Reuters - Two decades after a walk to freedom that captivated South Africa and the world, Nelson Mandela remains revered the world over but is rarely seen in public.

AP - Even as Republicans publicly welcome President Barack Obama's call for a bipartisan confab on health care, some privately worry that he might be laying a trap to portray their ideas as flimsy.

AFP - Iran declared Tuesday it has started the process of producing 20 percent enriched uranium, defying world powers who have warned of new sanctions unless the Islamic republic halts its sensitive nuclear drive.

AP - Endeavour's astronauts inspected their ship early Tuesday for any launch damage as they raced toward a 200-mile-high rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Reuters - Toyota Motor Corp said it is recalling nearly half a million of its flagship Prius and other hybrid cars for braking problems as it seeks to address criticism over the handling of its worst safety crisis.

AP - Over the past 12 years, Josh Libresco's health insurance premium has increased almost eight-fold for his family of four.

AP - China has revealed its most ambitious measure of what explosive development has done to its environment, saying Tuesday its first national pollution census has mapped nearly 6 million sources of industrial, residential and agricultural waste.

AP - Take a desert of yellow-orange dust so flat it looks like Mars, with a freezing wind that blows so hard it can lift a large tent.

AP - Rep. John Murtha, who said the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq was based on "flawed policy wrapped in illusion" and called for a withdrawal of U.S. troops there, is being remembered as an advocate on Capitol Hill for those serving in military uniform.

Reuters - Iran began work on Tuesday to make higher-grade nuclear fuel, a senior official said, and the Pentagon said the United States wanted a U.N. Security Council resolution on Iran "within weeks" over its nuclear program.

AP - The head of the Iran's atomic agency said Iran would not enrich uranium to a higher level if the West provides the fuel it needs for the Tehran research reactor.

AP - Another jolt of Saints euphoria is on tap for New Orleans Tuesday when the Super Bowl champs board floats borrowed from Mardi Gras krewes for a victory parade through the grateful city.

AP - Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has refused to concede the presidential race to opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych and plans to legally challenge the results, Ukrainian and Russian media reported Tuesday.

AP - China has revealed its most ambitious measure of what explosive development has done to its environment, saying Tuesday its first national pollution census has mapped nearly 6 million sources of industrial, residential and agricultural waste.

AP - Take a desert of yellow-orange dust so flat it looks like Mars, with a freezing wind that blows so hard it can lift a large tent.

AP - The head of the Iran's atomic agency said Iran would not enrich uranium to a higher level if the West provides the fuel it needs for the Tehran research reactor.

AP - Mexican federal police arrested two suspected gang leaders Monday, delivering another big blow to a brutal drug cartel that terrorized the border city of Tijuana for several years.

Reuters - Two decades after a walk to freedom that captivated South Africa and the world, Nelson Mandela remains revered the world over but is rarely seen in public.

AP - The scene was eerily familiar, Katherine Jackson and her family walking grimly into a courtroom, occupying a special family row, demonstrating their love for their beloved son and sibling, Michael.

AP - Endeavour's astronauts inspected their ship early Tuesday for any launch damage as they raced toward a 200-mile-high rendezvous with the International Space Station.

AP - Another jolt of Saints euphoria is on tap for New Orleans Tuesday when the Super Bowl champs board floats borrowed from Mardi Gras krewes for a victory parade through the grateful city.

AP - Authorities launched a criminal investigation Monday into the cause of an explosion that killed five people at a power plant under construction, saying they couldn't rule out negligence.

AP - Over the past 12 years, Josh Libresco's health insurance premium has increased almost eight-fold for his family of four.

AP - Rep. John Murtha, who said the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq was based on "flawed policy wrapped in illusion" and called for a withdrawal of U.S. troops there, is being remembered as an advocate on Capitol Hill for those serving in military uniform.

AP - A sheriff's dispatcher says fires have struck two more rural east Texas churches, just hours after investigators announced that a blaze last week marked the eighth arson against a house of worship in the state this year.

AP - New York Gov. David Paterson on Monday lashed back at what he called a "callous and sleazy" assault on his character in statehouse rumors and media reports that include accusations about womanizing and drug use, allegations he flatly denied.

AP - Days before a former suburban Chicago police officer's fourth wife vanished in 2007, she told a divorce attorney that her husband thought she suspected he had killed his previous wife and suggested extorting money from him to keep quiet, the lawyer testified Monday.

