'The deeper you look into the murky world of governments and germ warfare, the more worrying it becomes. We have proved there is a black market in anthrax.' Kelly's Book of Secrets 05 Jul 2009 Weapons inspector David Kelly was writing a book exposing highly damaging government secrets before his mysterious death. He was intending to reveal that he warned Prime Minister Tony Blair there were no weapons of mass destruction anywhere in Iraq weeks before the British and American invasion. Following his death, his computers were seized and it is still not known if any rough draft was discovered by investigators and, if so, what happened to the material. Dr Kelly was also intending to lift the lid on a potentially bigger scandal, his own secret dealings in germ warfare with the apartheid regime in South Africa. US television investigators have spent four years preparing a 90-minute documentary, Anthrax War, suggesting there is a global black market in anthrax and exposing the mystery "suicides" of five government germ warfare scientists from around the world.
Officials: Fate of Guantanamo detainees uncertain 07 Jul 2009 Obama administration lawyers acknowledged Tuesday they are uncertain how they will prosecute and deal with more than 200 detainees being held in the Guantanamo Bay prison. With just over six months to go on President Barack Obama's commitment to shut down the U.S. Navy's prison camp in Cuba, administration officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee it's far from clear how many detainees will face court trial, or where.
US and Russia to scrap 2000 nuclear weapons 07 Jul 2009 The United States and Russia are to slash their nuclear stockpiles by up to a third as part of a move to improve relations between the former Cold War foes. The weapons deal was agreed in principle after four hours of talks at the Kremlin between US president Barack Obama and Russia's Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia allows U.S. weapons shipments to Afghanistan 03 Jul 2009 Russia will allow the United States to ship weapons across its territory to Afghanistan, Kremlin spokesman Alex Pavlov said Friday. Pavlov said he doesn't know when the policy will take effect, but imagines the details will come out when presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meet Monday and Tuesday in Moscow.
Afghanistan Helicopter Crash Kills 3 NATO Soldiers 07 Jul 2009 Three NATO soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, taking the death toll for international forces in the country yesterday to 10, the alliance said. Two Canadian personnel and one British soldier were killed when the helicopter went down in Zabul province, Lieutenant Commander Chris Hall said by telephone today from the Afghan capital, Kabul. Seven American personnel were killed in attacks on the same day, he said.
7 US troops killed in Afghanistan 06 Jul 2009 Bombs and bullets killed seven American troops throughout Afghanistan Monday, officials said, as thousands of U.S. Marines continued with their massive anti-Taliban offensive in the south. A suicide car bomber also blew himself up outside the gate of the main NATO base in the region, killing two civilians and wounding 14 other people.
At Least 16 Killed in Reported Drone Strike in Pakistan 08 Jul 2009 Two missiles, believed to be from a remotely piloted aircraft, struck a 'militant base' Tuesday in the South Waziristan tribal region, according to intelligence officials and residents reached by telephone. At least 16 people, including 3 foreigners, were reported killed. Tuesday’s drone attack struck a Taliban base in Zangara, a remote village in South Waziristan that has been struck by at least two other drone attacks.
Twelve killed in US drone attack in Pakistan 07 Jul 2009 At least 12 people have been killed in a missile attack by a drone incursion over a Taliban stronghold in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border. "There was a US missile strike on militant hideouts in the Zangara area," a Pakistani security official has revealed... At least 500 Pakistanis -- suspected militants as well as civilians -- have been killed by the drone attacks.
Holy hypocrisy, Batman! US admiral says North Korean missiles threaten peace 06 Jul 2009 Chief of the US Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead denounces the new round of missile launches by North Korea, accusing the North of threatening regional peace. "They were very unhelpful and clearly counter to the desires of the international community for a peaceful and stable region," Adm. Roughead said referring to the firing of seven ballistic missiles by Pyongyang on Saturday. [What about US invasions and occupations -- all round the world -- to steal nations' oil and water? Do those invasions/occupations 'threaten peace?' I am thinking they're also 'very unhelpful.']
