Recently in World News Category
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/05/18/cdc-warns-public-prepare-zombie-apocalypse/?test=latestnews?test=latestnews
Are you prepared for the impending zombie invasion?
That's the question posed by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention in a Monday blog posting gruesomely titled, "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse." And while it's no joke, CDC officials say it's all about emergency preparation.
"There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for," the posting reads. "Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That's right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you'll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you'll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency."
The post, written by Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan, instructs readers how to prepare for "flesh-eating zombies" much like how they appeared in Hollywood hits like "Night of the Living Dead" and video games like Resident Evil. Perhaps surprisingly, the same steps you'd take in preparation for an onslaught of ravenous monsters are similar to those suggested in advance of a hurricane or pandemic.
"First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house," the posting continues. "This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored)."
Other items to be stashed in such a kit include medications, duct tape, a battery-powered radio, clothes, copies of important documents and first aid supplies.
"Once you've made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan," the posting continues. "This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your doorstep. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake or other emergency."
The idea behind the campaign stemmed from concerns of radiation fears following the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan in March. CDC spokesman Dave Daigle told FoxNews.com that someone had asked CDC officials if zombies would be a concern due to radiation fears in Japan and traffic spiked following that mention.
"It's kind of a tongue-in-cheek campaign," Daigle said Wednesday. "We were talking about hurricane preparedness and someone bemoaned that we kept putting out the same messages."
While metrics for the post are not yet available, Daigle said it has become the most popular CDC blog entry in just two days.
"People are so tuned into zombies," he said. "People are really dialed in on zombies. The idea is we're reaching an audience or a segment we'd never reach with typical messages."
Click here to read more on the "Zombie Apocalypse" at CDC.gov.
Note: WTF?
Original Story
Original Story
Safe sex may not be quite so safe in China. Police have uncovered underground workshops churning out fake condoms in the latest expose of China's counterfeit industry.
The spread of knock-off prophylactics is rampant, state media said. Users can expect little or no protection even though the condoms in question carry the most famous brand names.
The scandal surfaced when police raided a workshop in central Hunan province that was producing counterfeit condoms. The police warned that the contraceptives had already been distributed nationwide and many people may have already bought and used the poor quality items, risking both pregnancy and disease.
Police are still looking for as many as a million condoms produced by the illegal factory.
Four people have been arrested in that condom bust and police described the operation as well organised in the 20-square-metre workshop.
Bare-chested employees were found using vegetable oil to lubricate the condoms to make them smooth and shiny before placing them directly in fibre bags without bothering with sterilisation.
Since March, the workshop had turned out 2.16 million unsterilised condoms labelled as "Jissbon", "Durex", "Rough Rider", "Six Sense" and "Love Card". The workshop had earned about 80,000 yuan (£7,000).
One police officer said: "This is by far the largest case involving producing and selling fake condoms in Hunan Province."
He warned buyers that price was a good clue to a counterfeit condom. One online shop based in Hunan province was offering Durex and Six Sense condoms at 15 yuan (£1.30) per pack of 12. The normal market price for Durex condoms in supermarkets and pharmacies is 49 yuan a pack.
The owner defended his products, before hanging up the telephone. "All my products are genuine and sourced from the authorised agencies of the manufacturers."
The temptation is high to turn out fakes in China -- whether DVDs, Louis Vuitton handbags or BMW cars -- due to the low cost of labour and raw materials and the difficulty for the police in tracking down such enormous and spread-out workshops.
Officials estimate that a third of all condoms in some areas are fake. The condom market in China is the fourth-largest in the world with annual sales of about two billion. The market is important in a country with a strict family planning policy that restricts urban families to one child per couple.
Note: From Foxnews.com, and I couldn't agree more!
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No doubt about it: The Nobel Prize committee has just done its brand significant long-term damage by awarding Barack Obama the peace prize.
Any prize --big or small-- courts controversy. People will always debate the worthiness of particular recipients and the criteria used to pick them.
But the reason everyone --right and left-- is so shocked about the Obama award is simple.
The Nobel Prize committee basically violated their core brand
characteristics and squandered 100 plus years of credibility in one
false move.
The Nobel Prize is retrospective --not prospective. It's all about achievement --what you've done. Not what you will do.
Unlike President Obama, the prize is not only about hope.
