Clinton vows to protect Israel in Iranian attack 07 Jun 2009 Hillary Clinton has told an interviewer that the US would view an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel as an attack on the US. The US Secretary of State said her country would immediately retaliate if there were such an attack.
Israel ministry wages settlement war against U.S. 08 Jun 2009 Interior Minister Eli Yishai has begun to make good on a pledge to exploit all the resources of his ministry, "its branches and its influences over local government" to expand settlements in the territories. Yishai, who is also chairman of Shas, made the promise last Thursday to the heads of the Yesha Council of settlements. Haaretz has learned that Yishai has instructed officials at the Interior Ministry to come up with ways to help the settlers, by allowing continued construction within the major West Bank settlement blocs where building has stopped as a result of American pressure.
S Arabia urges US to withhold Israel aid 07 Jun 2009 Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has urged Barack Obama, the US president, to follow up his speech to the Muslim world with tangible action, including applying stronger pressure on Israel to accept a viable Palestinian state. "The United States has the means to persuade the Israelis to work for a peaceful settlement," Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, said in an interview with Newsweek, a US magazine. Asked if the US should withhold aid to Israel, Prince Saud said: "Why not? If you give aid to someone and they indiscriminately occupy other people’s lands, you bear some responsibility."
Bound, blindfolded and beaten -- by Israeli troops --Children among Palestinian detainees abused during West Bank operation, according to soldiers' confessions 09 Jun 2009 Two Israeli officers have testified that troops in the West Bank beat, bound and blindfolded Palestinian civilians as young as 14. The damaging disclosures by two sergeants of the Kfir Brigade include descriptions of abuses they say they witnessed during a search-and-detain operation involving hundreds of troops in Hares village on 26 March. The testimonies have been seen by The Independent and are expected to add fuel to the controversy over recent remarks by Colonel Itai Virob, commander of Kfir Brigade, in which he said violence against detained Palestinians was justified in order to accomplish missions.
US sending 1,000 commandos to Afghanistan --United States Special Operations Command is quietly increasing its covert warriors 07 Jun 2009 The Pentagon is sending additional 1,000 special operations forces and support staff to Afghanistan and changing the way commandoes fight the Taliban, Fox News reported on Saturday. While much of the public focus has been on the 24,000 additional American troops moving into the country this year, United States Special Operations Command is quietly increasing its covert warriors in what could be a pivotal role.
Pentagon: US troops erred in Afghan air strikes 08 Jun 2009 The Pentagon said Monday that U.S. troops did not follow proper tactics and procedures during an air assault on Taliban fighters last month. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the number of Taliban militants killed in the May 4 air strikes "greatly outnumbered" the number of civilians slain. [!?!] But Morrell noted some problems in the way the strikes were carried out, citing a U.S. warplane that investigators said did not follow proper procedures. [There's a 'proper procedure' to carry out war crimes?]
'Allied forces would not be able to overpower their enemies in Afghanistan.' Taliban will never be defeated, says Mullah Omar's mentor 07 Jun 2009 The United States is planning to send an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to neutralize the Taliban, but would never achieve its goals, claims a mentor of Taliban chief Mullah Omar. Amir Sultan Tarar alias Colonel Imam said allied forces would not be able to overpower their enemies in Afghanistan. He said the military offensive would only aggravate the situation, and therefore the allied forces should initiate talks with the Taliban to resolve the issues.
Global weapons spending hits record levels --US accounts for more than half total increase to $1.4tn 08 Jun 2009 Worldwide spending on weapons has reached record levels amounting to well over $1tn last year, a leading research organisation reported today. Global military expenditure has risen by 45% over the past decade to $1.46tn, according to the latest annual Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
Panel finds lax oversight of wartime contracting --Wartime Contracting Commission presents bleak assessment of how taxpayer dollars have been spent since 2001 08 Jun 2009 The Defense Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over tens of billions of dollars in contracts to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, says a new report by an independent commission investigating waste and fraud in wartime spending. U.S. reliance on private sector employees has grown to "unprecedented proportions," yet the government has no central database of who all these contractors are, what they do or how much they're paid, the bipartisan commission found.
