The can-do lawyer: The inspector general’s shameless defense of the referendumhttp://colombiareports.com/opinion/gustavo-silva-cano/7673-the-can-do-lawyer-the-inspector-generals-shameless-defense-of-the-referendum.html

The TSA Is Funding Airport Mind-Reading Scannershttp://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=TsdAbJJGsqkFEpxggtPMlOQvpnPP8Njm

An Israeli company, WeCU Technologies, is building a system that would project images onto airport screens, such as symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or an image only a terrorist would recognize.

Homeland Security officials have long been keen on Israeli counter-terror technologies, given the country's extensive experience with terrorism and its reputation for having some of the most effective security systems in the world. According to reports, WeCU has received two grants, from the US Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. 

Swine flu taskforce's links to vaccine giant: More than half the experts fighting the 'pandemic' have ties to drug firmshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243034/Swine-flu-taskforces-links-vaccine-giant-More-half-experts-fighting-pandemic-ties-drug-firms.html

More than half the scientists on the swine flu taskforce advising the US Government have ties to drug companies. Eleven of the 20 members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies have done work for the pharmaceutical industry or are linked to it through their universities.

Many have declared interests in GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine maker expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the pandemic. The disclosure of the register of interests comes just days after a health expert branded the swine flu outbreak a 'false pandemic' driven by the drug companies which stood to profit

Trial HIV Vaccine Leaves 46 Infected in Zambiahttp://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=68095

A failed clinical-trial HIV vaccine that left 46 Zambian women infected with the virus has outraged Zambians who are accusing The Microbicides Development Program of using African women as "guinea pigs." The MDP testing if the gel PRO2000 would prevent HIV infection took place between September 2005 and 2009. Zambia is among African countries hardest hit by HIV, with 14 per cent of its population of 13 million affected.

Iran's speaker accuses Obama of terrorismhttp://televisionwashington.com/floater_article1.aspx?lang=en&t=1&id=17169

Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator, accused Barack Obama of state terrorism Wednesday over the killing in Tehran of a leading atomic scientist. In an angry address to Iran’s parliament, Larijani reiterated Iranian charges the CIA and Israel’s Mossad were behind the scientist’s bombing death Tuesday

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El Salvador: Salvadorans Hold Vigil to Honor Fallen Anti-Mining Activistshttp://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/2314-solidarity-with-environmentalists-killed-in-el-salvador

Last week, family and friends of environmentalists killed in the town of San Isidro, Cabañas, gathered in solidarity with their fallen loved ones at a public ecumenical and artistic commemoration. Those gathered attributed the recent assassinations of three environmental activists to a generalized repression targeted at those opposed to the re-opening of the "El Dorado" gold mine by the Vancouver, BC-based Pacific Rim Mining Corporation

French nuclear power fed by uranium from Nigerhttp://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/61420

Niger exports enough uranium to France to generate 80 per cent of the latter’s electricity supply, writes Khadija Sharife. But ordinary Nigeriens reap little benefit from France’s control of their country’s uranium resources, with over three-fifths of the population living below the poverty line and reports of radioactive contamination of water, air and soil by multinational mining operations.

Uruguayan cooperative reopens factory thanks to Venezuelan fundshttp://english.eluniversal.com/2010/01/13/en_eco_art_uruguayan-cooperativ_13A3284611.shtml

El Universal: A cooperative comprising 40 Uruguayan workers took possession of a leather factory which had been closed for 12 years and which will be reopened thanks to a US$800,000 loan granted by the Venezuelan government. The Uruguayan workers, excited about the signing of documents and with the presence of a group of diplomats, municipal authorities and university students, said on Wednesday that "Venezuela granted a $240,000 loan (about 30% of the funds offered) on a first stage." Venezuela is providing funds in exchange for training of Venezuelan workers, said Ramon Martinez, a member of the cooperative. He stressed that they will always thank the Venezuelan government and people for their solidarity.

