Nasa warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will cause devastation

“It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world.  “Large areas will be without electricity power and to repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”

VIDEO

Bilderberg 2010: What we have learned

A huge agenda of global issues was crammed into four days of 'secret' meetings by a mysterious group of power brokers. But who elected them and why are we paying for them? Check out the agenda for Bilderberg 2010: "Financial reform, security, cyber technology, energy, Pakistan, Afghanistan, world food problem, global cooling, social networking, medical science, EU-US relations." That list is a window into your future. Don't think for one minute that it isn't. And don't ignore it, because it isn't ignoring you.

U.S debt to rise to $19.6 trillion by 2015

The U.S. debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015, according to a Treasury Department report to Congress.  The report that was sent to lawmakers Friday night with no fanfare said the ratio of debt to the gross domestic product would rise to 102 percent by 2015 from 93 percent this year.

Bankruptcy filings are nearing record 2 million...

Bankruptcy filings are nearing the record 2 million of 2005, when a new law took effect that was aimed at curbing abuse of the system. Filings could reach 1.7 million this year, says law professor Robert Lawless, but few experts believe that debtors are now gaming the system.

Risks to global economy have 'risen significantly', top IMF official warns

“After nearly two years of global economic and financial upheaval, shockwaves are still being felt, as we have seen with recent developments in Europe and the resulting financial market volatility,” Naoyuki Shinohara, the IMF's deputy managing director, said in Singapore on Wednesday. “The global outlook remains unusually uncertain and downside risks have risen significantly.”  Countries across Europe are under pressure to tackle their deficits that were deepened by the financial crisis and governments own response to it. Some economists fear that moves by countries ranging from Britain to Spain to rein in public spending at the same time will set back a global recovery.

Don't sleep longer – sleep smarter

Worried that you don't get the fabled eight hours? That's your first mistake, says Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, who thinks it's quality, rather than quantity, that counts. She shares her tips for a better night's rest with Rob Sharp.

Video: Lending merry-go-round

Glenn Beck - Current Events & Politics - Video: Lending merry-go-round

U.N. rebukes of Israel permitted in U.S. policy shift

Under President Barack Obama, the United States no longer provides Israel with automatic support at the United Nations where the Jewish state faces a constant barrage of criticism and condemnation.

Russia, Iran in joint venture for nuclear plant

Russia and Iran will establish a joint venture to operate Tehran's first nuclear plant set to come online this summer, Sergei Kiriyenko, chief of Russia's nuclear state corporation, said on Tuesday.  Russia has been helping Iran build its first nuclear plant in the southern city of Bushehr since the mid-90s but its launch has been marred by a series of delays and the issue is hugely delicate amid a standoff over Iran's nuclear programme.

Quake swarm strikes off Los Angeles - list

Obama goes street: looking for 'ass to kick' over oil spill - VIDEO

"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

Ahmadinejad Stresses Need for New World Order

"The conditions we are experiencing today need planning for new orders in the world and (our) cooperation and co-thinking for organizing the conditions," Ahmadinejad told reporters before departing for Istanbul, Turkey to take part in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).  Reminding that major world and Asian players will take part in the Istanbul conference, the Iranian president underlined that "Iran, too, will have active participation in drafting the final statement, taking stances as well as mutual consultations" with participants in the conference.  Ahmadinejad said that his visit will take place at the invitation of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, and pointed out that he is slated to meet other foreign officials during the visit.  Ahmadinejad further confirmed his subsequent trip to Tajikistan, saying the visit will come in response to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon's visit to Tehran in March 2010.  The Iranian president mentioned that he will take part in the 'Water for Life' international conference in Tajikistan.  The CICA Conference is underway in Istanbul on June 4-10.  Turkey will take over the rotating term presidency of the CICA from Kazakhstan during the conference.  Last year, Gul accepted Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's offer to take the presidency of the body.  CICA is an inter-governmental security forum in Asia which was initiated by Kazakhstan's then president in 1992 and currently has 18 member states, including Iran, Russia, China, South Korea and Turkey.

