As Iran's first power plant is set to come online in mid-September, the country needs more nuclear power plants to meet its electricity needs, an Iranian lawmaker says. "We think we need to establish more nuclear power plants, [therefore] the Parliament has passed plans for setting up 20 more nuclear plants and the government is bound to build them," Hossein Ebrahimi, deputy head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said on Monday. "The news of transferring fuel to the Bushehr nuclear plant tarnished the [credibility of] resolutions and sanctions and 5+1 countries -- five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council plus Germany -- can no longer claim to be united," Fars News Agency quoted Ebrahimi as saying. The West believed that since Russia passed the sanctions resolution against Iran, Tehran would collaborate with them, but in defiance of their expectations, Moscow moved to launch the Bushehr plant, he added.

Western corporations began the construction of the Bushehr facility in the 1970s. However, following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Western companies reneged on their commitments and pulled out of the project due to political pressure from Washington. Iran then turned to Russia to complete the project. In 1992, Tehran and Moscow signed a deal to complete the construction of the nuclear power plant.

Interactive Infographic A Newsweek study of health, education, economy and politics ranks the globe's true national champions.

NASA satellite view of the extent of the massive flooding in Pakistan (before vs. after) Pakistan’s major rivers remained flooded on August 15, 2010, and the flooding extended from northwestern Pakistan to the coast. The damage caused by torrential monsoon rains is apparent in these false-color images acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. The top image is from August 15, 2010, and the bottom image is from August 14, 2009.

Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. Water appears in varying shades of blue, and clouds appear in varying shades of blue-green. Vegetation is green, and bare ground is pinkish brown. Although clouds hide part of the Indus River in the 2010 image, enough of the land surface peeks through to document the ongoing devastation. The Indus and Jhelum Rivers are visibly swollen, the Indus River spanning tens of kilometers in places.

Although the water level had begun to fall slowly at Sukkur, it remained well above the danger level as of August 15, reported David Petley of Durham University. The same day, CBS news and the Associated Press reported that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the flooding as the worst disaster he had seen. On August 14, a case of cholera was confirmed in northwestern Pakistan, heightening fears of waterborne disease.

Nearly seven months after a devastating earthquake killed upwards of 250,000 people in Haiti, UN special envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton told Associated Press on Aug. 6 that international donors have yet to make good on their promises of billions of dollars to help the country rebuild. Haiti’s rebuilding could cost $14 billion, according to a recent Inter-American Development Bank study. Yet only “five countries — Brazil, Norway, Australia, Colombia and Estonia — have so far provided $506 million, less than 10 per cent of the $5.3 billion pledged for Haiti at a March donors' conference,” according to an Aug. 6 AP article.

U.S. combat operations in Iraq were supposed to end by August 31, 2010, signaling the beginning of the military's accelerated withdrawal from the country after more than seven years of war. Since taking office President Obama has promised, repeatedly, that America's bloody occupation would finally, truly end by the close of 2011. But, maybe it won't. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters on Wednesday that by the end of the month, approximately 50,000 U.S. soldiers will remain in Iraq to serve an advisory role to the country's military. Those forces, he said, would be fully withdrawn by the end of 2011. Unless, that is, their [puppet government] asks them to stay. This is what might prompt the Iraqi puppet government to ask that the US army stay: Scores killed in Baghdad explosion. -Kind of makes you wonder who was behnd this terror operation...

More than 2,000 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan since the war began in late 2001, according to the independent icasualties.org website. In all, 2,002 soldiers have been killed since the US-led invasion, including 1,226 Americans and 331 British. In contrast to these deaths over a span of almost nine years, 1,271 civilians were killed in the first six months of 2010. Last week, a UN mid-year report showed civilian casualties had risen by 31 per cent this year compared with the same period last year. So far this year, 434 foreign troops have been killed, compared with a peak of 521 in 2009, icasualties.org reported on Sunday.

