DHS, agencies to go on high alert for first nationwide terror exercise --Exercise will include agencies in Britain, Mexico, Canada and Australia; federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector officials throughout U.S. 24 Jul 2009 Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the United States and abroad are preparing to go on high alert as part of a massive terrorism prevention exercise -- the first of its kind here. Beginning Monday, security officials at all levels in the United States and four other countries will scramble into action in the wake of a fictional terrorist attack somewhere outside the United States. The scenario envisions the receipt of intelligence that a follow-up attack is planned inside the United States, forcing agencies inside and out of the country to test their coordination, intelligence and terror prevention skills.
DHS Coordinates National Level Exercise to Prevent Terrorist Attacks with Federal, State, Local Tribal, Private Sector, and International Partners (dhs.gov) 24 Jul 2009 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will launch on Monday the five-day National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09)--the first national level exercise to focus on terrorism prevention--in conjunction with federal, state, local, tribal, private sector and international partners... The NLE 09 scenario focuses on preventing a terrorist from entering the United States to carry out additional attacks in the aftermath of a terrorist event outside of the country, prioritizing intelligence and law enforcement activities that detect, disrupt and deter preventable terrorist incidents.
Dozens of Britons Abroad Held In H1N1 Quarantine 24 Jul 2009 At least 160 Britons are being held in quarantine abroad because they are suspected of having the H1N1 flu virus, the Foreign Office said on Friday. The Britons, a mixture of adults and children, are being held in China, Singapore, India and Egypt. The actual number could be higher because some Britons are likely to be held in quarantine without getting in touch with the Foreign Office, it said.
'We have to prepare for the worst.' U.S. panel prepares to OK swine flu vaccine trials 23 Jul 2009 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to help rush through approval of new vaccine to fight foment the pandemic H1N1 virus, promising to watch closely bad effects from the immunization, officials said on Thursday. The FDA said it would help companies design ways to quickly test experimental versions of the vaccine. [See: Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers 17 Jul 2009 Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.]
Swine flu spreads; health officials plan vaccines 24 Jul 2009 Global health officials stepped up efforts to prepare for quick vaccination 'against' the H1N1 pandemic virus, saying on Friday it appeared now to be affecting older age groups spared earlier in the pandemic. WHO said vaccination against H1N1 might start in weeks, even though clinical trials to test the safety, efficacy and needed dosage of H1N1 vaccines have barely started. [See: Vaccine May Be More Dangerous Than Swine Flu --Vaccine contains squalene and gp120 By Dr. Russell Blaylock 07 Jul 2009.]
All U.S. children should get seasonal flu shot: CDC 24 Jul 2009 All U.S. children aged 6 months to 18 years should get a seasonal influenza vaccine every year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said the agency was strengthening recommendations for children to get the vaccination against seasonal influenza, especially with fears that the new H1N1 virus will be added to the already expected burden of seasonal flu.
Germany Orders 50 Mln Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine --Doses will cost around EUR700 million 24 Jul 2009 Germany is ordering 50 million doses of vaccine for the A/H1N1 influenza strain, known as swine flu, the Thuringia State Health Ministry said. The order is sufficient to vaccinate around one third of the population to follow World Health Organization recommendations to vaccinate particular groups, said the ministry, which currently chairs the conference of federal and state health ministers.
Companies reaping the swine flu windfall 23 Jul 2009 The effects of swine flu are already showing up in higher profits for makers of vaccines and antiviral drugs as the first pandemic of the 21st century makes its way onto corporate bottom lines. Vaccine and flu drug orders lifted drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to a better-than expected quarterly profit, the company said on Wednesday. Glaxo predicts flu vaccine sales will spur second-half strength.