AP - Charlie Sheen and his wife were reunited Monday after a judge modified a restraining order and allowed them them to work out their differences following a Christmas Day domestic violence dispute in which the actor allegedly pinned his spouse on a bed with a knife to her throat.

Reuters - Palestinian leaders have not set specific terms on which they would accept a U.S. offer to mediate indirect peace talks with Israel, and expect clarification on such talks in a week, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday.

AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' government decided Monday to hold municipal elections in the West Bank in July, the first voting since Abbas' Fatah movement was trounced by the militant Islamic Hamas in national polls four years ago.

Reuters - The Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda called for a regional Muslim holy war and a blockade of the Red Sea to cut off U.S. shipments to Israel, a further sign of the group's ambitions to mount new strikes outside its base.

Reuters - More than a dozen people were injured when Israeli police confronted Palestinian protesters in a refugee camp at the edge of Jerusalem on Monday, violence stoked by rising tensions over a stalemate in peace talks.

AFP - Israel's supreme court president, Dorit Beinish, on Monday came out in favour of a commission of inquiry into the Gaza war as called for by the United Nations in its Goldstone report.

AP - The leader of Hamas said Monday he sees "no prospects' for a Mideast peace settlement, a stand that could reduce Russia's chances of holding a Middle East peace conference that includes the Palestinian militant group.

AFP - The Western-backed Palestinian Authority said on Monday it would hold local elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on July 17.

AFP - The Obama team may get modest benefits from ending a five-year chill with Damascus but will find it hard, if not impossible to peel Syria way from hardline ally Iran and break the Arab-Israeli stalemate, analysts said.

AFP - The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Monday urged Egypt and the Arab League to press Israel to allow reconstruction equipment into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

AFP - Israeli security forces Monday raided a Palestinian refugee camp in annexed east Jerusalem, arresting 11 people in an operation police said was aimed at putting "some order" in the area.

Reuters - A Palestinian refugee camp on the edge of Jerusalem erupted in violence on Monday after Israeli police carried out a raid to arrest tax evaders and Palestinians responded by throwing stones.

AFP - US congressman John Murtha, who died Monday of complications from gallbladder surgery at age 77, was a fierce critic of the Iraq war despite being a staunchly pro-military former marine.

AP - Britain's inquiry into the Iraq war will seek meetings with former members of the Bush administration after taking evidence from Tony Blair and other key British officials, the panel's chairman said Monday.

AP - Iraq's prime minister says he accepts an appeals panel's jurisdiction over a ban on candidates from March 7 parliamentary elections for their suspected ties to Saddam Hussein's regime.

AFP - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday he has received assurances that judges will resolve a simmering row over who can stand in Iraq's general election before official campaigning starts on February 12.

AFP - Zina Nabil, a pretty 28-year-old Sunni Arab, thought she had found her man. But like many other Iraqi women, she was forced to abandon her marriage plans three years ago because of sectarian hostilities.

AFP - US General David Petraeus on Saturday slammed the "barbaric actions" of a morally bankrupt Al-Qaeda following a series of attacks on Shiite pilgrims in Iraq blamed on the extremist network.

AFP - Iraq's parliament postponed to Monday an emergency session called to debate a decision to allow hundreds of candidates linked to Saddam Hussein's Baath party to compete in next month's elections.

AFP - Radical Shiite Islamists who claim to have kidnapped a US military contractor of Iraqi origin said on Sunday they are also holding a second American hostage captured two years ago.

AP - President Barack Obama said Sunday he has not ruled out a New York federal court trial for Sept. 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but he was taking into account the objections of the city's mayor and police commissioner.

AFP - President Barack Obama Sunday acknowledged fierce opposition to his plans to bring accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to justice in New York, but would not rule out such a trial.

AP - "Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History" (Riverhead, 400 pages, $26.95), by David Aaronovitch: Did you hear the real story? The Sept. 11 attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government. President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor. Princess Diana was assassinated. The Catholic Church is covering up evidence of Jesus' family.

AP - Foreign leaders and their families are still able to channel hundreds of millions of dollars in potentially corrupt money into the United States despite post-Sept. 11 laws cracking down on money laundering, according to a report released at a Senate hearing Thursday.

AP - Structural steel for the 1,776-foot tower that will be known as 1 World Trade Center has risen 200 feet above street level, a tangible sign of ground zero progress, redevelopment officials said Wednesday.

AFP - US lawmakers Tuesday unveiled plans to block public funding for US-based trials involving Guantanamo detainees who are accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.

AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates declined to say Tuesday whether he thinks it's appropriate to try self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a New York civilian court, not far from the site of the attack.

