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Archive for February 15, 2011

South African Charged With Making Bioterrorism Threat

February 15, 2011 Comments off

A South African man was arrested this weekend on suspicion of threatening to attack the United Kingdom and the United States with foot and mouth disease, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, June 30, 2010).

Brian Roach, the owner of a Johannesburg-area engineering company, was apprehended on Saturday and brought into court today. The 64-year-old man allegedly warned the British government through e-mail and written communication that he planned to release the biological agent in the United Kingdom and the United States if he was not paid $4 million.

“We have the expertise and resources to do this very effectively and will be able to devastate the industry in the U.K. which will cost billions to the economy,” Roach said in an e-mail message sent to the British government. “We will devastate your farms and then we will then take the problem to Read more…

Fresh produce prices to double or triple following freak freezes – is Earth in a magnetic pole shift?

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In an article posted on January 3 of this year, I predicted a rise in food prices resulting from freak weather events (http://www.naturalnews.com/030903_p…). Here’s what I said in that article:

By the end of 2012, I predict significant food supply disruptions in North America, brought about either by radical weather affecting crop yields or perhaps the invasion of disease indirectly caused by the over-use of pesticides or GMOs. The number of people in America struggling to feed themselves and their families will rise along with food prices. …Expect to see food prices climb with alarming speed over the next two years. While food won’t disappear, it will become significantly more expensive, causing more people to shift to subsidized foods (corn, sugar, etc.) which also happen to be some of the worst foods for your health.

Now there’s news from Mexico that the fresh produce normally shipped to U.S. grocery stores has been largely destroyed by the freak cold weather snap that struck the continental United States over the past 10 days. As a result, prices on cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and asparagus are set to double or triple starting right now.

Even worse, it looks like the supply of many of these items will be completely wiped out. You won’t be able to buy them, in other words, at any price!

This is the fallout from the worst freeze event recorded in Read more…

Gold-Silver Ratio: Silver value highest in five years

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NEW YORK (Commodity Online): As precious metals continue to lead the commodities boom globally, the most frequently asked question these days is where does the gold-silver ratio stand.

Over the years, gold has been the high value beneficiary commodity in comparison to silver. But last week, the gold to silver ratio fell to just above 45:1. According to Wayne Atwell, Managing Director of Casimir Capital, the silver value in comparison to gold is the highest in the last five years.

“This is because people—investors—are regarding silver as a safe haven investment just like gold,” he says.

Atwell said: “Suddenly with the anxiety level that’s surfaced about sovereign debt and municipal deficits, people are turning to alternative ways to hedge themselves and I think people felt silver was cheap based on where it has been historically, so they jumped on the bandwagon.”

Gold-Silver ratio is the most important barometer for commodities traders and futures market dealers. Even though Read more…

Highlights of the $3.73 Trillion Budget Request for 2012

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WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama released a $3.73 trillion budget for fiscal-year 2012 Monday where he sought to balance two competing and conflicting agendas: dramatic cuts to federal spending while also investing in programs to improve U.S. competitiveness.

A look at what President Barack Obama has requested in his $3.73 trillion budget for the 2012 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

Summary: Homeland Security gets $44 Billion with a priority on naked body scanners.  The Transportation Department gets over a half Trillion dollars for new highway and rail construction, including $53 billion for high-speed trains.  $500 million will go to the new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Enforcement (See my article on LOST.) and NIST, the group that dropped the ball on the Sept. 11th investigation will be getting $764 million, roughly a 17% increase from last year.

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Agency: NASA

Spending: $18.7 billion

Percentage Change from 2011: 0.9 percent decrease

Discretionary Spending: $18.7 billion

Highlights: Obama’s space budget is about the same as the previous year, avoiding the major proposed cuts other agencies are facing, partly because of the long planned Read more…

Astronomers spot ‘planet’ in Oort Cloud, but are they mistaking Tyche for her sister?

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© Ben McGee

If you grew up thinking there were nine planets and were shocked when Pluto was demoted five years ago, get ready for another surprise. There may be nine after all, and Jupiter may not be the largest.

