Local Governments in Britain to Spy on Muslims British Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, the architect of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s so-called diversity and integration policy, is set to unveil a controversial plan later his month whereby thousands of council (municipal) workers across the UK will effectively be asked to spy on Muslim radicals and extremist organizations in their midst.
The Daily Mirror, one of Britain’s top tabloids and a staunch supporter of the ruling Labour Party, yesterday confirmed in a report quoting ... (more)
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Marines' Photos Provide Graphic Evidence in Haditha ProbeCapturing images of war on their digital cameras, as many troops in Iraq have done, Marines took dozens of gruesome photographs of the 24 civilians who were killed in Haditha, Iraq, in November 2005.
The images -- which investigators tracked down on several laptop computers and digital media drives, some in the United States -- provide visual evidence of a series of shootings outside a taxi and inside three homes that military criminal investigators have alleged were murders.
... (more)
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Full Steam Ahead For "The Invasion" & The American Union Recent disturbing incidents on the US/Mexico border, coupled with mainstream news reports concerning government aiding of illegal immigration serves to once again remind US citizens that the sovereign borders are systematically being broken down and the country is being quietly amalgamated into a Pan American Union.
Last week it was reported that a U.S. Border Patrol entry Identifica... (more)
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Drug mafia, CIA blamed for sacking of Afghan governorKABUL: In a country flooded with narcotics traffickers and corrupt government officials, one of Afghanistan's few remaining 'clean' governors, Mohammed Daud, has been removed from his position, and many are blaming the drug mafia and the CIA for his abrupt dismissal.
Daud was appointed at the request of the British government in order to oversee Helmand province, the country's largest opium producing region.
The former governor of Helmand, Sher Muhammad Akhunzada, w... (more)
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Texas Prison Camp Future American Gulag? A detention camp in Taylor Texas that currently holds hundreds of rebuffed asylum seekers who legally entered the country, half of which are children swept up in midnight raids, is a potential prime location for the enforced transfer of American citizens during a time of national emergency.
The privatized Hutto jail, which is also administered by Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), currently interns political asylum seekers who ca... (more)
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City Officials Still At Loss To Explain Foul Odor(CBS) NEW YORK - It's the smell that's being "heard" around the country. It's seems everybody is talking about the gaseous odor that took over Manhattan and parts of New Jersey on Monday morning.
"It smelled like leaking gas. When you turn on your stove," Shira Gordon said. "It was just a very strong odor."
Said Mayor Mike Bloomberg: "The smell is there. We don't know the source of it."
Department of Environmental Protection and Con Edison crews hav... (more) Flashback: How the U.S. Army Carried out a Poison-gas Attack on the N.Y. Subway |
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Officials Now Searching For Cause Of Bird DeathsCongress Avenue is now open after being closed for nine hours after 63 dead birds were found in Downtown Austin.
A few of those birds were found alive and had awkward movements and the inability to fly.
Authorities said Monday that the birds don't pose a threat to public health.
"At this time, based on that preliminary evidence, we do not feel that there's a threat to the public health, but we do want to take every precaution necessary to ensure the p... (more)
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Iraq war could cost US over $2 trillion, says Nobel prize-winning economistThe real cost to the US of the Iraq war is likely to be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion (£1.1 trillion), up to 10 times more than previously thought, according to a report written by a Nobel prize-winning economist and a Harvard budget expert.
The study, which expanded on traditional estimates by including such costs as lifetime disability and healthcare for troops injured in the conflict as well as the impact on the American economy, concluded that the US government is contin... (more)
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Fair Jury Could Crack Diana Cover-Up A ludicrous attempt on behalf of the Royal family to have its own household members staff a jury looking into the death of Princess Diana has failed, opening up for the first time the possibility that a fair jury inquest could crack the cover-up behind the 1997 Paris car crash that also killed Dodi Al Fayed.
At a preliminary hearing today that will decide whether a formal inquest, a legally mandated routine procedure under British law, into Diana's death ... (more)
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US twists civilian arms to fill Fortress BaghdadAt the heart of George W. Bush’s “new way forward” – which the president is expected to announce on Wednesday and involve substantial troop reinforcements – is the plan already under way to expand the US civilian presence across Iraq and complete the world’s largest embassy in Baghdad.
Construction of what critics call “Fortress Baghdad” has led to arguments inside the State Department amid fears that the overwhelming diplomatic presence will perpetuate a sense of US occupation an... (more)
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Diana: Time to end the cover-up LAWYERS will today argue that police interviews with Prince Charles over Princess Diana’s death must be made public.
They will say that the move to reveal details of the secret interviews by the detectives probing the car crash which killed her is vital to quash allegations of a cover-up.
The demand will be made at a preliminary hearing of the inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi Fayed.
