There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers.

That means there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.

“The carbon tax is bad for the economy and it doesn’t do any good for the environment,” Abbott told The Washington Post. “Despite a carbon tax of $37 a ton by 2020, Australia’s domestic emissions were going up, not down. The carbon tax was basically socialism masquerading as environmentalism, and that’s why it’s going to get abolished.”

“If the Labor Party wants to give the people of Australia a Christmas present, they will vote to abolish the carbon tax. It was damaging the economy without helping the environment. It was a stupid tax. A misconceived tax,” Abbott added. The carbon tax increased taxes on 2.2 million people and did nothing to decrease carbon dioxide emissions, according to a study by Dr Alex Robson, economist at Australia’s University of Brisbane.

The paradox was uncovered by the Palestinian Media Watch group, which compared the speech Abbas made at the UN on September 27, to remarks he prepared for an event on the same day that celebrated the life of Ahmad Abu-Sukar, a notorious terrorist best known for his 1975 “refrigerator bomb” attack that killed 15 and injured 77.

In his UN General Assembly speech, Abbas said that the goal of the current talks going on between Israel and the PA “is to achieve a permanent agreement that will include all the core issues and allow us to declare an end to the conflict. The purpose of the talks is to achieve an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.” In the speech, Abbas said that he wanted to establish a PA state that would live “side by side with Israel.”

A number of Israeli politicians, including Labor head Shelly Yachimovich, were impressed. The speech, she said, “gives cautious hope that we are facing a new era of dialogue which may lead to an agreement.” The speech was a marked improvement over “the outrageous speech Abbas delivered a year ago at the UN,” with this year's speech consisting of “moderate comments.”

But as Abbas was making his UN speech, PMW said, another speech, prepared by Abbas and read out by PA top terrorist Jibril Rajoub at an event in Abu-Sukar's memory, called the terrorist a “hero,” a “legend,” and a “trailblazer” who showed PA Arabs the proper attitude to Israel.

"We have made it crystal clear – in all possible forums, that Israel will not stand by and watch Iran develop weaponry that will put us, the entire Middle East and eventually the world, under an Iranian umbrella of terror," Danny Danon, Israel's deputy defense minister told USA TODAY. Iran is developing and installing new and advanced centrifuges that enable Iran to enrich even low-enriched uranium to weapons grade uranium needed for nuclear weapons within weeks, Danon said.

"This speedy enrichment capability will make timely detection and effective response to an Iranian nuclear breakout increasingly difficult," he said. "Breakout" refers to the time needed to convert low-enriched uranium to weapons-grade uranium. On Thursday, the Institute for Science and International Security issued a report stating that Iran could reach that breakout in as little as one month based in part on Iran's own revelations about its nuclear program.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said his country has no interest in nuclear weapons but that producing nuclear fuel is Iran's right. However, Iran has blocked international inspectors from some suspected nuclear facilities, making it impossible to determine whether it is complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has signed.

United Nations inspectors say they have found evidence of a weapons program in violation of Iran's commitment under the treaty. The USA and the UN Security Council have implemented economic sanctions on Iran to persuade it to abide by its obligation and verify it is not developing a bomb.

Asked by moderator Rabbi Shmuley Boteach whether the US should negotiate with Iran if it were to cease its uranium enrichment program, Adelson retorted, “What are we going to negotiate about?” Adelson then imagined what might happen if an American official were to call up an Iranian official, say “watch this,” and subsequently drop a nuclear bomb in the middle of the Iranian desert.

“Then you say, ‘See! The next one is in the middle of Tehran. So, we mean business. You want to be wiped out? Go ahead and take a tough position and continue with your nuclear development. You want to be peaceful? Just reverse it all, and we will guarantee you that you can have a nuclear power plant for electricity purposes, energy purposes’,” Adelson said.

“So a tremendous demonstration of American strength?” Boteach clarified. “So that they would get the message?”

“It’s the only thing they understand,” Adelson said.

“And do you see the current negotiations as a sign of weakness?” Boteach asked.

“Absolutely,” Adelson said.

Yogev’s letter came as Israeli leaders plan to release more terrorists, as part of an ongoing raft of "goodwill gestures" by the Israeli government to the Palestinian Authority. Abbas has strongly pushed for all terrorists in Israeli prisons to be freed.

Abbas’ concern for terrorists is a red flag, Yogev warned. “Is Abu Mazen Abbas a peace partner? Or perhaps an enemy in a time of war?” he asked. Yogev, who heads the Judea and Samaria Affairs subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, warned that material that has reached the committee proves that PA officials are “encouraging terrorism.”

