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US Troops Now Directed To: 'Catch Or Kill Iranian Agents'
Today's Headlines
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Britain
Comrade Andrei, in the dining room, with the teapot
British officials say police have cracked the murder-by-poison case of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, including the discovery of a "hot" teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts reading for Polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the killing. A senior official tells ABC News the "hot" teapot remained in use at the hotel for several weeks after Litvinenko's death before being tested in the second week of December. The official said investigators were embarrassed at the oversight.
The hotel dishwasher could not be reached for comment
The official says investigators have concluded, based on forensic evidence and intelligence reports, that the murder was a "state-sponsored" assassination orchestrated by Russian security services. Officials say Russian FSB intelligence considered the murder to have been badly bungled because it took more than one attempt to administer the poison. The Russian officials did not expect the source of the poisoning to be discovered, according to intelligence reports. Russian officials continue to deny any involvement in the murder and have said they would deny any extradition requests for suspects in the case.

Sources say police intend to seek charges against a former Russian spy, Andrei Lugovoi, who met with Litvinenko on Nov. 1, the day officials believe the lethal dose was administered in the Millennium Hotel teapot. Lugovoi steadfastly denied any involvement in the murder at a Moscow news conference and at a session with Scotland Yard detectives. Russian security police were present when the British questioned Lugovoi, and British officials do not think they received honest answers from him.
"Brillant, Holmes! How do you do it?"

British health officials say some 128 people were discovered to have had "probable contact" with Polonium-210, including at least eight hotel staff members and one guest. None of these individuals has yet displayed symptoms of radiation poisoning, and only 13 individuals of the 128 tested at a level for which there is any known long-term health concern, officials said.
Lucky for them, Britian has a fine public health system....oh wait..
The Millennium Hotel has closed the Pine Bar and other areas where Litvinenko and Lugovoi met on Nov. l, although the hotel says the remaining public areas "have been officially declared safe" and are open to the public.
Posted by: Steve || 01/26/2007 12:41 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And we all thought he was killed by the baker using the candle stick holder. But no, it was the Russian call girl waitress with the tea pot. Geeze,pretty soon it will be the tourist with an umbrella, oh wait already happened. Those pesky Russians.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 01/26/2007 13:09 Comments || Top||

#2  including the discovery of a "hot" teapot at London's Millennium Hotel

Manuel: How you say caliente?
B: The TeeeeeeeePot Manuel where's the teeeeepot?
Manuel: She's a no good, no.
B: The bloody teapot, teeeeepot, where is it?
Posted by: Shipman || 01/26/2007 18:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Cafe's frequented by FSB officals in Russia need to have radioactive tea urns too!
Posted by: 3dc || 01/26/2007 22:21 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Castro recovering, not out of the picture, aide says
Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who dropped from public view six months ago after undergoing emergency surgery, is recovering and is still in charge of Cuba, a senior government official said on Thursday. "He is still at the helm," Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, told reporters. Alarcon said the 80-year-old Cuban leader was out of sight because he was following strict doctor's instructions for his recovery "which is going very well." Alarcon said the timing of Fidel Castro's return to public life would depend on his recovery and indicated that skeptics were in for a surprise.
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/26/2007 00:50 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  lol at the graphic!
Posted by: Frank G || 01/26/2007 8:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder if the Disney animatronics people have been called in?
Posted by: RWV || 01/26/2007 9:49 Comments || Top||

#3  As zombies go Castro sure does seem to be doing fine.

Has he stopped eating human flesh yet?

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 01/26/2007 12:11 Comments || Top||

#4  "Not out of the picture"?
Nice choice of words...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/26/2007 13:19 Comments || Top||

#5  "Weekend at Fidel's" should be casting soon.
Posted by: Grunter || 01/26/2007 13:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Gosh, does the buzzard have to leave just because one of fidelito's flunkys say so?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/26/2007 15:19 Comments || Top||


Press freedom group condemns Venezuela's Chavez
An international press freedom group on Thursday criticized President Hugo Chavez for deciding not to renew the broadcast license of an opposition-aligned TV station instead of putting the issue to Venezuelan voters in a referendum.