So let's look at this decision from the perspective of other Nobel prize categories.
Imagine a young scientist. A guy who has plenty of optimism. He's gotten great grades in school; his professors love him. Now he wants to cure cancer. Mind you, he hasn't even started the work he needs to do to cure cancer. In fact, there is no evidence beyond his optimism and energy that he will ever cure cancer. He doesn't even have any clear ideas about how to cure cancer.
Then imagine this guy being awarded the Nobel Prize. Fuggedaboutit. The science prize would lose all credibility. It would become a joke.
Now the peace prize is a little looser than the science prize, but bottom line --it's still about genuine achievement, not hope for future achievement.
So what's to be done? Well, the president's brand emerged as a winner amidst the Nobel Prize committee's fiasco. He handled this uncertain award gracefully, admitting right up front that he didn't deserve it and announcing that he would donate the prize money. Some are saying that he should reject the prize outright, but that would probably be a mistake. Why? Because it would essentially be a negative brand statement, and negative brand statements often have serious unintended consequences.
The road forward for the Nobel Prize itself is less certain. In addition to violating the core brand characteristics, there's what I call the "Wizard of Oz effect." Basically, the less people think about how a decision is made, the better. (It's like that old saying about politics and sausage making: it's best done out of sight.) As far as most people are concerned, the Nobel Prize has always been handed down from on high. But now we all know that it's chosen by five left-leaning Norwegians. We've seen behind the wizard's curtain, and we're not impressed.
The only way to undo the damage will be with time. The prize next year (and the year after that and the year after that) has got to be unassailable and re-assert the Nobel Peace Prize's brand essentials of achievement.
And hey, if they're lucky, Obama will live up to the potential they see in him and they'll all look like geniuses (and we'll forget the wizards pulling the levers behind the curtain).
And remember, the business of entertainment, politics and prize giving is always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.
John Tantillo is a marketing and branding expert. He is the founder and president of Marketing Department of America.
Before you watch this be warned it's pretty graphic. This
PSA really shows what can, and probably will happen, in a terrible
number of texting-while-driving cases.
The PSA was made by the Gwent police department and is part of a 30
minute movie.
The 65th Anniversary of D-Day on the Normandy Beaches
June 5th, 2009
Saturday, June 6th, marks the 65th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Allied troops departed England on planes and ships, made the trip across the English Channel and attacked the beaches of Normandy in an attempt to break through Hitler's "Atlantic Wall" and break his grip on Europe. Some 215,000 Allied soldiers, and roughly as many Germans, were killed or wounded during D-Day and the ensuing nearly three months it took to secure the Allied capture of Normandy. Commemoration events, from re-enactments to school concerts, were being held in seaside towns and along the five landing beaches that stretch across 50 miles (80 kilometers) of Normandy coastline. The big event is Saturday, when Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Canadian and British prime ministers and Prince Charles gather for a ceremony amid the rows of white crosses and Stars of David at the American cemetery, which is U.S. territory. (AP)
American Soldiers equiped with full pack and extra allotments of
ammunition, march down ian english street to their invasion craft for
embarkation on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower gives the order of the day "Full
victory - Nothing else" to paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division
at the Royal Air Force base in Greenham Common, England, three hours
before the men board their planes to participate in the first assault
wave of the invasion of the continent of Europe, June 5, 1944. (AP
Photo)
Lieutenant Harrie W. James, USNR, of New York, N.Y., briefs officers
and men who participated in landing operations during the invasion of
Southern France June 5, 1944 on the day before D-Day. (AP Photo)
Sight of a low-flying Allied plane sends Nazi soldiers rushing for
shelter on a beach in France, before D-Day June 1944. Their fears were
premature; the fliers were taking photos of German coastal barriers in
preparation for the invasion, which took place June 6. (AP Photo)
Airborne troops prepare for the descent on Europe of D-Day invasion June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
American paratroopers, heavily armed, sit inside a military plane as
they soar over the English Channel en route to the Normandy French
coast for the Allied D-Day invasion of the German stronghold during
World War II, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
U.S. paratroopers fix their static lines before a jump before dawn
over Normandy on D-Day June 6, 1944, in France. The decision to launch
the airborne attack in darkness instead of waiting for first light was
probably one of the few Allied missteps on June 6, and there was much
to criticize both in the training and equipment given to paratroopers
and glider-borne troops of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions.
