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Thousands of claim forms sent to Madoff customers By Grant McCool Mon Jan 5, 2:09 pm ET NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than 8,000 forms have been mailed to customers of accused swindler Bernard Madoff so they can make claims by March or July for any money they may have lost, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's firm said on Monday. The claims, to be made through the non-profit Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and a court-appointed trustee, are just one avenue for investors who believe they were duped in Madoff's purported $50 billion fraud. Some investors have filed...

China's milk scandal is a political temblor Selling contaminated baby formula is a heinous enough crime to shock a nation, but China's leaders know they have a dangerously destabilizing political crisis on their hands. The scandal goes to the heart of a covenant between any authoritarian regime and those who surrender freedom. They cede power with the belief, however wishful, they will be better off. Those in power promise to protect them from all manner of hazards, foreign and domestic.

NJSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine” received facsimile warning from Gazprom OJSC concerning the reduction of natural gas supply volumes for the European users on 65,3 million c. m. per day to 221,8 million c. m. per day. Thus, from the 4th existent points of Russian transit gas entrance on the territory of Ukraine ( GMS Sudzha, GMS Valuyki, GMS Pisarivka and GMS Sokhranivka) only one GMS Sudzhais left in action. It means that Gazprom OJSC actually reduced the volumes of natural gas transit to the European users. Thus, the Russian company threatens to reduce gas-supplies to the countries of Europe, namely:...

US parents want answers after China milk scare By DEANNA MARTIN The Associated Press Friday, January 2, 2009; 1:58 PM -- Beth Flanders was on her way to China to adopt her 17-month-old daughter in September when she received a warning from her adoption agency: An industrial chemical that can cause kidney stones had been found in Chinese baby formula, and parents should not feed it to their new children. Flanders' daughter had no symptoms. But in November, an ultrasound revealed two kidney stones, which are unusual in children. Now the Los Angeles-area nurse wonders if melamine is to blame.

A group of researchers led by Peidong Yang, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, have recently created nanoscale particles that can self-assemble into various optical devices. These include photonic crystals, metamaterials, color changing paints, components for optical computers and ultrasensitive chemical sensors, among many other potential applications. The new technology works by controlling how densely the tiny silver particles assemble themselves.   Professor Peidong Yang (Credit: University of California, Berkeley) The nanoparticles have been used to increase the sensitivity of arsenic detection by an order of magnitude. Researchers also made a very robust kind of photonic...

Vice-president-elect Joe Biden likened the country’s economic crisis to the attacks of 9/11 Monday in a private meeting on Capitol Hill. “We’re at war,” Biden told congressional leaders of both parties during their sit-down with Barack Obama in the Capitol, according to two sources familiar with the exchange. It’s not the first time the vice-president-elect has used stark language to underscore the perilous state of the economy. In an interview last month on ABC’s “This Week,” Biden said that a stimulus package was needed to keep the economy from “absolutely tanking.” Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said Biden “was speaking of...

Dare we dream of a world in which al Qaeda no longer exists? The terrorist network responsible for September 11 may be headed for the dustbin of history, according to "Global Trends 2025," the latest report by the National Intelligence Council. But the report isn't all good news. The NIC, a center of strategic thinking within the American government, says the ultimate demise of al Qaeda will coincide with a different set of terrorist challenges. The Obama administration would be wise to take stock of these findings and heed the warnings. First, the good news: The report confirms one of...

NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Even in a city accustomed to notorious figures in its midst, the latest sighting of Bernard Madoff caused heads to turn. Madoff made a surprise court appearance on Monday that attracted throngs of reporters, photographers and tourists to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan for a glimpse of him. If they were seeking answers to what the government alleges could be a $50 billion investment fraud, they were once again disappointed. The onetime Nasdaq chairman and money manager said nothing, either in court or after the hearing, wearing the same calm look on his...

  Novena request start Jan.11 If you are apposed to abortion then there is bad news on the horizon. For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009.  The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion. If made a law then all present limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result in the following:            1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, will be requiredto perform abortions upon request.  If this happens, Bishops...

