Fierce fighting Wednesday between coalition forces and insurgents shut down the city of Baquba, which has been roiled by violence in recent days, killing scores of militants and civilians.Suspected insurgents attacked the police headquarters in downtown Baquba, sparking a clash with police that left five of the attackers dead, police said on condition of anonymity, as they regularly do to protect themselves.Coalition forces backed by U.S. aircraft also killed eight al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents during a raid near the city that also left two Iraqi women dead, the U.S. military said.The early morning attack was aimed at detaining Iraqis who were running a known cell of insurgents, the U.S. command said. The soldiers called in air support after coming under heavy fire from rifles and machine guns, the command said.... http://www.cnn.com censor News |
Editor - 08:49:00 11-29-06 |
Colombian establishment rocked by death squad scandal |
Colombia's political establishment is being shaken to its core by almost daily revelations of how allies of President Alvaro Uribe apparently worked hand-in-hand with feared rightwing militias who used terror for more than a decade to impose their will on the population. The country's supreme court this week ordered six high profile, pro-Uribe politicians - including the foreign minister's brother - to submit to questioning about their alleged links with the paramilitary groups, which are blamed for the massacre, murder and torture of thousands of Colombians. Two senators, an acting representative and a former congresswoman from the northern province of Sucre have already been arrested on similar charges, and a former governor is at large. Senator Alvaro García, the lynchpin of Sucre politics, even faces murder charges for allegedly planning the 2000 massacre of 14 people in a small village and for ordering the murder of an election official... http://www.guardian.co.uk/colombia/story/0,,1959864,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 08:47:00 11-29-06 |
38,000 Workers Accept Ford's Buyout Plans Deadline To Take One Of The 8 Packages Offered Expired Monday |
Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday that about 38,000 of its hourly production workers have accepted buyouts or early retirement offers. The figure includes approximately 30,000 buyouts during the open enrollment period that concluded late Monday, plus about 8,000 who took deals offered at limited plants earlier this year. Faced with lower demand for its products, Ford had hoped that 25,000 to 30,000 workers would take one of eight packages so it could reduce manufacturing capacity to better match demand. A 38,000-worker reduction would amount to nearly 46 percent of the 83,000 unionized employees that Ford had at the start of the year. ... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/29/business/main2213978.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2213978
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Editor - 08:45:00 11-29-06 |
Ahmadinejad sends letter to American people Iran leader has said U.S. citizens want him to detail his countrymen’s views |
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to the American people that will be released at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday, a state newspaper reported. The newspaper gave no details of the letter, an apparent attempt by the firebrand president to reach out to Americans over the head of their government. The state-run newspaper Iran reported the letter in bold type on its front page, saying “the five-page letter to the American people will be released by Iran’s representative at the United Nations today.” Ahmadinejad wrote a rambling, 18-page letter to President Bush in May, which Washington criticized for not addressing Iran’s nuclear program. The United States is leading the drive to impose U.N. sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15947213/
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Editor - 08:43:00 11-29-06 |
MBIA Debt Backed by Crack Houses Perpetuates Pittsburgh Blight |
No one has lived at 217 Dinwiddie Street, the gray, three-story, Victorian row house in Pittsburgh, since the owner died in 1995. ``I just keep the shades shut and don't look at it,'' said Imogene Boyd, referring to the front porch that draws a regular crowd of crack addicts who sneak through the weed-covered chain link fence for a smoke. The 90-year-old retired cleaning lady, who has lived on Dinwiddie since Dwight Eisenhower was president, has seen the city lose half its population. The dilapidated home in the Hill District is among 11,000 derelict properties that Pittsburgh officials say can't be rescued because their tax liens are controlled by MBIA Inc., the Armonk, New York-based bond insurer. MBIA, whose 44 percent annual profit margin makes it beloved on Wall Street, controls 8 percent of the land in the city and uses the liens as collateral for almost $200 million of bonds, according to company data and the Pittsburgh Neighborhood and Community Information System, a project ... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aIr.34tYn5Bw&refer=exclusive
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Editor - 08:40:00 11-29-06 |
EU urged to freeze Turkey talks |
The European Commission has recommended that some elements of talks with Turkey about its hopes of joining the EU should be frozen. The recommendations follow the breakdown of talks over the divided island of Cyprus. Turkey's refusal to recognise the Cypriot government has become an obstacle to Turkey's membership hopes. Turkish television channels quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as saying the recommendation was "unacceptable". After Finland said on Monday that talks over the Cyprus issue were deadlocked, the European Commission brought forward an announcement it was due to make next week. It said eight of the 35 areas of negotiation between the EU and Turkey should be suspended. It also said no area of negotiation should be declared complete until the Cyprus situation is resolved.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6194492.stm
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Editor - 08:31:00 11-29-06 |
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