IF all goes well, this year a remote-controlled portable airplane will be taking to the air over Southern California, providing a low-cost eye in the sky for law enforcement.Chang Industry of La Verne, Calif., is one of dozens of companies working on portable unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.'s, that can be equipped with cameras to transmit live video feeds to law enforcement officers on the ground, miles away. While larger and more sophisticated unmanned aircraft have been in use by the military for several years, this new breed of U.A.V.'s is small enough to be transported in the trunk of a patrol car, for example, assembled and flown by officers near a developing crime scene -NY Times

nternational travelers will soon be able to zip through JFK Airport with the blink of an eye.The airport will be home to a new pilot program that uses high-tech eye scans to speed pre-registered passengers through security and customs checkpoints -NY Post

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has severed contacts with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas until he acts against militants, a Sharon spokesman said Friday.

Thus far, the "global war on terrorism" has been focused on the use of military force. The lone superpower is finding out the hard way that it is easy to win victory on the battlefield, but it is very difficult to convert the vanquished country.Such is the nature of the forecast issued on Thursday by the National Intelligence Council, a report that is considered a consensus of US intelligence agencies. It gives Iraq prime mention, and states that the war in that country could provide an important training ground for terrorists -Ehsan Ahrari/Asia Times

Three dozen of the United States' most prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders have issued an appeal to President George W Bush to appoint a high-level special envoy to work full-time on promoting peace talks between the governments of Israel and the Palestinian Authority -Jim Lobe/Asia Times

The United States is cutting aid to Serbia and Montenegro and may take further punitive measures if Belgrade persists in defying the United Nations war crimes tribunal, the U.S. ambassador to Serbia warned on Friday

Evidence and other witnesses supported complaints by a fired FBI contract linguist who alleged shoddy work and possible espionage within the bureau's translator program after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to a report Friday from the Justice Department's senior oversight official.The department's inspector general, Glenn Fine, said the allegations by former translator Sibel Edmonds ``raised substantial questions and were supported by various pieces of evidence.'' Fine said the FBI still has not adequately investigated the claims

Ukraine's Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear an appeal of the outcome of last month's presidential election, pushing president-elect Viktor Yushchenko's inauguration into next week at the earliest.Former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who lost the vote by eight percentage points, has asked the court to order a new election, although he says he has no hope of success

Secret ballots are the cornerstone of any democratic process. But little more than two weeks before Iraq's first free elections on Jan. 30, the country is finding that secrecy is being taken to new heights. The identities of many of the candidates haven't been publicly disclosed and are likely to remain secret until after election day, an illustration of the difficulty in mounting an election amid war.

A former navy officer who said he pushed dissidents out of planes during Argentina's "Dirty War" went on trial on Friday, becoming the first person to be tried in Spain for crimes against humanity in another country. With the case, Spain joins the growing number of countries that have decided to let their courts judge human-rights crimes elsewhere, regardless of the nationality of the accused -CBC News CA

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank.

John Dean argues that Bybee's stance in the memo not only was plainly contrary to law, but could actually itself be evidence of a war crime: a common plan to evade the law. Dean also questions Bybee's fitness to serve on the federal bench, now that the memo (not available at the time of Bybee's confirmation hearing) has come to light -FindLaw

This past Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court finally issued its long-awaited opinion in United States v. Booker.One of the Court's holdings is straightforward: The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines violate the Sixth Amendment to the extent that they allow judicial -- rather than jury -- factfinding to form the basis for sentencing.The other holding is far from straightforward.It allows the Guidelines to survive, but only as "advisory," not mandatory, rules for federal judges -Mark H. Allenbaugh /FindLaw

Shed of their black robes, Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer engaged in a lively and, at times, amusing debate Thursday over whether foreign court rulings should be used in U.S. decisions -USA Today

If a military draft becomes necessary, approximately 2,000 local and appeal boards throughout the nation would decide which young men in each community receive deferments.

Saboteurs have fired a Katuysha rocket on an oil pipeline complex in northern Iraq, setting off a fire that will take days to control, witnesses and oil officials said.

Saudi Arabia ha a major crisis – workers willing to stay and work in the oil industry. The perception among the foreign workers are so bad that that the Saudi Government is slowly getting panicked.

Deadly storms that pummeled California earlier this month probably cost the state more than $100 million in damage to homes, roads and farms, according to experts still tallying the bill. Damage estimates for just the state's highways and interstate system come to about $50 million, said CalTrans spokesman David Anderson. "As more assessments are made we expect that number to climb," he said Thursday.

Rep. Charles Rangel intends to reintroduce legislation calling for resumption of the draft during the current Congressional term. Rangel, it will be recalled, was the author of the notorious HR 163, the "universal" conscription bill that became a political football during the 2004 Presidential campaign. When charges that Bush would reinstate the draft emerged as a red-hot election issue last October, HR 163 became a liability for the Kerry campaign -- whereupon Rangel's bill was rushed to the floor and summarily voted down by a huge majority. For tactical reasons even the bill's sponsors, including Rangel, voted against it. With the election over, the way is clear for politicians on both sides of the aisle to get behind the draft, and Rep. Rangel will likely be leading the charge. According to Galvin's memo, CCW officers were told in a Dec. 21 meeting with Rangel's legislative director, Emile Milne, that Rangel will "probably introduce similar legislation" in the 2005 term.

A new Harris Poll measures the levels of trust which Americans have in important institutions, and compares the results with those in a virtually identical European survey. For many institutions the levels of trust, or distrust, on both sides of the Atlantic were similar. There were also some striking differences. Americans showed much less trust than Europeans in the media and in the United Nations. On the other hand, Americans, more than Europeans, trust religious institutions. Both Americans and Europeans had relatively high levels of trust in their police and military. Both Americans and Europeans had very little trust in political parties, their governments, trade unions and big business.

