Signs of the Times2008-12-02T08:14:59ZSigns of the Timestag:sott.net,2008-12-02:/:signsofthetimesPress and "Psy Ops" to merge at NATO Afghan HQ: sourcestag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700122008-12-02T12:29:17ZThe U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with "Psy Ops," which deals with propaganda, a move that goes against the alliance's policy, three officials said.SOTT FOCUS: Connecting the Dots: The War of Terror and Zionism take the Leadtag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699962008-12-02T11:47:06Z
As the world falls asleep under the spell of Obama's supposed change, the Zionists sneak onto his staff roster and take the opportunity to siege Gaza. With astoundingly accurate timing, India gets its own shocking 9/11 and the fingers are pointed at Pakistan.
More blood is expected to run, as we keep seeing signs of war and hearing predictions of catastrophic terrorism.
As this happens, Mother Nature takes notice of the human madness and gives the world a very cold shoulder. As above, so below: the cosmic weather responds with fireballs and other mysteries.SOTT FOCUS: State Sanctioned Theft - When Immorality is Law and Resistance is Crimetag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700112008-12-02T11:27:22ZWorld stock indexes rebounded strongly last week. The Dow and the Hang Seng were up nearly 10%, the FTSE and DAX were up 13% and the Brazilian Bovespa was up a whopping 17%. Gold pushed passed $800.
In the U.S. retailers reported a better than feared "Black Friday," with sales rising 3% compared to the previous year, although discounts were deep and profit margins low. Black Friday refers to the Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday. It is both the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season and the day that retailers start to make their profits for the year. In recent years it has become a bigger and bigger thing, with families waiting in line outside big box stores and malls the night before waiting to get let in at five in the morning, lured by steep discounts on a few big ticket items. This year with the bad economy it got completely out of hand as a Walmart employee was trampled to death in Long Island when the crowds were let in.
New York City: Passenger kills bus driver in fare disputetag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700102008-12-02T10:36:06ZA man stabbed a city bus driver to death over being denied a free ride, then escaped on foot Monday in the first killing of an on-duty New York City bus driver in more than a quarter-century, authorities said.
The man got on the bus in Brooklyn shortly after noon, swiped an invalid fare card, sat down and asked for a free card to change routes.Ocean currents can power the world, say scientiststag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700092008-12-02T10:32:41ZA revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim.
The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.
Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots.Court ruling brings down Thai governmenttag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700082008-12-02T10:26:40ZBangkok, Thailand - A court dissolved Thailand's top three ruling parties for electoral fraud Tuesday and temporarily banned the prime minister from politics, bringing down a government that has faced months of strident protests seeking its ouster.
The Constitutional Court ruling set the stage for thousands of protesters to end their weeklong siege of the country's two main airports, but also raised fears of retaliatory violence by a pro-government group that could sink the country deeper into crisis and cripple its economy.Acorns Gone; Nature Does What GOP Fails to Dotag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700072008-12-02T10:06:49ZAn article in today's Washington Post, Acorn Watchers Wonder What Happened to Crop reports that in many parts of America, the acorns are gone and squirrells are acting as though they are starving. The article starts,
The idea seemed too crazy to Rod Simmons, a measured, careful field botanist. Naturalists in Arlington County couldn't find any acorns. None. No hickory nuts, either. Then he went out to look for himself. He came up with nothing. Nothing crunched underfoot. Nothing hit him on the head.
Then calls started coming in about crazy squirrels. Starving, skinny squirrels eating garbage, inhaling bird feed, greedily demolishing pumpkins. Squirrels boldly scampering into the road. And a lot more calls about squirrel roadkill.
Swiss approve prescription herointag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700062008-12-02T09:59:52ZSwiss voters have approved a radical health policy that offers prescription heroin to addicts on a permanent basis.
Final results from the national referendum showed 68% of voters supported the plan.
The scheme, allowing addicts to inject the drug under medical supervision at a clinic, began in Zurich 14 years ago before spreading across the country.
But in another referendum vote, 63% of voters rejected the decriminalisation of cannabis.
