Higgins's remarks on treaty alarm Ministers - The Irish Times - Sat, Feb 25, 2012

The Dreary Dutch Economy In 2012 - Real Time Brussels - WSJ

GREEK DEBT EXCLUSIVE: DEFAULT PLANNERS 'FALLING OUT OVER FIREWALL' -- Sources | The Slog

Top German Economist: 'Restructuring Greece Within the Euro is Illusory' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

VENITISM: 300 GERMAN TAX COLLECTORS ARE GOING TO GREECE!

As strange as it may seem, tensions in Iran are causing gold to spike higher, as well as oil for that matter (although that one isn't quite as surprising). The continuing issues in Iran may allow gold to jump faster in price than we initially thought it might.

"Increasing tensions with Iran could send both oil and gold much higher and copper lower. Given present trends, $135 per barrel Brent crude is compatible with $120 per barrel WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude, $2,000+ per ounce gold and $40+ per ounce silver," said Richard Baker, editor of the Eureka Miner.

General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that the group was not clearly defined.

"I would challenge anyone to clearly identify for me the opposition movement in Syria at this point," Dempsey said.

Clapper, in the hearing last week, even warned the opposition has been infiltrated by Al Qaeda elements, maybe without the opposition knowing about it.

"Another disturbing phenomenon that we've seen recently apparently is the presence of extremists who have infiltrated the opposition groups. The opposition groups in many cases may not be aware they are there," Clapper said.

O'FALLON, Mo. (CN) - A woman who says she suffered from "brute force" pressure to hide bad loans said she will receive $31 million after blowing the whistle on Citigroup.

Bank of America last week blamed a suspected breach of credit card data on an unidentified third party, which the bank later revealed to be a merchant. The incident illustrates security risks institutions increasingly face, whether because of a merchant breach or relying too heavily on partners and suppliers.

"The entire system has to be secure," Cate says. "I think banks are doing better with, and certainly paying more attention to, ensuring that their suppliers and vendors use good security. But it is an impossible task, in the absence of federal legislation that creates a system-wide obligation to treat financial data responsibly."

Fiscal policy: The current long-run fiscal forecast calls for ever-rising spending on entitlements (Social Security and Medicare, mainly) and ever-rising deficits that will eventually crowd out spending on everything else, including infrastructure improvements and basic research that are crucial to American competitiveness. The only plausible solution is a compromise that pairs a slowdown in spending with new sources of revenue. On spending, the suggestions include: 1. Cuts in defense spending, 2. A cap on increases in Medicare and Medicaid spending, and 3. Adjustments to the retirement age and cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security. Three suggested tax hikes are: 1. a gradual end to the mortgage interest deduction, 2. a value-added tax, and 3. a tax on carbon emissions.

"The world's oceans are in danger, and the enormity of the challenge is bigger than one country or organisation," Zoellick, who is in Singapore for the World Oceans Summit, was expected to say, according to prepared remarks released by the World Bank ahead of his speech.

"We need coordinated global action to restore our oceans to health. Together we'll build on the excellent work already being done to address the threats to oceans, identify workable solutions, and scale them up."

"So today, I want to propose a new approach -- an unprecedented Global Partnership for Oceans," he added.

Iran is een van de belangrijkste leveranciers van de schapendarmen die in Duitsland bij het maken van worst worden gebruikt. Door de internationale sancties en de dalende levensstandaard van de Iraanse bevolking worden er minder schapen geslacht. De prijs van 90 meter schapendarm, genoeg voor 1000 worsten, is in 18 maanden tijd bijna verdrievoudigd van 6,30 naar 17,20 euro.

The pipeline will pump Caspian oil from the Bulgarian port of Burgas via Macedonia to the Albanian port of Vlora, for transport to European countries and the United States. Specifically, the 1.1 billion dollar AMBO pipeline will permit oil companies operating in the Caspian Sea to ship their oil to Rotterdam and the East Coast of the USA at substantially less cost than they are experiencing today.

When operational by 2011, the pipeline will become a part of the region's critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fiber optic telecommunications lines. This pipeline will bring oil directly to the European market by eliminating tanker traffic through the ecologically sensitive waters of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is an active, regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations in Somalia. It is mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid.[1] As part of its duties, AMISOM also supports the Transitional Federal Government's forces in their battle against Al-Shabaab militants.

Britain is involved in a secret high-stakes dash for oil in Somalia, with the government offering humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in the beleaguered country's future energy industry.

