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British physicist Stephen Hawking has confirmed that he will not be attending the Presidential Conference in Israel because he is joining an academic boycott of the Jewish state. The University of Cambridge released a statement late Wednesday saying that Hawking had told the Israelis last week that he would not be attending "based on advice from Palestinian academics that he should respect the boycott." Earlier, the university said that news reports saying Hawking was boycotting the conference were wrong, and that the noted physicist's decision to cancel his visit to Israel stemmed from health reasons alone. .....

AFP - Taiwan on Wednesday reported the first case of the H7N9 bird flu outside of mainland China. The 53-year-old man, who had been working in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, showed symptoms three days after returning to Taiwan via Shanghai, the Centers for Disease Control said, adding that he had been hospitalised since April 16 and was in a critical condition. A passenger (right) has her temperature checked by a Centers for Disease Control staff member at the entrance of Sungshan Airport in Taipei on April 4, 2013. Taiwan on Wednesday reported the first case of the H7N9...

Canadian Defense Minister - Talks About UFOs Aliens And Government Conspiracy !! These are the words of former Canadian defense minister Paul Hellyer. According to AOL News

According to an analysis posted in February on a website linked to Iran’s government, the Islamic republic has plans to attack targets in both America and Israel, The Daily Caller has learned. The analysis, posted in Persian on the Iranian website psyop.ir, is titled “From Mediterranean Sea to the Waters of America.” It ominously warns of an impending attack on American soil. That website, which analyzes psychological warfare tactics employed by Iran’s so-called enemies, “America & Israel,” has close ties to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, the Islamic regime’s cyber army, and its Revolutionary Guard Corps — the military force charged...

When it came time for Attorney General Eric Holder to make his opening comments, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) requested that the A.G. be sworn under oath. Issa had already noted that Congress had been lied to and that in previous hearings, Holder & Co. displayed the “unheard of” habit of redacting their letters and testimony to the Congress. Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said that it wasn’t necessary for Holder to be sworn under oath because it was understood that he was already under oath by virtue of the purpose for which he was appearing. Issa then asked Smith if he...

Researchers at KTH say they have found further proof that the wolf ancestors of today’s domesticated dogs can be traced to southern East Asia — findings that run counter to theories placing the cradle of the canine line in the Middle East.Dr Peter Savolainen, KTH researcher in evolutionary genetics, says a new study released Nov. 23 confirms that an Asian region south of the Yangtze River was the principal and probably sole region where wolves were domesticated by humans. Data on genetics, morphology and behaviour show clearly that dogs are descended from wolves, but there’s never been scientific consensus on...

On November 16, 1990, Barack Obama, then president of the Harvard Law Review, published a letter in the Harvard Law Record, an independent Harvard Law School newspaper, championing affirmative action. Although a paragraph from this letter was excerpted in David Remnick's biography of Obama, The Bridge, I had not seen the letter in its entirety before this week. Not surprisingly, it confirms everything I know about Barack Obama, the writer and thinker. Obama was prompted to write by an earlier letter from a Mr. Jim Chen that criticized Harvard Law Review's affirmative action policies. Specifically, Chen had argued that affirmative...

This report confirms what Karzai reported yesterday while he was also channeling Woodsy Owl and accusing NATO of not giving a hoot. In recent months, Secretary of State Clinton and others have expressed hope that parts of the Taliban who are open to "dialogue" might be split off from their more outwardly "extreme" brethren. But as always, "war is deceit," and the Taliban can be expected to exploit the opportunity to gain legitimacy, perhaps even emerging at some point as a Hizballah-like "political party" that also happens to function as a state-within-a-state with its own armed forces. (The move toward...

It is close to an article of faith on the left that any hydrocarbon-based source of energy must cause severe pollution problems. The extraordinary benefits to America from cheap natural gas released by the fracking technique have been fought with ginned-up propaganda about purported water pollution. But yesterday, under oath, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson admitted that there have been no (as in zero) instances of ground water contamination from fracking, despite the propaganda that has convinced many progressives that fracking is a devil's bargain. Watch the video in which Jackson states: "I'm not aware of any proven case where the...

An Obama administration official on Wednesday confirmed that four states -- including Florida, Tennessee and Ohio -- have been granted waivers from the regulatory requirements of the national health care law. Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, confirmed the news under questioning from Rep. Cliff Stearns at an oversight hearing for the House Energy and Commerce committee.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bay Area is about to get a new U.S. attorney, the first woman to hold the job in 90 years. The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to confirm President Obama's nomination of Melinda Haag, a San Francisco lawyer and former federal prosecutor, to oversee criminal cases in the Northern District of California. She will succeed Joseph Russoniello, the district's chief federal prosecutor since January 2008, when he was appointed by President George W. Bush. Russoniello had previously held the same position from 1982 to 1990. The last female U.S. attorney in San Francisco was Annette Adams, who...

