(HAARETZ|DPA) — Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday vowed to stand by Lebanon’ side against any Israeli “aggression,” in an escalating war of words between Damascus and Jerusalem. Assad made the remark to the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Beri, in Damascus, according to the official Syrian news agency, Sana. Assad’s statement followed that of... »

(THE TELEGRAPH) — For the third time in 18 months the global financial system risks spinning out of control unless political leaders take immediate and radical action. Flow data shows an abrupt withdrawal of German and Asian capital from Club Med debt markets. The EU’s refusal to offer Greece anything beyond stern words and a... »

(HARTFORD COURANT) — Early reports were that a natural gas leak could have caused a devastating explosion Sunday morning that killed two and injured as many as 100 at a power plant being built south of the city on the Connecticut River. Homeowners more than 10 miles away said the 11 a.m. explosion at the... »

TEHRAN (AFP) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered Iran’s atomic chief to begin higher uranium enrichment, raising the stakes in a dispute with the West days after seeming to accept a UN-drafted nuclear deal. Defiant Ahmadinejad orders higher uranium enrichment – Yahoo! News. »

(WASHINGTON POST) — Even the pros are taking a beating. The Mortgage Bankers Association, its membership expert in real estate, sold its $90 million headquarters in downtown Washington on Friday for $41 million. via Mortgage bankers group sells D.C. offices to Bethesda company – washingtonpost.com. »

(NEWS.COM.AU) — THE world’s top central bankers began arriving in Australia yesterday as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets. Representatives from 24 central banks and monetary authorities including the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank landed in Sydney to meet tomorrow at a secret location, the... »

(WIRED) — The Pentagon’s mad science arm may have come up with its most radical project yet. DARPA is looking to re-write the laws of evolution to the military’s advantage, creating “synthetic organisms” that can live forever — or can be killed with the flick of a molecular switch. As part of its budget for... »

(Wired) – The company once known for its “don’t be evil” motto is now in bed with the spy agency known for the mass surveillance of American citizens.The National Security Agency is widely understood to have the government’s biggest and smartest collection of geeks — the guys that are more skilled at network warfare... »

(Universe Today) – Pluto-philes (and astronomers, too) have always bemoaned the fact that the best image of the principal dwarf planet wase just a fuzzy, pixelized haze. Bemoan no more. The most detailed look to date of the entire surface of Pluto has been constructed from hundreds of images taken by the Hubble Space... »

(San Jose Mercury News) – A 6.0 earthquake struck about 35 miles off the coast of Northern California this afternoon, about one month after a major quake off the coast rocked the communities along California's rugged northern coast. via Millennium Ark: Hot News. »

(OpEdNews.com) – As sure as the sun rises, so Verichip keeps spawning and shape shifting to gain market acceptance as people from across the globe unite and reject the IBM seed-funded, Raytheon-manufactured Human Implantable microchip company. via OpEdNews – Article: Verichip is now called PositiveID! Roll up your sleeve for the implantable human microchip, it’s... »

(CHURCH EXECUTIVE) — A Doritos chip commercial made by a Southern California megachurch is among the final top six contestants battling it out for a commercial spot during the Super Bowl. Mosaic Church, with main campuses in the Los Angeles area, beat out more than 4,000 entries in the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” contest... »