Date: 12-13 January 2008
13/1/08 Weekend Edition
Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq 1,165,204
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
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Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 3,923
icasualties.org/oif/
The War in Iraq Costs
$485,401,666,351
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
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Iraqi Children Pay Heavy Price of War
By Dr. Cesar Chelala
One child dies every five minutes because of the war, and many more are left with severe injuries.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19062.htm
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Manufacturing Consent For War With Iran:
Israel Stressed To Bush That Iran Is A Nuclear ‘Threat’: General
By AFP
Iran poses a real nuclear threat and Israel made that point clear to US President George W. Bush during his visit this week, an Israeli defence official said Saturday.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19061.htm
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Bush Says US, Allies Must Confront Iran
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19060.htm
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Preparations For War With Iran?
By William H. White
Why would Bush go to the Mideast now? It is likely he went to nail down commitments from the Israelis and acquiescence from the Saudis prior to a planned attack on Iran.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19064.htm
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States Within The USA Need To Rebel
By Jim Kirwan
We know people no longer have any rights in the USA – now the same is apparently true for our supposedly sovereign States as well?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19063.htm
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Gulf Shenanigans: No Laughing Matter
By Ray McGovern
When the Tonkin Gulf incident took place in early August 1964, I was a journeyman CIA analyst in what Condoleezza Rice refers to as “the bowels of the agency.” As current intelligence referent for Russian policy toward Southeast Asia and China, I worked very closely with those responsible for analysis of Vietnam and China.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19057.htm
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Is a Palestinian State a Real Threat To The Israel?
4 Minute Video – Norman Finkelstein & Wolf Blitzer
Israel: Is The Fourth Largest Military In the World – What Does It Have To Fear From A Palestinian State?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19055.htm
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Bernanke Finds his Voice
By Mike Whitney
On Thursday, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke gave the keynote address on the state of the economy and financial markets at a luncheon in Washington, DC. The tone of the speech was decidedly somber and could have easily been accompanied by a funereal dirge and 8 black-suited pall bearers.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19058.htm
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Consuming Our Way to Unhappiness
By Terrence McNally
Everywhere we turn lately, ads — holiday, post-holiday, and year-end — have been encouraging us to shop in a concerted and somewhat desperate effort to salvage the economy. But where does all the stuff we’re buying actually come from?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19056.htm
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A Slave Government
Don’t miss this 4 Minute Video
George Galloway telling it like it is to Richard Perle.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19059.htm
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Iraq: Sunday: At least 8 killed as US occupation grinds on:
Two bodies were found in different parts of the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said.
www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSKAM333960
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Iraq: Saturday: 30 Killed in another bloody day of US occupation:
Four people were killed in an attack on a home in the suburbs near Dhuluiya. A man and his son, both members of an Awakening Council were thought to be the targets; two other teenaged sons were killed.
antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=12202
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in secret Iraq talks with US:
Iraqi government sources say that Major-General Mohammed Ali Jafari, 50, travelled secretly from Tehran. Jafari appears to have passed through checkpoints on his way into the fortified enclave that contains the American embassy and Iraqi ministries, even though he is on Washington’s “most wanted” list.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3177705.ece
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Iran agrees to clear up nuclear questions:
The UN atomic watchdog has said that Iran has agreed to clear up remaining questions on its nuclear programme, including any military activity, in four weeks.
www.rte.ie/news/2008/0113/iran.html
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Confront Iran danger early – Bush :
Mr Bush said Iran threatened the security of all nations and should be confronted “before it’s too late”.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7185580.stm
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US, Israel on ‘same page’ on Iran:
Israel and the US are “on the same page” regarding the gravity of the Iranian nuclear threat and their commitment to thwart it, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev said Saturday night.
snipurl.com/1xc42
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Bush Disowns U.S. Intel,
Tells Israelis Iran NIE ‘Doesn’t Reflect My Own Views’
thinkprogress.org/2008/01/13/bush-israelis-nie/
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Iranian diplomats released from U.S. captivity in Iraq talk about ordeal :
The U.S. which claims democracy and human rights has violated these rights and the immunity of diplomats and intensified Iranians hatred towards itself, he stated.
