What Adam Curry is reading

Ronduit racistische reacties op video Samuel L. Jackson ter promotie Obama
  Link to Article
  Source: ZapLog - externe links
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:13
  Het kinderboek 'Go the Fok to Sleep' dat werd voorgelezen door Samuel L. Jackson was een tijd terug een grote hit. Nu maakte de acteur een video om Obama te ondersteunen: 'Wake the fuck up.' Daarin richt hij zich op degenen die in 2008 op Obama stemden, maar nu opnieuw wakker geschud moeten worden. Op rijm herinnert hij hen eraan wat Obama heeft gedaan '' zoals Bin Laden uit de weg ruimen- en welk kwaad Romney kan aanrichten.
  Het is niet ongewoon dat Hollywoodsterren zich uitspreken voor een kandidaat. Clint Eastwood gaf onlangs nog een speech om Romney te steunen.
  Op Twitter zijn de reacties van de tegen/voorstanders nooit mals, maar Jackson ontving tweets die ronduit racistisch zijn: 'Het zijn nikkers als jij waardoor ik denk dat Lincoln's besluit om de slaven NIET terug naar Afrika te repatriren een enorme vergissing was.'
  De video
OP 4 OKTOBER IS HET EINDE DEMMINK EN VVD
  Link to Article
  Source: Klokkenluideronline
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:04
  BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING
  LEES HIER HET PERSBERICHT [Helsinki] OVER HET DEMMINK-TRIBUNAAL IN WASHINGTON * NEDERLANDSE MSM BLIJVEN KINDERVERKRACHTERS DEKKEN EN BESCHERMEN * VVD ZAL DONDEREND IN ELKAAR STORTEN WEGENS BESCHERMING VAN DEMMINK EN ANDERE KINDERVERKRACHTERS ZOALS ED NIJPELS * EINDE CARRIERE MARK RUTTE IN ZICHT * KABINETSFORMATIE ZAL STIL KOMEN TE LIGGEN WEGENS DEMMINK-GATE NA PATHETISCHE POGINGEN VAN OPSTELTEN ZIJN MINISTERIE TE BEHOUDEN VOOR ZIJN COLLEGA-KINDERVERKRACHTERS * HENK KROL VAN 50+ HEEFT REEDS TOEGEZEGD KAMERVRAGEN TE GAAN STELLEN * OOK DE TELEGRAAF DREIGT TE WORDEN MEEGESLEURD IN PEDO-TSUNAMI * HOE REAGEREN DE PVDA EN SAMSOM? * HAAGSE PEDOFIELEN ZULLEN ALS RATTEN HET ZINKENDE SCHIP VERLATEN
Papers Please: FSB to create massive domestic passenger database
  Link to Article
  Source: StratRisks
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:03
  S ource: Gazeta
  Editor's Note: We have been watching the moves of Russian policy makers for some time. Crackdowns on foreign NGO's, politicians with foreign bank accounts, and the assaults on free speech and free assembly. Their visible attempt at a anti-color revolution council back in April was foolish but it is obvious that it didn't end there. Kicking out USAID and eventually kicking out NED shows they have no trust in their intelligence apparatus, will Russia go the way of East Germany and fall prey to hyper paranoia? ''Michael Vail
  According to a new Transportation Ministry order, starting July 1, 2013 data about every passenger who enters or exits any region in Russia will be added to a new FSB/Interior Ministry database. The Transport Ministry has published the text of the new rules in the 'Russian Gazette.' The FSB and Interior Ministry are ordering this new database in order to track the route of any person that law enforcement on the ground deems suspicious.
  For the Ministry of Transport, the new centralized automated passenger identity database will be part of a united government transportation safety system.
  According to the order, the Transport Ministry will only get involved when passengers cross between regions. ''If a commuter train travels within a region then this rule will not come into effect. But, for example, if a train goes from Moscow to the Moscow Region, then the new laws will apply,'' explained a Transport Ministry representative.
  Transportation companies will be required to have the name, surname, passport number, DOB, and proof of registration for every passenger on board. In addition, the company must show the route taken for each passenger, and the date and location where every ticket was purchased.
  If a transportation company fails to hand over this data, they could face both misdemeanor and felony charges.
  Despite of the fact that the order will not take effect until July 1, 2013, a trial run of the new passenger tracking system may take place before the end of this year.
  Tags: DOB, East Germany, FSB, government, intelligence, Interior Ministry, law, Michael Vail, Moscow, NED, NGO, Papers Please, revolution, russia, Russian Gazette, Transport Ministry, Transportation Ministry, USAID
VIDEO: Spain counts cost of deadly floods
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Europe
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:02
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Libyans give up guns and explosives in state collection drives. (Euronews video)
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:01
  Hundreds turned out in Tripoli and Benghazi to hand in weapons left over from last year's war.With the government struggling to impose authority, it has launched the initiative in an attempt to make the country safer and crack down on armed militants.
  One participant said, ''As part of the initiative I have handed over my weapon. We want our country to be safe and secure. We don't want weapons anymore. It's over, the time of war is over. We got rid of the tyrant. Thank God.''
  Muanmar Gaddafi is gone, but militant groups still patrol the streets. The government is attempting to disband the rogue militias, while offering backing to some of the most powerful legitimate groups in order to strengthen the state security forces.
  More about:Libya, Security, WeaponsCopyright (C) 2012 euronews
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Saakashvili rival says Georgia government's days numbered. (Euronews video)
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:00
  Tens of thousands of supporters of Georgia's opposition coalition have rallied ahead of Monday's parliamentary election.
  Tension has been rising after days of demonstrations over a prison brutality scandal that has come to dominate the campaign.
  The leader of the six-party Georgian Dream told the crowd in Tbilisi the days of the current government under President Saakashvili were numbered.
  Bidzina Ivanishvili used his final appeal to voters to challenge the government's record.
  ''All people are standing by us: ethnic minorities '' Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Jews. This is a great example to show the whole world that our nation deserves real democracy and real success,'' he said.
  The billionaire has come under scrutiny over his Russian fortune '' believed to be worth almost half of Georgia's economic output '' and alleged links to the Kremlin.
  The prisons scandal has diverted attention from him, but it has also increased tensions.
  TV reports exposed prison guards abusing inmates, prompting nationwide protests. The government told euronews it recognised there was a problem.
  ''Torture was systemic in Georgian police and it's not like that any longer. But prison system was somehow neglected. It was considered that prisons are calm'... So it was considered that, ok, there might be some problems but not so serious,'' said Prisons Minister Giorgi Tughushi.
  The Georgian interior ministry has rejected accusations from civic rights organisations that the authorities had illegally detained more than 20 activists, saying those being held had harassed police officers.
  Western organisations have called for restraint amid fears of election violence.
  The vote will be followed by a presidential election next year, after which power is due to be largely devolved to the prime minister.
  More about:Georgia, Georgia politics, Parliamentary electionsCopyright (C) 2012 euronews
  JavaScript is required in order to view this article's accompanying video
U.S. Forcibly Drugged All Guantanamo Prisoners With Scopolamine - Documents
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:56
  Drugged '... Hicks. Photo: Jacky Ghossein
  New evidence has emerged that all Guantanamo Bay detainees, including David Hicks, were drugged involuntarily with a substance that has a long history as a truth serum.
  Recently declassified US documents revealing medical procedures have shown that scopolamine was administered to all detainees taken to the Cuban detention centre.
  The documents, which were standard operating procedures for nursing staff, were obtained by the independent US news outlet Truthout, and reveal that the rationale for the drug's use on all detainees was to prevent motion sickness.
  However, US military experts have said that scopolamine is not recommended for motion sickness because of its severe side effects.
  The US government has not responded to questions by The Sun-Herald about drugs given involuntarily to detainees.
  The Sun-Herald revealed this month that Mr Hicks and other detainees were drugged against their will with unknown substances and that detainees' medical records were incomplete, with the names and dosages of drugs removed.
  Details of the mistreatment of Mr Hicks were about to emerge publicly for the first time in legal action, by the federal government, to stop him receiving revenue from his book Guantanamo: My Journey, until the government abandoned the case.
  Witnesses and previously secret documents were to have backed up Mr Hicks's long-held claims of abuse. Commonwealth prosecutors decided that the proceeds of crime case would not stand up in court and dropped the action.
  Details about the use of scopolamine emerged last week.
  Mr Hicks has told The Sun-Herald he was given a drug during his journey to Guantanamo Bay that left him drowsy and disoriented.
  He said it was administered by injection, not a patch behind his ear as is described in the standard operating procedures.
  Information released by the US spy agency, the CIA, has revealed that because of its many undesirable side effects, scopolamine had been disqualified as a truth drug.
  It listed its most disabling side effects as hallucinations, disturbed perception, headaches, rapid heartbeat, and blurred vision.
Scopolamine: Powerful drug growing in the forests of Colombia that ELIMINATES free will.
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:53
  Scopolamine often blown into faces of victims or added to drinksWithin minutes, victims are like 'zombies' - coherent, but with no free willSome victims report emptying bank accounts to robbers or helping them pillage own houseDrug is made from borrachero tree, which is common in ColombiaBy Beth Stebner
  PUBLISHED: 17:44 EST, 12 May 2012 | UPDATED: 08:43 EST, 13 May 2012
  A hazardous drug that eliminates free will and can wipe the memory of its victims is currently being dealt on the streets of Colombia.
  The drug is called scopolamine, but is colloquially known as 'The Devil's Breath,' and is derived from a particular type of tree common to South America.
