GOP Senators Pull Out of Inquiry Into CIA Program 26 Sep 2009 Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said Friday that they will no longer participate in an investigation into the Bush administration's interrogation policies, arguing that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s decision to reexamine allegations of detainee abuse prisoner torture by the CIA would hobble any inquiry. The intelligence committee launched a review in March of CIA interrogations of 'high-value' detainees.
Iran and United States on collision course over nuclear plant --Tension grows ahead of Geneva talks after 'secret' uranium plant is revealed and Obama considers tougher sanctions 27 sep 2009 The US and Iran raised the stakes yesterday ahead of this week's nuclear showdown in Geneva, with threats of global strife if no resolution is found. The sharpened rhetoric followed Friday's revelation that Iran had been building a secret uranium enrichment plant under a mountain near Qom, and it points towards a new wave of sanctions that go far beyond the targeted financial measures imposed on Iran so far.
U.S. to Demand Inspection of New Iran Plant 'Within Weeks' 27 Sep 200 The Obama administration plans to tell Iran this week that it must open a newly revealed nuclear enrichment site to international inspectors "within weeks," according to senior administration officials. The administration will also seek full access to the key personnel who put together the clandestine plant... American and European officials say they will also press Iran to open suspected nuclear sites to inspectors, and to turn over notebooks and computers involved in suspected weapons design. President Obama has repeatedly said Iran must show significant cooperation by the end of the year, establishing what officials say is effectively a three-month deadline for action.
UK says 'no sane person' thinks about attacking Iran [Makes sense --Joe Lieberman thinks about it 24/7.] 26 Sep 2009 As revelations about Iran's new under-construction nuclear enrichment facility surface, Britain reaffirms commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear row. In an interview with the BBC, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said "no sane person" would look to attack Iran over its nuclear program "without real concern." Britain is "100 percent committed" to finding a diplomatic solution, Miliband said.
Iran envoy challenges West to prove nuclear claims 27 Sep 2009 Amid Western clamor over Iran's newly-disclosed nuclear enrichment facility, Tehran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency challenges Western countries to prove their claim of 'Iranian deception'. Speaking to Press TV on Saturday, Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh explained that under the IAEA Safeguards Agreements, Iran is only obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog of the existence of enrichment plants six months before the facility goes operational.
UN: 1,500 Afghan civilians dead in 8 months 27 Sep 2009 A United Nations report has noted that a total of 1,500 civilians have lost their lives in insurgency-hit Afghanistan from the beginning of the year to August. The UN said in a new report that NATO air strikes were to blame for about a quarter of civilian deaths across the war-ravaged country over the past months.
Withdraw from Afghanistan or face more terrorist attacks: Bin Laden 27 Sep 2009 IN A new [Langley] audio recording, al-Qaeda leader 'Osama bin Laden' urged European nations to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, with a veiled threat of reprisals and an allusion to past bombings in Madrid and London. The message came as European nations, particularly Germany, are under increasing public and political pressures to reconsider their part in the Afghan war. Germany was also warned by the Taliban to remove its 4200 troops from Afghanistan or face internal terror attacks.
Oops! 16 al-Qaeda members escape from Iraqi jail 26 Sep 2009 U.S. and Iraqi militaries have launched a massive manhunt for 16 'al-Qaeda' members who broke out of a jail in Tikrit, the former home town of deposed president Saddam Hussein. U.S. military officials say they are providing aerial surveillance and search dogs for the manhunt.
Terrorist attacks across Iraq target cops 27 Sep 2009 At least one Iraqi police member has been killed and six others injured in the latest spate of terrorist assaults targeting security forces across conflict-stricken Iraq. In the first incident, an Iraqi policeman was gunned down on Saturday when unidentified assailants [aka Xe] opened fire on him at a popular outdoor market in Bab al-Toub district, central Mosul. The armed men fled the scene after the incident, according to eyewitnesses.