Lawyers for Dodi’s father, Harrods chairman Mohamed Al Faye... (more)
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Mishap In Dismantling Nuclear WarheadA watchdog group charges a nuclear warhead nearly exploded in Texas when it was being dismantled at the government's Pantex facility near Amarillo. The Project on Government Oversight says it has been told by knowledgeable experts that the warhead nearly detonated in 2005 because an unsafe amount of pressure was applied while it was being disassembled, The Austin American-Statesman reports.
The U.S. Energy Department fined the plant's operators $110,000 last month.
... (more)
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Military `surge' not enough to save Iraq, U.S. commander says BAGHDAD, Iraq - In his first wide-ranging interview, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq conceded Sunday that a military "surge" escalation would not be enough to rescue Iraq, advocating economic and political changes as well, as top Democratic lawmakers in Washington stiffened their opposition to any escalation of U.S. troop strength.
Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said he believed that a combination of jobs, provincial elections, anti-militia legislation and stronger Iraqi security forc... (more)
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U.S. moving to refurbish its nuclear arsenalThe Bush administration is expected to announce this week a major step forward in the building of the country's first new nuclear warhead in nearly two decades. It will propose combining elements of competing designs from two weapons laboratories in an approach that some experts argue is untested and risky.
The new weapon would not add to but replace the nation's existing arsenal of aging warheads with a new generation meant to be sturdier, more reliable, safer from accidental det... (more)
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Britons to be scanned for FBI database · Anger over airport fingerprint plan
· Terror tests to start this summer
Millions of Britons who visit the United States are to have their fingerprints stored on the FBI database alongside those of criminals, in a move that has outraged civil rights groups.
The Observer has established that under new plans to combat terrorism, the US government will demand that visitors have all 10 fingers scanned when they enter the country. The information will be shared ... (more)
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'Council tax will rise each time you improve your home' Homeowners will receive higher council tax bills every time they improve their house under a Government proposal to revalue all properties once a year.
Critics said the plans are a stealth tax designed to exploit soaring house prices, and that revaluing all 21million homes in England every year could cost as much as £5billion.
Council tax is currently charged according to a band system based on the value of properties in 1990 and a house's value is only re-assessed... (more)
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What's A Scenic View Worth?David Bischoff lights a gas lantern in his tiny cabin and gazes out the window. Two forested peaks rise beyond a snow-strewn field of hay. It's a view that's costing him dearly.
To keep homeowners informed, property tax assessors in New Hampshire have begun to spell out how much a noteworthy view factors into their appraisals. In Mr. Bischoff's case, his cabin, outhouse and land were valued at $43,000 — but the mountain vista added $200,000 on top of that. That translated into an ... (more)
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CBS: U.S. Strikes Al Qaeda In Somalia(CBS/AP) A U.S. Air Force gunship has conducted a strike against suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports exclusively.
The targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, Martin reports. Those terror attacks killed more than 200 people.
The AC-130 gunship is capable of firing thousand... (more)
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Serve country till you're 55SQUADDIES could still be serving in the trenches at the age of FIFTY-FIVE under the Army’s new recruitment limit.
Top brass have raised the top age for recruits by seven years to 33 to counter their desperate shortage of personnel.
The last time the limit was that high was during the last days of the British Empire 59 years ago in the aftermath of World War Two.
Amazingly it means soldiers who join up on a normal 22-year engagement could be fighting j... (more)
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A Mortgage? Give Us Your Fingerprints HOME seekers will soon have to show their FINGERPRINTS to take out a mortgage.
Banks and building societies will introduce the measure for first-time buyers to clamp down on identity fraud.
The shock move comes as the Government prepares plans to introduce its controversial ID cards.
Home Secretary John Reid asked lenders what checks they would like for granting a mortgage.
They want fingerprint and facial biometrics - which will be in... (more)
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Gates Foundation invests heavily in sub-prime lendersSeattle — WHEN the cold call came from Ameriquest Mortgage Co., a top lender, Jeff and Cheryl Busby were intrigued.
They had been wanting to renovate the garage of their small bungalow, a stone's throw from picturesque Green Lake. The agent, they said, promised that refinancing would give them $20,000 in cash, yet lower the monthly payments.
The agent was a smooth talker, and the Busbys were not concerned that he didn't offer them a chance to study the documents.... (more)
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The Gates cash that keeps people healthy but makes them sickJUSTICE ETA, 14 months old, held out his tiny thumb. An ink spot certified that he had been immunised against polio and measles, thanks to a vaccination drive in Ebocha, Nigeria, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
But polio is not the only threat Justice faces; he has suffered from respiratory ailments since birth. Many people blame this on the flames and smoke that rise 100 metres over a nearby oil plant. The plant is owned by the Italian petroleum giant Eni, whose... (more)
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Make an arrest, get a T-shirtLowering crime is a full-time job.
It's a task that takes everyone from the patrolman stopping drunk drivers to the detective tracking fugitives. But sometimes that work goes unnoticed, Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Chief Michael Berkow said Friday.
The chief hopes to encourage those good deeds through a new reward program.
"The most valuable resource I have is the men and women wearing a blue uniform," he said. "Every day and night, there are ... (more)
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