MILWAUKEE - Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has confirmed, Arizona is, in fact, on the border with Mexico. Kyl sent Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West a letter in which he says, "You will be interested to learn that Arizona does indeed share a border with Mexico. I have enclosed a map for your convenience." Kyl goes on to urge West to, "actually read the Arizona law before forming an opinion about it."

IsraelNN.com) United States General David Petraeus, head of U.S.Central Command (CENTCOM) whose area of responsibility includes Afghanistan and Iraq, set the record straight Wednesday regarding his statements about the Israeli-Arab conflict. In a talk given at St. Anselm College, Petraeus said that recent reports claiming he had blamed Israel for US military deaths were erroneous. INN had reported on March 18th that the rumors that the general had blamed Israel were based on an article by Yasser Arafat's former advisor, Mark Perry, on Foreign Policy's website, and were not credible. INN had surmised that this was a pro-Arab attempt to...

Senate confirms Obama judge pick WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed U.S. District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana yesterday for the Chicago-based U.S. Appeals Court for the Seventh Circuit, approving a nominee targeted by conservatives as a liberal activist.

NEW YORK | The rumors are true, according to Sarah Palin: The McCain-Palin campaign was not a happy family. In Mrs. Palin's autobiography "Going Rogue," the former Alaska governor confirms reports of tension between her aides and those of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. The vice presidential candidate confirms that she had wanted to speak on election night, but was denied the chance and says she was kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign.

(IsraelNN.com) A United Nations Security Council committee confirmed on Tuesday that Iran violated U.N. sanctions by trying to send a ship with weapons to Syria. The high-explosive shells, including those than can pierce armor, and anti-tank explosives may have been destined for Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Hizbullah in Iran or Syrian-backed Iraqis, Council diplomats told the Associated Press.

TEHRAN (AFP) — The US confirmed Tuesday that Iran has launched its first home-built satellite into orbit, raising fresh concerns in an international community already at odds with Tehran over its nuclear drive. "It appears that the Iranians conducted a launch of a low orbit satellite," said a US official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008 – The Senate has confirmed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus as commander of U.S. Central Command and Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno to receive his fourth star and succeed Petraeus as commander of Multinational Force Iraq. The full Senate confirmed Petraeus by a vote of 95-2 and Odierno by a 96-1 margin. Odierno is the Army’s 3rd Corps commander and served as commander of Multinational Corps Iraq for 14 months. The changes put Petraeus -- who implemented the U.S. surge into Iraq -- in charge of U.S. military forces in a dangerous part of the...

WASHINGTON - A new solar cycle is under way. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday that the first sunspot of a new 11-year cycle has appeared in the sun's northern hemisphere. The frequency of sunspots rises and falls during these cycles, and the start of a new cycle indicates they are likely to begin increasing. Sunspots, areas of intense magnetic activity on the sun, can affect Earth by disrupting electrical grids, airline and military communications, GPS signals and even cell phones, the agency said. During periods of intense sunspot activity, known as solar storms, highly charged radiation from...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2007 – A Congressional Research Service report confirms the Defense Department estimate for when the Army and Marine Corps will run out money and be forced to furlough civilians and shutter bases. The report, released Dec. 6, says the Army will run out of operations and maintenance money by mid-February, and the Marine Corps will run out of funds a month later. Amy Belasco, Stephen Daggett and Pat Towell wrote the report, titled “How Long Can the Defense Department Finance FY2008 Operations in Advance of Supplemental Appropriations?” The service, a part of the Library of Congress, affirmed...

British troops in Iraq are afraid to open fire, secret MoD report confirms By Sean Rayment. Defence Correspondent (Filed: 30/04/2006) British troops in Iraq "lack the confidence to open fire" because of a "fear of prosecution", says a confidential Ministry of Defence (MoD) report seen by The Sunday Telegraph. It confirms that soldiers believe that if they shoot dead insurgents they will become embroiled in a "protracted investigation" and if prosecuted will receive "no support from the chain of command". British troops show restraint when attacked in Basra The study into soldiers' confidence is understood to have been ordered by...

AL TAMAL, Iraq (Jan. 14, 2006) -- Seaman Bryan W. Stocks, a 20-year-old Kenai, Alaska, native and platoon hospital corpsman for 3rd Platoon, Company A, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, had a tough choice to make when he was considering enlisting into the Navy: nuclear physics or medicine. One involves high mathematics and accounting for the behavior of atoms; the other, calculating medicinal dosages and accounting for the behavior of human beings. Two equally demanding and difficult jobs suitable for only the most trustworthy and intelligent of enlistees. Ultimately, though, the decision came down to a question of what Stocks...

