Lottery Scam Email: AMERICAN MEGA MILLIONS LOTTERY

Have you received an email from "Helen Smith (Ms.) CPA" at "AMERICAN MEGA MILLIONS LOTTERY" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Mr.PHILIPS GEORGE" to collect your winnings? It is a scam. No legitimate, legal lottery notifies winners via email (see footnote) The scammers may change the names and details, but it is still a scam! There are plenty of other clues... such as a phone number in Philadelphia (area code 215) yet an address in Waco, Texas!

Below is another example of a fake lottery; this email claims to be from the "AMERICAN MEGA MILLIONS LOTTERY".  

Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery will ever email a winner, there are many other signs that this is a fraud. We have highlighted some of these in the email below, not the least of which are:

• Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Microsoft has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest.
• Terrible spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar - Scammers apparently don't know how to use spell checkers.  We assume they dropped out of school before that class. They use almost excessive and random CapItaLiZAtion. They often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". These scammers usually write at the 3rd grade level. Being non-native English speakers, they also often get first names and surnames (last names reversed), so you will frequently see names like "Mr. SMITH JAMES.", instead of "Mr. James Smith", along with the peculiar usage of periods (full stops) and spaces or the lack thereof. Real lotteries also proofread their emails and look and read more professional.
• Using free email account: The scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, Excite, AIM, Gmail, etc.).  Don't you think a real organization would use its own email, its own domain and website?
• Keep Confidential - Real lotteries THRIVE on publicity - they don't want you to keep anything secret - the publicity causes people to buy more tickets. there is NO risk of "double claiming" because they can validate where the ticket numbers were sold. The scammer want you to keep quiet because they don't want the police or ConsumerFraudreporting to hear about them! It should read: "For our own security, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until we have finished scamming you!"
• Email notification: NO REAL LOTTERY SENDS AN EMAIL TO NOTIFY WINNERS.  Period.  Full-stop. End of story. There mere fact ALONE that you received an email saying you won a lottery is proof that it is a scam.

Here is a typical scam lottery winning notification. 

Master list of sample lottery scam emails

How to recognize a lottery scam

What to do if you think you have been the victim of a lottery scam

How the lottery / sweepstakes scams work

Actual scam email (One example - the scammers constantly change names, dates and addresses!):

AMERICAN MEGA MILLIONS LOTTERY.

17740 Preston RD, Dallas, Texas 75252. 

AMERICAN MEGA MILLIONS Are Affiliate of MEGA Millions Jackpot 

Attention, 

CONGRATULATIONS: YOU WON $2,500,000.00. 

We are pleased to inform you of the result of American Mega Millions Lottery, which was held earlier this month. Your e-mail address attached to e-ticket number: 25-64-46-74-11 (03-07), with Prize Number (match 8): 0073627169 drew a prize of $2,500,000.00. (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand, American Dollars Only) This lucky draw came first in the 4th Category of the Sweepstake. 

You will receive the sum of $2,500,000.00 from our authorized bank. Because of some mix-up with sweepstake prizes, including the limited time placed on the payment of your prize of $2,500,000.00 we advice that you keep all information about this prize confidential until your winning prize of $2,500,000.00. (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand, American Dollars Only) have been transferred to you by the authorized paying bank. You must adhere to this instruction, strictly, to avoid any delay with the release of your winning to you in person. This program has been abused severally in past, so we are doing our best to forestall further occurrence of false claims. 

This sweepstake was conducted under the watchful eyes of 8,000 spectators. Your e-mail address attached to e-ticket number: 25-64-46-74-11 (03-07), was selected and; it came out first by an electronic-ballot draw from over 250,000 e-mail addresses (personal and corporate e-mail addresses). This program is sponsored by CFI to compensate faithful internet suffers around the globe. Congratulations for becoming one of the few lucky winners.

With your permission, your e-mail will also be included in the next sweepstake of 200 Million American Dollars. You must claim your prize: $2,500,000.00. Not later than 7-days from the moment you receive this e-mail. In order to avoid unnecessary delays with your claim from the bank; please contact your claims officer below, and quote your winning and personal information now, and in all your correspondence with the claims officer. Here is the contact information: 

Claims Manager: 

Mr.PHILIPS GEORGE

American Mega Millions Lottery Claims Department

300 South 5th Street, Waco, Texas 76701

E-mails: ammlphilips@aol.com  

TEL/FAX:             001 215 326 2589     

Furnish them with the following: 

VERIFICATION FORM: 

1.) FULL NAME: 

2.) AGE: 

3.) SEX: 

4.) ADDRESS: 

5.) ZIP/POSTAL CODE: 

6.) STATE/PROVINCE: 

7.) COUNTRY: 

8.) PHONE: 

9.) OCCUPATION/POSITION: 

10.) COMPANY: 

11.) EMAIL ADDRESS: 

12.) E-TICKET NUMBER: 

(Including amount won and how you intend to receive the amount you won).

Failure to provide the above details might result to the disqualification of your winning so kindly adhere to the simple instructions

Congratulations.

Yours Faithfully

Helen Smith (Ms.) CPA.

Coordinator: American Mega Millions Lottery.

Open Mon - Sat 8am-8pm. 

Copyright © 1970-2007 the American Mega Millions Lottery Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Service - Guidelines

Source: consumerfraudreporting

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Tornado-wrecked Dallas begins assessing damage

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The tornado hurtled toward the nursing home. Physical therapist Patti Gilroy said she saw the swirling mass barreling down through the back door, after she herded patients into the hallway in the order trained: walkers, wheelchairs, then beds.

"It wasn't like a freight train like everybody says it is," said Gilroy, who rounded up dozens to safety at Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "It sounded like a bomb hit. And we hit the floor, and everybody was praying. It was shocking."

Texas Army National Guard Cpl. Brock Fischer of Charlie Troop, 3-124 Cav., searches a vehicle in front of a tornado damaged home Tuesday, April 3, 2012, in Forney, Texas. Tornadoes tore through the Dallas area Tuesday, peeling roofs off homes, tossing big-rig trucks into the air and leaving flattened tractor trailers strewn along highways and parking lots. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

The National Weather Service said as many as a dozen twisters touched down in a wrecking-ball swath of violent weather that stretched across Dallas and Fort Worth. The destructive reminder of a young tornado season Tuesday left thousands without power and hundreds of homes pummeled or worse.

As the sun rose Wednesday over the southern Dallas suburb of Lancaster, one of the hardest hit areas, it was clear that twisters had bounced in and out of neighborhoods, destroying homes at random. Vehicles were tossed like toys, coming to rest in living rooms and bedrooms.

At one house, a tornado had seemingly dipped into the building like an immersion blender, spinning directly down through an upstairs bedroom and wreaking havoc in the family room below before lifting straight back up and away. A grandfather clock leaned slightly but otherwise stood pristine against a wall at the back of the downstairs room that was filled with smashed furniture and fallen support beams.

Despite the intensity of the slow-moving storms, only a handful of people were hurt, a couple of them seriously, and no fatalities were reported as of late Tuesday.

The Red Cross estimated that 650 homes were damaged. Around 150 Lancaster residents stayed in a shelter Tuesday night.

"I guess 'shock' is probably a good word," Lancaster Mayor Marcus Knight said.

The exact number of tornadoes won't be known until surveyors have fanned across North Texas, looking for clues among the debris that blanketed yards and rooftops peeled off slats.

April is typically the worst month in a tornado season that stretches from March to June, but Tuesday's outburst suggests that "we're on pace to be above normal," said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop.

An entire wing at the Green Oaks nursing home in Arlington crumbled. Stunning video from Dallas showed big-rig trailers tossed into the air and spiraling like footballs. At the Cedar Valley Christian Center church in Lancaster, Pastor Glenn Young said he cowered in a windowless room with 30 children from a daycare program, some of them newborns.

Ten people in Lancaster were injured, two of them severely, said Lancaster police officer Paul Beck. Three people were injured in Arlington, including two Green Oaks residents taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Arlington Assistant Fire Chief Jim Self said.

Gilroy said the blast of wind through Green Oaks lasted about 10 seconds. She described one of her co-workers being nearly "sucked out" while trying to get a patient out of the room at the moment the facility was hit.

Joy Johnston was also there, visiting her 79-year-old sister.

"Of course the windows were flying out, and my sister is paralyzed, so I had to get someone to help me get her in a wheelchair to get her out of the room," she said.

In one industrial section of Dallas, rows of empty tractor-trailers crumpled like soda cans littered a parking lot.

"The officers were watching the tornadoes form and drop," Kennedale police Chief Tommy Williams said. "It was pretty active for a while."

Most of Dallas was spared the full wrath of the storm. Yet in Lancaster, television helicopters panned over exposed homes without roofs and flattened buildings. Residents could be seen walking down the street with firefighters and peering into homes, looking at the damage after the storm passed.

Hundreds of flights into and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field were canceled or diverted elsewhere Tuesday. About 500 flights remained grounded Wednesday, airport officials said.

