Unable to reach a deal with Congress, President Obama plans to use his power to exert executive actions against the will of lawmakers. The president will issue orders addressing controversial topics including cybersecurity. - Although President Obama has issued fewer executive orders than any president in over 100 years, he is making extensive plans to change that. Due to conflicts with a Congress that too often disagrees on proposed legislation, Obama plans to act alone and fully exercise his executive powers. Obama’s first executive order is expected to be issued this week when the president calls for the creation of new standards on what private-sector companies must do to protect their computer systems from a cybersecurity breach.

Pope Benedict XVI is to resign at the end of this month in an unexpected development, saying he is too old to continue at the age of 85. - He became Pope in 2005 following John Paul II's death. Resignations from the papacy are not unknown, but this is the first in the modern era, which has been marked by pontiffs dying while in office. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is quoted as saying he is "greatly shaken by this unexpected news". The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says the news has come "out of the blue", and that there was no speculation whatsoever about the move in recent days. The Vatican says it expects a new Pope to be elected before the end of March, ahead of Easter, the most important festival in the Christian calendar. The brother of the German-born Pope said the pontiff had been advised by his doctor not to take any more transatlantic trips and had been considering stepping down for months.

The Telegraph: Pope Benedict XVI resigns
Daily Mail: Pontiff, 85, is first in 600 years to stand down because he 'no longer has the strength to carry on'

Police plan to use spy drones in the hunt for a Rambo-style ex-soldier and policeman who has murdered three people and vowed to kill again. - They believe burly, heavily-armed Christopher Dorner is holed-up in the wilderness of California’s snow-capped San Bernardino mountains 80 miles east of Los Angeles. The burnt-out shell of his pick-up truck was discovered in the nearby resort of Big Bear, where residents and tourists have been warned to stay indoors as the search continues. Yesterday, as a task force of 125 officers, some riding Snowcats in the rugged terrain, continued their search, it was revealed that Dorner has become the first human target for remotely-controlled airborne drones on US soil. A senior police source said: “The thermal imaging cameras the drones use may be our only hope of finding him. On the ground, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Christopher Dorner’s Manifesto - From: Christopher Jordan Dorner /7648 - To: America Subj: Last resort. Regarding CF# 07-004281: I know most of you who personally know me are in disbelief to hear from media reports that I am suspected of committing such horrendous murders and have taken drastic and shocking actions in the last couple of days. You are saying to yourself that this is completely out of character of the man you knew who always wore a smile wherever he was seen. I know I will be villified by the LAPD and the media. Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name. The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days. It has gotten worse. The consent decree should never have been lifted. The only thing that has evolved from the consent decree is those officers involved in the Rampart scandal and Rodney King incidents have since promoted to supervisor, commanders, and command staff, and executive positions. The question is, what would you do to clear your name?

EFF: FAA Releases New Drone List—Is Your Town on the Map? - The Federal Aviation Administration has finally released a new drone authorization list. This list, released in response to EFF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, includes law enforcement agencies and universities across the country, and—for the first time—an Indian tribal agency. In all, the list includes more than 20 new entities over the FAA’s original list, bringing to 81 the total number of public entities that have applied for FAA drone authorizations through October 2012.

Eric Peters: The Running Man … For Real
Stanford/NYU Report: Living Under Drones
Glenn Greenwald: Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens
Susanne Posel: Drones, Media Propaganda & the Obama Administration Cover-Up
Susanne Posel: Leaked Document Outlines Legal Justification for Targeted Assassination of Americans

Philly.com has just recently published a follow up to an incredible story: Titled, "Girl's gene-therapy estimate gives Children's Hospital a shiner," the article describes a clinical trial in which gene therapy was used to treat 10 adults and 2 children suffering from cancer, most of whom have had their cancer go into remission, and the staggering bills the treatment incurred. Charities and insurance assisted at least one patient, while another, a 5 year old Croatian girl, was left with a $837,000 bill. Medical care is expensive. It requires the absolute cutting edge in technology, skilled doctors and technicians to utilize it in the care of patients, all within an economic paradigm where demand vastly outnumbers supply. What could be done to reduce the disparity between supply and demand?

Trillions for War: Soldiers fighting the fruitless decade long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan didn't need to buy their own weapons, procure their own transportation to the warzone, buy their own meals, and when they were injured, pay for their own medical treatment. Indeed, these fruitless wars built openly on categorically false premises, were subsidized by trillions of dollars from American tax payers despite the wars having no public support. Since these two fruitless wars sold upon a pack of lies, the United States has conducted combat operations in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Uganda, inside Pakistan, Mali, and covertly in Iran. Again, subsidized by trillions of tax payer dollars.

Russia says the fighters France is battling in northern Mali are some of the very same ones it helped arm in Libya. - "In Mali, France is fighting against those it armed in Libya against (Muammar) Gaddafi's regime in violation of the UN Security Council (arms) embargo," AFP quoted Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying in extracts of a television interview published by Russian news agencies on Sunday. In June 2011, Lavrov blasted France for violating a UN arms embargo on Libya by air-dropping weapons to fighters in Libya in order to help them fight against former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi' rule. The UN 1970 resolution, adopted in February 26, 2011, imposed a comprehensive arms embargo on Libya. France launched its war on Mali on January 11 under the pretext of halting the advance of fighters in the country. The war has left thousands of Malians homeless.