Improvements were called for after the invasion; the hard-won knowledge
would be used to advantage later. (AP Photo/Army Signal Corps)
U.S. serviceman attend a Protestant service aboard a landing craft
before the D-Day invasion on the coast of France, June 5, 1944. (AP
Photo/Pete Carroll)
U.S. reinforcements wade through the surf from a landing craft in
the days following D-Day and the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied
France at Normandy in June 1944 during World War II. (AP Photo/Bert
Brandt)
After landing at the shore, these British troops wait for the signal
to move forward, during the initial Allied landing operations in
Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
Barrage balloons are used for aerial protection as part of the
invasion fleet, carrying men and supplies as they move across the
channel towards the French invasion coast. .(AP Photo /Peter Carroll )
This June 6, 1944 photo released by Nathan Kline, shows a B-26
Marauder flying toward France during the D-Day invasion. (AP Photo/
Courtesy of Nathan Kline)
Wounded British troops from the South Lancashire and Middlesex
regiments are being helped ashore at Sword Beach, June 6, 1944, during
the D-Day invasion of German occupied France during World War II. (AP
Photo)
American soldiers and supplies arrive on the shore of the French
coast of German-occupied Normandy during the Allied D-Day invasion on
June 6, 1944 in World War II. (AP Photo)
Carrying full equipment, American assault troops move onto a
beachhead code-named Omaha Beach, on the northern coast of France on
June 6, 1944, during the Allied invasion of the Normandy coast. (AP
Photo)
Sitting in the cover of their foxholes, American soldiers of the
Allied Expeditionary Force secure a beachhead during initial landing
operations at Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. In the background
amphibious tanks and other equipment crowd the beach, while landing
craft bring more troops and material ashore. (AP Photo/Weston Hayes)
Canadian troops in landing crafts approach a stretch of coastline
code-named Juno Beach, near Bernieres-sur-mer, as the Allied Normandy
invasion gets under way, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
Members of an American landing unit help their exhausted comrades
ashore during the Normandy invasion, June 6, 1944. The men reached the
zone code-named Utah Beach, near Sainte Mere Eglise, on a life raft
after their landing craft was hit and sunk by German coastal defenses.
(AP Photo)
A U.S. Coast Guard LCI, heavily listing to port, moves alongside a
transport ship to evacuate her troops, during the initial Normandy
landing operations in France, on June 6, 1944. Moments later the craft
will capsize and sink. Note that helmeted infantrymen, with full packs,
are all standing to starboard side of the ship. (AP Photo)
Men and assault vehicles storm the Normandy Beach of France, as
allied landing craft arrive at their destination on D-Day, June 6,
1944. Note men coming ashore in surf and vehicles starting inland. (AP
Photo)
Out of the open bow doors of a Landing Craft, American troops and
jeeps go ashore on the beach of the Normandy coast of France, June 6,
1944. (AP Photo)
Lt. William V. Patten, centre of group, wearing overseas cap, briefs
his crew at a port in England before the invasion of France began June
6, 1944. Patten and his ship are veterans of Tunisia, Salerno, Anzio
and Licata. (AP Photo)
Under the cover of naval shell fire, American infantrymen wade
ashore from their landing craft during the initial Normandy landing
operations in France, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/Peter Carroll)
A U.S. Coast Guard landing barge, tightly packed with helmeted
soldiers, approaches the shore at Normandy, France, during initial
Allied landing operations, June 6, 1944. These barges ride back and
forth across the English Channel, bringing wave after wave of
reinforcement troops to the Allied beachheads. (AP Photo)
Under heavy German machine gun fire, American infantrymen wade
ashore off the ramp of a Coast Guard landing craft on June 8, 1944,
during the invasion of the French coast of Normandy in World War II.