It is only when one begins to grasp all the foregoing that one understands exactly how disgusting and squalid is the behavior of the Hamas gang. It knows very well that sanctions are injuring every Palestinian citizen, but—just like Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq—it declines to cease the indiscriminate violence and the racist and religious demagogy that led to the sanctions in the first place. Palestine is a common home for several religious and national groups, but Hamas dogmatically insists that the whole territory is instead an exclusively Muslim part of a future Islamic empire. At a time when democratic...

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has signed into law a media Bill that journalists say will curtail press freedom. According to a BBC News report, the law gives the Kenyan authorities the power to raid media offices, tap phones and control broadcast content on grounds of national security. Kibaki said he had carefully considered the concerns but added that press freedom 'must go hand in hand with responsibility'. He said the Bill was crucial for Kenya's economic development. Kibaki added that regulating the electronic media would promote and 'safeguard our culture, moral values and nationhood'. The Standard reports that condemnation of...

The latest NIC Global Trends 2025 Report is out… and it’s not good news for those determined to insure the Bush legacy is portrayed as one consisting of nothing but of utter failure. Download the 120 pg, 8.2MB report hereI had summarized for Larry Weisenthal here just a few days ago… as well as blogged about it on my old haunt Sea2Sea back in February 2008… PLUS Wordsmith’s post May 29th here on FA… about what? There’s been more than a few of us becoming aware that one of the side benefits of the Iraq war was the decline of...

Advances to Regrow Decaying Choppers Offer More to Chew On Than You'd Think As long as there are hockey players, there will be niche markets for false teeth. But the real news about the future of dentures is that there isn't much of one. Toothlessness has declined 60 percent in the United States since 1960. Baby boomers will be the first generation in human history typically to go to their graves with most of their teeth. And now comes tooth regeneration: growing teeth in adults, on demand, to replace missing ones. Soon. This can't be good for, among others, television...

SEATTLE -- Gov. Chris Gregoire has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday morning that's shrouded in secrecy, but KIRO 7 Eyewitness News has learned that she will not announce that she's joining the Obama Administration. The governor's office said Monday that Gregoire is out of state. She canceled an Olympia speaking engagement set for Tuesday, and she will make an announcement Tuesday at 10 a.m. via satellite to local reporters. A number of bloggers speculated the governor would be named as president-elect Obama's Commerce Secretary after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew from the running. An Obama spokesman, Robert Gibbs,...

Normally, Michael Ledeen wouldn’t qualify as an optimist, especially on Iran.  That’s what makes his column today on the mullahcracy’s fortunes interesting reading, as Ledeen sees the regime teetering after its proxies have lost ground.  But is Ledeen a little too hopeful? First of all, the dramatic drop in oil prices is devastating to the mullahs, who had planned to be able to fund terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.  Suddenly their bottom line is tinged with red, and this carries over onto their domestic balance sheets, which were already demonstrably shaky (they were forced to...

Here is the story behind the "Banned for Life" straight from Coulters lips. Hannity and Colmes, Jan 5, 2009.Ann Gets to Talk in spite of Alan's attempt to derail her. Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) On it's way to #1!

Toyota on Tuesday said it would halt production at most of its domestic plants over an additional 11 days in February and March, highlighting the impact of the relentless decline in global demand. Japan’s largest carmaker, which has been a benchmark for quality and efficiency, said it was cutting 18 shifts over 11 days, or the equivalent of 9 days worth of production at all 12 of its domestic facilities in those two months. The cutbacks, which come on top of three days of production stoppages this month, will affect most of Toyota’s models made in Japan, excluding those outsourced...

Sen. Diane Feinstein is reportedly fuming that Barack Obama picked Leon Panetta as his new CIA Director and never consulted with her. Feinstein, the incoming chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, issued a sharp statement Monday that was a thinly veiled criticism of the pick. The statement made it clear that she had expected a career intelligence professional – unlike Panetta, who has no intelligence expertise whatsoever – to be leading the CIA. "I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director,’’ Feinstein said. “I know nothing about this, other than what I've read,"...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel's steamroller success in its Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign against Hamas has allowed it to begin setting out conditions for a new truce, including foreign supervision at the Egyptian border. The Saudi Gazette published a report from Reuters that "Israel has conditioned any halt to its Gaza Strip offensive on international backing for new fortifications and monitoring on the Egyptian border to prevent Hamas from rebuilding tunnels and rearming." The government is determined to prevent a repeat of the failed Gaza Disengagement agreement and the ceasefire that officially ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Hamas terrorists amassed a huge...

Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz is that rare individual who is both a highly respected academic and well known to the general population. But in another regard he is even rarer. He regards himself as a man of the Left, yet on one of the defining moral issues of our time, attitudes toward Israel, he has nothing in common with the Left. He is not only one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, he spends much of his time defending Israel. He has written innumerable articles and four books defending Israel: “The Case against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others...

JACKSONVILLE -- Jacksonville officials are considering a ban on feeding what one city council member calls "horned mountain rats," more commonly known as blacktailed deer. If humans didn't feed the deer, state wildlife biologists say, there would be less overpopulation, disease and death in the herds. Council member John Dodero says he favors an ordinance like those in Klamath Falls against feeding raccoons and in Philomath against feeding wild turkeys. Several Jacksonville deer have been found either dead or diseased. The sick deer were lethargic and foaming at the mouth, and wildlife biologists killed them. One deer tested positive for...

A Grad rocket struck an empty kindergarten in Ashdod on Monday, sending several people into shock and causing heavy damage to buildings in the area. The facility was empty due to a Home Front Command directive to keep schools and kindergartens closed. Local residents had complied with safety instructions, entering bomb shelters and safe rooms after hearing the warning siren. The epicenter of the day's rocket attacks was Ashkelon, where five Grads damaged structures and sent people into shock. Another four landed later, causing no damage. By Monday evening, the day's total stood at 37 rockets fired at the South....

Tufts Medical Center has begun warning thousands of patients that Tufts doctors will no longer accept Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO coverage after Jan. 31, asserting in a letter that the state's largest health insurer refuses to pay Tufts doctors at a "reasonable rate." The medical center is asking its patients to contact Blue Cross directly to "express your frustration." The unusual move carries enormous risks for Tufts as well as for patients, who may be faced with the difficult choice of changing insurance coverage or changing hospitals in the next few weeks. The last time a hospital took the...

Governor Deval Patrick yesterday accelerated his administration's efforts to control spiraling statewide healthcare costs, warning that rising premiums threaten to crush families and businesses and doom Massachusetts' groundbreaking experiment with universal insurance. Patrick said officials are considering using state insurance regulations to block excessive healthcare premiums. He is also summoning leaders of insurance and hospital companies for meetings as soon as this week to ask for their "vigorous cooperation." In response to stories by the Globe's Spotlight Team about the role of Partners HealthCare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts in driving up costs, Patrick convened a panel of...

One of the current handicaps of cancer treatments is the difficulty of aiming these treatments at destroying malignant cells without killing healthy cells in the process. But a new study by McMaster University researchers has provided insight into how scientists might develop therapies and drugs that more carefully target cancer, while sparing normal healthy cells Mick Bhatia, scientific director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and his team of investigators have demonstrated – for the first time – the difference between normal stem cells and cancer stem cells in...

January 6, 2009                                         Christmas Weekday       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Jn 4:7-10 Beloved, let us love one another,because love is of God;everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.In this way the love of God was revealed to us:God sent his only-begotten Son into the worldso that we might have life through him.In this is love:not that we have loved God, but that he loved usand sent his Son as expiation for our sins....

Bill Gertz discusses his new book "The Failure Factory," on C-span. [VIDEO]

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan said Tuesday it plans to ask Australia and possibly New Zealand and Chile to ban an anti-whaling protest ship from using their ports to refuel, heightening a cat-and-mouse game in Antarctic waters between Japan's whaling fleet and the conservationists. The Sea Shepherd group has said its anti-whaling ship, the Steve Irwin, has left pursuit of Japan's whaling fleet after chasing it for 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) and is now headed to port to refuel. It suggested on its Web site it will seek a port call in Australia, but has not provided further details. Japan,...

Gazan's use ambulances to transport "soldiers." Pay attention to the video c. 50 seconds into it.

