Humans able to back up their brain and its memories within two decades, claims top scientist

(DailyMail) People will be able back up the human brain including all of the memories it contains within the next two decades, according to a leading scientist.

Award-winning Raymond Kurzweil, 62, has notched up a string of pioneering computer inventions including voice recognition technology during his career.



Kurzweil told 500 guests at a sponsored 'future talk' event in Vienna, Austria, that the human brain backup was now already technically possible.



He said: 'I believe that within the next 20 years we will have thousands of nanobot computer machines in our blood that will heal our bodies, improve our performance, and even be able to back up all the contents of our brains, just as you backup your files on a computer.



'That means they would back up every thought, every experience, everything that makes us an individual.'



'It may sound far-fetched but in the early 1980s, people thought I was crazy for predicting the emergence of the world wide web by the middle of the 1990s; but it happened, and on the schedule I predicted.'



At the age of 15 he created a programme that could recreate music in the style of the great composers, which earned him a visit to the White House and an interview with President Lyndon B. Johnson.



He also built the first machine that could read written speech for the blind for his friend Stevie Wonder - for whom he also later made a revolutionary musical synthesizer capable of recreating real instruments.



Kurzweil has 19 honorary doctorates and now advises governments, scientists, military and business people across the world on a variety of technology-related issues.



He is currently working with Google on a project about how to solve the world's energy problems.

Source

Major rabbi says non-Jews are donkeys, created to serve Jews

(Desertpeace) A major Jewish religious figure in Israel has likened non-Jews to donkeys and beasts of burden, saying the main reason for their very existence is to serve Jews.



Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual mentor of the religious fundamentalist party, Shas, which represents Middle Eastern Jews, reportedly said during a Sabbath homily earlier this week that “the sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews.”



Yosef is considered a major religious leader in Israel who enjoys the allegiance of hundreds of thousands of followers.



Shas is a chief coalition partner in the current Israeli government,



Yosef, also a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, was quoted by the right-wing newspaper, the Jerusalem Post, as saying that the basic function of a goy, a derogatory word for a gentile, was to serve Jews.



“Non-Jews were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world-only to serve the People of Israel,” Yosef said in his weekly Saturday night sermon which was devoted to laws regarding actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on the Sabbath.



Yosef also reportedly said that the lives of non-Jews in Israel are preserved by God in order to prevent losses to Jews.



Yosef, widely considered a prominent Torah sage and authority on the interpretation of Talmud, a basic Jewish scripture, held a comparison between animals of burden and non-Jews.



“In Israel, death has no dominion over them…With gentiles, it will be like any person-They need to die, but God will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money.



“This is his servant…That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew.”



Yosef further elucidated his ideas about the servitude of gentiles to Jews, asking “why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap; and we will sit like an effendi and eat.”



“That is why gentiles were created.”



The concept of gentiles being infra-human beings or quasi-animals is well-established in Orthodox Judaism.



For example, rabbis affiliated with the Chabad movement, a supremacist but influential Jewish sect, teach openly that at the spiritual level, non-Jews have the status of animals.



Abraham Kook, the religious mentor of the settler movement, was quoted as saying that the difference between a Jew and a gentile was greater and deeper than the difference between humans and animals.



“The difference between a Jewish soul and souls of non-Jews — all of them in all different levels — is greater and deeper than the difference between a human soul and the souls of cattle.”



Some of Kook’s manifestly racist ideas are taught in the Talmudic college, Merkaz H’arav, in Jerusalem. The college is named after Kook.



In his book, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, the late Israeli writer and intellectual Israel Shahak argued that whenever Orthodox rabbis use the word “human,” they normally didn’t refer to all humans, but only to Jews, since non-Jews are not considered humans according to Halacha of Jewish law.



A few years ago, a member of the Israeli Knesset, castigated Israeli soldiers for “treating human beings as if they were Arabs.” The Knesset member, Aryeh Eldad, was commenting on the evacuation by the Israeli army of a settler outpost in the West Bank.



Faced with the negative effect of certain Biblical and Talmudic teachings on inter-religious relations, some Christian leaders in Europe have called on the Jewish religious establishment to reform the traditional Halacha perceptions of non-Jews.



However, while the Reform and Conservative sects of Judaism, have related positively to such calls, most Orthodox Jews have totally rejected the calls, arguing that the Bible is God’s word which can’t be altered under any circumstances.



The Bible says that non-Jews living under Jewish rule must serve as “water carriers and wood hewers” for the master race.



In Joshua (9:27), we read ” That day, Joshua made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the Lord at the Place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this days.”



Elsewhere in the Bible, Israelites are strongly urged to treat “strangers living in your midst” humanely “because you yourselves were strangers in Egypt.”



Source

327 CIA Mind-Control Victims Win Cash Claims

(Timesonline) HUNDREDS of mentally ill patients who were subjected to barbaric CIA-funded brainwashing experiments by a Scottish doctor could be entitled to compensation following a landmark court ruling.



Doctor Ewan Cameron, who became one of the world’s leading psychiatrists, developed techniques used by Nazi scientists to wipe out the existing personalities of people in his care.



Cameron, who graduated from Glasgow University, was recruited by the CIA during the cold war while working at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.



He carried out mind-control experiments using drugs such as LSD on hundreds of patients, but only 77 of them were awarded compensation.