Petition link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/refuse-and-resist-mandatory-flu-vaccine
CLG Pandemic Action Alerts page: http://www.legitgov.org/pandemic_action.html
U.S. Officials Met With Iraqi Insurgent Groups Twice in Spring 24 Jul 2009 U.S. officials engaged in negotiations with Iraqi 'insurgent' groups in two meetings this spring that culminated in an agreement to organize talks intended to bring the groups into Iraqi political life, an insurgent leader and Turkish and American officials said Thursday. The negotiations involved at least three insurgent leaders and at least three State Department officials, who met in Turkey in March and May, said Sheik Ali al-Jubouri, an insurgent representative. U.S. officials declined to provide details of the meetings, which they said took place in March and April.
U.S. soldier dies of non-combat incident in Iraq 24 Jul 2009 The U.S. military said an American soldier died of non-combat related incident in Baghdad on Friday. A military statement said that a Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier died in eastern section of the Iraqi capital, without giving further details about how and where exactly the incident took place.
52 percent of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq, Afghanistan diagnosed with TBI 24 Jul 2009 Some 52 percent of soldiers severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan who have come to the U.S. Army's largest hospital for treatment have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), an internal study has found. The results of the study, carried out by Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, also showed a steep increase -- from 33 percent -- in TBI cases since the end of 2008.
Defence chiefs send urgent reinforcements to Afghanistan 24 Jul 2009 The high number of troops killed and wounded on the battlefield has led defence chiefs to send urgent reinforcements to southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence announced tonight. In an unprecedented move, 125 personnel, some of them explosives experts, are being flown to Helmand where British forces have suffered the biggest attrition rate since the campaign against the Taliban and other insurgent groups began more than three years ago.
US 'will not' cut cash flow to Israel 24 Jul 2009 The White House has dismissed speculations that the US is considering economic sanctions to force Israel into freezing its West Bank settlement activity. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Thursday that a remark made by deputy spokesman Robert Wood on Wednesday had been misinterpreted.
Terrorism trials should be held in US federal courts: rights group 24 Jul 2009 Terrorism suspects should be prosecuted in US federal courts instead of military commissions, according to a report released Thursday by Human Rights First. The report, prepared by two former federal prosecutors, claims that the civilian court system is fully equipped to try terrorism cases and argues against the creation of a new security court system or indefinite detention of certain individuals.
U.S. courts convict 91 percent in terrorism trials: study 24 Jul 2009 Guantanamo prisoners could be successfully tried in the United States because an overwhelming number of terrorism cases in U.S. courts since the September 11 attacks have led to convictions, a study released Thursday said. Moreover, the trials did not leak national secrets or endanger surrounding communities, Human Rights First said in report regarding how to prosecute foreign terrorism suspects held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
BlackBerry maker: UAE partner's update was spyware 22 Jul 2009 BlackBerry users in the Mideast business centers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi who were directed by their service provider to upgrade their phones were actually installing spy software that could allow outsiders to peer inside, according to the device's maker. Research in Motion Ltd., the Canadian company that makes the mobile gadgets, said the application users unwittingly installed was a surveillance program developed by a privately held Silicon Valley company called SS8 Networks Inc. SS8 describes itself in a company brochure as "the leader in communications interception and a worldwide provider of regulatory compliant, electronic intercept and surveillance solutions." It markets its services to intelligence agencies, law enforcement and communication service providers.
Obama Says He Regrets His Language on Gates Arrest 25 Jul 2009 President Obama said Friday that he "could have calibrated" his words more carefully in the controversy over the arrest of a black Harvard professor by a white police officer, but added that there had been an "overreaction" by both sides in a case that touched off an intense discussion about race in America. "To the extent that my choice of words didn’t illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think, that was unfortunate," Mr. Obama said, making an unusual unannounced visit to the White House briefing room.