Riven by two decades of conflict that have seen the emergence of a dangerous Islamic insurgency, Somalia is routinely described as the world's most comprehensively "failed" state, as well as one of its poorest. Its coastline has become a haven for pirates preying on international shipping in the Indian Ocean.

David Cameron last week hosted an international conference on Somalia, pledging more aid, financial help and measures to tackle terrorism. The summit followed a surprise visit by the foreign secretary, William Hague, to Mogadishu, the Somali capital, where he talked about "the beginnings of an opportunity'' to rebuild the country.

In case you didn't see it, the U.S. has unleashed the drones on yet another country, Somalia. Two leaders of the al Shabab terrorist group were wounded in a drone strike there last week, according to the Washington Post. They plane, or planes, involved apparently belonged to U.S. Special Operations Command.

As the Post notes, this is the sixth country where U.S. drones are dropping ordnance. The other countries, that we know about, are; Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya and Yemen. The aircraft hitting targets in Somalia may be operating out of the ever-growing U.S.-French base in nearby Djibouti known as Camp Lemonnier but we'll likely never know for sure.

Somalia has a lot of oil.

Kenya has oil.

So do Mozambique, South Sudan, and Uganda.

All of these countries are on the Indian Ocean side of Africa, which is very likely the last great non-frozen, land-based pool of hydrocarbons on earth.

The global oil major ENI found $800 billion worth of natural gas off the coast of Mozambique last month.

BG Group (BG) found 4 trillion cubic feet of gas there as well. That's more natural gas than is in Norway.

The Race is On

Chevron is planning to invest $250 billion in East Africa exploration and development.

Cove Energy (COV.L), a small company I recommended to readers of my Crisis & Opportunity, found a mother lode of natural gas just offshore in shallow water.

Cove recently got a buyout offer from Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA)...

Witnesses say a surveillance drone has crashed into a refugee camp in the Somali capital.

Drones have been used by the U.S. to attack or observe al-Qaida-linked militants in the Horn of Africa nation.

Refugees and soldiers in Mogadishu's Badbado camp say they watched the drone crash Friday into a hut made of sticks, corrugated cans and plastic bags.

Sacdiyo Sheikh Madar, a refugee at the camp, says African Union peacekeepers came to remove it.

Police officer Ali Hussein says the drone was shaped like a small plane. A similar drone crashed into a house in Mogadishu last year.

Source:AP

They're hoping to mimic London-based Tullow Oil, which discovered some 2 billion bbl. of oil in landlocked Uganda over the past four years. Last month, Texas-based oil company Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced that it had tapped a giant reservoir of natural gas off the coast of Mozambique. "Anadarko's find went off like a bomb here in Houston," says Robert Bertagne, a Texas-based oil wildcatter. "It was, 'Wow, we are finding large quantities of gas, and that means we have hydrocarbons in the area.' Once you have a discovery, more people are going to go in there."

Kevin P. Chilton

General Chilton retired as Commander of the United States Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska in February 2011, where he was responsible for the plans and operations for all U.S. forces conducting strategic deterrence and U.S. Department of Defense space and cyberspace operations. General Chilton served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 34 years in a wide variety of assignments including pilot, test pilot, instructor and astronaut, while earning numerous major awards and decorations. General Chilton serves as a director of Orbital Sciences Corporation and has been a director of Anadarko since May 2011.

01 Feb 2012

Start Date : 01 Feb 2012

Location : Mozambique

Industry Sector : Oil & Gas

Disciplines : Aviation, Maintenance, Operations

Contract Type : Contract

Salary : Negotiable

Job Reference : 82798

Region : Africa

Job Details

Description : Job Reference: 82798

UAV Flight Crew Operators

Location: Mozambique

Salary: Negotiable

Job Type: Contract

Industry: Engineering

The Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline (TransMed; also Enrico Mattei gas pipeline) is a natural gas pipeline from Algeria via Tunisia to Sicily and thence to mainland Italy. An extension of the TransMed pipeline delivers Algerian gas to Slovenia.

Libya plans oil and gas pipelines to Tunisia

Fri, 23 February 2007

THE GOVERNMENT of Libya is planning to construct oil and gas pipelines to Tunisia as part of its plans to boost energy co-operation with its North African neighbour, Energy Minister Taieb al-Safi reported to have said. He said that Libya also sought to construct an oil refinery in Skhirat, 250km south of Tunis.