Now a landmark ruling by a Federal Court judge in Montreal will allow more than 250 former patients, whose claims were rejected, to seek compensation.



Gail Kastner, who underwent electroshock treatment at a Montreal psychiatric institute in 1953, and whose claim was rejected 10 years ago, successfully appealed the judgment.



Last week, Alan Stein, of Montreal law firm Stein and Stein, which represented Kastner, confirmed he was in the process of contacting former clients who could now renew their appeal.



“There are about 200 people still due compensation,” he said. “This judgment should send out strong signals to the Canadian government. Those who have previously missed out should have a strong case for appealing.”



Using techniques similar to those portrayed in the celebrated novel the Manchurian Candidate, it was believed that people could be brainwashed and reprogrammed to carry out specific acts.



Cameron developed a range of depatterning “treatments” while director of the Allan Memorial Institute at McGill University.



Patients were woken from drug-induced stupors two or three times a day for multiple electric shocks. In a specially designed “sleep room” made famous by Anne Collins’s book of the same name, Cameron placed a speaker under the patient’s pillow and relayed negative messages for 16 hours a day.



Kastner was a 19-year-old honours student suffering from mild depression when she first underwent “treatment” in 1953. On returning home she sucked her thumb, demanded to be fed from a bottle, talked in a baby voice and urinated on the floor.



She was ostracised by her affluent family, who were unable to cope with her changed state, and her marriage in 1955 quickly broke down due to her difficulties.



Cameron, who was born in Bridge of Allan in 1901, rose to become the first president of the World Psychiatric Association.



It took two decades and the persistence of Joseph Rauh, the distinguished American civil liberties lawyer, to uncover what happened and secure compensation for some of Cameron’s victims.

Source

WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange DENIED Residence Permit

(huffingtonpost) Sweden's immigration authority says it has denied WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's application for a residence permit.



The Australian has sought to establish a base for WikiLeaks in Sweden to take advantage of its laws protecting whistle-blowers. He applied for a residence and work permit on Aug. 18.



Migration Board spokeswoman Gunilla Wikstrom told The Associated Press that Assange's application was rejected Monday. She declined to give the reason, saying it was confidential.



Prosecutors are still investigating rape and sexual molestation allegations against Assange by two Swedish women. Assange has denied the allegations.

Source

Pentagon braces for new Iraq war Wikileaks

(BBC News) The US military has assembled a 120-member team to prepare for the expected publication of some 400,000 Iraq war documents on the Wikileaks website.



The documents are thought to concern battle activity, Iraqi security forces and civilian casualties.



The Pentagon said it wants the documents back to avoid potentially damaging information being released.



The timing is unclear but it would dwarf Wikileaks' July publication of more than 70,000 Afghan war files.



Pentagon spokesman Col Dave Lapan said the team was reviewing the files on the Iraq war to discover what the possible impact of the Wikileaks release could be.



Col Lapan said the files were from an Iraq-based database that contained "significant acts, unit-level reporting, tactical reports, things of that nature".



He said the Pentagon did not know the timing of the leak but they were preparing for it to be as early as Monday or Tuesday.



Other sources said it may come later in the month.



'Smear campaign'



Col Lapan said the files should be returned to the Pentagon because "we don't believe Wikileaks or others have the expertise needed. It's not as simple as just taking out names. There are other things and documents that aren't names that are also potentially damaging."



Wikileaks' release in July of thousands of documents on the war in Afghanistan prompted US military officials to warn that the whistleblower website might cause the deaths of US soldiers and Afghan civilians because some of the documents contained the names of locals who had helped coalition forces.



But US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in a letter to the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the leak had not revealed any "sensitive intelligence sources or methods".



There have been fears that such leaks could damage US intelligence sharing with other nations as well as intelligence sharing between US agencies.



The investigation into the Afghan leak has focused on Bradley Manning, a US army intelligence analyst who is in custody and has been charged with leaking a classified video of a US helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007 in which a dozen people were killed.



The Wikileaks website is currently offline "undergoing scheduled maintenance". Founder Julian Assange is being investigated in Sweden over an alleged sex crime.



He denies the charge and says the the allegations are part of a smear campaign by opponents of his whistle-blowing website.



Source

Facebook Apps Transmitting, Selling Personally Identifying Information

(Wall Street Journal) Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information--in effect, providing access to people's names and, in some cases, their friends' names--to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.



The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, including people who set their profiles to Facebook's strictest privacy settings. The practice breaks Facebook's rules, and renews questions about its ability to keep identifiable information about its users' activities secure.



The problem has ties to the growing field of companies that build detailed databases on people in order to track them online--a practice the Journal has been examining in its What They Know series. It's unclear how long the breach was in place. On Sunday, a Facebook spokesman said it is taking steps to "dramatically limit" the exposure of users' personal information.

Source

Is the real Kim Jong-il dead, and his role being played by a double?

North Korea’s ruling party is to hold a conference next week to anoint Kim Jong-un, the twenty something son of the present leader, Kim Jong il, the next head of state. There won’t be any discussion of alternatives; it’s already a forgone conclusion.



Yet the occasion does raise the question of whether the original “Dear Leader” is still alive at all, or whether it is actually his double, acting as a puppet head of the state for the army, who has been sitting in the driving seat all these years.