(AP Photo)
US assault troops approach Utah Beach in a barge, 06 June 1944 as
Allied forces storm the Normand beaches on D-Day. D-Day, is still one
of the world's most gut-wrenching and consequential battles, as the
Allied landing in Normandy led to the liberation of France which marked
the turning point in the Western theater of World War II. AFP PHOTO
A tribute to an unknown American soldier, who lost his life fighting
in the landing operations of the Allied Forces, marks the sand of
Normandy's shore, in June 1944. (AP Photo)
U.S. Army medical personnel administer a plasma transfusion to a wounded comrade, who survived when his landing craft went down off the coast of Normandy, France, in the early days of the Allied landing operations in June 1944. (AP Photo)
German prisoners of war are led away by Allied forces from Utah
Beach, on June 6, 1944, during landing operations at the Normandy
coast, France. (AP Photo)
U.S doughboys are brought ashore on the Northern Coast of France
following the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II on June 13,
1944. The exhausted soldiers on the rubber life raft are being pulled
by a group of comrades. (AP Photo/U.S. Army Signal Corps)
Allied forces camp out in fox holes, caves and tents on this
hillside overlooking the beach at Normandy, France, during the D-Day
invasion in World War II. (AP Photo/Bede Irvin)
One year after the D-Day landings in Normandy, a lone U.S. soldier
guards a knocked out German gun position on "Utah" Beach, France, May
28, 1945. (AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll)
One year after the D-Day landings in Normandy, German prisoners
landscape the area around a former German pill box at
Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, France, near "Omaha" Beach, May 28, 1945. The
pill box, with a knocked out gun still visible, will be made into a
monument dedicated to U.S. assault forces. (AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll)
One year after the D-Day landings in Normandy, German prisoners
landscape the first U.S. cemetery at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, France,
near "Omaha" Beach, May 28, 1945. (AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll)
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower stands on the cliff overlooking Omaha Beach
on the Normandy coast in France as he makes an anniversary visit to the
scene of the 1945 D-Day landing of the Allied troops, June 9, 1951. (AP
Photo)
Pointe du Hoc. Omaha Beach, pocked by D-Day bombardment. On June
6th. 1944, five Normandy beaches were stormed by British, Canadian and
American troops to free Europe from the German occupation. Ever since,
each year on June 6th, Normandy coast lures veterans and pilgrims. (Ph:
Alexandra BOULAT)
Pebbles with poppies painted on are seen on the beach of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer on June 5, 2009 during a ceremony in memory of Canadian troops which landed in 1944 at the Nan Red point on Saint-Aubin beach. Each poppy painted by students represents a soldier killed here during World War II. Preparations are underway for the upcoming D-Day celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 allied landings in France, then occupied by Nazi Germany. US President Barack Obama is to lead commemorations attended by thousands of Americans on June 6 at the ceremony above Omaha Beach, where more than 9,000 US troops fought and died in June 1944. (DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images)
Normandy veterans Frank Allen (R), 85, and Cyril Askew, 92, both
from Liverpool, England, look at the French coastline on a cross
channel ferry on June 4, 2009 from Portsmouth, England to Caen, France.
Several hundred of the remaining veterans of the Normandy campaign are
travelling to France to take part in commemorations to mark the 65th
anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1944. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty
Images)
The sun shines on headstones in the British Cemetery on June 5 2009
in Bayeux, France. Several hundred of the remaining veterans of the
Normandy campaign are travelling to France to take part in
commemorations to mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in
1944. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
British school children help to place 4000 Union Jack flags bearing
messages on Gold Beach on June 5, 2009 in Asnelles, France. The Royal
British Legion has raised £1.8 million for veterans and tomorrow on the
65th anniversary of the D-Day landings a further 6000 flags will be
placed on Gold beach, the location where British forces landed on 6th
June 1944. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
A US jeep drives by Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer beach, Normandy, western
France on June 4, 2009 during preparations for the upcoming D-Day
celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 allied
landings in France, then occupied by Nazi Germany. US President Barack
Obama is to lead commemorations attended by thousands of Americans on
June 6 at the ceremony above Omaha Beach, where more than 9,000 US
troops fought and died in June 1944. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
A US veteran wears his medals during a commemoration ceremony on
June 5, 2009 at the German Military Cemetery of La Cambe, Normandy.
