Latest News

Congress approved a plan to end Washington’s long drama over the “fiscal cliff” late Tuesday after House Republicans surrendered to President Obama’s demand to let taxes rise on the nation’s richest households.

The House voted 257 to 167 to send the measure to Obama for his signature; the vote came less than 24 hours after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the legislation.

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Islamists join Syrian rebels in military airfield attack. Syria: 'Deadly air strike hits Damascus petrol station'. Fighting in Aleppo shuts down city's airport as Syria's vicious civil war shows no sign of slowing in 2013.

Any end in sight? Syrian conflict enters third calendar year.

Iraq is officially fighting in a 'low-level war' a year after US withdrawal.

Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in West Bank.

Israeli border fence halts migrant flood from Egypt.

Hamas could oust Abbas from W.Bank: Netanyahu.

Turkey’s leader vies for role of strongman.

Red Hot ‘Israeli’ Peppers: Lebanese army combat supermarket veg.


Satellite images show North Korea maintaining ability to detonate nuke device.

Video shows Burma military 'targeting Kachin rebels'.

India police to charge 5 with murder in brutal gang-rape, test 6th suspect to confirm age. Lawyers refuse to defend Delhi gang-rapists.

In New Year’s speech, North Korean leader pushes for unity, peace.

South Korea dismisses Kim Jong Un’s call for reduced tensions.

North Korean adoptions approved in US.

Funerals held for Pakistan charity workers in Swabi.


Nigerian army says 14 die in gun battle with Boko Haram.

Egyptian opposition to run for Parliament on one list.

Central African Republic rebels halt advance, agree to peace talks. Foreign troops to bolster Central African Republic.

Ten crushed to death, 120 injured at Angola church event.

Ivory Coast mourns after new year stampede in Abidjan.

Crisis-Hit Sudan opens bigger dam in conflict state.

South Sudan's oil production hasn't trickled down to basic services.

Africa's energy consumption growing fastest in world.

Egypt cracks down on satirists and media.


Greek debt crisis 'far from over'.

UK assumes presidency of G8 group.

Italy's Monti fires opening salvo of second-term campaign.

Adoption ban law comes into force in Russia.

France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year's Eve.

Pope's new year address deplores rampant capitalism.


Congress OKs cliff deal, signaling future fights. President vows not to negotiate on debt ceiling.

Thirteen Colombian Farc rebels 'killed in air strike'.

Venezuela's Chavez 'conscious' says VP Nicolas Maduro. Chavez ‘immense strength’ prompts Maduro’s return home.

Sales of armored cars soars 10% in Mexico as drug wars escalate.

Haiti travel warning issued by US after kidnappings, killings.


Al-Qaeda, Israel’s Trojan horse in Middle East: Iranian MP

Ethiopia says breaks up Islamist militant cell.

Al Qaeda rises in Yemen's chaos.


Snapchat withstands Facebook challenge.

Analysis: "Fiscal cliff" deal called a dud on deficit front.

Fiscal cliff deal: World markets celebrate certainty.

After Pentagon and industry officials remove the cellophane from their 2013 calendars, they should circle two dates in red: March 1 and March 27.

The Senate-passed fiscal cliff and sequestration deal brokered by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President Biden sets a March 1 deadline for the passage of legislation that substantially cuts the federal deficit.

If Congress and the White House fail to act by March 1, across-the-board cuts to planned Pentagon and domestic spending would be implemented via sequestration on March 27, according to the legislation.

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Cliff avoided, but sequestration still looms -- Army Times

China Military Implements ‘No Drinking’ Order, Army Daily Says -- Bloomberg

Slim, fast: Saudi military told to shape up, or ship out -- Al Bawaba News

Russia to Hold Large-Scale Mediterranean, Black Sea Naval Drills -- RIA Novosti

Russian Navy to hold biggest war games in decades -- RT

Electronic Weapons: Azerbaijan Pokes Russia In The Eye -- Strategy Page

New Nuclear Sub Ready for Russian Navy -- Military.com/UPI

Pakistan, India exchange lists of nuclear installations, facilities -- Express Tribune

Satellite Images Show North Korea Maintaining Ability to Detonate Nuke Device -- Global Security Newswire

Britain's MOD Releases Funds for More Astute Class Submarines -- Defense Update

Israeli spy planes go on New Year’s snooping mission to Lebanon -- Press TV (Iran)

