1. MAHESH PRASAD VARMA (MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI), Spiritual Leader: Born Jabalpur, India January 12, 1917; Died Vlodrop, The Netherlands February 5, 2008 was best known as the Beatles’ spiritual adviser. During 1967 and 1968, his influence over the Beatles, as well as other western musicians, was at its peak and though their time with him was short, it had a marked impact on their lives and their music. Here is the Obit at the Independent UK site.

2. AILING CUBAN LEADER FIDEL CASTRO said in a statement to the country that he would not seek a new presidential term when the National Assembly meets on February 24. The National Assembly or legislature is expected to nominate his brother and designated successor Raul Castro as president. Reuters

3. THE UN IS JOINING FORCES WITH MARVEL COMICS to create a comic book showing the international body working with superheroes to solve bloody conflicts and rid the world of disease. The comic, initially to be distributed free to 1 million US schoolchildren, will be set in a war-torn fictional country and feature superheroes such as Spider-Man working with UN agencies such as Unicef and the “blue hats”, the UN peacekeepers. Financial Times

4. DATA FROM THE “HINODE” SATELLITE shows that magnetic waves play a critical role in driving the solar wind into space. The solar wind is a stream of electrically charged gas that is propelled away from the sun in all directions at speeds of almost 1 million miles per hour. http://www.nasa.gov/solar-b

5. BAN PRESCRIPTION DRUGS, NOT GUNS
Drugs: A -The number of pharmaceutical drugs in the U.S. is 205,000.
B -Deaths caused by pharmaceutical drugs per year is 200,000.
C -Accidental deaths per drug is .9756097%.
Guns: A -The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000.
B -The number of accidental gun deaths per year is 1,500.
C -Accidental deaths per gun owner is .0000187%.
Conclusion: Pharmaceutical drugs are 52,171 times more dangerous than guns. Not everyone has a gun, but about 46% of Americans take prescription drugs. www.healthfreedomUSA.org

6. USERS OF THE PRESCRIPTION CHOLESTEROL MEDICINE ZETIA AND VYTORIN received some troubling news from the makers of the drug. Although the pills they’re taking lower their cholesterol, there is no evidence that they reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. They may, in fact, be putting the users at risk. www.worstpills.org

7. ORGANICALLY GROWN BEES, not allowed to feed on genetically modified plants, are not suffering from the problems seen in bees located near GM crop fields. There is evidence that strongly suggests that the modified gene, used to make plants create their own natural pesticides, has spliced with the DNA of the bees’ digestive bacteria turning the bees’ entire digestive system into a poison manufacturing system, which the bees cannot survive. Which may explain why the research got shelved. www.telegraph.co.uk