By Humphrey Hawksley
The US and UK governments are developing increasingly sophisticated gadgets to keep individuals under their surveillance. When it comes to technology, the US is determined to stay ahead of the game.
"Five nine, five ten," said the research student, pushing down a laptop button to seal the measurement. "That's your height."
"Spot on," I said.
"OK, we're freezing you now," interjected another student, studying his computer screen. "So we have height and tracking and your gait DNA".
"Gait DNA?" I interrupted, raising my head, so inadvertently my full face was caught on a video camera.
"Have we got that?" asked their teacher Professor Rama Chellappa. "We rely on just 30 frames - about one second - to get a picture we can work with," he explained.
Tracking individuals
I was at the University of Maryland just outside Washington DC, where Professor Chellappa and his team are inventing the next generation of citizen surveillance.
They had pushed back furniture in the conference room for me to walk back and forth and set up cameras to feed my individual data back to their laptops.
Gait DNA, for example, is creating an individual code for the way I walk. Their ...   more »

'The more we have terror cells, the more we need prayer groups' 
A team of prayer warriors is setting up a series of events to call up the heavy-duty artillery in the world's battle with terrorism, scheduling events of prayer and fasting for Oct. 5-13.
"The more we have these terrorist cells all around the country, all around the world," said Marueen Flynn, of International Week of Prayer and Fasting Coalition, "the more we need to counteract with prayer groups.
"We call it the Prayer Network of Counter-terrorism," she said.
Flynn says the Coalition organizes prayers for world peace, works to promote pro-life issues – just another form of terrorism, according to the organization – and sets up "prayer cells" to counter "terror cells" around the world.  
Citing the Mark 9:29 reference that: "Certain evil spirits can only be driven out by prayer and fasting," the group has announced plans for its 15th annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting starting Oct. 5.
In order to continue toward its goals of a conversion of nations, an end to abortion and the assembly of a culture of life, the group is planning a Youth and Young Adult Festival at Catholic ...   more »

Says GOP risks loss by ridiculing questions about 'North American Union'
Jerome Corsi
Speaking yesterday in St. Louis at Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Council meeting, WND staff reporter Jerome Corsi predicted the Republican Party risks losing the 2008 presidential election and two-thirds of the House and the Senate if President Bush continues to ridicule questions about a possible North American Union as "conspiracy theories" while continuing to press an active integration with Mexico and Canada in the remaining months of his second term.
Calling Karl Rove the architect not only of the Republican electoral victory in 2004 but also of the Republican electoral defeat in 2006, Corsi told the group the main issue was immigration.
"Yes, the war in Iraq was an issue in 2006," Corsi acknowledged, "but even Richard Nixon won a landslide in 1972 despite the growing unpopularity of the Vietnam War. The Democrats will lose any time they run a far-left anti-war electoral campaign."
C-span's Book-TV recorded Corsi's presentation for later broadcast.
Corsi asserted in 2006 "grassroots Americans voted against open borders and illegal immigration, whether Karl Rove or the Republican National Party want to admit it, or not."
"Every time President Bush pushes to have Mexican trucks ...   more »

Also from Sarah Baxter: Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid | Snatched: Israeli commandos ‘nuclear’ raid | Israelis 'blew apart Syrian nuclear cache' | Alan Greenspan: "Blair was clearly an aide to Brown"
THE United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with Iran.
Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June.
It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air Force chief, and consists of 20-30 top air force officers and defence and cyberspace experts with ready access to the White House, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
Checkmate’s job is to add a dash of brilliance to Air Force thinking by countering the military’s tendency to “fight the last war” and by providing innovative strategies for warfighting and assessing future needs for air, space and cyberwarfare.
It is led by Brigadier-General Lawrence “Stutz” Stutzriem, who is considered one of the brightest air force generals. He is assisted by Dr Lani Kass, a former Israeli military officer and expert on cyberwarfare.
The failure of United Nations sanctions to ...   more »

