Fayed challenges 'secret' Diana inquest Plans for private inquest hearings into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, have been attacked as a cover-up by Mohammed Al Fayed, who says he will be seeking a judicial review. The owner of Harrods, whose son, Dodi, died with the Princess in a car crash in Paris in 1997, said he would oppose all moves to hold the inquest in camera.
Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the former senior judge who is due to hear the inquests, has yet to confirm how the hearings ... (more)
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Litvinenko was victim of 'Russian rogue agents' British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy killed with a radioactive poison, was the victim of a plot involving "rogue elements" within the Russian state, the Guardian has learned. While ruling out any official involvement by Vladimir Putin's government, investigators believe that only those with access to state nuclear laboratories could have mounted such a sophisticated plot. Police were last night closing in on a group o... (more)
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Letters 'revealed secret hit squad' Detectives are investigating letters smuggled out of Russia purporting to show the existence of a secret squad set up to target poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko and others.
Scotland Yard has been passed copies of two letters apparently penned in jail by former Russian intelligence officer Mikhail Trepashkin, in one of which Mr Litvinenko is warned that both he and his family are at risk.
Mr Litvinenko's London friend Alex Goldfarb said scan... (more)
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SAS men get £100,000 to bribe Iraqi fightersBRITISH Army officers in Iraq are being handed stashes of up to £100,000 in cash for “operational expenses” without formal controls on how it is spent.
The money is used by the SAS and other units to buy off leaders of the insurgency or to purchase weapons on the black market to avoid them passing into rebel hands.
The decades-old tradition of paying so-called “porter money” to officers is understood to be the focus of a wide-ranging in... (more)
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The checkpoint generationFor nearly a month now, a young Palestinian has been hospitalized at Beilinson Hospital; soldiers shot him at a checkpoint in northern Nablus on Saturday, November 4. Haitem Yassin, 25, is conscious now, but he is still hooked up to a respirator. In recent days, he has been suffering from a high fever, apparently caused by an infection in his abdomen, which was wounded in the shooting. His family is still waiting for a report from the hospital about the number or type of bullets that caused the ... (more)
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Negative results of drug trials routinely suppressedResearchers rarely publish negative research results in mainstream medical journals, and even purposely suppress results that fail to prove links between diseases and drugs or genes, according to the Wall Street Journal's Sharon Begley.
To combat scientists' reluctance to publish negative results, new medical journals that are solely dedicated to the publication of negative study results are gaining popularity, with more like-minded journals constantly joining the ranks.
... (more)
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Illegal immigrants toiled for governorSUCHITEPEQUEZ, Guatemala -- Outside his aqua-colored concrete house here, Rene Alvarez Rosales paused under an almond tree to answer questions about a subject with which he has surprising familiarity: Governor Mitt Romney's Belmont lawn.
For about eight years, Rosales said, he worked on and off landscaping the grounds at Romney's home, occasionally getting a "buenos dias" from Romney or a drink of water from his wife, Ann.
"She is very nice," said Rosales, 49.
... (more)
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Canada turns to reality show to pick a PMSome countries have elections. Some countries have sectarian violence. Others have civil war. But in Canada, they do things differently.
Next March four former Canadian prime ministers will take part in a reality TV show titled The Next Great Prime Minister. The four will grill contestants on their leadership qualities before picking a winner in the one-hour TV special.
While other former leaders will be strutting the world stage - Jimmy Carter worrying about democr... (more)
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Security Of Electronic Voting Is CondemnedPaperless electronic voting machines used throughout the Washington region and much of the country "cannot be made secure," according to draft recommendations issued this week by a federal agency that advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The assessment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of the government's premier research centers, is the most sweeping condemnation of such voting systems by a federal agency.
In a report hailed by ... (more)
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Man who fell ill in hospital told: Dial 999GREAT grandfather Derek Ogley was doubled up in pain in a hospital waiting room - but was told if he wanted to get help he had to dial 999.
Derek, 70, had just been discharged from a ward when he took a turn for the worse - so technically he wasn't in hospital.
His daughter Julie, 46, said: "I went to ask the nurses to get a doctor but they said they couldn't as it wasn't hospital procedure because he'd already been discharged.