In a letter sent to Chavez and released to the media, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Chavez's decision last month not to renew the broadcast license for Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, when it expires on May 28 would severely limit "editorial pluralism." In a televised interview days before December's presidential election, Chavez said he would consider asking voters whether the government should block certain channels from renewing broadcast licenses.
Posted by: Fred || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  During the runup to WW2, Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin gave their new weapons and methods of warfare a trial run in a foreign country, Spain.

The American left is apparently doing the same in Venezuela.

Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 01/26/2007 3:21 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Kyrgyz president to present new PM nominee
(Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced Thursday he would present a new prime minister nominee to the parliament after his previous choice was thrown out, Kyrgyzstan's Kabar news agency reported. During talks with Parliament Speaker Marat Sultanov and acting Prime Minister Felix Kulov, the president said he would present a new nominee, after his nomination of Kulov had been rejected twice by the parliament. Bakiyev said that a new cabinet was urgently needed to handle domestic issues such as the drafting of the 2007 budget. The Kyrgyz parliament rejected for a second time a bill from Bakiyev to reinstate Kulov. The lawmakers first denied the nomination on Jan. 18.
Posted by: Fred || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Chinese mob of thousands burns down hotel in Sichuan province
High Chinese provincial officials are rumored to be involved, but blame has been cast on the bartender who found the body in the apparent murder rape that sparked the whole riot:
Thousands of local residents have converged on an upscale hotel in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, setting fire to the building in protest at the death and alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl who worked there. Mobile phone footage taken outside the hotel in Dazhu township showed confused and raucous crowds in darkness in front of a burning building as crowds gathered outside. Witnesses said the crowd reached 20,000 at its peak late Wednesday.

“There are still around a few thousand people on the scene and they protested outside the hotel this afternoon,” a shop owner near the Nest Business Hotel in Daizhu told RFA’s Cantonese service.

Hotel worker Yang Daili, who some Internet accounts said was a karaoke hostess, was found dead in a hotel room on Dec. 30. Police enquiries initially yielded little evidence, and the hotel said she had died of an overdose.
Friends protested

But the girlÂ’s friends and classmates pursued the matter and began a protest in the hotel, drawing public attention.

The riot was triggered, residents said, after the hotel posted a notice denying any involvement in the girlÂ’s death. Protesters stormed the hotel and vandalized it, then set fire to it.

Police announced Thursday they had arrested two suspects in the case of the girlÂ’s death. One was described in official media coverage as Â’suspected rapist Liu Chikun.Â’
'Witnesses' posted online

The report, posted by Sichuan Online and rebroadcast by Phoenix TV(ZH), said local leaders had ordered an investigation into possible business links between local police and the hotel.

An officer who answered the phone at the Dazhu police station declined to give further details.

“I have just come on duty and we haven’t got any updated information yet. How can I tell you the current situation outside?” he said.

Two Chinese-language forum posts translated into English by Hong Kong-based blogger Roland Soong said Yang was drugged and raped repeatedly by karaoke room clients until she died.

China sees thousands of “mass incidents” across the country every year.

While many are civil rights protests over land disputes, unpaid wages or environmental issues, spontaneous outbursts of anger and violence are occurring over numerous other issues, including changes in business licensing regulations, perceived miscarriages of justice, or fraudulent advertising claims.

Roland Soong (very left-wing, pro-CCP Chinese-American) translates an account:
I'm an employee at the hotel and I want to share with you what I saw.

There is a bar in the hotel known as the Slow Rock Bar. I work in the bar.

The deceased is 16-year-old Yang Li. She is a hostess at the Nest Business Hotel KTV. She is 1.7 meters tall and very pretty.

On that evening, three big clients showed up. These were friends of the boss and senior officials in Sichuan province. They liked this girl and they asked her to keep them company. Then they wanted to take her out. So Yang Li asked our boss for time off, and he agreed. At around midnight, Yang Li returned. At around 2pm, we closed up the place but we discovered that she was motionless and unconscious. We took her to the hospital and she was already dead.