By Shlomo Shamir 
NEW YORK - Elected local officials and civic leaders plan to demonstrate Sunday outside Columbia University, where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak at a forum on Monday.
More protests were to follow Monday near Columbia and the United Nations, where the Ahmadinejad was to address the General Assembly on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Columbia University's heads are resisting pressure to cancel a scheduled on-campus appearance by Ahmadinejad, who has made statements questioning the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."    
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger on Friday defended the initiative to invite Ahmadinejad to speak by saying that the university had extended the invitation only after the president agreed to give equal time for questions. Bollinger said he planned on presenting Ahmadinejad with a number of pointed and challenging questions.
While some public officials have called for Columbia to change its mind about the visit, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that the visit is an internal matter.
A Columbia professor who is an Iran expert and was among those behind the initiative told the media on Friday that he believed it was important to invite Ahmadinejad to speak, since ...   more »

by Rebbetzin Tzipporah Heller
On Sukkot, we discover that happiness is never about having; it is about being.
Someone's luggage inevitably comes off the conveyor belt first. The odds (compared to say, winning a state lottery) are not really that heavily stacked against you, especially on a local flight. Yet after years of watching other people's luggage pass me by as I vainly waited for my non-descript suitcases, the one time mine came out first, I was in a state of disbelief. In my wildest dreams I never thought that I would be the lucky one!
I quickly filed the experience away in my "happiness" dossier and let its sappy sweetness soak my inner discontent. The problem, of course, is that within 20 minutes I was back into my just-off-the-plane-and-I'm-hot irritable impatient state that is as familiar and comfortable as an old shoe. Genuine happiness had eluded me once again.
Western society is infused with the right of the pursuit happiness. We hunt it down with relentless drive. Do we find it? I'm not so sure. Sure, no one is happy when they are hungry, cold, in pain, or deprived of companionship. But the tricky part is that being satiated, ...   more »

In first comment by Israeli official following reports on IDF overflight in Syria, opposition leader claims he was informed about operation 'from the start'. Netanyahu praises Prime Minister Olmert for Syria mission but slams him over willingness to negotiate on Jerusalem. 'The Western Wall isn't real estate; the Temple Mount is in our hands only as long as the IDF is there', he tells Ynet
Ronny Sofer
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he had been informed about the reported IDF operation in Syria "from the start" and praised Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for carrying out the mission. He was the first Israeli official to break the silence and admit that the overflight in Syria did take place.  
Netahyahu's office said in response that he was not referring to a specific operation and that he did not reveal any details.  
In an interview with Channel 1 news Wednesday, Netanyahu personally congratulated Olmert on the operation: "When a prime minister does things that I believe are important and necessary, I give my full support," he said. "I was in on it from the first moment, and I gave my support Security Cooperation  
Barak: Israel could partially hand ...   more »

A stunning report published by Jane's Defense Weekly confirms rumors of a July explosion at a Syrian military base at al-Safir, near Aleppo, in which reportedly "dozens" of Iranian engineers were killed along with their Syrian counterparts.
Syria had originally dismissed reports of the explosion by saying the blast was generated by the desert heat causing the accidental detonation of a stockpile of explosives.
Jane's reported that the explosion was actually triggered while the engineers were fitting a chemical warhead onto a Scud-C missile. The explosion and fire released containers of the deadly nerve agents VX and sarin gas, as well as a mustard gas blistering agent.
Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told reporters this week, "Iran has entered into strategic cooperation with Syria on conventional and nonconventional weapons development," adding, "The Iranians are very big in Syria."  
Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is preparing Syria to cover his flank, should war break out between Israel and Iran over Tehran's nuclear arsenal. Ahmadinejad is evidently gambling on Syria taking out Israel while Iran squares off against the United States. Were Iran and Israel to face each other head-to-head, one or the other would inevitably cease to exist. Israel would have ...   more »

