Astonishment as top scientist admits there has been no global warming for 15 years. The United Nations climate panel faces a new challenge with scientists casting doubt on its claim that global temperatures are rising inexorably because of human pollution. In its last assessment the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the evidence that the world was warming was “unequivocal”. It warned that greenhouse gases had already heated the world by 0.7C and that there could be 5C-6C more warming by 2100, with devastating impacts on humanity and wildlife. However, new research, including work by British scientists, is casting doubt on such claims. Some even suggest the world may not be warming much at all. “The temperature records cannot be relied on as indicators of global change,” said John Christy, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a former lead author on the IPCC. AWIP: Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995. Daily Express: There has been no global warming for 15 years, a key scientist admitted yesterday in a major U-turn. Daily Telegraph: African crops yield another catastrophe for the IPCC.

He was elected in part to drag us out of this trap. Instead, he's dragging us further in. Osama bin Laden's favourite son, Omar, recently abandoned his father's cave in favour of spending his time dancing and drooling in the nightclubs of Damascus. The tang of freedom almost always trumps Islamist fanaticism in the end: three million people abandoned the Puritan hell of Taliban Afghanistan for freer countries, while only a few thousand faith-addled fanatics ever travelled the other way. Osama's vision can't even inspire his own kids. But Omar bin Laden says his father is banking on one thing to shore up his flailing, failing cause - and we are giving it to him.

The Obama administration has announced it will now rule by fascist decree and ignore Congress and the American people. “With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities,” reports The New York Times. “We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff who is fond of cracking his knuckles in Obama’s face. According to The New York Times, ruling in authoritarian fashion is normal and acceptable. “Any president has vast authority to influence policy even without legislation, through executive orders, agency rule-making and administrative fiat.”

A suspected U.S. drone fired a missile at a vehicle in Pakistan's volatile northwest on Monday, killing three people in the second such strike in as many days in an area dominated by militants who regularly attack U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan inhabited by Pakistanis (officials and residents said). President Barack Obama has stepped up the use of missile strikes assassinations in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas since taking office, partly in response to the Pakistani government's reluctance to target Taliban militants who are not deemed a direct threat to the state. The vehicle hit Monday was traveling through the North Waziristan tribal area, a region inhabited by militants who helped orchestrate the Dec. 30 suicide bombing against a remote CIA base in Afghanistan that killed seven of the agency's employees. Pakistanis.

The US admits rocket hit a home as Operation Moshtarak targeted Taliban-held town. The victims died after a US rocket hit their house on Sunday, the second day of Operation Moshtarak, which aims to wrest control of the town of Marjah and neighbouring areas in Helmand province from the Taliban. "Two rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System [HIMARS] launched at insurgents firing upon Afghan and Isaf forces impacted approximately 300 metres off their intended target, killing 12 civilians in Nad Ali district," the International "Security" Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement. AWIP: US-led raid kills civilians in Afghanistan. Deseret News: U.S. rockets kill 12 Afghan civilians in Marjah. AntiWar: Civilian Killings by US Cast Pall on NATO’s Marjah Offensive: The Battle of Marjah was supposed to be the centerpiece of the Obama escalation, showcasing NATO’s firepower against the farming community while emphasizing strategic changes designed to limit civilian casualties. This has failed on both fronts, with troops encountering heavy resistance and making slow progress in occupying the town, and even more importantly an embarrasingly high profile mishap involving US forces.

The grand attack on Marja was scarcely out of the starting blocks before it claimed its first child sacrifices: five children blown to pieces in a rocket strike on "a compound crowded with Afghan civilians," the New York Times reports.

Up to 12 civilians in total were killed in the strike, which occurred, we're told, when American artillery landed "a few hundred yards away" from another "mud-walled compound" from which U.S. Marines were reportedly taking fire.

In keeping with the way of the modern warrior, the computer-guided rockets were launched from a base more than 10 miles away: "Don't fire until the GPS tracker sends back remote data indicating the whites of their eyes are within 500 yards, boys!" Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former black ops honcho now heading the entire "humanitarian" military mission in Afghanistan, immediately apologized for "this tragic loss of life," and even went so far as to pull the particular remote-control death device from the order of battle, for the moment. Well, Stanley, live by PR, die by PR -- and as we noted here yesterday, the entire operation reeks of "Hamburger Hill"-style futility: sending in a great wad of cannon fodder to foster the illusion of momentum and success in an endless, pointless war of corporate profiteering and imperial chest-beating.

That seems to me to be the big news out of Jonathan Karl's interview with the former vice-president today. There is not a court in the United States or in the world that does not consider waterboarding torture. The Red Cross certainly does, and it's the governing body in international law. It is certainly torture according to the UN Convention on Torture and the Geneva Conventions. The British government, America's closest Western ally, certainly believes it is torture. No legal authority of any type in the US or the world has ever doubted that waterboarding is torture. To have subjected an individual to waterboarding once is torture under US and international law. To subject someone to it 183 times is so categorically torture is it almost absurd to even write this sentence.

Since the judgement in the Binyam Mohammed case, there has been a resurgence in the awareness of our government's policy of collusion in torture. Kim Howells and David Miliband have been telling outright lies in denying it, while Bruce Anderson is leading the "Torture the Muslim bastards" wing. With the government issuing blatantly lying denials, I decided to contact the Guardian to ask why they never published my indisputable documentary proof of a policy of using torture, sanctioned by Jack Straw.

