15,000 elite Iranian special-ops 'head' to Syria

The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is expecting up to 15,000 Iranian troops to help maintain order in the country’s provinces, a Chinese newspaper reports. Iran has yet to confirm or deny the news.

According to the central Chinese daily Renmin Ribao, the Iranian special task troops are due to be deployed in Syria’s key provinces. The Syrian opposition announced earlier that commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani, advises the Syrian authorities on quashing the country’s opposition movement, the Telegraph newspaper reports.

Firefighters vs Cops: Striking fire officers hose down PM office

Several hundred firefighters have broken through police lines and hosed down the prime minister's office in Brussels to protest the government's tougher retirement plans. Firefighters demand to keep their early retirement age at 58, arguing their arduous job does not allow them to work into their sixties. Source

DONT SAVE THE WORLD - FKN Newz

The Three Big Charts For Silver

Greece: "This is what a death spiral looks like." Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Another normal day at the Hellenic Statistical Authority. We learn that:

Greece's manufacturing output contracted by 15.5pc in December from a year earlier.

Industrial output fell 11.3pc, compared to minus 7.8pc in November.

Unemployment jumped to 20.9pc in November, up from 18.2pc a month earlier.

I have little further to add. This is what a death spiral looks like.

HIV takes tough toll on Black Americans

According to the Centers for disease control and prevention 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV. Its a problem that's on the rise in America with approximately 50,000 Americans being infected each year, an increase of about 13 percent. Source

Congress approves expanded drone use in US

US citizens may be seeing more of what people all already used to in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan predator drones flying over their heads. Source

Robert Prechter on how Social Mood Drives Markets, Movies and Miniskirts

Italian Prime Minister -- Technocrat -- Mario Monti met in Washington today with President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Greek leaders scraped together a deal on austerity. They may face the same problem again though three months from now. Fractures in the EU continue to appear as leaders try to keep it together. But, does any of this matter, or does the threat of European disintegration have to do with something else entirely? And is the same thing that moves markets what moves women's hemline? Is the same thing driving the Dow what drives a hollywood producer to make a movie like "The Road," or "Texas Chainsaw Massacre?"

Infographic: Presenting A World Covered In (Hundred Dollar Bill) Debt

Submitted by Tyler Durden: Our friends at Demonocracy have once again surpassed themselves, and have followed up the infographic showing the truckloads of cash that are needed to rescue the insolvent PIIGS, with this masterpiece which, while making the naive assumption that debt is represented by physical paper (when it is nothing but a bunch of electronic ones and zeros stored in various computers around the world), presents in gloriously visual terms precisely what the literal debt burden of the world's would look like expressed in piles of one hundred dollar bills. The result is quite stunning...

Greece Responds To Troika Deal, Immediate Two Day Strike, Threatens "Social Uprising" as 'IMF recipe leads Greeks to starvation'

Greek politicians' last minute agreement on fresh austerity plans hasn't exactly been greeted with open arms. A 48-hour strike has been called by the country's two major labour unions. And Eurozone member states say they will put even more conditions on Greece before handing over a second bailout. The journalist Stylianos Chrysostomidis says the situation in the country is deteriorating and the consequences could be dangerous. Robert Oulds - chair of the London based think-tank Bruges Group, believes that it's the European currency itself pushing Greece to the edge.

Hundreds of 9/11 cops diagnosed with cancer

The attack on the World Trade Center took the lives of 23 NYPD officers who responded to the scene that day.

In the decade since though, the number of cops that have died from cancer is more than double that number, and the link, experts say, is astounding.

Before the 9/11 tragedy, an average of six NYPD cops filed claims for cancer-related disability each year. Around 12,000 men and women were dispatched to Ground Zero on September 11, and a decade down the road, the number of annual cancer claims has nearly tripled. Today there around 16 police officers each year in New York that are applying for cancer-related disability insurance, and the statistic has some saying that it is more than a coincidence.

The Way of Empires with Activist Lew Rockwell

On the Thursday, February 9 edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex talks with libertarian political commentator and activist Lew Rockwell, who served as Ron Paul's congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982. Rockwell founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama