The Nation | With Blackwater's top deputies indicted on federal charges and the company up for sale, rumors are swirling that Prince is preparing to bolt to a country with no extradition treaty with the US. Sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world's most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince's top deputies were hit with a 15-count indictment by a federal Grand Jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince's longtime number two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy, and Prince's former legal counsel Andrew Howell. 

Times Online | GROWING numbers of girls are reaching puberty before the age of 10, raising fears of increased sexual activity among a new generation of children.

AntiWar.com | At least 36 Iraqis were killed and 64 more were wounded in new violence. The lion’s share of the casualties came from a coordinated attack against a bank in Baghdad, just a day before the new parliament is to meet. Meanwhile, a British security contractor is appealing a determination that he is mentally able to stand trial in Iraq in the fatal shooting of two colleagues in Baghdad last summer.

The Excavator | A new MSNBC documentary called 'Rise of The New Right' that is set to air next Wednesday falsely paints the Tea Party's growing influence in electoral politics as a precursor to a new age of racist rage.

NumbersUSA.com | The city of Orange, Calif. voted earlier this week to "Stand with Arizona" after the council approved two resolutions (4-0 vote, 1 absent) that support Arizona's new immigration enforcement law. The city council declared Orange a rule of law city and several NumbersUSA activists were there to offer their thoughts to the council.

Times Online | Pakistan’s military intelligence agency directly funds and trains the Afghan Taleban and is officially represented on its leadership council, according to a report by a British academic. The study, published by the London School of Economics, also alleges that Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani President, met Taleban leaders imprisoned in Pakistan and promised them early release and future support.

inhibitots.com | Another day, another “uh oh.” The latest kerfuffle? Quantities of lead in bottled juice, juice boxes, and packaged fruit could exceed federal limits for the lunchbox-toting set, according to the Environmental Law Foundation. The Bay Area-based environmental nonprofit, which enlisted the aid of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-certified lab in Berkeley, tested nearly 400 samples from 150 branded products marketed to children, including apple juice, grape juice, packaged pears and peaches (including baby food), and fruit cocktail mixes. The alarming results: 125 out of 146 products—or more than 85%—contained enough lead in a single serving to warrant a warning label under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Prop. 65.

Star Tribune | You committed no crime, but an officer is knocking on your door. More Minnesotans are surprised to find themselves being locked up over debts.

Zero Hedge | And there are those who wonder why the US has spent countless dollars and thousands of dead soldiers protecting a few desolate mountain passes in Afghanistan. And no, it turns out it is not just the opium trade. The NYT reports that "The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials." The article continues, "The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe." Ah yes - "previously unknown." Yet the punchline of the piece : "The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists." Because $1 trillion worth of minerals just lie there waiting to be discovered almost 10 years after the initial incursion. Next thing you know FCX already had an entire mining infrastructure in place just in case a contingency like this miraculously occurred. In the meantime, look for gold prices to plunge as the newly uncovered gold deposits are rumored to be "large" enough to once again refill Fort Knox and to push the supply curve three miles to the right.

AP | Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure's on to allow them in the skies over the United States.

Mail Online  | Whites are on the verge of becoming a minority of newborn babies in the United States. Official census figures show that non-white births, including Hispanics, constituted 48 per cent of children born in America between July 2008 and 2009, up from 46 per cent two years before.

Bloomberg | Risks to the global economic outlook have “risen significantly” and policy makers have limited room to provide support to growth, International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Naoyuki Shinohara said.

Consumer Reports | With bottles of some protein drinks displayed near the grocery checkout or lined up next to the soft drinks at your local convenience store, it’s clear that they have gone mainstream. The products, sold as ready-to-drink liquids or powders that you mix into shakes, are being touted by some dietary supplement makers as a scientifically proven way to build muscles, shed unwanted

Bloomberg | Billionaire investor George Soros said “we have just entered Act II” of the crisis as Europe’s fiscal woes worsen and governments are pressured to curb budget deficits that may push the global economy back into recession.

NaturalNews.com | It's well-established that exposure to ionizing radiation can trigger mutations and other genetic damage and cause normal cells to become malignant. So it seems amazing how mainstream medicine frequently dismisses the idea that medical imaging tests from mammograms to CT scans could play much of a role in causing breast cancer.