The heroin vote was one of a series of referendums held to decide policy on illegal drugs.'Coalition of the willing' leaving Iraqtag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700052008-12-02T09:55:39ZThirteen countries with troops currently stationed in Iraq will remove their soldiers by the end of the year from the war-torn country.
President Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair had scrambled the 'coalition of the willing' together in the build-up of the 2003 Iraqi invasion, in a bid to legitimize what was always an unpopular war in world public opinion.
Afghan president wishes he could down U.S. planestag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700042008-12-02T09:51:58ZKabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he would bring down U.S. planes bombing villages if he could, in a sign of growing tension between Afghanistan and its Western backers as the Taliban insurgency grows in strength.
As Western dissatisfaction with Karzai has grown over his failure to crack down on corruption and govern effectively, the Afghan president, facing elections next year, has hit back over the killing of dozens of civilians in foreign air strikes.
In recent weeks, Karzai has repeatedly blamed the West for the worsening security in Afghanistan, saying NATO failed to target Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan and calling for the war to be taken out of Afghan villages.Sex invariably spells trouble, says Dalai Lamatag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700032008-12-02T09:39:09ZThe Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader, on Friday said sex spelt fleeting satisfaction and trouble later, while chastity offered a better life and "more freedom."
"Sexual pressure, sexual desire, actually I think is short period satisfaction and often, that leads to more complication," the Dalai Lama told reporters in a Lagos hotel, speaking in English without a translator.
He said conjugal life caused "too much ups and downs. Scans Show Sound-Processing Deficits in Autistic Kidstag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700022008-12-02T06:29:28ZChildren with autism spectrum disorder process sounds a fraction of a second slower than other children, an abnormality that offers insight into listening and language issues linked to the condition, a new study says. Media and Retailers Both Built Black Fridaytag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700012008-12-02T06:25:59ZThis weekend, news reports were full of finger-wagging over the death by trampling of a temporary worker, Jdimytai Damour, at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island on Friday. His death, the coverage suggested, was a symbol of a broken culture of consumerism in which people would do anything for a bargain.Top Thai court bans ruling partytag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1700002008-12-02T06:20:05ZThailand's constitutional court has dissolved the governing People Power Party (PPP) saying there had been vote fraud during the last election.Blast kills protester as Thai court verdict loomstag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699992008-12-02T06:17:31ZA grenade attack killed an anti-government protester at a besieged Bangkok airport Tuesday, as further unrest forced a key hearing on the possible dissolution of the ruling party to move.Official: India received intel on Mumbai attackstag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699982008-12-02T06:14:14ZIndia picked up intelligence in recent months that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, an official said Tuesday, as the government demanded that Pakistan take "strong action" against those behind the deadly rampage.US: 1 in 5 young adults has personality disordertag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699972008-12-02T06:08:27ZAlmost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind.'Cancer village,' the dark side of Vietnam's industrial boomtag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699952008-12-02T06:03:22ZGazing at the Soviet-era factory that looms over his northern Vietnamese commune, Quang Van Vinh remembers what the farmland here looked like before it became known as a "cancer village."
"This used to be a vast garden of bamboo, banana, jackfruit and longan trees," says the 62-year-old, visiting his long-abandoned childhood home, now a muddy wasteland of brick kilns. "It's sad that there's almost no sign of life anymore."
Vinh says things changed quickly in the Red River village in 1962 after the Lam Thao fertiliser plant was built and started pumping wastewater into streams and rice fields, and black smoke into the sky.ENVIRONMENT-US: Bush Quietly Passes Dozens of New Rulestag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699942008-12-02T02:25:22ZAs the world community meets in Poland this week to find solutions to the climate crisis, the George W. Bush White House is chaining the United States' tiller to prevent a change of course by President-elect Barack Obama by passing new anti-environmental rules and regulations at a furious pace.Curaçao's crude legacytag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699932008-12-02T02:01:35Z
A lake of asphalt and toxic fumes bedevil Curaçao. But who will pay to clean it up?Financial crisis may worsen food crunch it eclipsedtag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699922008-12-02T01:37:50Z
Financial crisis may worsen food crunch it eclipsedDig unearths Stone Age sculpturestag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699912008-12-02T01:11:27Z
Rare artefacts from the late Stone Age have been uncovered in Russia.