Breaking the Silence publish photos of Israeli soldiers posing with Palestinians, urge army spokesman to stop 'insulting the Israeli public's intelligence.' Facebook pictures depicting Israel Defense Forces soldiers depicted alongside handcuffed Palestinian detainees represent the norm, not the exception, in IDF conduct, an Israeli human rights group said on Tuesdays, thus refuting an official army statement claiming otherwise. Photographs uploaded by Eden Abergil released earlier this week and labeled "IDF – the best time of my life," caused a public as a result of them depicting her smiling next to Palestinian prisoners with their hands bound and their eyes covered. A comment attached to one of the photos of the soldier smiling in front of two blindfold men and posted by one of Abergil's friends read "That looks really sexy for you," with Abergil's response reading: "I wonder if he is on Facebook too – I'll have to tag him in the photo." Jerusalem Post: IDF Facebook poster denies wrongdoing.

[Editor's Comment:] Well, Eden Abergil (the Israeli soldier in the photo) has in fact done something wrong -something very wrong and reprehensible, even though she seems incapable of realizing this herself. Just like the US soldier in America's torture center in Abu Ghraib who gave the thumbs-up to a torture job well done, Eden Abergil now displays the same shallownes and shocking lack of empathy. This is what we find in sociopaths and people with severe personality disorders. This kind of mentality is very prevalent in the Israeli army, where Palestinians are seen as subhuman and are treated as vermin on a daily basis. This is a manifestation of racism and of sheer tribalism, pure & simple, cultivated by the Zionists over a long period of time. The IDF soldiers' abyssmal ignorance and backwardness was bound to pop up in the mainstream news in this way sooner or later. We're not surprised. Not in the least.

JERUSALEM — As Israel ordered a slight easing of its blockade of the Gaza Strip Wednesday, McClatchy obtained an Israeli government document that describes the blockade not as a security measure but as "economic warfare" against the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory. [RE: Gaza aid flotilla:] Israel again said its aim was to stop the flow of terrorist arms into Gaza. However, in response to a lawsuit by Gisha, an Israeli human rights group, the Israeli government explained the blockade as an exercise of the right of economic warfare.

The CIA has videotapes of 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh being interrogated in a secret overseas prison. The recordings, discovered under a desk, could provide an unparalleled look at how foreign governments aided the U.S. in holding and questioning suspected terrorists. Several current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the tapes depict Binalshibh's interrogation sessions at a Moroccan-run facility the CIA used near Rabat in 2002. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the videos remain a closely guarded secret. The tapes could complicate U.S. efforts to prosecute Binalshibh, who has been described as a "key facilitator" in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Raw Story: "Terrorist tapes" found under CIA desk. HuffPo: CIA Tapes Of Terrorist Interrogation FOUND Under Desk.

WASHINGTON -- Georgia scientists say their analysis shows that most of that BP oil the government said was gone from the Gulf of Mexico is still there. The scientists say as much as 80 percent of the oil still lurks under the surface. The Georgia team said it is a misinterpretation of data to claim that oil that is dissolved is actually gone. The report from University of Georgia and other scientists came from an analysis of federal estimates. Earlier this month federal scientists said that only about a quarter of the oil remained and the rest was either removed, dissolved or dispersed.

[The Guardian] He survived his vindictive spell in isolation, and pariah status, with head unbowed - now Israel must allow him to go

When the nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu, was released from prison in 2004 after serving 18 years, 12 of them in solitary confinement, he said he was ready to start a new life. The authorities in Israel were not. He was charged with breaking the terms of his parole which forbade him from speaking to foreigners, a restriction which can be traced to the emergency regulations of the British Mandate. A week ago Vanunu was released once again, after serving 10 weeks for that so-called offence. He said he hoped the prime minister and the head of Shin Bet would solve the problem of having to rearrest him by letting him leave the country.

