Daily Archives: April 26, 2008 »

‘Western Leaders Are War Criminals’

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 25

By Mick Meaney – RINF | The former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, has echoed calls for Western leaders to be charged with war crimes over the invasion of Iraq. Speaking at Imperial

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Democracy supporters arrested in Zimbabwe

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 2

UPI | Riot police in the capital of Zimbabwe have arrested nearly 400 supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change, a U.N. information network said. The United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks said Friday

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Bush’s disapproval worst of any president in 70 years

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 5

By Susan Page | President Bush has set a record he’d presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll

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Bush Secrecy Policies Transforming U.S. Government

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 1

By Sherwood Ross | President George W. Bush has transformed an open federal government in Washington into one of “pervasive secrecy,” a distinguished authority on communications and First Amendment rights says. Since his inauguration,

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Syrian ambassador says CIA fabricated photos

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 1

Reuters | Syria’s ambassador to the United States said Friday that the CIA fabricated pictures allegedly taken inside a secret Syrian nuclear reactor and predicted that in coming weeks the U.S. story about the

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Police Taser Claims Another Life

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 2

By Shamus Toomey – Chicago Sun-Times | A 24-year-old Lake View man died Thursday, five days after suburban Cincinnati police shocked him with a Taser outside a bar there. Kevin Piskura, 24, of the

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‘Sustainable’ bio-plastic can damage the environment

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 1

By John Vidal | The worldwide effort by supermarkets and industry to replace conventional oil-based plastic with eco-friendly “bioplastics” made from plants is causing environmental problems and consumer confusion, according to a Guardian study. The

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NY police cleared in 50-bullet wedding day shooting

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 1

Reuters | Three New York City detectives were found not guilty on Friday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day, prompting

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FBI wants widespread monitoring of ‘illegal’ web activity

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 1

By Anne Broache | The FBI on Wednesday called for new legislation that would allow federal police to monitor the Internet for “illegal activity.”  The suggestion from FBI Director Robert Mueller, which came during a House

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Iraqi oil pipeline blown up again

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 0

BBC News | An oil pipeline south of Baghdad has been blown up, wounding at least eight security guards, Iraqi police say. The blast, near the town of Iskandiriya, caused a large fire and

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Senate votes unanimously to protect watchdogs

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 0

AP | Facing a possible White House veto, the Senate has passed a watered-down version of legislation that would protect government watchdogs from political pressure.But Senate lawmakers say the measure, approved unanimously on April

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US prepping military options against Iran

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 1

By Mike Sheehan | Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the Pentagon is planning “potential” military actions against Iran, reports The Washington Post. Mullen criticized Iran’s “‘increasingly lethal

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China is world’s largest Internet-using population

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 0

By Jane Macartney | China has overtaken the US as the world’s biggest user of the internet, thanks to a rise of more than 61 per cent of people in the country using the

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Pentagon Propaganda Worse Than We Thought

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 1

By John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton – PR Watch | David Barstow of the New York Times has written the first installment in what is already a stunning exposé of the Bush Administration’s most

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UN targets US over delay in Syrian nuclear evidence

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 2

By Anne Penketh | The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has reacted with fury at the United States’ delay in passing on intelligence, after Washington accused North Korea of helping Syria to

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Gitmo Detainees’ Mental Health Is Latest Legal Battle

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 0

By William Glaberson | Next month, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was once a driver for Osama bin Laden, could become the first detainee to be tried for war crimes in Guantánamo Bay,

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The legal evils of Guantanamo Bay

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 4

Alasdair Palmer reviews Torture Team: Deception, Cruelty and the Compromise of Law by Philippe Sands. Torture Team centres on a single document: a memo, signed by the former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, authorising the

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Rights Groups Wrangle with CIA over “Ghost Prisoners”

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 0

IPS | The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has refused to release more than 7,000 documents related to its programmes of secret detentions, renditions, and torture, and is asking a federal judge to dismiss a

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Use of DNA results is expanding

Mick Meaney April 26, 2008 0

By Don Thompson – Associated Press | SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Thursday he is changing state policy to expand the use of DNA results, a shift he said could rekindle

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