Claims emerge of British terrorists in Mumbai

It is too early to tell whether British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Gordon Brown said today in response to claims that at least two Britons were involved.

The Foreign Office is investigating reports on the Indian channel NDTV quoting Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, as saying there were British nationals among the militants arrested.

In a televised address yesterday, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said the attacks had "external links", which was interpreted as a reference to Pakistan.

Brown said today that he would talk to Singh about the claims of British involvement. "I would not want to be drawn into early conclusions about this. There is so much information still to be discovered and made available. I have heard what prime minister Singh has said and I'll talk to him about it this morning," he told Sky News.

"But obviously when you have terrorists operating in one country they may be getting support from another country or coming from another country and it is very important that we strengthen the cooperation between India and Britain in dealing with these instances of terrorist attacks."

It is understood that in recent years dozens of British-born Pakistanis have travelled to Pakistan to train in terror camps.

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said that British authorities were working "intensively" on establishing the origins and identities of the terrorists. "We obviously will want to work very, very closely with the Indians on that, but it is too early to say whether or not any of them are British," he told Sky News.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said UK authorities had "no knowledge" of any British links with the attacks.

"We will do anything we can to help Indian authorities through what is obviously a very difficult time," she said. "We will do what is necessary. At the moment the priority is to support the immediate needs. We will work with the Indians to see what we can learn from the events."

Indian commandos have recovered credit and identity cards belonging to the militants, which may shed more light on their nationalities.

Security services in Britain are studying images of the attackers in an effort to identify them. But a Foreign Office spokeswoman said the department was "not aware of anything giving any credence to those reports at the moment".

A team of Scotland Yard anti-terrorist detectives and negotiators are now on their way to Mumbai to assist the Indian authorities.

Deshmukh, said up to 25 gunmen were responsible for the series of bomb blasts and shootings that targeted tourists and foreign interests.

Bug-sized spies: US develops tiny flying robots

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if that fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons?
That kind of James Bond-style fantasy is actually on the drawing board. U.S. military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives.

"The way we envision it is, there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm," said Greg Parker, who helps lead the research project at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. "If we know there's a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would fill that void."
In essence, the research seeks to miniaturize the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan for surveillance and reconnaissance.

The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.
By identifying and assaulting adversaries more precisely, the robots would also help reduce or avoid civilian casualties, the military says.
Parker and his colleagues plan to start by developing a bird-sized robot as soon as 2015, followed by the insect-sized models by 2030.

The vehicles could be useful on battlefields where the biggest challenge is collecting reliable intelligence about enemies.

Panda bites guy who wanted a hug

BEIJING (AP) —

A college student in southern China was bitten by a panda after he broke into the bear's enclosure hoping to get a hug, state media and a park employee said Saturday.

The student was visiting Qixing Park with classmates on Friday when he jumped the 6.5-foot (2-meter) -high fence around the panda's habitat, said the park employee, who refused to give his name.
The park in Guilin, a popular tourist town in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, houses a small zoo and a panda exhibit. It was virtually deserted when the student scaled the fence surrounding the panda, named Yang Yang, the employee said.

He said the student was bitten in the arms and legs. Two foreign visitors who saw the attack ran to get help from workers at a nearby refreshment stand, who notified park officials, the employee said.
The student was pale as he was taken away by medics but appeared clear-headed, he said.

"Yang Yang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him. I didn't expect he would attack," the 20-year-old student, surnamed Liu, said in a local hospital, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Hopes For The Future

Ron Paul's Texas straight talk--

With the election behind us, our country turns hopeful eyes to the future. I have a few hopes of my own.

I congratulate our first African-American president-elect. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly would be proud to see this day. We are stronger for embracing diversity, and I am hopeful that we can continue working through the tensions and wrongs of the past and become a more just and colorblind society. I hope this new administration will help bring us together, and not further divide us. I have always found that freedom is the best way to break down barriers. A free society emphasizes the importance of individuals, and not because they are part of a certain group. That’s the only way equal justice can be achieved.

We will face more tough economic problems during this new administration. In fact, the worst is yet to come. A vast amount of problematic mortgages have not begun to reset their variable interest rates and go into default. We already have unprecedented deficits, spending is out of control, and more big industries are coming to government with their hands out. My hope is that this administration will handle this economic crisis better than the interventionists and big government spenders of the 1930’s, the bureaucrats that prolonged the Depression. I hope that new government programs and spiderwebs of red tape do not pop up to interfere with American productivity, and that we can quickly get our financial footing again. We have to understand that an economic correction needs to take place and the only way out of the coming recession is to go through it. Efforts to avoid it can only prolong it. I hope we can somehow find our way back to sound money and reject corporate cronyism.

Lawsuit Filed Against Bloomberg's Bid For 3rd Term

"In the United States, the right to vote is a fundamental right and votes have consequences," the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn said. "This bedrock democratic principle does not crumble in the face of a weakened economy, nor should it be violated for the direct benefit of specific individual elected officials."

A wide spectrum of New Yorkers from city councilmembers to lawyers to voters in both parties are working together to put a stop to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempt to stay in office for a third term.

The broadest legal attack yet on Bloomberg's bid for a third term came Monday when the coalition ganged together and sued the city, saying another term would be unconstitutional without letting the public vote on the issue for a third time.

Twice before, in 1993 and 1996, New Yorkers have decided they wanted term limits to keep New York City mayors from serving more than two four-year terms. The last mayor to do so was Ed Koch, who stepped down in 1989.

Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman, has said he wants to seek a third term in next year's election so he can use his financial background to help the city navigate the fallout from the economic crisis.

Rahm Emanuel "Not going to clean the floors of the White House"

In an interview with Ma'ariv, Emanuel's father, Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, said he was convinced that his son's appointment would be good for Israel. "Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying. "Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."

THE JERUSALEM POST
Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, a key member of the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's call to serve him as chief of staff, party officials said on Thursday.

Obama barely had time to savor his victory before he began filling out his new administration and getting a sobering look at some of the daunting problems he will inherit when he takes office in just 10 weeks.

He got a quick start with the transition Wednesday, calling on Emanuel, a fellow Illinois politician, to serve as White House chief of staff.

Emanuel, who served in the Clinton White House, has Israeli family and spent significant amounts of time in Israel. He now serves as the fourth-highest member of the House of Representatives, is known as a skilled political operator who helped engineer the gains the Democrats made in Congress in 2006.

Obama's first pick: Israeli Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff

A day after his historic election to become the first black American president, Barack Obama stepped into the role of president-elect yesterday, inviting Rahm Emanuel to join his administration as White House chief of staff, Democratic officials said.

Emanuel, a former Bill Clinton adviser, is the son of a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was a member of the Irgun (Etzel or IZL), a militant Zionist group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948.

Obama intends to announce key cabinet and staff staff members in the next few days to ensure a swift transition to the White House in January, which would allow him to deal with the global economic crisis as quickly as possible.

If Emanuel accepts, he will return to the White House, where he served as a political and policy adviser to Clinton. Emanuel is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives as the Democratic Caucus chairman.

Emanuel knows Obama from his hometown Chicago and headed the special team that planned the midterm elections in 2006, in which the Democrats recaptured a Congressional majority.

Emanuel also served as inspiration for the fictional character Joshua "Josh" Lyman, the deputy White House chief of staff, played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama "The West Wing."

Obama is expected to appoint loyal advisers and aides to central cabinet and staff positions, as well as experienced officials from the Clinton administration and a few prominent Republicans to enhance his intention to bridge political gaps.

I still have the Fever

Phillies Fever that is!

World F'n Champions!

Chase Utley pretty much sums it up.