The idea that 24 years after he leaked details and pictures of Israel's nuclear bomb programme to the Sunday Times, and six years after he completed his sentence, this junior technician from Dimona would still have sensitive secrets up his sleeve is plainly ludicrous. It is one that no serious Israeli military analyst accepts. He survived his vindictive spell in isolation, and his pariah status as Israel's most reviled man, with his head unbowed. As Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers has said, Vanunu is the preeminent hero of the nuclear era. By telling the truth, and revealing that his country's stockpile was much larger than the CIA and others had guessed, he certainly caused it mild problems 24 years ago, when Norway announced a ban on exports of heavy water. He causes no problems now. Israel must allow Vanunu to go.

[AOL] (Aug. 16) -- Time magazine's Aug. 9 cover featured a shocking photo of an Afghan woman whose nose has been cut off and the title of the cover story: "What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan." The implication was hard to miss: If the U.S. pulls out, it will be leaving the country to the Taliban, Islamic fundamentalists who brutally oppress women, among other oppressive practices. But Ann Jones, a humanitarian worker in Afghanistan, takes issue with Time's sensationalism. She actually knows Bibi Aisha, the young woman in the cover photo who is now receiving treatment in the United States. Jones says that what Aisha told her about her mutilation was misreported by Time and had nothing to do with the Taliban. Patrick Martin: The “humanitarian” campaign for the war in Afghanistan.

The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites, so much so that even the Left has begun to turn against the White House. While the anti-establishment Tea Party movement has gained significant ground and is now a rising and powerful political force to be reckoned with, many of the president’s own supporters as well as independents are rapidly losing faith in Barack Obama, with open warfare breaking out between the White House and the left-wing of the Democratic Party. While conservatism in America grows stronger by the day, the forces of liberalism are growing increasingly weaker and divided.

Against this backdrop, the president’s approval ratings have been sliding dramatically all summer, with the latest Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll of US voters dropping to minus 22 points, the lowest point so far for Barack Obama since taking office.

USA makes it illegal to give aid to Gaza! In Holder vs. Humanitarian Law project, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional law that it is illegal to "knowingly provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization," overturning multiple lower court rulings that the law was too broad or vague. This terror-inducing "material support" and "resources" includes, but is not limited to humanitarian aid and non-violent resistance tactics. Under this law, humanitarian assistance on the recent Freedom Flotilla to Gaza could feasibly be legally charged and President Jimmy Carter's quest for Middle East peace, which involved some communication with "terrorists," could have quite possibly landed him behind bars.

The US Supreme Court on June 21 ruled 6-3 in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project that the section of the PATRIOT Act criminalizing the providing of "material support" for groups designated "terrorist organizations" does not violate the First Amendment. The Court held that the law's prohibitions on "expert advice," "training," "service," and "personnel" are not vague, and did not violate speech or association rights as applied to plaintiffs' intended activities.

The case arose after the Los Angeles-based Humanitarian Law Project sought to provide assistance and education on human rights advocacy and peaceful conflict resolution to the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, both designated terrorist organizations. Lower court rulings had found the statute unconstitutionally vague.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, whose attorneys argued the case, notes that the HLP "sought to engage in speech advocating only nonviolent, lawful ends." But the government argued that any such speech—including even filing an amicus brief in the US Supreme Court—is a crime if done in support of a designated terrorist group.

Tucked into this massive Army report on suicide is an interesting fact: Since 2004, the number of soldiers going AWOL, deserting, and "missing movement" -- that is failing to deploy when they're supposed to -- has gone up a shocking 234 percent. The Army includes this fact on page 92 of the 350 page document, in a section on misdemeanor crimes -- alongside motor vehicle violations, substance abuse, and other crimes -- which collectively have been rising at the rate of more than 5,000 a year for the last five years. "Good order and discipline are on the decline," the report says.

Alternatively, one could say that after seven years of war in Iraq and nearly a decade in Afghanistan, American soldiers are increasingly unwilling to risk their lives for unpopular wars with an unclear path to victory.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - It only takes a few minutes cramped inside a heavily-armored vehicle, rumbling through this decrepit city where the Taliban was born, to understand what President Obama's troop surge is up against here.