Goldman Sachs profited handsomely by trading ahead of — or even against — its own clients.http://www.blacklistednews.com/?news_id=7013

"NOT A SINGLE SIGNIFICANT FRAUD OR CORRUPTION CASE HAS BEEN COMPLETED" UN'S INTERNAL POLICING EFFORTShttp://knucklz.com/2010/01/13/not-a-single-significant-fraud-or-corruption-case-has-been-completed-uns-internal-policing-efforts.aspx

An Associated Press review of the UN’s anti-corruption task force has found not a single significant fraud or corruption case has been completed over the past year. This is compared to an average 150 cases a year it spent investigating the possible theft or misuse of millions of dollars. At least five major cases in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa are among the inquiries halted.

The UN was rocked in the past decade when more than 2,200 companies from 40 countries colluded with the regime of Saddam Hussein to bilk $1.8 billion from a U.N.-administered oil-for-food program. In response, the U.N. established a special anti-corruption unit--the Procurement Task Force in 2006. Over the next three years, the task force uncovered at least 20 other major schemes affecting more than $1 billion in U.N. contracts. At the beginning of 2009, however, the UN shut the agency and diverted the task force's work to the Office of Internal Oversight Services

UN calls situation of Colombian indigenous "critical"http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7669-united-nations-officials-concerned-about-the-critical-status-of-the-indigenous-people.html

comment-first of all the bias against farc is obvious,secondly,the  real criminals attacking and displacing the indigenous communities,are the uribe government,the colombian army,and the rigthwing paramilitaries.the UN leaves out the part,where farc and eln are indigenous peasents themselves,who took up resistence and struggle against repressive rigthwing governments,funded,and favored by washington. also see...Colombians Refuse to Be Displaced: Over 5,000 Occupy the Piñuña Negro Police Inspectors Office in Putumayo Indigenous and Afro-Colombian Campesinos Demand an End to Coca Eradication and Plan Colombiahttp://www.narconews.com/Issue63/article3998.html

The French Connection Revisited: The CIA, Irving Brown, and Drug Smuggling as Political Warfarehttp://www.covertaction.org/content/view/99/75/

From Blackwater to Xe, the Templar Crusadehttp://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16878

Lost Amazon civilisation revealedhttp://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=9441

Hundreds of geometric monuments unearthed deep in the Amazon may have been left behind by a previously unknown society, say scientists. Archaeologists have found more than 200 earthworks shaped as perfect circles and squares, many connected by straight roads. They have dated one site to 1283AD but say others could be from as early as 200AD.The earthen foundations were found in a region more than 150miles across, covering northern Bolivia and Brazil’s Amazonas state. The first ones were uncovered in 1999, after large areas of pristine forest was cleared for cattle grazing. Sculpted from the clay rich soils of Amazonia, the earthworks are made up of 30ft wide and 10ft deep ditches alongside 3ft high walls. The largest ring ditches founds so far are 1,000ft in diameter.

The Collins Bros Unleashed Episode 13: The Epistemological Cartel of RANDhttp://blessedresistanceradio.podomatic.com/entry/2010-01-10T18_35_14-08_00must listen

Paul and Phillip D. Collins examine the RAND Corporation as a modern epistemological cartel, citing the cases of Herman Kahn and Daniel Ellsberg. The Collins brothers also discuss how RAND’s management of the essential flow of information perpetuated the Manichean dynamic of the Cold War.

 Ecuadorean Communities to New Chevron CEO "We Don't Want to Continue Dying from Cancer".http://www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1980

Micheletti Appointed Congessman For Lifehttp://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/2010/01/micheletti-appointed-congessman-for.html

Last night the National Congress appointed Roberto Micheletti Bain a Congressman for life. This was the final act of this golpista Congress before closing it's legislative session. The decree was presented in a special ceremony in Congress last night by Manuel Ivan Fiallos, a Micheletti supporter who was re-elected in November.

The Dark Ages: Awaiting Enlightenment in the USAhttp://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/charlie-hardy/2010/01/dark-ages-awaiting-enlightenment-usa

Obama's Role in the Militarization of Mexico: An Interview with Laura Carlsenhttp://americas.irc-online.org/am/6635

comment-i had translated this last week from telesur,but i found a perfect english repost thru an english site,so enjoy...

High School Diploma Programs in Argentina: Learning on the Movehttp://americas.irc-online.org/am/6642

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Haiti Devastation is the Result of U.S. Oppressionhttp://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1&abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=9277

"The unstable, makeshift dwellings imposed upon Haitians by Washington’s neoliberal policies have now, for many, been turned into graves. Those same policies are to blame for the lack of hospitals, ambulances, fire trucks, rescue equipment, food and medicine.