This is what happened. The three men put drugs in Yang Li's drink. You know what kind of drug. But the dosage was too strong. They also f*cked her. They f*ck her to death because her vagina was bleeding. Later when someone took her to the Dazhu county People's Hospital, she was dead.

During the negotiations between the hotel and the family of the deceased, a compensation of 800,000 RMB was offered. The family of the deceased rejected the offer, because they really wanted the murderers brought to justice. But since the murderers were three senior officials, that was out of the question.

Actually, several people have died at the hotel already, but the hotel managed managed to keep the lid on. Previously, two girls and a security guard had died. The security guard witnessed their secret, so they had to eliminate him. As for the girls, they put some needle holes in their arms and said that the girls overdosed.

This is a black hotel. They do everything, including selling drugs.

Be careful. Don't talk.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/26/2007 00:20 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like it's a gone hotel now.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/26/2007 7:09 Comments || Top||

#2  This is what happens when no one can trust the police and court systems.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/26/2007 15:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Sixteen year old girl working in a bar?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/26/2007 15:27 Comments || Top||

#4  EU6305: Sixteen year old girl working in a bar?

The age of consent in China is 14. There, as in most of the West about a century ago, it used to be the age of puberty.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/26/2007 18:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Actually, several people have died at the hotel already, but the hotel managed managed to keep the lid on

AAA gives it three lumps of coal....
Posted by: Frank G || 01/26/2007 21:22 Comments || Top||


Europe
Muslim jailed for attacking doctor
A French Muslim who attacked a male gynaecologist for examining his wife just after she had given birth, saying it was against Islam, has been jailed for six months by a Paris court.
Fouad ben Moussa burst into the delivery room at a Paris hospital last November and shoved, slapped and insulted Dr Jean-Francois Oury as he examined the woman after a complicated birth.
Fouad ben Moussa burst into the delivery room at a Paris hospital last November and shoved, slapped and insulted Dr Jean-Francois Oury as he examined the woman after a complicated birth, the prosecution said in court on Wednesday. Police had to intervene to remove him. Ben Moussa, a 23-year-old truck driver, apologised for the attack and said he had requested a female doctor. French state hospitals comply with such requests when staffing permits but say patients must accept treatment from the doctors on duty. “This is a public and secular place,” prosecution lawyer Georges Holleaux said of the state hospital where the attack occurred. “This is not the place where one can invoke religion to get different treatment.”
Posted by: Fred || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I am certain if this man's religion of peace had not been stereotyped as irrational, prone to violence and misogynistic this incident would never have happened. And especially if this doctor had not tried to make his wife a whore by touching her in that way.
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/26/2007 10:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Standard couse of treatment is to send the offender and wifey back to where they won't take offense.
Posted by: The AMA || 01/26/2007 11:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I could say they could make a movie about this, but it might offend Muslims.
The sterotypes and all that, y'know...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/26/2007 13:22 Comments || Top||

#4  any bets he is out before the 6 months are up?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 01/26/2007 17:27 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Jimmeh: "Too many Jews" on Holocaust Council
Former Thank God for that. President I'm still ashamed of that. Jimmy Carter once complained there were "too many Jews" on the government's Holocaust Memorial Council, Monroe Freedman, the council's former executive director, told WND in an exclusive interview. Freedman, who served on the council during Carter's term as president, also revealed a noted Holocaust scholar who was a Presbyterian Christian was rejected from the council's board by Carter's office because the scholar's name "sounded too Jewish."

Freedman, now a professor of law at Hofstra University, was picked by the council's chairman, author Elie Weisel, to serve as executive director in 1980. The council, created by the Carter White House, went on to establish the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Freedman says he was tasked with creating a board for the council and with making recommendations to the White House on how best to memorialize the Holocaust. He told WND he sent a memo to Carter's office containing recommendations for council board members.

He said his memo was returned with a note on the upper right hand corner that stated, "Too many Jews." The note, Freedman said, was written in Carter's handwriting and was initialed by Carter. Freedman said at the time the board he constructed was about 80-perent Jewish, including many Holocaust survivors.

