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"A good number" of unmanned U.S. military and intelligence drones are operating in the skies over Syria, monitoring the Syrian military's attacks against opposition forces and innocent civilians alike, U.S. defense officials tell NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski. The officials said this surveillance is not in preparation for U.S. military intervention. Rather, the Obama administration hopes to use the overhead visual evidence and intercepts of Syrian government and military communications in an effort to "make the case for a widespread international response," the officials told Miklaszewski. Unlike in Libya, there has been no widespread international support for military intervention in the...

At a crucial time in the standoff over Iran's suspect nuclear weapon, President Obama is sending his national security adviser to Israel from February 18-20 to discuss that tense showdown as well as the bloody crackdown in Syria, the White House announced Friday. Tom Donilon will meet with senior Israeli officials to discuss "a range of issues, including Iran, Syria," the White House said in a statement. The statement also noted that Donilon's visit "is the latest in a series of regular, high-level consultations between the United States and Israel, consistent with our strong bilateral partnership, and part of our...

Link only - New York Times

WASHINGTON—The United States is congratulating Libya on the anniversary of the uprising that toppled Moammar Gadhafi (MOO'-ah-mar gah-DAH'-fee), while noting that a democracy and institutions will take time to build. White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement Friday. Carney says the revolutionaries who fought for liberty have a responsibility now to protect their freedoms by working with the government to establish stability, peace and reconciliation.

Just about a week ago, we were given a video exposing a major breach on the U.S./Mexico border near Lukeville, Ariz. located about 100 miles southwest of Tucson. We checked its authenticity with our sources at the Department of Homeland Security who have confirmed that the video is real and was taken recently. Watch this distressing video that was first posted by Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and see how, despite claims by the Administration, the border is far from secure.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez attacked the new opposition candidate for the country's highest office as a "low-life ... pig" in a defamatory speech broadcast on state radio and TV late Thursday. As the country's election season gets underway, Chavez said of opposition candidate Henrique Capriles that, "you have a pig's tail, a pig's ears, and you snort like a pig," according to AFP. On Sunday, the 39-year-old Capriles won an overwhelming victory in an opposition primary. He was quickly vilified in a campaign in Venezuela's state-run media, which insinuated he was a homosexual and a Zionist agent....

BEIJING — Chinese officials face a choice in Apple’s dispute with a local company over the iPad trademark — side with a struggling entity that a court says owns the name or with a global brand that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in China. Experts say that means Beijing’s political priorities rather than the courts will settle the dispute if it escalates. Shenzhen Proview Technology has asked regulators to seize iPads in China in a possible prelude to pressing Apple Inc. for a payout. There have been seizures in some cities but no sign of action by national-level...

ERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's hand-picked choice for the ceremonial post of president resigned Friday in a scandal over political favors, dealing a blow to the German chancellor in the midst of the euro zone debt crisis. In a curt five-minute statement at the Bellevue presidential palace, Christian Wulff acknowledged that he had lost the trust of the German people, making it impossible to continue in a role that is meant to serve as a moral compass for the nation. "For this reason it is no longer possible for me to exercise the office of president at home and abroad...

Hamza Kashgari, a Saudi columnist may face death for sending three tweets. Addressing the Prophet Muhammad he wrote, "I have loved the rebel in you," but "I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you." He also wrote, "I shall shake [your hand] as equals do … I shall speak to you as a friend, no more." The Saudi Twitter-sphere exploded with responses to Kashgari, with commentators accusing him of blasphemy. A Facebook account was immediately set up calling for his death and in no time over 13,000 Muslims subscribed to it. Kashgari...

Russian security forces have killed a leader of an Islamist rebel group in the North Caucasus who was accused of plotting a botched suicide attack in Moscow and calling for more bombings. Ibragimkhalil Daudov was found dead in a forest on Tuesday after being wounded at the weekend in a shootout when police stormed a nearby house where he was hiding in the mainly Muslim region of Dagestan, Kommersant newspaper reported. Daudov escaped after the shootout, in which four gunmen were killed, but lost a lot of blood and froze to death, Kommersant quoted security officers as saying, Reuters reports....

Oil climbed in New York, heading for the biggest weekly gain this year, as signs of an improving U.S. economy and progress on a bailout for Greece bolstered the outlook for fuel demand. Brent touched an eight-month high. West Texas Intermediate crude rose as much as 1.2 percent today and is up 4.9 percent this week. A gauge of U.S. leading indicators probably advanced in January, economists said before the report today. European governments may cut interest rates on emergency loans to Greece and use European Central Bank funds to plug a financing gap, two people familiar with discussions said....