www.payvand.com/news/08/jan/1119.html
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Some 7,200 register to run in Iran parliament vote:
Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said on Saturday that 7,200 people — including 590 women — had registered to run by Friday’s deadline. Candidates will compete for 290 seats in parliament.
www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSL1224955920080112
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Sarkozy to sign UAE nuclear deal :
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is to sign a deal that could pave the way for France to build nuclear reactors
snipurl.com/1xc45
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Report: Israel planning to assassinate Haniyeh:
Israel is planning to assassinate exiled Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal, deposed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and former PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, but is waiting to give the green light on the operation until after US President George W. Bush leaves the region, the London-based newspaper, Al-Hayat reported on Sunday.
snipurl.com/1xc46
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Shin Bet chief says 1,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since 2005:
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin noted Sunday that “in the last two years roughly 1,000 “terrorists” were killed in IOF and Shin Bet operations in Gaza over the past two years.”
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3493510,00.html
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Uri Avnery: George Bush lends Israel “110 per cent support” during visit:
Uri Avnery argues that, amid the outpouring of flatulence by Bush and Olmert during the US president’s recent visit, what Bush is offering the Palestinians is “much less than Bill Clinton’s 2000 ‘parameters’” and “amounts to 110 per cent support for the official Israeli government line”.
www.redress.cc/palestine/uavnery20080113
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Israeli pianist Barenboim takes Palestinian citizenship :
Daniel Barenboim, the world renowned Israeli pianist and conductor, has taken Palestinian citizenship and said he believed his rare new status could serve a model for peace between the two peoples.
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13487401.htm
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Taliban kill 10 policemen in Afghan attack:
Taliban guerrillas killed 10 policemen on Sunday in a raid in southern Afghanistan, provincial officials said.
snipurl.com/1xc4a
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Afghan troops kill 3 Taliban militants, arrest 36 others in E Afghanistan :
Afghan troops had killed three Taliban fighters and arrested 36 others in a two-week operations launched late December in eastern Afghanistan, Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said Sunday.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/13/content_7414561.htm
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2 Dutch occupation force soldiers killed in Afghanistan :
Two Dutch soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan Saturday during an attack from “opposing militant forces,” the Dutch Defense Ministry said early Sunday.
snipurl.com/1xc4c
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Suicide bombing kills Afghan police:
A suicide bomber blew himself up in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province Sunday, killing one police officer and wounding eight others, police said.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/13/content_7414501.htm
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Kabul gets only 3 hours of electricity a day:
Despite millions in U.S. and global aid
snipurl.com/1xc4d
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Musharraf: U.S. May ‘Regret’ Covert Ops:
President Pervez Musharraf said the United States would “regret the day” its forces entered the Pakistani mountains in search of Osama bin Laden.
www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212124329.shtml
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Soldiers withdrawn from key posts in North Waziristan: :
The army has withdrawn soldiers from key checkposts in North Waziristan and a tribal jirga is negotiating a peace deal between pro-Taliban militants and the government, official sources and military spokesman said on Saturday.
www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Jan08/13/10.htm
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Scotland Yard believes Al-Qaeda assassinated Benazir Bhutto:
BRITISH officials have revealed that evidence amassed by Scotland Yard detectives points towards Al-Qaeda militants being responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
snipurl.com/1xc4f
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Angry Pakistanis turn against army:
From the wailing rice-pickers at Bhutto’s grave in the dusty village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in the southern province of Sindh to the western-educated elite sipping whisky and soda in the drawing rooms of Lahore, the message is the same: General Pervez Musharraf, the president, must go and the army must return to its barracks.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3177700.ece
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Musharraf sets terms for resignation:
President Pervez Musharraf has told a German news magazine in an interview made public yesterday that he would resign if a majority of Pakistan’s people no longer wanted him.
snipurl.com/1xc4i
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George Monbiot: The Turks haven’t learned the British way of denying past atrocities:
It is not illegal to discuss the millions who were killed under our empire. So why do so few people know about them?
books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1674478,00.html
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Report: 121 Iraq, Afghanistan veterans kill after return to US:
At least 121 US veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have either committed homicide or are suspects in homicide cases upon their return to life in their own country, the New York Times reported Sunday.
snipurl.com/1xc4j
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Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles :
A series of articles and multimedia about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have committed killings, or been charged with them, after coming home.
