Bush is expected to announce a significant shift in strategy for improving Baghdad's security when the Iraqi prime minister visits Washington next week, an acknowledgment that a much-publicized military operation launched last month has failed to stem the violence.The U.S.-Iraqi offensive was touted as a major initiative by the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. But the operation has failed to prevent sectarian violence in Baghdad from escalating to unprecedented highs.A United Nations study released this week found that 3,149 civilians were killed in Iraq in June — an 18% increase from May — and that most of the deaths occurred in Baghdad.... http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com censor News |
Editor - 00:26:00 07-23-06 |
Kuwaiti Appeals Court Upholds Acquittal of Five Former Guantanamo Prisoners |
A Kuwaiti court Saturday upheld the acquittal of five returnees from Guantanomo on terror-related charges. In May, a criminal court had cleared the men of belonging to and collecting money for the al-Qaida terror network, but the prosecution appealed the ruling. U.S. officials freed the five men from the prison in Cuba in November. On their return to Kuwait, they were arrested and put on trial. All five Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi, Abdul-Aziz al-Shimmiri, Adel Zamel Abdul-Mohsen, Saad Madhi al-Azmi and Mohammed Fnaitil al-Dehani had pleaded innocent when their trial opened in March. It takes a week to 10 days for the details of rulings to be made public. Lawyers defending the five argued that there was no evidence to convict their clients and that Kuwaiti courts did not have the jurisdiction to try them because they had not done anything illegal in Kuwait. ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2225022
full News |
Editor - 18:43:00 07-22-06 |
Iraqi speaker decries US 'butchery' |
US forces have committed butchery in Iraq and should leave, the speaker of the country's parliament has said.Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was speaking on Saturday at a UN-sponsored conference on transitional justice and reconciliation in Baghdad."Just get your hands off Iraq and the Iraqi people and Muslim countries, and everything will be all right," he said in a speech as the conference opened."What has been done in Iraq is a kind of butchery of the Iraqi people." He also criticised US support for Israeli attacks against Lebanon.... http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/07234B82-C3F3-4F27-B401-8BC50A43F541.htm
full News |
Editor - 18:40:00 07-22-06 |
World protests against Israeli raids |
Thousands of people around the world gathered in street protests on Saturday to demand an end to Israel's offensive in Lebanon and Gaza.The biggest rally took place in London where thousands of demonstrators urged Tony Blair, the British prime minister, to stop what they described as his refusal to condemn Israel's actions and join international calls for an immediate ceasefire. "Peace for Lebanon!" they chanted as the march weaved its way through central London, past the US embassy and on to Hyde Park, watched all the way by the police. "Stop the killing, stop the bombs. Israel out of Lebanon," shouted the peaceful protestors, many draped in Lebanese or Palestinian flags. Others shouted "Hezbollah is here to stay. Zionism go away". ... http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7549F47F-725C-49E3-85C0-C5E5F0B4D59A.htm
full News |
Editor - 18:36:00 07-22-06 |
A Petroleum Alternative, but U.S. Says It’s Illegal |
MODIFYING a car or truck to run on vegetable oil is illegal, but violators are unlikely to end up on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. As an environmental strategy, the value is unmeasured. The problem is that laws governing the Environmental Protection Agency require that motor vehicles be certified before they are sold, and no one has ever even tried to certify a car or truck running on vegetable oil. To the E.P.A., fuels and vehicles are guilty until proved innocent. But the E.P.A. says it has never fined anyone, and some state officials, who also enforce clean-air regulations, said they could not recall any enforcement actions. “I strongly doubt they would ever throw the book at anybody,” said S. William Becker, executive director of the State and Territorial Air Pollution Control Administrators. “If they ever caught up with someone doing this, they probably would read them the law and regulations and say, ‘Go away.’ ”... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/automobiles/23RULES.html?ex=1154232000&en=bf2f61ddc9fb7f8c&ei=5070&emc=eta1
full News |
Editor - 16:24:00 07-22-06 |
3 Boston cops arrested in FBI cocaine sting |
Three Boston police officers accused of taking $35,000 in exchange for protecting a cocaine shipment were arrested in Miami on federal drug charges in an FBI sting operation, authorities said Friday. Roberto Pulido, 41, described by authorities as the ringleader, and fellow officers Carlos Pizarro, 36, and Nelson Carrasquillo, 35, were arrested late Thursday in Miami. All three officers appeared Friday in federal court in Miami but did not enter pleas. The judge said he would appoint attorneys to assist with their Miami proceedings and ordered them held until a detention hearing Wednesday. ... http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060722/4036464.asp
full News |
Editor - 16:13:00 07-22-06 |
|
post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|