  Stories surrounding the drug are the stuff of urban legends, with some telling horror stories of how people were raped, forced to empty their bank accounts, and even coerced into giving up an organ.
  Scroll down for video
  Danger: 'The Devil's Breath' is such a powerful drug that it can remove the capacity for free will
  Deadly drug: Scopolamine is made from the Borrachero tree, which blooms with deceptively beautiful white and yellow flowers
  VICE's Ryan Duffy travelled to the country to find out more about the powerful drug. In two segments, he revealed the shocking culture of another Colombian drug world, interviewing those who deal the drug and those who have fallen victim to it.
  Demencia Black, a drug dealer in the capital of Bogota, said the drug is frightening for the simplicity in which it can be administered.
  He told Vice that Scopolamine can be blown in the face of a passer-by on the street, and within minutes, that person is under the drug's effect - scopolamine is odourless and tasteless.
  'You can guide them wherever you want,' he explained. 'It's like they're a child.'
  Black said that one gram of Scopolamine is similar to a gram of cocaine, but later called it 'worse than anthrax.'
  In high doses, it is lethal.
  It only takes a moment: One drug dealer in Bogota explained how victims are drugged within minutes of exposure
  Victims: One Colombian woman said that under the influence of scopolamine, she led a man to her house and helped him ransack it
  The drug, he said, turns people into complete zombies and blocks memories from forming. So even after the drug wears off, victims have no recollection as to what happened.
  One victim told Vice that a man approached her on the street asking her for directions. Since it was close by, she helped take the man to his destination, and they drank juice together.
  'You can guide them wherever you want. It's like they're a child.'
  She took the man to her house and helped him gather all of her belongings, including her boyfriend's cameras and savings.
  'It is painful to have lost money,' the woman said,' but I was actually quite lucky.'
  According to the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, the drug - also known as hyoscine - causes the same level of memory loss as diazepam.
  In ancient times, the drug was given to the mistresses of dead Colombian leaders '' they were told to enter their master's grave, where they were buried alive.
  Devil's Breath: The drug is odourless and tasteless and can simply be blown in the face of someone on the street; their free will vanishes after being exposed to it
  Dangerous: Vice's Ryan Duffy traveled to the capital of Bogota to find out more about the drug
  In modern times, the CIA used the drug as part of Cold War interrogations, with the hope of using it like a truth serum.
  However, because of the drug's chemical makeup, it also induces powerful hallucinations.
  The tree common around Colombia, and is called the 'borrachero' tree '' loosely translated as the 'get-you-drunk' tree.
  It is said that Colombian mothers warn their children not to fall asleep under the tree, though the leafy green canopies and large yellow and white flowers seem appealing.
  Experts are baffled as to why Colombia is riddled with scopolamine-related crimes, but wager much of it has to do with the country's torn drug-culture past, and on-going civil war.
  Watch video here: WARNING: CONTENT MAY BE UNSUITABLE FOR SOME READERS
Cyber Attack on US Banks is an Obvious False Flag
  Link to Article
  Source: Infowars » Featured Stories
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:51
  Eric BlairInfowars.comSept 30, 2012
  Over a month ago we featured an article titled The NWO Agenda Would Move Forward with This One Simple Act, which stated the one event that could accomplish all of the agenda's goals in one shot would be ''a false flag cyber attack on Western banking institutions that they can pin on Iran.''
  Please watch this exact scenario unfold in this short ABC news clip from a few days ago:
  With President Obama ready to sign an executive order to control the Internet in the name of cyber security, could it be more obvious that this ''cyber attack'' is a total set up? Especially since all versions of Internet control legislation have failed to pass in normal government channels bothdomestically and internationally.
  Are we expected to believe that sophisticated Muslim hacktivists attacked US banks because they were angry about a movie that was produced in America? That'd be like attacking Afghanistan or Iraq after 15 Saudis supposedly attacked us, ohh wait'...that did happen.
  Is this really the best story they can come up with? It was so predictable that it makes it that much more laughable. But the motive being pinned on the pathetic anti-Muslim movie is the real kicker.
  It's sad to see Richard Clark in the video above actually take this seriously. Talk about an establishment sellout.
  I call major bullshit on this story. It stinks to high heaven. What do you think?
  Tags: economics, government corruption
  Share this article:
'Succesvolle Nederlandse film staat onder druk'
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  Source: VK: Home
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:49
  30/09/12, 14:21 '' bron: ANP
  (C) anp. Hoofdrolspeler Daan Schuurmans samen met zijn vrouw en actrice Bracha van Doesburg op de rode loper bij de premiere van de film Bellicher : Cel tijdens het Nederlands filmfestival.
  De Nederlandse filmindustrie is een succesvolle en economisch waardevolle industrie. De sector staat echter wel onder grote druk. Het productievolume moet op peil blijven en daar zijn maatregelen voor nodig. Dat staat in een zondag verschenen onderzoek van het SEO Economisch Onderzoek.
  Vorig jaar stond de Nederlandse filmindustrie er goed voor: 8000 bedrijven bieden werk aan 20.000 mensen. In de afgelopen 4 jaar is de bioscoopomzet van de Nederlandse film met 80 procent gestegen. De onderzoekers concluderen dat er een positief verband bestaat tussen de vertoning van Nederlandse films en de hoogte van het totale bioscoopbezoek. Veel Nederlandse films in de bioscoop betekent dat meer mensen naar de film gaan. De stijging van het bioscoopbezoek is deels toe te schrijven aan investeringen in digitalisering, kwaliteit en uitbreiding van de vertoning.
  De bezuinigingen bij onder meer het Nederlands Filmfonds en de Publieke Omroep zullen echter vanaf 2013 een groot gat slaan in de Nederlandse filmproductie. Alleen al door het snijden in het budget van het Nederlands Filmfonds zal het productievolume in 2013 met (C)(C)n derde dalen, aldus het rapport.
Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:46
  Amazing.
  I promise you, every single one of these lies will be repeated on the Sunday shows over and over. And no one will point out that they are lies. Welcome to post-fact America.
  ABC's "This Week" -- Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J.; White House adviser David Plouffe; Panel: former Mississippi governor and RNC chair Haley Barbour; former Vermont governor and DNC chair Howard Dean, founder of Democracy for America; Democratic strategist and ABC News contributor Donna Brazile; political strategist and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd; and POLITICO senior political reporter Maggie Haberman.
  NBC's "Meet the Press" -- Christie; Plouffe; former Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa. Panel: Conservative activist and founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Ralph Reed; Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA); the BBC's Katty Kay; and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd.
  NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" -- Bob Woodward, Washington Post; Katty Kay, BBC; Joe Klein, Time; Kelly O'Donnell, NBC
  CBS' "Face the Nation" -- Christie; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., University of Virginia's Larry Sabato and Democratic strategist Robert Shrum; The Washington Post's Bob Woodward, Moody Analytics' Mark Zandi, former DC Chancellor of Schools Michelle Rhee and Hedrick Smith, author of Who Stole the American Dream.
  MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes" -- Nan Aron, President of the Alliance for Justice; Barbara Arnwine, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, Author of ''America's Constitution: A Biography;'' Jeffrey Toobin, Author, ''The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court" and Staff Writer at The New Yorker.
  MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry" -- Jamal Simmons, Democratic Strategist; Katon Dawson, National Republican Consultant; Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, Contributor to NBC Latino; Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Columnist; Amy Jo Martin, Founder and CEO of Digital Royalty; Andrea Powell, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Fair Girls, Asia Graves, Survivor of human trafficking .
  CNN's "State of the Union" -- Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md.; David Axelrod, adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. Panel: Republican Consultant Alex Castellanos, Pollster and Democratic Strategist Celinda Lake, and CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.
  CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bain Capital Managing Director Steve Pagliuca.
  CNN's "Reliable Sources" -- The Guardian's Ana Marie Cox, National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru and Thomson Reuters' Chrystia Freeland, SNL alum Darrell Hammond, Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports.
  "Fox News Sunday" -- Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Panel: Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard/Fox News Contributor; Liz Marlantes, The Christian Science Monitor; Laura Ingraham, The Laura Ingraham Show/Fox News Contributor; Juan Williams, Fox News Political Analyst.
CYBER WARRIORS AND WORRIERS FACE A PANDORA'S BOX!
  Link to Article
  Source: VENITISM
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:42
  CIA and Mossad have developed Flame, Stuxnet, Gauss, and three additional malware toconduct clandestine cyberwar and espionage, targeting computer systems in Iran.USA has attacked many foreign computer systems, having the ability to attack,degrade or destroy the e-grids of adversaries. The heavy encryption and natureof the newest malware fits the profile of military intelligence operations.Uncontrolled security threats on the Internet could return much of the planet toan era without electricity or automated transportation. The United States hadyet to resolve basic questions about how to police the Internet, let alone howto defend critical infrastructure such as electric generation plants. The pastthree years have seen an escalation of an unprecedented theft of trade secretsand mounting threats to infrastructure.
  Using malware, USA not only has delayed the Iranian nuclear bomb, but it canalso explode the bomb once it's developed! Let the Iranians hide the bomb deepinside a mountain, and the Americans will detonate it like a piece of cakeinside the mountain! Iranians are in for a big surprise!
