Massoud Ali Mohammadi, an Iranian nuclear scientist at Tehran University, has been killed by explosives planted in a motorcycle outside of his house. It remains unclear what role Mr. Mohammadi played in Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program.

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson attributed the rare terrorist attack to "Zionist elements and US mercenaries.”


An official at Tehran’s governor-general office told ISNA, the student news agency, that the involvement of Mujahedin Khalgh Organisation, an exiled armed opposition group which has a record of similar killings, was “one of the possibilities”.

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The US trade deficit in November was wider than expected according to US Commerce Department Data. Recovering US businesses have led the charge of the purchase of foreign goods, expanding the gap by 9.7% from October. In the short term, economist predict a moderation in trade imbalance with the dollar falling more than 12% and foreign companies picking up as well.

The International Monetary Fund has said it will probably raise its estimate for 2010 world growth from 3.1 percent.

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The robust global growth has governments and businesses concerned that central banks will soon raise interest rates to cool the potential for inflation. So far this month more than $75b has been raised, the majority by financial institutions still aiming to repair their fiscal positions after last year's recession.

Some economists are fearing a "double-dip" recession as global demand has the potential to recede in the wake of decreasing central government fiscal stimulus.

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China’s central bank sold bills at a higher yield for the second time in a week, increasing the likelihood that policy makers there will raise the benchmark interest rate in the first half of the year. It also raised the proportion of deposits that banks must set aside as reserves by 50 basis points from Jan. 18. The existing capital requirement levels are 15.5 percent for big banks and 13.5 percent for smaller ones.

Israel has announced it will construct a fence along its border with Egypt to curb the flow of people, goods and arms. The fence will not stretch the entirety of the border, which is mostly uninhabited desert, but will concentrate on the densly populated areas near the Gaza strip.

PM Netanyahu said, “We cannot let tens of thousands of illegal workers infiltrate and inundate our country.”


Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said "This issue does not concern us at all. Israel is building something on its own soil and there is no link between that security fence and our construction along the border with Gaza."


Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli daily, Eitan Haber argued on Monday that Israel would soon be “an entire state living behind fences, surrounded on all sides by an ocean of enemies“.
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The recent attack upon the CIA forward operating base last week has illuminated a murky pillar of the US counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

James Kitfield of the National Journal considers the moral and legal foundations of the Obama administration's significant increase of drone strikes within Pakistan in the last year.


Dawn.com, an english language Pakistani publication, considers the unintented consequences of drone strikes on the Pakistani tribal populations. According to this article, inhabitants of local Waziristan " said families lived in fear over the prospect of a Hellfire missile annihilating their home without warning."


Today Gen. David Patreus of US Central Command was interviewed by CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Here is a pertinant exerpt from the full transcript:



AMANPOUR:
Well, I ask you this because a new video has emerged showing the Jordanian Al Qaida double agent, with Baitullah Mehsud's brother, essentially saying why he blew up himself in that CIA base in Afghanistan. And it seemed to have quite a lot to do with the drone attacks. Does that concern you?



PETRAEUS: Well, first of all, Baitullah Mehsud and his organization carried out horrific attacks inside Pakistan, and that is what I think should concern the Pakistanis, as certainly it concerns us.

AMANPOUR: But how much of a concern for you is the backlash against those drone attacks?


PETRAEUS: Well, let me talk about it in a general context, if I could. And that is in the conduct of any campaign, particularly a counterinsurgency campaign, there has to be enormous effort in trying to minimize the loss of innocent civilian life, to minimize collateral damage. And that does, indeed, characterize our campaigns.


General McChrystal -- among the number of initiatives that he has undertaken has been to issue counterinsurgency guidance that gets right at that issue and then has been quite -- really very, very determined in implementing that, as well. There will be loss of innocent life in war, but we have got to make sure that we minimize it and that we try to avoid it just about at all costs.


The Long War Journal is a blog that accounts for all US drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The site provides in depth analysis of drone strike frequency, lethality, civilian casualities, location plus in depth analytic essays.


Finally, a MUST READ NYT op-ed by Boris Gromov, governor of the Moscow region and commander of the 40th Soviet Army in Afghanistan during the 1980's and Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s ambassador to NATO.

They write, "In fact, we were the first to defend Western civilization against the attacks of Muslim fanatics. No one thanked us." Sheer brilliance!!

US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell has told Charlie Rose the US may withdraw loan guarantees to pressure Israel on its continued building of settlements.

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz discounted Mitchell's pointed words on Sunday. He said "Only a few months ago we reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Department of State on the loan guarantees for 2010 and 2011. There were no conditions attached. Israel has made and continues to make every effort, including difficult gestures, to renew the negotiations. We haven't received any indication that the guarantees will be used to pressure us."
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Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the brother of UAE president and Abu Dhabi emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan has been acquitted of charges of torture.