Fifteen Iraqi soldiers killed in bombing accident 26 Sep 2009 Fifteen Iraqi soldiers have been killed while disposing of bombs. An unspecified number were wounded. Security officials said Friday the troops had been deployed to an area east of Mosul to collect live bombs and transport them to an isolated area, where they were to be defused or detonated.
Army Officer Who Refused Iraq Duty Is Allowed to Resign 27 Sep 2009 The Army is allowing the resignation of the first commissioned officer to be court-martialed for refusing to go to Iraq, his lawyer said late Friday. The officer, First Lt. Ehren Watada, will be granted a discharge on Oct. 2, "under other-than-honorable conditions," said the lawyer, Kenneth Kagan.
Palestinian driver says Israeli soldiers beat him 26 Sep 2009 Muhammad Id'is, 27, married with two children, is a driver in the Palestinian territories. Earlier this month, according to testimony he has given to the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, he was repeatedly beaten by four Israeli soldiers, one of them an officer. He was hospitalised with internal wounds.
Protests in support of Zelaya continue in Honduras 26 Sep 2009 Protests in support of Manuel Zelaya have gained pace with thousands on the streets 90 days after the Honduran president was ousted. After thousands marched to the Brazilian embassy where Zelaya has been holed up since Monday, hundreds more took part in a vehicle protest, hanging out car windows, honking horns and waving Honduran flags as they drove through a main axis of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
'No traces of any kind of chemical was found in his vehicle.' Attorney: No evidence of bomb-making by suspect 26 Sep 2009 Claims that an Afghan immigrant was on the verge of unleashing a terrorist attack on New York City on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks are missing a key element: explosives or the chemicals allegedly used to make them, the man's attorney said. FBI agents have yet to find those elements and connect them to Najibullah Zazi, charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in a plot authorities say was aimed at commuter trains, attorney Arthur Folsom told a federal judge in Denver Friday.
Feds: Zazi Trips, Shopping Led to NY Terror Threat --Feds charted struggling NYC immigrant's path from coffee cart vendor to terrorism plot suspect 26 Sep 2009 It was midsummer in suburban Denver when an unassuming, bearded man pushed a red shopping cart between shelves stacked with hair coloring and nail polish remover. By the time Najibullah Zazi checked into a nearby hotel suite with a kitchen in September, he had at least 18 bottles of peroxide-based hair lighteners and pages of notes for how to turn the beauty products into bombs, authorities say. Prosecutors say the otherwise mundane movements of the 24-year-old airport shuttle driver -- who sold Wall Streeters coffee for years from his cart in downtown Manhattan and returned to the spot, not far from ground zero, on his recent two-day trip to the city -- masked a dire terrorist threat.
FBI Investigating American In Somali Suicide Bombing 26 Sep 2009 FBI agents are investigating whether an American teenager detonated one of two stolen U.N. vehicles packed with explosives at a peacekeeping base in Somalia last week, killing 21 people. Community blogger Abdirahman Warsame told the Associated Press that FBI agents in Seattle had visited the home of Mohamed Mohamud on Tuesday to investigate whether 18-year-old Omar, Mohamud's son, was involved in a twin suicide bombing in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, on Sept. 17.
Bush's wiretapping goes to court in S.F. --Lawyer cited candidate Obama's declaration in 2007 that "warrantless surveillance of American citizens in defiance of (the 1978 law) is unlawful and unconstitutional." 24 Sep 2009 After years of wrangling over legal procedures, the lawyer for a defunct Islamic charity laid out his case Wednesday that former President [sic] George W. Bush's secret wiretapping program was illegal - an argument that an Obama administration attorney refused to discuss. "May the president of the United States break the law in the name of national security? ... We're asking this court to say, 'no,' " Jon Eisenberg, lawyer for the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, told a federal judge in San Francisco. Neither the president's constitutional powers as commander in chief nor Congress' authorization to use military force against terrorists after Sept. 11, 2001, entitled Bush to override a 1978 law requiring court approval for electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists, Eisenberg argued.