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/us/13vets.html?th&emc=th
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Spy chief: Waterboarding ‘torture’ :
The US national intelligence chief has said he believes the US interrogation practice known as “waterboarding” could be described as torture.
snipurl.com/1xc4o
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Kucinich says he’d pull out of Iraq in 3 months:
A wildly cheering crowd of several hundred Thursday night heard Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich promise that if he is elected president, he will eliminate the Patriot Act. “I’m the only one in Congress who voted against it,” he said, pausing, “because I read it.”
snipurl.com/1xc4r
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Prisoners ‘to be chipped like dogs’ :
Hi-tech ‘satellite’ tagging planned in order to create more space in jails Civil rights groups and probation officers furious at ‘degrading’ scheme
news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3333852.ece
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U.S. Issues National ID Standards, Setting Stage for a Showdown :
The federal government issued national standards on Friday that states would have to meet in order for driver’s licenses they issue to qualify as identification at airports and federal buildings, setting the stage for a confrontation with states that have voted not to cooperate.
snipurl.com/1xc4u
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Are You Ready for a Recession? [VIDEO]:
The Dow Jones Index has suffered its worst start to a new year since 1904 and there are more looming signs of recession are on their way.
www.alternet.org/blogs/video/73583/
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NEWS FOR 12/01/08
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Pakistan kills over 50 “militants” near Afghan border:
Pakistani troops killed more than 50 Taleban militants after fighting off an attack on a military fort in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security officials said Saturday.
snipurl.com/1xc50
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Any action in Pak territory could be taken as attack: Musharraf : :
President Musharraf has warned US coalition forces that any unilateral action taken against militants along the Pak-Afghan border will be regarded as an invasion.
www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?196164
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U.S. Senate leader asks Bush to cut military aid for Pakistan:
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged President George W. Bush on Thursday to cut military aid to the Pakistani government unless President Pervez Musharraf does more to combat terrorism, restore democratic freedoms and investigate the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8U3C8C00&show_article=1
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NATO occupation force soldier killed in Afghanistan :
A soldier of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed and another sustained injuries when a mine struck their vehicle in south Afghanistan Saturday, a statement of the alliance released here said.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/12/content_7411532.htm
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Iraq: Aat least 31 Iraqis Killed in another bloody day of US occupation: ::
In Baghdad, four people were killed and eight were wounded during a bombing outside a bakery in in al-Ghadeer
www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=12193
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Iraq to Reinstate Saddam Party Followers:
Iraq’s parliament passed a benchmark law Saturday allowing lower-ranking former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to reclaim government jobs, the first major piece of U.S.-backed legislation it has adopted.
snipurl.com/1xc57
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Iran’s Larijani: White House finished :
“After Israel’s humiliating defeat against Lebanon’s Hezbollah which was in fact the defeat of Washington and its policies in Iraq, the US has reached the end of the line,” Fars News Agency quoted Ali Larijani, the former top nuclear negotiator, as telling an Arab daily.
snipurl.com/1xc5o
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Israeli air strike kills two armed Hamas resistance members in Gaza:
An Israeli air strike killed at least two Hamas gunmen and critically wounded another in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local medical workers and officials said.
