By Elitsa Vucheva
UK foreign secretary David Miliband called for a strengthening of the EU's military capacities during his first major speech on EU policy on Thursday (15 November) - an idea that has also been recently raised by France.
"It's frankly embarrassing that when European nations - with almost two million men and women under arms - are only able, at a stretch, to deploy around 100,000 at any one time", Mr Miliband said during a speech at the College of Europe in the Belgian city of Bruges on Thursday.
"European countries have around 1,200 transport helicopters, yet only 35 are deployed in Afghanistan. And EU member states haven't provided any helicopters in Darfur despite the desperate need there", he went on.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has also called for more efforts to build an independent European defence capability as well as to modernise NATO, while French defence minister Herve Morin told German newspaper FAZ earlier this week that Paris would put defence high on its EU presidency agenda during the second half of 2008.
So far France and the UK have been the main EU member states to touch upon the EU defence issue, but while their positions ...   more »

City program depends on parental consent
By Maria Cramer,
Boston police are launching a program that will call upon parents in high-crime neighborhoods to allow detectives into their homes, without a warrant, to search for guns in their children's bedrooms.
The program, which is already raising questions about civil liberties, is based on the premise that parents are so fearful of gun violence and the possibility that their own teenagers will be caught up in it that they will turn to police for help, even in their own households.
In the next two weeks, Boston police officers who are assigned to schools will begin going to homes where they believe teenagers might have guns. The officers will travel in groups of three, dress in plainclothes to avoid attracting negative attention, and ask the teenager's parent or legal guardian for permission to search. If the parents say no, police said, the officers will leave.
If officers find a gun, police said, they will not charge the teenager with unlawful gun possession, unless the firearm is linked to a shooting or homicide.
The program was unveiled yesterday by Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis in a meeting with several community leaders.
"I just ...   more »

National emergency exercises emphasize real-world experience
Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and USNORTHCOM, the United States Northern Command, invited WND staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi to visit Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., to observe Day Three of the NORAD-USNORTHCOM exercise Vigilant Shield 2008.
Corsi was the first outside news reporter allowed inside the Joint Interagency Coordination Group, or JIACG, to observe command center operations during a real-time national training exercise.
This fifth part in the series is based on an interview WND conducted Oct 18 with Renuart.
By Jerome R. Corsi
Joint Interagency Coordination Group responds to simulated attacks
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – It was Day 3 of NORAD-USNORTHCOM's exercise, Vigilant Shield 08 and Top Officers 4, and the "reports" were coming in of the explosion of "dirty bombs" in Guam, at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix and at the Steel Bridge in Portland, Ore.
The Joint Interactive Agency Coordination Group staging the exercise to test the national response to the detonation of radiological dispersal devices was on duty.
"This is an exercise designed to look at the national response if we would have a terrorist attack," explained Michael B. ...   more »

by Gerald A. Honigman
Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof…
Leviticus 25:10, Hebrew Bible
I'm a proud Philadelphia boy.
My great grandfather, Benjamin, eloped with his fourteen year old bride, Esther, married in Elkton, Maryland, and proceeded to sire my grandfather and over a dozen of my grand uncles and aunts…Philly's Esther and Benjamin Honigman Family Circle.
My Grandfather served in WWI and my Dad in WWII. Dad later put in almost three decades with the Philadelphia Police Department, retiring as a lieutenant.
Now, let's begin…
I often hear folks complaining about all that aid we give the Jews "over there."
True, Israel has received two to three billion dollars in aid each year from us for some time now. That aid is much appreciated, is largely returned to us via purchases in America, and comes with a big down side as well--as is most recently being manifested in the suicidal concessions Dubya, Condi, and the State Department expect Israel to make in Annapolis to alleged Abbas "good cop" Fatah terrorists who still refuse to recognize the Jewish State. It's fine for Arabs to have almost two dozen of their own (most forcibly Arabized from ...   more »

Government eyes, voice coming to shore to deter people from amorous relations
JENSEN BEACH, Fla. – Imagine going for a romantic stroll on the beach with your loved one, perhaps even giving a kiss, when suddenly you're blasted with a bright light and a voice from above warning against having sex on the beach.
Such a scenario is a strong possibility in one South Florida county where officials are looking to install "talking" video cameras to warn and/or catch people engaged in amorous relations.
Camera already in use at Jensen Beach Park in Martin County, Fla. The county is considering voice warnings to deter people from having sex on the its beaches
"I'm all for it," Martin County Commission Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi told the Palm Beach Post.
DiTerlizzi first proposed putting Web cams at beaches after several recent arrests of men soliciting men for sex at county beaches.
"Anything that deters that kind of activity is going to be good," he said.  
David Graham, the assistant to the county administrator, says FlashCAM devices sense motion and then flash a bright light.
He said once activated, the cameras issue a pre-recorded verbal warning to let people know they are under ...   more »

The dollar could collapse if Opec officially admits considering changing the pricing of oil into alternative currencies such as the euro, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister has warned.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal was overheard ruling out a proposal from Iran and Venezuela to discuss pricing crude in a private meeting at the oil cartel's conference.
In an embarrassing blunder at the meeting in Riyadh, ministers' microphones were not cut off during a key closed meeting, and Prince Al-Faisal was heard saying: "My feeling is that the mere mention that the Opec countries are studying the issue of the dollar is itself going to have an impact that endangers the interests of the countries. "There will be journalists who will seize on this point and we don't want the dollar to collapse instead of doing something good for Opec."
After around 40 minutes press officials cut off the feed, which had been accidentally broadcast to the press room.
Prince Al-Faisal added: "This is not new. We have done this in the past: decide to study something without putting down on paper that we are going to study it so that we avoid any implication that will bring adverse effects on our countries' ...   more »