At the World Economic Forum’s “summer Davos”, held in the Chinese city of Tianjin last week, Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Waseda University in Japan and a self proclaimed “expert” on North Korea, insisted that the present Kim Jong il is in fact a double. There is no question of it, he says, for he has irrefutable proof of the fact.



It’s not just that there has been no recent photograph of the dear leader; computer analysis of his voice shows the present Kim Jong not to be the same man as the one of some years ago. “I’m willing to accept that his son is about to become leader, but who exactly is he succeeding?”, asked Professor Shigemura.



In the same discussion, Moon Chung-In, a professor of political science at Yonsei University, Republic of Korea, dismissed this claim as utter tosh. He’d met Kim Jong il on several occassions, and there was no question but that he was the same man on each of them. However, Professor Chung-il accepted that who ever the leader really was, it was largely academic, since he was in effect only the puppet of the military.



The same would be true of Kim Jong un (oh do keep up!), a bit of a waster by all accounts who has never done a serious job in his life. Could his succession nevertheless mark a thaw in relations with the West and South Korea? Is it even possible that in return for the removal of sanctions he could do a Colonel Gaddafi, come in from the cold and give up on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions?



Don’t hold your breath. Kim Jong il, or his double, has spent quite a bit of time in Beijing recently discussing the succession with his Chinese allies. We can only assume the Chinese leadership has blessed the handover. As I say, it seems unlikely North Korea will change its attitude to the outside world anytime soon, but the fact that there could be a discussion of the type I’ve just reported, held openly on Chinese soil, with the couple of Chinese profs who sat in on it willing to admit that at some stage reunification with South Korea was perfectly possible, just goes to demonstrate how rapidly China is changing, and ulitmately it will be China that determines North Korea’s future.



The G20 is due to meet in South Korea later this year. There’s been some speculation it might provide the occassion for some fresh military muscle flexing by North Korea, just to demonstrate that old hostilities remain alive and well. This seems almost inconceivable. North Korea is not going to launch any kind of military strike almost anywhere let alone on South Korea while Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier and basically the only thing that stands between the Kim Jong dynasty and its obliteration, is dining on sea food with his international counterparts in the south.



I guess the Chinese leadership knows for sure whether Kim Jong is a double, but does it really matter?

Source

The New Terrorist Threat To America: Drunk British Teenagers Brandishing Insults

College student banned from US for life for name calling email to White House

America faces a new threat possibly so severe that it has prompted President Obama and the FBI to take affirmative preventative action.



No, it does not come in the form of radical religious extremist terrorists or international criminal enterprises, but rather it consists of drunken seventeen year old boys sending naughty emails to the White House.





As reported by Sky News, British teenager Luke Angel has been banned from the US for life after he sent an email insulting the President by calling him a nasty name.



The young man had reportedly just finished watching a programme on TV about the 9/11 attacks and, after a couple of beers, felt the need to vent spleen by telling Obama that he thought the commander in chief was a “p***k”.



Take 30 seconds to work out what that insult actually is.



That’s correct it’s a euphemism for male genitalia – and a mild one at that.



Nevertheless, the email was intercepted by the FBI no less, who proceeded to contact the London Metropolitan Police in the UK, who then sent officers to visit young Mr Angel’s home in Bedford.



The police took a photograph of Angel, no doubt to be stored on a vital database of dangerous terrorists, but did not take any criminal action.



When asked about the ban, Luke said: “I don’t really care. My parents aren’t very happy about it.”



“I don’t remember exactly what I wrote as I was drunk. But I think I called Barack Obama a p***k. It was silly — the sort of thing you do when you’re a teenager and have had a few.” college student Angel added.



Here we have another example of a situation being hyped beyond all rational sense in an effort to convey the idea that if you dislike or speak out against authority you will be treated as a criminal.



Obama reportedly receives scores of death threats everyday, why in God’s name would the FBI be taking the time to follow up a mildly abusive email from a drunken teenager in England?



Wide open borders? violent international drug cartels? Known terrorists without passports being helped onto planes by the U.S. State Department? Clearly these issues pale in comparison to that of the insult brandishing email wielding teens sitting in their English suburban bedrooms.



Source

Osama bin Laden 'is a bought and paid for CIA agent'

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has claimed Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden is a bought-and-paid-for CIA agent.



The country's former president has said that the world's most wanted terrorist always popped up when former US President George W Bush needed to scare the world, and argued that recently published documents on the internet prove it.



Castro told state media: 'Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, bin Laden would appear threatening people with a story about what he was going to do.

'Bush never lacked for bin Laden’s support. He was a subordinate.'



Castro said documents posted on the controversial WikiLeaks website 'effectively proved he (Bin Laden) was a CIA agent.' He did not elaborate further on the claims.



The comments were published today in the Communist party's daily newspaper, Granma.



They were the latest in a series of bold and provocative statements by Castro, who has emerged from exile to warn the planet is on the brink of a nuclear war.



Bizarrely, Castro even predicted that global conflict would mean cancellation of the final rounds of the World Cup in South Africa. He later apologised.



And last week, the 84-year-old began highlighting the work of Lithuanian investigative journalist Daniel Estulin, who he was meeting with when the Bin Laden comments came to light.



During the meeting, Estulin told Castro that the real voice of bin Laden was last heard in late 2001, not long after the September 11 attacks.



He said the person heard making warnings about terror attacks after that was a 'bad actor.'



