This callous disregard for travelers' rights merely paraphrases the words of Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano, who shares, with the president, ultimate responsibility for all TSA travesties since 2009. In November 2010, with the groping policy only a few weeks old, Napolitano dismissed complaints by saying "people [who] want to travel by some other means" have that right. (In other words: if you don't like it, don't fly.)

But now TSA is invading travel by other means, too. No surprise, really: as soon as she established groping in airports, Napolitano expressed her desire to expand TSA jurisdiction over all forms of mass transit. In the past year, TSA's snakelike VIPR (Visual Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams have been slithering into more and more bus and train stations – and even running checkpoints on highways – never in response to actual threats, but apparently more in an attempt to live up to the inspirational motto displayed at the TSA's air marshal training center since the agency's inception: "Dominate. Intimidate. Control."

Anyone who rode the bus in Houston, Texas during the 2-10pm shift last Friday faced random bag checks and sweeps by both drug-sniffing dogs and bomb-sniffing dogs (the latter being only canines necessary if "preventing terrorism" were the actual intent of these raids), all courtesy of a joint effort between TSA VIPR nests and three different local and county-level police departments. The new Napolitano doctrine, then: "Show us your papers, show us everything you've got, justify yourself or you're not allowed to go about your everyday business."

The USGS said the quake was recorded offshore, 51 miles south-southeast of the town of Manokwari, at a depth of 18.5 miles. It had initially estimated the magnitude of the tremor at 6.9 and 7.0. At least one major aftershock was recorded. In Manokwari, "the quake was felt quite strongly for a couple of seconds, and residents ran away from houses and buildings," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. There were no immediate reports of damage, although the office is still waiting for reports from the regions, Nugroho added.

The more than 50 institutions that received approvals to operate remotely piloted aircraft are more varied than many outsiders and privacy experts previously knew. They include not only agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security but also smaller ones such as the police departments in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and Ogden, Utah, as well the University of North Dakota and Nicholls State University in Louisiana.

The information, released by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, came to light as the Federal Aviation Administration gears up to advance the widespread use of the drones. By the fall of 2015, Congress wants the agency to integrate remotely piloted aircraft throughout US airspace.

Although the documents don't indicate how the aircraft will be used, the disclosures likely will fuel privacy concerns involving drones. On Thursday, Democratic Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Republican Representative Joe Barton of Texas asked the acting administrator of the FAA to answer questions about the privacy implications of increased drone use.

"Many drones are designed to carry surveillance equipment, including video cameras, infrared thermal imagers, radar and wireless network 'sniffers,'" the representatives wrote in their letter to Michael Huerta. Now that the FAA, under pressure from lawmakers and businesses, is pushing to increase the use of drones, it has "the responsibility to ensure that the privacy of individuals is protected and that the public is fully informed about who is using drones in public airspace and why," they wrote.

The FAA declined to comment.

As it became clear that it would be 2013 before Britain handed over its controversial £10 billion share of the global fighting fund, the chancellor backed plans for closer integration of the eurozone through common euro bonds. "Boosting IMF resources will not be enough on its own to secure the recovery," Osborne told the fund's key policymaking committee. "We also need a strong and co-ordinated global policy response if we are to exit the crisis."

The IMF was bracing itself for the judgment of the financial markets on the agreement to increase the size of its firewall by at least $430 billion (£267 billion). Doubts remained about whether the leading developing countries – Brazil in particular – would deliver on their pledge to increase the resources available to tackle a fresh outbreak of global turbulence.

The so-called Bric countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – have privately agreed that they will only make a decision on how much to contribute when the G20 group of advanced and emerging economies meets in Mexico in June. Sources said the Brics wanted to see hard evidence that they would have a bigger say in the running of the IMF before making firm commitments. UK sources said that Britain's £10 billion would only become available once changes to the IMF's governance had been completed, and they did not expect this to happen until after the US presidential elections in November.

Eruptions from the Popocatepetl volcano began to grow larger a week ago as columns of ash began pouring from more than 60 openings in the 17,886 foot high cone. On Friday a low pitched roar and rolling towers of ash and steam were spewed out as some of the pressure built up inside the magma chamber escaped. Glowing rock fragments have also been sighted more than 3,000 feet down the slopes of the volcano.

Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Centre have now raised the volcano alert level to "yellow stage three" – the third highest level. Tens of thousands of people live in the farming villages on the volcano's flanks while roughly 25 million people live within a 60 mile radius. It is feared the airborne ash could cause havoc with Mexico City's busy airport and a large eruption of Popo, as it is commonly known, could see ash falling on Mexico City itself, around 50 miles away.

