Category Archives: International

Iran’s nuclear bomb program complete

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Source reveals secret site; last obstacle is to arm missiles

Iran successfully has built a nuclear bomb with the help of Russia and North Korea and has enough weapons-grade uranium and plutonium for more, according to a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit.

The source, who has access to Iran’s nuclear program, said the Islamic regime is working out of seven nuclear sites, most unknown to the IAEA, and that its nuclear bomb program is complete.

North Korea has provided the regime with plutonium for nuclear warheads, the source verified, and the last obstacle to overcome is arming missiles with those warheads.

The source, who revealed the existence of the regime’s microbial plant and its effort on biological weapons as published on Jan. 1 by WND exclusively, now has provided information on two of the seven secret sites.

KhondabOverview-DigitalGlobe2012

The first is in the town of Khondab near the city of Arak in central Iran where Iran’s heavy-water plant reactor is located, which, once operational, will provide enough plutonium for several bombs just in its first year. WND will soon publish information on the second secret nuclear site, which has direct Russian participation involving laser technology for uranium enrichment.

Read more at at WND

Paedophilia: bringing dark desires to light

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[This article was amended on 3 January 2012. The original incorrectly suggested that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was published by the American Psychological Association, and misspelled Dunkelfeld as Dunkenfeld.]

We can help keep children safe, [Sarah] Goode argues, “by allowing paedophiles to be ordinary members of society, with moral standards like everyone else”, and by “respecting and valuing those paedophiles who choose self-restraint”. Only then will men tempted to abuse children “be able to be honest about their feelings, and perhaps find people around them who could support them and challenge their behaviour before children get harmed”.

In 1976 the National Council for Civil Liberties, the respectable (and responsible) pressure group now known as Liberty, made a submission to parliament’s criminal law revision committee. It caused barely a ripple. “Childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in with an adult,” it read, “result in no identifiable damage … The real need is a change in the attitude which assumes that all cases of paedophilia result in lasting damage.”

It is difficult today, after the public firestorm unleashed by revelations about Jimmy Savile and the host of child abuse allegations they have triggered, to imagine any mainstream group making anything like such a claim. But if it is shocking to realise how dramatically attitudes to paedophilia have changed in just three decades, it is even more surprising to discover how little agreement there is even now among those who are considered experts on the subject.

A liberal professor of psychology who studied in the late 1970s will see things very differently from someone working in child protection, or with convicted sex offenders. There is, astonishingly, not even a full academic consensus on whether consensual paedophilic relations necessarily cause harm.

So what, then, do we know? A paedophile is someone who has a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children. Savile appears to have been primarily an ephebophile, defined as someone who has a similar preferential attraction to adolescents, though there have been claims one of his victims was aged eight.

But not all paedophiles are child molesters, and vice versa: by no means every paedophile acts on his impulses, and many people who sexually abuse children are not exclusively or primarily sexually attracted to them. In fact, “true” paedophiles are estimated by some experts to account for only 20% of sexual abusers. Nor are paedophiles necessarily violent: no firm links have so far been established between paedophilia and aggressive or psychotic symptoms. Psychologist Glenn Wilson, co-author of The Child-Lovers: a Study of Paedophiles in Society, argues that “The majority of paedophiles, however socially inappropriate, seem to be gentle and rational.”

Read more at The Guardian UK

Death of Hugo Chavez could set off shock waves across region

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The likelihood that Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is close to death will pitch rivals against one another in a battle for power and oil riches, and trigger political shock waves across the region. — The Telegraph

On Thursday, Hugo Chavez is set to be inaugurated after his re-election, but it is reported that he may currently be kept alive with a respirator while being treated for cancer.

The Venezuelan leader and full-time hater of the United States is famous for his praise of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Jesus Christ as revolutionary socialists.

As Philip Sherwell describes in his article on The Telegraph:

The orchestra played and loyal lawmakers erupted in adulatory applause as Hugo Chavez invoked Fidel Castro and Jesus Christ as his revolutionary role models.