Mr Estulin, is a well-known conspiracy theorist and wrote a trilogy of books highlighting the Bilderberg Club, whose prominent members meet once a year behind closed doors.



The secretive nature of the meetings and prominence of some members - including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and senior U.S. and European officials have led some to speculate that it operates as a kind of global government, controlling not only international politics and economics, but even culture.

Source 

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange accused of rape

Swedish authorities say they have issued an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, on accusations of rape and molestation.

Julian Assange was cited as saying the

release of the allegations was

 "deeply disturbing"

The warrant was issued late on Friday, said Karin Rosander, communications head at Sweden's prosecutors' office.Swedish police have been trying to contact Mr Assange, but have not yet been able to, she told the BBC.

Wikileaks, criticised for leaking Afghan war documents, quoted him saying the charges were "without basis".





The message, which appeared on Twitter and was attributed directly to Mr Assange, said the appearance of the allegations "at this moment is deeply disturbing".



In a series of other messages posted on the Wikileaks Twitter feed, the whistle-blowing website said: "No-one here has been contacted by Swedish police", and that it had been warned to expect "dirty tricks".More documents due



Last month, Wikileaks published more than 75,000 secret US military documents on the war in Afghanistan.



US authorities criticised the leak, saying it could put the lives of coalition soldiers and Afghans, especially informers, at risk.



Mr Assange has said that Wikileaks is intending to release a further 15,000 documents in the coming weeks.



Ms Rosander said there were two separate allegations against Mr Assange, one of rape and the other of molestation.



She gave no details of the accusations. She said that as far as she knew they related to alleged incidents that took place in Sweden.



Media reports say Mr Assange was in Sweden last week to talk about his work and defend the decision by Wikileaks to publish the Afghan war logs.



The allegations were first reported in the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

Intel Experts Warn Obama Israel May Bomb Iran This Month

VIPS memo says Netanyahu planning surprise attack that will make it politically untenable for U.S. to do anything other than offer full support for military campaign.

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group of former intelligence and military officials, warns President Obama in a memo that Israel is preparing to attack Iran this month, and that Obama needs to publicly denounce such an attack in order to prevent a wider war and the ultimate destruction of Israel.



“We write to alert you to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month. This would likely lead to a wider war,” states the VIPS memo, which is addressed to the President.





The letter is signed by Phil Giraldi, former CIA (20 years), Larry Johnson, former CIA; DoS, (24 years), W. Patrick Lang, Col., USA, Special Forces (ret.); Director of HUMINT Collection, Defense Intelligence Agency (30 years), Ray McGovern, US Army Intelligence Officer, CIA (30 years), Coleen Rowley, FBI (24 years), and Ann Wright, Col., US Army Reserve (ret.), (29 years); Foreign Service Officer, Department of State (16 years).



The intelligence experts explain that Israel’s tactic is to launch the war suddenly and then make it politically untenable for Obama to do anything other than offer the United States’ full military support for the campaign.



Pointing out that Israel has habitually employed surprise and deception in furthering its geopolitical aims, VIPS warns Obama that misplaced trust in Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s assurances that Israel would not launch a surprise attack would be foolhardy.



The memo highlights Netanyahu’s attitude to how pliable he believes the American government is to satisfying Israel’s demands, making reference to comments he made nine years ago on Israeli television.



“America is something that can be easily moved. Moved in the right direction. … They won’t get in our way … Eighty percent of the Americans support us. It’s absurd,” said Netanyahu.



“As we hope your advisers have told you, regime change, not Iranian nuclear weapons, is Israel’s primary concern,” states the memo, adding, “A strong public statement by you, personally warning Israel not to attack Iran would most probably head off such an Israeli move.”



The VIPS members appeal to Obama that only he can now head off an attack on Iran that could take place as soon as this month. But the group’s call on Obama to denounce a planned military assault on Iran is likely to fall on deaf ears, because Washington has been almost as active as Israel in planning an attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.



A report in Time Magazine last month confirmed that Israel had convinced Washington to put the idea of a military strike firmly at the forefront of strategic planning. The report stated that US Central Command had been finalizing a plan of targeted air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and that Israel had been brought into that process.



On Sunday August 1st during an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated that the military option remained on the table.



Any such attack would come from the air and would utilize B-2 bombers and cruise missiles as part of a knockout blow against Iran’s nuclear facilities. This would be followed by a velvet revolution in which opposition groups, which are largely controlled by the CIA and its allies, would overthrow the Ahmadinejad government.



Destabilization efforts in pursuit of this overthrow have been ongoing for years, the latest of which appears to be a claim that Ahmadinejad himself was the target of an assassination attempt today, a story the Iranian state media has strongly denied.



The U.S. government has been funding and training the Sunni terrorist group Jundullah, formerly headed by the accused mastermind of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to carry out bombings and other destabilization campaigns in Iran as part of a “campaign intended to destabilise, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs”.



As Prision planet has documented, political pressure is clearly being brought to bear on Obama in an effort to get the green light for the attack on Iran. Voices from both sides of the political spectrum are repeating the mantra that the only way to rescue Obama’s plummeting approval ratings is to rally the country behind another war in the Middle East.



