[Video] Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a longtime advocate for reform of the Federal Reserve, is sharply criticizing the Federal Reserve today after Bloomberg news reported that the Federal Reserve secretly committed nearly $8 trillion in support to American and international financial institutions during the 2008 bailout. Kucinich recorded a video for his website before going to the floor of the House of Representatives to call upon Congress to reclaim its Constitution primacy over monetary policy.

A virus with the potential to kill up to half the world’s population has been made in a lab. Now academics and bioterrorism experts are arguing over whether to publish the recipe, and whether the research should have been done in the first place. - The virus is an H5N1 bird flu strain which was genetically altered to become much more contagious. It was created by Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who first presented his work to the public at an influenza conference in Malta in September. Fouchier said the strain circulates in animals, particularly birds, but rarely affects humans.

PARIS (Reuters) - Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's could change its outlook on France's triple-A credit rating to negative within the next 10 days, a French newspaper reported on Monday, citing sources, the latest signal that France's top-tier status is at risk. - An S&P spokesperson in Paris said the agency did not comment on rumors. A spokesman in Melbourne earlier also declined to comment on the report, which if true would signal a heightened risk of a downgrade in the weeks ahead. "It could happen within a week, perhaps 10 days," La Tribune quoted a diplomatic source as saying of a change to the outlook. The economic and financial daily said S&P -- which cut Belgium's credit rating to double-A from double-A-plus on Friday -- had planned to make its announcement on France the same day but postponed it for unknown reasons. The euro briefly dipped on the report, which coincided with news that credit rating agency Moody's could downgrade the subordinated debt of a swathe of euro zone banks.

Ellen Brown: The E.C.B. Fiddles While Rome Burns
Der Spiegel: The High Price of Abandoning the Euro

The US government continues exporting tons of tear gas to Egypt, which is being used by the military junta to crack down on protesters across the North African country.

Egyptian news sites published documents on Tuesday showing that seven and a half tons of tear gas have already arrived in Suez. The US tear gas exports have created a rift among Egyptian officials, as some port officials have refused to sign and accept the shipments out of concern that the tear gas would be used against peaceful Egyptian protesters. The new documents show that the cargo, which has arrived in 479 barrels, was to be delivered to the Egyptian Interior Ministry. They also show that a second shipment of 14 tons of US tear gas is scheduled to arrive in the country soon, bringing the total to 21 tons in a single week. Last week, thousands of tear gas canisters were fired at Egyptian protesters in downtown Cairo as the Egyptian military staged a massive crackdown on demonstrators demanding that the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) hand over power to a civilian government.

Bikya Masr: Egypt imports 21 tons of tear gas from the US, port staff refuses to sign for it

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a media summit that the US government has ordered him to destroy all the material WikiLeaks holds on them – published and unpublished - and to stop using government insiders to gather fresh material. - “[When we released our documents] the Pentagon said we must destroy everything we published and were going to publish,” Assange said. ”And if we didn’t, we would be ‘compelled to do so,’” the summit’s website says. Assange made the allegation as he addressed the News 2011 Summit in Hong Kong via Skype. News executives and media owners from over 80 countries have gathered there to discuss editorial principles and tools as well as business models for the news media. Reports say Assange has been under police pressure to stop talking – exactly the kind of oppressive official action he has been working to highlight. He was met with a storm of applause from journalists as he appeared on the screen. Speaking about modern journalism, Assange claimed it was facing crisis of a legitimacy today and accused the mainstream press of corruption and bias.

Defying the Obama administration’s threat of a veto, the Senate on Tuesday voted to increase the role of the military in imprisoning suspected members of Al Qaeda and its allies — including people arrested inside the United States. - By a vote of 61 to 37, the Senate turned back an effort to strip a major military bill of a set of disputed provisions affecting the handling of terrorism cases. While the legislation still has several steps to go, the vote makes it likely that Congress will eventually send to President Obama’s desk a bill that contains detainee-related provisions his national-security team has said are unacceptable. The most disputed provision would require the government to place into military custody any suspected member of Al Qaeda or one of its allies connected to a plot against the United States or its allies. The provision would exempt American citizens, but would otherwise extend to arrests on United States soil. The executive branch could issue a waiver and keep such a prisoner in the civilian system. A related provision would create a federal statute saying the government has the legal authority to keep people suspected of terrorism in military custody, indefinitely and without trial. It contains no exception for American citizens.