The hunt is on for a gas giant up to four times the mass of Jupiter thought to be lurking in the outer Oort Cloud, the most remote region of the solar system. The orbit of Tyche, as it is provisionally called, would be 15,000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth’s, and 375 times farther than Pluto’s, which is why it hasn’t been seen so far.

But now scientists believe the proof of its existence has already been gathered by a NASA space telescope, Wise, and is just waiting to be analyzed.

The first tranche of data is to be released in April, and astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette think it will reveal Read more…

A weapon of mass destruction was found in the U.S.’: Shock confession of Customs officer

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By David Gardner

A port official has admitted that a ‘weapon of mass effect’  has been found by ‘partner agencies’ in the U.S., raising major questions over a possible government cover-up.

The disturbing revelation came in an interview with San Diego’s assistant port director screened by a television channel in the city.

The Customs and Border Protection Department tried to dampen speculation over his remarks, but doubts remained over whether he had inadvertently revealed a dirty bomb plot to attack the U.S. mainland.

Scroll down to the bottom for a video of the interview

Crucial moment: Assistant port director Al Hallor admits on camera 'weapons of mass effect' have been found at locations in the U.S.Crucial moment: Assistant port director Al Hallor admits on camera ‘weapons of mass effect’ have been found at locations in the U.S. 

Concern over a secret WMD bust came after Read more…

Riots Break Out in Bahrain

February 15, 2011 2 comments
Bloomberg
By Glen Carey – Mon Feb 14 15:04:21 GMT 2011
Bahrain Deploys Police as Demonstrators Demand Freedom, Jobs

Police fired tear gas into a crowd of protesters in the Diraz area today. Photographer: -/AFP/Getty Images

Bahraini riot police were deployed to break up protests across the island nation as demonstrators, inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, demanded more political freedom and jobs.

Police fired tear gas into crowds in the areas of Diraz and Bani Jamrah. Earlier, residents of the Shiite Muslim village of Nuweidrat said clashes broke out between activists and police after morning prayers. Police were present on the outskirts of Nuweidrat, where Shiite flags adorned buildings along alleyways.

”We were starting our peaceful protests when riot police attacked us with tear gas,” Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said in an interview after the protest in Bani Jamrah was dispersed. “We will continue Read more…

CIA Director Leon Panetta Warns of Possible Cyber-Pearl Harbor

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Top Intelligence-Security Officials Say Computer Attacks Increasing

By JASON RYAN

Top U.S. intelligence officials have raised concerns about the growing vulnerability the United States faces from cyberwarfare threats and malicious computer activity that CIA Director Leon Panetta said “represents the battleground for the future.”

“The potential for the next Pearl Harbor could very well be a cyber-attack,” he testified on Capitol Hill Thursday before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also appeared, telling the committee, “This threat is increasing in scope and scale, and its impact is difficult to overstate.”

There are roughly 60,000 new malicious computer programs identified each day, Clapper said, citing industry estimates.

“Some of these are what we define as advanced, persistent threats, which are Read more…

US Internet censorship fight falling short: report

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WASHINGTON — State Department efforts to combat Internet censorship in China and other countries have fallen short and funding for the drive should be shifted to another US agency, a Senate committee report says.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee report sharply criticizes the State Department for being slow in spending money allocated by Congress for Internet Censorship Circumvention Technology (ICCT).

The report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, recommends that the funding be given instead to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and other US radio and TV networks.

The report is to be released on Tuesday, the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to Read more…

Debt now equals total U.S. economy

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President Obama speaks at Parkville Middle School and Center of Technology, in Parkville, Md., Monday, Feb., 14, 2011. At right is Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Obama speaks at Parkville Middle School and Center of Technology, in Parkville, Md., Monday, Feb., 14, 2011. At right is Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Obama projects that the gross federal debt will top $15 trillion this year, officially equaling the size of the entire U.S. economy, and will jump to nearly $21 trillion in five years’ time.

Amid the other staggering numbers in the budget Mr. Obama sent to Congress on Monday, the debt stands out — both because Congress will need to vote to raise the debt limit later this year, and because the numbers are so large.

Mr. Obama‘s budget said 2011 will see the biggest one-year jump in debt in history, or nearly $2 trillion in a single year. And the administration says it will reach $15.476 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, to reach Read more…