Preparations are underway for the upcoming D-Day celebrations to mark
the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 allied landings in France,
then occupied by Nazi Germany. US President Barack Obama is to lead
commemorations attended by thousands of Americans on June 6 at the
ceremony above Omaha Beach, where more than 9,000 US troops fought and
died in June 1944. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
The German artillery battery situated at Longues-sur-Mer is a
classic example of the Atlantic Wall fortification. The actual guns are
still in place, west of Arromanches, installed by the Germans in
September, 1943. The Batterie is in an ideal position, 215 feet above
sea level and was well able to threaten the Invasion fleet. From late
1943 onwards, the site was bombed several times including two heavy
raids in the week before D-Day when 1500 tons of bombs were dropped on
it. (SIPA)
A child plays with a map of the landing beaches in the American
Cemetery of Colleville, western France, Thursday, June 4, 2009. U.S.
President Barack Obama will attend the 65th Anniversary of the D-day on
June 6th in Normandy. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
A US veteran takes pictures of German soldiers tombs during a
commemoration ceremony on June 5, 2009 at the German Military Cemetery
of La Cambe, Normandy. Preparations are underway for the upcoming D-Day
celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 allied
landings in France, then occupied by Nazi Germany. US President Barack
Obama is to lead commemorations attended by thousands of Americans on
June 6 at the ceremony above Omaha Beach, where more than 9,000 US
troops fought and died in June 1944. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
A remembrance cross left by British Royal Navy veteran, Harry
Buckley, 84, is pictured on the beach of Colleville-Montgomery on June
5, 2009 where he landed during the 1944 allied operations in France.
Preparations are underway for the upcoming D-Day celebrations to mark
the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 allied landings in France,
then occupied by Nazi Germany. US President Barack Obama is to lead
commemorations attended by thousands of Americans on June 6 at the
ceremony above Omaha Beach, where more than 9,000 US troops fought and
died in June 1944. (MYCHELE DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images)
British veteran John Lang, 90, visists the American cemetery on June
5, 2009 in Colleville-sur-Mer. Preparations are underway for the
upcoming D-Day celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the June 6,
1944 allied landings in France, then occupied by Nazi Germany. US
President Barack Obama is to lead commemorations attended by thousands
of Americans on June 6 at the ceremony above Omaha Beach, where more
than 9,000 US troops fought and died in June 1944. (MARCEL
MOCHET/AFP/Getty Images)
The broad sands of Utah Beach lead to a country side scarred by
remains of German fortification. On June 6th, 1944, five Normandy
beaches were stormed by British, Canadian and American troops to free
Europe from the German occupation. Ever since, each year on June 6th,
Normandy coast lures veterans and pilgrims. (Ph: Alexandra BOULAT)
A bird is seen at the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer,
Normandy, western France, on June 4, 2009 as take place the
preparations of the ceremonies commemorating the 65th anniversary of
the D-Day Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy. US President
Barack Obama will meet his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and
attend a ceremony at a cliff-top US war cemetery. British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, Prince Charles and Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper will also attend the solemn commemoration at
Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks the US landing zone dubbed, Omaha
Beach. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
The remains of the World War II Mulberry dock at Arromanches in
Normandy. The Mulberry dock consisted of a huge pre-fabricated steel
and concrete landing system, built in England and towed by ship across
the Channel, greatly aiding the allied landings at Arromanches in 1944.
(SIPA)
D-Day veteran George Taylor (left), 86, a Sapper in the Royal Engineers during World War Two, with Percy Lewis of the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, walk along the beach in Arromanches, France, ahead of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings on Saturday. Picture date: Thursday June 4, 2009. Thousands of Second World War veterans landed in Normandy today in a peaceful invasion of the beaches where they fought for the greatest victory in naval history on D-Day 65 years ago. (Gareth Fuller/PA)
Eric Toylon (right), a 6th Airbourne glider pilot during World War
Two shares his memories with war enthusiasts during a wreath laying
ceremony at the Bayeux Military Cemetery in Normandy, France, ahead of
tomorrow's 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. (Gareth Fuller/PA)
British paratroopers from the 3rd Parachute Battailon, England, land
in a wheat field outside the village of Ranville, near Caen, Western
France, Friday, June 5, 2009, as troops re-enact part of the bloody
allied landings of D-Day, the Allied armada which fought its way inland
in the unfolding World War II Battle of Normandy, France. President
Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend with
other leaders the 65th Anniversary of the D-day landings on June 6 in
Normandy. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
British Royal Navy veteran, Harry Buckley, 84, wipes his tears on
the beach of Colleville-Montgomery on June 5, 2009 where he landed
during the 1944 allied operations in France. Preparations are underway
for the upcoming D-Day celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the
June 6, 1944 allied landings in France, then occupied by Nazi Germany.