The blow dealt by such a natural disaster to an economy made so fragile from decades of plundering will greatly magnify the suffering of the Haitian people."

comment-also see...also see...Neoliberalism in Haiti: The case of ricehttp://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/210.html

US Sponsored Coup d'Etat: The Destabilization of Haiti http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402D.html

FLASHBACK - Haiti’s hunger made in USAhttp://www.workers.org/2009/world/haiti_0528/

Thirty years ago Haiti supplied nearly all its own food, including rice and sugar. But in 1986, when it went to the International Monetary Fund for emergency money after the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier collapsed under mass pressure and a U.S. plane flew him to the French Riviera, the IMF insisted Haiti open its markets to foreign rice. Since the late 1980s, through a cycle of coups, economic pressure and enticements, along with free food from time to time amply distributed by all sorts of NGOs, the market for food produced in Haiti has been destroyed.

HAITI’S TOP TEN DEMANDS TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA by Haiti Libertéhttp://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_recent_news_1-21-09.html

1) President Obama, you should apologize for the 2004 coup d’état against Haiti which was principally fomented by the U.S. government. It caused thousands of deaths and hundreds of unwarranted and illegal political detentions and exiles, many of which continue to this day. It once again derailed Haitian democracy, the effects of which will be felt for generations. You should also explicitly repudiate the Bush Administration policy of successfully banishing former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide not just from Haiti but from the Western Hemisphere. You should declare that the U.S. will facilitate Aristide’s return to Haiti and offer a jet to fly him back to his homeland from South Africa, just as it was an unmarked U.S. government jet that flew the kidnapped Haitian president and his wife at the gunpoint of U.S. Special Forces to Africa in the first place. 2) President Obama, you should call and work for the immediate withdrawal of U.N. occupation troops from Haiti. The U.N. is simply doing the bidding of the U.S., France and Canada, which were the governments behind the 2004 coup which brought with it the occupation. U.N. troops have carried out massacres, abused and humiliated our people, and wasted precious resources through pointless show patrols aimed at intimidating or creating a false sense of security. The U.N. military occupation is a violation of Haitian sovereignty and of international law.

Stand with the people of Haiti! What the U.S. government isn't telling you http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2010/01/haiti-policies-of-us-imperialism-which.html

Top Obama czar: Infiltrate all 'conspiracy theorists'http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=28524

carlos_da_mackeral_19: Turkish human rights group calls for Barack arrest warrant.... http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254094

LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES RUSH AID TO HAITIhttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/14/content_12808090.htm

A Venezuelan plane was among the first to touch down in Port-au-Prince with 14 tons of relief supplies and 39 rescuers.

Venezuela's agricultural sector supports economic adjustmentshttp://www.abn.info.ve/go_news5.php?articulo=215173&lee=17

 More than 300,000 producers grouped in the National Confederation of Cattle Raisers and Farmers of Venezuela (Cofangan) expressed their support to the economic adjustments announced by the National Government and they reaffirmed that they are committed with maintaining a growth production in 2010.

Chávez suspends electricity rationing in Caracashttp://english.eluniversal.com/2010/01/14/en_eco_esp_chavez-suspends-elec_14A3286691.shtml

Venezuela: stores raided for price gouging following devaluationhttp://www.ww4report.com/node/8197

Venezuelan soldiers closed dozens of retail outlets for price-gouging after a currency devaluation that triggered a frenzy of shopping but met with favor by international markets.

Washington Moves to Control Irans Revolutionhttp://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16940

one of the biggest tobacco manufacturers in the world led a group of chemical, food, oil, pharmaceutical and other firms in a successful long-term lobbying strategy to shape European Union policy making in their favour, a new study says.http://euobserver.com/9/29252

After trawling through some 700 internal documents from British American Tobacco (BAT), academics at the University of Bath and University of Edinburgh say they have found evidence that the cigarette giant in the mid-1990s teamed up with the European Policy Centre, the prominent Brussels think-tank, to create a front group to ensure that the EU framework for evaluating policy options emphasised business interests at the expense of public health.  According to the study, published in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal and funded by the Smoke-Free Partnership and Cancer Research UK, BAT constructed a policy network of a series of major corporations, including Shell, Zeneca, Tesco, SmithKline Beecham, Bayer and Unilever, to mount a multi-year lobby campaign aiming at shaping the EU's impact assessment system.

