensions by 15% as protesters defy attempts to return the country to normality. |
| The government has announced plans to tackle anti-social behaviour, including the creation of new behaviour orders. |
| Wael Ghonim, a Google executive and anti-Mubarak activist who has been missing for 10 days, has been released and is on his way home, according to a tweet from him. read more |
| What makes Google searches any different from websites dedicated to searching out and linking to copyrighted content on other servers? That's a question Homeland Security Investigation Special Agent James Hayes had a hard time explaining during a recent phone interview with John Moe of American Public Media. Last week, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's [...] |
| What a difference a revolution can make. Members of the Obama administration are flocking to appear on Al Jazeera, one of the most influential media sources in the Arab world. US officials are desperate to have their spin of events in the Middle East included as millions tune in to the network's coverage of the [...] |
Hillary Clinton: We Can't Legalize Drugs Because 'There Is Just Too Much Money in It' [link]
| LONDON - A British journalist from the Guardian newspaper has been expelled from Russia after reporting claims in US diplomatic cables that the country had become a "mafia state", the paper said Monday. Luke Harding, the daily's Moscow correspondent, flew back to the Russian capital at the weekend after two months in London reporting on [...] |
| Other developments Monday saw Google exec and pro-reform advocate freed.read more |
| The FBI is investigating the Church of Scientology over allegations its practices may have violated human trafficking laws, a news report states. According to a profile of filmmaker and former Scientologist Paul Haggis in the New Yorker, the FBI is running an ongoing investigation into claims the church pays some of its workers as little [...] |
| One of Russia's most wanted men, Chechen warlord Doku Umarov, says he ordered the deadly bomb attack on a Moscow airport. |
It's time for manufacturers to take note: consumers do not want bloatware. It's a royal pain from top to bottom, and moreover, it ruins your brand. When people think of HP and Dell, they immediately think of just how infuriating it is that their last 'new' PC took over one minute to boot up and become usable. To these companies: why are you saddling your machines with software that makes it less enjoyable to use? The solution seems pretty simple. If you still wish to include loads upon loads of third-party software, stick it all on a thumb drive and include it with every new machine. Problem solved."Read more of this story
| Clarence Thomas verschwieg über eine halbe Million an Einkommen, die seine Frau von einem konservativen Think Tank erhielt Clarence Thomas ist der umstrittenste Richter am obersten Gerichtshof der USA. Die fachliche Qualifikation des ehemalige Firmenanwalts des Monsanto-Konzerns, der zum Zeitpunkt seiner Nominierung durch George Bush senior weder ein rechtswissenschaftliches Buch noch einen Fachaufsatz verfasst hatte,... |
| Analysis: Banned group is central to protests, and may be integral to Egypt's future. read more |
| Hungary agrees to make its controversial media law "more precise", after talks with European Union experts. |