Defense attorney Habib al-Mulla said, "The court acquitted Sheikh Issa after establishing he was not responsible [for torture]."

"The court accepted our defence that the Sheikh was under the influence of drugs [medicine] that left him unaware of his actions."

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International Aid organizations have said that approximately 140 people have been killed in ethnic clashes in southern Sudan.

The deaths occured when members of the Nuer tribe attacked Dinka cattle hearders and captured thousands of animals. In 2009, southern Sudan saw more deaths than did Darfur and analysts worry the region is headed for a return to civil war.

Below, al-Jazeera's Muhamad Vall highlights the impact of the decades-long drought on northern Sudan.




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The FT's John Authers believes Chinese authorities will not appreciate the remnimbi in the short to midterm due to the currencies relative position against the dollar, euro, won and real. The concerted devaluation of those currencies means the RMB is as expensive as it has ever been, which has decreased the competive advantage enjoyed by Chinese export manufacturers.




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US jobs data will be released tomorrow and will indicate a further stabilization in the labor market. New claims data, which correlates strongly with actual unemployment, dropped for the 18th straight week to 450,250- a level which indicates labor market stability.
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Iraq and Iran have begun talks concerning an inactive oil well along their border. Last month, a small group of Iranian troops took control of the disputed well and were strongly rebuffed by the Iraqi government which swore to hold its ground. The dispute comes at an untimely juncture, as international oil companies continue to bid on lucrative field contracts throughout the country.

foghorn longhorn

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) will convene a meeting of central bankers to address a return to "aggressive behavior the prevailed during the pre-crisis period." Chief Executives from Blackrock, Citigroup and Wells Fargo have accepted the central banks invitation and will meet Basel over the weekend. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase declined to attend.

According to a US Federal Reserve official, "These meetings are an attempt to bring a real world perspective to the deliberations of the wise men of the world."
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Here is Fahreed Zakaria discussing the current status, and likely future, of US homeland security in the wake of the Christmas day attack.
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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has received dozens of death threats from Israeli settlers in the West Bank who believe they will be forced to leave their homes in pursuit of peace. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will not resume talks with Israel without a complete settlement freeze.

On January 5th four apartment buildings were approved by Israel's Jerusalem municipality.

bones! are you alright!?!?

A group of senior Israeli soldiers has canceled a trip to Britain in fear of arrest for alleged war crimes. The group had been invited by the British military but sought guarantee from London that they would not be detained. The soldiers received no such guarantee and subsequently canceled the trip altogether.

The incident has further heightened tensions between the two countries following the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni last month.

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Chairman Orin Kramer of the New Jersey public pension has issued a sobering assessment of shortfalls within the US public pension system. The report highlights the controversy over which accounting practices are best for determining the actual worth and solvency of public pensions in the "out years".

When state governments value their pension's worth they use a process known as "smoothing" which uses an average value over a certain interval of time. Using this method US pension system insolvency has been calculated to range from $400b-500b. Mr. Kramer's report calculates pension asset values using a "mark-to-market" standard which uses an equity's market value at a particular time. This technique predicts public pension programs will be approximately $2 trillion in the hole.

Here is an interactive demonstration of international public and private pension shortfalls.
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The NYT's Andrew Martin teams with PBS' Frontline in a story of Americans and their credit cards. A stunning investigation of the gargantuan American consumer loan industry. Yee-haw!!!
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Pakistani Taliban have destroyed 6 shrines and desecrated the grave of the spiritual leader of the Stori Khel tribe. The attacks are in response to the tribe's "laskar" or local militia that has been resisting the militants for a month.

ole smokey fountains

Three U.S. evangelical preachers are on the defensive after a three day speaking tour in Uganda last March. Less than a month after the Americans described the gay community as an "evil institution" Ugandan politicians introduced the "Anti-Homosexulaty Act of 2009" which would mandate the hanging of homosexuals.

Operative Clause 3.(2): "A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality shall be liable on conviction to suffer death."
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Five Blackwater employees been cleared of the murder of 14 unarmed civilians in a crowded Baghdad plaza two years ago. The judge dismissed all charges, saying that prosecuters misused statements made by the shooters immediately following the incident.

A sixth Blackwater employee has already pleaded guilty. The Iraqi government has stated that it will pursue renewed charges against the 5 men because it believes the men committed a "serious crime" against the people of Iraq.
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Members of the Israeli Defense Force have shot and killed six Palestinians over the weekend. Three of the killed were trying to cross from the West Bank into Israel and three others were killed in a firefight during an attempted arrest. Israeli soldiers were serving an arrest warrant in the West Bank city of Nablus following the shooting death of an Israeli settler last Thursday.