Authorities in Switzerland have confiscated $6 trillion in counterfeit U.S. bonds at the request of Italian prosecutors, authorities said Friday.

Ten-year-old Romany sits in the same room where his family huddled together nearly three weeks ago, afraid for their lives, as a violent mob attacked their house. His family had fled to this room on the top floor, where pictures of Jesus and Coptic saints hang on bare cement walls. His parents dragged heavy furniture to the door, barricading it as they heard people try to break in below. The mob was throwing rocks at the windows, and he heard gunfire, says Romany. They were cursing Christians. "We kept praying that G0d would be with us," says the fourth-grader. "And...

-excerpt- On Friday, Bangkok police commissioner Lt. Gen. Winai Thongsong announced authorities were searching for two more suspects in the case,...52-year-old Javad Nikkhahfard and said he was believed to be a bomb maker who had possibly been training the three Iranians.

The German economy has been one of the wonders of the world over the last couple of years. While the rest of Europe staggered, German unemployment fell to the lowest level in decades. This week the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the club of developed economies around the world, issued a new “Economic Survey of Germany.” The biggest challenge it could find facing the country was finding enough workers. It recommended steps to encourage more women to work. “Please accept our sincere congratulations for a well-managed economy,” said Angel Gurría, the O.E.C.D.’s secretary general, in a speech in Berlin....

BERLIN: Angela Merkel's hand-picked choice for the ceremonial post of president was expected to resign on Friday in a scandal over political favours, dealing a blow to the German chancellor in the midst of the euro zone crisis. Christian Wulff, who has been under fire for months, was to give a statement at 1000 GMT. Merkel abruptly postponed a trip to Rome where she was to hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, and scheduled a news conference for after Wulff speaks.

Greek Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos resigned on Friday after masked armed robbers stole more than 60 objects of "incalculable" value, including a gold ring, from a museum in ancient Olympia. Sixty-eight objects were whisked from a museum dedicated to the ancient Olympic Games after two masked men immobilised the museum's sole female guard as she arrived for her early morning shift, officials said.

Peru may buy 10 Embraer Super Tucanos -Brazil * Deal with Embraer could be worth $150 mln * Peru also interested in Embraer's KC-390 planes * Brazil, Peru want to boost border security BRASILIA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Peru is considering buying ten Super Tucano light attack aircraft from Brazil's Embraer as it works with Brazil to bolster surveillance along their jungle border, Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim said on Tuesday. Amorim said the Peruvian military is also interested in Embraer's KC-390 military transport plane and the armoured land vehicle Guarani, a Brazilian army project that is expected to start...

IMI Explores an Air-launched Derivative of the Extra Rocket Israel Military Industries (IMI) is exploring a new air launched application of the 300mm Extra guided ballistic surface launched rocket, enabling air forces to perform autonomous, precision standoff attack, at extended ranges, well outside the effective protected range of even the most advanced air defense systems. The Extra rocket was developed by IMI and IAI MLM division as a surface launched guided rocket, capable of attacking fixed or relocatable targets from distances of 160 km, using an aerodynamically guided, roll stabilized rocket. EXTRA - Extended range Rocket System. Photo: IMI The...

Navy launches second locally made guided-missile boat The Jakarta Post, Batam | Fri, 02/17/2012 The Indonesian Navy accepted delivery of its second locally made KCR-40 guided-missile fast boat at a handover ceremony at Batu Ampar Port in Batam, Riau Islands, on Thursday. The KRI Kujang, made in Indonesia by PT Palindo Marindo, will join the KRI Clurit, the first KCR-40 that the private shipyard made for the Navy. Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Agus Suhartono, Navy chief Adm. Soeparno and lawmakers Mahfudz Siddiq and Max Sopacua from House Commission I overseeing defense attended the ceremony. “The...

SINGAPORE: Raytheon offers improved air-launched anti-ship weapons By: Greg Waldron Singapore Raytheon sees an opportunity to upgrade Asia Pacific's air forces with advanced versions of its AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) and AGM-65 Maverick missile, mainly for use in the anti-surface warfare. At the Singapore Airshow, it promoted both an extended range version of JSOW, the JSOW-ER, and the laser-guided version of the Maverick. The company noted an evolving naval threat environment, two features of which are better defensive capabilities on large surface combatants and a greater small boat threat. It said the long-range JSOW-ER can help address the first...

