FBI probe Litvinenko 'blackmail plot' claimThe FBI has been dragged into the investigation of Alexander Litvinenko's death after details emerged that he had planned to make tens of thousands of pounds blackmailing senior Russian spies and business figures.
The Observer has obtained remarkable testimony from a Russian academic, Julia Svetlichnaja, who met Litvinenko earlier this year and received more than 100 emails from him. In a series of interviews, she reveals that the former Russian secret agent... (more)
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MI5 told Litvinenko: Your life is in dangerAlexander Litvinenko was warned by British and American secret agents that his life was in danger because of his ties with exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Litvinenko told Italian security adviser Mario Scaramella at their now-infamous lunch at a sushi restaurant that he had 'interrupted' his work with Berezovsky on 'US and British advice'.
Scaramella then told another Russian intelligence specialist - who ... (more)
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Menezes family press for police charges Lawyers for the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician shot dead by the Metropolitan Police in July 2005, will tomorrow demand a judicial review of the decision not to charge the police with any offences.
The family's legal team, which will launch the action at the Royal Courts of Justice, is confident there is enough evidence to warrant prosecutions for unlawfully killing Mr Menezes, and that the Crown Prosecution Service used the wrong test in c... (more)
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Saudis arrest 139 'sleeper cell' suspectsRIYADH, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- Saudi security officials said Saturday they foiled a planned terrorist suicide attack and arrested 139 suspected Islamist militants who were in "sleeper cells" believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda.
A senior official in the Saudi Interior Ministry told CNN that the suspects, who are from several Arab nations, were monitored by Saudi security agents for several months. They rounded the men up just before the expected attack was launched.
... (more)
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Establishment "science": Organic chicken 'less nutritious' than battery-farmed birdsWith its premium price tag, shoppers expect organic chicken to be both tastier and healthier than cheaper battery-farmed birds.
But organic poultry is actually less nutritious, contains more fat and tastes worse than its mass-produced equivalent, research has shown.
Tests on supermarket chicken breasts showed that organic versions contained lower levels of health-boosting omega 3 fatty acids than other varieties, including non-organic free-range poultry.
... (more)
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Was "Kramer" Richards' Racist Rant Staged? Michael "Kramer" Richards' racist rant at an LA comedy club provoked a firestorm of reaction and many affirmations that the tirade would end Richards' career. Far from it - profits have mushroomed, Richards is hot property and as a consequence hate speech advocates have been given all the ammunition they need to criminally target controversial words.
Richards unleashed a prolonged volley of disgusting racist drivel against a group of black people who were... (more)
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Feds implement mass passenger data trawl Whenever the US government runs afoul of public opinion with some data-mining scheme threatening to invade the privacy of millions, it changes the name and then goes ahead as planned. We had the "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) federal scheme to mine official and commercial databases, which morphed into the MATRIX, an interconnected state scheme to mine official and commercial databases, to which the federal government has access.
We had the Computer... (more)
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Dept. Of Homeland Security Risk Rating Profiles Include Billing Information, Travel Agent, Email Address... From the Department Of Homeland Security's "Privacy Impact Assessment" : Appendix B PNR Data Elements
PNR Data Elements May Include*
1. PNR record locator code
2. Date of reservation
3. Date(s) of intended travel
4. Name
5. Other names on PNR
6. Number of travelers on PNR
7. Seat information
8. Address
9. All forms of payment information
10. Billing address
11. Contact telephone numbers<... (more)
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Police admit planting evidenceHUNTINGTON BEACH – A Huntington Beach police officer's exoneration for planting a loaded gun in a suspect's car has led to the revelation that police routinely plant evidence in unsuspecting civilians' vehicles for training exercises.
Chief Kenneth Small said Friday that police plant contraband – including unloaded weapons, fake drugs and drug paraphernalia – in suspects' vehicles after they're arrested as a method of training new officers in searches.
... (more)
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The House of Death El Paso -- Janet Padilla's first inkling that something might be wrong came when she phoned her husband at lunchtime. His mobile phone was switched off. On 14 January, 2004, Luis had, as usual, left for work at 6am, and when he did not answer the first call Janet made, after taking the children to school, she assumed he was busy. Two weeks later she would learn the truth.