  Extremely sophisticated malware have infiltrated computers and energy facilitiesin the Middle East. Researchers are now dissecting heavily encrypted malware,such as Stuxnet, Flame, and Gauss, designed by American and Israel intelligence.But these malware would become templates. They were written by cautiousprofessionals who minimized collateral damage. The knock-off versions by otherswill be much less discriminating. An electronic assault that disabled thousandsof computers at Saudi Arabia's Aramco had followed a separate infection reportedby an Iranian oil company.
  Governments and gangs realize malware is much cheaper than mainstream warfare.Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming designed todisrupt operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy orexploitation, gain unauthorized access to system resources, and other abusivebehavior. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware,dishonest adware, scareware, crimeware, rootkits, and other malicious andunwanted software or program. In law, malware is sometimes known as computercontaminant.
  Mounting a defense against nation-sponsored attacks will be extraordinarilydifficult, as it requires new operating systems designed to manage equipment atcrucial facilities. Stopping criminals and terrorists who will adopt the sametechniques would take strong international cooperation and deeper monitoring ofthe Internet, which many oppose on privacy grounds.
  Malware makers can hide their tracks using spoofing, VPNs, proxy services, andother means to make it look like they are based in any number of countries -when in truth they are somewhere completely different.
  The US Defense Department has defined cyberspace as a warfare domain that itmust dominate. Governments and companies recognize that they have all beenhacked and focus more on limiting the damage from breaches.
  The freakish Pasok government of Greece in 2010 was so stupid that it hoodwinkedall media that I conspired to trigger a war between Greece and Turkey and blameMariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece,for it! Accusing dissident bloggers of treason, Graecokleptocrats havemanufactured a blood libel in cyberspace, which in turn incites hatred andviolence. The government of Greece gave my head on plate to Erdogan. BrutalGraecokleptocrats have destroyed my life. My life is stolen. Now I demand mylife back!
  Occident has developed electronic weapons that could be used to defend the Westagainst cyber attacks or prevent them. Occident is prepared to strike first in acyber conflict. Cyber arms grow out of control. No government can guarantee itcan protect a country or entity against cyber attack. In future wars, there willbe a cyber element. Countries hope that if they threaten to use missiles toretaliate against a cyber attack, others will think twice about launching one.
  Internet security firms make more money when people are more scared of malware,and Eugene Kaspersky declares that cyber terrorism can bring the end ofcivilization! A global Internet blackout and crippling attacks against keyinfrastructure are among two possible cyber-pandemics. Kaspersky is afraid cyberterrorism is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world willknow it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Kaspersky hoodwinks it will be the end ofthe world as we know it!
  Kaspersky hoodwinks the evolution from cyber war to cyber terrorism comes fromthe indiscriminate nature of cyber weapons. Very much like a modern-dayPandora's Box, Flame and other forms of malware cannot be controlled uponrelease. Faced with a replicating threat that knows no national boundaries,cyber weapons can take down infrastructure around the world, hurting scores ofinnocent victims along the way.
Afghan 'insider attack' kills two
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:41
  30 September 2012Last updated at02:34 ETA US official has confirmed that 2,000 American soldiers have now been killed in the Afghan conflict, after a new suspected "insider" attack.
  A US soldier and a foreign contractor were killed in eastern Afghanistan, apparently by a rogue member of the Afghan security forces.
  "Insider" attacks sharply increased this year, prompting the coalition to suspend joint operations this month.
  However, such operations resumed in recent days, the Pentagon said.
  The nationality of the contractor was not given immediately.
  CheckpointThe two new deaths occurred on Saturday in Wardak province, a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said.
  Afghan officials say the incident took place at a checkpoint near an Afghan National Army base in the district of Sayedabad.
  Continue reading the main story2007 - 2 attacks, 2 Isaf soldiers dead2008 - 2 attacks, 2 dead2009 - 6 attacks, 10 dead2010 - 6 attacks, 20 dead2011 - 21 attacks, 35 dead2012 (so far) - 36 attacks, 52 deadSource: International Security Assistance Force (Isaf)
  The police chief of Wardak province told the BBC that a number of Afghan soldiers had also been killed but this has not been independently confirmed.
  It is not immediately clear what prompted the incident. Military officials from both sides have launched a joint investigation.
  At least 52 foreign soldiers - about half of them Americans - have been killed in so-called "green on blue" attacks this year, compared to 35 for the whole of last year.
  "I'm mad as hell about them, to be honest with you," Gen John Allen, the top commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, told CBS's 60 Minutes show, in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday.
  "It reverberates everywhere across the United States. You know, we're willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we're not willing to be murdered for it."
  It was announced this month that hundreds of soldiers in Afghanistan had been dismissed or detained after an inquiry into the surge of insider attacks.
  Nato combat troops are set to withdraw by the end of 2014, but a central plank of the strategy is that foreign soldiers will serve alongside and train Afghans for many years to come.
  Correspondents say that may not be realistic given the ever increasing number of Afghans who turn their weapons on their foreign allies.
Prime Minister of Curacao says attempt to boot him out of office before elections is unconstitutional
  Link to Article
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:34
  The prime minister of Curacao says the attempt by the island's governor to kick him out of office 21 days before new elections is ''unconstitutional'' and a coup.
  "There is no democratic answer," Gerrit Schotte told The Miami Herald by telephone at 11 p.m. Saturday from within the walls of his office compound on the Dutch-speaking Caribbean island.
  Schotte said he was locked inside the compound with about 20 other individuals, including members of his Cabinet, senators and others. He did not know how long they would remain but said the "the guy who says he is PM" had given orders to the police to go in.
  Police, he said, had refused.
  The drama unfolded 4:30 p.m. Saturday when an interim government was sworn in by the Holland-appointed governor. Elections have been scheduled for Oct. 19.
  "Why are they trying to get in power?" Schotte said. "Everything indicates they are trying to stop the elections."
  Interim Prime Minister Stanley Bertrain was sworn in at the Governor's Palace by acting Gov. Adeerl van der Plujim-Vrede.
  Schotte, 38, has been in office for 23 months. But after his government lost its majority and was forced to resign, the country has been in a parliamentary crisis.
  On Sept. 13, a majority of parliamentarians asked the governor to name an interim government. The legality of the move has been questioned, with Schotte saying it's an "unconstitutional act."
  Non-Schotte supporters have denied in the press that there is a coup.
  Schotte has urged the island's 150,000 citizens including those protesting outside the walls to remain calm, he said.
  "I don't need this," he said. "But I want to get a message out. He doesn't have the authority to make a new government."
Elsevier.nl - Nederland - Rutte: Gedrag premier Cura§ao is onbehoorlijk
  Link to Article
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:29
  Nederlanddonderdag 6 oktober 2011 23:23
  Premier Mark Rutte (VVD) maakt zich zorgen over de situatie op Cura§ao en het kabinet suggereert een ingreep op het eiland. De premier van Cura§ao ruziet openlijk met de centrale bank en politici zijn niet voldoende integer.
  Cura§ao hekelt de 'bemoeizucht' van Nederland
  Dat blijkt uit een uitgelekt verslag van de ministerraad, waaruit het Antilliaans Dagblad heeft geciteerd en dat nu in handen is van RTL Nieuws. Een commissie onder leiding van voormalig GroenLinks-leider Paul Rosenm¶ller concludeerde onlangs dat de integriteit van ministers op het eiland niet in orde is.
  BoycotIn een conceptbrief (pdf) aan Cura§ao, dat sinds oktober vorig jaar een zelfstandig land is, schrijft minister Piet Hein Donner (CDA, Binnenlandse Zaken) over de 'agressieve toon in het publieke debat, de verbale intimidatie van personen, inbreuken op de persoonlijke levenssfeer en boycot van de media'.
  In een verslag (pdf) van de ministerraad staat dat het kabinet zich zorgen maakt over wat zich afspeelt op Cura§ao. Rutte noemt het gedrag van premier Gerrit Schotte van het eiland 'onbehoorlijk'. De Cura§aose premier weigerde een onderzoekscommissie te ontvangen. Minister Henk Kamp (VVD, Sociale Zaken) noemt de situatie 'ernstig'.
  Het kabinet-Rutte suggereert een ingreep in de politieke situatie in de voormalige kolonie van Nederland. Het kabinet is bereid om artikel 43 in te zetten. Hierin staat dat Cura§ao fatsoenlijk moet worden bestuurd, anders grijpt het koninkrijk in.
  IntegerOp Cura§ao groeit intussen de aversie tegen de 'bemoeizucht' van Nederland. Parlementsvoorzitter Ivar Asjes zegt in reactie op het onderzoek van Rosenm¶ller dat Nederland eens moet bekijken hoe integer ministers Hans Hillen (CDA, Defensie), Gerd Leers (CDA, Immigratie en Asiel) en premier Mark Rutte zijn.
  Rosenm¶ller concludeerde dat Cura§ao een onderzoek moet instellen om de integriteit van Schotte en twee ministers te onderzoeken. Als dat niet gebeurt, moet Nederland ingrijpen.
  Door Shari Deira
  Rapporteer hier een fout in het artikel aan de redactie
Demissionair kabinet Cura§ao weigert vertrek
  Link to Article
  Source: VK: Home
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:25
  30/09/12, 04:31 '' bron: ANP
  (C) anp. Premier Mark Rutte in gesprek met Gerrit Schotte, 19 oktober 2010.
  Demissionair premier Gerrit Schotte van Cura§ao verzet zich tegen de 'staatsgreep' die volgens hem momenteel wordt uitgevoerd. Hoewel er een nieuwe minister-president is benoemd, blijft Schotte zitten.