U.S.’s $13 Trillion Debt Poised to Overtake GDP: Chart of Day

The CHART OF THE DAY tracks U.S. gross domestic product and the government’s total debt, which rose past $13 trillion for the first time this month. The amount owed will surpass GDP in 2012, based on forecasts by the International Monetary Fund. The lower panel shows U.S. annual GDP growth as tracked by the IMF, which projects the world’s largest economy to expand at a slower pace than the 3.2 percent average during the past five decades.

NASA: 'Sun is waking up from a deep slumber'; Warns solar storms may wreak havoc on power grids, GPS, air travel, radio communications...

Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that's new to human history.

"The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms....

The National Academy of Sciences framed the problem two years ago in a landmark report entitled "Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts." It noted how people of the 21st-century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity. A century-class solar storm, the Academy warned, could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.

Red Skelton Explains "The Pledge of Allegiance"

Red Skelton Explains "The Pledge of Allegiance"

Engineers say well could leak for years if not stopped

"It's huge. It's a big oil field," said Roger Anderson, an oil geophysicist at the Earth Institute of Columbia University. "If 20,000 barrels a day are escaping, it could stay there for years, then drop off. It could flow at a small rate for a very, very long time."

Helen Thomas: Jews get out of Israel. Go back to Poland!

Sovereign Credit-Default Swaps Surge on Hungarian Debt Crisis... "a very grave situation"

Credit-default swaps on sovereign bonds surged to a record on speculation Europe’s debt crisis is worsening after Hungary said it’s in a “very grave situation” because a previous government lied about the economy.

The euro dropped below $1.21 for the first time since April 2006, stocks tumbled and the cost of insuring against corporate default rose on speculation Hungary will weaken the EU’s willingness to rescue the region’s indebted nations

Turkey says may cut ties with Israel to minimum

Turkey said on Friday it could cut ties with Israel to a minimum after a sea raid on a Turkish ship bound for Gaza plunged relations to their lowest since the two countries forged a strategic relationship in the 1990s.

U.S. 'secret war' expands globally as Special Operations forces take larger role

Special Operations forces have grown both in number and budget, and are deployed in 75 countries, compared with about 60 at the beginning of last year. In addition to units that have spent years in the Philippines and Colombia, teams are operating in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

Myanmar's Secret Nuclear Program Revealed

A defector from Myanmar -- an army major and deputy commander of a top-secret nuclear facility -- escaped the country with thousands of files detailing a secret nuclear and missile program.

Netanyahu tells Blair he will 'loosen' Gaza blockade

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told former British prime minister Tony Blair Thursday that he is willing to loosen the blockade of Gaza in order to allow humanitarian aid to enter the strip.  Netanyahu expressed his willingness to allow ships carrying humanitarian goods to enter Gaza port after having been checked for weapons by international inspectors.  The prime minister's comments came as world pressure on Israel to end the blockade increases in the wake of the Gaza Flotilla Affair in which nine activists were killed

Israel set to become gas exporter

Consortium finds enough gas to secure energy needs for 50 - 70 years.

Rabbis: Flotilla Clash Heralds Gog and Magog Prophecy

The Rabbinical Council of Judea and Samaria issued an unusual statement Thursday in which it said that the results of the incident in which Israel intercepted a flotilla trying to break the naval blockade of Gaza "place us at the beginning of the Gog and Magog process where the world is against us, but which ends with the third and final redemption."

Anti-Israel sharks sniff Obama's weakness

Weakness always begets aggression, and, like clockwork, Obama's repeated signals that he is weakening America's commitment to Israel are emboldening the Jewish state's enemies. From Syria to Iran to Lebanon, from Hezbollah to Hamas and the PLO, the wolves smell blood and are trying to gauge whether they can get close enough for the kill.

And whether the United States will stop them. That they even dare hope we won't reflects the danger of Obama's demented decisions.

Stocks, Oil Drop, Treasuries Rise as Middle-East Tension Grows

Stocks and oil dropped, while the dollar and Treasuries rose, as a report that Lebanon fired on Israeli warplanes spurred concern tensions in the Middle East are escalating. Energy companies led declines in equities after BP Plc failed to halt the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

Groups want FCC to police hate speech on talk radio, cable news networks

"As traditional media have become less diverse and less competitive, they have also grown less responsible and less responsive to the communities that they are supposed to serve," the organizations wrote to the FCC. "In this same atmosphere hate speech thrives, as hate has developed as a profit-model for syndicated radio and cable television program masquerading as 'news.'"

