News Headlines Feb. 27, 2013

• US, EU may start training and equipping Syrian rebels The US and Europe may begin equipping the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) with vehicles, body armor, night vision gear and binoculars, as well as military training. The decision is expected after a key conference on Syria in Rome.

• CYBERWARS / Stuxnet origins: US targeted Iran's nuclear research facility before its erection The first potentially explosive cyber-weapon used to attack Iran's nuclear research infrastructure was developed before Iran even started enriching uranium at the Natanz facility, researchers at the security company Symantec have discovered.

• 125,000 doses of lethal cyanide leak in Japanese spill Five tons of liquid waste, including the toxic chemical sodium cyanide, leaked from a Japanese plating factory after a snowplow accident. An estimated 125,000 lethal doses of the poison soaked into the surrounding snow.

• FORCED VACCINATIONS - ‘No shot, no ticket’: Ethiopians decry Israeli birth control policies Ethiopian women have told RT that Israeli medics forced them to take the controversial Depo-Provera birth control vaccination without explaining the severe side effects of the drug, which can leave a woman unable to become pregnant for up to two years.

• EU report slams Israeli settlements, calls for economic sanctions An internal report by the European Union has come down hard on Israel’s decision to continue settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem, threatening to end economic projects that involve the Jewish settlements.

• Investors fear Italy may undermine ECB support By Mike Dolan LONDON - The clearest signal from Italy's muddy election was its rejection of the additional austerity that any ECB backstop would require, casting doubt on central bank's ability to support debt markets.  Full Article

• It's Back - The return of jumbo mortgages By Linda Stern WASHINGTON - Jumbo loans are returning to the mortgage market after almost disappearing in the wake of the credit crisis of 2008. These loans, typically upward of $417,000, are being offered at interest rates that are barely higher than conventional mortgages.  Full Article

• Emotional farewell brings crisis-hit papacy to an end  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict bid an emotional farewell at his last general audience, saying he understood the gravity of his decision to become the first pontiff to resign in 600 years, but that he had done it for the good of the Roman Catholic Church.  Full Article 

• Pope praying, packing ahead of move out of Vatican
• Sex, power scandals to loom over Vatican pre-vote talks
• Special Report: The loneliness of the short distance pope

• Slow Strangulation: 'Iran sanctions a war on ordinary citizens' 

It's ordinary Iranians who are bearing the brunt of Western-imposed sanctions. Lack of proper medicine and food shortages, are affecting thousands of people on a daily basis.

• Mexican Farmers Protest The Entrance of GMO Corn

 

Thousands across Mexico demand their government reject permits for GMO Corn while Monsanto defends their patent on life in U.S. Supreme Court