Mission accomplished! ExxonMobil-led consortium nets 'supergiant' Iraq oil field 06 Nov 2009 An ExxonMobil-led consortium has beaten rival Russian, French and Chinese groups to bag initial rights to develop Iraq’s West Qurna field, the Oil Ministry said. With reserves of 8.7 billion barrels, West Qurna is among the prized Iraqi fields eyed by Western oil majors. "The consortium led by ExxonMobil, which includes Shell, won the contract to develop West Qurna Phase One oilfield," Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said. The initial deal was signed in Baghdad on Thursday but needs Cabinet approval before it can be finalized. The 20-year contract is part of a raft of deals Iraq is close to formalizing. [Will the real insurgency keep ExxonMobil, Shell, and other corporaterrorists from taking Iraq's oil?]
Sen. Dorgan: KBR Still Using Burn Pits 06 Nov 2009 According to Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who chairs the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, military contractor [terrorist group] Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR) is continuing to dispose of waste in Iraq using burn pits that reportedly give off toxic fumes. "The Army and the contractor in charge of this waste disposal Kellogg, Brown, and Root, made frequent and unnecessary use of these burn pits and exposed thousands of U.S. troops to toxic smoke…burn pits are still used at the Balad Airbase in Iraq, which is the largest U.S. base in that country."
UN sanctions Goldstone report on Gaza war 06 Nov 2009 The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a report, which accuses Israel of war crimes as well as crimes against humanity during the weeks-long onslaught on the Gaza Strip. 114 states endorsed a resolution supporting the report by a Human Rights Council panel led by the South African judge Richard Goldstone in Thursday's UN vote while only 18 states including the US objected to the report's adoption.
Palestinians take down parts of WB wall 06 Nov 2009 Palestinian youths have tipped over a part of Israel's separation wall in the occupied West Bank during a demonstration which marked the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some 300 Palestinians and left-wing activists attended the demonstration in the village of Naalin, Ynet reported on Friday. They held banners reading "No matter how tall, all walls fall." According to the demonstrators, a 6-meter (20-foot) high section of the wall was taken down.
Policeman who killed British troops 'is back with Taliban' --Gunman identified as policeman called Gulbadin greeted with flowers on return to Taliban protection, sources say 05 Nov 2009 The gunman who killed five British soldiers in an attack in Afghanistan's Helmand province was today back with Taliban fighters who greeted him with flowers, sources close to the Afghan security forces said. The killer - identified only as a policeman called Gulbadin - was back under Taliban protection, the source said. British and Afghan commanders were undertaking an urgent investigation into the circumstances of the attack.
Afghan National Police penetrated by Taliban at 'every level' 04 Nov 2009 The Afghan National Police have been penetrated by the Taliban "at every level" with officers poorly trained, corrupt and some addicted to drugs, a former Army officer has said. Capt Doug Beattie, who served two tours in Afghanistan working with the ANP, said many police officers are in the paid of 'insurgents' and were more loyal to their tribes than the Afghan government. British officers say that among low-ranking Afghan police, and particularly in more rural areas away from central control, there is widespread corruption and disloyalty.
25 troops injured in search for U.S. paratroopers missing in Afghanistan 06 Nov 2009 More than 25 international and Afghan troops were wounded Friday in western Afghanistan -- possibly by friendly fire -- during a search operation for two U.S. Army paratroopers who had gone missing, according to the military. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan initially said that the troops conducting the search had been injured by 'insurgents.' But a spokesman later said that officials were investigating the incident and had not ruled out the possibility of friendly fire.
Poland denies asking US troop deployment 06 Nov 2009 Warsaw has denied Russian media reports that Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked Washington to deploy US troops to protect Poland. On Thursday, the Russian Interfax news agency quoted Sikorski as saying Poland had requesting the United States and NATO to deploy troops in Central Europe.
Cheney blasts probe of CIA interrogations --'I find that absolutely abhorrent,' former vice president says 06 Nov 2009 Former Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney held back no criticism Thursday of President Barack Obama, strongly questioning the administration's policy in Afghanistan and its approach to combating terrorism. Cheney, speaking to the Economic Club of Southwest Michigan, was harshest when addressing a Department of Justice investigation into so-called "enhanced interrogations" [torture] used by the CIA and military on detained suspected terrorists. "I find that absolutely abhorrent," said Cheney, who served under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009.
Senate Votes on Terrorism Trials 06 Nov 2009 The Democratic-controlled Senate turned back a Republican-led effort to bar Sept. 11 terrorists from being prosecuted in civilian federal courts. Instead, senators voted 54 to 45 to support a request by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to have the option of prosecuting those accused of terrorism in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in either federal courts or by military tribunals.