WASHINGTON - John Glover Roberts Jr. won confirmation as the 17th chief justice of the United States Thursday, overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate to lead the Supreme Court through turbulent social issues for generations to come. The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Roberts — a 50-year-old U.S. Appeals judge from the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Md. — as the successor to the late William H. Rehnquist, who died earlier this month. All of the Senate's majority Republicans, and about half of the Democrats, voted for Roberts. Underscoring the rarity of a chief justice's confirmation, senators answered the roll by...

WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed on Monday the nomination of Lester Crawford to serve as the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that has been roundly criticized in recent years for its drug-safety monitoring. Lawmakers voted 78-16 in favor of the nomination. Crawford already has broad experience at the agency. He has served as acting commission for the past year, and he previously served as deputy commissioner. "Dr. Crawford is a dedicated public servant who has ably led the agency," said Michael Leavitt, secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. "I look forward to working...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate unanimously confirmed three of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees to the state Board of Education Thursday. The senate approved student member Ricky Gill, 17, of Lodi; Bonnie Reiss, an adviser to Schwarzenegger; and Ruth Bloom, a longtime art education advocate. Bloom, 59, has developed curriculum and taught art at UCLA Extension and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Her term on the board expires in January 2007. Reiss, 48, has served as president of the Inner-City Games Foundation and is currently a senior adviser to Schwarzenegger. She has previously worked as an entertainment lawyer, accountant, producer...

WASHINGTON - Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) won easy confirmation Wednesday to be President Bush (news - web sites)'s new secretary of state, despite strong dissent from a small group of Democrats who said she shares blame for mistakes and war deaths in Iraq (news - web sites). The Senate voted 85 to 13 to confirm Rice, who succeeds Colin Powell (news - web sites) as America's top diplomat and becomes the first black woman to hold the job. Plans were made for her to be sworn in at the White House Wednesday night, take her place in the...

Sacrificial burial deepens mystery at Teotihuacan, but confirms the city’s militarism Partially uncovered figurine, carved in jade, found in connection with three unbound, seated bodies and other objects at the top of the pyramid’s fifth stage (the offering was presumably made in the construction of the sixth stage), circa 350 AD. This object is notable in that it is carved from jade that originated in Guatemala, and appears to be Mayan in style. Other jade objects on top of the figurine are beads and earspools. A spectacular new discovery from an ongoing excavation at the Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Moon...

BERLIN (AFP) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder confirmed that he and his wife have adopted a child, reported to be a girl from a Russian orphanage, but called on the media to respect his family's privacy. "I can confirm that we have adopted a child," he told reporters in Berlin. The head of Schroeder's Social Democrats party in his homestate of Lower Saxony, Wolfgang Juettner, said on Monday that the first couple had claimed custody of the girl, named Victoria, from Saint Petersburg. Schroeder's wife, former journalist Doris Schroeder-Koepf, has a 13-year-old daughter named Klara from a previous relationship with...

JERUSALEM - Israel had secret contacts with Syria several months ago — well before recent Syrian overtures — but they broke down after word of the meetings leaked out, Israel's foreign minister said Sunday. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) said he was ready to open negotiations if Syria "stops helping terror." The secret meetings appeared part of an effort to restart peace talks between Israel and one of its most intractable enemies. Earlier talks broke down in 2000. Syrian President Bashar Assad called last month for a resumption of official talks, but Israel leaders are split over...

New Study on Peopling of Americas Confirms Some Theories, Unsettles Others The New World was populated in at least two migrations, according to a paper presented by C. Loring Brace to the National Academy of Sciences. The settlers in the first wave, who walked across the Bering Land Bridge 15,000 years ago, were the forebears of present-day inhabitants south of the U.S.-Canadian border. The ancestors of linguistically distinct peoples including the Inuit, Aleut, and Na-Dene speakers made the watery crossing from Asia about 5,000 years ago.(The people are todays American Indian/Native Americans) The new study by Dr. Brace, professor of...

Study of genome confirms Sars virus is new By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor 15 April 2003 Scientists said yesterday they had identified the virus thought to cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and confirmed it had not been seen before in humans. Research teams from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Michael Smith Genome Centre in British Columbia, separately claimed to have sequenced the genome of the coronavirus that causes lethal pneumonia. But neither could identify its source. The CDC said it was "distinct from all previously recognised coronaviruses". The achievement came as doctors in...

UN confirms reports of cannibal soldiers UN investigators have found credible evidence to support reports Congolese rebel troops have killed and eaten Pygmies in northeastern Congo. During the past week, UN human rights investigators have been studying reports of cannibal soldiers eating the jungle dwellers' sexual organs in Ituri province. Forces of the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement, or MLC, are accused of killing and eating the pygmies' organs in a bid to gain strength. "The UN is taking these accusations very seriously and has sent a team of six officials to investigate the accusations and other human rights abuses in...