Stephen Lendman: Indefinite Domestic Military Detentions
Russia Today: Drones cleared for domestic use across the US

Have you ever been so poor that you had to live in your car? Have you ever been so low on funds that the only place you could afford to live was a rat-infested motel? Have you ever spent a night living in a tent city or sleeping in the streets? If not, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. As the recent Black Friday madness demonstrated, there are still lots of Americans that are doing well enough to go on wild shopping sprees, but the reality is that there are also millions of American families that are falling through the "safety net" to a place of total desperation. In a previous article I talked about the fact that the U.S. Census Bureau recently announced that a higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty than has ever been measured before. Not only that, 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty last year. That was also a new all-time record. As you read this, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one our of every four U.S. children is on food stamps. Tens of millions of American families are living on the edge of desperation. In many communities across the United States, there is so much despair in the air that it is almost tangible. When you look into the eyes of many Americans these days, it almost seems as if all the hope has been sucked right out of their hearts. Economic despair is at epidemic levels, and unfortunately the economy is about to get a whole lot worse.

UN Syria Report Co-Authored by Director of US Corporate Think-Tank - Blatant lies told by alleged "human rights activists" led to ignominious NATO-sanctioned brutality and ultimately brought BP, Shell, Total-sponsored Petroleum Institute representative, Abdurrahim el-Keib, into power in Libya. Now, these same corporate-financier interests, through their same networks of propaganda, duplicity and deception, are laying the ground work for a repeat performance in Syria. It was just recently revealed that the UN Human Rights Council report regarding Syrian "crimes against humanity" was actually co-authored by Karen Koning AbuZayd, a director of the US Washington-based corporate think-tank, Middle East Policy Council, that includes Exxon men, CIA agents, US military and government representatives, and even the president of the US-Qatar Business Council, which includes amongst its membership, AlJazeera, Chevron, Exxon, munitions manufacturer Raytheon (who supplied the opening salvos during NATO's operations against Libya), and Boeing. The conflict of interest is so monumental it is only outdone by the corporate media's eager acceptance of the report and their complete negligence in airing the compromised backgrounds of those responsible for compiling it.

Russia Today: George Orwell’s guide to the news - The Seven Step Mainstream Media Country Destruction Guide

1. First, they start by targeting a country ripe for “Regime Change”, and brand it a “rogue state”; then…
2. They arm, train, finance local terrorist groups through CIA, MI6, Mossad, Al-Qaeda (a CIA operation), drug cartels (often CIA operations) and call them “freedom fighters”; then…
3. As mock UN Security Council Resolutions are staged that rain death and destruction upon millions of civilians, they call it “UN sanctions to protect civilians”; then…
4. They spread flagrant lies through their “newsrooms” and paid journalists, and call it "the international community’s concerns expressed by prestigious spokespeople and analysts…” then…
5. They bomb, invade and begin to control the target country and call it “liberation”; then…
6. As the target country falls fully under their control, they impose “the kind of democracy that we want to see” (as Hillary Clinton before visiting Egypt and Tunisia on March 10, 2011), until finally…
7. They steal appetizing oil, mineral and agricultural reserves handing them over to Global Power Elite corporations, and impose unnecessary private banking debt and call it “foreign investment and reconstruction.”

Their keynotes are: Force and Hypocrisy, which they have used time and again to destroy entire countries, always in the name of “freedom”, “democracy”, “peace” and “human rights”. Utmost force and violence is used to achieve their ends and goals.

Wayne Madsen: The Obama Doctrine: Imperialism masked as humanitarian interventionism
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya: SYRIA: The Orwellian "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) used to Justify "Regime Change" and All Out War

Helicopters of the NATO-led international forces killed three women and injured two men in southern Afghanistan, local authorities said Tuesday. - The International Security Assistance Force fired rockets into civilian houses in Zhari district of volatile Kandahar province on Monday, said Zalmai Ayoubi, the provincial governor's spokesman. Witnesses said that the helicopters fired four rockets. A spokesman for the international military did not confirm the attack, but Ayoubi said the alliance had acknowledged the incident. Last week, an NATO airstrike in same district killed nine civilians, most of them children.

