Larry King to Join RT News – Russia Today – Funded by Russian Government

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Photo Credit: Edward Headington

Long time talker Larry King, former CNN host and radio talk personality, is joining the lineup on Russia Today TV with his own politcal gab show as well as another show already launched on Hulu TV.

Award-winning interviewer Larry King will host a mold-breaking political talk show on RT from next month, speaking to both leading establishment figures, and those who are not afraid to go against the grain.

“I have always been passionate about government and issues that impact the public, and I’m thrilled at the opportunity to talk politics with some of the most influential people in Washington and around the country,” says King.

King’s career has spanned 56 years and more than 50,000 interviews, but he says the show will break new ground. The veteran broadcaster will not shy away from causing controversy, or using his authority to give a chance to hear voices other media ignore.

“I have interviewed every US president since Nixon, and lest people forget, I helped usher Ross Perot into the national conversation during the 1992 presidential contest. I appreciate the importance of providing a platform to those with real alternative visions for our country’s future,” says the host.

Read more from this story HERE.

Amnesty’s Message: Send Us Your High School Dropouts

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Photo Credit: ros k @ getfunky_paris

For much of our history, the sheer difficulty of getting to America and surviving here ensured the nation was stocked with immigrants who represented a sort of natural elite.

No, these immigrants did not come from foreign aristocracies, nor need they come from any particular location, ethnic group or profession.

But before Franklin Roosevelt began establishing an American welfare state, and before a series of Roosevelt’s successors decided they would make no serious effort to secure our national borders, immigrants to America had at least two things in common: The ability to get to a place that was hard to reach and the ability to survive there on their own.

Now America is becoming a magnet for high-school dropouts.

That is why the report that the Congressional Budget Office produced this month for House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan ought to become a focus of national debate, as members of both parties in Congress work with President Obama to try to give foreign nationals living here illegally a way to become citizens.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hezbollah Member, Referred to as ‘God of Death,’ Arrested in Texas

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Photo Credit: euthman

In the defense’s version, Wissam Allouche was a former linguist for the U.S. Army who ran a gas station in Northeast San Antonio as he became an American citizen.

But to counterterrorism officials, Allouche, 44, belonged to Hezbollah, falsely claimed to be a U.S. special forces officer during visits to Fort Sam Houston, and even tried to hook up with women at the post, possibly to gain access to sensitive information.

The two pictures emerged during a bail hearing Wednesday for Allouche, whose own statements recorded by investigators or stated in interviews often were contradictory about his allegiances to Hezbollah.

Allouche was arrested by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force here last week after being indicted on charges of not disclosing, during his quest to obtain his U.S. citizenship, his membership in the Amal militia and Hezbollah in Lebanon in the 1980s.

He’s also charged with not disclosing his prior membership in those groups when he applied for a security clearance with the Defense Department as he sought a contracting job.

Read more from this story HERE.

Chinese Hackers Compromise Dozens of US Major Weapons Platforms

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Photo Credit: APBy Ellen Nakashima. Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.

Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board.

Experts warn that the electronic intrusions gave China access to advanced technology that could accelerate the development of its weapons systems and weaken the U.S. military advantage in a future conflict.

The Defense Science Board, a senior advisory group made up of government and civilian experts, did not accuse the Chinese of stealing the designs. But senior military and industry officials with knowledge of the breaches said the vast majority were part of a widening Chinese campaign of espionage against U.S. defense contractors and government agencies.

The significance and extent of the targets help explain why the Obama administration has escalated its warnings to the Chinese government to stop what Washington sees as rampant cyber­theft. Read more from this story HERE.

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Best frenemies: U.S. wants closer military ties with China

By Shaun Waterman. White House National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon called Tuesday for strengthening U.S. military ties with China, despite growing tensions between the two over Beijing’s state-sponsored hacking and maritime territorial claims.

Donilon pushed for increased military cooperation in peacekeeping, fighting piracy and disaster relief.

“An essential part of building a new model for relations between great powers is ensuring we have a healthy, stable and reliable military-to-military relationship,” Mr. Donilon said in brief comments to reporters, Reuters reported.

He added the two countries should work to face “non-traditional security challenges” like peacekeeping and stability operations, emergency disaster relief and naval counter-piracy operations ensuring freedom of navigation.

Mr. Donilon is visiting Beijing this week ahead of a summit next week in California between President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. He spoke at a meeting with Gen. Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, after being received by Mr. Xi on Monday. Read more from this story HERE.

Ex-Head of British Spy Agency Calls on Everyone to Spy on Neighbors

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Photo Credit: APThe former head of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington has called for British people to inform security services if they suspect their neighbours maybe extremists.