The storms knocked out power for thousands. Utility Oncor said nearly 14,000 homes and businesses, mainly in the Arlington area, still had no electricity early Wednesday.

Meteorologists said the storms were the result of a slow-moving storm system centered over northern New Mexico.

___

Dixon reported from Lancaster. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant, Terry Wallace and David Koenig in Dallas, Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth and Robert Ray in Lancaster contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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#GIFiles: Bin Laden emails claim his corpse was flown to US before dumped at sea

FBI (more) on Body

Email-ID 1666377

Date 2011-05-02 15:11:03

From burton@stratfor.com

To secure@stratfor.com

Down & dirty done, He already sleeps with the fish....

** Fred's Note: Although I don't really give a rats ass, it seems to me that by dropping the corpse in the ocean, the body will come back to haunt us....gotta be violating some sort of obscure heathen religious rule that will inflame islam? I was sleeping thru that class at Langley.

The US Govt needs to make body pics available like the MX's do, with OBL's pants pulled down, to shout down the lunatics like Alex Jones and Glenn Beck.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: OBL's corpse

Email-ID 1097638

Date 2011-05-02 13:36:41

From burton@stratfor.com

To analysts@stratfor.com, friedman@att.blackberry.net

List-Name analysts@stratfor.com

Body is Dover bound, should be here by now.

On 5/2/2011 6:35 AM, George Friedman wrote:

Eichmann was seen alive for many months on trial before being sentenced to death and executed. No one wanted a monument to him so they cremated him. But i dont know anyone who claimed he wasnt eicjhman. No comparison with suddenly burying him at sea without any chance to view him which i doubt happened.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Fred Burton

Sender: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com

Date: Mon, 2 May 2011 06:26:07 -0500 (CDT)

To:

ReplyTo: Analyst List

Subject: OBL's corpse

If body dumped at sea, which I doubt, the touch is very Adolph Eichman like. The Tribe did the same thing with the Nazi's ashes.

We would want to photograph, DNA, fingerprint, etc.

His body is a crime scene and I don't see the FBI nor DOJ letting that happen.

Source: AnonOps

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WikiLeaks + Anonymous = A powerful partnership?

Though it's nothing new for WikiLeaks to publish information belonging to a private company, Monday's release of Stratfor e-mails might be an indication that for the first time, Anonymous and WikiLeaks have worked together. And that could have legal consequences for WikiLeaks' editor Julian Assange, experts say.

In December, Anonymous claimed it had hacked Stratfor, the Austin, Texas-based private company that produces intelligence reports for clients. On Monday, WikiLeaks began releasing 5 million e-mails it said belonged to Stratfor that reveal, WikiLeaks says, a litany of injustices by the company. WikiLeaks is calling the leak The Global Intelligence Files.

WikiLeaks has not said where it got the e-mails. Anonymous, an amorphous group of hackers worldwide,  is claiming on Twitter and on other social media that they gave it to the site. Numerous media outlets such as the Washington Post and Wired are reporting the partnership.

"Their [WikiLeaks and Anonymous] working together made sense. Anonymous did the hack, had the stuff and in the end decided that someone else would be better-suited to comb through this and release it," said Gregg Housh, who acts as a spokesperson for Anonymous. "Anonymous just didn't have the ability to go through all the e-mails themselves. This was a happy partnership. WikiLeaks did such an awesome job categorizing the [State Department] cables."

WikiLeaks became megawatt famous in 2010 with the Iraq and Afghanistan war leaks, and then followed up by leaking nearly a quarter million State Department cables. Meanwhile, Anonymous was making its first international headlines by disabling the Web sites of MasterCard, PayPal and Visa when the corporations stopped doing business with WikiLeaks. With intense attention on WikiLeaks and Assange's subsequent legal woes, it seemed that Anonymous might take over if WikiLeaks couldn't survive. Assange last year said that he had nothing to do with the site disabling of the companies.

Housh is a web developer in Boston and says that he observes Anonymous' IRC chat portal and communicates with anons but he doesn't participate in any hacks. Through Housh, CNN has requested phone interviews with anons, people who associate themselves with Anonymous. On Monday those requests were rebuffed –  although across the Web, anons claimed credit for the Stratfor hack. The hackers behind the Stratfor hack may be part of an Anonymous sect called "Anti-Sec," which Wired reports is known for hacking into servers.

Stratfor confirmed Monday that company e-mails had been stolen, but said in a statement that some of the messages may have been altered.

Because the Global Intelligence Files are allegedly stolen from a private company, WikiLeaks could likely be held liable for that theft, said Hemu Nigam who has worked for two decades in computer security.