  Hij heeft voor de loop van zaterdagavond een ministerraad bijeen geroepen. Zijn ministers steunen Schotte en willen niet opstappen, maar aanblijven tot 19 oktober als er parlementsverkiezingen zijn.
  Het plein in Fort Amsterdam waar Schotte kantoor houdt is afgesloten voor publiek. Er zijn nog ruim honderd demonstranten en pers, maar de politie wil dat iedereen van het plein vertrekt.
  Schotte heeft vanuit zijn werkkamer een interview gegeven aan de Venezolaanse tv-zender TeleSur. Daarin stelt hij dat Nederland wellicht achter de 'staatsgreep' zit.
  Leider van coalitiepartij Pueblo Soberano Helmin Wiels zegt zeker te weten dat Nederland haar invloed wil vergroten op Cura§ao en daarom een nieuwe regering 'heeft laten installeren'. Hij wil de nieuwe minister-president Stanley Betrian laten arresteren.
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
  Link to Article
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:07
  Each and every one of us needs to do our part to make sure that our online lives are kept safe and secure. That's what National Cyber Security Awareness Month'--observed in October 2012'--is all about!Our free buttons, posters, social media icons, templates and web banners can help you develop your education and awareness campaign.Our Get Involved sheets provide suggestions on how you can participate and make an impact during National Cyber Security Awareness Month.Being a champion is a way for you to officially show your support for National Cyber Security Awareness Month and your commitment to cybersecurity. Being a champion is easy and does not require any financial support.Advertise your event or see what National Cyber Security Awareness Month activities are taking place in your area.No individual, business, or government entity is solely responsible for securing the Internet. Everyone has a role in securing their part of cyberspace, including the devices and networks they use.
Jill Meagher's disappearance shows the need for greater CCTV coverage in Melbourne (Editorial From: Herald Sun)
  Link to Article
  Source: no corn syrup's feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:03
  THE disturbing disappearance of Jill Meagher shows the need for greater CCTV coverage on Melbourne's streets.
  The footage of the 29-year-old Irishwoman as she was approached by a man in a blue hoodie in Sydney Rd led police to the arrest of a man last night.
  As well as this sudden breakthrough in a baffling case, it has coincided with new state government funding for the cameras.
  Suburban and regional councils will almost certainly follow the lead of Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle in working with police to install the cameras where they can best protect the public.
  Some councils have already put cameras along their streets after receiving more than $2.5 million in government grants. Yesterday, Premier Ted Baillieu indicated he would support more cameras around the state.
  The cameras have been shown to work in providing surveillance in known trouble spots. As well as fixed cameras around the CBD, Melbourne City Council has two vans ready to patrol city streets from November under its Safe City program.
  The 360-degree cameras are a direct link to police and can provide an instant response to assaults and robberies.
  The cameras captured almost 600 incidents during a six-month trial.
  Security cameras are not an excuse for lazy policing although they can provide irrefutable evidence of a crime as well as discouraging potential offenders.
  The CCTV footage of the man in a blue hoodie, who is seen with Ms Meagher in Sydney Rd before she disappeared, brought responses from the tens of thousands of people who have seen it in the media and on social networks.
  Footage from another Sydney Rd camera shows the same man running towards the missing woman and a car doing a sudden U-turn towards her. Police are hoping several men will now come forward.
  These are chance images from cameras installed by shop owners. What is urgently needed is a wider, metropolitan network of CCTV cameras along city and suburban streets.
  It is ridiculous to say the cameras are an intrusion into people's privacy. They should be looked on as safety cameras that provide greater public protection.
Josh Kilbourn: US Banks Under Minor Cyber-Attack '' Probable Israeli False Flag '-- Meanwhile US Cyber-Security Largely Vaporware + Meta-RECAP
  Link to Article
  Source: Public Intelligence Blog
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:45
  Josh Kilbourn
  High Alert! Millions Of Bankers Cant Bank Online. BofA Blames Hackers From Middle East. Bank Cyber Attacks By Iran? Black Monday October 1, 2012?
  The financial and banking industries are on high alert tonight as a massive cyberattack continues, with potentially millions of customers of Bank of America, PNC and Wells Fargo finding themselves blocked from banking online.
  ''There is an elevated level of threat,'' said Doug Johnson, a vice president and senior adviser of the American Bankers Association. ''The threat level is now high.''
  ''This is twice as large as any flood we have ever seen,'' said Dick Clarke, an ABC News consultant and former cybersecurity czar.
  Sources told ABC News that the so-called denial of service attacks had been caused by hackers from the Middle East who had secretly transmitted signals commandeering thousands of computers worldwide.
  Hackers, Possibly From Middle East, Block U.S. Banks' Websites
  A group of purported hackers in the Middle East has claimed credit for problems at the websites of both banks, citing the online video mocking the founder of Islam. One security source called that statement ''a cover'' for the Iranian government's operations.
  The attack is described by one source, a former U.S. official familiar with the attacks, as being ''significant and ongoing'' and looking to cause ''functional and significant damage.'' Also, one source suggested the attacks were in response to U.S. sanctions on Iranian banks.
  Senior U.S. officials acknowledge that Iranian attacks have been the subject of intense interest by U.S. intelligence for several weeks. Last week, the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Intelligence Directorate, known as J-2, confirmed continuing Iranian cyber attacks against U.S. financial institutions in a report described as ''highly classified.''
  Officials see Iran, not outrage over film, behind cyber attacks on US banks
  Phi Beta Iota: This is almost certainly an Israeli false flag attack, NOT an attack by Iran. The US abuse of the SWIFT banking system has already inspired the Chinese to replace the SWIFT banking system (and the US dollar) for all interested parties including Iran. The damage done to banks has not been serious, more of an inconvenience. It is certainly true that financial systems are vulnerable (so are all network systems including power); a number of us '-- including students at the Air War College '-- were telling the US Government this from 1990-1994, only to be blown off. NSA has consistently neglected its assigned responsibilities for helping commercial enterprises achieve cyber-security and cyber-stability, and today, while there are 67 or so actual code-level cyber-security experts in the USA (only about 12 focused on defensive code), NSA/Cyber Command is spending over $15 billion on corporate vapor ware. DHS is theoretically responsible, but far removed from being relevant.
  See Also:
  1994 Sounding the Alarm on Cyber-Security
  2010 Homeland Security Today America's Cyberscam
  2011 Cyber-Command or IO 21 + IO Roots
  DefDog: $15 Billion for Cyber-Command, Zero for Actual Needs + Meta-RECAP
  DefDog: Cyber-Command Can't Find Ball'...
  DefDog: Cyberwar is the New Yellow Cake
  DefDog: Feds Hype Cyber-Threat, Seek DHS Mandates & Money
  DefDog: Is DHS Stupid, Dishonest, or Both? + RECAP
  DefDog: The infamous 'take down the Internet in 30 minutes' hearing from 1998 '-- Tens of Billions Later, NSA and OMB Have Not Done Their Jobs, US Cyber is Wide Open and Unsafe at Any Speed + Meta-RECAP
  Gold Master: SWIFT Against Iran '' Huge Mistake, Now SWIFT At Risk
  John Robb: USG '' Corporate Cyber Scam II
  Journal: Army Industrial-Era Network Security + Cyber-Security RECAP (Links to Past Posts)
  Owl: The DHS Cybersecurity Logjam [aka Goat-Fest Scam]
  Reference: Bruce Schneier on Cyber War & Cyber Crime
  Robert Steele: Iranian Plot or False Flag Fraud?
11 Year Old Boy Attacked In Grocery Story Restroom
  Link to Article
  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:44
Libyans transfer weapons to army
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Middle East
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:42
  29 September 2012Last updated at23:41 ETHundreds of Libyans have handed in weapons in Benghazi and Tripoli as part of a disarmament drive organised by the army to target militia groups.
  Assault rifles, anti-aircraft guns, rocket launchers and even tanks were among military hardware handed in.
  The call to transfer weapons to Libya's army was promoted through a private television station.
  It apparently gained momentum after the US ambassador was killed in Benghazi, sparking resentment of armed militias.
  The groups that emerged during the fight to topple Col Muammar Gaddafi last year remain a powerful force in the country.
  Need for stabilityLibya's interim leader, Mohammed Magarief, vowed to disband all illegal militias in the aftermath of Ambassador Christopher Stevens' death on 11 September.
  In Benghazi, one of the organisers, Ahmed Salem, said that over 800 citizens had handed in weapons at the main collection point, the Associated Press reports.
  Over 600 different types of arms were collected.
  In Tripoli, two tanks were among the weapons handed in by at least 200 former fighters at Martyrs' Square.
  The television station which collaborated on the arms drive, Libya al-Hurra or Free Libya, broadcast live footage of the collection and transfer of weapons to military barracks on Saturday.
  The army's chief-of-staff said Libyans needed stability.
  "They are handing over weapons to the military so that they are kept in the right place and not on the streets," Yussef al-Mangoush said, according to Reuters.
  He said he hoped the collection would also expand to other Libyan cities.
  The government has estimated that over 200,000 people in Libya are armed. Previous attempts to disarm people have had little support.
  Former anti-Gaddafi fighters were among those who gave their weapons to the army.
  "When I saw the announcement on television I came to Benghazi with my wife and son to hand over my weapon to the national army because I want to move from the stage of the revolution to state building," Moussa Omr told AP.
  "I don't need this weapon after today, the militias have been expelled from Benghazi and the national army will protect us."
