US to Train Several Thousand Libyan Soldiers

The Pentagon is planning to train 5,000 to 8,000 Libyan soldiers in the continuing effort to improve security in the North African nation.

Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren says the Army will train the troops in Bulgaria on basic, general purpose skills. He says Washington-Tripoli talks are still underway to figure out the exact number of Libyans to be trained and when the program will start.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-train-thousand-libyan-soldiers-20925255

Just what we need, our own militia in Libya.

NYC bans tobacco sales to anyone under age 21

Source: AP

Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed landmark legislation Tuesday banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21, making New York the first large city or state in the country to prohibit sales to young adults.

During a brief ceremony at City Hall, Bloomberg said raising the legal purchase age from 18 to 21 will help prevent young people from experimenting with tobacco at the age when they are most likely to become addicted. City health officials say 80 percent of smokers start before age 21.

The mayor, a former smoker, also signed companion legislation setting a minimum price for all cigarettes sold in the city: $10.50 per pack. The same new law bans retailers from offering coupons, 2-for-1 specials, or discounts.

In signing the bills, Bloomberg turned away criticism from some retailers that the measures would be economically harmful and lead to job losses.

"This is an issue of whether we are going to kill people," Bloomberg said. People who raise the economic argument, he said, "really out to look in the mirror and be ashamed."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/medical/article/NYC-bans-tobacco-sales-to-anyone-under-age-21-4992650.php

Bitcoin hits $750, up 107% in a week

Bitcoin touched a fresh all-time high on Monday as the digital currency continued to gain favor with investors.

The virtual currency rose to $750 on Mt. Gox exchange Monday afternoon, up 42 percent from Sunday's close and up 107 percent from a week earlier.

Its latest gains come as the potential for regulation hangs over the market. The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) began a hearing at 3.00 p.m. Washington time on Monday. The event brought representatives from different federal agencies and representatives from the bitcoin community to discuss virtual currencies.

Ahead of the hearing, entitled "Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies", several government agencies wrote to the committee outlining their views on the currency. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the bank had no plans to regulate bitcoin.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101205416

Bitcoin has appreciated rapidly over the past year; as of Monday, the value has increased more than 50-fold from $11.00 in mid-November 2012.

Bitcoin dives 30% after touching record $900

Bitcoin dived more than 30 percent early Tuesday Asia time, after briefly touching a record high of $900.

The virtual currency fell to as low as $585 on the Mt. Gox Exchange, before rebounding to around $750.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101208682

Latest Release of Documents on N.S.A. Includes 2004 Ruling on Email Surveillance

The Obama administration released hundreds of pages of newly declassified documents related to National Security Agency surveillance late Monday, including an 87-page ruling in which the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court first approved a program to systematically track Americans’ emails during the Bush administration.

“The raw volume of the proposed collection is enormous,” wrote Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who was then the chief judge on the secret surveillance court. The government censored the date of her ruling in the publicly released document, and many sections — including a description of what she had been told about terrorism threats — were heavily redacted.

The ruling was among a trove of documents that were declassified and made public by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, including those by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Freedom Foundation.

Many of the documents have historic significance, showing how Bush administration surveillance programs that were initially conducted without court oversight and outside statutory authorization were brought under the authority of the surveillance court and subjected to oversight rules. The documents also included reports to Congress, training slides and regulations issued under President Obama.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/us/latest-release-of-documents-on-nsa-includes-2004-ruling-on-email-surveillance.html

Links to the documents http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/67419963949/dni-clapper-declassifies-additional-intelligence

Palestine casts 1st vote at UNGA as observer state

Source: Kuwaiti News Agency

The State of Palestine on Monday cast its first vote at the UN General Assembly to elect one judge for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a move its Ambassador Riyadh Mansour saw as a step closer to recognize the Observer State as a full UN member.

Koffi Kumelio Afande, of Togo, was elected to the court. In accordance with the Statute of the ICTY, non-member states have the right to nominate judges and participate in the election procedures equal to all UN member states; they cannot vote on other UNGA resolutions.

Palestine became an observer state last November 29. "This is an important step in our march for freedom and independence and full membership of the United Nations," Mansour told the Assembly after it stood in applause as he cast his vote despite Israeli and US objections.