"There's a huge difference between publishing information and publishing information you know to be stolen," said Nigam, who has collaborated with the U.S. Secret Service, Interpol and the FBI to implement a hacker identification program for Microsoft. He now runs SSP Blue, an advisory firm that tells major corporations how to protect against hackers and insiders looking to leak. "There are a host of criminal statues that I have no doubt Stratfor's attorneys are going over thinking about how best to sue WikiLeaks. Information that is privately owned is not the same as information that is public, that essentially belongs to the public."

Hemu says that it appears to him that the 5 million e-mails were taken by a hacker who penetrated an unprotected server and copied the entire server. "Any company that's keeping valuable or confidential information has to take a multilayered approach to Internet security," Nigam said. "There are so many ways to access a system, and a company has to stay several steps ahead of all of them."

The Stratfor leak isn't the first time that WikiLeaks has published information from a private company, said Rebecca Jeschke of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and online privacy. In 2008, Swiss bank Julius Baer filed suit in federal district court in California against WikiLeaks for hosting 14 allegedly leaked documents regarding personal banking transactions of bank customers. According to Jeschke, Baer ultimately moved to dismiss the case.

Source: CNN

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'Anonymous' hackers hits STRATFOR security group

Hacker group Anonymous began its promised week of Christmas hacks, assaulting a long list of targets. The first Anonymous hack resulted in stolen emails and credit card data from Stratfor, an Austin-based think tank that concentrates on security issues.

A Twitter account associated with "Anonymous" celebrated the Christmas-Day hacking of security group Stratfor.

One alleged conspirator said the goal was to use that credit card data to steal a million dollars, and give the money away as Christmas donations, the AP reports. Online images, posted to Twitter, show receipts from the donations.

Twitter account @YourAnonNews, which is supposedly linked to the group, tweeted Sunday that the reason it was able to steal the credit card data was because it had not been encrypted by Stratfor -- an embarrassing mistake for a company specializing in security.

Among the private clients on Stratfor's tightly-guarded list -- whose information Anonymous says it accessed -- are the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and the Miami Police Department. The list also includes banks, law enforcement agencies, defense contractors, and technology firms such as Apple and Microsoft, the AP reports.

'Anonymous' hackers attack intel company

Anonymous also posted images showing receipts of charitable donations made to non-profits. One theft victim, Alan Barr of Austin, did not know his credit card data had been stolen until an AP reporter called him for comment.

"It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn't sure whether I was just donating," Barr said.

@YourAnonNews tweeted that Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift were among the next targets.

What do you think of Anonymous's ironic first target of the week?

Who's next?

UPDATE: A press release is circulating, saying that the Stratfor hack is not the work of Anonymous. However, it is difficult to tell who is correct.

Source: Mashable

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FBI Says Cyber Attacks Becoming Top Terror Threat

FBI director tells a Senate committee Hackers will one day outstrip terrorists as top threat to U.S.. Attacks predicted to become more complex and frequent.

Cyber attacks against government agencies and businesses in the United States continue to rise, and cyber threats will one day surpass the danger of terrorism to the United States, intelligence community officials said in an open hearing of the Senate select intelligence community Tuesday.

He noted that hacker groups like Anonymous and LulzSec have been carrying out a consistent campaign of distributed denial of service attacks and website defacements, and that intrusions into NASDAQ and the International Monetary Fund underscore the vulnerability of key sectors of the economy.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government will strengthen the prosecution of "crimes" committed on the Internet

Source: AnonOps

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Anti-US chants as slain Iran nuclear expert buried

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Thousands of mourners chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" on Friday during the funeral of a slain nuclear expert whom Iranian officials accuse the two nations of killing in a bomb blast this week as part of a secret operation to stop Iran's nuclear program.

This undated photo released by Iranian Fars News Agency, claims to show Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, who they say was killed in a bomb blast in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, next to his son. Two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and his driver Wednesday, reports said. The slayings suggest a widening covert effort to set back Iran's atomic program. The blast killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, state TV reported. (AP Photo/Fars News Agency)

The assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan has raised calls in Iran for retaliation against the U.S. and Israel, and an independent news website Friday said Iran is preparing a covert counteroffensive against the West.

Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, was killed in a brazen daylight assassination when two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to his car Wednesday in Tehran. The killing bore a strong resemblance to earlier killings of scientists working on the Iranian nuclear program.

State TV showed thousands of people carrying Roshan's coffin through central Tehran before it was taken to a north cemetery for burial. As it marched, the crowd chanted "death to terrorists."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, called Roshan's killing a "cowardly assassination" and accused the U.S. and Israel of being behind the attack. He vowed Thursday that the perpetrators and those who ordered the attack would be punished.

