Backyard astronomers can float through the cosmos, navigating 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies, with Google’s latest online venture.
The internet giant this week unveiled Sky, part of its popular Google Earth program, which allows users to view the night sky above and zoom in on faraway constellations and planets.
The high-resolution images have been provided [...]

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An eagerly awaited public rally was to take place in Brussels – the capital of the European Union – on September 11 of this year. Called ‘Against Islamisation of Europe,’ its intent was to protest the spreading of Islamic sharia law across the European continent and honor by a minute of silence the victims of [...]

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Who will take the lead to confront Saudi discrimination, arrogance, and repression?
Saudi Arabian Airlines (known as Saudia) declares on its English-language website that the kingdom bans “Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David.” Until the Saudi government changes this detestable policy, its airline should be disallowed from flying [...]

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With the world population growth outpacing food supply, say goodbye to the era of unlimited improvement.
The great demographer and economist Thomas Malthus was 23 years old the last time a British summer was this rain-soaked, which was in 1789. The consequences of excessive rainfall in the late 18th century were predictable. Crops would fail, the [...]

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Taiwan’s cabinet agreed Wednesday to hike military spending by nearly 15 percent in next year’s budget in an apparent signal of its resolve against rival China.
Under a draft budget, which has to be confirmed by parliament, the defence ministry is setting aside 345.9 billion Taiwan dollars (10.5 billion US), up 44.6 billion Taiwan dollars, the [...]

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Nato vessels are closely monitoring the sea trials of Russia’s latest submarine, following Moscow’s increasingly provocative tests of Western airspace.
In the latest twist to worsening East-West relations, Nato submarines and surface ships, which may include Royal Navy vessels, are trying to gather information on the new Amur class boat being tested in the Baltic.
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Last week’s announcement regarding regular, long-range bomber missions is just the latest in a series of threatening stances by the Kremlin that take us back to the era of the 1980s. Remember Putin’s statement in February 2004 during military exercises, where he claimed that Russia had developed a “miracle missile” that could overcome any anti-missile [...]

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To my mind, oil and gas reserves are a curse, not only for the people who don’t have them, but more for the people who do. This is not for any magic in fossil fuels themselves, but because such reserves confer huge unearned wealth on those who own them by the luck of geology.
And unearned [...]

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The U.N. Charter guarantees the right of all states to membership. Why, then, does the United Nations exclude a nation, Taiwan, that satisfies all of the criteria of statehood defined in the 1933 Montevideo Convention and is more populous than 80 percent of U.N. member states?
A founding principle of the United Nations is the promotion [...]

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“China professes to be advocating a peaceful rise,” said Admiral Timothy J Keating, head of the US Pacific Command, during his first official trip to Cambodia, where he met with senior defence officials.
“Some of the systems they’re developing and some of the capabilities that they’re demonstrating would indicate to us that perhaps their intentions aren’t [...]

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Britain announced in December 2006 that it had reduced the number of “operationally available warheads” from fewer than 200 to “less than 160.”
China is estimated to have approximately 150 operational nuclear weapons and a total stockpile of roughly 200 warheads. Only about 100 of these may actually be deployed with the delivery systems, although few [...]

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In what looks like a bid to reassert its military power, Russia has staged a big defence show - the likes of which have not been seen since Soviet times.
The show follows the resumption of long range patrols by Russian strategic bombers.
But military experts in Russia believe these latest manoeuvres are more style than substance.
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A FEW weeks ago US President George W. Bush issued an unusual request to the Australian Government.
He wanted to see the Australian ambassador to Iran, Greg Moriarty. The Americans don’t have an ambassador in Tehran and it is no news to anybody that the Australian and British ambassadors brief their US colleagues on goings-on there. [...]

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CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN, Colo. (Reuters) - The U.S. military will move its secure command center from deep inside Cheyenne Mountain even as Russia revives military maneuvers that led America to burrow under the rock almost 50 years ago.
The move will shift more than 100 people responsible for detecting attacks on North America from a facility that [...]

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The Seattle FBI office is requesting assistance identifying two young Arab appearing men.  These men have been seen aboard Washington State Ferries exhibiting suspisious behavior.  If you have any leads on these men, or know where they are, call 206-622-0460 or use https://tips.fbi.gov/ .
Photos of them are on this website:
http://sea.bonnint.net/ferry.doc

WANTED FOR QUESTIONING
They do not look like happy tourists, more [...]

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RUSSIA’s naval chief recently said his fleet would get six new aircraft carriers with nuclear propulsion in the next 20 years as part of a major expansion and modernisation of Russian maritime power. Admiral Vladimir Masorin added that three of these carriers and their naval escorts would be assigned to Russia’s Pacific fleet while the [...]

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Last month, after two years of wrangling, India and the U.S. finalized the details of an agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation that seemed to be worth the wait. Under the accord, India will be allowed to trade with all legitimate nuclear states for the nuclear fuel and technology the energy-starved nation desperately needs to keep [...]

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Preparing for a possible American or Israeli strike on its nuclear installations, Iran has developed a remote-controlled launch system that can be used to operate dozens of unmanned Shihab ballistic missile launchers in underground bunkers.
After recent upgrades, the Shihab-3 ballistic missiles are believed to have a target range of 2,000-kilometers. The missile was initially developed [...]

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Military satellites are getting priced out of the market by cheaper manned aircraft and UAV alternatives. Even small, quickly launched micro-satellites, cost ten times more, per hour over the battlefield, than do alternatives. These now include things like weather balloons carrying satellite grade communications or sensors.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has plans to turn Russia into a major player in the aviation industry once again — with a new jet and the help of Western corporations Boeing and EADS. By Matthias Schepp in Moscow more…

Putin’s Cold War: Using Russian Energy as a Political Weapon
Kremlin Inc.: Reshaping the World Order with Russian [...]

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In the first half of the week, at least 16 Palestinians were killed by Israel military responses to the waves of Palestinian missile and mortar fire buffeting the population living around Gaza. Hamas, Jihad Islami, Fatah-Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Popular Committees and al Qaeda-linked Salafi groups are all shooting missiles and mortars at Israeli communities [...]

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