KBR hails court ruling as wartime suit protection 06 Jul 2009 KBR Inc said a U.S. appeals court ruling would help protect the company from civil lawsuits stemming from its work done under U.S. military logistics contracts. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that KBR could not be found negligent in the case of a U.S. Army sergeant severely brain-damaged when a KBR fuel tanker he was escorting in a military convoy crashed in Iraq in 2004. Apart from civil lawsuits by soldiers, KBR's conduct as a military contractor has been called into question by U.S. lawmakers as well as some investors.
More 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' Iraqi gov't bans organized visits to Saddam Hussein's grave 06 Jul 2009 The Iraqi government decided Monday to ban organized visits to the grave of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after some schools in Salahudin province arranged trips for their pupils to the site. The instructions came after some pupils of a school in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, arranged a trip to his grave, which is regularly visited by some Iraqis -- particularly Saddam's loyalists in his native village of Awja, some 20 km southeast of the provincial capital city of Tikrit.
Still more 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' Iraq to unify national ID Cards 06 Jul 2009 The Iraqi government has announced a new plan to unify the national ID cards by launching a single plastic identity card system. Brigadier General Mahmoud Abdul Al-Ghafour, the project's director, made the announcement before reporters in Baghdad on Monday. The new plastic cards will replace four different types of paper documents currently used by 30 million Iraqi citizens, AFP reported.
Israel turns to cyberware to foil Iran nukes 07 Jul 2009 ...So began a cyberwarfare project which, a decade on, is seen by independent experts as the likely new vanguard of Israel's efforts to foil Iran's nuclear ambitions. The appeal of cyber attacks was boosted, Israeli sources say, by the limited feasibility of conventional air strikes on the distant and fortified Iranian atomic facilities, and by U.S. reluctance to countenance another open war in the Middle East. "We came to the conclusion that, for our purposes, a key Iranian vulnerability is in its on-line information," said one recently retired security cabinet member, using a generic term for digital networks. "We have acted accordingly."
Obama: U.S. 'absolutely' did not give Israel green light to strike Iran 07 Jul 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama rebuffed suggestions that Washington had given Israel a green light to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. Asked by CNN whether Washington had given Israel approval to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, Obama answered: "Absolutely not."
Israel Air Force preparing for Iranian strike 05 Jul 2009 The Israel Air Force is planning to participate in aerial exercises in the US and Europe in the coming months. It is believed pilots will be trained for long-range flights as a precautionary measure against possible Iranian attacks and in test-runs for potential strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Zeyala asks US to do more to help him 07 Jul 2009 Jose Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran constitutional President, says he expects the US to play a bigger role in aiding his return to power. "I ask the United States to do more than the other countries of the world," Zelaya said late Monday in a CNN interview ahead of a planned visit with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday.
Al-Qaeda cell was preparing to attack pipeline 06 Jul 2009 An international Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] cell, based in the northern Sinai Peninsula, is suspected of being involved in plans to attack gas pipelines running between Israel and Egypt. According to Egyptian media, the plan was to strike Israeli ships passing through the Suez Canal.
Police tactics at G20 Summit 'inadequate', report finds 07 Jul 2009 Police public-order tactics are "inadequate" and should be reviewed, a report into the G20 protests by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary has found. Denis O'Connor said police are too focused on tackling violence and not enough on allowing peaceful protest. His report also found police use of "kettling" techniques was "inconsistent" when dealing with thousands of protester in the City of London on April 1.
Warren hosts national-level exercise 26 Jun 2009 A simulated terrorist attack on a 90th Missile Wing ICBM launch facility provided the exercise scenario for Nuclear Weapon Accident/Incident Exercise 2009. This national-level exercise involving 11 federal agencies and 1,300 personnel was the largest and most complex exercise ever conducted at a missile base. Close and careful coordination with a number of federal agencies, particularly the FBI, was essential to gather information swiftly to identify and capture the terrorists responsible for the attack.
Swine flu quarantine grows at San Quentin 06 Jul 2009 The number of quarantined prisoners at San Quentin has ballooned from 800 last week to 2,100 over the weekend. That is nearly half the prison's total population of 5,200 men... The quarantine includes all prisoners that are found in an area of suspected flu. The men that are healthy will be confined to their cells and the sick individuals will be isolated. No visitors will be allowed during the quarantine.