Somalians face famine on massive scale: Red Crosstag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699902008-12-02T01:01:23ZHundreds of thousands of Somalians face a major famine because of violence and a drought that is ravaging the centre and south of the country, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday.
"We are seeing a major deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Somalia," said Pascal Mauchle, head of the organisation's delegation for the country.
"Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the fighting and drought. External factors, such as the global food crisis and the skyrocketing prices resulting from it, have made the economic situation even worse. The chronic nature of the crisis has completely exhausted people's coping abilities."Iceland protest ends in clashestag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699892008-12-02T00:53:38ZProtesters in Iceland's capital Reykjavik have clashed with police during a demonstration over the handling of the financial crisis.
Several hundred protesters gathered outside the city's main police station to demand the release of a man jailed in a previous demonstration. Five people were injured when police used pepper spray to disperse the group after some tried to storm the building.
Iceland faces a sharply contracting economy over the financial collapse.
The group outside the police station broke away from a much larger group of several thousand people who had gathered outside parliament to demand the government's resignation. Some in the group tried to storm the police building.Gazans build mud stoves using tunnels' sand; no fuel expected in coming daystag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699882008-12-02T00:38:09ZPiles of sand and mud began popping up in front of houses in Rafah last week. The traditional signs of home renovations or construction, the neighborhood wondered about the reasons behind these piles, since no construction materials have come into Gaza for months.
On closer inspection it becomes obvious that the piles cannot be construction materials, since the sand is not the same color of the sand from Gaza's abandoned settlements, from where most material has been salvaged.
The sand, in fact, is the same color as the sand beneath the homes of the southern area of the Gaza Strip.
The sand excavated from the hundreds of tunnels snaking beneath the Gaza-Egypt border is being given a second life. The latest construction projects in Gaza are mud and sand stoves powered by firewood.Choking Gaza to death: Lloyds TSB mysteriously halted transactions involving Palestinian charity Interpaltag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699872008-12-02T00:28:13ZWith an injection of up to £5.5bn of taxpayer funds you'd think Lloyds TSB would be far more transparent and accountable, but that's not the case.
The bank's increasingly anti-democratic activities took an alarming turn last week when, without warning or prior consultation, it delivered an abrupt notification to the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) to cease all dealings with British charity Interpal by December 8 2008 (the date was subsequently revised to 30 January 2009) or "all transactions into or out of Interpal accounts will be blocked and IBB will be at further risk of all its customer payments being suspended". Interpal is one of the few remaining sources of humanitarian assistance in an increasingly beleaguered occupied Gaza.Systematic torture of Palestinians documented in 80 page reporttag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699862008-12-02T00:19:33ZThe use of torture and ill-treatment by the Israeli authorities against Palestinians is nothing but a systematic and comprehensive process, states a human rights report issued today.
The Coalition against Torture says that Israel is either unwilling or unable to fulfill its obligations under the Convention against Torture.
The group of 14 Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations writes in its annual report for 2008 that it has recorded evidence of an act, complicity or omission of fact or duty on the part of state officials at all levels. The guilty parties include members of the army, intelligence, police, judiciary and other government branches. The coalition said that the situation is unlikely to improve in the cultural of impunity and immunity that prevails in Israel.Two Bombings Kill at Least 30 Iraqistag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699852008-12-02T00:13:57ZSuicide bombings in Baghdad and Mosul took the lives of at least 32 Iraqis on Monday in carnage that recalled the levels of violence before the American troop buildup last year.
The Baghdad bombing occurred at a police training academy on the eastern side of the Tigris just as students were leaving their lectures for lunch. As they streamed out the gate, a car dropped off a young man - most witnesses say he looked to be 16 or 17 - who walked into the crowd and detonated his suicide vest, according to witnesses.
