A staff sergeant gave soldiers the option of taking part in the shooting of three Iraqi detainees before the killings took place, a soldier testified Wednesday. Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard, 24, called members of his squad into a meeting in Samarra, Iraq in May and told them they could shoot the men after they were cut loose, Pfc. Juston Graber testified. Girouard, 24, who is charged with murder, is the last and most senior soldier from the 101st Airborne Division to face trial for the killings during a May 9 raid on a suspected insurgent camp. He is accused of ordering soldiers in his squad to kill the men and cover up their crime as self-defense. Graber pleaded guilty in January to aggravated assault for shooting one of the three detainees who had been wounded and was sentenced to nine months in a military jail. ... http://abcnews.go.com censor News |
Editor - 09:27:00 03-14-07 |
Probe reveals seas on Saturn moon |
Nasa's Cassini probe has found evidence for seas, probably filled with liquid hydrocarbons, at the high northern latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan. The dark features, detected by Cassini's radar, are much bigger than any lakes already detected on Titan. The largest is some 100,000 sq km (39,000 sq miles) - greater in extent than North America's Lake Superior. It covers a greater fraction of Titan than the proportion of Earth covered by the Black Sea. The Black Sea is the Earth's largest inland sea and covers about 0.085% of our planet's surface. The newly observed body on Titan covers at least 0.12% of that world's surface. Cassini team members argue that this gives them reason to call it a sea. Since Cassini's radar has caught only a portion of each of the new features, only their minimum size is known. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6449081.stm
full News |
Editor - 08:44:00 03-14-07 |
Homosexual former N.J. governor revises divorce suit McGreevey seeks custody of 5-year-old daughter, child support from wife |
Former Gov. James McGreevey, who resigned from office after revealing that he was gay and had an affair with a male staffer, is seeking custody of his 5-year-old daughter and child support from his estranged wife. The revised divorce lawsuit by McGreevey, who resigned in November 2004, does not mention the “matrimonial settlement agreement” that McGreevey originally said had resolved all custody and support issues concerning his daughter, Jacqueline. McGreevey’s wife, Dina Matos, has 35 days to respond to the revised filing. The papers filed last month in Union County Superior Court ask the judge to assign McGreevey custody, to award visitation to the noncustodial parent and to award him “suitable support and maintenance.” “Dina and I both seek the best interests of Jacqueline,” McGreevey said Tuesday. “We’re asking the court to determine what’s the most appropriate balance in the child’s interest.”... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17609545/
full News |
Editor - 08:37:00 03-14-07 |
Anti-Bush protests in Mexico City |
Hundreds of demonstrators have rioted outside the US embassy in Mexico City, in the latest protest against President George W Bush's tour of Latin America. Protesters burned US flags and threw stones at police guarding the building. Tear gas was used to disperse the crowds. Several people were injured, including a number of police officers. The violence came hours after Mr Bush pledged to reform controversial immigration laws, during two-day talks with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Mr Bush made the announcement on Tuesday at the start of talks with Mr Calderon. The two leaders are also expected to tackle the issue of drug trafficking. There have been protests at each stage of Mr Bush's trip, and verbal attacks on him by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who is on his own tour of the region. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6444351.stm
full News |
Editor - 08:33:00 03-14-07 |
World stocks tumble on US fears |
European stocks have joined a global sell-off, after concerns about the US economy and mortgage industry hurt markets in Asia and dented Wall Street. The UK's FTSE tumbled 103.4 points, or 1.7%, to 6,057.8. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei index closed 2.9% lower and New York's Dow Jones index ended down 2%. Indexes in Hong Kong, Malaysia, India and Australia fell more than 2%. The sell-off comes just as stocks were starting to recover from a sharp slump that rocked markets late last month. Analysts said that market volatility was likely to continue, especially as many markets and stocks had climbed to their highest levels in more than six years. Lee Cheng Hooi of EON Capital said that the worry for investors was that the problems in the US mortgage market could cause the world's biggest economy to slow down. "This will cause a domino effect on the world economy," he explained. "There could be more bloodbath to come." ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6448719.stm
full News |
Editor - 08:28:00 03-14-07 |
Iraqi, U.S. Officials Give Cautiously Optimistic Report on Baghdad Security Operation |
Key U.S. and Iraqi officials on Wednesday issued cautiously optimistic reports one month into the latest drive to curb sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad but warned that months would pass before the operation could be labeled a success. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the U.S. military spokesman, also said the level of sectarian killings had dropped significantly in the month since the operation began. "By the indicators that the government of Iraq has, it has been extremely positive. But I would caution everybody about patience, about diligence. This is going to take many months, not weeks, but the indicators are all very positive right now," Caldwell said. One possible reason for the lowered violence in the capital could be the continued absence of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who remained in Iran "as of 24 hours ago," Caldwell said. The anti-American chief of the Mahdi Army militia was reported to have taken refuge in the neighboring ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2950337
full News |
Editor - 08:25:00 03-14-07 |
|
post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|