Dame Stella, who supports the Government’s controversial ‘snoopers’ charter’, said people need to be more alert because it is impossible for security services to spot every threat.

She called for a wartime vigilance and for people to be the Government’s ‘eyes and ears’ following the killing of Lee Rigby.

The 78-year-old, who was MI5’s first female Director General, said: ‘The community has the responsibility to act as the eyes and ears, as they did during the war … where there were all these posters up saying the walls have ears and the enemy is everywhere.

‘There have often been indications in the community, whether it’s Muslim or anywhere else, that people are becoming extremists and spouting hate phrases.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Albanian Socialist Candidate for President Campaigning with Obama’s Picture

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller President Barack Obama met with Socialist Party of Albania leader Edi Rama at a recent San Francisco campaign fundraiser. Rama is currently using a picture of the two politicians to help win next month’s Albanian elections and take over as prime minister.

Rama’s Socialist Party, which has been Albania’s largest opposition party since 2005, is reportedly expected to win the country’s June elections and unseat Democratic Party prime minister Sali Berisha, who has led the country since 2005.

President Obama meets with Albanian Socialist politician in San Francisco. Facebook

Rama posted a photograph of himself with Obama on his Facebook page May 24. The photo is now the main backdrop for Rama’s Facebook page. Julianna Smoot, deputy manager for Obama’s 2012 campaign and major Democratic Party fundraiser, appears in the background of the photograph.

Read more from this story HERE.

What’s Really Going on in Syria? It’s Terrorist vs. Terrorist

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Photo Credit: APAs Syria’s civil war increasingly spills across its borders, a weekend speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah marked one of the most significant developments in the conflict so far: The world’s foremost Shi’ite terrorist group effectively declared war on the world’s leading Sunni terrorist movement.

Nasrallah committed his Lebanon-based group to defending Syrian President Bashar Assad, but directed much of his vitriol towards radical Sunni “takfiris,” including al-Qaeda, whom he said were “dominating” the anti-Assad opposition.

(“Takfiri” is a term used to describe Muslims who accuse other Muslims of apostasy; al-Qaeda and other radical Sunnis regard Shi’ites as apostates. Assad is an Alawite, a Shia sect.)

In his address by video-link to supporters gathered in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, Nasrallah characterized “the resistance” – that is, Hezbollah – as defending not just its ally in Syria but also Lebanon and “Palestine” against a U.S.- and Israeli-backed “takfiri” conspiracy.

“What future do you expect in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine with the presence of these takfiris?” he asked. “Syria is the resistance’s main supporter and the resistance cannot stand still and let [takfiris] break its backbone.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Hezbollah Should Change Name to ‘Party of Satan,’ Turkish Deputy PM Says

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Photo Credit: Hussein MallaTurkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Sunday that Hezbollah, or “Party of God” in Arabic, should change its name to Party of Satan, blaming the terrorist organization for killing thousands of civilians in Syria.

“Those who stand by the Assad regime and kill their own Muslim brothers and indiscriminately kill women and children in the battlefield should not appeal to Islam and the Quran to legitimize their actions,” Bozdag said, according to Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman…

“The pharaoh gave orders for the killing of innocent children and their mothers to maintain power. What is the difference between what the Pharaoh did and Assad is doing?” he asked.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cold War? Russia Seeks to Replace U.S.

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Photo Credit: WNDRussia has been exerting pressure on Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to cancel weapons deals with the U.S. and instead sign with Moscow at cheaper prices, according to an informed Egyptian security official.

The official said Russia is also attempting to exert its influence at the expense of the U.S. throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Western Asia, including in Turkey.

Currently, Russia is urging Egypt to sign a deal for the creation of a 155-mm guided shell for U.S.-provided M-109 howitzers, which are being used on tanks sold to the Egyptian army by the U.S.

Moscow officials told Egyptian leaders that Russia is interested in replacing the U.S. as the Middle Eastern country’s main weapons dealer, the Egyptian official said.

Similar messages were sent to Turkey, Yemen, Algeria, Tunisia and other countries, the official said.

Read more from this story HERE.

U.S. Warned of Iranian Cyber Attacks

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Photo Credit: WNDAmerican officials say Iran is behind a new wave of destructive cyber attacks on American corporations and energy firms, according to a report by the New York Times — a wave that WND warned about nearly two years ago.

The May 24 Times article said the targets included American oil, gas and electric companies with a goal of finding ways to seize control of critical processing systems.

The Department of Homeland Security warned this month about the cyber attacks, and one government official told the Times, “Most everything we have seen is coming from the Middle East.”

Government officials and other experts, according to the report, confirmed a report in the Wall Street Journal that the source of the attacks had been narrowed down to Iran.

However, America had earlier been warned of cyber attacks by Iran.

Read more from this story HERE.