Moments later the car he had arrived in, which had been parked down the road, exploded. At least 15 people were killed in the explosions, the Iraqi Interior Ministry reported.Criminal Injustice by US Government Against the Holy Land Foundation Charitytag:www.sott.net,2008-12-02:/articles/show/1699842008-12-02T00:06:36ZThe Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) was the largest American Muslim charity until the Bush administration falsely declared it an enemy of the state and shut it down.
On December 4, 2001, the Treasury Department declared HLF a terrorist group, froze its assets, and falsely claimed they were being used to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas. HLF appealed at the time but in court was denied.
On January 25, 1995, Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12947 - Prohibiting Transactions With Terrorists Who Threaten To Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process. The same year Hamas was declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). It's still one today, so any individual or group charged with providing it material support (true or false) becomes a convenient target for prosecution.
Post-9/11, many have been, and HLF is one. For the Department of Justice (DOJ), a big one because of their prominent charitable activities. Shut it down and chill out all others while at the same time providing open-ended billions for Israeli state terrorism as a partner in its commission.From my cell I scent the reeking soul of US justicetag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699832008-12-01T22:50:37ZI write to you from a US federal prison. It is far from a country club or even a regimental health spa. I work quite hard but fulfillingly, teaching English and the history of the United States to some of my co-residents. There is practically unlimited access to e-mails and the media and plenty of time for visitors. SOTT FOCUS: Book Review: The High Strangeness of Dimensions, Densities, and the Process of Alien Abductiontag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1654682008-12-01T21:54:05Z Editor's note: This review is of the revised second edition of Laura Knight-Jadczyk's High Strangeness. It includes new material, a new foreword, and is now available from QFGPublishing.com, RedPillPress.com, and RedPillPress.co.uk!
It's sad but true that most people don't like inconvenient realities to upset their pleasant illusions and prejudices. I see this all the time in my own daily interactions with people. Once someone reaches a point in his or her life when they feel they "understand" the world well enough - often around the age of thirty - they spend the rest of their life filling in the blanks of what they think they already know. It's a tendency that usually becomes more extreme over time. Ideas and worldviews seem to harden in tandem with the arteries.
The friends people make, television shows they watch, the internet sites they visit - the very world they create for themselves - all of these usually support the circumscribed worldview they themselves have adopted.
Obviously, it's the same with books. It's a rare book that has the ability to truly change one's mind about the world. Rarest of all are those gems with the ability to change one's life.
Laura Knight-Jadczyk's The High Strangeness of Dimensions, Densities, and the Process of Alien Abduction is such a book. Credit-card industry may cut $2 trillion lines: analysttag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699822008-12-01T19:08:44ZThe U.S. credit-card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.
The credit card is the second key source of consumer liquidity, the first being jobs, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst noted.
"In other words, we expect available consumer liquidity in the form of credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent."BEST OF WEB: Double Cover [3]: What Is A False Flag Attack?tag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699812008-12-01T18:55:39ZWe continue our look at mainstream coverage of the Mumbai attacks:
Michael Evans of the Times:
The group that claimed to be behind last night's attacks on Bombay -- the Deccan Mujahideen - has not hitherto been heard of in India, let alone in the outside world.
Boston Globe:
An e-mail message to Indian media outlets taking responsibility for the attacks said the militants were from a group called Deccan Mujahedeen. The word "Deccan" refers to a plateau in southern India, and "Mujahedeen" refers to holy warriors. Almost universally, analysts and intelligence officials said that name was unknown.
Deccan is a neighborhood of the Indian city of Hyderabad. The word also describes the middle and south of India, which is dominated by the Deccan Plateau. But the combination of the two words, said Gohel, is a "front name. This group is nonexistent."
"It's even unclear whether it's a real group or not," said Bruce Hoffman, a professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the author of the book "Inside Terrorism."
BEST OF WEB: Double Cover [2]: What Is A Commando Raid?tag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699802008-12-01T18:55:02ZCoordinated Terror Attacks
Here are some brief snippets from more-or-less randomly selected mainstream news reports pertaining to the Mumbai attacks. I have added the emphasis.