“We are prepared with all options on the table if we have to respond,” Panetta said, adding that “there are plans” to deal with Iran if the country does not give up its nuclear ambitions. “I don’t think there is any question that if we have to implement that plan, it will be successful,” he added. This practical approach sees two American aircraft carriers, their battle groups, several submarines and additional Marines deployed to the Gulf waters. Both the US Navy and the Pentagon say the commissions are “routine.”

With all the military build-up in the area, Washington says the first round of nuclear talks with Tehran gave them “positive” feelings. However, no alleviating of sanctions against Iran’s economy has so far been debated in the White House, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared on Monday.

The USA seems to be between a rock and the hard place regarding the issue of Iran. On the one hand, Washington says they want Iran to drop nukes, but diplomacy comes first. On the other hand, the US has to restrain Israel as its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has branded the first round of talks with Iran an international “freebie” for the country. He also makes a point of mentioning at least once a month that Tehran is “an existential threat” to Israel.

Comparing climate change skeptics to residents in Tennessee who refused to pay a $75 fee, resulting in firemen sitting back and watching their houses burn down, Zwick rants that anyone who actively questions global warming propaganda should face the same treatment. “We know who the active denialists are – not the people who buy the lies, mind you, but the people who create the lies. Let’s start keeping track of them now, and when the famines come, let’s make them pay. Let’s let their houses burn. Let’s swap their safe land for submerged islands. Let’s force them to bear the cost of rising food prices,” writes Zwick, adding, “They broke the climate. Why should the rest of us have to pay for it?”

As we have profusely documented, as polls show that fewer and fewer Americans are convinced by the pseudo-science behind man-made global warming, promulgated as it is by control freaks like Zwick who care more about money and power than they do the environment, AGW adherents are becoming increasingly authoritarian in their pronouncements. Even as the science itself disproves their theories – Arctic ice is thickening, polar bears and penguins are thriving, Himalayan glaciers are growing – climate change alarmists are only becoming more aggressive in their attacks against anyone who dares question the global warming mantra.

Earlier this month we highlighted Professor Kari Norgaard’s call for climate skeptics to be likened to racists and ‘treated’ for having a mental disorder. In a letter to Barack Obama, Norgaard also called on the President to ignore the will of the people and suspend democracy in order to enforce draconian ecological mandates.

"This machine will harvest my entire field today," says Prashant Kadam, the young owner of the compact two-acre plot. "Had it been harvested by laborers, they would have taken at least a week." A short drive away in a field where the sun is just getting hot enough to halt work, a team of 12 couples cut cane the way it's been done for centuries - with machetes. They load the cane into carts each pulled by two white bullocks with gaily painted horns and head for the local mill which dominates this sugar-growing valley some 300 kilometers south of Mumbai.

It is a way of life that is fast disappearing in the world's second-biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugar. India is finally embracing mechanization after centuries of farming with methods the United States threw out with the British.

Many are angry at the disqualification of popular presidential candidates. The first presidential poll since Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power last year is due to be held next month. When the military took power it promised only to hold power until the election results were announced in June.

Jon Leyne, BBC News, Cairo, reports: This is probably the biggest demonstration here since last November, but what is even more significant is the range of opposition forces gathered. They are united by a range of issues, but particularly the disqualification of a number of presidential candidates. They are trying to put maximum pressure on the military to ensure a free and fair election next month, and also that the handover of power to civilian rule goes ahead as planned at the end of June.

The gathering is yet another warning to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) that if there is not seen to be a proper transition to democracy then Egypt could be in for a second revolution. The well-organised demonstration is peaceful, but takes Egypt into a new, tense phase that could last for several months.

Germany and France are serious this time. During next week's meeting of European Union interior ministers, the two countries plan to start a discussion about reintroducing national border controls within the Schengen zone. According to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and his French counterpart, Claude Guéant, have formulated a letter to their colleagues in which they call for governments to once again be allowed to control their borders as "an ultima ratio" - that is, measure of last resort - "and for a limited period of time." They reportedly go on to recommend 30-days for the period.

Of course, using catchphrases like "ultima ratio" and "limited period of time" is supposed to make such policies sound reasonable and proportionate. After all, the reasoning goes, it's just a few occasional border controls for up to 30 days. What's the big deal, right? But the proposal is far from harmless and would throw Europe back decades. Since 1995, the citizens of Schengen-zone countries have gotten used to freely traveling within Continental Europe. Next to the euro common currency, free movement is probably the strongest symbol of European unity. Indeed, for many people, it's what makes this abstract idea tangible in the first place.

To throw this achievement into doubt now is a vote of no confidence in Europe. The fact that this proposal is coming in the middle of the French election campaign makes it even more suspicious. With his back to the wall, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pretending to take a tough-guy stance toward immigrants. And the fact that Germany's interior minister is allowing himself to get caught up in this charade is regrettable.

But this symbolic act could have drastic consequences. It is a relapse into the type of nationalist thinking that many viewed as part of the past. And it brings to mind a country that continental Europeans like to make fun of for its obsession with its own borders: Great Britain.