The projects would be financed by the private sector in the two countries and international investors, the minister said. A tourist zone on their border was also planned. During 2007, Libya aims to increase its investments in Tunisia to $3bn from the current level of $2.3bn, the minister continued. In October 2003, the two countries set up a joint gas company to deliver supplies from Melilla in Libya to the southern Tunisian region of Gabes. Tunisia, which has limited energy resources, has for the past two decades been used to transit Algerian natural gas by pipeline to Europe.

yria is believed to have a substantial chemical weapons program, which includes mustard gas and sophisticated nerve agents, such as sarin gas, as well as biological weapons. Syria has also refused IAEA requests to make available facilities that were part of its nuclear weapons program and may still be in operation. (My emphasis)

The protesters, chanting "No to the conference!" and "No meeting of the enemies of Arab nations", had attempted to force their way into a hotel on the outskirts of Tunis where the conference was taking place.

"This meeting is in the interest of America and the Zionists," shouted others.

"This congress aims to destroy Syria and we will not let Tunisia become the centre from where plots against the Arab nation can be carried out," said one demonstrator.

Banners read: "Obama shut up, Syria is not yours", "Hillary Clinton buzz off", and "No to the meeting of shame".

"My husband was driving us all to lunch," relates Asma, "and out of the corner of my eye I could see Brad Pitt was fidgeting. I turned around and asked: 'Is anything wrong?' 'Where's your security?' asked Pitt. So I started teasing him -- 'See that old woman on the street? That's one of them! And that old guy crossing the road? That's the other one!'"

The president joins in the punchline: "Brad Pitt wanted to send his security guards here to come and get some training!"

Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times war correspondent, was killed by Syrian forces acting on direct orders to murder Western journalists, it has been claimed.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Araby announced the appointment on Thursday evening. They said that Annan would serve as their high-level representative in the crisis and would be supported by a deputy from the Arab world.

"The special envoy will provide good offices aimed at bringing an end to all violence and human rights violations and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis," the statement said as quoted by the UN News Center.

"He will consult broadly and engage with all relevant interlocutors within and outside Syria in order to end the violence and the humanitarian crisis and facilitate a peaceful Syrian-led and inclusive political solution that meets the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people through a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition,"

The deal, reportedly worth 10 billion dollars [12 trillion Iraqi dinars] involves the construction of a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) pipeline to transfer Iran's gas from the South Pars gas field to Europe via Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Mediterranean region. The pipeline will take three to five years to build.

Last month the Swiss foreign minister visited Iran and, together with President Ahmadinejad, attended the signing of a multi-billion euro contract for Iran to supply Switzerland with large amounts of natural gas over the next 25 years.

In line with its commitment to cross-border business development in the Middle East, Merhav holds 30% equity in the development of the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline that is to deliver Egyptian natural gas to Israel, Turkey and, possibly, adjacent markets.

TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline, which has been nicknamed the 21st century Silk Road, was first proposed after officials from Turkmenistan and Pakistan reached an early agreement on Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline in 1995.

Meanwhile, Presidents of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan signed an agreement in 2002 for transmission of the Central Asian gas reserves. As a result, they first decided to build a 1,500-km pipeline to connect Dauletabad gas field in Turkmenistan to Gwadar port in Pakistan. An official agreement has also reached in 2006.

At the same time, India was under US pressure to quit the Peace Pipeline project which was meant to take IranÕs gas to the Indian subcontinent. The United States then showed interest in the above agreement. Finally, India joined the scheme in 2008, which was then called Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline. After India joined in, the pipeline was renamed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline or TAPI.

Turkmenistan possesses large oil reserves and the world's fifth-largest natural gas reserves, widely described as the key to the country's economic future and strategic significance.

Balochistan is totally under the radar of Western corporate media. But not the Pentagon's. An immense desert comprising almost 48% of Pakistan's area, rich in uranium and copper, potentially very rich in oil, and producing more than one-third of Pakistan's natural gas, it accounts for less than 4% of Pakistan's 173 million citizens. Balochs are the majority, followed by Pashtuns. Quetta, the provincial capital, is considered Taliban Central by the Pentagon, which for all its high-tech wizardry mysteriously has

Gwadar - a port built by China - is the absolute key. It is the essential node in the crucial, ongoing, and still virtual Pipelineistan war between IPI and TAPI. IPI is the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline", which is planned to cross from Iranian to Pakistani Balochistan - an anathema to Washington. TAPI is the perennially troubled, US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, which is planned to cross western Afghanistan via Herat and branch out to Kandahar and Gwadar.

Strategically, Balochistan is mouth-watering: east of Iran, south of Afghanistan, and boasting three Arabian sea ports, including Gwadar, practically at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.

