(SEATTLE TIMES / AP) — The discovery of large natural gas reserves under the waters of the eastern Mediterranean could potentially mean a huge economic windfall for Israel and Lebanon, both resource-poor nations – if it doesn’t spark new war between them.

The Hezbollah militant group has blared warnings that Israel plans to steal natural gas from Lebanese territory and vows to defend the resources with its arsenal of rockets. Israel says the fields it is developing do not extend into Lebanese waters, a claim experts say appears to be correct, but the maritime boundary between the two countries – still officially at war – has never been precisely set.

via Nation & World | Natural gas could lead to new Lebanon-Israel war | Seattle Times Newspaper.

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(ANTIWAR.COM) — Though one would have expected that the massive release of some 92,000 classified documents Sunday underscoring just how poorly the war is going would have changed some minds, the Obama Administration has gotten its way once again, with the House of Representatives approving the $59 billion emergency funding bill to keep the war going by a 308-114 vote.

Some $33 billion of the bill was directly to pay for the Obama Administration’s December escalation of the Afghan War.

via House Approves More Afghan War Funding — News from Antiwar.com.

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(NBC NEW YORK) — Police are investigating another assault on a Hispanic man in Staten Island as a possible hate crime — and the Mexican government is now getting involved as well.

[T]this latest incident has prompted the Mexican Consulate to post personnel in Staten Island until further notice. This move is an effort to safeguard the rights of individuals and effectively assist and provide information to the Mexican residents of this area.

via Mexican Officials to Patrol Staten Island Following Latest Bias Attack | NBC New York.

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(YNET NEWS) — Thousands of women are being smuggled into Israel, creating a booming sex trade industry that rakes more than USD one billion a year, a parliamentary committee said on Wednesday.

via Israel’s sex trade booming – Israel News, Ynetnews.

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(USA Today.com) – There are signs that underground shelters, almost-forgotten relics of the Cold War era, are making a comeback.The Vivos network, which offers partial ownerships similar to a timeshare in underground shelter communities, is one of several ventures touting escape from a surface-level calamity.

Radius Engineering in Terrell, Texas, has built underground shelters for more than three decades, and business has never been better, says Walton McCarthy, company president.

via Doomsday shelters making a comeback – USATODAY.com.

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LC.ORG — /snip/Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution expressly states that Congress has the authority to “establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.” The Constitution therefore establishes that the matter of immigration is to be the sole prerogative of the federal government so that state laws are pre-empted./snip/

PID: Question. Does this mean states can’t legally enforce federal highway speed limits?

Liberty Counsel.

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(MSNBC.com) — Scientists behind the European particle collider aimed at uncovering the secrets of the universe pushed Monday to build an even bigger machine — with money and partners from around the world.  Instead of whirling atoms in giant rings, as existing colliders in Switzerland and the United States do, scientists want a new-generation machine that will shoot them straight.

“If we are going to build an ambitious machine, then it’s got to be a global machine,” said Barish, a professor at the California Institute of Technology.

via Atom-smashing scientists want Bigger Bangs – Technology & science – Science – LHC – msnbc.com.

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(Keloland.com) – VIVIAN, SD – A small South Dakota town is being recognized for a big find after last Friday’s storms.

It was Friday afternoon when a line of thunderstorms fired up in central South Dakota. High winds, heavy rains and even a possible tornado rolled through the town of Vivian. But now days later, a hailstone picked up just moments after the storm is getting worldwide attention.

via KELOLAND.com | World Record Hailstone Weighed In Vivian.

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(OneNewsNow.com) — A counseling student has filed suit against a university in Georgia because she claims the school is forcing her to abandon her Christian beliefs in order to receive a degree.

via Christian student fights for her beliefs (OneNewsNow.com).

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(AP) — Japan’s shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines says an explosion, suspected to be an attack, has damaged one of its oil tankers near the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

via Explosion rocks Japanese tanker near Persian Gulf – USATODAY.com.

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(AP) — A government official says all 152 people on board a plane that crashed in the hills surrounding Pakistan’s capital were killed.

via Plane crash in Pakistan kills 152 people – Yahoo! News.

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(JIHAD WATCH) — Muhammad said: “If a husband calls his wife to his bed [i.e. to have sexual relation] and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning” Bukhari 4.54.460.

via Sharia in New Jersey: Muslim husband rapes wife, judge sees no sexual assault because Islam forbids wives to refuse sex – Jihad Watch.

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(DEBKAfile) – DEBKAfiles Iranian sources quote President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying: “We have precise information that the Americans have devised a plot, according to which they seek to launch a psychological war on Iran. They plan to attack at least two countries in the region within the next three months,” he said, without specifying which countries were the subjects of the alleged conspiracy, only hinting that Americas senior military ally in the region, Israel, was directly involved.

via DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

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(THE TELEGRAPH) — Six members of a Satanic cult were jailed for up to 20 years in Russia on Monday for four murders in which they “ritually sacrificed”, dismembered and then ate their teenage victims in a forest.

via Russian Satanists jailed for ‘ritual sacrifice’ teen killings.

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