Given this backdrop, it seems unlikely that the Obama administration would do anything other than vehemently support an Israeli-led attack on Iran. Perhaps the best way to try and stop such an outcome would be to appeal to current intelligence and military insiders who experienced the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction debacle at first hand and, as the November National Intelligence Estimate proved, are loathe to be hoodwinked into another staged war based on false pretenses.

Full article here

Lying NY Cop Faces Prison For Brutal Attack On Cyclist

Youtube video proves assault charges brought against protester were bogus

Police are now trained that the scum American public need to learn that protesting is evil and illegal. This is no more evident than in the case of an NYPD recruit who brutally attacked a protesting cyclist and then attempted to prosecute the man on assault charges.



Officer Patrick Pogan testified in court that cyclist Christopher Long of the activist group Critical Mass deliberately steered into him in an attempt to injure the new recruit during a protest in Times Square in July 2008.



The officer said that he was protecting himself after having ordered Long to stop owing to the fact that he had taken his hands off the handlebars of the bike.



Fortunately for Long, a bystander captured the incident on video and uploaded it to youtube, where it has received over two million views.





In reality the video shows Pogan pick out Long from a distance and move in to brutally shove him off his bike and onto the concrete sidewalk.







Immediately following the discovery of the video, Pogan was placed on desk duty. Now the officer has been forced to resign in disgrace and has been convicted of lying, falsifying business records and submitting a false report on the incident.



Pogan is looking at up to four years in prison, however he is more likely to escape with a probation sentence instead.



Mr Long, who was not seriously injured in the incident, was acquitted of assault charges and awarded a $65,000 payout from the NYPD following a lawsuit.



Critical Mass protests involve cyclists riding through the streets in opposition to urban reliance on vehicles.



This case is not an isolated incident. Indeed, pretty much exactly the same thing happened just weeks ago in LA when an officer was caught on camera kicking a cyclist to the ground during a protest against oil giant BP.



“Whoa, what the f*** was that for?” the unidentified cameraman can be heard saying. Moments later, the video shows two officers converge on the cameraman and take him down to the ground.



“Get up,” one officer can be heard saying, as another says “Stay down.”







These incidents highlight how an increasing percentage of police are acclimatized to treat free thinking Americans as filthy scum that need to be taken down.



They also highlight how in many cases the only line of defence the victims have is video cameras. The cops know this, that is why they turn on the cameraman at the LA protest, and why war has effectively been declared by the so called authorities on filming and photography in our cities.



Original article here

Bacteria trapped in glacial ice - the secret of living to 140

Bacteria trapped in glacial ice for thousands of years could help humans live to 140, scientists claim.



Researchers have already doubled the lifespan of mice and flies after defrosting Bacillus F frozen since the ice age.



The bacteria also made the flies fitter and healthier, more active and increased their muscle activity.



Russian scientists carrying out tests in ice near Mount Mamontova in the northern region of Yakutia discovered and extracted the bacteria.



It was then injected into mice, while food treated with the extract was given to fruit flies.



Anatolia Brushkova, who headed the investigation at Russia's Institute of Chemical Biology in Novosibirsk, said: 'It is still early days, but if it works for mice and flies there is no reason why it could not work for other animals too.'



Institute spokesman Nadezhda Mironova added: 'We had a control group of mice for which the average life expectancy was 589 days.



'After the introduction of the bacteria extract injected into the muscles this was extended by an average 308 days, whereas the control group continued to die about a year earlier.'



Some of the mice and flies lived for more than 900 days, he added.



The scientists believe the same treatment could prolong human lives to between 100 and 140 years.



Mr Brushkova added: 'What we want to look at is how we can work out a way of eventually testing the bacteria as a drug.'



Original article here

Airport body scanners 'could give you cancer'

Airport body scanners emit radiation up to 20 times more powerful than previously thought, a scientist has warned.

Full body scanners at airports could increase your risk of skin cancer, experts warn.



The X-ray machines have been brought in at Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow.



But scientists say radiation from the scanners has been underestimated and could be particularly risky for children.



They say that the low level beam does deliver a small dose of radiation to the body but because the beam concentrates on the skin - one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body - that dose may be up to 20 times higher than first estimated.



Dr David Brenner, head of Columbia University's centre for radiological research, said although the danger posed to the individual passenger is 'very low', he is urging researchers to carry out more tests on the device to look at the way it affects specific groups who could be more sensitive to radiation.



He says children and passengers with gene mutations - around one in 20 of the population - are more at risk as they are less able to repair X-ray damage to their DNA.



Dr Brenner, who is originally from Liverpool but now works at the New York university, said: 'The individual risks associated with X-ray backscatter scanners are probably extremely small.



'If all 800 million people who use airports every year were screened with X-rays then the very small individual risk multiplied by the large number of screened people might imply a potential public health or societal risk. The population risk has the potential to be significant.'



Following trials, the airport scanners were officially introduced at Manchester Airport in January, at Heathrow Terminal 4 in February and at Gatwick in May this year.



The most likely risk from the airport scanners is a common type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma, according to the academic.

The cancer is usually curable and often occurs in the head and neck of people aged between 50 and 70. He points out it would be difficult to hide a weapon on the head or neck so proposes missing out that part of the body from the scanning process.



'If there are increases in cancers as a result of irradiation of children, they would most likely appear some decades in the future. It would be prudent not to scan the head and neck,' he added.