FAIR: Dead Afghan Kids Still Not Newsworthy

Open letter to US authorities raises human rights fears and urges access for UN special rapporteur on torture to [alleged] whistleblower. - More than 50 members of the European parliament have signed an open letter to the US government raising concerns about the treatment of Bradley Manning, the US soldier in military detention for allegedly leaking classified US documents to the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks. The call on the US government comes before a pre-trial hearing – Manning's first appearance in court – which begins on 16 December. The MEPs said internal investigations into Manning's treatment in custody, which included solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day, inspections by officers every five minutes from 5am onwards and removal of his clothes, had been marred by "clear conflicts of interest". They call for US authorities to grant Juan Méndez, the UN special rapporteur on torture, access to Manning. Mendez has made repeated requests for access to the military base where Manning is held, all of which have been refused by US authorities.

The UK Foreign Office has cited “International law” in its reaction to the British embassy in Tehran's incident, while it has failed to protect the Iranian embassy in London several times before. - “Under the international law, including the Vienna Convention, the Iranian government have a clear duty to protect diplomats and embassies in their country and expect them to act urgently to bring the situation under control and ensure the safety of our staff and security of our property”, said a Foreign Office spokesperson. The statement was made after a group of Iranian students outraged by the UK government's enmities towards the Islamic Republic of Iran stormed the British embassy in Tehran in a show of anger at British policies. Iranian foreign ministry rejected the move by a number of protestors as “unacceptable” and a source of “regret” and reiterated the Iranian government's commitment to protect the diplomatic missions under the Vienna convention. That came despite repeated failures of the British government in the past to stay committed to the same convention when Iranian missions in Britain were attacked.

Reuters: UK expels Iran diplomats after embassy attack
BBC: Iran and UK - centuries of mistrust
New York Times: Britain Downgrades Diplomatic Ties With Iran

“Refugee camps in Israel gave birth to thriving towns and cities. Refugee camps in Arab Countries gave birth to more Palestinian refugees.” One two part question, even unanswered gives the reason why… WHO ‘gave birth’ to the Palestinian refugees in the first place, and WHO has refused to let them return to their land and homes, forcing them to remain in Refugee camps??? When Israeli officials speak, they present lie after lie. Palestinian officials have no opportunity to counter those lies as they are not recognised as a member State YET.

The Norwegian public, politicians and experts alike are expressing surprise at the verdict of insanity delivered by the forensic psychiatrists assessing Anders Behring Breivik. - Many psychiatrists were quoted by the news media ahead of Tuesday's announcement as saying that he was likely to be deemed sane. In the event, the two court-appointed psychiatrists, Torgeir Husby and Synne Sørheim, concluded that Breivik had "developed the mental disorder of paranoid schizophrenia". Breivik himself has said he found the verdict insulting and that although he had feared it, he had not expected this outcome. The Norwegian media's general use of the term schizophrenic also fails to match their portrayal of Breivik. This makes it hard for people to understand how the verdict was reached, triggering concerns that he is "getting away lightly". The media have given minute descriptions of how Breivik spent years planning his attacks. His ability to do so makes it difficult for many people to accept that he cannot be held to account for them.

The Telegraph: Anders Behring Breivik was insane five years ago, mother says
AWIP: Anders Behring Breivik 'not accountable for attacks'

The United States has used tactical nuclear weapons in its military campaign against Iraq and Afghanistan, a Middle East expert tells Press TV. - “Tactical nuclear weapons were used, at least one in Iraq and several were used in Afghanistan --in the Tora Bora mountains,” Peter Eyre, a Middle East consultant, said. Eyre pointed out that the atomic bomb dropped on Afghanistan's Tora Bora region was so powerful that it actually created an earthquake there. The analyst went on to say that the use of such lethal weapons by US military, which is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention, has been sanctioned by the US presidents; thus they should be prosecuted for war crimes. "In America, the ultimate commander in chief is the president," Eyre said, adding that the President has the final say in using such weapons. The US is the first country in the world to develop nuclear weapons and the only one to use them.

Iranian protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran on Tuesday, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest against new sanctions imposed by London. - Britain said it was outraged and warned of "serious consequences." The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms." President Barack Obama said he was disturbed by the incident and called on Iran to hold those responsible to task. The attacks come at a time of rising diplomatic tension between Iran and Western nations who last week imposed fresh sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program, which they [say they] believe is aimed at achieving the capability of making an atomic bomb. Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, says it only wants nuclear plants to generate electricity.