New York Times:
Coordinated terrorist attacks struck the heart of Mumbai, India's commercial capital, on Wednesday night, killing dozens in machine-gun and grenade assaults on at least two five-star hotels, the city's largest train station, a Jewish center, a movie theater and a hospital.
The NYT has a map showing where the attacks took place -- 13 locations in all.
Who Was Caught By Surprise?
Michael Evans of the [UK] Times:
British security and intelligence sources said there had been increasing concern, particularly in the United States, that a "terrorist spectacular" was on the cards. [...] The Americans have been expecting an atrocity partly because of the recent CIA success in eliminating figures in al-Qaeda, using Predator unmanned drones, firing Hellfire missiles at hideouts in the tribal regions of Pakistan. About a dozen al-Qaeda figures have been killed this year.
German Carmakers: Production Haltstag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699792008-12-01T18:40:58Z * Porsche schedules 8 days of production stops at main plant
* Volkswagen may stop production in Wolfsburg for 3 weeks
* Audi says production halts are a precaution
* BMW says will cut further 400 temporary jobs in Leipzig
* Porsche shares down 8.8 pct, VW down 17.7 pct
(Adds Audi production stops, BMW temporary job cuts)
Frankfurt - German carmakers made another move to cut output levels towards the end of the year to offset slumping demand as the global economic crisis prompts consumers and companies to closely monitor their finances.
Sports car maker Porsche halted production at its headquarters in the southern German town of Zuffenhausen, for one day on Nov. 21, and planned to stop assembly for another seven days until end-January.Evidence suggests CIA funded experiments at state hospitaltag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699782008-12-01T18:27:57ZFew people in Vermont remember Dr. Robert W. Hyde, but one of his former patients can't forget him. The doctor was involved in one of the nation's darkest chapters in medical science: In the 1950s, Hyde conducted drug and psychological experiments at a Boston hospital through funding that apparently originated with the CIA. Later, he became director of research at the Vermont State Hospital.
The patient, Karen Wetmore, is convinced that Hyde and other researchers subjected her and possibly other patients to experiments paid for by the CIA at the Waterbury facility.
In addition to her claim, new evidence, though incomplete, suggests that such tests might have been conducted at the Vermont State Hospital.BEST OF WEB: Double Cover [1]: Nothing Can Ever Be The Sametag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699772008-12-01T18:13:46ZThe Mumbai terrorist attacks began Wednesday evening and I've been reading about the situation -- and thinking hard -- ever since. The most noteworthy feature so far is the prevalence of unsubstantiated assertions that make no sense at all. I haven't been doing a systematic survey of the world's media -- just grabbing stories from wherever they pop up -- and every item I've stumbled across has been contaminated with spin. Or at least that's the way it strikes me.
Then again, maybe it's become impossible for terrorism -- and news of terrorism -- to strike me any other way. I've seen too much, I've been lied to too many times, to ever take anything at face value -- except the occasional (accidental?) admission of horrors committed by unrepentant (audacious!) perpetrators.
Now that we know the geniuses at the Pentagon have conceived and implemented a worldwide program of fomenting terrorism, nothing can ever be the same.
According to the Department of Defense, it is fighting a war on terror which requires, or allows, it to perpetrate (or con others into perpetrating) acts of "terrorism" which can then be used as pretexts for war against the "terrorist groups" thus "exposed".Arrest... or assault? Judge's disgust after soldier is held down and hit EIGHT timestag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699762008-12-01T18:11:12ZA judge has condemned an apparent police assault on a soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Mark Aspinall, 24, was thrown to the ground by three uniformed officers after a night out with friends and punched eight times. The violent arrest - caught on CCTV - shocked a crown court judge, who called it appalling.
How to sell science to the Big Brother generationtag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699752008-12-01T17:37:07ZHe plays the trumpet, loves football and has a well-known fondness for pink hoodies. Next week, University of Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy takes over from Richard Dawkins as Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. Is he bothered by comparisons with his fearsome predecessor? And what will his message be? Paul Parsons went to find out.