Following the announcement by prosecutors that they would seek to lift his immunity, German President Christian Wulff announced Friday morning he would resign as the country's head of state. The development follows weeks of reporting on allegations the president accepted favors during his tenure as governor of the state of Lower-Saxony. Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her "deep regret" over the resignation. German President Christian Wulff resigned from office on Friday after prosecutors stated a day earlier they would seek to have parliament lift his immunity. Prosecutors wanted his immunity revoked so they could formally investigate allegations a film producer...

The government of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is emerging as a rare supplier of diesel to Syria, potentially undermining Western sanctions and helping the Syrian government fuel its military in the middle of a bloody crackdown on civilian protests. A cargo of diesel, which can be used to fuel army tanks or as heating fuel, was expected to arrive at Syria's Mediterranean port of Banias this week, according to two traders and shipping data. The cargo could be worth up to $50 million. Chavez is a vociferous advocate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who face pressure...

A federal judge today released the audio tape of a 911 call made by a man accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack in New York's subways, as officials say he launched a last-ditch effort to kill someone by deliberately crashing his car into another vehicle. Adis Medunjanin panicked after FBI agents searched his residence in January 2010, and later jumped in his car, sped off at 90 mph, and then slammed into another car on the Whitestone Expressway, a FBI agent testified in Brooklyn federal court. "He thought this would be an act of jihad - that there would...

Fleeing unemployment, hundreds of Spanish are migrating to idealised Norway in search of work. Few have had much luck. Many have found only unemployment, cold and despair. Another chapter in the great crisis afflicting Spain. Excerpts. Francisco Zamora arrived in Bergen, Norway, in 2009 with 225 euros in his pocket by Carmen Pérez-Lanzac"For a long time there’d been nothing to fall back on. My parents, who are already elderly, had been paying my mortgage of 540 euros for a few months. Nothing was working out, and my prospects were pretty dim. One night I was in a bar and the...

European Parliament Member Daniel Hannan told a gathering of conservative activists in Washington Saturday that the Obama administration's "Europeanization" agenda has the U.S. "screeching toward the cliff" of socialism."I have been a member of the European Parliament for 12 years, I am living in your future — or at least the future toward which your present leaders seem intent on taking it," he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday in Washington. "Believe me, my friend, you are not going to enjoy it." 

For the first time since the fall of the Qaddafi regime, a trial has opened near Benghazi of civilians accused of supporting the former regime. Some of four dozen civilians are also accused of helping "loyalist" prisoners escape from their "revolutionary" captors. The military trial opened and adjourned just as quickly at a base just outside Benghazi. The defence team accused the court of incompetence and requested a transfer to civilian court. None of the accused, after all, faces war-related accusations. One wonders what kind of justice the new masters of Libya can deliver and how justice is to be...

Officials from the EU and the International Monetary Fund made two grave errors when they swooped into Greece in mid-2010 and dictated the now hated "Memorandum". "Strange, you'd think he didn't want to." The regime of drastic cuts has tipped the economy into a violent downward spiral. They thought that private industry would muddle through as the state went through the austerity mincer. What the EU-IMF "Troika" did not fully understand is how many firms were really part of the state in disguise. "The Greek government outsources everything," said one official with close knowledge of the events. Faced with the...

British Prime Minister David Cameron's aim to 'repatriate' some EU social laws has been deemed as "complete non-starter" by the European Commissioner in charge of the dossier. In a strongly worded address to a trade union audience in London on Monday (13 February), EU social affairs commissioner Laszlo Andor also took Britain to task for promulgating stereotypes, its dislike of employment legislation and the assumption that it can cherrypick EU laws. Andor noted that EU laws which have been agreed by governments and parliament—as social laws are—are binding on all member states. If Britain wanted to be exempt from social...

Russia Must Build Two Variants of 5G Fighter - Rogozin Russian aircraft manufacturers must develop at least two competitive prototypes of a fifth-generation fighter jet, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday. “Two variants of the future fighter jet must be developed to encourage competition,” Rogozin said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the future fighter must possess all technical characteristics of a fifth-generation fighter, including elements of stealth technology, supersonic cruising speed, highly-integrated avionics, electronics and fire-control systems. The existing T-50 prototype, developed under the program PAK FA (Future Aviation System for...

