FBI will shutdown the Internet on March 8 !!

FBI will shutdown the Internet on March 8 19 Feb 2012 The Internet could go dark for millions of users as early as March 8 because of a virus that has corrupted computers in more than 100 countries. Last year, authorities in Estonia apprehended six men believed responsible for creating a malicious computer script called the DNSChanger Trojan. Once set loose on the Web, the worm corrupted computers in upwards of 100 countries, including an estimated 500,000 in America alone. Though the FBI has shut down the DNSChanger network and put up surrogate servers, they warned the solution was only temporary - and the court-ordered deadline is March 8.

US Stuxnet sociopaths planning their next false flag to blame Anonymous: NSA: Al Qaeda, Foreign Governments Might Hire Anonymous --U.S. Official Signals Growing Concern Over Anonymous Group's Capabilities 21 Feb 2012 The director of the National Security Agency has warned that the hacking group Anonymous could have the ability within the next year or two to bring about a limited power outage through a cyberattack. Gen. Keith Alexander, the director, provided his assessment in meetings at the White House and in other private sessions, according to people familiar with the gatherings. Possible scenarios discussed, the former official said, included one in which a foreign government developed the attack capability and outsourced it to a group like Anonymous, or if a U.S. adversary like al Qaeda hired hackers to mount a cyberattack. [LOL! Since al-CIAduh's already on the US payroll, I doubt that Anonymous would take the job!]

Report: U.S. officials say Israel would need at least 100 planes to strike Iran 20 Feb 2012 Israel will need to use at least 100 planes and fly more than 1,000 miles above unfriendly airspace should it decide to attack Iran, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing the assessment of U.S. defense officials close to the Pentagon. According to the report, American military analysts and defense officials believe that an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be a highly complex operation, and say that it would be very different from Israel's "surgical" strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981 and would also differ from the strike that Israel is believed to have carried out in Syria in 2007.

US Gen. Dempsey: Iran rational actor, not after nukes 20 Feb 2012 A top US military official has described Iran as a rational actor in the international arena, stating that the Islamic Republic is not after producing nuclear weapons. Speaking in a nationally televised interview with the CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" show on Sunday, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said, "We are of the opinion that Iran is a rational actor." Dempsey pointed out that US officials aren't convinced Iran has decided to build atomic armaments. "We also know, or we believe we know that Iran has not decided to make a nuclear weapon," General Dempsey said.

Pakistan won't help US attack Iran, says Zardari 18 Feb 2012 Pakistan will not assist the US if it attacks Iran, Islamabad Friday assured Tehran. Pakistan will not provide Americans airbases to launch attack on its neighbour, President Asif Ali Zardari said after the third trilateral summit of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. At the summit the three states expressed their resolve to work collectively for peace and stability in the region and enhancement of mutual cooperation in different sectors, particularly economy and trade.

Iran intends to boost presence in int'l waters: Defense Minister Vahidi 21 Feb 2012 Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says Iran will continue boosting its presence in the international waters, dismissing remarks by the officials of the Israeli government on the arrival of two Iranian naval ships in the Mediterranean Sea. Ignoring certain remarks made by others, the Islamic Republic will strongly beef up its naval clout and multiply its presence in the international waters, said Vahidi, reiterating that this trend is "unstoppable," IRNA reported Tuesday. On February 18, Commander of Iran's Navy Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that the country's 18th fleet had sailed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean and added that this was the second time that an Iranian naval fleet had passed through the waterway since 1979.

'Iran set to build first cyber army' 20 Feb 2012 Director of Iran's Passive Defense Organization has announced plans to build the first Iranian cyber army following the successful launch of the cyber defense headquarters, Press TV reports. "The US is downsizing its army for bigger cyber defense infrastructure. So countries like Iran also have to set up and upgrade their cyber defense headquarters and even [build] a cyber army," Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali said in a Press TV interview on the last day of the first national conference on cyber defense. Iran launched a cyber defense headquarters four months ago.