PressTV: Iran regrets some protesters' actions
Fars News Agency: Police Arrest 12 Protesters at British Embassy's 2nd Compound
Fars News Agency: Final Statement: Students Vow to Continue Protests Until Full Cut of Ties with Britain

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has in its latest economic forecast warned the European Union of a devastating recession in 2012, Press TV reports. - “Situation in the euro area is rapidly deteriorating and contagious[ly] spreading. Policy continues to be behind the curve. Not only in the euro area, [but] also in the United States,” said Pier Carlo Padoan, a chief economist for the OECD. The Monday report also predicted that the entire eurozone will contract by 0.4 percent in the first three months of 2012. While it expects the eurozone to barely grow by 0.2 percent in 2012, Greece and Portugal are not expected to witness any growth until 2013. France and Germany are expected to fall into recession by the fourth quarter in 2012.

Stephen Lendman: Spreading Eurozone Contagion
Mike Adams: Financial red alert: Europe stands on verge of 'apocalyptic' debt crisis with only days remaining

America is opening up a new warfront and it’s in your own backyard. It’s in your neighbor’s house, it’s three states over and it’s on the other side of the Mississippi. - That’s what a new legislation could lead to and the consequences are dire and constitutionally damning. The United States Senate is set to vote this week on a bill that would categorize the entire USA as a “battlefield,” allowing law enforcement duties to be dished out by the American Military, who in turn could detain any US citizen as a war criminal — even coming into their own homes to issue arrests. The National Defense Authorization Act regularly comes before Congress for changes and additions, but the latest provision, S. 1867, proves to be the most powerful one yet in raping constitutional freedoms from Americans. Move over, Patriot Act. Should S. 1867 pass, lawmakers could conjure the text to keep even regular citizens detained indefinitely by their own military. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a supporter of the bill, has explicitly stated that the passing of S. 1867 would “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield” and could lead to the detention of citizens without charge or trial, writes Chris Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington office.

Stephen Lendman: Indefinite Domestic Military Detentions
John Glaser: Defense Bill Would Allow Military to Indefinitely Detain Americans
AWIP: Tucson SWAT Shot U.S. Marine Over 60 Times in Front of Family
Paul Joseph Watson: Rand Paul Aims to Kill “Indefinite Detention” Provision of Controversial Bill
The American Dream: 30 Signs That The United States Of America Is Being Turned Into A Giant Prison

Psychiatrists have found that Anders Behring Breivik was insane at the time of the crime. - The finding by the two forensic psychiatrists will help determine whether Breivik is sentenced to prison or psychiatric care. Prosecutor Svein Holden says the report shows Breivik was "psychotic" during the attack. If that assessment is upheld by the court then Breivik cannot be sentenced to prison for the attacks. "The conclusion is ... is that he is insane," Holden told a news conference. "He lives in his own delusional universe and his thoughts and acts are governed by this universe." The two psychiatrists, Synne Sørheim and Torgeir Husby, delivered their finding to the Oslo district court on Tuesday morning. "We have no doubt when it comes to our conclusions," Husby told reporters as he submitted the report. Breivik has admitted setting off a car bomb outside the government offices in Oslo on July 22, killing eight people, before going on a shooting rampage on the nearby island of Utoya where the ruling Labour Party's youth wing was hosting a summer camp. The court will ultimately determine whether Breivik can be held accountable for his actions, but it is common practice in Norway for courts to follow expert recommendations.

ABC Nyheter: Dette er Breivik-rapporten - Video
VG: Rettspsykiaterne beskriver bisarre vrangforestillinger hos Breivik - Video
Aftenposten: Derfor mener de Behring Breivik ikke kan straffes
Dagbladet: Her er konklusjonen på Breiviks psyke - Video
Evelyn Hecht-Galinski: Broder und sein mörderischer Fan: Dieser Norweger hat offenbar einiges von unserem "Beutedeutschen" gelernt

USA Today: Psychiatric evaluation finds Norway killer insane
Russia Today: 'Criminally insane': No trial for Norway mass killer Breivik

Justin Raimondo: Anders Behring Breivik, Mystery Man
Prableen Kaur: Helvete på Utøya / Hell on Utøya Island
AWIP: West media hide Breivik Zionist links - Video
AWIP: Breaking: Name Of Utøya Shooter Released… Anders Behring Breivik - Photos