Guantanamo became a recruiting tool for terrorism: Napolitano 06 Nov 2009 Guantanamo Bay was used as a "recruiting tool" for terrorism more than anything else, US homeland security chief Janet Napolitano said Friday, during a visit to the European parliament. "Guantanamo has been used more as a recruiting tool than anything else," she told members of the European parliament's civil liberties committee in Brussels. Therefore "it needs to be closed and the individuals dealt with appropriately," she added.
Massachusetts: Terrorism Charges 06 Nov 2009 A Massachusetts man has been indicted on new charges involving a plot to kill two prominent politicians and shoot people at shopping malls. The man, Tarek Mehanna, of Sudbury, is accused of conspiring with two other men: Ahmad Abousamra, whom the authorities say is now in Syria, and an unnamed cooperating witness. Mr. Mehanna, was arrested Oct. 21 on a charge of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The 10-count indictment also charges Mr. Mehanna and Mr. Abousamra with conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, conspiracy to provide false information to law enforcement and making false statements to law enforcement.
Counter-terror plans will be revised to reflect Fort Hood and Afghan attacks [Wow, that was quick!] 05 Nov 2009 (UK) A soldier turning on his comrades at Fort Hood, an Afghan policeman killing the British soldiers who trained him - two uncannily similar events in two days, but incidents which, across the Western world, security authorities have been planning for and dreading. Since the Mumbai attacks counter-terrorism planning has seen a major shift. The shootings in Afghanistan and Fort Hood carry echoes of the attacks in India with the added danger that the enemy has come from within.
Orlando Shooting Suspect Had Money Woes --1 Confirmed Dead; 5 Others Hurt 06 Nov 2009 A man so broke that he said he didn't have the money to visit his son 30 minutes away opened fire Friday at the engineering firm that fired him two years ago, killing one person and wounding five, authorities said. As officers led a handcuffed Jason Rodriguez into a police station, a reporter asked the divorced 40-year-old why he had attacked his former colleagues. "Because they left me to rot," said Rodriguez, who recently told a bankruptcy judge he was making less than $30,000 a year... and owed nearly $90,000.
Orlando shooting suspect had recently filed for bankruptcy 06 Nov 2009 The suspect in Friday's shooting of six people in a downtown high-rise is a 40-year-old "man with economic woes that include a recent bankruptcy filing, federal records show. In his filing last May for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, under which he sought to have his assets liquidated and his debts discharged, Jason S. Rodriguez listed his assets at $4,675 and his liabilities at $89,873.31.
Report: NWA Flight Had No Contact for 3 Hours 05 Nov 2009 FOX News has learned Northwest Airlines Flight 188 that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles in October was out of contact with air traffic controllers for approximately three hours, and NORAD was not informed until the last few minutes. Sources told FOX News there were three NORDO's -- or non-contacts -- the first one occurring shortly after the plane reached cruising altitude out of San Diego. The military was not notified until after the third NORDO -- which occurred as the plane approached Minneapolis.
Rare Ebola-like virus poses new threat to Afghan troops 06 Nov 2009 U.S. military officials sent a medical team to a remote outpost in southern Afghanistan this week to take blood samples from members of an Army unit after a soldier in the unit died from an Ebola-like virus. Dr. Jim Radike, an expert in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Role 3 Trauma Hospital at Kandahar Air Field, told The Washington Times that Sgt. Robert David Gordon, 22, from River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 from what turned out to be Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever after he was bitten by a tick. The virus is transmitted by infected blood and can be carried by ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dutch pull Pfizer vaccine batch after infants die --110,000 doses of anti-infection drug Prevenar quarantined after deaths 05 Nov 2009 Dutch authorities say they have banned use of a batch of Pfizer's Prevenar, or Prevnar, after three infants died within two weeks of receiving the anti-infection vaccination. Pfizer spokeswoman Gwen Fisher said the three infants also received two unrelated other [deadly] vaccines as part of routine immunizations.
Quebec woman dies from H1N1 virus after getting vaccine 04 Nov 2009 A 42-year-old Quebec woman has died from complications resulting from the H1N1 virus. It is the third death in the province since September. The woman, who worked at the Monteregie Health and Social Services Centre, died Tuesday night. She had also received the H1N1 vaccination on Oct. 29, two days before coming down with symptoms of the flu.
NYC Commissioner Defends Giving H1N1 Shots to Goldman 06 Nov 2009 New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said his department sent 6 percent of the city’s limited doses of swine flu vaccine to Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other large employers because they traditionally distribute shots in flu seasons.
