Scientists win right to create human embryo with three genetic parentsBRITISH scientists have been given permission to create human embryos that will have three genetic parents.
The fertility watchdog cleared a team at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne yesterday to conduct an experiment to prevent genetic disease by merging single-cell embryos with donated eggs.
The decision to approve the procedure on appeal, after two previous applications were rejected, is controversial because it could eventually lead to the birth of children ... (more)
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Crude oil supplies overwhelm refineries The US and Europe are releasing more emergency crude oil than refineries in the Gulf of Mexico can handle, reinforcing suspicions that governments are using the crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina to cap record oil prices.
US refineries will on Friday begin to bid for the 30m barrels of crude oil that the US government is releasing from the its emergency reserves but, with many refineries disabled, analysts say the additional supply may not be needed.
“I w... (more)
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UK.gov ditches 'Big Brother'-style e-votingThe Government has ditched plans for electronic voting at next year's local elections, it emerged today.
The news was slipped out in a written answer during the summer recess prompting the Tories to describe plans for "widespread electronic voting and an 'e-enabled general election' by next year" as "a shambles".
Rounding on the Government Oliver Heald MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, described the Government's e-voting plans as "reckless" a... (more)
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Flood survivors cuffed as evacuation beginsARMED police have begun to handcuff hurricane survivors who refuse to leave their homes in New Orleans.
As many as 10,000 people have stayed put in the devastated city despite orders to evacuate.
Many are now said to be going voluntarily, but others are being detained and taken to evacuation centres.
The job of carrying out Mayor Ray Nagin's forcible evacuation order has been left largely to the 1000 or so remaining members of New Orleans' police forc... (more)
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Congressman: Hurricane 'finally cleaned out public housing in New Orleans'From the paid-restricted Wall Street Journal's Washington wire: "LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS aim to cope with political fallout."
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Sen. Landrieu, in spotlight now, could find margins squeezed if thousands of Democratic-leaning African-Americans don't return by her 2008 re-election. Louisiana political analyst John Maginnis says state could even lose one of seven House seats in next redistricting.
Two shaky House incumbents, Democrat Melancon and Republican Boustany,... (more)
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Some Iraq Projects Running Out of Money, U.S. SaysWASHINGTON — The U.S. will halt construction work on some water and power plants in Iraq because it is running out of money for projects, officials said Wednesday.
Security costs have cut into the money available to complete some major infrastructure projects that were started under the $18.4-billion U.S. plan to rebuild Iraq. As a result, the United States is funding only those projects deemed essential by the Iraqi government.
Although no overall figures are... (more)
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Military Occupation in America and the Prospects for LibertyThe government response to Katrina, aside from being riddled with error and incompetence, has been downright cruel – forcing people to leave their pets and property behind, keeping charity out of the city, turning away private volunteers and assistance, treating people who might only be scavenging for abandoned and rotting food like dangerous criminals, disrupting private transportation and burdening flights out of the city with ludicrous post-9/11 security measures, expropriating private ... (more)
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New Orleans becomes a war zone: A dress rehearsal for martial law?The disaster that struck New Orleans and the southern Gulf Coast has given rise to the largest military mobilization in modern history on US soil. Nearly 65,000 US military personnel are now deployed in disaster area, transforming the devastated port city into a war zone.
Squads of combat-equipped troops toting assault rifles and columns of humvees with gunners at the ready crisscross its flooded streets. Soldiers with bayonets mounted have begun house-to-house canvassing of the c... (more)
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Hunger strikers pledge to die in GuantánamoMore than 200 detainees in Guantánamo Bay are in their fifth week of a hunger strike, the Guardian has been told.
Statements from prisoners in the camp which were declassified by the US government on Wednesday reveal that the men are starving themselves in protest at the conditions in the camp and at their alleged maltreatment - including desecration of the Qur'an - by American guards.
The statements, written on August 11, have just been given to the British ... (more)
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Tight Constraints on Pentagon's Freedom Walk: Event Remembering 9/11, Troops to Be Kept 'Sterile,' Limited to PreregisteredOrganizers of the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial Freedom Walk on Sunday are taking extraordinary measures to control participation in the march and concert, with the route fenced off and lined with police and the event closed to anyone who does not register online by 4:30 p.m. today.
The march, sponsored by the Department of Defense, will wend its way from the Pentagon to the Mall along a route that has not been specified but will be lined with four-foot-high snow fencing to keep it clo... (more)
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How Reliable Is Brown's Resume?: A TIME investigation reveals discrepancies in the FEMA chief's official biographies When President Bush nominated Michael Brown to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2003, Brown's boss at the time, Joe Allbaugh, declared, "the President couldn't have chosen a better man to help...prepare and protect the nation." But how well was he prepared for the job? Since Hurricane Katrina, the FEMA director has come under heavy criticism for his performance and scrutiny of his background. Now, an investigation by TIME has found discrepancies in his online legal profile... (more)
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FEMA Chief Taken Off Hurricane Relief EffortsWASHINGTON — Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Brown is being sent back to Washington from Baton Rouge, where he was the primary official overseeing the federal government's response to the disaster, FOX News has confirmed. Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.