What made you apply for the Simonyi chair?
It encapsulates the two things I'm passionate about: discovering new scientific results and communicating them to other people. If you don't communicate your ideas to other people, the ideas don't come alive.HSBC confirms 500 UK jobs to gotag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699742008-12-01T17:34:28ZBanking group HSBC has confirmed it is cutting 500 jobs across the UK. HSBC said the move followed "a review of the business and current economic conditions". None of the affected positions are customer facing. The announcement comes after HSBC said in September that it was cutting 1,100 jobs worldwide because of the continuing global financial turmoil.
Trade union Unite accused HSBC of "using the economic downturn as an excuse to make job losses". HSBC said the latest job cuts represented less than 1% of its 58,000 UK workforce. UK: Three lose jobs over Baby P casetag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699732008-12-01T17:31:18Z
Three people have lost their jobs after a "damning and devastating" inspectors' report into the Baby P case, Children's Secretary Ed Balls has said.
Sharon Shoesmith, the head of children's services at Haringey Council, in London, has been sacked. The council's leader George Meehan and the cabinet member for children and young people, Liz Santry have resigned.
The 17-month-old died despite being on the child protection register. He had been visited by professionals 60 times. The boy's mother has pleaded guilty and her boyfriend and a lodger have been convicted of charges relating to his death. Antarctic islands surpass Galapagos for biodiversitytag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699722008-12-01T17:26:04ZA group of isolated Antarctic islands have proved to be unexpectedly rich in life. The first comprehensive biodiversity survey of the South Orkney Islands, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, has revealed that they are home to more species of sea and land animals than the Galapagos.
The findings raise the issue of what sort of impact climate change - already hitting the Antarctic hard - will have on this rich biodiversity.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Hamburg, Germany, carried out the survey using a combination of trawl nets, sampling as deep as 1500m, and scuba divers. The team found over 1200 species, a third of which were not thought to live in the region. They also identified five new species. The majority of animals were found in the sea, with most living on the seabed.Common Cold Virus Came From Birds About 200 Years Ago, Study Suggeststag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699712008-12-01T17:18:46ZA virus that causes cold-like symptoms in humans originated in birds and may have crossed the species barrier around 200 years ago, according to a new article published in the Journal of General Virology. Scientists hope their findings will help us understand how potentially deadly viruses emerge in humans.
"Human metapneumovirus may be the second most common cause of lower respiratory infection in young children. Studies have shown that by the age of five, virtually all children have been exposed to the virus and re-infections appear to be common," said Professor Dr Fouchier. "We have identified sites on some virus proteins that we can monitor to help identify future dominant strains of the virus."How landslides can be the key to ignition of wildfirestag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699702008-12-01T17:14:56ZCan a landslide spontaneously combust? It can, if it contains the right kind of rock.
In August 2004, fire crews attending a wildfire near Santa Barbara, California, traced the source of the blaze to a recent landslide, but they had no idea how the fire got started.
A few weeks later, Robert Mariner of the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, and his colleagues visited the site. They found that the temperature of the rocks in the landslide must have reached just over 300 °C - hot enough to start a fire.Are skills the new money?tag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699692008-12-01T17:14:38ZIt's a new way of doing business. Instead of paying somebody to do a job, you offer your skills in return. The idea has caught on in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, where locals have adopted a 'time banking' scheme, enabling them to preserve money.
In 'time banking' people trade skills for the services they require. It works by people doing jobs for other members of the scheme, and receiving services in return.
Time banking started in the U.S in the early 1980's and then spread all over the world. The unit of currency here is valued at an hour's worth of any person's labor and can be called different names - Time Dollar in the US and Time credit in the UK.
In Nizhny Novgorod the scheme has been successfully running for a couple of years.
PR manager of Time Bank in Nizhny Novgorod, Natalia Kim says the advantage of the scheme is that "You can offer services to other people, wait for something they can do. And you can get the services back without paying money."Olmert wins US backing for Iran wartag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699682008-12-01T17:07:29ZIsrael's prime minister says Washington has not rejected a request by Tel Aviv to take any action it deems "necessary" against Iran.