U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon on Friday during a visit to Lebanon issued a vague condemnation of the killing, saying attacks on "any people, whether scientist or civilian," are not acceptable, according to U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has denied any American role in the slaying and the U.S administration condemned the attack. Israeli officials, in contrast, have hinted at covert campaigns against Iran without directly admitting involvement.

The assassination was carried out a day after Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz was quoted as telling a parliamentary panel that 2012 would be a "critical year" for Iran — in part because of "things that happen to it unnaturally."

That prompted Hossein Shariatmadari, director of the hardline Iranian daily newspaper Kayhan, to ask why Iran did not avenge Roshan by striking Israel.

The independent news website, irannuc.ir, quoted an unidentified security official as saying Iran is preparing a covert counteroffensive against the West in retaliation for the bomb blast. It suggested the retaliation could include assassinations abroad.

"Iran's intelligence community is in a very good position to design tit-for-tat operations to retaliate for assassinations carried out by Western intelligence services," the official said, according to the website. "Iran's response will be extraterritorial and extra-regional. It follows the strategy that none of those who ordered or carried out (the attacks) should feel secure in any part of the world."

The website's report was also carried by the semiofficial Fars news agency, which is close to the elite Revolutionary Guard.

Source: The Associated Press

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Thousands of US troops deploying to Israel

Without much media attention, thousands of American troops are being deployed to Israel, and Iranian officials believe that this is the latest and most blatant warning that the US will soon be attacking Tehran.

Reuters / Nir Elias

Tensions between nations have been high in recent months and have only worsened in the weeks since early December when Iran hijacked and recovered an American drone aircraft. Many have speculated that a back-and-forth between the two countries will soon escalate Iran and the US into an all-out war, and that event might occur sooner than thought.

Under the Austere Challenge 12 drill scheduled for an undisclosed time during the next few weeks, the Israeli military will together with America host the largest-ever joint missile drill by the two countries. Following the installation of American troops near Iran’s neighboring Strait of Hormuz and the reinforcing of nearby nations with US weapons, Tehran authorities are considering this not a test but the start of something much bigger.

In the testing, America's Theater High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile system will be operating alongside its ship-based Aegis system and Israel's own program to work with Arrow, Patriot and Iron Drone missiles.

Israeli military officials say that the testing was planned before recent episodes involving the US and Iran. Of concern, however, is how the drill will require the deployment of thousands of American troops into Israel. The Jerusalem Post quotes US Commander Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc as saying the drill is not just an “exercise” but also a “deployment” that will involve “several thousand American soldiers” heading to Israel. Additionally, new command posts will be established by American forces in Israel and that country’s own IDF army will begin working from a base in Germany.

In September, the US European Command established a radar system in Israel.

With America previously equipping Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with weaponry to wreck any chance of an Iranian nuclear weapon program from close by, the US will now have added forces on the ready in Israel and Germany under what Tehran fears is a guise being merely perpetrated as a test-run. RT reported last week that the US is equipping Saudi Arabia with nearly $30 billion F-15 war planes, a deal that comes shortly after Washington worked out a contract with Dubai to give the UAE advanced “bunker buster” bombs that could decimate underground nuclear operations in neighboring Iran.

Since the US surveillance mission over Iran that left overseas intelligence with a captured American drone aircraft, tensions have only escalated between the two nations. After Iran threatened to close down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial path for the nation’s oil trade, the US dispatched 15,000 marines into the area.

Source: RT

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Titanic items to be sold 100 years after sinking

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Items as small as a hairpin and as big as a chunk of the Titanic's hull are among 5,000 artifacts from the world's most famous shipwreck that are to be auctioned in April, close to the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

Nearly a century after the April 15, 1912, sinking of the ocean liner that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, a New York City auction is being readied by Guernsey's Auctioneers & Brokers.

This 1998 image provided by RMS Titanic, Inc., shows a 17-ton portion of the hull of the RMS Titanic as it is lifted to the surface during an expedition to the site of the tradegy. The piece along with 5,000 other artifacts will be auctioned as a single collection on April 11, 2012 100 years after the sinking of the ship. (AP Photo/RMS Titanic, Inc.)

That auction house has garnered headlines in the past by selling off such historical curiosities as prized Beatles photos, famous jewels of the late Princess Diana, beloved Jerry Garcia guitars and a police motorcycle used in the Texas motorcade when John F. Kennedy was slain. But nothing as titanic as the so-called Titanic collection.