His right hand raised, the fiery Venezuelan leader echoed the famous call to arms of his Cuban mentor. “Fatherland, socialism or death,” he proclaimed, then added with a typical flourish: “I swear by Christ, the greatest socialist in history.” That was six years ago as “El Commandante” was sworn in for his third term as president and blew kisses to rose petal-tossing crowds when he returned in an open-topped car to his palace to watch a military parade.

The Chavez regime has been financing terrorist socialist causes with his oil money and set up an alliance with Iran.

Chavez has not been seen or heard from since he left Venezuela in December for his operations in Cuba.

The death of Hugo Chavez could set off a Constitutional struggle to control the oil rich South American country. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Constitutional law expert Carlos Ayala agreed that Chavez can be granted two oath-taking postponements for a total of 180 days in the event he is “temporarily incapacitated.” But he said Venezuelans are entitled to proof that Chavez is alive, is tending to his duties and has a positive prognosis.

“The citizenry has a legitimate right to know the facts surrounding the mental and physical condition of the head of state,” said Ayala, a professor at Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas. “If he cannot exercise his duties and obligations under the constitution, then that leads to constitutional consequences.”

If Chavez is so ill that he cannot competently carry out his duties, then he could be declared “permanently incapacitated.” That would trigger a constitutional requirement for the National Assembly president to call a new presidential election within 30 days, Ayala said.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro is the hand-picked successor of Chavez and he is reporting that Chavez is simply resting comfortably after emerging from a “delicate postoperative phase.” Maduro indicated that his inauguration could be sworn in by Supreme Court appointees of Chavez at a later date and unspecified location if still alive. Re-elected National Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello puts him next inline to become caretaker president if Mr Chavez does not recover.

This has infuriated the opposition who insist on new elections in thirty days if Chavez does not take the oath on January 10th. With no even pretended separation of powers in the government, that is not likely to happen.

Loyal Italian Cat, Toldo, Brings Gifts To Owner’s Grave

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toledoA loyal cat has been bringing his owner small gifts everyday in a show of affection. The catch? The cat’s owner has been dead for over a year.

Meet Toldo — a cute, 3-year-old black and white cat living in Montagnana, northern Italy. According to the Corriere Fiorentino, Toldo has been visiting his owner — Iozzelli Renzo, who died on September 22, 2011, aged 71 — everyday for the past year and leaving small presents at the grave.

The gifts usually consist of leaves, sticks, twigs, plastic cups or paper towels.

Read more at Huff Post

Life on Mercury? Scientists claim discovery of water on ‘the Swift Planet’

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mercury-craters-planet-polar.nScientists have confirmed for the first time that the planet Mercury holds “at least 100 billion tons of water ice” and also has “organic material” in the permanently-shadowed craters at its north pole.

The alleged findings came from NASA’s Messenger Spacecraft, which has been in orbit around Mercury since 2011.

Theories that Mercury – also known as the Swift Planet – could potentially contain forms of water were already being discussed back in 1992. Back then, Earth-based telescopes had picked up “bright areas” in and around the planet’s polar regions.

Alternative explanations were put forward to account for the bright areas, but Messenger provided enough evidence for water ice to exist on the planet closest to our sun.

The discovery is even more spectacular, taking into account that Mercury’s surface temperatures can sometimes reach 427 degrees Celsius (800 F).

Although the finding of almost 22 cubic miles pales when compared with our planet’s water capacity (an estimated 332,500,000 cubic miles!), Mercury is our solar system’s smallest planet, roughly one tenth the size of Earth.

Read more at Russia Today

Pakistan mob burns man accused of desecrating Koran alive

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(Reuters) – A mob broke into a Pakistani police station and burnt a man accused of desecrating the Koran alive, police said Saturday, in the latest violence focusing attention on the country’s blasphemy laws.

The man was a traveler and had spent Thursday night at the mosque, said Maulvi Memon, the imam in the southern village of Seeta in Sindh province. The charred remains of the Koran were found the next morning.