At Supreme Court: Can prosecutors be sued for framing defendants? 03 Nov 2009 The US Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to consider an unusual question: Do Americans who have been framed by unscrupulous prosecutors for crimes they did not commit have a right to sue the prosecutors when the fraud is finally exposed? According to the Obama administration, the answer is no. Solicitor General Elena Kagan argues in a friend of the court brief that local, state, and federal prosecutors must enjoy absolute immunity from citizen lawsuits - even when they sent innocent men to prison for life by fabricating incriminating evidence and hiding exculpatory evidence.
U.S. Economy: Unemployment Rate Jumps to 26-Year High 06 Nov 2009 The unemployment rate in the U.S. jumped to 10.2 percent in October, the highest level since 1983, casting a pall over the prospects for a sustained recovery and risking further erosion of President Barack Obama’s popularity. Payrolls fell by 190,000 last month, more than forecast by economists, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington.
Wall Street bonuses to rise by 40 percent By Patrick Martin 06 Nov 2009 The authors of the biggest financial catastrophe in world history--executives and traders at US investment and commercial banks--will see their year-end bonuses rise by an average of 40 percent compared to last year, according to a report issued Wednesday by Johnson Associates, a Wall Street-based compensation consulting firm. Traders in stocks, bonds and derivatives are likely to significantly exceed even that lofty average, with projected bonuses 60 percent higher than in 2008, the company said.
Fannie Mae seeks $15B more in government aid after 3Q loss 05 Nov 2009 Fannie Mae is asking for an additional $15 billion in government aid after posting another big loss in the third quarter as the taxpayer bill from the housing market bust keeps rising. The government-controlled company continued to see a dramatic surge of borrowers fall behind as the unemployment rate climbs.
More Delays? House Health Care Bill Vote May Not Come Until Sunday 06 Nov 2009 Members of the House of Representatives are poised to vote Saturday on health care legislation, but a top Democratic leader acknowledged today that the vote may get pushed back to Sunday or later if there is not enough support to pass the bill on the floor. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said today that he still expects the vote to take place on Saturday, but that Democrats may not have the 218 votes needed for the bill to pass.
Quick action: Protect Polar Bears and the Places They Live 06 Nov 2009 Rising temperatures are robbing polar bears of their homes and access to the food they need to survive. In response, the Interior Department has announced a proposal to designate more than 200,000 square miles of critical habitat for these struggling bears -- including the vital coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most important onshore denning habitats for America’s struggling polar bears. Please fill out the form to urge the Interior Department to adopt this proposal to help save America's polar bears.
Previous lead stories: 'US officials offered me 500,000 dollars to set meeting with Taliban' US 'spending money to reach Taliban' --The US has already planned to allocate a specific budget from its annual 680 billion dollar defense bill to the Taliban. 05 Nov 2009 Washington is ready to spend a huge sum of money to start talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, a former Pakistani lawmaker says. Javed Ibrahim Paracha, a former member of Pakistan's National Assembly said that top US diplomats contacted him in 2005 and offered him a huge sum of money to broker the talks. "US officials had offered me 500,000 dollars in that meeting for mediating. I refused that offer and had asked US officials to first take permission from the government and corps commanders," The Daily Times quoted Paracha, as saying. Paracha is known for having contacts with the Taliban leadership.
UN to evacuate staff in Afghanistan --Some 600 non-essential staffers will be moved to more secure locations while the body works to find safer permanent housing 05 Nov 2009 The United Nations is temporarily relocating more than half its staff in Afghanistan following last week's deadly Taliban attack against UN workers. The UN mission is still reeling from a pre-dawn assault on a guesthouse in the capital last week that left five UN staffers dead. The Kabul attack was the most direct targeting of UN employees during the organisation's decades of work in the country.
Italian court finds CIA agents guilty of kidnapping terrorism suspect --First prosecution for US abduction of suspects to torture states --Italian court convicts Robert Lady and 23 others in absentia 04 Nov 2009 Twenty-three Americans were tonight convicted of kidnapping by an Italian court at the end of the first trial anywhere in the world involving the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" programme for abducting terrorist suspects. The former head of the CIA in Milan Robert Lady was given an eight-year jail sentence for his part in the seizure of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, who claimed that he was subsequently tortured in Egypt. Lady's superior, Jeff Castelli, the then head of the CIA in Italy, and two other Americans were acquitted on the grounds that they enjoyed diplomatic immunity. But another 21 alleged CIA operatives and a US air force officer were each sentenced to five years in jail. All were tried in absentia and those who were convicted will be regarded as fugitives under Italian law.
