Headlines:

• The Tunnel People that Live under the Streets of America
• US Navy to Deploy Lasers on Ships in 2014
• Assad Sending Syrian Guerrillas to Train In Iran
• US Drone War Deal 'in Return for Killing Pakistani Militant in CIA Missile Strike'
• Russia Putin Warns Korean Crisis could be Worse than Chernobyl

Details:

The Tunnel People that Live under the Streets of America:

Did you know that there are thousands upon thousands of homeless people that are living underground beneath the streets of major U.S. cities? It is happening in Las Vegas, it is happening in New York City and it is even happening in Kansas City. As the economy crumbles, poverty in the United States is absolutely exploding and so is homelessness. In addition to the thousands of "tunnel people" living under the streets of America, there are also thousands that are living in tent cities, there are tens of thousands that are living in their vehicles and there are more than a million public school children that do not have a home to go back to at night. The federal government tells us that the recession "is over" and that "things are getting better", and yet poverty and homelessness in this country continue to rise with no end in sight. So what in the world are things going to look like when the next economic crisis hits? But perhaps the saddest part of this is the massive number of children that are suffering night after night. For the first time ever, more than a million public school children in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year. So if things are really "getting better" then why does the US have more than a million public school children without homes? The middle class continues to shrink and poverty continues to grow with each passing year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately one out of every six Americans is now living in poverty. And if you throw in those that are considered to be "near poverty", that number becomes much larger. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either "poor" or "low income".

US Navy to Deploy Lasers on Ships in 2014:

The Pentagon has plans to deploy its first ever ship-mounted laser next year, a disruptive, cutting-edge weapon capable of obliterating small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles with a blast of infrared energy. Navy officials announced Monday that in early 2014, a solid-state laser prototype will be mounted to the fantail of the USS Ponce and sent to the 5th fleet region in the Middle East for real-world experience. Video released by the Navy shows the laser lock onto a slow-moving target, in this case an unmanned drone, which bursts aflame in mid-flight. The drone soon catches fire and crashes into the sea below. "It operates much like a blowtorch ... with an unlimited magazine," one official said. There are potential targets for the laser in the 5th fleet region, which includes the Persian Gulf, where Iran operates small surveillance drones and is known for swarming and harassing U.S. Navy ships with small, armored speed boats. One of its major advantages, the Navy said, is its relatively low cost to operate. "Its weapon round costs about $1 to shoot," said Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, Chief of Naval Research. Although the unit cost is higher -- at around $32 million to produce.

 

Assad Sending Syrian Guerrillas to Train in Iran:

The Syrian government is sending members of its irregular militias for guerrilla combat training at a secret base in Iran, in a move to bolster its armed forces drained by two years of fighting and defections, according to fighters and activists. The discreet programme has been described as an open secret in some areas loyal to president Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush a revolt against his family's four-decade hold on power. The fighters appear to come largely from minority groups that have supported Mr. Assad against the mostly Sunni Muslim-led uprising. Such a move could exacerbate the dangerous sectarian dimensions of a conflict that has turned into a civil war that has cost the lives of more than 70,000 people. Iran, a Shi'ite rival to Sunni countries in the Gulf that support the rebels, sees Syria as the lynchpin of its regional influence. "It was an urban warfare course that lasted 15 days. The trainers said it's the same course Hezbollah operatives normally do," said Samer, a Christian member of a pro-Assad militia fighting in rural parts of Homs province. "The course teaches you the important elements of guerrilla warfare, like several different ways to carry a rifle and shoot, and the best methods to prepare against surprise attacks." According to fighters interviewed in Homs, most men sent to undergo the training are from the Alawite sect, the heterodox strain of Shi'ite Islam of which Mr Assad is a member. A smaller number were Druze and Christians, whose communities are divided but largely support Mr. Assad due to their fears of rising Islamist rhetoric among the opposition.

 

US Drone War Deal 'in Return for Killing Pakistani Militant in CIA Missile Strike':

The US assassinated a Pakistani tribal rebel with an armed Predator drone to win support from the country's government to launch the war from the skies with drones in 2004, according to US reports. The back-room deal, although not publicly confirmed, was detailed in several interviews with officials in the US and Pakistan for a New York Times investigation.  The bargain was crucial in allowing the Central Intelligence Agency dramatically to escalate its use of unmanned drones to target suspected terrorists in Pakistan's border areas in what the then Bush administration called the "war on terror".  President Barack Obama has intensified America's covert drone operations, expanding their role in Yemen and East Africa, as he has tried to reduce US boots on the ground in combat missions.  John Brennan, the new CIA director, was the architect of Mr Obama's "targeted killing" programme as the president's chief counterterrorism adviser in the first term. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, drone strikes killed between 474 and 881 civilians - including 176 children - in Pakistan between 2004 and last year.

 

Russia Putin Warns Korean Crisis Could Be Worse than Chernobyl:

Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed on Monday for calm on the Korean Peninsula, warning that the escalation of tension in the region could lead to a nuclear disaster far worse than the Chernobyl incident. "We are concerned about the escalation on the Korean Peninsula because we are neighbors and because if, God forbid, anything should happen there, Chernobyl, of which we are all only too aware, would seem like mere child's play in comparison," Putin said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "I would like to call on everybody to calm down and to sit down at the negotiating table and calmly resolve the issues that have been accumulating there for many years," he said.

 

Abu Hashim