On April 11, all of the salvaged items are to be sold as one lot in what Guernsey's President Arlan Ettinger describes as the most significant auction ever handled by that house.

"Who on this planet doesn't know the story of the Titanic and isn't fascinated by it?" he asked. "Could Hollywood have scripted a more tragic or goose-bump-raising story than what actually happened on that ship?"

"It is as poignant to my 12-year-old son as it is to me and generations before me. There's no end to the fascination about it."

The auction will be conducted 100 years plus a day after the Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, embarking on the ill-fated maiden voyage that had New York as its destination.

The collection was appraised in 2007 at $189 million, including some intellectual property alongside the myriad items plucked by remote controlled probes from the pitch-black depths, some 2 and ½ miles below the ocean's surface.

Those artifacts include the massive hull section called "The Big Piece" as well as personal belongings of passengers and crew, such as a mesh purse and eyeglasses. A bronze cherub that once adorned the Grand Staircase is also among the collection, as are fine china, table settings, bottles and ship fittings — even the stand upon which the ship's wheel stood.

By court order, the items cannot be sold individually and must go to a buyer who agrees to properly maintain the collection and make it available for occasional public viewing. The sale is subject to court approval.

Ettinger and officials with RMS Titanic Inc., which salvaged the artifacts from the Titanic wreck, spoke to The Associated Press in advance of a media preview Thursday in New York. The AP first reported on the auction Dec. 29, based on financial filings by RMS Titanic.

The planned sale also could include a trove of archaeological data and visuals of the wreck, as well as the only detailed map of the vast ocean floor where all the artifacts were scattered after the Titanic's sinking.

The Titanic's sinking claimed the lives of more than 1,500 of the 2,228 passengers and crew. An international team led by oceanographer Robert Ballard located the wreckage in 1985, about 400 miles off Newfoundland, Canada.

The research materials could be a road map to future salvage expeditions because of the new information they provide on the wreck site.

"We are opening the door of opportunity for the future of the Titanic," said Brian Wainger, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc., of which RMS Titanic is a division.

But the clock is ticking on thousands of additional artifacts embedded in a 3-by-5-mile section of ocean floor around the wreck, an area subject to a century of extreme ocean conditions such as cold temperatures and treacherous currents.

"I think it's fair to say that we have only touched the surface," Wainger said.

The deteriorating hulk of the Titanic is off limits to salvage.

The auction is subject to approval by a federal judge in Virginia whose jurisdiction for years has given oversight to legal issues governing the salvage of the Titanic. The Titanic treasures were amassed during seven risky and expensive trips to the wreck.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, who has overseen the case from her Norfolk courtroom, has called the Titanic an "international treasure." She has approved covenants and conditions that the company previously worked out with the federal government, including a prohibition against selling the collection piecemeal.

The court conditions also require subsequent owners to make the artifacts available "to present and future generations for public display and exhibition, historical review, scientific and scholarly research, and educational purposes."

Wainger and Ettinger declined to speculate on who might bid on the collection.

"You hate to be in the position of being a fortune teller or clairvoyant," Ettinger said. "I, for one, would be very surprised if there wasn't international interest."

Wainger said, "Any individual can fall in love with any of the different artifacts because so many of them are personal. When you read the personal stories you recognize the tragedy."

Premier Exhibitions has been displaying the Titanic artifacts in exhibitions worldwide. The items were recovered from the shipwreck in expeditions in 1987, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2004.

RMS Titanic, which has overseen the artifacts for 18 years, said the public company decided to auction the collection in response to shareholders' wishes that the "company go out and make money."

"It's better to be in the hands of a private institution that doesn't have the same short-term profit obligations that a public company has," he said.

In 2010, RMS Titanic collaborated with some of the world's leading experts in the most technologically advanced expedition to the Titanic, undertaking the first comprehensive mapping survey of the vessel with 3-D imagery from bow to stern.

The most striking images involved the 3-D tour of the Titanic's stern, which lies 2,000 feet from the bow.

A camera in a remote-controlled submersible vehicle skimmed over the stern, seemingly transporting viewers through scenes of jagged rusticles sprouting from the deck, a length of chain, the captain's bathtub, and wooden elements that scientists had previously believed had disappeared in the harsh, deep ocean environment.

The expedition fully mapped the wreck site, documenting the entire debris field for the first time.

"Titanic" director James Cameron also has led teams to the wreck to record the bow and the stern.

The Titanic exhibit is among several operated by Premier Exhibitions, which bills itself as "a major provider of museum-quality touring exhibitions." Its offerings have included sports memorabilia, a traveling Star Trek homage and "Bodies," an anatomy exhibit featuring preserved human cadavers.