He said at the behest of the White House he composed another board consisting of more non-Jews. But he said he was "stunned" when Carter's office objected to a non-Jew whose name sounded Jewish. Freedman said he could not provide the historians name to WND because he did not have the man's permission. "I got a phone call from our liaison at the White House saying this particular historian whose name sounded Jewish would not do. The liaison said he would not even take the time to present Carter with the possibility of including the historian on the board because he knew Carter would think the name sounded too Jewish. I explained the historian is Presbyterian, but the liaison said it wouldn't matter to Carter."

Freedman said he was "outraged by this absurdity."

"If I was memorializing Martin Luther King, I would expect a significant number of board members to be African American. If I was memorializing Native American figures I'd expect a lot of Native Americans to be on the board. I do not for a moment consider it inappropriate to build a Holocaust council with a significant majority of the board being Jewish," Freedman stated.

Freedman describes himself as "self-proclaimed liberal." He said he decided to speak out after the release of Carter's latest book, "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid," which some have accused of being biased against Israel.

This would not be the first time Carter's messages on right hand corners of letters generated a Holocaust-related scandal. Last week, in an interview with the Tovia Singer Show on Israel National Radio, a former U.S. Justice Department official said he received a letter advocating "special consideration" for a confessed Nazi SS officer accused of murdering Jews in the Mauthausen death camp in Austria.

Neal Sher, who served in the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigation, said that in 1987 he received a note from Carter petitioning for re-entry into the U.S. for Martin Bartesch, who had been deported by Sher's office to Austria after it was established he served as an SS officer. Sher said his office had "extraordinary evidence" Bartesch shot Jews.

Bartesch originally immigrated to the U.S. and lived in Chicago. He later admitted to Sher's office and the court he had voluntarily joined the SS as a teenager and served in its Death's Head Division at the Mauthausen concentration camp where many thousands of prisoners were gassed, shot, starved and worked to death. Bartesch also confessed to having concealed his SS service at concentration camp from U.S. immigration officials. Sher said the Justice Department obtained a journal kept by the SS and captured by the U.S. Armed Forces listing Bartesch as having shot to death Max Oschorn, a French Jewish prisoner.

Bartesch's daughters, who still lived in the U.S., attempted in 1987 to appeal to politicians to allow the former Nazi officer to enter the country. They wrote a note in which they claimed it was "un-American" to persecute a man for crimes committed when he was only 17 and 18 years old. Sher said he was shocked when he received the daughter's letter replete with a handwritten note from Carter on the upper right corner stating the former president wanted "special consideration" for the Bartesch family for humanitarian reasons. The note, containing Carter's signature, was obtained this week by the NY Sun.
Posted by: Jackal || 01/26/2007 07:24 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I'm not anti-semitic. I hate all Jews, not just the semitic ones, so don't call me anti-semitic"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/26/2007 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  "If I was memorializing Martin Luther King, I would expect a significant number of board members to be African American. If I was memorializing Native American figures I'd expect a lot of Native Americans to be on the board"

I'm sure Carter would actually agree with this statement. A large number of African and Native Americans isn't disturbing to him. A lot of Jews, apparently, is.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 01/26/2007 9:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Too many former Presidents flapping their gums, is what I say.
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/26/2007 10:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp system from Wikipedia:

The death toll remains unknown, although most sources place it between 122,766 and 320,000 for the entire complex. The camps formed one of the first massive concentration camp complexes in Nazi Germany, and were the last ones to be occupied by the Western Allies or the Soviet Union. The two main camps, Mauthausen and Gusen I, were also the only two camps in the whole of Europe to be labelled as "Grade III" camps, which meant that they were intended to be the toughest camps for the "Incorrigible Political Enemies of the Reich".[1] Unlike many other concentration camps, intended for all categories of prisoners, Mauthausen was mostly used for extermination through labour of the intelligentsia, who were educated people and members of the higher social classes in countries subjugated by Germany during World War II.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauthausen-Gusen_concentration_camp
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/26/2007 10:20 Comments || Top||

#5  In related news: President Carter should be tried for crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/26/2007 10:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Former Thank God for that. President I'm still ashamed of that. Jimmy Carter

As A lifelong Southerner I feel the need to Apologise, Most of us realize racial hatred is stupid somewhere around the junior-high years.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/26/2007 10:22 Comments || Top||

#7  To be fair, this story is not sourced very well. I would really like to see the actual note and have the "prominent Holocaust scholar who is actually Presbyterian but has a Jewish-sounding name" be identified. I'm fairly sure Professor Freedman is a 'reliable source' but this allegation is very serious and he ought to back them up with some verifiable facts. If it cannot be proven, the moonbats will have a field day, and rightfully so.

