Local police cleared Vice President Dick Cheney of any wrongdoing in his weekend hunting mishap and closed the case on Thursday, saying no charges would be filed. Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas said an investigation had determined Cheney shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington by accident, therefore no legal action was needed."No charges will be filed against anybody, and that's it," Salinas told reporters in brief comments outside his office in the town of Sarita, south of Corpus Christi. President George W. Bush, in his first public comments on the shooting, said on Thursday he was satisfied with the explanation Cheney gave about the incident.... http://news.yahoo.com censor News |
Editor - 20:21:00 02-16-06 |
Abu Ghraib leaked report reveals full extent of abuse |
Nearly two years after the first pictures of naked and humiliated Iraqi detainees emerged from Abu Ghraib prison, the full extent of the abuse became known for the first time yesterday with a leaked report from the US army's internal investigation into the scandal. The catalogue of abuse, which was obtained by the online American magazine Salon, could not have arrived at a worse time for the Bush administration, coinciding with yesterday's United Nations report on abuse of detainees at Guantánamo, the release of a video showing British troops beating up Iraqi youths, and lingering anger in the Muslim world over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Bush administration officials had already been fending off a new wave of anger about the torture of detainees - following the airing of graphic images from Abu Ghraib on Australian television - when Salon posted a story on its website yesterday saying it had obtained what appears to be the fullest photographic record to date of the abuse.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1711844,00.html
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Editor - 20:18:00 02-16-06 |
British judge tells Guantanamo detainees they can appeal |
A top British judge on Thursday permitted three British residents being held at Guantanamo Bay to take legal action in order to force the government to facilitate their release.Judge Andrew Collins told London's High Court that the United States' idea of what constituted torture was "not the same as ours and doesn't appear to coincide with that of most civilized countries." Iraqi Bisher al-Rawi and his Jordanian business partner, Jamil el-Banna, were both detained in Gambia three years ago, whilst Omar Deghayes was detained in Pakistan — all three are long-term British residents. The case could come to court as early as next week. Despite Collins' comments and his decision to allow the three to mount a full scale bid to force the British government to seek their freedom, the judge said there was no guarantee when the case was heard it would succeed. He said there were formidable arguments against such an order being made. ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1628003
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Editor - 13:25:00 02-16-06 |
US right has hijacked religious vote, says evangelical |
One of the most influential religious figures in the US has called on progressive Christians to seize the religious agenda from the right.Jim Wallis - who has been consulted by US presidents as well as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - yesterday urged liberal Christians to move the agenda from the right's focus of sexual morality to a less partisan approach.The 57-year-old, of Washington DC, is a long-term campaigner for social justice and fighting poverty. "We need a moral discourse in public life, and it is wrong for the left to leave it to the political right to define the issues," he said. "The left lacks respect and is too often disdainful and condescending in listening to people of faith."Religion does not have a monopoly of morality - the issue is not whether a person has a personal faith but whether they have a moral compass."... http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1710985,00.html
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Editor - 10:57:00 02-16-06 |
Bush plans huge propaganda campaign in Iran |
The Bush administration made an emergency request to Congress yesterday for a seven-fold increase in funding to mount the biggest ever propaganda campaign against the Tehran government, in a further sign of the worsening crisis between Iran and the west.Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said the $75m in extra funds, on top of $10m already allocated for later this year, would be used to broadcast US radio & TV programmes into Iran, help pay for Iranians to study in America and support pro-democracy groups inside the country. Although US officials acknowledge the limitations of such a campaign, the state department is determined to press ahead with measures that include extending the government-run Voice of America's Farsi service from a few hours a day to round-the-clock coverage. The sudden budget request, which follows an outlay of only $4m over the last two years, is to be accompanied by a diplomatic drive by Ms Rice to discuss Tehran's suspect nuclear weapons programme... http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1710699,00.html
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Editor - 10:51:00 02-16-06 |
Slovenia finds bird flu in swan |
Slovenia has confirmed that a swan found dead in the north of the country had the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. The swan was sent for testing in Italy after it was found last week near the city of Maribor, close to the Austrian border. It is Slovenia's first case. It comes two days after Austria confirmed its first cases of bird flu. The H5N1 strain of the virus, which can kill humans through contact with infected animals, has also been found in Italy, Germany, Greece and Bulgaria. Slovenia's government has already set up a protection zone within a 3km (two-mile) radius of where the swan was found and a 10km surveillance zone beyond that. Nearly 200 birds were culled at a nearby farm and farmers across Slovenia have been ordered to keep their poultry away from wild birds and report any suspicious illness. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4720366.stm
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Editor - 10:39:00 02-16-06 |
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