Gwadar - a port built by China - is the absolute key. It is the essential node in the crucial, ongoing, and still virtual Pipelineistan war between IPI and TAPI. IPI is the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline", which is planned to cross from Iranian to Pakistani Balochistan - an anathema to Washington. TAPI is the perennially troubled, US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, which is planned to cross western Afghanistan via Herat and branch out to Kandahar and Gwadar.

Instead of IP pipeline, the US has supported the construction of an alternative pipeline from Central Asia through Afghanistan to Pakistan and the Indian Ocean. Iran accuses the US of supporting Jundallah, which is believed to have bases somewhere in Balochistan.

In January 2010, the United States asked Pakistan to abandon the pipeline project. If canceling the project, Pakistan would receive assistance from the United States for construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal and importing electricity from Tajikistan through Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor.[11] However, on 16 March 2010 in Ankara, Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement on the pipeline.[8] In July 2011, Iran announced that it has completed construction of its section.[12]

Meanwhile, Iran is still India's second largest supplier of natural gas. But the sanctions against Iran are also affecting India, which has delayed signing new contracts for the development of Farzad-B gas field, which has an estimated 21.68 trillion feet of natural gas, and in which ONGC is involved.

Terming Pakistanis a hardcore two-faced enemies, House Foreign Affairs Committee member Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) who launched a congressional resolution calling for self-determination for Balochistan in an interview told "The Cable" the issue was being ignored by US only to please Pakistan.

Over the long term, the CIA has an interest in keeping the strategically important Port of Gwadar out of China's influence. Over the short to medium term, the CIA also has an interest in supporting Jundallah, also known as People's Resistance Movement of Iran (PRMI), a violent organization that claims to be "fighting for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran."

The United States "funds the Political Security and the National Security [forces], which spend money traveling here and there, in Sanaa or in the US, with their family. All the tribes get is airstrikes against us." He adds that counterterrorism "has become like an investment" for the US-backed units. "If they fight seriously, the funds will stop. They prolonged the conflict with Al Qaeda to receive more funds" from the United States.

That, in a nutshell, is how many Yemenis see the US role in their country. The United States "should have never made counterterrorism a source of profit for the regime, because that increased terrorism," asserts Iryani. "Their agenda was to keep terrorism alive, because it was their cash cow."

subsection (c)(2)? It requires a provider to turn over to the government without a warrant:

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's top Pentagon lawyer on Wednesday said that American citizens who join Al Qaeda can be targeted for killing and that courts should have no role in reviewing executive branch decisions about whether someone has met such criteria.

"Belligerents who also happen to be U.S. citizens do not enjoy immunity where non-citizen belligerents are valid military objectives," said Jeh C. Johnson, the Defense Department general counsel, in a speech at Yale Law School.

By Sunday morning, the high walls of the compound and more than half of the building inside had been torn down, the Associated Press reports.

Officials say the compound was handed over by the military to the civil authorities before the operation started.

They say the demolition was decided soon after the May raid, but it was put off when the government set up a judicial commission to investigate the operation by US forces.

"Since the commission has almost completed its work and did not need the compound for any further investigation, it was decided it should be razed," an official said.

"I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I'm wondering, I don't think I've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that's kind of where we are," said the former Florida Governor. "I think it changes when we get to the general election. I hope."

That reticence, however, enraged Frans Timmermans, a leading member of the opposition Labor Party in The Hague, who said in a note posted on Facebook that he wanted the nation's foreign minister to formally rebuke Mr. Santorum. As Radio Netherlands reports, Mr. Timmermans wrote: "the ambassador gave 'no comment' on Santorum's scandalous accusations aimed at our country. How is that possible?"

He then called on Uri Rosenthal, the foreign minister, to make a public statement, before concluding, "This cannot be allowed to rest."

Sourced by Producer Chris

Vivek Kundra Joins Salesforce.com as Executive Vice President of Emerging Markets - salesforce.com

Obama's Silicon Valley Schmooze: Meeting With Zuckerberg, Dining With Benioff - Forbes

'Cloud First': What Next? - The Cloud

White House Issues Federal Cloud Strategy - Government - Cloud/SaaS - Informationweek

Harness the Full Power of the Cloud

Cloud apps and platform - Salesforce.com

Ernest Perce, wore a "Zombie Mohammed" costume and pretended to walk among the dead (in the company of an associate who was the "Zombie Pope" -- and who, you'll be shocked to learn, was not assaulted). The assailant, Talag Elbayomy, a Muslim immigrant, physically attacked Perce, attempted to pull his sign off, and, according to police, admitted what he had done right after the incident. The defense argued that Elbayomy believed it was a crime to insult the prophet Mohammed (it is, under sharia law), and that because he was in the company of his children, he had to act to end this provocation and set an example about defending Islam.