(File photo. Сирия. Всё продолжается/LiveJournal)

Syrian armed rebels killed over 50 pro-Assad civilians and injured many others, including women and children, in Reef (outskirts of) Aleppo, reports revealed on Monday. - More than 50 pro-government supporters, some of whom had taken part in protests against the terrorists, were killed by al-Nusra Front terrorists in Bustan al-Qasr town of Reef Aleppo on Sunday, an informed security sources told al-Ahd news website. The source said that the terrorists had recently committed a similar crime in the same area. The terrorists poured the bodies of the victims in Qoyeq River in a bid to destroy the evidence of the crimes they committed. In a similar crime yesterday, Syrian armed rebels killed more than 10 civilians and injured many others, including women and children, in a terrorist attack on a densely-populated area in the Capital Damascus on Saturday. Terrorists, in a suicide attack, exploded a car packed with explosives in the crowded Rokneddin district of Damascus, killed more than 10 terrorists and injured tens of others. The Katiba al-Esteshhadin, affiliated to al-Qaeda, had claimed responsibility for yesterday's terrorist attack. Terrorists have tried hard in the last few months to make Syrian cities unsafe, specially for citizens, but the army has purged them from most neighborhoods and districts, killed hundreds of them and arrested many more.

PressTV: Foreign-backed Syria opposition pledges allegiance to Israel - The leader of the foreign-backed Syrian opposition coalition, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, has pledged allegiance to the Israeli regime if he manages to form a “new regime in Syria.” In a recent interview with the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Khatib stated that Israel should not be worried about the Syrian government’s chemical weapons as his so-called Syrian National Coalition 'is working with other countries to prevent chemical munitions from falling to the hands of the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah.' This is while the Syrian government has taken measures to further secure its chemical arsenal and has warned that the militants may use such arms against the people.

Felicity Arbuthnot: SYRIA: CIA-MI6 Intel Ops and Sabotage - At a time of mounting media fabrications –when “objective truths are fading” and “lies are passing into history”– this analysis reveals the diabolical modus operandi of US-NATO terrorism and how covert intelligence ops are applied to trigger conditions which are conducive to the collapse of nation states. One of these “conditions” is the outright killing of innocent civilians as part of a cover operation and then blaming president Bashar Al Assad of having committed atrocities against his own people.

The Israeli defense ministry on Sunday confirmed it had given the green light for the construction of 346 new settler homes in two settlements in the southern West Bank, a statement said. - "The defense ministry has approved plans for 200 housing units in Tekoa and 146 housing units in Nokdim," the ministry said. Tekoa and Nokdim are two small isolated settlements deep in the southern West Bank which are located in the Gush Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem that Israel wants to keep hold of in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. Late last year, the defense ministry approved plans for another 523 settler homes in another part of Gush Etzion, in what was the first step towards a new settlement city in the area. The latest swathe of approvals came as a United Nations report called on Israel to immediately start withdrawing settlers from the Palestinian territories, saying the settlements caused the Palestinians' human rights to be "violated consistently and on a daily basis."

Al-Manar News: “Israel” Gives Green Light to 90 New Settler Homes in WB
PressTV: Israel announces plans for 90 more settler units in West Bank

In a letter to Judge Peter Thornton QC, they said there had been ”deficiencies in legal processes” which meant Dr Kelly’s inquest had never been formally closed, no final death certificate had been issued and no cause of death had been confirmed by a coroner. - They also said that the first police officer at the scene of Dr Kelly’s death had changed his account of how his body was positioned, bolstering claims that it had been moved. Dr Kelly’s body was found near his Oxfordshire home in 2003 shortly after he was identified as the source of a BBC report about the Government’s dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The doctors, led by radiologist Stephen Frost, have long campaigned for a full inquiry into how Dr Kelly died. They argue that the Hutton Inquiry, which effectively superseded the work of the Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner, was inadequate. They say that Lord Hutton merely accepted the opinion of the pathologist without proper investigation and lacking the experience, qualification or legal authority to confirm the cause of death. They wrote:

''Any reasonable person would accept that the lack of adequate inquiry into the cause of death and the production of the new, uninvestigated evidence relating to the suicide conclusion provides overwhelming and exceptional reasons for this inquest to be resumed, the cause of death properly investigated, any new evidence admitted, the cause of death properly certified and the proceedings formally closed.''

In the letter, which has been copied to the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Chancellor and the Oxfordshire Coroner, they call for the inquest to be resumed with witnesses giving evidence under oath, in front of a jury.

Julian Assange addressed US officials on a popular TV channel, urging them to disclose to WikiLeaks the secret instructions on how decisions on eliminating American citizens using drones are being taken. Source confidentiality guaranteed. - In the first appearance in a long time by Julian Assange on a major American TV channel, the founder of WikiLeaks lashed out at the re-elected President Barack Obama and his administration, which gave the go-ahead to elimination of the American citizens abroad using military Unmanned Automatic Vehicles (UAVs). An unclassified document from the US Justice Department, revealed by NBC News this week, exposed that US authorities consider the elimination of senior Al-Qaeda members lawful and ethical, even if they are American citizens and plotting no crime. The Obama administration promised to provide American lawmakers with access to classified documents giving the legal basis for such drone strikes.

It looks as if Representative Alcee Hastings a Democrat from Florida has decided to reintroduce his FEMA Camp bill. A few years ago I was the first person to write an article about this awful piece of legislation. Fortunately, I was successful in exposing it to a much larger group of people via the alternative media and the bill did not move forward in the legislative process. The latest iteration of this bill has been introduced as House Resolution 390 otherwise known as the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act. This bill would authorize not fewer than 6 military installations as sites for the establishment of national emergency centers to be run by FEMA under the command of the Secretary of Homeland Security.