As he stands on the sidelines, seemingly oblivious to what's going on in the world, President-elect Barack Obama opts out of the game by proclaiming that there's only one president at a time. That's another way of saying, "Let George do it," when the Middle East erupts in violence, the economy continues to slump, and the governor of his state defies demands that he step down. His almost nonchalant approach to the turmoil around him has thus far protected him from adverse reactions from his real base -- the media -- but that immunity from harsh criticism has not extended...

Now that President-elect Obama has made the "unique" choice of Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff Leon Panetta as his CIA director, the intelligence part of the transition team can get to work. For Panetta the job will be to learn something about the CIA. As he is brought up to speed the question arises will he participate in the liberal witch-hunt designed to purge their agency of anyone who had anything to do with "torture." Or will he understand that waterboarding was a practice that congress knew about and made absolutely no attempt to stop. It did not become an...

Joshua 24:14-24 14Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 15And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. 16And the people...

Sony one of the worlds largest electronic companies has teamed up with the Islamic propaganda giant of the world Al Jazeera. Now Sony cellphone owners in the Middle East and North Africa can have the news feed from Al Jazeera pre-installed on their phones.

Is this “Chinatown” after all? Lawyers for Roman Polanski, who fled the country more than 30 years ago on the eve of sentencing for having sex with a minor, on Monday asked that his case be moved from a Los Angeles justice system that they say is too seriously tainted by its own misdeeds to treat this Oscar-winning filmmaker fairly. The request, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, was the latest twist in an extraordinary bid to have the decades-old case against Mr. Polanski dismissed, despite his status as a fugitive. Although this is happening long after Mr. Polanski...

Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Az-Zahar claimed victory for Hamas on Monday, saying Hamas had succeeded in “destroying Israel's sense of security” with its rocket attacks. Zahar made his proclamation in video footage sent from a secret hideout, where he is taking shelter in order to avoid being targeted in an IAF strike. Other Hamas leaders have gone into hiding as well. Zahar directed his message to Hamas' troops, and promised them victory over the IDF. “We must be patient until we are victorious, Allah will help us,” he said. Hundreds of Hamas terrorists have been killed since the “Cast Lead” operation...

Inquirer Trenton Bureau New Jersey could soon become the fourth state to limit handgun purchases to one a month, a move aimed at fighting "straw" gun buyers who purchase weapons legally and pass them to criminals. The plan, backed by officials in Camden, Newark, Jersey City and other cities, follows calls from urban leaders across the nation, including Philadelphia, to crack down on gun trafficking that they say fuels violence. There is much debate over whether such laws work, however, and opponents say a limit would infringe on a constitutional right in a state that already has rigorous screenings for...

Congrats to the Longhorns. Open thread.

Who is Roy Masters? In 1960 Roy Masters started America’s first conservative talk radio show on KTYM in Los Angeles, California. Roy Masters and his “Advice Line” radio program continue today as an institution on radio. “Advice Line” is currently broadcast nationwide on a 130 radio stations and available via the internet. For more about Roy see: http://www.fhu.com/aboutroy.htmlhttp://roymasters.info/videos.htmlhttp://roymasters.blogspot.comhttp://www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyMastersChannel

Netherlands' first Moroccan mayor inaugurated Ahmed Aboutaleb, who has dual Dutch-Moroccan citizenship, has been inaugurated as mayor of Rotterdam on Monday. The former Labour deputy minister for social affairs is the Netherlands' first mayor with Moroccan roots. The inauguration is attracting a great deal of international media attention, with journalists from countries ranging from Morocco and Turkey to France and Germany in Rotterdam for the ceremony. Aboutaleb (47) does not face an easy task in his new position. Integration and crime are major political issues in Rotterdam. The city of 585,000 has the largest proportion of immigrants of any major...

Meg Whitman fueled speculation that she was readying a run for office of California governor when it became public today that she stepped down last week from several corporate boards she was serving. After retiring from eBay in March, the former President and CEO had stayed on as Special Advisor to the new president and CEO, a role that netted her compensation of up to $1.2 million a year. She terminated that position on December 31 and resigned from the eBay Board of Directors. According to eBay, "Whitman's decision to resign is solely for personal reasons and time considerations and...