Source: The Associated Press

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Iran warns U.S. over aircraft carrier

Iran warned the United States Tuesday not to return a U.S. aircraft carrier "to the Persian Gulf region."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not repeat its warning," said Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, commander of Iran's Army, according to the state-run news agency IRNA.

Salehi "said the country will not adopt any irrational move but it is ready to severely react against any threat," the report added.

The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is in the Persian Gulf region.

The commander spoke at the Port of Chabahar in southern Iran, as forces held a military parade the day after Iran ended naval drills in the region, IRNA reported.

What's Iran's real plan? U.S. sanctions hurting Iran's currencyReport: Iran tests nuclear fuel rodNavy won't tolerate Iran 'disruption'

Iran was referring to the USS John C. Stennis, part of the U.S. Navy's fleet in the region. It moved last week from the Persian Gulf into the North Arabian Sea, as part of what the Navy's 5th Fleet called a pre-planned transit.

Iran said the ship's movement during Iran's naval exercises showed that the United States "understood" that Iran's maneuvers were not "suicidal or aggressive," but rather about Iran protecting its own "interests and power."

But Western diplomats last week described the naval drills -- which, according to Iranian officials, included test-firing missiles -- as further evidence of Iran's volatile behavior.

Iran's naval exercises began in the strait and also included waters in the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean up to the Gulf of Aden, according to IRNA.

After Tuesday's warning from Iran, a Pentagon spokesman issued a statement saying "deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades."

"These carrier strike group deployments are necessary to maintain the continuity and operational support to ongoing missions in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility," George Little said.

The United States has had forces in the Persian Gulf since World War II. Its ships sail through the Persian Gulf frequently, many on their way to and from the 5th Fleet's headquarters in Bahrain. Its area of responsibility covers about 2.5 million square miles, including the Persian Gulf, which the Navy also refers to as the Arabian Gulf; the Red Sea; the Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean.

The dispute over the Stennis began last week. Tehran said an Iranian warplane identified a U.S. carrier patrolling the area of the drills. State-run media showed a picture of the vessel.

Iran's state-run Press TV said Tuesday the images it showed last week were of the Stennis.

Tuesday's events came amid growing tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping channel.

Iran last week threatened to block the strait if sanctions are imposed on its oil exports. France, Britain and Germany have proposed sanctions to punish Iran's lack of cooperation on its nuclear program.

Cmdr. Amy Derrick Frost, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, responded at the time, "Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated."

In his statement Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Little said the Navy "operates under international maritime conventions to maintain a constant state of high vigilance in order to ensure the continued, safe flow of maritime traffic in waterways critical to global commerce.

"Our transits of the Strait of Hormuz continue to be in compliance with international law, which guarantees our vessels the right of transit passage. We are committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity; this is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region."

The dispute has been pushing up oil prices. Nearly 17 million barrels of oil a day pass through the strait, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. "Flows through the Strait in 2011 were roughly 35% of all seaborne traded oil, or almost 20% of oil traded worldwide," the agency says.

But closing the strait would require means that likely are not available to Iran, said Jean-Paul Rodrigue, an expert in transport geography at Hofstra University. "At best, Iran can posture and potentially disrupt traffic for a short duration," he said.

China and Japan are more dependent on Persian Gulf oil than the United States is, he said, and he added that any move to close the strait would be "suicidal" to the current regime.

Source: CNN

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US military 'ready to engage in a conflict with Iran'

America's most senior military official has indicated that the country is ready to engage in a conflict with Iran, if President Barack Obama were to give the signal.


Tensions have been growing in the region following international condemnation over Tehran's growing nuclear ambitions.

Last month, Britain's ambassador to Iran was expelled from the country following attacks on the British Embassy. The US is also involved in a standoff over a downed spy drone, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has refused to return despite America's requests.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Barack Obama Photo: Reuters/EPA

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said that the US military had reached a point where they were ready to execute force against Iran if necessary.

In an interview with US media in Afghanistan he said: "We are examining a range of options. I'm satisfied that the options that we are developing are evolving to a point that they would be executable if necessary."

His comments come just days after Leon Panetta, US secretary of defence, said "no options were off the table" in stopping Iran develop a nuclear weapon.

Gen Dempsey said he had been quietly leading behind the scenes preparations for an attack against Tehran but said a war with the nation would be a "tragedy".

"My biggest worry is that it may miscalculate our resolve. Any miscalculation could mean that we are drawn into conflict and that would be a tragedy for the region and the world," he said.