Conservative circles of the Paris establishment, according to this publication, feel impelled to imitate in France, the austerity measures ("Hartz IV"), imposed on Germany under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to safeguard the French economy from the overwhelming German competition – at the expense of growing impoverishment of the French population. The DGAP hardly sees any alternatives, once the struggle for a demand-oriented solution to the crisis in the EU was lost to Germany.

The president’s party, the UMP, which wrote its electoral platform with the collaboration of the German CDU, is promoting the austerity policy as a "German model." Following initial protests, the opposing Parti Socialist (PS) is warning against "anti-German sentiments." Analyzing the EU's development over the past few years under the German austerity dictate, a Swiss research institute has concluded that France has become the "junior partner" of the "undisputed EU leader, Germany."

According to the analysis, the German government has completely prevailed in the dispute over the crisis management. Since then, it is clear: Germany has risen "to the position of the EU’s indisputable leader," while France "has been downgraded to a junior status." The Center for Security Studies concludes: "Never before in the history of European unification has there been a similar degree of preeminence of any single country."

As Europe continues to integrate both economically and politically, the outcomes of national elections have grown in importance to reach beyond their own borders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel knows that, and it's why she will travel on Sunday to Paris, where voters will be heading to the polls in the first round of the French presidential elections.

Conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy is fighting for a second term, but he has a strong opponent. The Socialist candidate, François Hollande, has a good chance of moving into the Élysée Palace. The latest polls show Hollande leading in the first round of voting, as well as in the possible run-off vote on May 6.

For Merkel, this is an election like no other, and one that is even more important to her than many German state elections. Whoever wins in France will help drive European policy by her side. If the victor proves to be Hollande, who differs with Merkel's closely allied partner Sarkozy on many issues, not the least of which involve rescuing of the euro, things could become uncomfortable for her, both in Brussels and at home in Berlin.

The election in France could even alter the political landscape ahead of Germany's upcoming federal election in 2013. The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are trailing the chancellor in recent polls, desperately need a boost. If Hollande were to win, it would send a signal that social democracy in Europe, and in Germany, is still a force to be reckoned with. That's how party members see it, at least.

It was less than one year ago that Denmark decided to reintroduce controls on its borders with Germany and Sweden, a move, Copenhagen said, that was necessary to put a stop to illegal immigration and organized crime. The reactions from Berlin and other European capitals were immediate and unequivocal. The step taken by Copenhagen marked a "bad day for Europe," said German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. Europe's border-free travel regime, said the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, "cannot be infringed upon."

Now, just nine months later, it is Germany itself that is looking to weaken the Schengen Agreement, the treaty signed in 1985 to remove inner-European border controls. According to a report in the Friday edition of daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany and France are seeking to change the treaty to allow for the temporary reintroduction of border controls.

The paper reports that German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and his French counterpart Claude Guéant have formulated a letter to the European Union demanding the change. The reintroduction of controls, they wrote according to Süddeutsche, should be possible as "an ultima ratio and for a limited period of time" should border controls in southern and eastern Europe prove unable to prevent illegal immigration. Later in the letter, the two write that controls could be re-established for periods of 30 days.

An archbishop has been appointed to oversee its reform to ensure that it conforms to Catholic prayer and ritual. The Leadership Conference, which is based in Maryland, represents about 57,000 nuns and offers a wide range of services, from leadership training for women's religious orders to advocacy on social justice issues.

But its activities have clearly worried the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the nuns' organisation faced a "grave" doctrinal crisis. It said issues of "crucial importance" to the church, such as abortion and euthanasia, had been ignored. Vatican officials also castigated the group for making some public statements that "disagree with or challenge positions taken by the bishops", who are the church's "authentic teachers of faith and morals." The review will include an examination of ties between the Leadership Conference and Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.

It is therefore quite apparent why Monsanto bought one of the largest bee research firms on the planet. It can be found in public company reports hosted on mainstream media that Monsanto scooped up the Beeologics firm back in September 2011. During this time the correlation between Monsanto’s GM crops and the bee decline was not explored in the mainstream, and in fact it was hardly touched upon until Polish officials addressed the serious concern amid the monumental ban. Owning a major organization that focuses heavily on the bee collapse and is recognized by the USDA for their mission statement of “restoring bee health and protecting the future of insect pollination” could be very advantageous for Monsanto.

Steve Censky, chief executive officer of the American Soybean Association, states it quite plainly. It was a move to help Monsanto and other biotechnology giants squash competition and make profits. After all, who cares about public health? “It is a concern from a competition standpoint,” Censky said in a telephone interview. It appears that when Monsanto cannot answer for their environmental devastation, they buy up a company that may potentially be their ‘experts’ in denying any such link between their crops and the bee decline.