Terrorism is praised in the official PA school system, at cultural events, in the media and by religious leaders, he said. “The incitement in the Palestinian Authority reflects a deep unwillingness to recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state, or to see us as legitimate at all,” he warned.

A statement from Ashton's office said she reaffirmed support for the PA’s state-building efforts and for the need for the factions to reconcile "as an important element for the unity of a future Palestinian state and for reaching a two-state solution."

Hamas violently took control of Gaza in 2007, setting up its own government there and cracking down on Fatah officials who reside in the territory, leading to the long-standing rivalry between the two factions. Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo in 2011, pledging to set up an interim consensus government of independents that would pave the way for legislative and presidential elections within 12 months.

Hamas opposes the appointment of prime minister Rami Hamdallah, choosing instead to recognize its own Haniyeh, and also no longer recognizes the legitimacy of Abbas, whose four-year term as PA Chairman ended in 2009, and new elections have not been held since.

A day earlier, Abbas warned that Israel would be to blame if ongoing peace talks collapsed over its demand to keep military forces in the Jordan Valley. "We will not accept it, and if they (the talks) collapse, they (Israelis) will be the reason for the collapse, not us," he said in an interview with the Baltic News Service.

Ministry of Religious Affairs Chairman, Elhanan Glatt, revealed during the meeting that clear instructions had been given to the female bath attendants not to question women who visit the mikve as to their personal status. “If a woman wants to enter the mikve in order to go up the Temple Mount, and even if there may be a halachic (Jewish law) issue involved, it is not within an attendant’s purview to prevent it,” Glatt stated.

Some ritual baths permit only married Jewish women to immerse themselves, in accordance with the standard practice in many modern-day Jewish communities. Other communities allow unmarried women to immerse as well.

The question of Jewish ascension to the Temple Mount continues to be controversial. The Temple Mount is the holiest place on earth according to Jewish tradition, and was the site of the First and Second Temples. As such, some rabbis say Jews should be encouraged to visit and pray at the holy site. However, other rabbis say that Jews should not enter the Temple Mount until ancient practices have been brought back that would ensure they are in a state of ritual purity before stepping foot on the holy site.

There were no immediate signs of serious damage or injury from the tsunami and people were being warned to stay away from the coast. The tsunami hit around an hour after the strong quake. Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant were "ordered to evacuate from the waterfront", news agency Kyodo reported, though no new abnormalities had been found at the power station.

The earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) at 2:10am (Saturday) local time, 327 kilometers southeast of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, according to the US Geological Survey.

In light of revelations that the National Security Agency hacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone, in addition to recording information about 124 billion phone calls during a 30-day period earlier this year, the fallout against the NSA has accelerated. Brazil is set to finalize a 34,000-kilometre undersea fiber-optic cable by 2015 that will run from Vladivostok, Russia to Fortaleza, Brazil, via Shantou, China, Chennai, India and Cape Town, South Africa.

The project will create, “a network free of US eavesdropping,” which via legislative mandates will also force the likes of Google, Facebook and Yahoo to store all data generated by BRICS nations locally, shielding it from NSA snooping.

“The BRICS countries have the muscle to pull this off,” notes Washington’s Blog. “Each of the BRICS countries are in the top 25 largest economies in the world. China has the world’s second largest economy, India is 3rd, Russia 6th, Brazil 7th, and South Africa 25th.” Other entrepreneurs are also fighting back against NSA surveillance.

Tech maverick John McAfee recently announced that he was to fund a $100 gadget named Decentral that would sync up with a modem to thwart NSA spying and provide total anonymity.

Asked what he would do if the US government banned the product, McAfee responded, “I’ll sell it in England, Japan, the Third World. This is coming and cannot be stopped.”

Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief is vowing that the kingdom will make a 'major shift' in relations with the United States to protest perceived American inaction over Syria's civil war as well as recent US overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday. Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that the United States had failed to act effectively against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.

'The shift away from the US is a major one,' the source close to Saudi policy said. 'Saudi doesn't want to find itself any longer in a situation where it is dependent.' It was not immediately clear whether the reported statements by Prince Bandar, who was the Saudi ambassador to Washington for 22 years, had the full backing of King Abdullah.