VIDEO: Bahrain riot police fire on Shias
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Middle East
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:42
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ATLAS SHRUGGED IN FRANCE! LAISSEZ-NOUS FAIRE, MONSIEUR HOLLANDE!
  Link to Article
  Source: VENITISM
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:32
  Hollande raises taxes rather than cutting spending. The French budget includes anew 75% tax on the richest earning more than a million euros, a 45% income taxrate on incomes over 150,000 euros a year, a freeze in government spending,excluding debt repayments and pensions, assets of more than 1.3 million euroswill be taxed at 1.5%, the reduction of tax exemptions for loan payments bylarge corporations, and capital gains and dividends will now be subject to theincome tax regime.Laissez-nous faire, Monsieur Hollande! Let us do! Leave us alone! Buzz off!According to Arthur Laffer, the low-tax states belong to a different genusentirely. It's like comparing Hong Kong with Greece or King Kong with fleas!Occident must minimize taxes to single digits and abolish sales taxes and VAT.Starve the beast by fighting taxes.
  Hollande has understood that the increase in the public debt has got to behalted but penalizing the producers is not the right way. It amounts to stronglyincreasing the tax burden on companies, their shareholders and executives, thosewho create added value. It will lead to an even bigger loss of competitivenessand a reduction in long-term growth.
  Kim Holmes points out a new economic buzzword is on the loose. Austerity ismeant to describe the spending cuts by governments in Europe. Such austerity ismuch reviled by Hollande and by the radical parties elected in Greece. Americanliberals don't like it either. Eugene Robinson calls austerity a dangerous,self-defeating intellectual fad. Paul Krugman claims austerity is to blame forEurope's economic problems.
  French Atlas upon seeing that the greater his effort, the heavier the worldbores down on his shoulders, he simply shrugs. We have a dystopian France, wherecapitalists refuse to be exploited by increasing taxation and regulations anddisappear offshore. Yes, French capitalists are on strike! They are stoppingthe motor of France by withdrawing their minds that drive growth andproductivity. French capitalists demonstrate that a world in which theindividual is not free to create is doomed, civilization cannot exist wherecapitalists are slaves of kleptocrats, and the destruction of the profit motiveleads to the collapse of society. Atlas shrugged in France!
  The French public debt had hit 95% of GDP. Hollande's targets are very stupid,because they assume too much growth for the coming years. In reality, there willnot be any growth, as most producers will escape abroad aand underground. Mosttop earners leave France as a result of the planned tax rises.
  Holmes muses the critics of austerity have it backward. What has broughtEurope's economies to the brink is not fiscal responsibility; it is high taxesand out-of-control spending. These critics are playing a dishonest game, settingup false straw men, hiding data, and using misleading rhetoric to confuse thepublic.
  Taxes, especially VAT, feed the underground economy. It is your patriotic dutyto evade taxes, especially VAT, all the way! Taxation causes an enormous andunnecessary dead-weight loss to the economic system. The sheer cost and timeburden of businesses and individuals trying to comply with the tax system, letalone the cost of myriad bureaucrats who claim to be administrating it, wastehundreds of billions of euros. This waste of resources unnecessarily reduceseconomic growth and job creation. A major reason this obscenity persists is thatfew kleptocrats think seriously about the consequences of what they have doneand are doing, or just don't care.
  Holmes notes that while spending has been reduced marginally in Greece andSpain, it has not been cut in France. Nor has it dropped in Britain. Even in thecases where it has come down, we are talking about getting to what spending wasin 2008. Holmes doesn't recall any massive social dislocation back whengovernment spending was controlled by the socially minded Labor government inBritain. Despite all the supposed spending cuts, these countries still spendmore today than they did during pre-recession times.
  More savings should have been found from cutting public spending so no tax riseswould have been necessary. Never have households and companies been subjected tosuch a fiscal shock. It's a very bad choice. More savings should have been made.The goal of 3% isn't tenable, because there isn't enough basic growth to getthere.
  The French economy suffers from erectile dysfunction, and via-grab will notwork, but only via-cut. The via recommended is to cut taxes, not grab moretaxes. There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host.Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflatingthem instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market.
  Holmes says there is an austerity program in Europe, but it is not what youthink. Most of the governments in Europe have raised taxes. Britain, forexample, raised the top tax rate to 50 percent in 2010, while Italy has raisedsales taxes. From 2011 to 2012, 40 percent of the fiscal consolidation in Europecame from new taxes. As any economist worth his or her salt knows, taking moneyout of the economy through higher taxes during a recession is a growth killer.
  The anti-austerity fad is driven by the same evidence-dismissing mindset thathas beset Keynesian economics for decades. Obama's stimulus program failed togrow the American economy out of the recession. And yet Keynesians like Krugmansay the reason is that the government did not spend enough money, despite the$3.9 trillion added to the debt since Obama took office.
  In a counterfactual assertion that befits the ideologue more than the economist,Krugman cleverly sets up an argument he thinks is not disprovable. If failurecan always be explained away by claiming that not enough money was spent, thenhe can never be proven wrong. There's always some mythical amount of spendingthat will save the day. The evidence of failure doesn't matter.
  Holmes muses we have seen this old movie many times. It's the worn-out matineefeature where supposed austerity caused the Great Depression. The only problemis that's not what happened. Under Herbert Hoover, government spending expanded,and then rose sharply in 1932. The Great Depression was driven not by spendingausterity, but by the Fed's reaction and lack of foresight as well as tradeprotectionism. The massive spending of World War II temporarily turned Americainto a war economy, but its demobilization unleashed the best run of freeeconomic growth in human history.
  The austerity argument is a sleight of hand. It is intended to deflect attentionfrom the high-spending, debt-producing, and high-taxing policies that causedEurope's economic weakness in the first place. It's the old trick of accusingyour opponents of causing what you have caused. Europe's economic crisis camefrom decades-long high spending policies of European welfare states, yet nowthey want to pretend that the only cure - fiscal responsibility - is theculprit.
  Holmes wishes you good luck, because that trick won't work! There actually is achoice between austerity and growth, but it's not what the critics think. Thereal choice is between more government spending and higher taxes that slowgrowth, or lower taxes, debt reduction, and structural reforms that stimulateprosperity.
Flash Flood In Southern Spain Kills At Least 10
  Link to Article
  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:31
Tens Of Thousands Of March Protestants Peacefully Through Belfast
  Link to Article
  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:31
Protesters & Police Continue To Clash In Madrid
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  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:30
E Coli Beef Recall Scare Spreads To Wal-mart. Co-op & Metro Grocery Stores
  Link to Article
  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:30
Rick Ross vs. Jeezy: Shots Fired at 2012 BET Awards
  Link to Article
  Source: Jacky Jasper's Diary of a Hollywood Street King
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:48
  by Jacky Jasper
  Rick Ross and Young Jeezy were reportedly involved in an altercation backstage at the BET Hip-Hop Awards.
  According to sources, Rick Ross and Jeezy exchanged words backstage and started pushing and shoving each other. We're told BET security and bodyguards for each of the rappers eventually separated the two.
  FagMaster Flex confirmed an altercation; tweeting ''pushing and shoving'' going on backstage.. Shortly thereafter, shots were fired in the parking lot.
  Here's the drop:
  ''After the fight had been broken up, a member of Rick Ross' entourage pulled out a gun while in the parking lot and shots were fired. The gunman was reportedly apprehended by the Atlanta Police Department.''
  Please Share This Article -Other HSK Articles:
Ontslagen premier Cura§ao zondert zich af | nu.nl/buitenland | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl
  Link to Article
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:27
  WILLEMSTAD - De benoeming van een interim-kabinet heeft op Cura§ao geleid tot een chaotische situatie. De ontslagen premier Gerrit Schotte heeft zich zaterdagavond (lokale tijd) opgesloten in zijn werkkamer en weigert met zijn opvolger te praten.Voor de deuren van het gebouw staan verschillende aanhangers van de partij van Schotte te demonstreren. Zij staan niet toe dat de nieuwe minister-president Stanley Betrian zijn voorganger bezoekt. De demonstranten verklaarden dat ''niemand naar buiten gaat of naar binnen komt''.
  De adjudant van de gouverneur van Cura§ao maakte zaterdagmiddag bekend dat Betrian leiding gaat geven aan een interim-regering, maar volgens de partij van de gewezen premier is de benoeming illegaal.
  Schotte verzet zich al langere tijd tegen de installatie van een interim-kabinet. Minister van Onderwijs Carlos Monk zei onlangs niet vrijwillig op te stappen.
  Nieuwe regeringBetrian geldt op het eiland als een ervaren bestuurder. Hij was eerder gezaghebber van Cura§ao en gedeputeerde van Financin. Net als de andere ministers is Betrian niet uitgekozen als partijpoliticus, maar als deskundige.
  Sinds 2 augustus is het kabinet van Schotte demissionair. Op 19 oktober zijn er nieuwe parlementsverkiezingen. Maar een meerderheid van het parlement wilde toch een interim-kabinet. Naast de minister-president zijn er maar drie andere ministers benoemd. Deze tussenregering moet onder meer de banden met Nederland en de financile situatie op het eiland verbeteren.
  Door: ANP
Apple's iOS 6 stumbles on basic connectivity: Wi-Fi
  Link to Article
  Source: CNET News
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:44
  Apple is struggling with a number of issues after the release of iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, not least of which is Wi-Fi connectivity.