<p>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Actor Sean Penn criticized Republican presidential candidates during a visit to Venezuela on Thursday, saying that right-wing policies in the United States aim to benefit the wealthy. Penn made the remarks after meeting with socialist President Hugo Chavez at Venezuela's presidential palace, when he was asked by a reporter about criticisms of Chavez by some Republican candidates.</p>

(Reuters) - The government of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is emerging as a rare supplier of diesel to Syria, potentially undermining Western sanctions and helping the Syrian government fuel its military in the middle of a bloody crackdown on civilian protests. A cargo of diesel, which can be used to fuel army tanks or as heating fuel, was expected to arrive at Syria's Mediterranean port of Banias this week, according to two traders and shipping data. The cargo could be worth up to $50 million. Chavez is a vociferous advocate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who...

<p>Osama bin Laden 'had stoned fantasies about marrying Whitney Houston and murdering Bobby Brown'</p> <p>Like all beautiful, successful women Whitney Houston had more than her share of male admirers. But few stars could have provoked such unwanted attention as that which the singer received from one of history's most depraved and despicable men, terror chief Osama bin Laden. Extraordinary as it might seem, bin Laden is said to have lusted after Houston, dreamed of marrying her and at one point even plotted to murder her husband Bobby Brown.</p>

Russia hopes to embark on a series of ambitious construction projects in Afghanistan aimed at reinforcing fragile stability in the country where Soviet troops fought a disastrous, decade-long war, its envoy to Kabul said Thursday. Though not connected by land, Moscow sees war-ravaged Afghanistan as a neighbor and is concerned by what it describes as the two-pronged threat of drugs and terrorism which reach Russia through ex-Soviet Central Asian countries. Andrey Avetisyan said Russia had limited involvement in Afghan reconstruction over the last decade "because it was all about fighting, and since we are not fighting, we didn't see much...

Israel to buy Italy's M-346 jet trainer for $1b S. Korea threatens to cancel deals because Israel did not choose its T-50 Golden Eagle. The Ministry of Defense has decided to buy the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 jet trainer for the Israel Air Force, rather than South Korea's T-50 Golden Eagle, jointly developed by Korean Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) and Lockheed Martin Company (NYSE: LMT). The ministry notified the companies of its decision, after the Air Force decided that it preferred the M-346 on the grounds that its performance was better than the T-50. The deal is worth around $1 billion....

The UN General Assembly has voted in favour of a resolution condemning human rights violations in Syria and calling for an end to the violence. The Arab-backed initiative, which also calls on President Bashar al-Assad to resign, is the latest of several attempts to bring an end to the crisis. Syria said the move would only worsen the crisis and encourage "terrorists". Earlier, China said it was sending a senior envoy to Damascus to negotiate a "peaceful and proper" solution. The non-binding resolution adopted by the General Assembly backs an Arab League plan aimed at stopping the killings. It was...

The U.S. Treasury Department has slapped sanctions on Iran's main intelligence organization, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups, committing human rights abuses, and backing the Syrian government's lethal crackdown on its citizens. The new measures prohibit U.S. citizens from engaging in any transactions with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and block any property interests that the MOIS has in the United States. All members of the organization are also barred from travel to the United States. U.S. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said in a statement on February 16 that the MOIS supports...

Islamabad: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived here yesterday for a two-day visit to attend the Pakistan-Iran-Afghanistan summit aimed at enhancing cooperation for peace and security in the region. Earlier in the day, Afghan President Hamid Karzai flew into the Pakistani capital. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani welcomed the visiting heads of state at the President House. Karzai and Gilani held a meeting during which they discussed the regional situation and bilateral ties and ongoing efforts for restoring peace in conflict-hit Afghanistan, officials said. President Zardari was to host a banquet for the Iranian and Afghan...

Less than four months after the U.S. cut off funding to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for granting full membership to the Palestinian Authority, the State Department has quietly put nearly $79 million in its 2013 budget in hopes that Congress will grant a legal waiver allowing UNESCO funding to be restored. That permission is unlikely to be granted soon, and is already opposed by one of the more influential members of the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. “Resuming U.S. funding would give a green light for other U.N. bodies to follow in UNESCO’s footsteps and support the...

White House drive for ‘nuclear zero’ imperils the worldPresident Obama is working to realize the leftist dream of unilateral nuclear disarmament. This will leave the United States pitifully weak and create conditions for catastrophic deterrence failure. The White House has told the Pentagon to study options for reducing the number of U.S. nuclear warheads by as much as 80 percent. The future nuclear force could have as few as 300 weapons, far below the cuts to 1,550 required by the START 2 nuclear treaty with Russia. It would give America an arsenal about the size of France's Force de Frappe...