Police ready to 'take on' commenters, chief says --Police chief: People who misrepresent themselves as officials in online comments could face civil, criminal penalties 26 Sep 2009 (TX) Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo says he and some of his officers have been harassed, lied about and had their identities falsely used in online blogs and in reader comment sections on local media Internet sites. They have since researched their legal options and decided that from now on, they might launch formal investigations into such posts, Acevedo said. He said investigators might seek search warrants or subpoenas from judges to learn the identities of the authors -- he thinks some could be department employees -- and possibly sue them for libel or file charges if investigators think a crime was committed.
Some resistant to mandatory flu shots 26 Sep 2009 The trend toward mandatory H1N1 vaccinations for U.S. healthcare workers is meeting resistance from unions and anti-government groups, officials said. Hundreds of thousands of nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers are being ordered to become vaccinated as the second wave of the H1N1 pandemic spreads this fall.
Mandatory Flu Vaccination Riles Health Care Workers -- They'll March 24 Sep 2009 New York is requiring some health care workers to get a seasonal flu shot now and the H1N1 shot later- -or lose their jobs. But now, a lawsuit filed in new Jersey may help workers in Rochester. A lawsuit filed in New Jersey calls the mandatory flu shot unconstitutional, but so far a federal judge has denied an injunction which would halt forced vaccinations in any state while the case moves forward.
US says first swine flu vaccine to arrive Oct. 5 25 Sep 2009 The first swine flu vaccine should be in some doctors' offices as early as Oct. 5, U.S. health officials said Friday. These early batches of vaccine will 'protect' 6 million to 7 million people. Over time, the government expects to have a total of 250 million doses of the new vaccine, although 10 percent of that has been promised to other countries.
'That's the most tragic part about it. If she had insurance, she would have gone to the doctor.' Miami University graduate dies of swine flu 26 Sep 2009 Friends say the Miami University graduate who died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance. News of Kimberly Young’s death Wednesday, Sept. 23, came as a shock to those who knew the vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008. Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.
Witness: Census worker's hanging body naked, bound 25 Sep 2009 A part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago. Authorities have also said the word "fed" was scrawled with a felt-tip pen across Bill Sparkman's chest, but they have released very few details about the case and said investigators have not determined if it was a homicide, suicide [?] or an accident. [!] Federal, state and local authorities have refused to say if Sparkman was at work going to door-to-door for census surveys in the time before his death, but his Census identification tag was found taped to his body.
Kyl Asserts 'I Don't Need Maternity Care' In My Health Policy; Stabenow Shoots Back 'Your Mom Probably Did' Posted by Amanda Terkel 25 Sep 2009 Today, the Senate Finance Committee debated Sen. Jon Kyl’s (R-AZ) amendment to prohibit the federal government from "defining the health care benefits offered through private insurance." Kyl tried to make his case by citing the unnecessary expense of maternity care. He was quickly smacked down by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI): KYL: I don't need maternity care, and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don’t need and will make the policy more expensive. STABENOW: If I could just interject once with my colleague -- I think your mom probably did. (LAUGHTER)
Previous lead stories: Sources: Guantanamo Might Not Close By January --Problems Include Resolving Legal Issues, Logistical Questions 25 Sep 2009 The White House acknowledged for the first time Friday that it might not be able to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay by January as President Barack Obama has promised. Senior administration officials told The Associated Press that difficulties in completing the lengthy review of detainee files and resolving thorny legal and logistical questions mean the president's self-imposed January deadline may slip.
Witness: Census worker's hanging body naked, bound 25 Sep 2009 A part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago. Authorities have also said the word "fed" was scrawled with a felt-tip pen across Bill Sparkman's chest, but they have released very few details about the case and said investigators have not determined if it was a homicide, suicide [?] or an accident. [!] Federal, state and local authorities have refused to say if Sparkman was at work going to door-to-door for census surveys in the time before his death, but his Census identification tag was found taped to his body.