Press TV signals jammed in Europe: Report 20 Feb 2012 Jamming signals have been reportedly interrupting the broadcast of Press TV, Iran's 24-hour English-language news channel, in various locations across Europe. Press TV viewers in Europe say the frequent attacks last three to four minutes each time. Some reports indicate that the news channel's online stream is also targeted at the same time as jamming signals disrupt the broadcast of the channel. Italian viewers said Saturday was the fifth consecutive day of "Press TV signal black-out in Italy." [See: Columbia University Blocking CLG Newsletters with Links to Press TV By Lori Price 23 Aug 2011.]

Angry Afghans Protest Quran Disposal at US Base 21 Feb 2012 Police say more than 2,000 angry Afghans are protesting the improper disposal of Qurans and other Islamic religious materials at an American air base north of Kabul. The demonstrators are shouting "Die, die, foreigners!" They started gathering Tuesday morning after learning of the incident at Bagram Air Field. Gen. John Allen, the U.S. commander of international troops in Afghanistan, has ordered an investigation into what he says was an unintentional disposal of the Islamic materials.

Bagram prisoner's bid for freedom blocked in UK court by US resistance 20 Feb 2012 Britain's Court of Appeal has accepted that the government has been unable to comply with an order to obtain the release of a Pakistani man from a U.S. military prison in Afghanistan because "the Americans are not going to play ball." In December, lawyers for Yunus Rahmatullah won a writ of habeas corpus from the court to compel British officials to bring the prisoner before the court. But on Monday government lawyers said the U.S. has refused to release the prisoner it has held for eight years, and the Court of Appeal accepted that outcome. "This is far from over," said Clair Algar, Reprieve's executive director. "The British government's failure to persuade its supposedly closest ally to honor agreements signed between the two countries has left it open to war crimes charges. The government now faces yet another investigation over its involvement in torture and rendition," Algar said.

Judge bars screeners from revealing Guantanamo mail --Judge: 'At this point, we're hoping that this ruling will end this controversy.' [*Not.*] 19 Feb 2012 Mail inspectors at the US-run prison in Guantanamo Bay have been barred from disclosing the contents of attorney-client correspondence in a case that could later apply to other detainees, a defense lawyer said. Judge James Pohl's decision, made this month in the case of accused USS Cole bombing mastermind Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri but not yet published as it is still under Pentagon review, was described to AFP by his attorney Richard Kammen. Pohl "greatly restricted" the mail screener's ability "to share anything they learned with anyone other than the judge," said Kammen.

Polls open in Yemen with sole US-backed pres. candidate [LOL!] 21 Feb 2012 'Voting' has begun in Yemen's presidential election with only one candidate on the ballot amid the opposition's call for the downfall of the entire regime. The polls opened Tuesday, with 12 million eligible voters, and the sole candidate Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The election is to put an end to Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule and formally transfer power to his assistant, Hadi. However, the country's major opposition groups, including the Southern Movement and the Southern Shia group have boycotted the election, demanding the removal of the regime that abounds with Saleh-era officials.

Iraq: Sunni vice president pledges to fight arrest 20 Feb 2012 Iraq's Sunni vice president asked for popular support Monday to fight government charges that he commandeered death squads and said he would continue to defy arrest with the help of the nation's powerful Kurds in a showdown that tests the limits of Baghdad's reach. The government's case against Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi deepens tensions in a country still splintered by Sunni and Shiite sectarian rivalries. It now also threatens to draw a new wedge between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and Kurdish leaders in Iraq's North who refuse to hand over al-Hashemi for trial.

Palestinian prisoner now in 10th week of hunger strike 19 Feb 2012 A Palestinian prisoner who has been held in an Israeli prison without being charged is in the tenth week of a hunger strike. Khader Adnan has refused to eat since mid-December. Israel has described Khader as a security threat. While the Israeli High Court of Justice has now scheduled a hearing regarding the case for Thursday, doctors have warned that the prisoner is now at immediate risk of dying.

Hacker group Anonymous threatens Vic Toews 20 Feb 2012 The hacker group Anonymous is demanding Public Safety Minister Vic Toews kill the Internet surveillance bill and resign or it will release "information" during what it calls "Operation White North." Two videos posted to YouTube feature a masked man and voice-overs that condemn the proposed Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act (Bill C-30). "All this legislation does is give your corrupted government more power to control its citizens," a synthesized voice says in one of the videos still posted to the site Monday. "We know all about you, Mr. Toews, and during Operation White North we will release what we have unless you scrap this bill," it states.