Syria conducted nuclear experiments...

Syria has told the UN atomic watchdog about past nuclear experiments, but is still refusing to cooperate over allegations that it was building a secret nuclear reactor with North Korea's help, a new report revealed Monday.

North Korea 'is exporting nuclear technology'

International efforts to avert a full-blown crisis on the Korean peninsula were given greater urgency today after a leaked UN report claimed that North Korea is defying UN sanctions and using front companies to export nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria and Burma.

IAEA: Iran has over 2 tons enriched uranium -2 bombs' worth

On enrichment, the report said Iran had now enriched 2,427 kilograms to just over three percent level. That means shipping out 1,200 kilograms (as proposed by the IAEA late in 2009) now would still leave Iran with more than enough material to make a nuclear weapon. That makes the deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil unattractive to the U.S and its allies.

Israel Concerned Turkey Navy with Next Flotilla

"This initiative is not going to stop," she said from the group's base in Cyprus. "We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense. They're going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza, and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats."

Navy sources said that the coming ships would be intercepted the same way the flotilla was stopped on Monday morning although it had yet to be decided if the operation would be carried out by Sayetet 13, the Navy’s commando unit.

“We are tracking the ships and are under orders to stop them,” a top Navy officer said.

According to the sources, the Navy, in a future operation will use more force to prevent ships from reaching the Gaza Strip. "We boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war," one officer said. "That will mean that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war."

Lebanon fires on Israeli warplanes: security official

Lebanon's military fired anti-aircraft artillery at Israeli warplanes that were flying over Lebanon, a senior Israeli security official said on Tuesday.

Desert storm: Huge cloud of sand descends on Chinese village

China warns debt woes threaten global recovery

Governments around the world ran up record debts during the $5 trillion effort to pull the economy out of its deepest slump since the Great Depression and now face a tough balancing act: how to reduce debt without choking off growth.

Israel recoils as USA backs UN move...

Washington's unprecedented backing for a UN resolution for a nuclear-free Middle East that singles out Israel has both angered and deeply worried the Jewish state although officials are cagey about openly criticising their biggest ally.

The resolution adopted by the United Nations on Friday calls on Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and urges it to open its facilities to inspection.

No End in Sight... And oh, Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins Tuesday

BOOTHVILLE, La. – There is still a hole in the Earth, crude oil is still spewing from it and there is still, excruciatingly, no end in sight. After trying and trying again, one of the world's largest corporations, backed and pushed by the world's most powerful government, can't stop the runaway gusher.

As desperation grows and ecological misery spreads, the operative word on the ground now is, incredibly, August — the earliest moment that a real resolution could be at hand. And even then, there's no guarantee of success. For the United States and the people of its beleaguered Gulf Coast, a dispiriting summer of oil and anger lies dead ahead.

Oh ... and the Atlantic hurricane season begins Tuesday.

US Plans for Worst in Gulf... 'Oil coming up 'til August'

The Obama administration scrambled to respond on Sunday after the failure of the latest effort to kill the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. But administration officials acknowledged the possibility that tens of thousands of gallons of oil might continue pouring out until August, when two relief wells are scheduled to be completed.

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“This is obviously a difficult situation,” Ms. Browner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, “but it’s important for people to understand that from the beginning, the government has been in charge.

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”The final plugging of the well will have to wait until August, when the two relief wells are scheduled be completed. Those wells are being drilled diagonally to intersect with the runaway well and inject it with heavy liquids and cement. Work could be slowed by storms in what is expected to be an active summer hurricane season.

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Donald Van Nieuwenhuise, director of petroleum geoscience programs at the University of Houston, said that he thought BP’s next plan had a good chance of succeeding, but that there was also a risk of increasing the flow of escaping oil by 10 percent.

“Then it just makes the situation worse for longer,” he said, unless the containment cap succeeds in collecting a substantial amount of oil.

Americans Fleeing Border Invasion...Protect Yourself... The 9mm Won't Save You!

Will the National Guard be stationed right on the line, with bullets in their guns and the authority to defend themselves? Almost certainly not. The border is a "combat zone," says T.J. Bonner, head of the Border patrol agents' union, too dangerous even for Border Patrol. You read that correctly. Without armored vehicles to protect them, Bonner opposes putting Border Patrol agents on the border itself.