  Apple's speed claims regarding wireless have proved elusive for some iOS 6 device owners.
  (Credit: Apple )PHILADELPHIA -- Apple's iOS 6 has not fared well with Wi-Fi.
  Though this isn't the first time a new Apple operating system or device has had Wi-Fi issues, the situation this time around has been exacerbated by the release of the iPhone 5, putting an iOS 6 device immediately into millions of consumers' hands.
  Not to mention all of the upgrades. Reports cite 60 percent of iPhone and roughly 40 percent of iPad owners upgrading to the new OS so far.
  The fallout is numerous forum discussions on Wi-Fi connectivity problems. For example, there are currently two major Wi-Fi threads (at least) in the Apple Support Communities -- here and here. Together, those two threads total, so far, more than 150 pages.
  And count me in as an affected user in the two groups cited above. My iPhone 5 and Retina iPad (now with iOS 6) work on some Wi-Fi networks and not others.
  Which brings us to yet another thread related to iOS 6 and Netgear routers. The only way I could quickly get my iPhone 5 and Retina iPad working on a Netgear Wi-Fi router was to downgrade the firmware. That worked but seemed like an odd solution. (And, it's safe to say, one a lot of consumers would not be aware of.)
  And other kinds of Wi-Fi issues are popping up in forums, such as a persistently slow Wi-Fi speeds, which is different than the plain-old-doesn't-connect snafu. (I had the latter issue only.)
  As usual, Apple is officially mum on the issue, i.e., the company hasn't made an official statement, though Apple's technical support is aware of the problem. The person I contacted said Apple knows about the Wi-Fi problem and that it was tech support's job to "document everything" so Apple can eventually come up with a fix.
  And while we're on the subject, the 4G LTE on my iPhone 5 and Retina iPad can be spotty (I had been forced to use LTE when I would normally connect to Wi-Fi, but couldn't). Even in dense metropolitan areas (for example, Los Angeles and Philadelphia) connectivity can bounce back and forth between 3G and LTE like a pinball. But that's another topic for another day.
  Of course, this hasn't been Apple's only problem with the rollout of iOS 6. Apple Maps has been slammed, eliciting an apology from CEO Tim Cook.
  Looks like Apple has its damage-control work cut out for it.
Kirsty MacColl: the great British songwriter who never got her due
  Link to Article
  Source: Culture | guardian.co.uk
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:40
  Next Sunday in Soho Square, central London, a group of people will gather around a park bench. On that bench is a metal plaque with the words: Kirsty MacColl 1959-2000 "One Day I'll be Waiting There/ No Empty Bench in Soho Square". Assembled will be MacColl's family, friends and fans, come '' as they do every year '' to celebrate her birthday on the nearest Sunday.
  MacColl would have been 53 on 10 October, and who knows what she would have been doing now ("You could see her writing a musical," says the actor and comedian Tracey Ullman, "or a play at the Royal Court with music.") had she not been killed in December 2000, run over by a speeding motorboat while diving with her sons in Mexico.
  "She was a great writer, with warmth and humour and a keen ear and eye for humans and their foibles," says Jem Finer of the Pogues, who wrote the music for the timeless Fairytale of New York, on which MacColl duetted with Shane MacGowan. "No bullshit or pretensions or posturing. A great singer and a genius with harmony."
  "You know what I think she is?" says Billy Bragg, whose song A New England she took to No 7 in 1984. "I think she's the missing link between Sandie Shaw and Lily Allen. A couple of Christmases ago someone bought me one of those encyclopedias of rock. It was a real doorstep of a book. Kirsty wasn't in there, and I was really shocked by that. She was a huge talent who made brilliant records and wrote brilliant songs and deserves to be cherished among British songwriters."
  The reasons to cherish MacColl lie in the music she recorded, from her first single They Don't Know '' a beautiful three-minute confection of 60s girl group and folk rock, as if the Byrds had been writing for the Shangri-Las in 1979 '' to her final album, 2000's Tropical Brainstorm, on which she vigorously celebrated Latin American music.
  The common thread throughout was a withering and regretful eye for men and their defects, from the bad boy of the first single to the serial liar committing seduction against the background of a 1998 World Cup match on England 2 Colombia 0 from Tropical Brainstorm.
  Mark Nevin, who wrote and performed with MacColl in the late 80s and early 90s says: "If you took most songwriters, put all their lyrics into a computer and pressed 'equals' you'd get two lines that sum up everything [they'd written] in a nutshell. Kirsty's would be: 'All blokes are gonna lie, cheat and let you down'."
  So why, despite those glorious songs, is she not in Bragg's encyclopedia? MacColl's was the model of a stop-start career. She suffered from stage fright, which discouraged her from touring for much of her career. "I said to her: 'If you get so worried, Kirsty, why don't you go and do something else?'" remembers her mother, the dancer and choreographer Jean Newlove. "Her eyes filled with tears and she said, 'But I love this. I can't think of anything I'd rather do.'"
  She also insisted on making her own decisions '' something she determined to do from an early age, her mother says '' consistently refusing to have her career directed by the men of the record industry. So she switched between labels, never building up the momentum to lift her unassailably into the public consciousness. "She didn't suffer fools," says her ex-husband Steve Lillywhite, who produced two of her albums, "and to be honest, to make it in the business '' especially if you're a woman '' you have to suffer fools."
  And so we're left with a smattering of singles and only five albums, recorded between 1981 and 2000. The first four '' Desperate Character, Kite, Electric Landlady and Titanic Days '' are being reissued the day after the birthday celebration, and listening to them afresh, one after the other, provides a vivid reminder of MacColl's talent. She could capture the world in songs that seamlessly interweave heartbreak and humour ("There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis/ Just like you swore to me that you'd be true," she sang on her breakthrough hit) set against a constantly evolving musical background.
  Breakthrough single There's A Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis.MacColl immersed herself in music as a child. Not the music of her father, the folk singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl, but pop. Though he had left Newlove for Peggy Seeger, his will was known to his daughter. "I was very aware of the fact that he disapproved completely of anything he regarded as commercial," she later said. "Her dad was very scornful of pop music," Bragg says. "He really didn't like it at all. Not just her doing it, but anyone doing it."
  Nevin believes her father exerted an influence in one way, though, through his having left: "She didn't talk about her dad much, but it was an underlying thing that coloured the way she saw the world '' men would let you down and mess you about."
  Since her dad was absent, MacColl could sing along to her brother Hamish's singles, apparently teaching herself the vocal harmony parts to the Beach Boys's Good Vibrations when she was seven. Newlove remembers her daughter waiting for the musical interludes in Andy Williams' TV show: "Kirsty would take her violin out of the case and accompany him. I would have a quiet laugh to myself, but she took it very seriously. Then she'd put the violin away until Andy Williams came out for another song, and out would come the violin." Newlove thinks MacColl started writing songs after she passed her English O-level early, at 14, leaving her with free periods to while away in the teacher's office. She'd been a prodigious writer since early childhood '' a piece she wrote when she was seven for a competition run by the Observer was published in a Penguin book edited by the educationalist Edward Blishen, The School That I'd Like '' but now her thoughts turned to writing pop. In her late teens she joined a punk band called the Drug Addix.
  "This was a far cry from what I expected," Newlove says. "'What's your daughter doing?' 'Oh, she's one of the Drug Addix!' I went to pick her up when she did her first gig. I stood downstairs waiting and a man said to me: 'Cor, listen to those kids. I can't stand it, can you?' I didn't want to say, 'No, it's dreadful,' so I just weakly smiled."
  Still, the Drug Addix were enough to get MacColl signed in her own right to Stiff, and so came They Don't Know. It had "hit" stamped all over it: great song, great arrangement, great musicians. It was all over the radio '' the second most played song in the UK one week. But a strike at Stiff's distributors meant the single didn't reach the shops, and it didn't even enter the singles chart.
  One of the many joys contained in They Don't Know is MacColl's voice. The time spent practising the vocal parts in Good Vibrations was echoed down her career. She adored Brian Wilson, and used to layer her own voice to create distinctive velvet harmonies like the Beach Boys had done, which became a trademark. "She would sing like a keyboard," Lillywhite remembers. "She sang without vibrato and when you don't have vibrato you have this wonderful glassy sound, which is how you can get that Beach Boys thing."
  "She knew how to use her voice," Bragg says. "She'd tell the engineer where to put the mics, and she'd tell the producer what she was going to do next. She did this amazing thing where she'd do a take, then go round into a different position and do another take to layer up this amazing sound, then: 'That's all. Let's go to the pub." Though eight years elapsed between MacColl's first album in 1981 and its follow-up, Kite '' arguably her best '' MacColl wasn't idle. She brought up the two sons she and Lillywhite had after getting married in 1984; sang on plenty of sessions, notably Fairytale of New York; and two other artists got significant boosts thanks to her.
  One was Tracey Ullman, then an up-and-coming comedian on the TV shows A Kick Up the Eighties and Three of a Kind. "I got obsessed with They Don't Know," she says. "I used to play it and play it and play it." When Ullman started recording for Stiff in 1983 she had a big hit with the song '' accompanied by a video starring Paul McCartney '' and recorded several other MacColl numbers. Ullman has been in America for 30 years now, winning Emmys along the way, "but my entry to America was getting into the Billboard top 10 with Kirsty's song '' they got me over to be one of the first MTV veejays".