Read more: http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2345235&Language=en

Miffed at Obama over Iran, Netanyahu cozies up to France's Hollande (+video)

Much as a jilted friend demonstrates his pique by publicly cultivating new relationships, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is showcasing his fury with President Obama and his policy on Iran by embracing French President – and Iran hardliner – Francois Hollande.

When Mr. Netanyahu declared to Mr. Hollande Sunday at the outset of the French leader’s three-day visit to Israel that “Your support and your friendship is real, it’s sincere,” the words sounded as much like a message to Washington about the Israeli leader’s deep distrust of Mr. Obama’s pursuit of a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran as anything else.

But just in case the message wasn’t clear enough, Netanyahu added in his heaping of praise on Hollande that “You were one out of six” to stand firm last week against the conclusion of an interim deal with Iran over its nuclear program that Netanyahu said would have been “good for Iran” but “really bad for the rest of the world.”

The “six” Netanyahu was referring to are the half-dozen powers negotiating with Iran to curb its nuclear program and halt its march toward an ability to build a nuclear weapon – and of course includes the US. Thus in Netanyahu’s view the US was one five powers that were ready to sign a “really bad” deal with Iran.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2013/1118/Miffed-at-Obama-over-Iran-Netanyahu-cozies-up-to-France-s-Hollande-video

'It was like being in Paradise. I felt only love'

The shockingly disfigured man, whose full-body tumours were lovingly kissed by the Pope, has been revealed as a 53-year-old Italian suffering from a rare genetic disease.

Vinicio Riva’s entire body has been ravaged by the growths, a symptom of neorofibramatosis, which is not contagious.

Earlier this month his picture shot round the world, when he was emotionally embraced by Pope Francis, at one of the pontiff’s weekly audiences in Rome.

The severely disabled man, who is shunned in the street, and has induced horror even in his doctors, has for the first time described the encounter, saying that being caressed by Francis was like ‘being in Paradise’.

He told Italian news magazine Panorama he was left speechless when Pope did not hesitate to touch him.

He said: ‘His hands were so soft. And his smile was so clear and open. But the thing that struck me most is that there has not been thinking about whether or not to hug me. I'm not contagious, but he did not know. But he just did it: he caressed me all over my face, and as he did I felt only love.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2509528/Vinicio-Riva-disfigured-man-met-Pope.html

The U.S. may be hitting its ethanol limit. So EPA wants to relax its biofuels goals.

When it comes to ethanol, the United States may have reached its limit — at least for now.

Back in 2007, Congress passed a law that would require the nation to use more and more ethanol and other biofuels each year. But for reasons of chemistry and economics, those targets are becoming increasingly difficult to fulfill.

That helps explain why, on Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency took the unusual step of proposing to cut its biofuels targets for next year. The agency will require gasoline refiners to use just 15.2 billion gallons of biofuels in 2014 — down from 16.55 billion gallons this year. The new target is 14 percent lower than the original goal envisioned by Congress.

The EPA's move is a victory for gasoline refineries, which have long argued that the original targets were unworkable. And it's a fairly big setback for the biofuels industry, at least for the time being.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/15/the-u-s-is-hitting-its-ethanol-limit-so-the-epa-will-weaken-its-biofuels-rules/

Inspiration for your quiet place somewhere.

Jeremy Hammond, hacker for Anonymous, sentenced to 10 years

Source: Washington Post

A Chicago computer hacker tied to the group known as Anonymous was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for cyberattacks on various government agencies and businesses, including a global intelligence company.

Jeremy Hammond, 28, was handed the maximum term for the December 2011 hacking of Strategic Forecasting, an attack his lawyers contend was driven by concern about the role of private firms in gathering intelligence domestically and abroad.

Prosecutors say the hack of Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor, resulted in the theft of 60,000 credit card numbers and records for 860,000 clients, which were then uploaded online. Hammond admitted being behind it in May.

He also admitted to hacking several law enforcement agencies and organizations, including the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and releasing personal details of officers as part of an attack by the Anonymous-affiliated group LulzSec.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jeremy-hammond-hacker-for-anonymous-sentenced-to-10-years/2013/11/15/1935198c-4e33-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html