Communist Revolutionaries in Atlanta - Be AWARE!

US money supply plunges at 1930s pace as Obama eyes fresh stimulus

The M3 money supply in the United States is contracting at an accelerating rate that now matches the average decline seen from 1929 to 1933, despite near zero interest rates and the biggest fiscal blitz in history.

Chavez Confiscates Food

The operation was part of President Hugo Chavez's efforts "to protect the Venezuelan family" and avoid the phenomenon of empty shelves at grocery stores, the general said.

Gov. Christie: We're Not Raising Taxes

New Jersey Governor Says He Has Residents Covered Through Fiscal Year 2011 Despite $800 Million Hole.   How Did He Do This? Remember The Budget Freeze? Looks Like It Worked

'Plug the damn hole'

Obama has told aides in recent days to "plug the damn hole" and he will head to the Louisiana Gulf coast on Friday for the second time since the April 20 rig blast that killed 11 and unleashed the oil.

North Korea bracing...severs all ties with South Korea

Tensions have risen since last week, when a team of international investigators concluded that a torpedo from a North Korean submarine tore apart the Cheonan warship off the west coast on March 26.

US Prepares for Largest Battle in Afghanistan...

"Our intent is to take away from [the Taliban] access to the population where they are traditionally strongest. And that will take away from them some of their credibility as well as recruiting, funding, access to narcotics," McChrystal told ABC News in a March interview. "It won't be decisive. But it's a pretty severe blow to them if they lose what we would consider their most important area."  Many have been more blunt. The campaign is the most significant test of the new American counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, and if it fails in any way, risks further alienating a skeptical population that is desperate for security.  "We've got a few months," says one senior military official who has helped plan the campaign, "to make a giant difference."

Moody’s Reiterates U.S. Spending Risks Credit Rating

The government’s finances have been “substantially worsened by the credit crisis, recession, and government spending to address these shocks,” Moody’s analysts lead by Steven A. Hess wrote

Obama to skip Memorial Day at Arlington...will be vacationing in Chicago

Gold Rising; Speculators buying faster than producers can mine...

Speculators are buying gold faster than the world’s biggest producers can mine it as analysts forecast a 27 percent rally that may extend the longest run of annual gains since at least 1920.

Congress preparing to QUADRUPLE tax on oil

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the tax increase was hastily put together, without adequate study, to help pay for an unrelated bill. The tax increase was unveiled Thursday, without any congressional hearings to study its impact. Even with the tax increases, the bill is projected to add $134 billion to the federal budget deficit. "I have seen no analysis on how this would impact energy security, how this would impact domestic production, how this would impact the overall economics in the country," said Christopher Guith, vice president of the chamber's energy institute. "There hasn't been any sort of deliberation on this."

Climate Fears Turn to Doubts

A survey in February by the BBC found that only 26 percent of Britons believed that “climate change is happening and is now established as largely manmade,” down from 41 percent in November 2009. A poll conducted for the German magazine Der Spiegel found that 42 percent of Germans feared global warming, down from 62 percent four years earlier.

Financial Reform Bill Is A ‘Disaster’: Sen. Gregg

“The bill is a disaster because it doesn’t address the fundamental underlining causes of the economic issue, which were real estate and underwriting,” he said. “This bill became, ‘I want to score the most points against Wall Street.’ Most of the initiative of this bill wasn’t directed at solving the problem, but it was directed at scoring political points.”  “You’ll basically have a consumer protection agency which decides to go out and in the morning and say, ‘well everybody who’s XYZ should have a loan, even though the local community bank says XYZ shouldn’t have a loan, because if we give them a loan, we know they’re not going to pay back,’” he said. “It’s going to become an agency that defines lending on social justice purposes instead of safety and soundness purposes.”

OBAMA REDISTRIBUTION VICTORY: PRIVATE PAY PLUMMETS, GOVT HANDOUTS SOAR

The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxed at lower rates or not at all, he says. "This is really important," Grimes says.

Economist David Henderson of the conservative Hoover Institution says a shift from private wages to government benefits saps the economy of dynamism. "People are paid for being rather than for producing," he says.