1940's Secret 'Corporate' Tactic By Which Government Took All!http://cafr1.com/Secret.html

'Many people have asked for a simple explanation as to the intent behind the CAFR and what happened over the decades? Well, in a nut shell here is the foundation block that allowed government to take it all over by investment. It started in the mid 40's and grew into what we have in government now seventy years latter come 2009. Government started out as a "pay as you go" structure. By transforming into a corporate liability company over the decades, this gave them the ability to use "advance projections" to strip annual operating funds and create advance forward liability accounts whereby in doing so they were able to by stealth build numerous "wealth bases" of equity in many designated fund balances separate from the budget reports that were exclusively presented for public viewing.'

New Saudi air raids claim more civilians in Yemenhttp://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116117&sectionid=351020206

'Saudi Claims Against Iran Part of US Plot'http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116104&sectionid=351020206

'A Saudi scholar says Riyadh's allegation that 'Iran is meddling in Yemen's domestic affairs' is part of a US conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.  Ali Al-Ahmed, the founder and director of an independent think-tank in Washington told Press TV that Saudi Arabia follows the United States' policy and fuels the West "anti-Iran wave" in the region.'

Europe in Crisishttp://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16943

'At the start of the last decade, in March 2000, the European Union heads of state announced the Lisbon Strategy. Its aim, by 2010, was to make Europe “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.” This would create “the conditions for full employment and the strengthening of regional cohesion in the European Union.” As the second decade of the 21st century begins, the aspirations set forth in the Portuguese capital have evaporated. Instead of full employment, Europe is gripped by mass unemployment; instead of economic growth, there is stagnation; in place of cohesion, there is discord. Even the common currency, the foundation of the lofty plans of Lisbon, is in acute danger.'

President Obama, the CIA and the Master of the Cover-Uphttp://www.progressivenewsdaily.com/?p=11612

US steps up missile attacks in Pakistanhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100114/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_missile_surge

Carl Levin: US should consider drone attacks in Yemenhttp://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/01/13/general-us-congress-yemen_7272192.html

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee says lawmakers should consider whether U.S.-led air strikes and other clandestine operations are necessary in Yemen to defeat an emboldened al-Qaida force there. The remark Wednesday by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan is a rare admission by a senior U.S. official that direct U.S. military action in Yemen is possible, if it hasn't happened already.

U.S. Companies Race on Iraqi Oil Bonanzahttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/world/middleeast/14rebuild.html?ref=global-home

A wave of American companies have been arriving in Iraq in recent months to pursue what is expected to be a multibillion-dollar bonanza of projects to revive the country’s stagnant petroleum industry, as Iraq seeks to establish itself as a rival to Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil producer. The contracts will be administered either directly by the Iraqi government or as part of Baghdad’s oversight of international oil companies that have signed agreements during the past few months to develop the country’s most promising oil fields.

comment-This is precisely why we went to war and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people and sent our military into the Bush/PNAC meat grinder. How quickly we forget.

Massive speculation is the main reason why inflation is so high in Venezuelahttp://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=87652

BCV puts up $50 million to boost new parallel currency markethttp://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=87651

Devaluation: United States will likely suffer from loss of exports to Venezuelahttp://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1420074.html

The move was not unexpected. Rumors had been swirling for months that the government was going to let the currency slide. The ripple effects of the devaluation were already being felt on Wall Street. On Monday, Colgate-Palmolive, the world's largest toothpaste-maker, said it would have to cut its earnings forecast to reflect the decline in its bolivar-denominated holdings. BMO Capital Markets told Bloomberg it could be the first of many US-based consumer-goods companies hurt by the weaker currency.

In a press release, Venezuela's Federation of Chambers, Fedecamaras, a powerful private-sector group, said it welcomed the move because it bolstered national manufacturing by shielding it from cheap imports.