US President Barack Obama is to lead commemorations attended by
thousands of Americans on June 6 at the ceremony above Omaha Beach,
where more than 9,000 US troops fought and died in June 1944. (MYCHELE
DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images)
American War Cemetery, Arial view of the landing beaches. (SIPA)
Note: Unbelievable. I guess just thumbing our noses is now the correct way to win the hearts and minds.
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A U.S. Embassy in a Muslim country has sponsored an event to celebrate the homosexual lifestyle.
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A U.S. Embassy in a Muslim country has sponsored an event to celebrate the homosexual lifestyle.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality,
says homosexual activism at U.S. embassies was prevalent during the
Bush administration, but it has gone a step further under the Obama
administration.
"This is insanity to rub America's gay pride in the face of a country
filled with Muslims who reject homosexuality as shameful," he contends.
"It is bad foreign policy, bad diplomacy, and it's another reason for
these people to hate the United States."
LaBarbera says the American gay pride event in Iraq gives the Arab
press yet another opportunity to criticize American decadence.
Note: Not good! This is my primary means of off road (ATV) navigation and geocaching.
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AP
An artist's rendering of a U.S. Air Force Navstar Global Positioning System satellite.
Mismanagement and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force could possibly lead to the failure and blackout of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a federal watchdog agency says.
The risk of failure starts in 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report quoted by PC World.
The failure would impact not only military operations, but also the millions of people and businesses who rely on the satellite-based navigation systems built into cars, boats and cell phones.
"If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to," the GAO report states.
The report says the Air Force has struggled to build successful GPS satellites within cost and on schedule.
Reuters
The world's intelligence agencies and defense experts are quietly acknowledging that North Korea has become a fully fledged nuclear power with the capacity to wipe out entire cities in Japan and South Korea, the Times of London reported.
The new reality has emerged in off-hand remarks and in single sentences buried in lengthy reports. Increasing numbers of authoritative experts -- from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the U.S. Defense Secretary -- are admitting that North Korea has miniaturized nuclear warheads to the extent that they can be launched on medium-range missiles, according to intelligence briefings.
This puts it ahead of Iran in the race for nuclear attack capability and seriously alters the balance of power between North Korea's large but poorly equipped military and the South Korean and U.S. forces ranged against it. "North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact," the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said this week. "I don't like to accept any country as a nuclear weapon state we have to face reality."
North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test in 2006 but until recently foreign governments believed that such nuclear devices were useless as weapons because they were too unwieldy to be mounted on a missile.
With 13,000 artillery pieces buried close to the border between the two Koreas, and chemical and biological warheads, it was always understood that the North could inflict significant conventional damage on Seoul, the South Korean capital. Military planners had calculated, however, that it could not strike outside the peninsula.
Now North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, has the potential to kill millions in Japan as well as the South, and to lay waste U.S. bases and airfields in both countries. It will force military strategists to rethink plans for war in Korea and significantly increase the potential costs of any intervention in a future Korean war. The shift from acknowledging North Korea's nuclear weapons development program to recognizing it as a fully fledged nuclear power is highly controversial. South Korea, in particular, resists the reclassification because it could give the North greater leverage in negotiations.
Note: I sincerely hope this report is incorrect and the're over-doing the numbers for their own agenda (raising capital for the Fund).
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NPR.org, April 22, 2009 · The world economy is likely to shrink this year for the first time in six decades.
The International Monetary Fund projected the 1.3 percent drop in a dour forecast released Wednesday. That could leave at least 10 million more people around the world jobless, some private economists said.
"By any measure, this downturn represents by far the deepest global recession since the Great Depression," the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook. "All corners of the globe are being affected."
The new forecast of a decline in global economic activity for 2009 is much weaker than the 0.5 percent growth the IMF had estimated in January.
Big factors in the gloomier outlook: It's expected to take longer than previously thought to stabilize world financial markets and get credit flowing freely again to consumers and businesses. Doing so will be necessary to lift the U.S., and the global economy, out of recession.
Continue reading IMF: World Economy Poised For Big Drop In 2009.
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