I still stand by my statement that former Presidents should keep their yaps shut.
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/26/2007 10:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Senile Dementia is so sad. Even more so when it affects an ex-president.

Isn't it time for his family to put in a "home" that can properly sedate him?
Posted by: 3dc || 01/26/2007 11:08 Comments || Top||

#9  I don't know Sea...I somewhat agree with you, but based upon prior experiences with Jimmuh, I'm betting it's real. Kind of like "circumstantial evidence," methinks.
Posted by: BA || 01/26/2007 11:11 Comments || Top||

#10  It's clearly not senility, 3dc, since he's been acting quietly on his bigotry since he was elected to office. It's just that in order to bring the world round to his way of thinking he's got to shout it to the rooftops. I'm sure he's honestly confused by the brouhaha, since nobody's openly protested his attitude or actions before. I f we could read his thoughts I'm sure they would run along the lines of, "I'm couldn't possibly be antisemitic since I was the one who established the Holocaust Museum that they so badly wanted; I can't be anti-Israel, since I was the one who made them make peace... which those Jews are screwing up by not doing as I tell them to! I'm not a hypocrite or a liar because I'm a good Christian -- I taught Sunday School and everything! Why do those Jews and their friends keep picking on me?"
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/26/2007 11:18 Comments || Top||

#11  I know, BA, but these are *very* serious allegations. The people making the allegations had best be able to back them up or there will be hell to pay.
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/26/2007 11:24 Comments || Top||

#12  No their won't Sea. The liberal press and the democrats will protect him.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/26/2007 13:22 Comments || Top||

#13  I think Jimmy Carter would like a Final solution to teh "to many Jews" problem.
Posted by: JFM || 01/26/2007 13:30 Comments || Top||

#14  TW:

I agree -- I think he's sincere. And that's the scariest part -- he thinks his beliefs are absolutely normal, centrist and morally correct.

Working from that set of assumptions, he probably sees antagonistic positions as being agenda-driven (jooooos), whereas he doesn't believe his position is agenda-driven at all. He believes it to be "Truth."
Posted by: PlanetDan || 01/26/2007 13:33 Comments || Top||

#15  "He said he decided to speak out after the release of Carter's latest book..."

Where's the sour grapes graphic when you need it?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/26/2007 13:54 Comments || Top||

#16  Muslims paid for Carter's cowardly soul. Muslims own Jimmy Carter. And they have the receipts to prove it.
Posted by: Mark Z || 01/26/2007 14:29 Comments || Top||

#17  Too many former Presidents flapping their gums, is what I say.

Only two are really doing any talking. I expect Jimmuh to go Tango-Uniform fairly soon, that or be placed in seclusion by his family. Now Bill, I had a though the other evening just as I was dozing off.

It would not surprise me in the least if Bill had a "Vince Foster™" encounter before the actual election in 2008, after he had helped the Hildabeast get the nomination. It's crazy, I know, but still it would not surprise me. They could claim he was despondent at being the First Dude, so he shot himself in the back of the head...twice.
Posted by: Chuck Darwin || 01/26/2007 15:10 Comments || Top||

#18  he thinks his beliefs are absolutely normal, centrist and morally correct.

Anyone got a photo of Catauh and Byrd side by side? If not I'ma go look tomorrow.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/26/2007 18:04 Comments || Top||

#19  Chuck...I've been thinkin' the same thing the past year. It would solve many issues... and provide the sympathy vote to put her over the top. Bill hasn't looked the picture of health of late... I"m thinking he'll buy the farm but it'll be the result of issues related to "bad health"
Posted by: RexMundi || 01/26/2007 18:13 Comments || Top||

#20  I'm thinking he'll buy the farm but it'll be the result of issues related to "bad health".

