A deadly strain of bird flu with the potential to infect and kill millions of people has been created in a laboratory by European scientists – who now want to publish full details of how they did it. - The discovery has prompted fears within the US Government that the knowledge will fall into the hands of terrorists wanting to use it as a bio-weapon of mass destruction. Some scientists are questioning whether the research should ever have been undertaken in a university laboratory, instead of at a military facility. The US Government is now taking advice on whether the information is too dangerous to be published.

[Source] A day after visiting Iraq, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke to reporters in Turkey on Saturday and said this, according to the DoD’s own site:

"There is no question that the United States was divided going into that war," he said. "But I think the United States is united coming out of that war. We all recognize the tremendous price that has been paid in lives, in blood. And yet I think we also recognize that those lives were not lost in vain..."As difficult as [the Iraq war] was," and the cost in both American and Iraqi lives, "I think the price has been worth it, to establish a stable government in a very important region of the world," he added.

Panetta’s statement is highly reminiscent of the 1996 2001 incident in which Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked by Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes about the sanctions regime imposed on Iraq: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" Albright replied: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it." They’re similar not just because the words are virtually identical, though they are, but also because they spring from the same rotted imperial mentality.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Barack Obama's sharp criticisms of Venezuela's human rights record and its ties to Iran are heightening tensions with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who on Monday responded by calling Obama a "clown" and telling him to mind his own business. - Obama appeared to stiffen his stance toward Chavez in his remarks, which were published Monday by the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. Some of Obama's Republican opponents have also been strongly critical of Chavez, and analysts expect the Venezuelan president could become a popular target of criticism as American politicians feud over foreign policy ahead of next year's U.S. presidential election.

We voted for Obama because we wanted change. We voted for Obama because he promised to end Bush’s perpetual wars, clean up the mess which Bush’s financial tzars made, and restore the freedom and liberty which Bush attacked.

EU finance ministers wanted to raise 200 billion euros to boost the International Monetary Fund's firepower in the euro crisis, but they only raised 150 billion on Monday, largely due to resistance from Britain. Germany, meanwhile, will have to rework its 2012 budget to help finance the new permanent euro rescue fund. - European Union leaders had decided at their Dec. 8-9 summit to boost the resources of the International Monetary Fund by €200 billion ($260 billion) to help it tackle the euro debt crisis. But in talks on Monday, EU finance ministers only managed to raise €150 billion because the United Kingdom refused, at least for the time being, to contribute its share of around €25 billion. Following a conference call, the ministers said in a statement that the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland and Sweden, which are in the EU but not in the euro zone, would also grant loans to the International Monetary Fund to help rescue the currency. But the EU said those countries must first win parliamentary approval. Reuters cited British Treasury sources as saying that Britain had decided not to contribute to the increase. The EU statement was more diplomatic, saying London would decide on the issue early in 2012 in the framework of the Group of 20 economies.

Der Spiegel: 'The Euro-Zone Bailout Programs Must Be Stopped'

The online freedom bill proposed in the US seeks to regulate the web activities of foreign countries and businesses by imposing its own unilateral standards, says Russia’s Foreign Ministry. Moscow insists the UN is the place to pass global laws. - The projected Global Online Freedom Act states that the US State Department will have to review annually the list of countries “restricting Internet freedom.” The bill would ultimately block the export of American software and hardware to the counties on the blacklist. A license would be required to export products when the end-user was a government. “It seems as if some members of the American establishment are taking a confrontational mentality and surviving schemes of the Cold War to web technologies. The US is again trying to take the role of the supreme regulator and ‘the ruler of destinies,’” says Aleksandr Lukashevich in an official comment on the of Russian Foreign Ministry website. Russia is calling for an international discussion on online freedom of speech, without “taking unilateral actions, but cooperating to work out a unified document under UN sponsorship,” said the Russian diplomat on Monday.

The body of North Korea’s leader is lying in state in an open glass coffin so that mourners can pay their last respects. His personal armored railway wagon and official Mercedes are on display nearby.