"They said I would have... (more)
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Indy Begins Using Street-Corner Surveillance Cameras INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis police have begun watching certain street corners with surveillance cameras, saying they hope the devices will help them combat crime. Authorities on Thursday showed off a camera mounted on a light pole at the intersection of Rural and Michigan streets on Indianapolis' east side. Eventually, 27 cameras will be deployed in the city. Some will be placed in areas the city considers hot spots for crime.
Police will be able to see t... (more)
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Onions, garlic linked to lower cancer risksNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who flavor their diets with plenty of onions and garlic might have lower odds of several types of cancer, a new study suggests.
In an analysis of eight studies from Italy and Switzerland, researchers found that older adults with the highest onion and garlic intakes had the lowest risks of a number of cancers -- including colon, ovarian and throat cancers.
The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, are... (more)
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Drivers license changes will cost you time -- and money Beware. Big changes are coming for anyone with a Texas drivers license or state ID. If you thought you could avoid the lines at the DMV and renew by mail -- think again. A new federal law will force you to renew the license in person.
Beginning in 2008, every driver will have to get a new license -- even if their old one hasn't expired.
Right now states have different requirements to get a license.
But Congress,... (more)
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Security test aboard plane backfiresULAN BATOR, Mongolia, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- An anti-hijacking exercise aboard a civilian aircraft in Mongolia's capital went awry because the passengers and crew weren't alerted ahead of time.
The security exercise by the Mongolian Central Intelligence Agency upset passengers and wound up being played out live on television, the Daily Mail said. The incident started after a jet operated by MIAT, the national airline, landed and four male passengers jumped from their seats, announcing t... (more)
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Bush Signs Animal Terrorism Act into LawPresident Bush has signed the 'Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,' which expands criminal prohibitions against the use of force, violence, and threats involving animal enterprises and increases penalties for violations of these prohibitions.
As defined by the bill, 'animal enterprises' include commercial and academic enterprises that use or sell animals or animal products for profit, food, agriculture, education, research and testing. This definition also includes equine activities ... (more)
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The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act: Protecting researchers or chilling free speech?From his office at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Dr. Joseph Kemnitz has watched people dig through the center's trash cans, apparently searching for documents they think could be incriminating.
He has consoled fellow researchers whose mail contained razor blades, and he has shielded his wife and children from the animal rights activists who have protested at his home five times.
"I think they enjoy coming right up to the line without crossing it," ... (more)
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Analysis: New animal rights terror lawWASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A new law that comes into force this week gives federal authorities expanded powers to prosecute animal rights militants -- as the State Department is warning that their activities eclipse terrorism as a day-to-day security problem for U.S. companies in Western Europe.
Bush signed S 3880, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, without fanfare at the White House Monday morning, before flying to the Baltic for a NATO summit.
The bill is desi... (more)
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Newt World Order Newt Gingrich's latest attack on the First Amendment is a revealing insight into the long term agenda of elite minds in America today. Those who would be successors to the Bush Administration are even more bent on power and dominance and they see absolutely no place for the freedoms America was founded on to continue to exist under their leadership.
At a dinner honouring the sanctity of the First Amendment this week, Newt Gingrich stood up and gave a... (more)
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UN troops face child abuse claims Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found.
Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money. A senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible.
The UN has faced several scandals involving its troops in recent years, including a DR Congo paedophile ring and prostitute tr... (more)
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Litvinenko: Case closed? On a day in which the Alexander Litvinenko scandal hit Ireland with the convenient - but likely unrelated - "poisoning" of former Russian Prime Minister, Yegor Gaider on these shores, authoritative sources close, and exclusive, to this blog have learned of the definitive solution to the Litvinenko "mystery".
It seems that days before the poisoning of the former KGB agent hit the headlines, Russia and the government of the United Kingdom (I stress the government, not any particula... (more)
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UK Police Conduct Hundreds Of Dawn Raids For Hate, Homophobic Crimes Police have arrested 150 people during dawn raids across London to combat domestic abuse, race and hate crimes.
Five hundred Metropolitan Police officers took part in the raids as part of a two-week crackdown. Scotland Yard said the operation was designed to "put the fear back onto the offenders and encourage victims to report crimes to us".
More than 108,000 domestic violence incidents were reported in 2005/06, accounting for 20% of all ... (more)
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