* European economy "teetering"

The U.S. economy faces major problems while Europe's is "teetering," the head of General Electric Co (GE.N) told a class of graduating college students on Monday.  "We are at an unprecedented moment in the history of our country. There is economic and social anxiety," said Jeff Immelt, chairman and chief executive of the largest U.S. conglomerate. "Europe appears to be teetering."

US Plays Down European Crisis but China Worried

European leaders have sought to deal with a crisis that has pushed many euro zone member states' borrowing costs sky high through a 110 billion euro bailout of Greece and the setting up of a $1 trillion safety net to stabilize the single currency.  But after riots on the streets of Athens and with strikes looming elsewhere, investors remain concerned about whether Europe has the political will to rein in bulging government deficits and tackle sluggish growth.  "Europe is trying to solve a debt problem with further debt," said Domenico Lombardi, president of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy

One false move in Europe could set off global chain reaction

But the fallout from Europe could still be widely felt. U.S. trade officials, hoping the country can dramatically boost its exports, are dismayed at the steep drop in the value of the euro -- which is around $1.25, down from more than $1.50 in November. The decline makes American goods more expensive compared with those produced in Europe. The slide in the common European currency could also change the way China and a host of Asian countries approach their currency policies, possibly making them less likely to agree with U.S. demands to raise the value of their money. If they raised it, Asian goods would become more expensive in world markets, making it easier for U.S. products to compete.

FEDS: We may not process illegals referred from AZ...

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL, said it appeared the Obama administration is "nullifying existing law" and suggested Morton may not be the right person for his post if he fails to enforce federal immigration law.  "If he feels he cannot enforce the law, he shouldn't have the job," Sessions told Fox News. "That makes him, in my view, not fulfilling the responsibilities of his office."  Sessions said the U.S. government has "systematically failed" to enforce federal immigration law and claimed Morton's statement is an indication that federal officials do not plan on working with Arizona authorities regarding its controversial law.  "They're telegraphing to every ICE agency in America that they really don't intend on cooperating with Arizona," Sessions said. "The federal government should step up and do it. It's their responsibility."

AZ gov. to Obama: Order Guard choppers from other states to border...

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is asking President Barack Obama to reallocate National Guard helicopters from other states to help Arizona secure its border with Mexico.

The Eyes Have It

There is still something of that in all Americans, which means as a people were not really suited to the age of surveillance, the age of no privacy. There is no hiding place now, not here, and this strikes me as something of huge and existential import. It's like the closing of yet another frontier, a final one we didn't even know was there.

Krauthammer: The fruits of weakness

The real news is that already notorious photo: the president of Brazil, our largest ally in Latin America, and the prime minister of Turkey, for more than half a century the Muslim anchor of NATO, raising hands together with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the most virulently anti-American leader in the world.   That picture -- a defiant, triumphant take-that-Uncle-Sam -- is a crushing verdict on the Obama foreign policy. It demonstrates how rising powers, traditional American allies, having watched this administration in action, have decided that there's no cost in lining up with America's enemies and no profit in lining up with a U.S. president given to apologies and appeasement.

Krauthammer: This administration is lawless

US lifts sanctions against Russians linked to Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration on Friday removed sanctions against three Russian organizations the U.S. had previously accused of assisting Iran's effort to develop nuclear weapons. Penalties against a fourth Russian entity previously accused of illicit arms sales to Syria also were lifted.

Chris Christie - Doing what needs to be done

TRENTON — It took about two minutes from the time Senate President Steve Sweeney certified the passage of the millionaires tax package for Gov. Chris Christie to veto the bills at his desk.  "While I have little doubt that the sponsors and supporters of this bill sincerely believe that the state can tax its way out of this financial crisis, I believe that this bill does nothing more than repeat the failed, irresponsible and unsustainable fiscal policies of the past," wrote Christie in his veto statement. "Now is not the time for more of the same. Ultimately, another tax increase will punish the state’s struggling small businesses and set our economy further back from recovery."

'Millionaires tax' bills pass both houses, but are vetoed by Gov. Christie

Church warns scientists... only God can create life

ROME (AP) - Catholic Church officials said Friday the recent creation by researchers of the first synthetic cell can be a positive development if correctly used, but warned scientists that only God can create life.

'Artificial Life' breakthrough announced by scientists

Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first living cell to be controlled entirely by synthetic DNA.  The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.  The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.