Brent crude rose on Thursday for a fourth day in a row, topping $120 a barrel at settlement -- an eight-month high -- on worries about supply from Iran and from the North Sea, where output was expected to dip next month. The euro's rebound against the dollar also boosted crude oil on both sides of the Atlantic. The euro surged, reversing an early decline after reports that euro zone central banks had agreed to exchange Greek bonds they hold for new bonds as part of a deal to help the debt-strapped country. This raised hopes that Greece's long-sought debt...

JERUSALEM — After bombs went off near Israeli embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi, and a man with an Iranian passport accidentally blew himself up in Bangkok, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu couldn’t let the opportunity pass. Yediot Aharonot, the country’s most widely read newspaper, reported Wednesday: An updated list of talking points distributed by the national advocacy desk in the Prime Minister’s Office sought to connect the wave of terror with the international community’s efforts at tightening sanctions on Iran, and also to prepare the ground for a military option to stop Iran’s nuclear program. According to Yediot,...

When American troops removed Saddam Hussein from power, Muslim extremists took over Iraq. They launched a campaign of genocide against Iraqi Christians, and most Christians fled from Iraq, with many of them living in Syria as refugees. Syrian Christians make up 10 percent of the population of Syria, and belong to one of the oldest traditions of Christianity in the world. Remember that Saul of Tarsus converted to Christianity when he was on his way to Damascus, Syria, to persecute Christians. He changed his name to Paul, after Jesus knocked him off his horse. Paul wrote half of the New...

WASHINGTON — Twenty-three years ago this week, Iran's self-appointed supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, broadcast a religious edict declaring that author Salman Rushdie and his publishers were "hereby sentenced to death." The fatwa also called for "all the intrepid Muslims in the world" to "execute them quickly, wherever they find them." The U.S. State Department acknowledged the proclamation and issued a statement "condemning this threat in the strongest possible terms." Rushdie, then living in London, did the sensible thing; he went into hiding and rarely has been seen in public since. Since 1979, when Khomeini returned to Tehran from...

Ten years ago, China's "crown prince," Hu Jintao, visited the United States and was treated with the highest respect. Back then the Chinese people, not to mention a large portion of Western political elites and China experts, held extremely high hopes for his tenure. The U.S. government wanted to win over Hu so it could press him to start political reform as soon as possible. Now, with Hu's reign coming to an end, the Chinese people have realized that after Mao Zedong, no Chinese leader has been as hostile to the West as President Hu. Instead of launching political reforms,...

WASHINGTON – A senior defense official announced a planned series of changes to U.S. force posture in Europe on Thursday that would reduce the number of U.S. troops on the continent by more than 11,000 by 2017. Families of affected troops are being notified Thursday, the officials said. INACTIVATED 170th Infantry Brigade: The unit’s 3,850 soldiers, currently redeploying to Baumholder, Germany, from Afghanistan, will begin moving with their families this summer, the Pentagon said. 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade: 3,850 soldiers, currently in Afghanistan, will redeploy this summer to Germany. Soldiers and their families will begin to move in summer 2013....

enezuela's ailing strongman Hugo Chavez unleashed a crude anti-Semitic attack on a rising opposition figure, Henrique Capriles Radonski, the New York Sun reported Thursday. Capriles is a Catholic whose maternal grandparents were Jews from Poland. That makes him a Jew, by Jewish standards. He is emerging as a challenger to succeed Chavez, who suffers from cancer. According to the Sun, a broadcast titled “The Enemy Is Zionism” on the main and official government radio station in Caracas said that Capriles had worked for private firms “linked to the interests of the Zionist bourgeoisie.” It called him part of a “fascist...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - China does not want to see Iran develop nuclear weapons but intends to pursue its 'legitimate economic interests' despite Western sanctions on the Islamic republic, an official said. Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, accompanying China's Vice-President Xi Jinping on a week-long visit to the United States, said the two sides had discussed 'hot spot' issues like Iran's controversial nuclear program. 'We call for efforts to maintain the effectiveness of the international non-proliferation regime and to maintain peace and stability in the region,' he told reporters at a briefing in Washington late on Tuesday. 'As for relevant Security...

An angry mob of Muslim zealots, led by members of the Salafist sect, set fire to a Coptic Christian church in a village northeast of Cairo, in the latest attack on the Christian minority in the wake of Egypt’s January elections. The mob violence in the village of Meet Bashar, which continued through the past weekend, ended only when leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood succeeded in persuading the Salafists to leave the scene. The Muslim Brotherhood was the main victor in Egypt’s recent elections.