U.S. in $3.5 billion arms sale to UAE amid Iran tensions -- Reuters

Navy orders more C-40A transports -- UPI

US Congress Sends President 2013 Defense Authorization Bill -- Defense Update

U.S. military, a growing Latino army -- NBC

What a UAV Can Do With Depth Perception -- Defence Talk

Multiple scenarios for EMP catastrophe -- WMD

Divers Could Become Real-Life Aquamen if This Pentagon Project Works -- Danger Room

Better Nuclear Bombs for a Safer World -- Bloomberg Businessweek editorial

This Secret CIA Mission Would Make for a Really Bad Movie -- J.K. Trotter, The Atlantic

Maxim Recruits a Readership in Uniform -- New York Times

Austin Marine receives call from president -- Dvids

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is in an induced coma being kept alive by life support following complications during cancer surgery, it was claimed today.

Sources at the hospital in Cuba where he is being treated told a Spanish newspaper he was showing 'very weak' vital signs, adding that doctors could decide to switch off the machines 'at any moment'.

With rumours swirling that Chavez had taken a turn for the worse, Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro said the ailing president's condition remains 'delicate' three weeks after his cancer surgery.

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My Comment: When someone has to have his fourth cancer operation .... all in a few years .... you do not have to be a rocket scientist to realize that his cancer has probably spread throughout his body and that it will only be a matter of time before his body succumbs to it. And while I do not know the specifics of President Chavez's situation .... I do know that time for him is running out, and it is only going to be a matter of time before he is gone.

Pakistan is developing a new generation of smaller "tactical" nuclear weapons. The dangers and challenges such arms present are very real.

October of last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Many Asian policymakers will read the lessons of that harrowing episode with some self-satisfaction.

When India and Pakistan conducted their nuclear weapon tests in 1998, foreign analysts repeatedly told them that, as poor countries with weak institutions, they could not be entrusted with such awesome weaponry. Nascent nuclear powers were simply less reliable stewards than their Cold War counterparts. Over a decade on, and multiple crises later — Kargil in 1999, a military standoff in 2001-2, and the Mumbai attacks of 2008 — India and Pakistan have experienced nothing quite as perilous as the Cuban scare.

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My Comment: A nuclear arms race is not what the world needs right now .... especially in Asia.

Deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm in Egypt says that Israel would cease to exist by the end of the decade.

Deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm in Egypt, the Freedom and Justice Party, announced Tuesday that Israel would cease to exist by the end of the decade.

Essam el-Erian, who serves an advisor to Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, had attempted to dispel a recent controversy over comments he made in an interview last week, in which he invited Egyptian born Jews to return to the country.

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My Comment: The way things are going .... he may be right.

Africa's energy demands are skyrocketing, but with 64 recent major discoveries of fuel deposits, it is in a good position to meet its needs.

As the sun sets over Africa each day, instead of flicking a light switch or heating up the oven, most people put a match to a kerosene lantern or a burning ember to a charcoal stove.

Africa, home to 15 percent of the world’s population, consumes just 3 percent of the world's energy output, and 587 million people, including close to three-quarters of those living in Sub-Saharan Africa, still have no access to electricity via national grids.

But the situation is changing, and swiftly. At 4.1 percent growth, Africa’s per capita energy consumption is growing faster than anywhere else, driven by improved infrastructure, inward investment, and efforts to tackle corruption.

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My Comment: These energy trends are going to guarantee a few things .... (1) global oil and energy prices will remain high, (2) global warming advocates will be alarmed, and (3) tensions and conflicts will start to develop between different African countries over energy supplies (i.e. South Sudan - Sudan oil deposits, Ethiopia wanting to dam the Nile river, Nigeria delta oil reserves, etc.).

Violence in Iraq dropped in 2012, data released Tuesday showed, but insurgents proved they were still capable of mounting waves of attacks and a watchdog warned the country was still in a "low-level war".

The warnings, which come after the first full year since American forces completed their withdrawal in December 2011, were punctuated by a series of nationwide shootings and bombings on New Year's Eve in which 28 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded.

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Iraqi civilian deaths rise in "low-level war": study -- Reuters
Nearly 4,500 civilians died in 2012 in 'low-level war' with insurgents -- Irish Times
Iraq PM warns Sunni protesters to end rallies -- Al Jazeera
Iraq PM warns Sunni protesters, makes small concession -- Reuters
Iraq PM offers prisoner release as demos continue -- AFP
Firebrand Shiite cleric al-Sadr voices support for Sunni protesters angry at Iraq’s government -- Washington Post/AP
Iraq’s Sadr Encourages Antigovernment Demonstrations -- New York Times