Reuters - Discordant New Yorkers accustomed to squabbling over the smallest matters of civic interest are suddenly in agreement about the trials of the accused September 11 plotters. Nobody wants them here.

Reuters - The euro rose on Tuesday on speculation that European Union nations could bail out errant member Greece, while global stocks were flat and emerging market shares climbed.

AP - Oil prices rose above $72 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as a weakening U.S. dollar offset concerns about the strength of the global economic recovery.

AP - World stocks were mixed Tuesday following Wall Street's decline on lingering worries about high European debt levels.

Reuters - Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), Japan's third-largest automaker, returned to quarterly profit on Tuesday and lifted its outlook for the second time, as brisk global sales signal the worst may be over for the auto industry.

englishnews@chosun.com / Feb. 04, 2010 12:51 KST

The North Korean regime has sacked the Workers' Party's Finance Director Pak Nam-gi, letting him take the fall for the failed currency reform late last year. Until December, Pak was frequently spotted accompanying North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on his "on-the-spot-guidance" tours, but he suddenly dropped from sight in January.

Diplomatic sources in Beijing say Pak was probably removed as a sacrificial lamb after social unrest increased following the currency revaluation, which led to skyrocketing prices. When millions of people starved to death or fled the country to escape famine and flooding between 1995 and '96, North Korea accused Minister of Agriculture Seo Gwan-hee of espionage and executed him in public in the streets of Pyongyang.

North Korean defectors say the official price of rice was 20 won per kilogram, but in the month after the currency revaluation, it jumped 20 times to 30 times and now costs 600 won. In some areas, prices are said to have soared 50 times to 1,000 won. As a result, frustrated North Koreans have no qualms about making insulting comments about their leader now, even in front of state security agents.

North Korea revalued its currency because a nascent market economy began taking root in various parts of the country following the collapse of the state's ability to distribute food and other supplies in the late 1990s, which created a new class of relatively wealthy merchants who became an increasing threat to the privileges of party members. North Korea wanted to revamp the system of state distribution system and reclaim economic control to protect the communist ruling class and to ensure the smooth transfer of power from Kim Jong-il to his third son Jong-un.

The crisis demonstrates the losing battle the North Korean leader is fighting against market forces and rising public discontent. The regime is even said to have issued live ammunition to security agents and authorized them to shoot and kill protesting citizens. But the regime still had to resort to blaming its chief economic policymaker after the draconian measures failed to appease public anger, a tactic commonly used by regimes that have lost the support of the public.

If the rumors coming out of North Korea are accurate, then the country is a ticking time bomb. During the last crisis during the late 1990s, North Korea pursued the Geneva Agreement with the U.S., while sending armed infiltrators to South Korea aboard submarines and launched the Taepodong-1 long-range missile. Now it is resorting to similar tactics by demanding talks with South Korea while launching massive military exercises and firing artillery rounds near the maritime border in the West Sea.

Grand National Party leader Chung Mong-joon said on Wednesday, "I would like to be briefed by intelligence officers" on the situation in North Korea. The South Korean public is even more anxious about the situation. Cheong Wa Dae, the Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service are saying that the situation in North Korea is not serious enough to threaten Kim's rule. In January 1989, the West German government said there were no unusual signs coming out of East Germany, but soon after, masses of East Germans fled their country and headed to Hungary and Austria, and in November the same year the Berlin Wall came down.

This does not mean South Korea's intelligence is inaccurate. It is important to note that nobody can be certain of the fate of the North Korean regime at this point. But what is required is for the government to set aside its preconceived ideas and prepare contingency plans in case of an emergency in North Korea. South Korean officials from the president on down must be prepared to deal with any scenario.

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea are proposing to Seoul a joint military exercise in preparation for the collapse of the North Korean regime.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries have almost completed an operational plan for what is delicately called a "sudden change" in the North, but they have yet to carry out a joint exercise based on the plan.

The Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff are reviewing the plan cautiously for fear of further angering the North, which is already on edge amid international sanctions and a currency reform gone disastrously wrong.

A government source on Thursday said since late last year, one U.S. military leader after another has proposed to the Defense Ministry and the JCS officially or unofficially that a joint military exercise be staged in preparation for the "sudden change."

U.S. JCS Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen reportedly made the proposal to his South Korean counterpart Gen. Lee Sang-eui at the bilateral Military Committee Meeting in Seoul in October last year. USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp repeated the proposal to senior South Korean military officers in a recent meeting, according to a source.