'It was love at first sight for Luis and me, and that's how it stayed, after two years dating at school and ei... (more)
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Powderkeg “You’ll find a day when there are no Sunnis left in Baghdad. Saudi Arabia and Jordan are panicking about this, and they are hoping that the US will in some way arm or support Sunnis militias. It’s hard for me to imagine that Sunni nations in the region will stand by and watch Sunnis pushed out of Baghdad, because there is this terror of the Shia threat. So you’ll see greater support from Saudi Arabia, from Jordan, perhaps from Yemen, from Egypt for Sunni militias. And the... (more)
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The Abnormality of Unity In unity, as we all know, there is strength. But strength for whom? Well, the unifiers, of course. When a collection of squabbling states become united under, say, a Bismarck, as in Germany of the latter part of the 19th century, or in Italy, under Garibaldi, at about the same time, those rulers gain the revenues, assets, and services of the united states, and the strength that naturally accompanies those acquisitions. History is, among other ... (more)
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Plunging dollar will set world markets reeling The slowdown in the US economy, which has sent the dollar into freefall over the past fortnight, will have devastating knock-on effects in markets around the world, analysts warn.
As the US slows, and consumers in the world's biggest economy feel the buying power of the dollar in their pocket declining, global growth will be hit hard, economists say. The greenback took yet another turn for the worse on Friday, after a survey of the US manufacturing sector showed output declining f... (more)
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Ghosts in the Machine: Encounters with the NSA Quite some time ago, I am not sure exactly when, the thought police (National Security Agency) clandestinely moved into my computer. It did so without my permission and in violation of the law, not to mention the Constitution. The prying eyes of government are watching my every move, noting my every keystroke and monitoring my every electronic transmission and telephone conversation. They became visible to me one day when I did a trace route from the Windows command line of my home computer. Sin... (more)
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Former Spy, Rights Campaigner Says Russia Death Squad Planned Litvinenko's Killing A former Russian security service officer said in a letter from prison released Friday that he had warned former spy Alexander Litvinenko years ago that the KGB’s main successor agency had formed a death squadron to kill him and other Kremlin foes, The Associated Press reports. Mikhail Trepashkin said that an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, known by its Russian acronym FSB, met with him in August 2002 and offered him the chance to join a group target... (more)
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Ahmadinejad wants US out of IraqMahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has again called on the US to get out of Iraq.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera's Darren Jordon on Friday, Ahmadinejad said that Iraqis should govern themselves without any interference and blamed the US for stirring up divisions between Iraq's Shia, Sunnis and Kurds.
His comments came a day after the US president met with Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, urging him to crack down on Shia militias blamed... (more)
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DHS official admits taking bribes to fake documentsWASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal immigration official pleaded guilty Thursday to receiving more than $600,000 in bribes for falsifying documents for illegal immigrants.
Robert Schofield, 57, could face 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in February.
He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, to issuing fraudulent documents to at least 184 illegal immigrants who falsely received U.S. citizenship.
Schofield, a former sup... (more)
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IDF soldier gets two weeks for shooting PalestinianAn Israel Defense Forces soldier who shot and seriously injured a Palestinian at a roadblock, was sentenced to 14 days in a military prison. Military Police wll investigate further.
Haytem Yasin, 25, was shot by the soldier on November 4, at the roadblock of Asira al-Shemaliya. Since the incident he is being treated at Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, where he is in serious condition as a result of major abdominal injuries.
According to testimonies collected ... (more)
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Bob Gates & Locking You Up ForeverAs the next Defense Secretary, Robert M. Gates will be in charge of a new star-chamber legal system that can lock up indefinitely “unlawful enemy combatants” and “any person” accused of aiding them. Yet, despite these extraordinary new powers, his confirmation is being treated more like a coronation than a time for tough questions. Not since 2003 when Secretary of State Colin Powell wowed Official Washington with ... (more)
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Is President Bush Sane? Tens of millions of Americans want President George W. Bush to be impeached for the lies and deceit he used to launch an illegal war and for violating his oath of office to uphold the US Constitution. Millions of other Americans want Bush turned over to the war crimes tribunal at the Hague. The true fate that awaits Bush is psychiatric incarceration.
The president of the United States is so deep into denial that he is no longer among the sane.
Delusion still rules B... (more)
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Iraq government to police press after contested Sunni burnings storyThe Iraqi Interior Ministry [JURIST news archive] has announced that it is forming a specialized unit to monitor news coverage. A ministry spokesman told AP the unit was designed to correct “fabricated and false news” that he claims gives the Iraqi people the wrong idea that the situation is worse than it actually is. The Ministry further threatened to sue journalists who do not modify stories that th... (more)
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