The most important news for Wednesday, June 30th, 2010....
Elena Kagan is trying to say as little as possible during her Supreme Court nomination hearings.
Debka is reporting that the U.S. has posted a third carrier opposite Iran's shores. It is reportedly supported by amphibious assault ships and up to 4,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel, bringing the total U.S. strength in these waters to three carriers and 10,000 combat personnel.
The CIA, in what appears to significantly revise recent assessments, has determined that Iran has accumulated a sufficient amount of uranium for two nuclear weapons.
U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen said on Monday that he believes that Iran will continue to pursue nuclear weapons, even if sanctions against the country are increased.
It is being reported that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah will press Barack Obama in Washington this week to take a stronger stance with Israel over stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
The EU has hired a British firm to train a special Palestinian security unit that will be deployed in east Jerusalem.
China is denying media reports that an artillery drill in the East China Sea was in response to a planned military exercise between South Korea and the United States.
Russia is demanding an explanation from the United States over the arrest of 10 alleged Russian secret agents accused of operating a "deep cover" spying mission.
One of the Cold War's most famous defectors said on Tuesday that Russia may have as many as 50 deep-cover couples spying inside the United States.
Tropical Storm Alex approached hurricane strength on Tuesday as it churned off the northwestern coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula in the Bay of Campeche.
George Washington University emergency physicians have identified a pattern of symptoms including nausea, vertigo, headaches, respiratory problems and flu like symptoms among oil spill cleanup workers that they have been helping to treat.
Public outrage over the BP oil spill fouling the Gulf of Mexico has focused on water pollution. But according to one team of researchers the air pollution health threat may be even more serious.
Scientists tell us that there is an "astonishing" amount of oil and gas under the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
It is being reported that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been probing major financial firms’ exposure to BP to ensure that if the oil giant buckles under the costs of the Gulf oil spill, it won’t put Wall Street or the global financial system at risk.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined sharply to 52.9 in June. Most economists had expected that the figure for June would be somewhere around 62.
John P. Hussman of Hussman Funds has issued a full-fledged recession warning.
French bank Societe Generale is forecasting that gold could reach $1,430 an ounce in the third quarter of this year due to fears of a double-dip recession.
Economist Nouriel Roubini says that Greece needs an orderly restructuring of its public debt to head off an "inevitable default".
The Bank for International Settlements is warning that Europe's banks have yet to come clean over bad loans and may struggle to refinance short-term debt unless the region's bond crisis subsides soon.
The Bank for International Settlements is also warning authorities across the developed world that they cannot rely on ultra-low interest rates to cushion the blow of austerity measures.
Some experts are warning that the cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could reach as high as $1 trillion.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 270 points to close below 10,000 for the first time since June 10.
Fannie Mae is sifting through borrower data to determine who is strategically defaulting and who is not after announcing new efforts to crack down on those who walk away from their homes.
The protests against the austerity measures being imposed on Greece continue to turn violent.
One journalist says that women arrested by Toronto police during the G20 protests were threatened with rape, that numerous women were strip-searched by male officers and that one severely traumatized woman was sexually molested by police.
The allegation that Al Gore sexually assaulted a woman in a Portland, Oregon hotel room nearly four years ago has dealt a serious blow to the former vice president's story that he and wife Tipper simply "grew apart" after 40 years of marriage.
Scientists at Columbia University are warning that the dose of radiation from the new full body security scanners going into airports all over the world could be up to 20 times higher than originally estimated.
New York state senators will soon vote on a bill that would make it illegal for any homeowner or renter to sublet for less than a month.
U.S. officials say that more than three billion dollars in cash (much of it aid money paid for by U.S. taxpayers) has been stolen by corrupt officials and flown out of Kabul International Airport in recent years.
Italian police have conducted a massive crackdown on the Chinese organized crime networks that have been operating throughout the country.
A new "lizard-like robot" can swim through sand.
Is the new science of trangenics actually opening the door to a very ancient evil?
With so many toxins in our food, our beverages and our medicines, is it any wonder that society has become so dumbed down?
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong say that H1N1 has genetically mutated and is spreading among pigs in China.
According to a study publicly released this week by the University of Illinois, the New Madrid seismic zone is capable of producing a massive earthquake that could absolutely destroy portions of the central United States.
In fact, it is projected that a 7.7-magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid fault could leave 3,500 people dead, more than 80,000 injured and more than 7 million homeless.
A retired Texaco geologist-geophysicist says that the Gulf was and is tectonically active - and it is the likely origin for New Madrid seismic activity.
According to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission in March, a gang of unknown thieves has stolen nearly $10 million using micro charges made to more than a million credit and debit cards in an elaborate multiyear scam.