Yoni, an Israeli Defense Force soldier stationed in Hebron, was shot by an Arab terrorist. It happened very early in the morning, and no one else was awake to hear it. Yoni passed out and was bleeding steadily, his life was heading toward a silent end.
But another soldier stationed nearby heard the shot and went to investigate. He found a fellow Israeli soldier bleeding to death. He tried the best he could to stop the bleeding and called for help. Waiting for help to arrive, he kept applying pressure to the wound- literally holding Yoni's life in his hands.
Yoni was taken to a hospital in Be’er Sheva where he underwent surgery. Yoni's parents were notified and they rushed to the hospital. Imagine the fear of the parents who were only told "your son has been injured and is in the hospital." When they arrived the doctor told them that Yoni was shot but will be alright. Had it not been for the immediate actions of the other soldier, their son Yoni would have bled to death. It was a miracle that the other soldier heard what no one else heard, and managed to locate Yoni as quickly as ...   more »

A 144-nation atomic energy conference criticized Israel Thursday for refusing to put its nuclear program under international purview, with the United States alone in supporting the Jewish state. 
Besides Washington, only Israel voted against the resolution, while 53 nations backed it and 47 abstained.  
The remaining nations were absent for the highly unusual vote — only the second in the 16 years the issue has been on the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  
Up to last year, the resolution on "Application of IAEA Safeguards in the Middle East" had been adopted by consensus, but in 2006, and again this year, Israeli objections forced a vote.  
This year, Israel opposed two paragraphs — one calling all nations in the Middle East "not to develop, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons," the other urging nuclear weapons states to "refrain from any action" hindering the establishment of a Mideast zone free of nuclear weapons.  
'No interest in consensus'
Both passages were clearly aimed at Israel, which is considered to have nuclear weapons despite its "no tell" policy on the issue. Israel counts on the United States as its chief ally for support — both in the outside ...   more »

By The Associated Press
Iran demanded that United Nations inspectors visit Israel to investigate its nuclear capability while Israel accused Tehran of lying in a bitter debate at an assembly of the UN atomic watchdog in Vienna on Friday.
United Nations officials at a 149-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna said they had no memory of the two rival nations ever engaging each other directly at previous meetings.
The debate was sought by Arab and Islamic states after they shelved a resolution to brand Israel an atomic "threat" in the face of a likely Western maneuver to block a floor vote.
Israel is widely assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, though it has never confirmed or denied this. It is also one of just three states to shun the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, along with India and Pakistan.
Iran is under UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to halt a nuclear energy program feared by major powers to be a covert attempt to build atom bombs. Tehran's Islamist leaders have called for Israel's destruction.
During the course of the annual IAEA assembly, Arab countries and Iran railed at "persistent international double standards and ...   more »

By Mazal Mualem and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies
Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week warned against forsaking Israeli diplomatic principles to gain favor with the Bush administration.
In statements made to Haaretz, Barak warned against a "withdrawal from Israeli principles that have stood for 40 years, merely to gain favor in the eyes of an American president who is leaving office in a year."
Barak also leveled harsh criticism on recent efforts by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Vice Premier Haim Ramon to advance diplomatic progress with the Palestinian Authority, stating that even if PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad wanted to sign a peace agreement with Israel, they don't have the power to implement it.
Barak's words paint a strong contrast to statements made by Olmert speechto a Kadima Party gathering Thursday night where the PM said Israel "has a partner" in Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The defense minister attacked Ramon's recently published diplomatic plan that would set the future border of Israel on the 1967 lines and would transfer Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem to Palestinian control.
"Ramon is overreaching and he lacks supervision or self control," Barak stated.
Sources ...   more »