Homeland Security Se... (more)
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FEMA Nixes Grassroots Radio Station for Hurricane EvacueesSeptember 8th, 2005 - Although the effort was trumpeted in the media as an example of grassroots ingenuity in the face of disaster, local officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency have nixed an attempt by Houston activists to set up a low-power radio station at the Astrodome that would have broadcast Hurricane Katrina relief information for evacuees.
The project was unplugged even though it had key support. On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission quickly gran... (more)
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New Orleans Begins Confiscating Firearms as Water RecedesNEW ORLEANS, Sept. 8 - Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.
No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.
B... (more)
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FEMA: Corrupt, Negligent, Criminal and In ChargeSteve Watson | September 8 2005
FEMA is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. It has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress.
It has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transpor... (more)
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Exxon's $10B fill-up: Cashing in on crunchOil companies came under new fire yesterday when it emerged that ExxonMobil's profits are likely to soar above $10 billion this quarter on the back of the fuel crisis.
That's $110 million a day, and more net income than any company has ever made in a quarter. It's also a stunning 69 percent increase over the same period a year ago and a 34 percent jump from the $7.6 billion Exxon made just last quarter.
``Do you realize President Bush has just given a tax ... (more)
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Cheney told to 'go f*ck yourself' in Gulfport, MississippiVice President Dick Cheney, in Gulfport, Mississippi on a tour of the Katrina hurricane zone, was told to "go fuck yourself" twice on live television, RAW STORY has learned.
During a discussion on hurricane relief efforts, an off camera protester shouts, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney. Go fuck yourself."
The camera remains on Cheney while we hear scuffling in the background. Cheney continues speaking.
CNN's reporter asks Cheney, "Are you getting a lot ... (more)
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Police Use Stun Gun On 12-Year-Old Girl, Then Laugh At HerA Cincinnati-area mother says her 12-year-old daughter was humiliated and eventually stunned with a taser gun by Cincinnati Police inside Burton Elementary School Wednesday.
"My daughter Rakehsa has never been arrested and never been in trouble with the law," Cynthia Harris tells ONN affiliate WXIX.
Rakesha Thomas was taken to Children's Hospital with taser injuries and arm and facial bruises.
After the hospital visit the girl was taken to juvenile ja... (more)
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CIA Publishes Its Own "Assassin's Manual," Proving It Condones Killing Those Who Oppose U.S. PolicyIf there are any lingering doubts about whether the U.S. government acts like a bunch of mafia hit men, the following documents, classified for years, should clear things up.
And as the “CIA’s Killer’s Instruction Manual” points out remember that possibly the only thing separating the mafia from the U.S. government is that the thugs in the underworld are much, much smarter.
Never in a month of Sundays would mafia thugs ever think of leaving b... (more)
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Clarke: Europe must trade civil liberties for securityBritish Home Secretary Charles Clarke has warned that European citizens will have to accept that civil liberties may have to be bartered away in exchange for protection from terrorists and organised criminals.
Speaking at the European Parliament, he said that the European Convention on Human Rights might need to be changed if judges in European courts did not recognise that the right to life was more important that concerns about privacy.
"If the judges don't unders... (more)
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Howard pushes new anti-terror lawAustralia's prime minister has outlined proposals for tough new anti-terrorism laws which include tagging suspects and detaining them without charge.
John Howard said he was not creating a police state but said these were "unusual and threatening" times.
The new legislation will be discussed by state government leaders on 27 September, Mr Howard said.
Critics say Mr Howard's support for the US-led war on terror has put Australia at risk of an attack o... (more)
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FEMA Still Blocking Firefighters and Police From Entering New OrleansMichael D. Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — who is under fire for the agency's slow response to the flooding — said Wednesday that scores of police and volunteer firefighters from around the nation, as well as trucks loaded with donated water, were even now being prevented from entering New Orleans while troops conduct house-to-house searches.
"They can't just yet," Brown said during a briefing in Baton Rouge. "There is going to come this na... (more)
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U.S. Meteorologist Says Russian Inventors Caused Hurricane KatrinaA meteorologist in Pocatello, Idaho, claims Japanese gangsters known as the Yakuza used KGB inventions to cause Hurricane Katrina, Wireless Flash reported Thursday.
Scott Stevens says after looking at NASA satellite photos of the hurricane, he’s is convinced it was caused by electromagnetic generators from ground-based microwave transmitters.
“There is absolutely zero chance that this is natural, zero,” Villagevoice quoted Stevens as saying after K... (more)
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Police operation targets possible snipers near cell phone workersNEW ORLEANS There are reports from New Orleans of shots being fired at cellphone workers on towers trying to restore service.
Authorities have been going door to door at nearby apartment buildings, sometimes forcing doors open in their search for potential snipers.
Some pawn shops in the area are federally licensed gun dealers that were looted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The operation includes dozens of New Orleans police, state police, A-T-F and other ... (more)
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