As the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip entered its 10th day, Hamas has begun sending conflicting messages regarding its intentions. These contradictory messages, Palestinian political analysts said, reflected the state of confusion in Hamas and raised questions as to who was calling the shots in the Gaza Strip. While some Hamas leaders have been openly signaling their readiness to accept a new cease-fire, others are still calling for pursuing the fight against Israel "until victory." What is clear is that Hamas is now desperate for a lull in the fighting. But it is also eager to score some kind...

Well, Minnesota...I hope you like your new senator...think he can fit in those pants when he prances across the Senate floor?

Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security. AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident on the New Year's Day flight from Reagan National Airport to Orlando, Fla., a misunderstanding, but defended the company's response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong. One of the Muslim passengers, Kashif Irfan, told The Washington Post the confusion began when his brother was talking about the safest place to sit on an airplane. "My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect...

In a gesture intended to improve Muslim-Christian relations Bahrain, which has an immigrant population of 80,000 Catholics, is to allow the building of a new Roman Catholic church. --snip-- Catholics form 10 per cent of Bahrain's population of 800,000, most of them foreign workers from Asia. The Pope met Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, last July, and praised Bahrain's "long tradition of tolerance and dialogue". This year sees the 70th anniversary of Bahrain's first church, inaugurated at Christmas in 1939. --snip-- Saudi Arabia remains the only Gulf state where churches are still banned. Last year Cardinal...

A call about a domestic dispute led to shots being fired by a Scott County deputy in New Market. Scott County sheriff Kevin Studnicka tells KARE 11 the deputy, whom he won't name until he's interviewed by investigators, was sent to a home in New Market on reports of a fight. When nobody answered the door at that address, the deputy forced his way inside. "He knocked on the door and was refused entrance. And again we were called to a domestic there, so he made forced entrance." "I was just watching TV and then the guy comes banging on...

Psalms 144:1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. David was a man skilled in war. From his days as a shepherd boy to the days of serving in Saul's army to leading his own army, David learned to be a skillful warrior. How does one become a skillful warrior? The only way one can become a skillful warrior is to be trained and placed in the middle of the battle. It is only when we are placed in the furnace of battle that we truly learn to fight the...

A Catholic writer close to Pope Benedict XVI has come to the defence of the pontiff over falling papal audience figures, saying that "religious tourism" is not a true "measure of faith". In 2008 the number of pilgrims seeing the Pope at St Peter's or the papal summer residence at Castelgandolfo fell for the second year running, with 2.2 million people attending his weekly general audience, a special audience or liturgy or the regular Sunday Angelus address, according to figures released by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household.

HAMAS and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group-Based Politics Authored by Dr. Sherifa D. Zuhur. This is an excerpt of the summary without endnotes. The original summary with endnotes can be found in the full text PDF. (The full text is over 100 pages) The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis has heightened since 2001, even as any perceived threat to Israel from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, or even Syria, has declined. Israel, according to Chaim Herzog, Israel's sixth President, had been "born in battle" and would be "obliged to live by the sword." Yet, the Israeli government's conquest and occupation of the...

Mika and his girlfriend Anna-Bell found on way to airport with lilo, swimming trunks and a witness for the wedding in tow t is a dream that has been shared by lovers across the centuries – the chance to elope to exotic lands. But few would have been as bold and spontaneous as six-year-old Mika and his five-year-old sweetheart Anna-Bell who, after mulling over their options in secret, packed their suitcases on New Year's Eve and set off from the German city of Hanover to tie the knot under the heat of the African sun. The children left their homes...

Aircraft Carrier Project: On 23 December 2008 Xinhua, China's official news agency, reported that China's Ministry of National Defense had stated that aircraft carriers are "a reflection of a nation's comprehensive power" and were needed to meet the demands of a country's navy. The Chinese government would seriously consider "relevant issues" with "factors in every aspects" on building its first ever aircraft carrier, said spokesman Huang Xueping when responding to a question at a press conference on whether it was a good opportunity at present to build China's aircraft carrier. "China has a long coastline and the sacred duty of...