He recently aired his concerns to the Congressional Biomedical Caucus in the US - members of Congress who meet to exchange ideas on medical research.



Dr Brenner urged them to look at his concerns but said it was important to balance any health issues against passengers' safety when flying.



He said: 'There really is no other technology around where we're planning to X-ray such an enormous number of individuals. It's really unprecedented in the radiation world.'



The Civil Aviation Authority, Department for Transport and Health Protection Agency insist that the technology is safe and say their tests show it would take 5,000 trips through the scanner to equal the dose of a single chest X-ray.



They said in the climate of high security, it is essential that security staff use 'all means possible' to minimise risks to airline security.



The CAA said: 'The device has been approved for use within the UK by the Department for Transport and has been subjected to risk assessments from the Health Protection Agency.



'To put the issue in perspective, the radiation received from the scanning process is the equivalent to two minutes radiation received on a Transatlantic flight.



'Recent press publications have been a little alarmist and may have heightened concern in frequent travellers who may worry about their repeated exposure.



'Under current regulations, up to 5,000 scans per person per year can be conducted safely.'



Full article here

Mysterious Ex-Con Draws Comparison to Jason Bourne

Authorities came upon a startling and mysterious scene when they showed up at a luxury apartment in Los Angeles in April while investigating a call about a gas odor.



The door was barricaded. A cache of loaded weapons, including an AK-47, sat next to a mosaic depicting the CIA seal. They found equipment for counterfeiting money. High-powered binoculars were trained on the U.S. Federal Reserve building next door.



What followed was a six-week hunt for a suspect who had slipped out of the fire escape moments earlier and whose evasiveness drew comparisons to fictional agent Jason Bourne.



Police would eventually find their man, Brian Alexik, hiding out in his girlfriend's apartment less than a mile from where he fled. But three weeks on, detectives are still trying to figure out just who he is, what plot they may have thwarted and whether he was a lone wolf or part of a larger group.



Alexik clammed up soon after he was arrested and his trail has been harder to follow because he used at least two fake names.



The 34-year-old is originally from Edison, N.J., detectives said. In 1996, he was convicted in Middlesex County on a drug-dealing charge. Five years later, he pleaded guilty to theft by deception and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, five years probation and had to pay $1,000 in restitution to a business.



Investigators are scouring his computer hard drives and studying the alarming contents of his penthouse as they attempt to unravel the mystery.



One bedroom had been converted into a makeshift machine shop, with tools scattered around. It appeared Alexik had been manufacturing the parts of assault rifles that ammunition magazines are slotted into, said Detective Mark Severino from the Los Angeles Police Department's major crimes unit.



Detectives found a loaded sawed-off shotgun and handgun, an AK-47, ammunition and other weapons parts including a gun barrel. Ballistics tests are currently under way.



The CIA mosaic, depicting the white, starred shield with an eagle's head on a blue background, measured about 5 feet across and investigators were impressed with the quality of the tile work. They initially thought Alexik was obsessed with the spy agency.



"But there was no other evidence in there linking the CIA or his infatuation with the CIA," Severino said. "I don't know why he would do that."



A pair of binoculars was found by a tripod at the back window overlooking the Federal Reserve, but police don't know what Alexik had been watching.



Answers might lie within the hard drives of four computers seized from the apartment and being analyzed by the Secret Service.



Police said Alexik appeared to move comfortably in social circles and most of his friends were in the cosmetics and clothing industries. Investigators found designer clothes and European shoes in his apartment, along with a photo of Alexik mugging next to U2 frontman Bono.



"He could easily fool a lot of people, he could be very charming and carries himself very well," Severino said. "There was something about him that attracted these people to him."



Alexik has pleaded not guilty to 10 felonies including weapons charges, narcotics offenses and forgery. Federal weapons charges are also expected. At a recent court hearing he appeared in a blue jail jumpsuit, his brown hair dyed to a coppery orange color and swept back across his head.



His public defender did not respond to requests for comment or for an interview in the jail. If convicted of all counts he could face up to 15 years in prison.



Police believe Alexik was manufacturing fake IDs and passports, as well as counterfeiting thousands of dollars in cash. A stash of what was believed to be illegal pills and methamphetamine was also in the home.



He allegedly had been bleaching low-denomination bills then using a printer to change the value to $100 or $50. In all, police recovered about $15,000 in bogus bills.



After Alexik slipped out the back window of his apartment on April 19, detectives interviewed tenants at the downtown lofts. Alexik had been paying about $4,000 cash for his rent but had recently stopped paying and was on the verge of getting evicted, Severino said.



He also seemed to have stopped paying his electric bill — Severino noticed coils of cables running from the hallway power outlets into the apartment. The noxious odor that initially drew police reportedly came from a generator.



As investigators closed in, they arrested a friend, Gregory Koller, who was found with assault-style weapons magazines. Police are looking into whether those may have been in the duffel bags Alexik was seen lugging as he fled down the fire escape.



"It is still unclear what his ultimate plan was going to be, however, what is clear is that his detection, capture, and arrest disrupted any future plans or growing capability to be even more dangerous to our community," said Michael P. Downing, deputy chief commanding officer of the LAPD's counterterrorism and criminal intelligence bureau.



Detectives scored a break June 3 when they went to talk to a woman believed to be his girlfriend. She refused to open the door and it became apparent Alexik was hiding out there. After a brief standoff with SWAT officers, Alexik surrendered.