Asked whether the US military is collecting information on the Middle Eastern nation via spy drones, Gen Dempsey said it would be "imprudent" for them not to attempt to find out what they were doing but stopped short of saying they had used unmanned aircraft.

"If you are asking are we gathering intelligence against Iran in a variety of means, the answer is of course," he said. "It would be imprudent of us not to understand what a nation which has declared itself an adversary of the United States is doing."

Gen Dempsey said the US is collaborating with Israel in its intelligence gathering but reiterated that there are no guarantees the Israelis would inform the US before launching an attack.

"We are trying to establish some confidence on the part of the Israelis that we recognise their concerns and are collaborating with them on addressing them," he said.

Leon Panetta, the secretary of defence, said this week that the US was prepared to step in to prevent Tehran realising its nuclear ambitions. He estimated that the country was only a year away from reaching its goal.

"The United States does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," he said. "That is a red line for us and that is a red line for the Israelis. If we have to do it we will do it. If they proceed and we get intelligence that they are proceeding in developing a nuclear weapon then we will take whatever steps necessary to stop them. There are no options that are off the table."

If Iran were to gain a nuclear weapon, it could trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East with officials in Saudi Arabia already saying they will look towards developing nuclear capabilities if the Iranians arm themselves.

Further evidence of US reconnaissance missions in the region include the indictment of several alleged CIA spies.

In May this year, Iran's intelligence ministry announced the arrest of 30 CIA "spies" it claimed were conducting sabotage missions.

Another 15 alleged US-Israeli spies were indicted earlier this month and this week Iranian state television showed clips of ex-US Marine Amir Hekmati allegedly confessing to espionage.

Earlier this month, the EU agreed to impose new sanctions against 180 officials in Tehran in an attempt to curtail the nation's nuclear programme. EU foreign ministers also said they were looking at additional measures to impose on Tehran's energy sector.

Source: Telegraph

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Stronger factories, lower prices lift economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturing is recovering from a slump, and inflation may be peaking.

Data issued Wednesday point to an economy growing slowly but steadily. Still, surging oil prices and a possible European recession threaten to drain the economy's momentum.

This Nov. 14, 2011 photo, shows a Dell computer using the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, at Micro Center computer store in Santa Clara, Calif. Consumers paid less for gas, cars and computers last month, as overall prices dropped for the first time since June. Inflation is easing after prices rose sharply this spring. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

"The continued resilience of manufacturing is encouraging, since this should be the sector most exposed to the global economic slowdown," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist with Capital Economics.

Industrial production rose in October at the fastest pace in three months. Output at the nation's factories, utilities and mines rose 0.7 percent last month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Factory output, the largest component of industrial production, increased a solid 0.5 percent. It was the fourth straight monthly gain. Factories made more trucks, electronics and business equipment.

Manufacturers "are benefiting from the strong growth in emerging markets, and domestic businesses are confident enough in the future to continue expanding purchases of capital equipment," said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a trade group.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed Americans paid less for gas, cars and computers last month as overall prices fell for the first time since June.

Slower inflation could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to lower long-term interest rates to help the economy.

"In the current soft economic environment, inflation is not an issue for policymakers," said Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Factory production was dragged down this spring after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disrupted key supply chains for automakers and other manufacturers. Rising food and gas costs and shaky financial markets caused consumers to cut back on big purchases.

The auto industry has rebounded to drive most of the growth in factory output. Many U.S. auto plants, which depend upon parts from Japan to produce various models, are seeing supply chains flow more freely.

Higher output at auto plants has allowed dealers to stock popular models that were in demand this spring. As a result, October sales were 7 percent higher than the same month last year. Light trucks were the biggest contributor.

A steep drop in gas prices was a key reason the Consumer Price Index dropped 0.1 percent in October. Food prices did rise, but at the slowest pace this year. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called "core" prices rose 0.1 percent.

Still, oil prices have been climbing in recent weeks and hit $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time in four months. They have been rising as the economy improves while tensions rise in countries that hold some of the world's major sources of crude.

If those prices translate into higher gas prices, consumers could pull back on spending and slow economic growth.

Strong consumer spending helped the economy grow at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September quarter. The October gain in retail sales suggests similar growth in the final three months of the year.

Instability in Europe might also hurt the U.S. economy. A shaky euro would likely strengthen the dollar, making U.S. goods appear more expensive to overseas buyers. And exports to Europe already account for about one-fourth of U.S. corporate revenue, analysts say.

Europe's economy is barely growing, and sharp government spending cuts might tip it back into recession. If that happens, slowing output by U.S. manufacturers could hinder the broader economic recovery.

Source: The Associated Press

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