  A New England - Billy Bragg's song recorded by Kirsty.Billy Bragg, meanwhile, says he owes her for the push that made him a crossover pop star of sorts. "I was indie No 1 '' the Smiths' first album pushed me off No 1 '' that's where I was," he says of his position in the early 80s before MacColl had a hit with A New England in December 1984. "Life's a Riot [his debut album, featuring his original of the song] had already gone silver; within two weeks of her getting in the charts it went gold." These days, when he plays A New England live, he always adds the extra verse from her version. "I shout, 'Let's the sing the last verse for Kirsty!', and everyone cheers. There's still a great deal of love for her."
  By the time Kite was released in 1989, MacColl's writing had changed '' it was still personal, witty and engaged but now it was in her own voice. "I know the reason why," Mark Nevin says of the change in tone. "It was Morrissey. She said: 'I heard the Smiths and realised, I get it '' I can write about anything.' She didn't have to write songs that sounded like they'd been written by songwriters. That was the thing that transformed her writing." Where before there had been what Bragg calls "Play for Today songs", now the eye for a bitter truth was combined with a weightless touch for the right phrase: "What else is there to do/ But turn and wet the baby's head/ And pray he will be happier than you and me?" she sings, devastatingly, on Tread Lightly.
  In These Shoes, a hit from her Latin-tinged album Tropical Brainstorm."She always said, and I believed her, that the songs were pretty much not about one specific person," says Lillywhite, who produced Kite and its successor, Electric Landlady. "But later on, after we'd made our amends, she said they were probably more about me than she had realised at the time."
  Titanic Days, released in 1993, was not a happy time. First, MacColl's marriage was ending. Then there was another new label. Then the album was all but ignored by the world. MacColl resolved not to make another record until she was happy '' and so it was seven years before Tropical Brainstorm was released in 2000, to a delighted reception, before her return was ended abruptly by the tragedy in Mexico.
  Like most re-releases, the four MacColl albums will probably slip by, barely noticed. Dedicated fans might update their copies, scouting for previously unissued bonus tracks. If any DJs pick up the albums, some new listeners might hear a singer they don't know on the radio. Maybe one or two people will read a review or an article like this, investigate further and discover one of English music's most vivid songwriting personalities. Fame will be as distant as it was when she was still making records.
  "Being a pop star is a bit daft," Bragg says. "If you go for that you have to give up your personality. Jessie J would be a good example '' what's she like offstage? Who knows? Or Cheryl Cole? What's she like when she's kicked back in front of the telly, having a fag and a beer? I don't think Kirsty could ever have been that kind of pop star."
  Kirsty MacColl's first four albums will be reissued on Salvo on 8 October
Turkish pilots killed by Assad, not crash: leaked documents. (video)
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:38
  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered the killing of two Turkish air force pilots who were captured after their fighter jet was shot down on June 22, 2012, files obtained by Al Arabiya show. (Al Arabiya)
  As political tensions mount between neighboring Syria and Turkey, newly-leaked Syrian intelligence documents obtained by Al Arabiya disclose shocking claims shedding light on the dreadful fate of two Turkish Air Force pilots.
  Contrary to what was publically claimed, the documents reveal that the pilots survived the crash, but were later executed by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad!
  This disclosure is the first in a series of revelations based on a number of newly-leaked and highly classified Syrian security documents which will be aired in a special program produced by Al Arabiya over the next two weeks; the channel's English portal '' http://english.alarabiya.net '' will be carrying a subtitled version of the program on daily basis as well as publishing downloadable copies of the leaked documents.
  The documents were obtained with the assistance of members of the Syrian opposition who refused to elaborate on how they laid hand on the documents.
  Al Arabiya said that it has verified and authenticated hundreds of these documents and that it is has decided to disclose the ones with substantial news value and political relevance.
  The downed jet
  On June 22, a Turkish military jet was shot down by a Syrian missile in international airspace, Ankara's official report said; a claim Damascus has refuted.
  Assad's regime said the country's defense forces shot down the two-seater F-4 Phantom as it was in the Syrian airspace.
  In an interview with Turkish paper Cumhuriyet published in July, Assad said he wished his forces did not shoot down the jet, claiming that Damascus did not know the identity of the plane at the time.
  The incident set off tensions between the former allies, but Ankara, which had vowed a harsh response to any border violations by Syria, limited its reaction to sending military reinforcements to the common frontiers.
  The two pilots on board of the jet were killed.
  But both official reports by Syria and Turkey have restrained their explanation on the causes of the deaths of Air Force Captain Gokhan Ertan and Air Force Lieutenant Hasan Huseyin Aksoy.
  Turkey's armed forces said it had found the bodies of both pilots on the Mediterranean seabed.
  ''The bodies (of the two pilots) have been recovered [from] the seabed and work is underway to bring them to the surface,'' the army command said in a statement released early in July.
  The military did not specify where the bodies were found, but there has been no report that the pilots ejected from the plane.
  However, after investigating the leaked documents it obtained, Al Arabiya can now reveal for the first time an alternative narrative of what might have happened to the two Turkish pilots.
  One highly confidential document was sent directly from the presidential office of President Assad to brigadier Hassan Abdel Rahman (who Al Arabiya's sources identify as the chief of the Syrian Special Operations Unit) states the following:
  ''Two Turkish pilots were captured by the Syrian Air Force Intelligence after their jet was shot down in coordination with the Russian naval base in (the Syrian city of) Tartus.''
  Picture of the highly confidential document sent from the office of the Syrian president confirming the capture of the two Turkish pilots (Al Arabiya)
  The file therefore reveals two critical reports. First, the pilots were still alive after the plane had crashed. And second, that Russia held its share of involvement in this secretive mission.
  The same document orders the concerned parties to treat both Turkish pilots according to the protocol of war prisoners, as instructed by the president.
  It also requests that both men be investigated about Turkey's role in supporting the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the country's main armed opposition group.
  The report also suggests the possibility of transferring the pilots into the neighboring Lebanese territory, leaving them in the custody of Assad's ally, Hezbollah.
  However, if the Turkish air commanders were not killed upon the crash of their F-4 Phantom, further leaked documents confirm that their death was inevitable.
  Russian ''Guidance''
  A subsequently leaked file, also sent from the presidential palace and addressed to all heads of units of the Syrian foreign intelligence, reads: ''Based on information and guidance from the Russian leadership comes a need to eliminate the two Turkish pilots detained by the Special Operations Unit in a natural way and their bodies need to be returned to the crash site in international waters.''
  The document also suggests the Syrian government sends a ''menacing'' message to the Turkish government, insinuating Syria's capability of mobilizing Kurdistan's Workers Party (PKK) on the Turkish borders, notifying Ankara from the danger it might face in case of any hostile move.
  A copy of the presidential order for the killing in a ''natural way'' of two Turkish pilots. (Al Arabiya)
  The report insists that the Syrian leadership should hasten and make a formal apology to the Turkish government for bringing down the plane, which would embarrass the Turks and win the support of international public opinion. As such, the Syrian Regime did apologize.
  Al Arabiya's exclusive series on the newly-leaked Syrian security documents continues tomorrow.
Hillary: 'Loosen Regulation' Because 'Too Many People Still Can't Find Jobs'-In Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. (video)
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:35
  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
  (CNSNews.com) - Speaking to a group of foreign ministers from Arab nations at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed support for loosening regulations, particularly on small businesses, because ''too many people still can't find jobs''--in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
  In Libya, according to an estimate published in May by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development [OECD], real Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow this year at a rate of 20.1 percent'--or about 15 times the 1.3 percent annualized rate at which real GDP grew in the United States in the second quarter of this year. The OECD further estimated that Libya's real GDP would grow by another 9.5 percent next year.
  Libya, the OECD estimated, will have budget surplus equal to 13.6 percent of GDP this year. So far, this fiscal year, the debt of the U.S. government has increased by more than $1.2 trillion.
  ''In Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, people rose up against their dictators because they were fed up with governments that served the interests of a few at the expense of everyone else,'' said Clinton. ''But economic and social challenges did not disappear with the dictators. Too many people still can't find jobs, and young and growing populations crave a sense of opportunity and self-determination.
  ''On the economic front, we are zeroing in on small and medium-sized enterprises because they are the growth engines in any economy,'' Clinton said. ''They create the bulk of new jobs and they spread wealth more broadly through more communities. And when people have the opportunity to unleash their talents and create something of their own, they are more invested in their communities, their countries, and their new democracies.
  ''So the OECD is helping emerging democracies find ways they can loosen regulations and make it easier to start or expand a small business,'' she said. ''Several partners are setting up funds to help small businesses gain access to loans and financing. People of the region need to see that their governments can be fair and just. So we are stepping up our efforts to return billions of dollars that were stolen or siphoned away over decades of cronyism and corruption.''
  As a result of its civil war, Libya went through a dramatic economic contraction in 2011. But, according to the OECD, it is bouncing back from that.
  "Libya's civil war hugely disrupted the economy by cutting oil output, the primary source of revenue, to virtually zero," said an OECD analysis of Libya's economy published in May. "As a result, the economy contracted 41.8 percent in 2011 but as oil production recovers, it should expand 20.1 percent in 2012 as reconstruction takes hold, followed by a gain of 9.5 percent in 2013."
  According to the OECD report, Libya had a 17.1 percent budget deficit in 2011, while going through its civil war. However, according to the report, Libya ran budget surpluses in each of the six years before that and is expected to run a 13.6 percent surplus in 2012 and a 12.2 percent surplus in 2013.