Ehud Olmert, the outgoing premier, said Tuesday that he had extensively discussed Iran and its nuclear program with "Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the (US) president".
"There is a basic, deep understanding about the Iranian threat and the need to act in order to remove the threat," Olmert told reporters.
Israel insists that a nuclear Iran would pose an existential threat to Tel Aviv, claiming that Tehran has "plans to build a nuclear weapon."
Under the allegation, Israeli echelons and army brass have long argued that militarily taking out Iran's nuclear infrastructure is a legitimate option.
An earlier report by Time suggested that Washington had expressed its opposition to an Israeli military strike on Iran before President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.New HIV Cases Could Be Reduced By 95% With Universal Voluntary Testing And Immediate Treatmenttag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699672008-12-01T17:05:04ZUniversal and annual voluntary testing followed by immediate antiretroviral therapy treatment (irrespective of clinical stage or CD4 count) can reduce new HIV cases by 95% within 10 years, according to new findings based on a mathematical model developed by a group of HIV specialists in WHO.
Authors of the study also report that the universal voluntary testing followed by immediate ART could have additional public health benefits, including reducing the incidence of tuberculosis and the transmission of HIV from mother to child. Additionally, the model suggests that there could be a significant reduction of HIV-related morbidity and mortality in resource-limited countries with generalized HIV epidemics.
The current WHO policy on treatment involves voluntary testing and clinical and/or immunological evaluation (e.g. CD4 count) to determine eligibility for treatment with antiretrovirals.Iran to hold large-scale naval drills in Gulf of Omantag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699662008-12-01T17:04:37ZIran is to hold on December 2-7 a large-scale naval exercise involving over 60 warships in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian television reported on Monday, citing the navy commander.
"Over 60 combat vessels will take part in the exercise, codenamed Ettehad-87, in the Gulf of Oman," Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said.
The four-stage exercise will involve destroyers, missile boats, submarines, helicopters, fighters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
"The goal of the exercise is to improve the combat readiness of the Iranian navy to counter potential external threats and to test modern weaponry developed by the Iranian defense industry," the admiral said.
Sayyari confirmed last week the delivery of two new domestically-built missile boats, Kalat (Fortress) and Derafsh (Flag), as well as a Ghadir-class light submarine to the Iranian navy.
Iran has launched a domestic weapons procurement campaign aimed at improving its defense capabilities and has announced the development of 109 types of advanced military equipment over the past two years.AIG Pulls Fast One -- "Cash Awards" Going To Managerstag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699652008-12-01T17:03:32ZWhen you are a pro at a scam--the definition of "scam" also can be found under the term "insurance industry" -- you know how to try to pull a fast one. And AIG is trying to pull one -- under cover of the holidays. Check this out.
Stevia to the rescue of Cola Makers?tag:www.sott.net,2008-12-01:/articles/show/1699642008-12-01T17:01:21ZA leaf the Guarani Indians of Paraguay's jungles used to sweeten drinks for centuries may help Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. revive flagging sales in the $320 billion-a-year global soft-drink industry.
The Food and Drug Administration is poised to act on allowing a zero-calorie sweetener derived from the stevia plant grown in Paraguay and China. Approval may allow the world's two largest soda makers to reverse three years of U.S. soft-drink sales declines with beverages containing the natural extract, according to Mariann Montagne, an analyst at Minneapolis-based Thrivent Asset Management.
"They are really desperate for something to pick up colas," said Montagne, whose firm owns Coca-Cola and PepsiCo among the $70 billion it oversees. "There is definitely a need, and people will respond if they have this natural sweetener."
The two companies lost a quarter of their market value this year, falling about 8 percentage points more than the Standard & Poor's 500 Consumer Staples Index, as the world economy slowed. Massimo D'Amore, chief of PepsiCo's beverage division, said Nov. 20 the company will use a compound made from stevia as an alternative to higher-calorie or artificial sweeteners in some drinks as soon as the government gives "the green light."