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POPSPirates Capture Saudi Oil Tanker 
Pirates have seized a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean off the Kenyan coast and are steering it towards Somalia, the US Navy reports. The US-bound tanker was captured on Saturday some 450 nautical miles (830km) south-east of Mombasa, and is now approaching the Somali port of Eyl. The Sirius Star is carrying its full load of 2m barrels - more than one-quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output. Its international crew of 25, including two Britons, is said to be safe. Lt Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the US Navy's 5th Fleet, said the attack was "unprecedented". The route around the Cape of Good Hope is a main thoroughfare for fully-laden supertankers from the Gulf, the world's biggest oil-exporting region. With a capacity of 318,000 dead weight tonnes, the ship is 330m (1,080ft) long and is classed as a Very Large Crude Carrier. "Vela response teams have been mobilised and are working to ensure the safe release of crew members and the vessel," it a
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POPSThe CIA influence on Hollywood The model for this is the defence department's "open" but barely publicised relationship with Hollywood. The Pentagon, for decades, has offered film-makers advice, manpower and even hardware - including aircraft carriers and state-of-the-art helicopters. All it asks for in exchange is that the US armed forces are made to look good. So in a previous Scott film, Black Hawk Down, a character based on a real-life soldier who had also been a child rapist lost that part of his backstory when he came to the screen.
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POPSBarney Frank: A Democrat's Irresponsible And Impossible Plan ~ ~ ~ ~to cut the defense budget by 25 percent~ ~ ~ ~ Research and Development (R&D); and Operations & Maintenance (O&M). MILPERS includes all funds used to pay the troops, provide subsistence for their dependents, their pensions and retirement pay, and their medical expenses (housing is paid out of a separate but relatively small account). Procurement is money spent to buy equipment--everything from rifles to aircraft carriers, including money spent to upgrade existing weapon systems. R&D is money spent to develop the next generation of weapon systems, to ensure that the U.S. maintains a technological edge over our adversaries. Finally, O&M is the money used for training, to buy fuel and food and other consumables, to fix broken equipment, and to sustain forces in the field.
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POPSEgypt rejects asylum for Bin Laden son Airport sources in Egypt said Omar bin Laden, who has not seen the al Qaeda leader for many years and says he does not support violence, had asked to go to Qatar, where as a Saudi citizen he would have right of entry.
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POPSOver 30 countries exporting arms to Sudan
According to UN report of 10-21-08. The embargo was imposed in 2004 and extended in 2005, requiring nations to "...take the necessary measures to prevent the sale or supply" to all the warring parties in Darfur. Since that time, Sudan, by its own reports, has acquired: * At least 45 new military aircraft, including combat aircraft, fighter jets and parts provided by Belarus and Russia. * More than $25 million worth of tanks and armored combat vehicles, which Sudan claims were provided by China, Switzerland, Iran, Germany, India and Syria. * A total of $29.5 million in small arms and light weapons (excluding ammunition and parts). * $600,000 worth of ammunition, though a range of countries report selling Sudan nearly $10 million in ammunition. * $270,000 worth of swords, cutlasses and bayonets, the same weapons reportedly used by the Janjaweed in attacks on civilians. Sudan's import figures and worldwide export figures "seriously underestimate the arms sal
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POPSIsrael Raids Gaza, Hamas Fires Back "Rocket Attacks on Israel" is what U.S. headlines will read, as if Israel did nothing to provoke this. (Already the radio is painting it as attacks on Israel without the full context). 1. Israel has blockaded Gaza (starving Palestinians) since June 2007 2. Israel violated the cease-fire by their military raid which killed militants on their own side of the border. (What would hypocritical Israel say to Hamas raiding within their border? Do they expect Hamas to disarm within Gaza?) So should Hamas, acting to defend Palestinians in Gaza do nothing? What would you do? So as the American elections close Israel is "setting the table" (agenda) for Obama, playing the victim when they are the aggressor. Note the "drone air attack" Israel used, as does the U.S. within the sovereign country of Pakistan. Drone attacks are cowardly, and aggression made cheap.
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POPSUS special forces attack in Syria-more details Syria's Foreign Ministry said it summoned the charges d'affaires of the United States and Iraq to protest against the strike. "Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," the government statement said.
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