Venezuela's devaluation will cost some United States companies...http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1115806520100111

Venezuelan weekly news roundup from U.S. air Print This ShareThis  violation to inflation in 2009 Recording proves Venezuelan sovereignty violation by the USAhttp://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_58098.shtml

Licensed Murder in Colombia : The Macabre Ruse of 'False Positives'http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/licensed-murder-in-colombia-macabre.html

It turns out that the macabre story of false positives, while strange, is not funny at all. It’s a new chapter in the story of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Colombian army, in cahoots with their usual partners, the right wing paramilitaries that plague Colombian society.

The phenomenon is well known. A victim is lured under false pretenses to a remote location. He is killed soon after arrival, by members of the military. The scene is manipulated to make it appear as if the victim was legitimately killed in combat. He is commonly photographed wearing a guerrilla uniform, and holding a gun or grenade. Victims are often buried anonymously in communal graves, and their killers rewarded for the "results" they've achieved in the fight against drugs and/or rebels.

U.S. financial aid to Colombia’s internecine war has spiked from around $86 million per year in 1997 to more than $750 million in 2008, with much of the increase coming during the Bush era. Colombia got $810 million in U.S. blood money in 2009 and will get another $510 million, already passed by Congress, in 2010. That will buy a lot of false positives.

Yemen, Energy Crisis, and the Nigerian Crotch Bomber: The Privatization of Security and the Militarization of Society-Part Ihttp://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2010/01/13/yemen-energy-crisis-and-the-nigerian-crotch-bomber-the-privatization-of-security-and-the-militarization-of-society-part-i/

CUBA: Sneaky, Detained “Contractor” Identified, Much Questions Remainhttp://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/cuba-sneaky-detained-contractor-identified-much-questions-remain/

The Times cited also unnamed people who know Gross: “Mr. Gross has visited Cuba several times, delivering computer and satellite equipment to three Jewish community groups, according to people with knowledge of his work…The people who know about his work, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter, said Mr. Gross was sent to research how the groups were making use of the equipment he had previously distributed to them.”

This information contradicts the version of the American officials. While the officials talked about “encouragement and financial assistance,” people “with knowledge of his work” said that Gross was sent to research how groups were making use of the computer and satellite equipment he had previously delivered. And the latter statement, of course, contradicts earlier assertions from the contracting company, DAI, that Gross was in Havana handing out equipment to underserved Cubans. As we point out below, all of this is contradicted in turn by the Post’s account.

'Afghan deaths in Nato firing'http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia/2010/01/20101122113069957.html

Villagers in southern Afghanistan have claimed NATO forces killed 13 demonstrators protesting the alleged desecration of the Quran in a local mosque. Also in news from Afghanistan, NATO said at least 16 "Taliban militants" were killed in US drone airstrikes. 

Venezuela to reinforce troops on Colombia border with Russian tankshttp://en.rian.ru/world/20100111/157507058.html

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced plans to deploy new Russian-made tanks and combat helicopters on the border with Colombia. Ties between Venezuela and Colombia deteriorated last August after Washington signed a deal with Bogota allowing U.S. forces to run anti-drug operations from Colombian bases. Chavez has criticized the deal and called for the Venezuelan army to prepare for a war

comment-the empire is desperate,and uribe is washingtons main puppet in region,not only has uribe been caugth red handed sending rigthwing paramilitaries and das spies caugth and arrested in venezuela,but also allowing us bases for future agressions against region...if i was chavez id be doing the same!!!

Activists Worried About "Secret" Internet Treatyhttp://messenger.truthout.org/ss/link.php?M=283054&N=459&C=d2a6e09666c519ee83230f20226e6fd0&L=3881

Activists warn that an international treaty to combat copyright infringement and piracy could curtail expansion of the internet, violate people's rights to privacy and freedom of expression, and undermine multilateral accords on intellectual property."

Is Monsanto's Corn Destroying Your Internal Organs?http://food.change.org/blog/view/is_monsantos_corn_destroying_your_internal_organs

A new study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences has found that Monsanto corn impairs rats' kidneys and livers. The "data strongly suggests" that after 90 days of eating GM corn, rats experienced kidney toxicity and showed ill effects to their hearts, adrenal glands, spleen and blood cells.