Fukushima manager dismisses fears that reactors are overheating again --Asked repeatedly to explain the dramatic rise in temperature, Takahashi said the cause had been traced to a faulty thermometer. 20 Feb 2012 The manager of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan has conceded that it will be very difficult to remove the facility's melted nuclear fuel, but dismissed fears that one of the damaged reactors had started overheating again. "Our main challenge is to now remove the nuclear fuel from the reactors," Takeshi Takahashi told visiting journalists on Monday. Fears rose this month that fuel in the No 2 reactor was heating up again, prompting the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) to inject more cooling water along with boric acid, which is used to prevent a nuclear chain reaction.

Experts fear diseases 'impossible to treat' --Alarming rise in bacteria resistant to antibiotics, Government report finds 20 Feb 2012 Britain is facing a "massive" rise in antibiotic-resistant blood poisoning caused by the bacterium E.coli - bringing closer the spectre of diseases that are impossible to treat. Experts say the growth of antibiotic resistance now poses as great a threat to global health as the emergence of new diseases such as Aids and pandemic flu. Professor Peter Hawkey, a clinical microbiologist and chair of the Government's antibiotic-resistance working group, said that antibiotic resistance had become medicine's equivalent of climate change.

Eurozone seals second Greek bailout after tortuous talks 21 Feb 2012 Euro zone finance ministers sealed a 130-billion-euro ($172 billion) bailout for Greece on Tuesday to avert a chaotic default in March after persuading private bondholders to take greater losses and Athens to commit to deep cuts. After 13 hours of talks, ministers finalized measures to cut Greece's debt to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, a fraction above the target, to secure its second rescue in less than two years and meet a bond repayment next month.

Greeks protest cuts on eve of bailout decision 19 Feb 2012 Several thousand Greeks demonstrated on Sunday against punishing austerity measures to reduce the country's debt, on the eve of make-or-break talks in Brussels on a 130-billion-euro ($171 billion) bailout to avert bankruptcy. Riot police shielded the national assembly, braced against a repeat of riots a week ago that saw buildings torched and looted across downtown Athens after a much larger rally involving tens of thousands. Banners such as one reading "Down with the memorandum of hunger" bore testimony to the anger many Greeks feel towards a political elite that allowed the country over the years to rack up a national debt worth 160 percent of national output while the super-rich took advantage of lax tax collection [as with the US].

Pro-Romney PAC Had $16 Million in Bank With Hedge Fund Help 20 Feb 2012 Restore Our Future, a U.S. political action committee [of corpora-terrorists] supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, started this month with about $16 million in cash -- 26 times more than its chief competitor's camp. Bruce Kovner, co- founder of the New York-based hedge fund Caxton Associates LP, and two other people gave $500,000 each. The group continued to benefit from Romney's ties to the financial world as a former private equity executive. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management LP gave Restore Our Future $375,000 last month. The group also got $250,000 from Julian Robertson, co-founder of the hedge fund Tiger Management LLC.

Voting Rights Act under siege 19 Feb 2012 An intensifying conservative legal assault on the Voting Rights Act could precipitate what many civil rights advocates regard as the nuclear option: a court ruling striking down one of the core elements of the landmark 1965 law guaranteeing African Americans and other minorities access to the ballot box. At the same time, the view that states should have free rein to change their election laws even in places with a history of Jim Crow seems to be gaining traction within the Republican Party. "There certainly has been a major change," said Rick Hasen, a professor of election law at the University of California at Irvine. "Now, you have a whole bunch of credible mainstream state attorneys general and governors taking this view. ...That would have been unheard of even five years ago. You would have been accused of being a racist."

Ultrasound Abortion Bill Nears Vote in Virginia 21 Feb 2012 A bill requiring a woman to get an ultrasound before having an abortion is poised to pass Virginia's legislature this week, placing it on track to be signed into law by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R). The bill, which could pass the Republican-led House of Delegates as early as Tuesday, is one of the stronger ultrasound laws passed by states in recent years... Delegate Charniele L. Herring, a Democrat who opposes the bill, said the requirement that the probe be inserted vaginally was tantamount to "state-sponsored rape."