In two recent unpublished studies, the Homeland Security Department and the National Counterterrorism Center ranked the sovereign citizen movement as a major threat, along with Islamic extremists and white supremacists. The FBI assigned a supervisor to coordinate investigations of the movement last year.

"This is a movement that has absolutely exploded," said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization based in Montgomery, Ala., that tracks domestic terrorists and hate groups. More than 100,000 Americans have aligned themselves with the sovereign citizens, the center said.

Press TV says on their website Mr Davies and Mr Montgomery-Johnson were seized along with two Libyan nationals and it has not been in contact with the four since Tuesday.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Melanie Gribble Sister of Gareth Montgomery-Johnson

Ms Gribble, said the family found out about Mr Montgomery-Johnson's detention by accident, after a friend posted a link on Facebook.

She told BBC Radio Wales the Foreign Office confirmed the arrest but could not give any further information."

So I'm in the drive thru line at the local E. Coli in the Box (Jack in the Box) listening to NA #385. Just before that I heard the segments talking about Octane and Antabuse. So I get my vehicle manual to just see if mine tells me what octane I need to use and what do I find in the manual? Antabuse and the dangers of breathing gasoline fumes? WTF? Here is the pic of it.

Mark V. Fusco

San Antonio, TX

Photo

Cancer drug shortage causes alarm - Fox News Video - Fox News

Methotrexate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ben Venue Contract Manufacturing Development Parenteral Drugs

Ben Venue Laboratories Contract Manufacturing Development Parenteral Drugs

Kelly M. McMasters Profile - Forbes.com

Provectus Pharmaceuticals - Developing new drug therapies for Skin Cancer (Melanoma), Breast Cancer, Liver Cancer, as well as for skin diseases such as Psoriasis, Eczema (atopic dermatitis), and Acne

We're not being honest with ourselves. And by "we" I mean consumers, those whose privacy the President, Google, and the DAA would protect. Google, Pandora, Facebook--each offers value in exchange for no money. This is not to lionize these three companies, because they're not doing the Lord's work out of love for mankind. They are companies, and soon all three will be answerable to shareholders. This is not a bad thing, but we shouldn't pretend it's not a thing.

Facebook pays low-wage foreign workers to delete certain content based upon a censorship list. For example, Facebook deletes accounts created by Palestinian resistance groups.

Digg was caught censoring stories which were controversial or too critical of the government. See this and this.

Now, even social media site Reddit -- which helped launch the anti-Sopa Internet blackout and publicize GoDaddy's slimy Sopa support -- is doing the same thing.

As just one example, posts from this website are being censored by Reddit. Specifically, a friend of this site who has submitted stories to Reddit has received the following messages of rejection from a Reddit moderator named davidreiss666:

Martelly said in an address to the nation late Friday that he had accepted the resignation, but that he regretted the moving coming "at a time when the country is taking off."

Martelly vowed to "rapidly" nominate a successor, and said he had assured "our partners of the international community" that he had taken measures "to allow the state to operate normally."

A doctor's manual from 16th Century France even advised couples that the best time to conceive was not at the end of a long day's labour but "after the first sleep", when "they have more enjoyment" and "do it better".

Ekirch found that references to the first and second sleep started to disappear during the late 17th Century. This started among the urban upper classes in northern Europe and over the course of the next 200 years filtered down to the rest of Western society.

By the 1920s the idea of a first and second sleep had receded entirely from our social consciousness.

''And if I continued to leave he would do that non-stop until I returned,'' Alexandra Thorpe, 27, from Leichhardt, said.

Advertisement: Story continues below

The Staffordshire bull terrier was diagnosed with ''separation anxiety'' and prescribed a daily dose of Prozac combined with Valium and trazodone to help him handle panic attacks and stressful situations. He also underwent behavioural therapy.

One of the company's three co-founders, Yancey Strickler, said that Kickstarter is on track to distribue over $150 million dollars to its users' projects in 2012, or more than entire fiscal year 2012 budget for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), which was $146 million.

"It is probable Kickstarter will distribute more money this year than the NEA," said Stricker in an exclusive phone interview with TPM. "We view that number and our relationship to it in both a good and bad way."

2012

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