The Army, stretched thin by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is dipping into one of its last resources for wartime duty: retirees on a military pension. The Army is expanding a little-known program to bring back retired officers and enlisted soldiers who expressed a willingness to join again, particularly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Army command last month issued a draft proposal asking for a study of how nuclear weapons might be used on national missile defense interceptors, but a spokesman said the idea will go no further. "The draft is being revised," said John Cummings, spokesman for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Ala. "It was a mistake." Congress has outlawed research on and development of nuclear-armed missile interceptors since 2003.

An Iranian agent was arrested yesterday in Kuwait for ties to recent al-Qaida-related attacks in several Middle Eastern countries, according to a popular Mideast radio network. Sawa Radio, which broadcasts throughout the Middle East, reported the unnamed Iranian agent was apprehended by Kuwaiti security forces after intelligence implicated his involvement in an al-Qaida terror network with prior information on recent attacks in Saudi Arabia.

"Chertoff was minority counsel in the first Senate investigation related to the death of Vincent Foster and majority special counsel in the second such Senate investigation. As any open-minded person the least bit familiar with the Foster case can see, it was decided in advance that nothing would come out of either investigation. Neither of them, in fact, had the stated purpose of even determining whether or not there was foul play in Foster's death, a fact which has not prevented defenders of the official suicide-from-depression line from representing them as among the 'numerous' Foster death investigations that ruled out murder."

Newly arriving powers "have the potential to render obsolete the old categories of East and West, North and South.'' The unclassified forecasts offer a range of scenarios about the world 15 years on. Officials caution they are not meant to be predictions certain to come true but rather long-term outlooks designed to stimulate debate.The council predicts an emergence of new global players — almost certainly China and India — but whether these new players fit into the world co-operatively or competitively remains an important uncertainty for the U.S

On January 7, 2005, President Bush issued an Executive Order to form an advisory committee "to assist in reforming the Federal Internal Revenue Code to benefit all Americans." Under Mr. Bush's new executive order, "The Advisory Panel shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury a report containing policy options in accordance with section 3 of this order as soon as practicable, but not later than July 31, 2005." It looks like with this time table, the American people will be waiting until mid-summer to find out what recommendations this newly formed panel submits in its report to the president -NewsWithViews

Juries, Bush wailed, are handing out such massive judgments to patients who sue that entire hospitals, groups of doctors, and other medical businesses are shutting down. Problem is, it just ain't so -Jim Hightower/AlterNet

Human Rights Watch says the US can no longer claim to defend human rights abroad if it practises abuses itself -BBC

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, an architect of the U.S. war with Iraq in 1991, is advising the Bush administration to consider a phased withdrawal of some of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.Otherwise, Baker says, the United States risks being suspected of having an "imperial design" in the region

“Many Americans don’t realize that Social Security benefits were not taxed until the 1980s,” Paul stated. “When the program was created in the 1930s, Congress never intended to treat Social Security benefits as taxable income. Those benefits are funded by taxes in the first place, so it’s nonsensical to tax them as ordinary income to raise revenue. The whole process is nothing more than a circular subterfuge that allows Congress to reduce Social Security benefits by stealth. Nobody in Congress claims they want to reduce benefits, but that’s exactly what happens when benefits are taxed.” -Rep.Ron Paul M.D.

The pressure is increasing for a probe into payments made to media commentator Armstrong Williams to promote the Bush administration education law

A U.S. Congressional delegation met North Korean officials Thursday in an effort to persuade the communist regime to rejoin six-party talks over halting its nuclear weaponsprograms.President Roh Moo-hyun said he expected the six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs to resume after the inauguration of President Bush. The last talks were held in June

It sounds like the ultimate bridge over troubled water. After more than half a century of estrangement, China and Taiwan could be linked by road within 30 years under ambitious plans unveiled in Beijing yesterday.The mainland and the island - which Beijing considers a renegade province after it became home to fleeing nationalists at the end of the civil war in 1949 - still have no direct mail, air or trade links -Guardian UK

Yet again, Mummy appears to have saved Mark Thatcher, paying his fine and playing a key role in the plea bargain, according to South African police sources. Kim Sengupta and Karyn Maughan in Cape Town report on the latest chapter in the career of the former premier's only son -Independent UK

As the nation prepares for President Bush's inauguration next week, privacy activists on both sides of the political spectrum are bracing for a White House push to augment controversial domestic surveillance powers gained under the Patriot Act and other legislation passed since 9/11. "The administration has made it clear that they do intend to continue their move to dramatically reduce privacy and constitutional protection for our citizens," said former Republican congressman Bob Barr, who now works as a speaker and consultant to organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. But surveillance legislation isn't the only concern on the minds of privacy advocates. They're also looking at technologies and services coming out of the commercial sector that could seriously affect civil liberties. Some of the important issues to watch this year are: Patriot Act enhancements; data mining; National ID; privacy legislation and states' rights; DNA databases; RFID tags.

Fueled by U.S. trade deficit dollars, China continues to invest in oil-rich countries.

By the end of 2005, the U.S. could be entering some of the most significant new trade agreements in decades, or bowing out of the biggest one of all -- the World Trade Organization. (For more information on the threats to our national independence posed by NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA, and the WTO, log on to STOPtheFTAA.org.)

Chinese security agents raided a news conference organized by visiting South Korean legislators Wednesday, shutting off the lights in a hotel meeting room and forcibly ejecting several foreign journalists.

Congress may renew the so-called Violence Against Women Act, a monstrous piece of feminist social engineering.