Greece: TAIPED's first privatization deal is sealed
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:32
  By Vangelis Mandravelis
  The first privatization project for 2012 was completed on Friday, as the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) of the 2004 Olympic Games was leased to Lamda Domi, a subsidiary of the Lamda Development construction group, for the next 90 years. The concession agreement will involve an advance payment of 81 million euros, with an additional 32.4 million euros maximum to come in the future.
  Lamda was always the favorite to land the contract due to the fact that it is the developer behind the Golden Hall shopping mall which currently occupies the IBC premises in Maroussi, northern Athens. Lamda had signed a contract in 2007 with the Greek state for an annual lease rate of 7.25 million euros, which would be adjusted according to inflation. The lease rate climbed to 8 million euros last year. That contract was for 40 years, with an extension option for another six.
  The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED) accepted its consultants'proposal for the IBC building yesterday, thereby securing its first revenues from a state asset. The lease rate will be adjusted upward each time the country's credit rating is upgraded, according to sources.
  ''The full utilization of the IBC will not only upgrade the specific area commercially but will also rekindle investment interest in the country's real estate market,'' commented Yiannis Emiris, TAIPED's chief executive officer.
  The deal has brought a degree of relief for the fund, even though it had been clear that the Latsis Group which owns Lamda would be the winning bidder. The amount paid in advance illustrates the Latsis Group's commitment to the investment, and also signifies a vote of confidence in the Greek economy while improving the mood in the market in general.
National power-grid tech blueprints 'stolen by Chinese hackers'
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:32
  An espionage attack on Telvent - the maker of power-grid control systems and smart meters - has been linked to a prolific Chinese hacking crew.
  Telvent, a division of Schneider Electric, has admitted hackers breached its corporate network, implanted malicious software and lifted sensitive project files. The raid spanned Telvent systems in the US, Canada and Spain, according to a letter sent to the company's customers this month.
  Criminals can now study the documents for vulnerabilities in the systems, and potentially devise attacks to sabotage nations' electricity distribution networks.
  Telvent boasts that it has "built a customer base second to none in the energy industry", adding: "Our systems now manage over 60 percent of the total hydrocarbon movements in North and Latin America and control transmission and distribution of over 140,000 GWh through worldwide electrical grids."
  Investigative reporter Brian Krebs, who first revealed the breach, said the blueprints described Telvent's OASyS SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] product, a technology that offers power companies a means to bridge legacy systems to next-generation "smart grids".
  Clues such as references to particular domain names and malware left behind by the spies match the digital fingerprints of a Chinese hacking crew called the Comment Group, which is linked to previous cyber-espionage campaigns, according to researchers at Dell SecureWorks.
  Telvent has cut data links between at-risk portions of its internal network and clients' systems as a precaution while it probes the breach. Police have been called in to investigate the attack, according to this statement supplied to Sophos:
  Telvent is aware of a security breach of its corporate network that has affected some customer files. Customers have been informed and are taking recommended actions, with the support of Telvent teams. Telvent is actively working with law enforcement, security specialists and its affected customers to ensure the breach has been contained.
  Dale Peterson, founder and chief of industrial control security specialist Digital Bond, spelled out the kinds of information present in the lifted documents.
  "Some project files contain the 'recipe' for the operations of a customer, describing calculations and frequencies at which systems run or when they should be turned on or off," he told WiReD.
  "If you're going to do a sophisticated attack, you get the project file and study it and decide how you want to modify the pieces of the operation. Then you modify the project file and load it [onto a company's control system], and they're not running what they think they're running." ®
Bad Loans in Greece Hit $73.2 Billion.
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:19
  Many customers of Greek banks have been unable to repay loans because of pay cuts and tax hikes. (Reuters)
  Buried under big pay cuts, tax hikes, and slashed pensions but pressed by banks to cover mortgages, loans and credit cards in full, 25 percent of Greeks have given up and stopped paying, driving the total of Non-Performing Loans (NPL's) to 57 billion euros ($73.2 billion,) nearly one-fourth of the country's 232.32 billion euros ($298.73 billion) Gross Domestic Product, or GDP.
  The startling figure puts additional pressure on Greece's reeling banks which are expecting a second re-capitalization, this one for about $64.29 billion and with two state banks already being pushed into private hands because of near-insolvency.
  With Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' uneasy coalition government ready to impose another $14.6 billion in austerity measures, the numbers of Greeks who can't pay loans and likely to default outright is expected to rise sharply.
  Most of the bad loans come from the business community, which is 33 billion euros ($42.43 billion) behind, followed closely by mortgages at 15 billion euros ($19.28 billion) while consumer loans and credit card bills more than three months behind account for some 30 percent of the NPL's, despite pressure being applied on customers by banks and collection agencies.
  A worrying factor is that Greeks have been unable to pay even though banks have arranged more favorable terms for some 665,000 loans in the batch, which total 20 billion euros ($25.71 billion.) The major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party has been pressing the government to mandate better terms for overwhelmed consumers and the Development Ministry is reportedly working on regulations to help over-indebted households.
  Another change planned is for the extension of the repayment period of housing loans concerning main residences, which currently stands at 20 years. This could be stretched to up to 40 years, based also on the age of the borrower.
  The Development Ministry is also promoting a regulation for a 30 percent reduction in the monthly installment borrowers have to pay to coincide with the average rate of pay cuts and to force banks to remove the names of debtors from lists showing them as deadbeats to create an amnesty if the customers can repay a part of their loans.
Spain reels at violent tactics by riot police
  Link to Article
  Source: The Guardian World News
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 21:21
  Riot police struggle with protesters during demonstrations in Madrid against austerity cutbacks. Photograph: Chema Moya/EPA
  The middle-aged man sitting on a railway station bench protects a younger man by wrapping his arms around him as he shouts desperately at the helmeted, baton-wielding police officers running up and down the platforms at Madrid's Atocha station.
  "Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!" he bellows repeatedly in a video that shows how police charged into the station during violent demonstrations that shook Madrid last week.
  On the other side of the ticket barrier a younger man is whacked with truncheons by two policemen. "I don't know whether he is a passenger or a protester," one of them admits. A third man who was waiting for a train is bundled down the platform by police officers as he asks: "And what have I done?" A youth points to blood running down his face. "What the hell is this?" he asks.
  On Friday, police told a judge they had needed to chase a group of violent protesters across the railway tracks and had later arrested some in a nearby bar. They, too, had suffered injuries. "People who had been hurling stones at police tried to hide in the station, passing themselves off as normal passengers," a spokesman said. "We had to go in."
  As Spaniards respond with dismay to the violence shown by demonstrators, who launched attacks on police, and the response of some riot police, during scuffles in the area around Madrid's parliament building last week, the long-running drama of the country's deflating economy has lurched into a newly confrontational stage, amid fears that there will be more violence to come.
  While police and the conservative government of prime minister Mariano Rajoy were accused of authoritarian behaviour, radical protesters from both the far left and the far right were putting a hard, street-fighting edge on to the once peaceful protests of the civilised but ineffectual indignados.
  Cristina Cifuentes, the government delegate in Madrid, had warned before the protests that they were being infiltrated by violent members of Spain's far right and were attracting the country's most radical leftwingers. But protesters later pointed to a group of undercover policemen who, they claimed, had been at the front of the protest waving red flags and encouraging others to violence.
  Other police certainly thought their undercover colleagues were troublemakers, and there is also film of one of them being dragged out of the crowd to be arrested and shouting: "I am a colleague! I am a colleague!"
  On Saturday, a 72-year-old man was among some 30 demonstrators who had been accused of attacking police and given bail. "But I was sitting down when they arrested me," he said.
  The radicalisation came amid worries that the ratings agency Moodys would downgrade Spain's creditworthiness, reigniting the pressure on its debt and sending the interest rates that it must pay spiralling up again.
  Ministers have said that '‚¬10bn (£8bn) of cuts and tax increases must come in next year's budget just to cover a leap in interest payments. On Friday night, they said a coming round of bank bailouts, paid for by the eurozone rescue fund, would send the country's debts soaring by some '‚¬50bn. Spending is to be cut by 7% next year, bringing another wave of cuts in health, education and other welfare services. Yesterday, Spain's civil servants heard that, for the third year running, their wages were being frozen.
  A period of calm in Europe's more troubled economies created by the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, when he announced plans to buy the debt of countries who asked for bailouts in the future, also seemed to have come to an end. And with the threat of Catalan separatism adding to worries about Rajoy's ability to control events in Spain, many now expect him to ask for a full bailout for the country '' placing it in the hands of those who have forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland into round after round of spending cuts.
  Budget minister Crist"bal Montoro presented an austerity budget to parliament on Saturday, with analysts widely seeing it as an attempt to pre-empt the conditions that Spain would have had imposed on it anyway for the bailout. "Reducing our budget deficit is essential," he said.
  With unemployment at 25%, however, and the economy already set to shrink for the next two years, Spaniards see no end to the tunnel of misery.
CNN Propaganda Machine Exposed!!! Interview with Former Reporter Amber Lyon
  Link to Article
  Source: Dprogram.net
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:33
  September 29th, 2012
  (AJC) '' Alex welcomes three-time Emmy award-winning journalist, photographer, and former CNN reporter Amber Lyon to discuss the brazenly false stories CNN forced her to report.
  No related posts.
  Tags: amber, cnn, former reporter, lyon, propagandaThis entry was posted on Saturday, September 29th, 2012 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Dictatorship, Education/Mind Control, Fascism, Film/Video, NWO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.