U.S. war funding bill brims with unrelated extras 08 Jun 2009 A $100 billion bill to fund U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is rapidly accumulating extra items such as money for military aircraft the Pentagon doesn't want and possibly a scheme to jump-start sagging auto sales. President Barack Obama originally sought $83.4 billion for the two wars and more foreign aid for countries like Pakistan. But then he too sought more -- $4 billion extra to combat foment H1N1 swine flu and $5 billion to back credit lines to the International Monetary Fund.
Oregon soldiers sue KBR for exposure to cancer-causing chemical in Iraq 08 Jun 2009 Five current and former Oregon Army National Guard soldiers filed suit Monday against a war contractor that they say knowingly exposed them to a cancer-causing chemical in Iraq. The suit alleges that managers from Kellogg, Brown & Root, or KBR, of Houston, knew before the Oregon Guard arrived at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in May, 2003, that the site was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a highly toxic and long identified carcinogen.
U.S. Weighs Intercepting North Korean Shipments 08 Jun 2009 The Obama administration signaled Sunday that it was seeking a way to interdict, possibly with China’s help, North Korean sea and air shipments suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear technology. The reference to interdictions -- preferably at ports or airfields in countries like China, but possibly involving riskier confrontations on the high seas -- was made by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Discrimination we can believe in: Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy 08 Jun 2009 The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a challenge to the Pentagon policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, granting an Obama administration request to maintain the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" directive. The court said it will not hear an appeal from former Army Capt. James Pietrangelo II, who was dismissed under the military's policy.
Key figures in global battle against illegal arms trade lost in Air France crash 08 Jun 2009 Two of the world's most prominent figures in the war on the illegal arms trade and international drug trafficking Air France's ill-fated Flight 447 were lost. Pablo Dreyfus, an Argentine who was travelling with his wife Ana Carolina Rodrigues aboard the doomed flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, had worked tirelessly with the Brazilian authorities to stem the flow of arms and ammunition... Also travelling with Dreyfus on the doomed flight was his friend and colleague Ronald Dreyer, a Swiss diplomat and co-ordinator of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence. Both men were consultants at the Small Arms Survey, an independent think tank based at Geneva's Graduate Institute of International Studies. [See: French official: Finding black boxes top priority of crash investigation --Paul-Louis Arslanian, the director of the agency, said he was "not optimistic" about the prospect of finding the black boxes. 07 Jun 2009.]
US Navy to help 'search' for radio signals from missing black box 08 Jun 2009 The search for the Airbus A330-200's "black box" - the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder - is becoming more urgent as it will continue emitting a radio signal for only another three weeks. After this period, the instruments will be near impossible to locate in the deep ocean... The US Navy is expected to send two "pinger" locator devices, which can pick up radio signals from the black box, to assist in the search, Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, told our correspondent late on Sunday night. [There's about as much chance of finding that black box as a cat with a long tail in a room filled with rockers. --LRP]
Large tail section of Air France jet recovered 08 Jun 2009 A large tail section of a jetliner bearing Air France's trademark red and blue stripes was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean Monday, helping narrow the hunt for "black boxes" that could explain what brought down Flight 447. What caused the Airbus A330-200 to plunge into the middle of the ocean on May 31 with 228 people on board might not be known until those black boxes are found.
WHO: More than 25,000 Swine Flu Cases 08 Jun 2009 The World Health Organization (WHO) says swine flu has now spread to 73 countries, with 139 deaths from the disease since it was first detected in April. The latest WHO figures, released Monday, show more than 25,000 people have been infected with the swine influenza A-H1N1 worldwide.
Swine flu: mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin quarantined in China 08 Jun 2009 The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, is under quarantine in a hotel in Shanghai after a passenger on his flight to China fell ill with suspected swine flu. Mr Nagin and his wife, Seletha, left New Orleans on Friday on a ten-day trip to China and Australia to drum up business for the city. They were advised by Shanghai city officials on Sunday that they would have to enter a quarantine.
