Quick News-Bytes:Moved from Politics Forum

Pentagon Drills For Nuke Terror

When authorities tried to arrest a terrorist discovered unloading an improvised nuclear weapon in the port of Charleston, S.C., the bomb was detonated, killing 10,000, injuring 30,000 and exposing as many as 100,000 to high levels of radiation. That was the scenario at the center of a nuclear terrorism drill, completed this week, one involving thousands of civilians, military personnel and local and federal officials. "Sudden Respond 05" was designed to simulate a nuclear terrorist attack that the highest U.S. officials, including President Bush, have said is the No. 1 threat facing the nation. The drill, one of many like it scheduled around the country, was not designed to stop a nuclear terrorist attack but to deal with its devastating aftermath. Drills in other parts of the country will focus on 15 other scenarios involving the detonation of terrorist weapons of mass destruction.



Pentagon to Increase Domestic Surveillance for Counterterrorism

The Department of Defense has developed a new strategy in counterterrorism that would increase military activities on American soil, particularly in the area of intelligence gathering. The move is sparking concern among civil liberties advocates and those who fear an encroaching military role in domestic law enforcement. In an argument that eerily foreshadowed the July London terror attacks, the Pentagon in late June announced its "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Support," which would expand its reach domestically to prevent "enemy attacks aimed at Americans here at home."



China stocks nukes as anti-U.S. tactic

China is building up its nuclear forces as part of a secret strategy targeting the United States, according to a former Chinese diplomat. China's strategy calls for "proactive defense," and senior Chinese Communist Party leaders think that building nuclear arms is the key to countering U.S. power in Asia and other parts of the world, said Chen Yonglin, a diplomat who defected to Australia two months ago. A recent comment by a Chinese general shows that Beijing's leaders are prepared to launch "a pre-emptive attack on the country considered a huge threat to China," Mr. Chen said. Chinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told reporters two weeks ago that China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against "hundreds" of U.S. cities if a conflict breaks out over Taiwan.



Europe to become world power - to keep America in check

Tony Blair's hopes of healing the rift between Europe and America after the re-election of President George W Bush were quickly dashed, as France led calls for a rival European superpower to confront Washington. Reacting to Mr Bush's victory, Michel Barnier, the French foreign minister, said four more years of a unilateralist administration in Washington required Europe to develop its own diplomatic and defence machinery. "Our world needs several powers. We are in the process of gathering the pieces and the will to become another power,"



EU looks to build military power to back up foreign policy

The initiatives from the newly-created European Defence Agency represent the EU's first step in military research and development. They are aimed at transforming the EU from being solely a political power, in charge of policies such as agriculture and trade, to a military one, capable of sending troops around the world to enforce a foreign policy agreed by its member states.



Plans for EU diplomatic service can officially begin

Today's formal signature of the European Constitution means that plans for an EU diplomatic service can officially begin. It is meant to be up and running in two years which will be a back-up to the new EU foreign minister foreseen in the Constitution. While foreign ministries in the individual member states have been preparing their thoughts on the new service - the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has also been active. Mr Solana, who will become the EU foreign minister when the Constitution comes in to place.



Iran threat: Attack by West risks all 'Middle East oil'

Iran has warned that Gulf Arab oil would be endangered by any U.S. attack on the Islamic republic. In the first such threat, a leading Iranian official raised the prospect of Iranian retaliation against Middle East oil exports. The official said such Gulf oil states as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia could be threatened. "An attack on Iran will be tantamount to endangering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and – in a word – the entire Middle East oil," Iranian Expediency Council secretary Mohsen Rezai said this week. About 40 percent of the world's crude oil shipments passes through the two-mile wide channel of the strategic Straits of Hormuz. Iranian forces are deployed at the head of the channel. Oman and the United Arab Emirates are located on the other side.



Russia Developing New Mystery Nuclear Missile

President Vladimir Putin said this week that Russia is developing a new form of nuclear missile unlike those held by other countries, news agencies reported. Earlier this year, a senior Defense Ministry official was quoted as telling news agencies that Russia had developed a weapon that could make the United States' proposed missile-defense system useless. Details were not given, but military analysts said the claimed new weapon could be a hypersonic cruise missile or maneuverable ballistic missile warheads.



Russia, China To Hold Joint War Games

Nearly 10,000 troops are to take part in unprecedented joint military exercises by China and Russia this month aimed at strengthening ties between the armed forces of two powers that were once bitter foes. The scale of the exercises, which will involve land, air, naval, paratroop and marine forces, underlines the determination of Beijing and Moscow to expand a military relationship that has blossomed over the past 15 years. The war games reflect strengthening ties between Russia and China over shared concerns about U.S. dominance of world affairs.



FDA Approves Use of Chip Implants in Humans

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for storing medical information. With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and requires no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it.



Security law would unlock Net

The federal cabinet will review new legislation this fall that would give police and security agencies vast powers to begin surveillance of the Internet without court authority. The new measures would allow law enforcement agents to intercept personal e-mails, text messages and possibly even password-secure Web sites used for purchasing and financial transactions. "I think it's the kind of legislation that is literally going to shock millions of Canadians," University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist said.



RFID wristbands used for cashless payment

"Smart Kiosk is a money loading device that works similar to ATM machines, but instead, funds are transferred onto patrons' RFID wristbands," comments Victor LaRosa , PDC RFID Manager. "It is part of the latest cashless payment technology which is practical for water and amusement parks where patrons don't like to carry wallets, and loose cash can get wet or lost. It provides an added convenience for both park owners and patrons." The system helps increase throughput at concession stands, reducing long lines that often deter patrons from making additional purchases. Most of the time spent waiting in lines is attributed to the financial transactions of handling and counting cash or processing credit cards - that is now practically eliminated.



China's thirst for oil gets into top gear

China is not the biggest oil consumer in the world, that prize goes to America, nor is it the biggest importer - which is also the USA. What China outdoes the rest of the world at is the growth of its appetite. Ten years ago China imported no oil at all. Last year it overtook Japan to become the world's second biggest importer. Its thirst continues to grow. Imports are expected to rise another 40% this year. China's appetite for oil shows no sign of slowing. Today China has 10 million private cars - by 2020 that number will be 120 million.



Natural disasters 'on the rise'

More and more people are being caught up in a growing number of natural disasters, a UN agency said this week. It said 254 million people were affected by natural hazards last year - nearly three times as many as in 1990. Events including earthquakes and volcanoes, floods and droughts, storms, fires and landslides killed about 83,000 people in 2003, up from about 53,000 deaths 13 years earlier.



Planet drying up: U.N.

The world is turning to dust, with lands about half the size of Prince Edward Island becoming desert wasteland every year and the problem threatening to send millions of people fleeing to greener countries, the United Nations says. One-third of the Earth's surface is at risk, driving people into cities and destroying agriculture in vast swaths of Africa. Thirty-one per cent of Spain is threatened, while China has lost 93,000 square kilometers to desert - an area the size of Indiana - since the 1950s. By 2025, two-thirds of arable land in Africa will disappear, along with one-third of Asia's and one-fifth of South America's. Some 135 million people - equivalent to the populations of France and Germany combined - are at risk of being displaced.