Some investigators believe comparisons to Jason Bourne are unfair on the fictional spy.



"He got caught," Detective Dan Logan said. "When I interviewed him, he didn't knock me out, take my gun and take my recorder like in the movies. He's not as smart or resourceful as the Jason Bourne character."



Original article here

Israel, US preparing for war with Iran

A flurry of news reports over the past week indicate that Israel and the US are readying for an imminent military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.



On Wednesday, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported that about a week ago a squad of Israeli military aircraft landed at a military airstrip in Saudi Arabia, of all places. It was reported earlier this month that Saudi Arabia had agreed to let Israel pass through its airspace in order to strike Iran.



The Israeli aircraft reportedly landed at the airport in Tabuk in northwest Saudi Arabia, which according to the report will act as the central base of operations for the Israeli air campaign against Iran.



Fars cited a local Saudi resident who said the Israeli presence and cooperation between the ruling local Saudi prince and the Jewish state was the talk of the town.



Saudi Arabia does not have formal relations with Israel, and publicly refers to the Jewish state as an enemy. But Riyadh is just as fearful of an Iranian nuclear bomb as Israel, and would likely resort to any means to avoid having its regional economic influence disturbed.



At the same time, Iran's Press TV reported that a very large contingent of US ground forces had massed in neighboring Azerbaijan. The independent Azerbaijani news website Trend confirmed the report.



Those reports came just days after the Pentagon confirmed that an unusually large fleet of US warships had indeed passed through Egypt's Suez Canal en route to the Persian Gulf. At least one Israeli warship reportedly joined the American armada.

Original article here

Armada of U.S. and Israeli Warships Head for Iran

More than twelve U.S. and Israeli warships, including an aircraft carrier, passed through the Suez Canal on Friday and are headed for the Red Sea. “According to eyewitnesses, the U.S. battleships were the largest to have crossed the Canal in many years,” reported the London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi on Saturday.



The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Egyptian opposition members criticized the government for cooperating wEarlier this month Israel leaked to the press that they had permission from Saudi Arabia to use their air space to attack Iran. “In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran,” the Sunday Times reported on June 12. On June 14, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to UK Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf issued a categorical denial of the report.



On June 17, Iran’s parliament warned it will respond in kind to inspection of its ships under a fourth round of sanctions imposed on the country by the UN Security Council. “Even if one Iranian ship is stopped for security-check, we will act likewise and thoroughly inspect any (western) ship passing through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi said.



Also on Saturday, Iran accused the United States of “deception” and insisted its missile program is for self-defense after a top U.S. official claimed that Iran had the capacity to attack Europe. “The Islamic Republic’s missile capability has been designed and implemented to defend against any military aggression and it does not threaten any nation,” Defense MinisterAhmad Vahidi said in a statement carried by state media.Vahidi announced on April 10 that Iran will use all available options to defend itself if the country comes under a military attack. “Americans have said they will use all options against Iran, we announce that we will use all options to defend ourselves,” Vahidi told the Tehran Times.ith the U.S. and Israeli forces and allowing the passage of the ships through Egyptian territorial waters. The Red Sea is the most direct route to the Persian Gulf from the Mediterranean.



Retired Egyptian General Amin Radi, chairman of the national security affairs committee, told the paper that “the decision to declare war on Iran is not easy, and Israel, due to its wild nature, may start a war just to remain the sole nuclear power in the region,” according to Yedioth Internet, an Israeli news site.



The passage of a warship armada through the Suez Canal and headed for the Persian Gulf and Iran is apparently not deemed important enough to be reported by the corporate media in the United States.



Egypt recently rejected an Israeli request to prevent Gaza aid ships from passing through the Suez Canal. According to a report by al-Jazeera, Israel appealed to Egyptians asking them to prevent the passage of Iranian ships through the Suez Canal. The Egyptians responded that due to international agreements on movement through the Suez Canal, Egypt cannot prevent ships from passing through the canal unless a ship belongs to a state that is at war with Egypt. Iran and Egypt are not at war.



The United States and Israel, the sole nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, have not ruled out a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.



A number of Israeli politicians and scholars have admitted Israel has used its nuclear weapons for “compellent purposes,” in short forcing others to accept Israeli political demands.



Israel’s threats to use nuclear weapons have increased significantly since it was discovered in 2002 that Iran was building uranium enrichment facilities. Israel’s former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “called on the international community to target Iran as soon as the imminent conflict with Iraq is complete,” the Sunday Times reported on November 5, 2002. The United States invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003.

Earlier this month Israel leaked to the press that they had permission from Saudi Arabia to use their air space to attack Iran. “In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran,” the Sunday Times reported on June 12. On June 14, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to UK Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf issued a categorical denial of the report.



On June 17, Iran’s parliament warned it will respond in kind to inspection of its ships under a fourth round of sanctions imposed on the country by the UN Security Council. “Even if one Iranian ship is stopped for security-check, we will act likewise and thoroughly inspect any (western) ship passing through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi said.



Also on Saturday, Iran accused the United States of “deception” and insisted its missile program is for self-defense after a top U.S. official claimed that Iran had the capacity to attack Europe. “The Islamic Republic’s missile capability has been designed and implemented to defend against any military aggression and it does not threaten any nation,” Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a statement carried by state media.