Recycled radioactive metal contaminates consumer products --No federal agency is responsible for oversight. 03 Jun 2009 Thousands of everyday products and materials containing radioactive metals are surfacing across the United States and around the world. Common kitchen cheese graters, reclining chairs, women's handbags and tableware manufactured with contaminated metals have been identified, some after having been in circulation for as long as a decade... A Scripps Howard News Service investigation has found that -- because of haphazard screening, an absence of oversight and substantial disincentives for businesses to report contamination -- no one knows how many tainted goods are in circulation in the United States.
Average gas price jumps 10 cents in past week 08 Jun 2009 Gasoline prices shot past $2.60 a gallon for the first time in almost eight months after rising another 10 cents over the last week, the Energy Department said Monday. The national price for regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.62 gallon, the most expensive since Oct. 27, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly survey of service stations.
Supreme Court Stalls Chrysler-Fiat Deal 08 Jun 2009 The Supreme Court ruled moments ago that Chrysler cannot yet sell most of its assets to Fiat, a move that has been opposed by three Indiana state pension and construction funds. The ruling grants a stay in the sale as the court gathers more data and schedules a hearing on the matter.
600,000 Seniors About to Lose Their Homes 08 Jun 2009 More than 600,000 seniors are delinquent in their mortgage payments or already in foreclosure, USA Today reports. Unlike younger people, many are on fixed incomes and lack the money or job opportunities to catch up on payments when they fall behind.
Senate poised to vote on sweeping FDA tobacco rules 08 Jun 2009 Sweeping changes in how the government controls tobacco content and marketing are likely to be approved by the U.S. Senate this week, despite a strong last-ditch effort by tobacco interests and skepticism from some 'experts' that smokers won't kick their habit. The bill, passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives in April and due for a Senate vote as early as Tuesday, would give the Food and Drug Administration broad new authority over tobacco.
Bats recognize individual voices: Study 08 Jun 2009 Scientists have found that bats are able to distinguish between different individuals by their echolocation calls or biological sonar. According to the study published in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, bats recognize the voice of other bats through the ultrasonic 'echolocation' calls that they make as they navigate.
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Previous lead stories: U.S. Lawyers Agreed on Legality of Torture Tactics --None of the Justice Department lawyers who reviewed the interrogation question argued that the methods were clearly illegal. 07 Jun 2009 When Justice Department lawyers engaged in a sharp internal debate in 2005 over brutal interrogation techniques torture, even some who believed that using tough tactics was a serious mistake agreed on a basic point: the methods themselves were legal. Previously undisclosed Justice Department e-mail messages, interviews and newly declassified documents show that some of the lawyers, including James B. Comey, the deputy attorney general, went along with a 2005 legal opinion asserting that the techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency were lawful. That opinion, giving the green light for the C.I.A. to use all 13 methods in interrogating terrorism suspects, including waterboarding and up to 180 hours of sleep deprivation, "was ready to go out and I concurred," Mr. Comey wrote to a colleague in an April 27, 2005, e-mail message obtained by The New York Times.
Homeland Security Nominee Withdraws Amid Questions About Torture 06 Jun 2009 President Obama's nominee to be U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis withdrew his name from consideration Friday after it became clear lawmakers would question his involvement in interrogation and detainee policies under President [sic] George W. Bush. Philip Mudd, currently a top official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said he was bowing out. Democrats on Capitol Hill had signaled their intention to probe Mudd's knowledge of and role in approving brutal interrogation techniques -- some of which qualify under international law as torture -- used by CIA officials against prisoners.
Afghanistan to 'try criminal foreign troops' for war crimes --Nearly 150 civilians were killed when US warplanes dropped bombs last month on two villages. 06 Jun 2009 Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, has accused foreign troops based in the country of war crimes, urging a trial for the criminals. Wolesi Jirga secretary Abdul Sattar Khawaasi told reporters that 73 members of parliament are collecting documents regarding foreign troops' crimes and offences in Afghanistan. "The foreign troops came to the country claiming to bring security, but the crimes perpetrated by the them are not pardonable," he said. Khawaasi added that foreign troops based in Afghanistan have violated the Constitution as well as international agreements in more than 20 instances. In May, the Afghan parliament slammed the brutal bombardment of civilian areas by US-led forces, demanding legal restrictions on the activities of foreign forces.