The growing breach between the United States and Saudi Arabia was also on display in Washington, where another senior Saudi prince criticized Obama's Middle East policies, accusing him of 'dithering' on Syria and Israeli-Palestinian peace. In unusually blunt public remarks, Prince Turki al-Faisal called Obama's policies in Syria 'lamentable' and ridiculed a US-Russian deal to eliminate Assad's chemical weapons. He suggested it was a ruse to let Obama avoid military action in Syria.

In Bahrain, home of the US Fifth Fleet, a simmering pro-democracy revolt by its Shi'ite majority has prompted calls by some in Washington for US ships to be based elsewhere. Many US economic interests in Saudi Arabia involve government contracts in defense, other security sectors, health care, education, information technology and construction.

The linchpin of this system is the petrodollar. For decades, if you have wanted to buy oil virtually anywhere in the world you have had to do so with US dollars. But if one of the biggest oil exporters on the planet, such as Saudi Arabia, decided to start accepting other currencies as payment for oil, the petrodollar monopoly would disintegrate very rapidly.

For years, everyone assumed that nothing like that would happen any time soon, but now Saudi officials are warning of a "major shift" in relations with the United States. In fact, the Saudis are so upset at the Obama administration that "all options" are reportedly "on the table". If it gets to the point where the Saudis decide to make a major move away from the petrodollar monopoly, it will be absolutely catastrophic for the US economy.

The biggest reason why having good relations with Saudi Arabia is so important to the United States is because the petrodollar monopoly will not work without them. For decades, Washington DC has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the Saudis happy. But now the Saudis are becoming increasingly frustrated that the US military is not being used to fight their wars for them.

What all of this means is that the US government and the Federal Reserve are systematically destroying the financial system that has enabled us to enjoy such a high standard of living for the past several decades. Yes, the US economy is not doing well at the moment, but we haven't seen anything yet. When the monopoly of the petrodollar is broken, it is going to be absolutely devastating.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has been struggling to keep radiation under control ever since the nuclear disaster that took place March 11, 2011, when three of the plant’s reactors were hit by a tsunami, which was triggered by an underground earthquake off the coast of Fukushima. The damaged power plant has been accumulating radioactive water since, but TEPCO is running out of space quickly.

To avert a new disaster triggered by the typhoon, TEPCO proposes to move the contaminated water into underground storage pools previously deemed unsafe because of leaks, Japan’s NHK reported Thursday. There seems to be no alternative, as the typhoon is fast approaching. The three underground pools proposed for storage have a total capacity of 9,000 tons. TEPCO stopped using similar models in April, after the discovery of leaks.

The need for the November operation is increasingly urgent, even critical: any light tremor – let alone a full-on earthquake – could trigger a series of catastrophic leaks, possibly resulting in the world’s most severe radiological disaster yet. Recently, as it became clear that nuclear containment costs and a battered economy were taking their toll on finances, the government was forced to step in with funds to try and get the cleanup back on track.

A 20 kilometer no-go zone is currently imposed around the Fukushima plant.

Ms Merkel spoke to the US President regarding the allegations last night and her Government has today summoned the US ambassador John B Emerson to Berlin for talks. It is thought that the scandal could see European leaders lose their zeal to discuss a mooted free trade agreement between the EU and the US which had looked likely to be in place next year.

European leaders are likely to be looking for clarification over the relationship between Europe and the States before any such deal. Angela Merkel's government yesterday said it took the allegations ‘extremely seriously’ after media reports said the National Security Agency had hacked into her mobile phone ‘for years’.

A two day EU summit in Brussels, which has begun this afternoon, looks likely to have been hijacked by the controversy, with French President Francois Hollande and Ms Merkel wanting to talk about how Europe will 'co-ordinate a response' to the scandal.

President Dilma Rousseff has ordered a series of measures aimed at greater Brazilian online independence and security following revelations that the US National Security Agency intercepted her communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company’s network and spied on Brazilians who entrusted their personal data to US tech companies such as Facebook and Google.

“The global backlash is only beginning and will get far more severe in coming months,” said Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Institute at the Washington-based New America Foundation think-tank. “This notion of national privacy sovereignty is going to be an increasingly salient issue around the globe.”

Most of Brazil’s global internet traffic passes through the United States, so Ms Rousseff’s government plans to lay underwater fiber optic cable directly to Europe and also link to all South American nations to create what it hopes will be a network free of US eavesdropping. Ms Rousseff is urging Brazil’s Congress to compel Facebook, Google and other US companies to store all data generated by Brazilians on servers physically located inside Brazil in order to shield it from the NSA.

If that happens, and other nations follow suit, Silicon Valley’s bottom line could be hit by lost business and higher operating costs.