According to Bradley Manning’s lawyer David E. Coombs, the US government is deliberately withholding evidence that the defense has requested during discovery, including evidence that could be favorable to Manning’s case. - According to Coombs, this includes internal government reports which contradict one another about the leaks and reports which were never released but publicly downplayed the “damage” done by the leaks Manning is accused of. The later could be used to prevent the government’s witnesses from claiming the damage was broader than the official reports indicate.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange blasted the mainstream media, Washington, banks and the Internet itself as he addressed journalists in Hong Kong on Monday via videolink from house arrest in England. Fresh from accepting a top award for journalism from the prestigious Walkley Foundation in his native Australia on Sunday, Assange spoke to the News World Summit in Hong Kong before keeping a regular appointment with the police. He defended his right to call himself a journalist and said WikiLeaks' next "battle" would be to ensure that the Internet does not turn into a vast surveillance tool for governments and corporations. "Of course I'm a goddamn journalist," he responded with affected frustration when a moderator of the conference asked if he was a member of the profession. He said his written record spoke for itself and argued that the only reason people kept asking him if he was a journalist was because the United States' government wanted to silence him.

Two weeks after a powerful explosion at a military installation near Tehran claiming the lives of 17 people, a Washington-based think tank has released satellite images showing extensive damage to the site, likely to have been caused by the blast.

The Institute for Science and International Security, (ISIS) a research group, which specializes in studies of nuclear weapons and related technology, has posted two commercial satellite images of the Iranian military compound on its website.

One was taken approximately two months before the November 12th explosion. The other was taken 10 days after the blast and shows that some of the buildings appear to have been destroyed and some debris could be seen strewn about on the ground.

Paul Brannan, a Senior Research analyst for the ISIS however suggests that some of the destruction seen in the image may have also resulted “from subsequent controlled demolition of buildings and removal of debris.” But he concludes that most of the damage seen in the later image “likely resulted from the explosion.” He explains it by a lack of “heavy equipment such as cranes or dump trucks on the site, and a considerable amount of debris still present.”

“About the same number of trucks are visible in the image after the blast as in an image from approximately two months prior to the blast,” he claims.

Questions continue to grow over the Friday night US attack on a Pakistani military base today, with new reports coming out of Pakistan saying that the air attacks against the base lasted for almost two hours. - The Army statement says that the base repeatedly broadcast calls for a ceasefire over the course of the two hours and that those calls were repeatedly ignored, with the attack, carried out by warplanes and helicopters, killing 24 soldiers. Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani Army’s chief spokesman, termed the attack a “deliberate aggression” by NATO and angrily rejected the new claims that the Pakistani army had started it. “There was no fire from this direction,” Abbas insisted, challenging the claims on the basis that there were zero claims of any casualties on NATO’s side and no evidence that the people at the base, who were sleeping at the time, did anything to provoke the strikes.

Alex Lantier: Outrage spreads in Pakistan over NATO bombings

A U.N. report on Monday detailed lack of due process, torture, and other ill treatment for thousands of mostly black Africans.

Former Libyan fighters are still holding about 7,000 people without charge or trial, some of whom have been subjected to torture and ill treatment, according to a U.N. report Monday. The report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was made public before a Security Council briefing on Libya and says that inmates are not being afforded rights to due process as the country still does not have a functioning judicial system. A large share of those detained are black African migrants, rounded up in the summer and early fall by Libyan fighters accusing them of being mercenaries for former ruler Muammar Gadhafi. Reports came out at the time of beatings, mass arrests, torture, and massive makeshift jails.

Russia has turned on a new incoming missile early warning system in its westernmost region in response to US plans for a missile shield in Europe. - President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the system to be activated on a visit to the radar unit in Kaliningrad, a Baltic region bordering EU countries. The unit is equipped with the new Voronezh-DM radar system. Mr Medvedev has warned Russian missiles could be deployed on the EU's borders if the shield is installed. Washington wants an anti-missile shield ready by 2020, arguing that it is necessary to provide protection from the potential missile threat posed by countries like Iran. Under President George W Bush, the US had initially intended to locate major parts of the shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, but Russia objected vigorously.

Russia Today: Russia launches new missile defense to cover Atlantic

Russia has threatened to block NATO's supply routes to Afghanistan, should the Western military alliance continue to disregard Moscow's concerns about the US-led defense shield for Europe, a report says. - Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitri Rogozin warned that Moscow will review its cooperation with the Western military alliance on Afghanistan if the NATO fails to address Russia's objections, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Earlier on Thursday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that direct actions will be taken if his country's concerns are not addressed. Medvedev envisioned possible missile attacks on Poland, Romania, Spain, and Turkey as a means to disable the counter-missile batteries, if the United States fails to acknowledge the concerns of the Russian defense officials. He also warned that the country will deploy nuclear weapons to European borders in response to the move.