The commemorative events are taking place in Kumsusan Memorial Palace (also called Kim Il-sung Mausoleum) in downtown Pyongyang.

According to official sources, Kim Jong-il died on the morning of December 17 of fatigue and overwork. Reportedly he had been battling heart disease since allegedly suffering a stroke in 2008.

The coffin of the man who guided his country for 17 years now stands on a pedestal completely covered with red and while natural flowers, apparently carnations and chrysanthemums. The body is dressed in Kim Jong-il’s familiar khaki suit, his head resting on a white pillow. The funeral has been scheduled for December 29. There have been no reports as to whether Kim Jong-il will find rest next to his father Kim Il-sung or be buried somewhere else.

On Tuesday, the youngest son and successor of the deceased leader – Kim Jung-un – paid his last respects to his father while being accompanied by the country’s top civil and military officials. So far, access to the body has only been granted to North Korea’s top party officials and military officers, heads of diplomatic missions and foreign military attachés.

PressTV: N Koreans pay tribute to Kim Jong-il

■ So, who’s in charge?
■ What are the immediate concerns about Jong-un?
■ Can we expect major changes in the near future?
■ What happens to the nukes?
■ What role does China play?
■ How about the U.S.?
■ What does Kim's death do for reunification prospects with the South?

Peter Symonds: The death of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il - The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, formally announced yesterday, has produced a mind-numbing deluge of articles in the international press presenting the regime in Pyongyang as irrational and crazed—a dangerous threat to stability in North East Asia, requiring the US and its allies to put their militaries on alert. [...] Far from North Korea being the source of instability and tension in North East Asia, the main danger comes from the aggressive policies of the Obama administration as it seeks to wield its military might to retain the dominant position of US imperialism.

Russia carried out a successful test of a short-range interceptor missile on Tuesday as a part of its effort to develop a domestic missile defense shield, the Defense Ministry said. - The missile was launched from the Sary-Shagan (Kazakhstan) shooting range, the Ministry’s spokesperson said. The goal of the test was to confirm the technical characteristics of the missile used by the Defense Ministry’s Space Command. Russia's Defense Ministry uploaded a video of the missile's launch on its web site. The test comes a month after the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that if Moscow's participation in the European missile defense project fails, Russia would deploy Iskander tactical missiles in the Kaliningrad Region and halt its disarmament and arms control efforts, including participation in the new strategic arms reduction treaty with the United States.

Hundreds of Egyptian soldiers in riot gear swept through Cairo's Tahrir Square early Dec. 19 and opened fire on protesters demanding an immediate end to military rule. - An injured boy receives help from protesters during clashes with riot police near cabinet offices near Tahrir Square in Cairo December 18, 2011. Protesters and security forces fought in Cairo on Sunday, the third day of clashes that have killed 10 people and exposed rifts over the army's role as it manages Egypt's promised transition from military to civilian rule.

Kayhan: Mubarak Remnants Unleash Reign of Terror

Kazakhstan's hardline president has switched off part of mobile and internet to try and stop an Arab Spring style uprising. - President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been in charge for 20 years, imposed a three-week state of emergency in an oil town where 10 people were killed in a clash between cops and demonstrators. Authorities insist that order had been restored in Zhanaozen, a city of 90,000 in Kazakhstan's far southwest. But part of the crackdown involved switching off all mobile phones and internet connections in Zhanaozen to prevent protestors organising themselves. It is exactly the same scenario advocated by "Dear Leader" David Cameron as a way of stopping riots in the Glorious Nation of England. Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry claim that the clashes are being carried out by a small group of provocateurs allegedly set on disrupting a public celebration marking the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence. Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the U.S. Erlan Idrissov told Reuters that these were people determined to attack peaceful celebrants as a way to gain maximum attention and to create as much destruction as possible.

Pravda: Kazakhstan next for US color revolution
Aleksandr Shustov: Clashes in Kazakhstan: Inspired by the Arab Spring?