The ministry and the JCS urged caution but agreed there is a need for such an exercise. Military authorities are considering two options. The first envisages staging the drill as inconspicuously as possible as part of one of the existing annual joint exercises. The other is a drill ostensibly for humanitarian relief in case of a massive natural disaster in a hypothetical neighboring state.

The joint contingency plan, dubbed OPLAN  5029, envisages six scenarios, including civil war caused by a transition of power or a coup after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death; theft and sale abroad of so-called weapons of mass destruction by an insurgent army; mass defection; massive natural disaster; and the kidnapping of South Korean citizens in the North. However, this has never been officially confirmed.

The New York Times is displayed on Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. /AP

With its newly unveiled iPad tablet PC, Apple is threatening the dominance of online retailer Amazon in the U.S. e-book market.

Amazon, the world's largest online bookstore, has been leading the e-book market for the past two years, selling 2.5 million units of its Kindle wireless e-reader. But less than a week after the iPad's debut, Amazon has already been forced to revise its pricing policy.

Amazon had been charging US$9.99 for e-book versions of popular titles, but last weekend it was forced to raise its prices when U.S. publishing giant Macmillan demanded it charge $12.99 to $14.99. Amazon initially took a tough stance and halted all sales of Macmillan books, but later retracted the measure and said on Sunday it would accept Macmillan's demand, according to international media reports.

Apple is behind the dispute between Amazon and the publishing industry. When it unveiled the iPad last Wednesday, Apple offered to charge up to $14.99 per e-book, prompting publishers, which have been unhappy with Amazon's monopoly, to revolt against the retailer. Apple also promised to give publishers or copyright holders 70 percent of the revenue from e-book sales, as it does with developers of applications for the iPhone. That gave Macmillan leverage to demand that Amazon raise its prices.

Industry insiders predict that e-book makers including publishers and newspapers will eventually have a bigger say in distribution. They may be helped by the decision of Internet giant Google to enter the market. Google plans to only set certain standards on discount rates and give publishers the right to decide prices. That will enable publishers to choose the retailer that offers the most favorable terms.

Dear Family, Friends, Allies & Future Friends,

by Philip Giraldi
January 28, 2010

A curious op-ed "The Tel Aviv Cluster" by the reliably neoconnish David Brooks appeared in the New York Times on January 12th.  Brooks enthused over the prowess of Israel’s high tech businesses, attributing their success in large part to Jewish exceptionalism and genius, which must have provided the ultimate feel good moment for Brooks, who is himself Jewish.  That Israel has a booming technology sector is undeniably true, but Brooks failed to mention other contributing factors such as the $101 billion dollars in US economic and military aid over the course of more than four decades, which does not include the additional $30 billion recently approved by President Barack Obama.  American assistance has financed and fueled Israel’s business growth while the open access and even "preferential treatment" afforded to Israeli exporters through the Israel Free Trade Implementation Act of 1985 has provided Israelis with the enormous US market to sell their products and services.  By act of Congress, Israeli businesses can even bid on most American Federal and State government contracts just as if they were US companies.

The reality of Israeli spying is indisputable.  Israel always features prominently in the annual FBI report called "Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage." The 2005 report states, "Israel has an active program to gather proprietary information within the United States. These collection activities are primarily directed at obtaining information on military systems and advanced computing applications that can be used in Israel’s sizable armaments industry." It adds that Israel recruits spies, uses electronic methods, and carries out computer intrusion to gain the information. The 2005 report concluded that the thefts eroded US military advantage, enabling foreign powers to obtain expensive technologies that had taken years to develop.
 
A 1996 Defense Investigative Service report noted that Israel has great success stealing technology by exploiting the numerous co-production projects that it has with the Pentagon. "Placing Israeli nationals in key industries …is a technique utilized with great success." A General Accounting Office (GAO) examination of espionage directed against American defense and security industries described how Israeli citizens residing in the US had stolen sensitive technology to manufacture artillery gun tubes, obtained classified plans for a reconnaissance system, and passed sensitive aerospace designs to unauthorized users. An Israeli company was caught monitoring a Department of Defense telecommunications system to obtain classified information, while other Israeli entities targeted avionics, missile telemetry, aircraft communications, software systems, and advanced materials and coatings used in missile re-entry. The GAO concluded that Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any US ally." In June 2006, a Pentagon administrative judge overruled an appeal by an Israeli who had been denied a security clearance, stating, "The Israeli government is actively engaged in military and industrial espionage in the United States. An Israeli citizen working in the US who has access to proprietary information is likely to be a target of such espionage."  More recently, FBI counter intelligence officer John Cole has reported how many cases of Israeli espionage are dropped under orders from the Justice Department.  He provides a "conservative estimate" of 125 worthwhile investigations into Israeli espionage involving both American citizens and Israelis that were stopped due to political pressure from above.
 
