TV News LIES

A man arrested for allegedly placing a backpack he thought contained a bomb near Chicago's Wrigley Field got the fake explosive from an FBI undercover agent, authorities say , a tactic that has been used in other U.S. terrorism cases in recent years.

It wouldn't be the first time FBI agents have posed as terror operatives and supplied suspects with bogus explosives. Last year, authorities arrested a Jordanian national after he allegedly attempted to detonate what he thought was a bomb outside a Dallas skyscraper. In an unrelated case, authorities in Springfield, Ill., arrested another man after he allegedly tried to set off what he thought was explosives in a van outside a federal courthouse.

Oral bisphosphonate osteoporosis drugs, which include such Actonel, Boniva, and Fosamax, could be associated with an approximately twofold increased risk of esophageal cancer.

All in all, osteoporosis is a major health risk for nearly 30 million Americans, in large part because many are clueless about how to prevent it.

Cyberspies have launched the first publicly known global attack aimed at infiltrating hard-to-penetrate computer control systems used to manage factory robots, refineries, and the electric power grid.

The ultrasophisticated attack was discovered last week, but information about it – including the full range of capabilities of the espionage software – continues to emerge. The spyware had spread for at least a month undetected and has already penetrated thousands of industrial computer systems in Iran, Indonesia, India, Ecuador, the United States, Pakistan, and Taiwan, according to a Microsoft analysis.

The attack is part of a sophisticated new wave of industrial cyberespionage that can infiltrate corporate systems undetected and capture the "crown jewels" of corporations – proprietary manufacturing techniques that are worth billions, experts say. It's significant, too, because of its potential to infiltrate and commandeer important infrastructure, such as the power grid.

Rep. Anthony Weiner clashed with a senior official from Goldline International Inc. in a politically charged hearing Thursday in which the New York Democrat charged that the Santa Monica, Calif.-based precious metal dealer ‘grossly overcharges’ for their gold coins.

Weiner, who has conducted an investigation into Goldline and gold-sellers, formally unveiled legislation he has drafted that would regulate gold-selling companies including Goldline to disclose to consumers the reasonable resale value of precious metals -- particularly gold coins -- they are selling. He argues that Goldline’s average markup was 90% above the melt value of their coins, with the largest markup on any coin being 208% above the melt value.

A Texas businessman who has worked extensively in Iraq claims that Blackwater paid him to purchase steroids and other drugs for its operatives in Baghdad, as well as more than 100 AK47s and massive amounts of ammunition on Baghdad's black market.

Howard Lowry, who worked in Iraq from 2003-2009, also claims that he personally attended Blackwater parties where company personnel had large amounts of cocaine and blocks of hashish and would run around naked.

As an inquiry into its murky finances looked poised to widen, the Vatican swiftly went on the defensive on Thursday, saying that the seizure of $30 million from a Vatican bank account and the judicial investigation of the bank’s two top officials were the result of a “misunderstanding.”

On Tuesday, Italian officials announced an inquiry into the Vatican bank’s top officials for having failed to explain adequately the origins of $30 million transferred from one of its accounts in a Rome bank. Magistrates opened the investigation based on an alert from the Bank of Italy, the nation’s central bank.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it will sharply limit access to the anti- diabetes drug Avandia because of concerns about an increased cardiovascular risk associated with the drug.

Patients who are now taking the drug will have to sign an informed consent statement acknowledging that they understand all the risks before they will be allowed to continue refilling prescriptions.

More...

In a 56-page report (pdf), the UNHCR's three-member panel wrote that Israeli commandos had committed war crimes during their May 31 raid of the Turkish aid ship the MV Mavi Marmara that left nine Turkish, pro-Palestinian activists dead.

Although Israel contends that its soldiers acted in self-defense, the council found that their response was “disproportionate” and that soldiers exercised an “unacceptable level of brutality.”