"Did you see that?" a G.I. asked a buddy over the headsets inside a vehicle at the rear of the armored column one recent morning. "Yeah, he just threw a rock," his sergeant replied from the front passenger seat. The children of Kandahar don't greet U.S. and NATO trucks with flowers. They often hurl rocks in the crumbling mud-brick neighborhoods where the U.S. aims to crush the insurgency by year's end.

This ancient southern city is critical not only because the Taliban started here but also because it's where its post-9/11 insurgency took root. It also is near Quetta, in Pakistan's tribal zone, where the Taliban leadership runs the Afghan war and recruits many fighters from the region's madrassahs, or religious schools.

In what may be the first of it’s kind in the nation, a group of 9/11 Truth activists organized, designed and paid for a commercial billboard in which 1,200 Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth invite the public to “Examine the Evidence.”

The 24’ (w) x 12’ (h) billboard was installed sometime Thurs. afternoon, Aug. 5, 2010 on South Higuera, just south of Elks Lane in San Luis Obispo (near the Sutcliffe Cemetery). [ MAP: http://tinyurl.com/24jcasv ].

The activists who brought this matter to the people of San Luis Obispo County and the thousands that will drive by the billboard over the next 8 weeks realize that the evidence we are attempting to share is difficult to digest. Many simply cannot bear to question the official version of what happened on 9/11 because the implications are so difficult to face.

In order to understand the facts regarding the unprecedented total collapse of 3 modern, steel high rise buildings one has to free themselves from preconceived notions in the face of evidence backed by fact and the laws of physics.

The volumes of evidence include a peer reviewed paper published by an international team of scientists in which they describe discovering red chips of unignited thermited (an explosive incindiary) in all 4 samples of the World Trade Center dust that they tested. There has been no coverage of this paper in any of the mainstream press, including the so-called “Left” media. NIST (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) was tasked with explaining these 3 high rise failures and produced the reports that make the government’s case. But they have not responded to this paper and have remained silent on many other issues that the 9/11 Truth community has raised.

For more details about this highly charged issue, which has been the basis for 2 wars in the Middle East and much more, please visit: http://www.ae911truth.org/

A close relative of Dr David Kelly broke the family's silence yesterday to voice fears that he was murdered. Wendy Wearmouth said she found it 'incredibly unlikely' that he committed suicide and suggested he was assassinated. She said that committing suicide would have been 'totally against his whole way of being'. The 62-year-old spoke out as Dr Kelly's death was further shrouded in mystery - when one doctor claimed to have read the post-mortem report despite it having been kept classified after the weapons inspector's death. Miss Wearmouth is Dr Kelly's first cousin and the only member of his family to speak publicly since renewed speculation about the circumstances his death. She said:

'From the day I heard he'd died I had an instinct that there was something very unusual about it and I don't believe the official explanation. 'Looking back, was someone frightened that he was going to say more, that he had so much information? 'A man in his position would have been privy to a lot of things, and seen a lot of things, and I believe he was killed.'

Daily Mail: Dr Kelly: Just one in five believes it was suicide as official cause of death is branded 'impossible'.

UPDATE 8-10-2010: It would appear CoastWatch has removed the original image. Never fear, it's shown here on the right. Please see author's addendum at end of article. Global warming data apparently cooked by U.S. government-funded body shows astounding temperature fraud with increases averaging 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The tax-payer funded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has become mired in fresh global warming data scandal involving numbers for the Great Lakes region that substantially ramp up averages. A beleaguered federal agency appears to be implicated in the most blatant and extreme case of climate data fraud yet seen. Official records have been confirmed as evidence that a handful of temperature records for the Great Lakes region have been hiked up by literally hundreds of degrees to substantially inflate the average temperature range for the northeastern United States. The web pages at the center of this latest climate storm were created by NOAA in partnership with Michigan State University.