"We are taking upon ourselves a task that is bigger than us" Halutz, who stepped down in 2007, said when asked about Israeli leaders' vows to "take care" of the perceived threat. "I think that the State of Israel should not take it upon itself to be the flag-bearer of the entire Western world in the face of the Iranian threat," Halutz, a former air force commander, told Channel Two.

The chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff has stated that any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities could have 'unintended consequences' throughout the Middle East region.

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have accused Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program. Yet, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes. In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production. But Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal of at least 250 warheads, has never signed the NPT, and has never allowed IAEA inspections of all its nuclear facilities. PressTV: Russia commits to deliver S-300 system to Iran. + 'Iran can defend itself without nuclear weapons'.

To disagree with the state is to 'delegitimise' the state: that is the increasingly strident response of the country's political and military establishment to those who dare to criticise its conduct. The row has come to symbolise a new mood of establishment intolerance in Israel towards criticisms by Israeli human rights groups of such episodes as last year's military operation in Gaza. This harsh new mood has been fuelled by ministers, right-wing politicians and military figures who have closed ranks behind accusations that the UN-commissioned report into the war, led by Richard Goldstone, which accused both sides of war crimes, is being used to "delegitimise Israel".

On Monday February 15 in Madrid, Judge Baltasar Garzon will convene an investigation of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity allegedly committed by U.S. government officials and others during the Bush administration. The first witness called to testify will reportedly be American international human rights lawyer Dr. William F. Pepper. Dr. Pepper, who convened the International Human Rights Seminar at Oxford University, stated that he was, “asked by the Court to file an Opinion and testify as an expert on the issue of jurisdiction of the Spanish Court with respect to the various crimes being alleged.” He may also testify as to his opinion on the validity, or invalidity, of the most likely defenses to be offered by defendants should criminal charges result, namely ‘Sovereign Immunity’ and ‘Superior Orders’ (more commonly known as ‘The Nuremberg Defense’). The Independent: Goldsmith calls for investigation into UK's role in torture.

On February 11th, during a confrontation between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru 2, an incident occurred that provided an excuse for the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) to issue a media statement accusing Sea Shepherd of injuring three Japanese crewmembers with butyric acid (rotten butter). According to the ICR media release, the three men were injured when butyric acid splashed into their faces. In reviewing video footage of the confrontation, the Sea Shepherd crew discovered the real source of injuries for the three Japanese crewmembers. The three crew were injured because they shot themselves in the face with pepper spray (also known as capsicum spray). The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never caused a single injury to any person since the organization was founded in 1977. Sea Shepherd: Captain Pete Bethune Boards Shonan Maru 2 to Arrest Japanese Skipper. + Update: Sea Shepherd Captain Detained Onboard Japanese Whaling Vessel. BBC: Japan anti-whaling activists on trial for meat theft.

A heated exchange took place during NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday when MSNBC host Rachel Maddow accused Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) of hypocrisy for railing against a spending bill in public while touting its benefits in his home district. Appearing alongside each other during a panel session, Maddow pivoted from a discussion on job creation to note that Schock had appeared at an event on Friday touting a grant program that he had voted against.

Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts. As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels.

The great Trans Siberian Railway, the pride of Russia, goes across two continents, 12 regions and 87 cities. The joint project of Google and the Russian Railways lets you take a trip along the famous route and see Baikal, Khekhtsirsky range, Barguzin mountains, Yenisei river and many other picturesque places of Russia without leaving your house. During the trip, you can enjoy Russian classic literature, brilliant images and fascinating stories about the most attractive sites on the route.

Two huge waves swept away spectators watching a Northern California surfing contest yesterday morning, causing broken bones and other injuries to people standing on a seawall. Fifteen people had significant injuries, including broken legs and hands, authorities said. At least three of them were transported to area hospitals. Others were treated at the beach for injuries such as scrapes and bruises.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Scott Jalbert estimated 'a couple hundred' people were on the seawall at the southern tip of Mavericks Beach when the waves struck, upstaging the surfing competition that draws some of the world's top surfers. Nobody was swept away into the water. They were just swept onto the beach area pretty hard,"'Jalbert said. 'It's pretty rocky. We've cleared the beach area so this doesn't happen again.'

The waves knocked out barricades, a spectator platform and a large scaffold holding speakers broadcasting the Mavericks Surf Contest, held in this tiny harbor town 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco along Highway 1. The National Weather Service posted a high surf warning until 10 p.m. Saturday - after the unexpected large waves swept in during high tide. The weather service had previously posted a less severe high surf advisory. 'It just came out of nowhere and wiped us all out,' said Pamela Massette of Corte Madera. Her left hand and left knee were scraped and bleeding and she was wet from head to toe.

Cheney's outrageous behavior is very rational, an attempt to wrest the narrative away from the truth that he authorized horrifying war crimes, that he is criminally liable for them and will be described in history as the vice-president who made the US a symbol for torture throughout the world. Yahoo: Biden and Cheney spar over "antiterrorism policies" [torture].

Info graph from InformationIsBeautiful.