They'll find him with a bunch empty Quarter Pounder with Cheese containers littered about, and clutching a half eaten one.
Posted by: Chuck Darwin || 01/26/2007 18:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
JI headquarters attacked over student skirmish
Dozens of men attacked the Jamaat-e-IslamiÂ’s headquarters in Karachi, Idara-e-Noor-e-Haq following a clash between two student organisations in Islamia Government College across the road Thursday.

The first clash of the day erupted between some members of the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) and the Pakhtoonkhwa Students Federation (PSF) in Islamia Government College. IJT activists reportedly fled the college and took refuge in the JI headquarters on New MA Jinnah Road. The supporters of the other party followed them and allegedly attacked the building. The mob also damaged vehicles parked outside the JI office. They also pelted the office with stones and broke several windows in addition to damaging some furniture. At least four IJT supporters were reportedly injured in the clash.

The incident was the culmination of three days of building tension between the two groups. After the incident, IJT activists staged a sit-in on New M.A. Jinnah Road causing a problem for traffic. JI leader Nasrullah Shajjee reached the spot and persuaded them to disperse. Minor clashes were reported from three other colleges, including Federal Urdu University for Arts, Science and Technology, National Government College and Dawood Engineering College.
Posted by: Fred || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel: Dalia Itzik becomes acting president
Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik became Israel's acting president on Thursday after the Knesset House Committee granted President Moshe Katsav's request for a temporary suspension from office as he battles Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz's decision in principle to indict him for rape and other offenses. The committee's vote, after a tumultuous six-hour debate, was a narrow 13 in favor and 11 against, with the defeated dissenters pressing to reject Katsav's request for a suspension and instead move toward impeaching him.
Posted by: Fred || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Professor makes good!
Posted by: gromgoru || 01/26/2007 6:33 Comments || Top||


Israeli lawmakers approve president's temporary suspension from post
(Xinhua) -- The Israeli Knesset (parliament) House Committee on Thursday approved President Moshe Katsav's request for a three-month temporary suspension, local media reported. The decision came two days after Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided to charge Katsav with sexual crimes, including rape.

Posted by: Fred || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Next-Gen Ray Gun: Laser, Microwave Combo?
"Lasers and high-power microwave devices long have been eyed as competing directed-energy attack options. However, researchers are now combining the two to produce smaller, cheaper, more powerful, nonkinetic weapons,"

"An advanced concept, pioneered by BAE Systems' researchers, uses light to multiply the speed and power at which HPM [high-power microwave] pulses... Researchers predict leaps of 10-100 times in power output within two years," making it possible to generate the 100-gigawatt pulse needed "to disable a cruise missile at a useful range."

Posted by: 3dc || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  STAR TREK "Sonic Disruptors" here we come.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/26/2007 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  100-gigawatt pulse

There gonna need a Mr. Fusion for that.
Posted by: Jumble Thraiter8446 || 01/26/2007 9:26 Comments || Top||

#3  But will it penetrate aluminum foil ?
Posted by: wxjames || 01/26/2007 9:32 Comments || Top||

#4  If they can scrape up the funds these can be installed on the remaining half of the Royal Navy. Or we could just sell them to our enemies to use against us before we all submit to their demon-god.
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/26/2007 10:26 Comments || Top||

#5  #3 But will it penetrate aluminum foil ?

Penetrateno, melt, yesput a small bit of foil on aceramic plate (that you don"t care about destroying)pop it in your microwave for a few seconds, and think of moonbat"s hair burning.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/26/2007 10:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Fire the Wave Motion Gun!

nostalgically humming: Fighting with the Gamilons,
We won't stop until we've won...
Posted by: Captain Lewis || 01/26/2007 10:57 Comments || Top||

#7  The instructions on my microwave oven say that RedNarck's suggestion (putting metal on it) would destroy the oven
Posted by: JFM || 01/26/2007 15:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Can it reheat last nights pizza?
Posted by: Classer || 01/26/2007 16:29 Comments || Top||