Vahidi announced on April 10 that Iran will use all available options to defend itself if the country comes under a military attack. “Americans have said they will use all options against Iran, we announce that we will use all options to defend ourselves,” Vahidi told the Tehran Times.

Original article here

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a mysterious insignia on the inside of his hoodie

Earlier this week during an interview at the D8 conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did the unthinkable: after finding the hotseat a little too toasty for his liking, he took off his hoodie. Interviewer Kara Swisher quickly discovered that the hoodie had a mysterious badge stitched on the inside and joked that Zuckerberg was in a cult. And then the Internet went sort of nuts.

Tweets abound about Facebook’s Illuminati-like status. The folks at SFWeekly managed to recreate the diagram and did a thorough analysis on what it might mean. The Next Web declared that it was creepy. And back at Facebook HQ, three goats were sacrificed in an attempt to ward off yet another wave of bad press.

Now, one Facebook employee has apparently tired of leading a life shrouded in secrecy — they’ve put their hoodie up for sale on eBay. It’s described as “the exact same” as the one Mark Zuckerberg wore to the conference. And while it’s unclear whether the hoodie alone is enough to gain official entrance into Facebook’s cult (you may have to go through an interview or two), it’s probably enough to blend in at the weekly midnight bonfires.

Don’t be surprised if other enterprising cult members decide to sell off their hoodies in the near future to capitalize on the public’s increased awareness. Oh, and 15% of the proceeds of this sale are apparently being donated to the EFF.

Here’s the description:



This is a limited edition, employee only, Facebook hoodie. The same exact one worn by Mark Zuckerberg at the D8 Conference.

Size: XL

Buyer pays shipping. Will ship within 24 hours of winning the auction.

Ships from San Francisco, CA. No pick-ups/drop-offs.

Update: Wow. Bidding has crossed $1000. You people do realize that this is just a hoodie right? And that there isn’t actually a cult?

Update 2: There’s now a second Facebook employee hoodie on eBay. And this one comes with matching sweat pants. Bidding starts at $150.

Original article here

Titan: Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exists on Saturn's moon'

Researchers at the space agency believe they have discovered vital clues that appeared to indicate that primitive aliens could be living on the planet.



Data from Nasa's Cassini probe has analysed the complex chemistry on the surface of Titan, which experts say is the only moon around the planet to have a dense atmosphere.



They have discovered that life forms have been breathing in the planet’s atmosphere and also feeding on its surface’s fuel.



Astronomers claim the moon is generally too cold to support even liquid water on its surface.



The research has been detailed in two separate studies.



The first paper, in the journal Icarus, shows that hydrogen gas flowing throughout the planet’s atmosphere disappeared at the surface. This suggested that alien forms could in fact breathe.



The second paper, in the Journal of Geophysical Research, concluded that there was lack of the chemical on the surface.



Scientists were then led to believe it had been possibly consumed by life.



Researchers had expected sunlight interacting with chemicals in the atmosphere to produce acetylene gas. But the Cassini probe did not detect any such gas.



Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at Nasa Ames Research Centre, at Moffett Field, California who led the research, said: “We suggested hydrogen consumption because it's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan, similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth.



"If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life, it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth.”



Professor John Zarnecki, of the Open University, added: “We believe the chemistry is there for life to form. It just needs heat and warmth to kick-start the process.



“In four billion years’ time, when the Sun swells into a red giant, it could be paradise on Titan.”



They warned, however, that there could be other explanations for the findings.



But taken together, they two indicate two important conditions necessary for methane-based life to exist.



Original article here

Misleading Photos Used by Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Justify Killing Activists

If there is one constant about government it is this — they tell lies and fabricate propaganda in order to bamboozle their citizens. Israel is no exception.



In order to make the case that the Gaza aid flotilla consisted of terrorists — including al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah, never mind the absurdity — the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has posted a number of photos on its Flickr page purporting to show weapons and military equipment supposedly found on the Mavi Marmara.



Several of the photos, however, were not taken on the ship as claimed. In fact, at least two of them were taken in 2006.



Israeli “Defense officials also say some activists had military-style gear such as bulletproof vests and night-vision goggles,” the Associated Press reports today.



EXIF data posted on the Flickr page reveals that both photos were taken in 2006. Digital cameras often save EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) data with the image file, including shutter speed, date and time, focal length, exposure compensation, metering pattern and if a flash was used. Ficklr as a matter of course mines this data and posts it on the page.

Bulletproof vests. See EXIF meta data on this image.

Night vision equipment. See EXIF meta data on this image.



The corporate media often pegs internet journalists and bloggers as rank amateurs who have damaged the reputation of journalism and often spread conspiracy theories, lies, and disinformation. And yet the seasoned journalism professionals working the desks at the Associated Press were completely duped by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its obviously bogus photos.





It was a French blogger going by the name of Ibn Kafka who discovered the EXIF data. The Political Theatrics blog translated his original post.



Digital cameras, of course, often do not have the time and date set correctly and this may be the case with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs photos. Even so, the EXIF data should raise questions about the validity of the claims made by the Israeli government about what they found on the Mavi Marmara.



Don’t expect the Associated Press to do this. After all, they are basically script readers passing along official propaganda designed to dupe the masses and manufacture consent.

Governments tell pathological lies and it is the job of the corporate media to disseminate these lies.





Original article here