Monthly Archives: May 2008 »

Libya releases ‘disappeared’ dissident, says rights group

Mick Meaney May 30, 2008 0

London: The Libyan government has freed a political prisoner after he was arrested 15 months ago, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. Juma Boufayed was arrested along with 13 Libyan political activist in

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The ‘War Crimes File’

Mick Meaney May 30, 2008 0

Hartford Courant | It comes as a relief to know that FBI agents were aghast at harsh interrogation techniques used by American military and CIA operatives against terror suspects detained in U.S.-run detention centers.

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White House fed war propaganda to a “complicit” media

Mick Meaney May 30, 2008 0

By Bill Van Auken | In a stunning blow to what very little remains of the Bush administration’s political credibility, the president’s former press secretary Scott McClellan has published a book indicting the White

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The last Briton in Guantanamo faces death penalty

Mick Meaney May 30, 2008 2

By Robert Verkaik | A British resident who is facing the death penalty in Guantanamo Bay has made a final desperate plea to Gordon Brown to end his six-year ordeal and bring him home

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UK Police Harrass Youths

Mick Meaney May 30, 2008 3

By Paul Lewis | The police surveillance team had spotted their target: a 12-year-old boy with freckles and ginger hair. He was known to police for nuisance behaviour. They watched as he walked along

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Autism Risk Linked to Distance From Power Plants

Mick Meaney May 30, 2008 2

By Leslee Dru Browning | How do mercury emissions affect pregnant mothers, the unborn and toddlers? Do the level of emissions impact autism rates? Does it matter whether a mercury-emitting source is 10 miles

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How McCain Has Supported Bush

Mick Meaney May 30, 2008 2

By Jason Rosenbaum | CQ’s Presidential Support studies try to determine how often a legislator votes in line with the President’s position: CQ tries to determine what the president personally, as distinct from other administration officials,

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UN chief “shocked” over Zimbabwe’s murdered activists

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 0

Geneva – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said she was shocked Wednesday by the news that several more political activists had been found murdered in Zimbabwe. She condemned the killings

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The Genealogy of Torture and Democracy

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 0

By Shannon Jones | The horrifying scenes of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the mistreatment of detainees at the US concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba have brought the issue

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Lecturers defy government over ID cards

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 0

By Anthea Lipsett | Lecturers voted overwhelmingly to oppose and defy the government’s plans to introduce identity cards at the University and College annual congress in Manchester today.The government plans to pilot the controversial

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No sign al Qaeda has WMD capability – US official

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 1

Reuters | There’s no sign that al Qaeda has acquired the capability to use weapons of mass destruction, a U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday, ahead of an anticipated release of a video by the

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Olmert urged to stand down over corruption claims

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 0

By Donald Macintyre | The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s most powerful coalition partner has called on him to step aside in the face of widespread anger at allegations that he had repeatedly received

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Vets for Peace Booted from National Memorial Day Parade

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 0

By Matthew Rothschild | There is one group of veterans that isn’t allowed to march in the national memorial parade in Washington on Monday. That’s the Veterans for Peace, Delwin Anderson Memorial chapter, based

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John Bolton Escapes Citizen’s Arrest

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 1

By Stephen Adams - The Telegraph | John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has escaped an attempted citizen’s arrest as he appeared at the Hay Festival. Security guards blocked the path of

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Iran to unveil new warfare equipment

Mick Meaney May 29, 2008 0

Press TV | Iran’s Defense Minister announces plans to unveil 30 new military hardware projects developed by Iranian experts in the upcoming year. Speaking on the sidelines of a Wednesday cabinet meeting, Brigadier General

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Amnesty urges next US president to ban torture

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

AFP | Rights watchdog Amnesty International yesterday urged the next US president to close the “war on terror” prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, ban all forms of torture and stop propping authoritarian regimes. In

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Ireland accused of failing on flight rendition

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

RTÉ News | US assurances that Irish airports are not being used for rendition are not worth the paper they are written on, according to the Secretary General of Amnesty International.Speaking to RTÉ News on

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Brown: To Be More Than an Accessory to War Crimes

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

By Tariq Ali | Power can shape “truth”, but not for ever. That is one lesson that could be learned from the series of electoral defeats that mark the end of New Labour’s weightless hegemony.

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UK ready to scrap killer cluster bombs

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

By Richard Norton-Taylor | The government is preparing to scrap Britain’s entire arsenal of cluster bombs in the face of a growing clamour against weapons that have killed and maimed hundreds of innocent civilians. Officials

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Report: US cluster bombs were faulty

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

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Iraq War May Have Increased Energy Costs by $6 Trillion

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

By Geoffrey Lean | The invasion of Iraq by Britain and the US has trebled the price of oil, according to a leading expert, costing the world a staggering $6 trillion in higher energy

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A Real Inside Job; Anthrax

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

After Downing Street | Someone just pointed this out to me. FBI claims to be continuing anthrax investigation. They’ve narrowed it to “about four” suspects and “at least three” of them are from Fort

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Orwellian Ubiquitous Computing?

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

By Daniel Taylor | “…just by walking down the street you could be subject to a personal biometric system, you could be scanned by the gateway of the transit system, there could be something

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Appeal from Tony Benn / Stop the War Coalition

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 1

By Tony Benn | The destruction of Iraq continues; its people killed amidst bombings and atrocities, a million or more dead, many more than two million driven from their homes, the social and economic

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American Psychological Association Supports Torture

Mick Meaney May 28, 2008 0

By Stephen Soldz | Since 2005, the American Psychological Association (APA) has steadfastly asserted that psychologists participating in detainee interrogations protects detainees by helping to keep these interrogations “safe, legal, ethical, and effective.” Last

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