Cop Won't Apologize For Arresting Obama Trying To Get Into White House By R J Shulman 24 Jul 2009 Metro DC police officer Mark Conyers says he will not apologize to President Obama for arresting him for disorderly conduct when Obama tried to get into the White House when the front door stuck... Apparently, the front door of the White House stuck and Obama was trying to get it open with his shoulder when Sgt. Conyers asked him for identification. "I told him he couldn't go in there," Conyers wrote in his police report, "but he looks at me and says 'yes I can.'" (Satire)
Perry raises possibility of states' rights showdown with White House over healthcare 23 Jul 2009 Gov. Rick Perry (R-nutjob), raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights 'protections' under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas. Interviewed by conservative talk show host Mark Davis of WBAP/820 AM, Perry said his first hope is that Congress will defeat the plan. But should it pass, Perry predicted that Texas and a "number" of states might resist the federal health mandate.
You're Appointing Who? Please Obama, Say It's Not So! By Jeffrey Smith 23 Jul 2009 The person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history has just been made the US food safety czar... If GMOs are indeed responsible for massive sickness and death, then the individual who oversaw the FDA policy that facilitated their introduction holds a uniquely infamous role in human history. That person is Michael Taylor. He had been Monsanto's attorney before becoming policy chief at the FDA. Soon after, he became Monsanto's vice president and chief lobbyist. This month Michael Taylor became the senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. He is now America's food safety czar. What have we done?
CA Assembly passes most of $26B budget 24 Jul 2009 The state Assembly has approved a plan to close most of California's $26 billion budget deficit, sending the package of financial fixes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Assembly rejected two of the most controversial measures: a plan to take about $1 billion in transportation funding from local governments and allowing oil drilling off the California coast for the first time in 40 years.
Bank regulators resist Obama's encroachment on their turf 24 Jul 2009 Federal bank regulators sparred before Congress on Friday, trying to maintain their current powers as the Obama administration seeks to strip them of the authority to regulate consumer credit and give it to a new watchdog agency. The heads of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency testified for and against portions of the administration's proposals to revamp the regulation of the financial sector with an eye toward protecting consumers.
Waterford Village Bank 58th bank failure of 2009 24 Jul 2009 Waterford Village Bank of Clarence, N.Y. became the 58th bank to fail in 2009, and the first in New York this year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Friday. Evans Bancorp Inc. will assume all deposits and purchase all assets.
Palin Favorability Rating Dips As She Nears Exit, Poll Finds --53 percent of Americans view Palin negatively 24 Jul 2009 As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin prepares for the next stage of her political 'career,' a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of her, and there is broad public doubt about her leadership skills and understanding of complex issues, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
U.S. Rebuffs U.N. Requests for Guantanamo Visits, Data on CIA Prisons 23 Jul 2009 The Obama administration has declined requests from U.N. human rights investigators for information on secret prisons and for private interviews with inmates at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.N. officials said, dampening their hopes of greater U.S. cooperation on human rights issues. The rebuffs are the latest instances of the U.S. government resisting international human rights organizations' efforts to learn about Bush regime practices. In June, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton turned down a request from the top U.N. anti-torture official for a meeting in Washington to discuss practices at secret CIA detention centers and at Guantanamo Bay, despite the administration's avowed commitment to being open to greater scrutiny by the United Nations.
Iraq PM admits US troops may stay 23 Jul 2009 The Iraqi prime minister has admitted US troops could stay in the country beyond 2011. Under the US-Iraq Status of Forces agreement, which sets out a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, American troops must exit the country by December 31, 2011. Al-Maliki's apparent willingness for US forces to stay in Iraq beyond the 2011 deadline comes a day after he met Barack Obama, the US president, at the White House.
'The company had been preparing for a pandemic for the last three-and-a-half years.' Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline predicts swine flu gold rush 22 Jul 2009 Britain's biggest pharmaceutical company is preparing to sell £3bn worth of swine flu drugs this year, it emerged today. GlaxoSmithKline revealed its vaccine, one of the world's first, could be available by September after the UK government placed advance orders for 60m doses. The chief executive, Andrew Witty, said the company had been preparing for a pandemic for the last three-and-a-half years and had spent more than £1bn to ensure its factories could crank up production at short notice.