“He was alone in the mosque during the night,” Memon said. “There was no one else there to do this terrible thing.”

Villagers beat the man then handed him over to police. A few hours later, a crowd of around 200 stormed the police station, dragged the man out and set him on fire, said Usman Ghani, the senior superintendent of police in Dadu district.

Read more at Reuters.

Semper Fi, Unless It’s Not Convenient

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By Bill O’Reilly

Jon Hammar saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but his most brutal foreign experience was in Mexico. Last August, the 27-year-old former Marine corporal was incarcerated by Mexican authorities in Matamoros for trying to register an antique shotgun with customs agents. Foolishly, Cpl. Hammar followed instructions given to him by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas. He registered the gun with them and brought the paperwork to the Mexicans to get their stamp of approval in order to carry the gun through the country. Hammar and a friend were driving a Winnebago, hoping to have a nice surfing vacation with some hunting on the side.

Even though the Mexican authorities clearly saw that Hammar was trying to follow the rules, they seized the Winnebago and locked the corporal up in the notoriously corrupt CEDES prison anyway. There he was threatened by other inmates and told by guards that he could buy his way out of the hellhole by paying money to the “right people.”

Hammar’s parents, who live in South Florida, immediately contacted the State Department and were told to be patient. And so they were. Three months later, Hammar was still incarcerated and had not even seen a judge, and things were becoming increasingly desperate.

That’s when his parents gave up on the State Department and contacted the media.

Read more at Townhall.

‘Habitable’ planet discovered circling Tau Ceti star

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A planet with conditions that could support life orbits a twin neighbour of the sun visible to the naked eye, scientists have revealed.

The world is one of five thought to be circling Tau Ceti, a star just 12 light years away that is almost identical to the sun.

Astronomers estimate the Tau Ceti planets to be two to six times bigger than Earth. One of them, with five times the Earth’s mass, lies in the star’s “habitable zone”.

Also known as the “Goldilocks zone”, this is the orbital region that is neither too hot nor too cold to allow liquid surface water and, potentially, life. Details of the discovery are to appear in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Because of the difficulties involved in detecting extra-solar planets, most found so far have had high masses. The Tau Ceti planetary family is thought to be the lowest-mass solar system yet detected.

Read more at The Guardian

Former classmate reveals school gunman had ‘online devil worshiping page’

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‘I am the devil’: Former classmate reveals school gunman had ‘online devil worshiping page’ as childhood barber recounts how he never spoke and just stared at floors

The Sandy Hook gunman worshiped the devil and had an online page dedicated to Satan, a former classmate revealed, as his childhood barber recalls Adam Lanza never spoke and would stare at the floor every time he had his hair cut.

Lanza’s worshiping page had the word ‘Devil’ written in red, Gothic-style letters against a black background, Trevor L. Todd told The National Enquirer, something which he said was ‘weird’ and ‘gave him the chills’.

The FBI are trying to piece together his smashed up hard drive to see if his online footprint will reveal any motive for the killing, but they strongly believe he made use of devil-worshiping and suicide sites and boasted of his murder plans on message forums.

Adam Lanza’s childhood barber Bob Skuba revealed today that Nancy Lanza stopped bringing her son in for haircuts a few years ago so he thought he had moved away from the area.

Read more at the MailOnline

The US opposes demonopolization of the Internet

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This week’s conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Dubai failed to produce an agreement on country-level Internet governance. After heated debates, the conference passed a vague-worded resolution calling on the ITU to play a more active role in the development of the Internet.

Russia and China suggested giving partial control over the allocation of web addresses either to ITU member states or to a specialized agency under the aegis of the United Nations. At present, this is the exclusive monopoly of the United States it exercises through the U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names (ICANN) controlled by the U.S. Commerce Department.

The United States is visibly unprepared to share this monopoly with anybody else. All main IT resources, servers and transfer protocols are located in the United States, notes Russian IT expert Anton Korobkov-Zemlyansky.

Read more at The Voice of Russia.

SEE ALSO: US rejects UN telecom treaty over Internet rift