Two recent stories that have been reported in the Israeli media but are strangely absent from the news on this side of the Atlantic demonstrate exactly what is going on and what is at stake. The first story confirms that Israeli efforts to obtain US technology are ongoing.  Stewart David Nozette, a US government scientist who was arrested on October 19, 2009 in an FBI sting operation after offering to spy for Israel has been waiting in jail to go to trial on espionage charges.  New documents in the case were presented in the Federal court in Washington last week.  The documents confirm that Nozette was a paid consultant for Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and it is believed that he passed to them classified material in return for an estimated $225,000 in consulting fees.  Examination of his computer by the FBI revealed that he was planning a "penetration of NASA" the US space agency and that he was also trying to crack into other scientists’ computers to obtain additional classified material.  Other documents demonstrate that he was cooperating with two Israeli scientists who were administrators with IAI, Yossi Weiss and Yossi Fishman.  Nozette made several trips to Israel without reporting them, which he was required to do because of his high security clearance.  The FBI reportedly also has incriminating letters and other documents that were obtained from the computer.
 
The second story relates to the pending sale of twenty-five F-35 fighter planes to Israel.  The F-35 is one of the most advanced fighter planes in the world.  The $130 million planes would be purchased with US military assistance money, which means they would effectively be a gift from the US taxpayer.  But Israel is balking at the sale reportedly because it wants to install some of its own local content in the aircraft.  The Pentagon has already made some concessions but is disinclined to grant approval for all the changes because to do so would require giving the Israelis full access to the plane’s advanced avionics and computer systems.  Israel also wants to independently maintain the aircraft, which would also require access to all systems.  It would be nice to think that the Pentagon wants to keep the maintenance in American hands to preserve jobs, but the Defense Department has never cared about US workers before when the issue is Israel, and the real reason for the standoff is that Lockheed-Martin and the Pentagon both know that Israel will steal whatever it can if it gains access.  It would then use the technology to market its own products at a price below that of US defense contractors. The result would be a triple whammy for Uncle Sam:  the expensive planes are given to Israel free, the technology is then stolen, and future sales vanish as our Israeli friends market their knock down versions of weapons systems reliant on the stolen technology.
 
So to David Brooks I would say that there is most definitely an economic surge taking place in high tech Israel, but it is less a miracle than the fruit of a long series of thefts and manipulations fueled by American tax money and the connivance of a Congress that is always willing to do favors for the country that it appears to love beyond all others.  I’m sure most Americans would wish the Israelis well and would applaud the prosperity that derives from their own industry and inventiveness but it is also time to put the brakes on business as usual and to take the Israeli hand out of our pocket.  I’m sure Brooks’ job is pretty secure and well paid, but many Americans are out of work and suffering, so let’s take some steps to protect our economy from the information thieves from Tel Aviv and keep our money and jobs over here...

"Get off my lawn!"

For the first time since 1994 -- when he was recovering from the Keating Five scandal -- John McCain's approval rating has hit 40 percent.

A poll conducted by the Behavior Research Center determined the figure, but while McCain's numbers may be down, Arizona's senior U.S. senator is far from out.

Republicans, for the most part, still like McCain. The poll finds that within the Republican Party McCain still has a 52 percent approval rating, with only 14 percent of those polled saying he's doing a "poor" job.

The Republican side of the aisle, at the moment, is where McCain's toughest challenge may lie, with former congressman J.D. Hayworth announcing that he will try to unseat McCain as the Republican candidate for Senate.

Hayworth is essentially running on a platform that McCain is too old and out of touch with the conservative base of the Republican party to effectively represent the people of Arizona.

McCain's wife and daughter's supporting gay-marriage couldn't have done much to help McCain's case that he is still, at heart, a conservative.

Despite his low poll numbers, Earl de Berge, the man who conducted the poll, says McCain will be tough to beat in a Republican primary.

"A McCain-Hayworth primary, however, will undoubtably provide voters with much entertainment as the two argue about which one is more conservative and worthy of trust," De Berge tells the Arizona Guardian.

Maybe all that "entertainment" will take voters' minds off the fact that while these two duke it out over who's best for all the gun-slingin' righties, the state and country have been on the verge of financial collapse for the last two years.