#9  I prefer the magnetic launch steel ball rail gun.
Can it reheat last night's pizza ? No, but it will crater the pizzeria neighborhood beyond recognition. It doesn't leave the enemy crouched in fear, it sends them running in all directions screeming 'Allan, you bastard, help us now.'
Posted by: wxjames || 01/26/2007 17:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Where's caseless ammo?! I've been waiting for caseless ammo since 1970es.
Posted by: gromgoru || 01/26/2007 22:38 Comments || Top||


Laser Guns Are The Next Military Must Have
The grand opening of Northrop Grumman's new production facility for solid-state military lasers last week was touted as the beginning of an age when high-powered lasers will do the work of many of the tactical missiles the United States currently must haul around as it carries out campaigns in far-flung locales.

Long relegated to the realm of science fiction, lasers have quietly moved to the brink of becoming a reality at the front-line level where they could conceivably offer troops unprecedented protection at a relatively low cost that Congress might find hard to resist.

"These systems will shoot down rockets, mortars and short-range missiles and will become critical elements of land, sea and airborne platforms," Mike McVey, president of Northrop's Directed Energy Systems division, said on a recent conference call with reporters.

"Laser weapons are really now moving from the laboratory to the battlefield," he added. "And this facility is part of our long-term commitment to brining high-powered lasers to the warfighter."

Just this week, Raytheon reported it had successfully integrated a solid-state laser with the Phalanx system that locks on to anti-ship missiles and blows them apart with a rapid-fire Gatling gun. In a recent static test, the Phalanx-based Laser Area Defense System (LADS) detonated 60-millimeter mortar rounds placed some 550 yards downrange.

"Our solid-state LADS proves you don't have to wait another three-to-five years for solid-state lasers to have military utility on the battlefield," cheered Raytheon Missile Systems Vice-President Mike Booen. "They are ready now."

More at link...


Posted by: 3dc || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Jedai are comming.
Posted by: gromgoru || 01/26/2007 6:32 Comments || Top||

#2  A problem associated with using lasers (and some other energy weapons) as individual weapons is the old martial arts problem of "how deep?"

That is, if the focal point of a strike is on the surface of someone's body, it will have a very different effect than if the focal point is deep within the person struck. A surface strike might leave a bruise, where a deep strike might cause severe injury.

So unless a laser burns a hole through somebody, it may not be as effective as a bullet, all else being equal. And it is unlikely that a laser gun will give you the sometimes useful things a gun can give you like ricochets, different type rounds and velocities, and ease of reloading.

On the other hand, it has been pointed out that a laser could be used to target an area, instead of a point. Literally, a soldier could select his field of fire, and his one weapon would automatically target anything above a certain size moving in that area, so he doesn't have to.

This would make it very hard to return fire, in that as soon as you moved within a direct line of sight, you would have a hole burned through whatever was exposed.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/26/2007 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Having been a science-fiction reader for around 45 years, the laser is easily defeated by a mirror
( have this mental image of Chrome-plated, mirror-polished tanks
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/26/2007 10:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, but you can't hide a chrome plated mirror polished tank very well.
That means your anti-tank rocket will work just fine.
Posted by: 3dc || 01/26/2007 12:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Redneck Jim:

"Real mirrors are never perfect; they always absorb some small percentage of the light. If that is enough to start damaging the mirror, then the mirror will be cracked, melted, vaporized much like any metal. People go to some expense to get very good low-absorption mirrors designed not to be damaged by high-power laser beams. There is always some "damage threshold" specification to such mirrors."

"If you used a common bathroom mirror, it would probably be no more impervious than an ordinary metal sheet."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/26/2007 13:16 Comments || Top||

#6  All the answers are in the Star Trek Tech Manual:

Level one: lowest setting, Light Stun, capable of stunning most base humanoids for approximately five minutes. According to Starfleet regulations all phasers must be stored at this setting. Possesses enough force to break large urns.

Level seven: Capable of vaporizing noranium carbide alloy.

Level ten: Kill setting, capable of killing a biological organism.

Level sixteen: Capable of vaporizing rock to widen an opening in a lava tube partially blocked by rubble, or blowing large holes in walls.
Posted by: Gloque Elmang4914 || 01/26/2007 15:29 Comments || Top||

#7  What happened to Deep Fat Fry?

