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Top EU official: Cyprus bank rescue new template

"Inflicting losses on banks' shareholders, bondholders and even large depositors should become the 17-country eurozone's default approach for dealing with ailing lenders, a top European official said Monday. Banks' owners and investors must be held responsible 'before looking at public money or any other instrument coming from the public side,' said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the Eurogroup gatherings of the 17 eurozone finance ministers. The bailout program for Cyprus marks the first time in Europe's three-year-old debt crisis that large deposit holders — wealthy savers, business people or institutions — will be forced to take losses." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTop EU official: Cyprus bank rescue new template

Cyprus bail-out leaves ‘bitter taste’ for residents

"Standing in front of a cash machine on a street corner in Nicosia, Andreas Christou could hardly contain his fury. 'My money is in there and they won’t let me take it out!' he said, a few moments after withdrawing a paltry €100 – the maximum allowable after a draconian new capital control measure was introduced on Sunday. The 52-year-old businessman holds an account with Laiki Bank, the hardest hit of Cyprus’s debt-laden lenders. It will now effectively be dissolved under the terms of a deal brokered between international creditors and Nicos Anastasiades, the president of Cyprus, during marathon talks in Brussels." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCyprus bail-out leaves ‘bitter taste’ for residents

The Iraq War: 10 Years Later – Anthony Gregory

"Operation Iraqi Freedom unleashed terrorism, draconian Shariah law, and the systematic persecution of women and religious minorities. Bush’s gang established martial law, deadly checkpoints, and torture chambers; used white phosphorous, flooded the country with sewage and disease, destroyed infrastructure that twelve previous years of U.S. war and sanctions had yet left standing, confiscated Iraqis’ guns, and implemented central taxation and economic planning. Wilson’s WWI bungling helped lead to communism, Nazism, and WWII; Bush’s bungling has exacerbated jihadism and will reverberate for decades. One good resulted: Global disrespect for American empire." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Iraq War: 10 Years Later – Anthony Gregory

Fox News analyst: ‘Very high probability’ Iraq hid WMDs in Syria

"A Fox News military analyst who has previously justified the U.S. invasion in Iraq by asserting that Russia conspired to hide Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) now says that there is a 'very high probability' that those WMDs are in Syria. 'That’s conjecture, but we do know prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom, there was a lot of vehicles crossing the border into Syria. And there was a great deal of conjecture. A Iraqi major general swore by it. He said he delivered it. And so I think that it would be a very high probability if we could get into those bunkers that they would have Iraqi signatures on them.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFox News analyst: ‘Very high probability’ Iraq hid WMDs in Syria

Syrian Insurgent Provocations: Going For Endgame?

"After creating the chaos in Syria through his policy of arming and training the insurgents, President Obama said last week in the Middle East that he is 'very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremism because extremists thrive in chaos, they thrive in failed states, they thrive in power vacuums.' The US created the very instability by empowering radicals that it now seeks to mitigate, first by the CIA fool's errand of supporting 'moderates,' when it is clear that only the radicals are capable of actually fighting. It would be interesting to see the criteria for determining who is eligible for CIA assistance. Beards are, after all, quite easy to shave..." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyrian Insurgent Provocations: Going For Endgame?

Europe Deploys Next Generation Speed Cameras

"Struggling European economies are investing big money in stealth speed camera technology designed to mail tickets to motorists who have no way of knowing they are being watched. Eurozone economies have been shrinking, with both France and Spain under heightened scrutiny for failure to meet deficit reduction targets set by the European Union. Ratings agency Standard and Poor's called the situation in Spain and France 'socially explosive' in a statement to Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung. Both countries are now deploying the next generation of speed cameras." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEurope Deploys Next Generation Speed Cameras

Defense contractor accused of espionage had worked in deterrence at US Pacific Command

"A civilian defense contractor accused of giving his Chinese girlfriend military secrets worked on developing military plans to deter potential U.S. enemies when the two began their romance, according to his online professional profile and court documents. Bishop was arrested Friday at Pacific Command headquarters at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii. The LinkedIn profile says he moved to a different department last May to work on cybersecurity. During that month, the FBI claims, Bishop emailed military secrets to the woman, including war plans and information on nuclear weapons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDefense contractor accused of espionage had worked in deterrence at US Pacific Command

Albany police: SWAT used poor black neighborhood for training because it’s ‘realistic’

"The chief of police in Albany, New York says that his department just wanted a 'realistic' setting when it frightened residents in a poor, predominately African-American neighborhood with SWAT training exercises that included firing blank ammunition and exploding flash grenades. On Thursday, Albany’s SWAT team shocked nearby residents when it stormed a public housing complex that was scheduled to be demolished, according to the Times Union. Photos circulated on Facebook over the weekend showed police in tactical gear, spent shell casings and fake blood." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAlbany police: SWAT used poor black neighborhood for training because it’s ‘realistic’

New report says there are still no federal safety standards for nation’s bioterror defense labs

"US labs that research bioterror germs such as anthrax are at risk for accidents because they do not have uniform building and operation standards, a Congressional investigative group said on Monday. A lack of oversight has persisted despite a 2009 report by the Government Accountability Office on the same topic, leaving no single agency in charge of safety or research goals at bioterror labs, the GAO said in its report. US labs that research ways to protect against bioterror germs and disease outbreaks have been on the rise since the September 11, 2001 attacks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew report says there are still no federal safety standards for nation’s bioterror defense labs

Vial of easily weaponized virus goes missing in Texas

"A virus that authorities worry could easily be weaponized as an aerosol went missing from a medical research facility in south Texas, an official at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston said Saturday. About a quarter of a teaspoon of frozen viral material went missing last Wednesday, UTMB President David L. Callender explained in prepared text. The virus is an exotic strain from south America called Guanarito, which can cause a life-threatening condition that includes fever, convulsions and hemmhoraging." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVial of easily weaponized virus goes missing in Texas