Palestinian music video in Hebrew celebrates putting Israelis 'in black bags' 
Hamas, which has a majority in the Palestinian Authority's parliament, broadcast a music video on its Al Aqsa TV channel that showed terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, accompanied by the lyrics, "In black bags, chunks of flesh of Jews."
Footage of the broadcast, along with a translation, was obtained by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The program aired Wednesday.
The lyrics to "Hamas - The Apple of My Eye," according to MEMRI, are as follows:
Hamas, Hamas, Hamas the apple of my eye - Hamas
They destroyed the Merkava [tank]
the apple of my eye - Hamas
Repeated eight times
A bombing every minute
Soldiers are afraid
A bombing every minute 
Soldiers are afraid
In black bags
Chunks of flesh of Jews
repeated five times
In retaliation for Yassin we want Sharon's head
We want Sharon's head
we want Sharon's head!
Hamas, Hamas, Hamas the apple of my eye - Hamas
They destroyed the Merkava [tank]
the apple of my eye - Hamas
Repeated five times
the apple of my eye -Hamas
the apple of my eye - Hamas
"Produced by AL-Aqsa TV, 2007"
Dedicated to the Arab ...   more »

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
He's coming to New York.
I can't believe it.
Six years into our "war on terrorism," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a strategic ally of al-Qaida, is flying into New York to speak at the United Nations.
Much of the controversy over this trip has focused on whether his request to visit Ground Zero should be honored. That, to me, is a distraction from the real issue – should he be allowed to visit New York under any circumstances, and, if he is, what should be done with him when he arrives.
My preference would be to let him come, then have he and his entire entourage handcuffed and frog-marched into custody after which they would be transported to Gitmo as enemy combatants. But that's just me.  
Let's look at this rationally.
Iran is undeniably a strategic ally of al-Qaida. Even if it weren't, it shares Osama bin Laden's objectives of destroying both Israel and the United States by any means necessary.
Ahmadinejad is the personification of this anti-American and anti-Semitic policy of hatred and violence.
The Iranian president will not be coming alone. He will be accompanied by Iranian intelligence agents whose goal will be to seek ...   more »

3 years after Beslan slaughter, U.S. educators still unprepared 
WASHINGTON – Three years after Muslim terrorists attacked a school in Beslan in North Ossetia-Alania within the Russian Federation resulting in 396 deaths and 437 injuries, terrorism and law enforcement experts say most U.S. schools have not prepared at all to deal with the possibility of such an assault.
More disturbingly, they say, such attacks are most definitely being prepared and rehearsed in Islamic terrorist camps around the world.
In videotapes captured in Afghanistan, al-Qaida terrorists practiced the takeover of a school – issuing commands in English, separating children into manageable groups and killing anyone who offered resistance. Some hostages were take to rooftops, dangled over the edge, then shot for the sake of cameras and onlookers.
In Iraq, the floor plans of several schools in Virginia, Texas and New Jersey were found in the possession of captured terrorists.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. law enforcement authorities have uncovered what appear to be probing missions by terrorists attempting to get jobs as school bus drivers and making inquiries about armed security personnel in schools.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman has been attempting to get local law enforcement training for ...   more »

Arab ownership of U.S. stock exchange raises flag in Congress
By Jerome R. Corsi
In a complex set of transactions, Dubai is moving to acquire 19.9 percent of the Nasdaq in New York, placing the Arab government in an ownership position of the key U.S. stock exchange and raising concerns in Congress.
As a result of the transaction, Dubai also will acquire 28 percent of the London Stock Exchange, one of the oldest and largest in the world.
The transaction is being made through Borse Dubai, a holding company 100-percent owned by the government of the Emirate of Dubai and controlled by Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the head of the Dubai ruling family.
According to its website, Borse Dubai was created Aug. 6 as the holding company for Dubai Financial Market and Dubai International Financial Exchange in a move to consolidate the Dubai government's two stock exchanges "as well as current investments in other exchanges, expanding Dubai's position as a global capital market hub."  
The announcement set off a firestorm of criticism in Washington, prompting President Bush to comment today in a news conference, "We're going to take a good look at it, as to whether or not it ...   more »