/Spaceman Spiff
Posted by: Shipman || 01/26/2007 18:07 Comments || Top||


Battery-ultracapacitor to reduce battery problems
A secretive Texas startup developing what some are calling a "game changing" energy-storage technology broke its silence this week. It announced that it has reached two production milestones and is on track to ship systems this year for use in electric vehicles.

The company boldly claims that its system, a kind of battery-ultracapacitor hybrid based on barium-titanate powders, will dramatically outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market in terms of energy density, price, charge time, and safety. Pound for pound, it will also pack 10 times the punch of lead-acid batteries at half the cost and without the need for toxic materials or chemicals, according to the company.

The implications are enormous and, for many, unbelievable. Such a breakthrough has the potential to radically transform a transportation sector already flirting with an electric renaissance, improve the performance of intermittent energy sources such as wind and sun, and increase the efficiency and stability of power grids--all while fulfilling an oil-addicted America's quest for energy security.

Much like capacitors, ultracapacitors store energy in an electrical field between two closely spaced conductors, or plates. When voltage is applied, an electric charge builds up on each plate.

Ultracapacitors have many advantages over traditional electrochemical batteries. Unlike batteries, "ultracaps" can completely absorb and release a charge at high rates and in a virtually endless cycle with little degradation.

Where they're weak, however, is with energy storage. Compared with lithium-ion batteries, high-end ultracapacitors on the market today store 25 times less energy per pound.

This is why ultracapacitors, with their ability to release quick jolts of electricity and to absorb this energy just as fast, are ideal today as a complement to batteries or fuel cells in electric-drive vehicles. The power burst that ultracaps provide can assist with stop-start acceleration, and the energy is more efficiently recaptured through regenerative braking--an area in which ultracap maker Maxwell Technologies has seen significant results.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/26/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just when Com Ed is going to double our rates in Ill.

Oh well...
Posted by: 3dc || 01/26/2007 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Sceptical in details, hopeful in principle.
Posted by: gromgoru || 01/26/2007 6:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Yep. Has a taste of cold fusion about it. Still, sometimes there really are game changers.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/26/2007 7:30 Comments || Top||

#4  COOL!!!!



Oh, I thought you said flux capacitor ...
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 01/26/2007 8:05 Comments || Top||

#5  The problem with capacitors is that they want to discharge near instantly, if they"ve overcome this problem, then they"ve made a real life breakthrough.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/26/2007 10:45 Comments || Top||

#6  I drive a BS ultra

Posted by: RD || 01/26/2007 11:39 Comments || Top||

#7  The Texas startup they're mentioning is EEStor, Inc. Here is a LINK to an article from late last year. If they can do what they claim, it might change the playing field a bit.
Posted by: Chuck Darwin || 01/26/2007 15:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Actually, you have to get to page 3 to get the caveats:
"Regarding concerns about temperature, leakage, and ceramic brittleness . . ."

The device doesn't work at temps less than -20C
(-8F). It also tends to crack under repeated jarring. The cracking might cause several thousand volts to discharge suddenly.

As they say in the article "What happens when a vehicle crashes and the device cracks?"

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/26/2007 15:58 Comments || Top||

#9  old skool pitch..just a sample..

EEStor. "We're the first application, and that's thrilling for us. We took the initial risk because we believed in what they are doing. And energy storage is the game changer."

The key challenge, however, is to ensure that the barium-titanate powders can be made on a production line without compromising purity and stability. "Purification gives you better production stability, gives you better permittivity, and gives you the high voltages you're looking for," says Weir. "We've now got the chemicals certified and purified to the point we're looking for." (Better permittivity of the insulator improves the amount of charge that can be stored without letting the current leak across the two plates.)

****
Mines, Processes, and Snake oil the old Cons are Legends and True! Good Luck but don't invest just listen and enjoy a few.

page 3 @ the link: in the comments--> Further evidences of EEstor's hype! by Roger Pham 1/22/2007 10:41 PM

>:
Posted by: RD || 01/26/2007 19:30 Comments || Top||



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