Swine Flu Fears Spark Cambridge Jail Riot 06 Jul 2009 Inmate fears over an apparent swine flu outbreak sparked a riot at the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge on Sunday... Middlesex County Sheriff James DiPaola said the disturbance started after fears of H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, spread. Last week one inmate was diagnosed with a likely case of H1N1 and put in medical quarantine. Over the weekend, ten more inmates were diagnosed with the flu and put into isolation.
AIG lawyer says ex-CEO lied in court battle 06 Jul 2009 Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chief executive of American International Group Inc, fabricated documents and lied under oath in a bid to rewrite history and cloud who is the rightful beneficiary of a large and valuable block of AIG stock, AIG lawyer Ted Wells told a federal jury on Monday. Wells, delivering closing arguments in a high-profile trial over rightful ownership of the stock, said Greenberg's assertions at trial that the beneficiary of the stock was always intended to be a charitable trust was no more than an attempt to cover up a pledge made 35 years earlier.
Health-care industry spending over $1.4 million per day on lobbying 06 Jul 2009 The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records...Nearly half of the insiders previously worked for the key committees and lawmakers, including Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), debating whether to adopt a public insurance option opposed by major industry groups. The hirings are part of a record-breaking influence campaign by the health-care industry, which is spending more than $1.4 million a day on lobbying in the current fight, according to disclosure records.
Sen.-elect Franken visits Capitol Hill 07 Jul 2009 Al Franken -- the former comedian who won a bruising, eight-month vote recount and court battle in Minnesota -- arrived on Capitol Hill on Monday, a day before he was to be sworn in as a new Democratic member of the Senate. But Franken immediately downplayed the importance of his vote in the Senate.
Robert McNamara, Architect of Vietnam War, Dies at 93 06 Jul 2009 Robert Strange McNamara, the former secretary of defense whose record as a leading executive of industry and a chieftain of foreign financial aid was all but erased from public memory by his reputation as the primary architect of U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam, died early this morning at age 93.
More Polar Bear Populations in Decline 06 Jul 2009 There is rising concern among polar bear biologists that the big recent summertime retreats of sea ice in the Arctic are already harming some populations of these seal-hunting predators. That was one conclusion of the Polar Bear Specialist Group, a network of bear experts who met last week in Copenhagen to review the latest data (and data gaps) on the 19 discrete populations of polar bears around the Arctic. Only one bear population is increasing (in the Canadian high Arctic), while eight are declining in numbers, the scientists said.
Previous lead stories: Conspiracy fever: As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims' relatives call for a proper inquiry 03 Jul 2009 Today almost four years on, the images of that dreadful morning are etched into our minds... [of] the country's worst-ever terrorist atrocity during London's morning rush hour on July 7, 2005... Why did the four bombers get return tickets to London if they were on a one-way suicide mission? Why are there no CCTV images of the four together in London even though the city has thousands upon thousands of such cameras in public places? Why did so many survivors of the Tube bombings say that the explosions came upwards through the floor of the trains, not down, as would be the case if a backpack blew up inside? And why do no passengers on the London-bound Luton train clearly remember the four bombers with their huge rucksacks on that fateful morning?
Legal fight to stop US destroying torture images --Binyam Mohamed says photographs are evidence of abuse at Guantánamo 05 Jul 2009 Former Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohamed has launched an urgent legal attempt to prevent the US courts from destroying crucial evidence that he says proves he was abused while being held at the detention camp, the Guardian has learned. The evidence is said to consist of a photograph of Mohamed, a British resident, taken after he was severely beaten by guards at the US navy base in Cuba. The image, now held by the Pentagon, had been put on his cell door, he says. Mohamed claims he was told later that this was done because he had been beaten so badly that it was difficult for the guards to identify him. In a sworn statement seen by the Guardian, Mohamed has appealed to the federal district court in Washington not to destroy the photograph, which neither he nor his lawyers have a copy of, and which is classified under US law.