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL12135552
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Bush-Israel to destroy Hamas, Jihad :
American President George W. Bush called for the annihilation of the two Palestinian Resistance Movements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=249316&n=25
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Hamas: IDF attack carried out because Bush gave green light during visit: :
“The attack is Israeli implementation of the green light that President (George W.) Bush gave Israel during his recent visit that enables the opening of an attack on the Gaza Strip
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3493290,00.html
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US admits Mideast peace deal hangs on fate of Gaza:
A senior US official acknowledged on Saturday that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal would depend on the fate of Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas.
snipurl.com/1xc5v
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Gaza food supplies ‘getting worse by the day’:
Food is running short for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the impoverished Gaza Strip, and more aid is urgently needed to prevent a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) said on Friday.
snipurl.com/1xc5w
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Palestinian negotiator rules out establishment of statehood in 2008 :
“The success to reach such a deal is subject to the Israeli government’s capability to stop the settlement buildings, remove checkpoints, stop the offensive and engage in serious negotiations,” Erekat said.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/12/content_7411411.htm
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Nasrallah: Israel to give crumbs to Palestinians:
Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday. “Israel plans to give only crumbs to the Palestinians during negotiations and [US] President [George] Bush plans to force the Palestinians to give up on the right of return and settle the refugees in Arab states [instead,]”
snipurl.com/1xc62
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A deal for a deal:
If George Bush persuades Israel to stop settlements and end occupation of the West Bank, what kind of quid pro quo will Olmert have won on Iran?
snipurl.com/1xc63
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Israel stressed to Bush Iran is nuclear ‘threat’:
‘From a professional point of view the situation is clear: there is an Iranian nuclear threat,’ Gilad said
snipurl.com/1xc65
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Bush visiting Bahrain to garner support :
Following a stop in Kuwait, Bush moved on to Bahrain where he is scheduled to meet with the country’s king, Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, to discuss Iran’s influence in the Middle East, the Voice of America reported.
www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/172735.html
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Saudi cannot be launchpad for Iran attack: report:
A leading Saudi newspaper on Saturday ruled out any attempt by the United States to use the oil-rich Gulf kingdom as a launchpad for a possible war on Iran over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.
www.spacewar.com/2006/080112092441.1wa3jyle.html
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US Navy fired warning at Iranian craft:
It was the first official confirmation that the United States had fired warning shots in any recent confrontation with Iran in the Gulf.
wiredispatch.com/news/?id=2005
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US warns of Iran Gulf aggression:
Clashes between Iranian and US Navy forces in the Persian Gulf reflect Iran’s new strategy to use Revolutionary Guard fast boats more aggressively, the US military said
ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j
_dufAI0nmPQJFZ9CzWresvTVyKA
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See it for yourself:
Iranian Video of Navy Incident :
Iranian state TV aired video Thursday purporting to show a weekend standoff between small Iranian boats and U.S. naval ships in the Persian Gulf.
snipurl.com/1xc6d
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Who’s the voice on radio in Iran standoff?:
The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing apparently harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz last weekend may have come not from the Iranian crews, but from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/
nationworld/2004121278_iran12.html
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Khamenei: Iran will not bow to US :
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has said that the United States will not be able to bring Iran “to its knees” in a row over its nuclear programme.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E458EB41-788F-4C89-8656-1D5CF93A2C32.htm
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Iran’s top leader demands end to UN Security Council nuclear oversight:
Iran’s top leader demanded an end to U.N. Security Council oversight of the country’s nuclear program during a meeting Saturday with the chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, state-run television reported.
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/12/news/Iran-Nuclear.php
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Syria Rebuilds on Site Destroyed by Israeli Bombs :
The puzzling site in Syria that Israeli jets bombed in September grew more curious on Friday with the release of a satellite photograph showing new construction there that resembles the site’s former main building.
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/world/middleeast/12syria.html?ref=world
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Chavez defends Colombia rebels :
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has urged the international community to stop labelling Colombia’s left-wing rebels as terrorists, a day after mediating the release of two of their hostages.
snipurl.com/1xc6k
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Fraud and abuse levels stun UN :
Fraud and abuse have reached unexpected levels at the UN, an internal investigative unit has said.
snipurl.com/1xc6m
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GAO Questions Program Helping Russians:
A U.S. economic aid program to keep Russian scientists from selling weapons information to terrorists apparently funneled much of the money to scientists who never claimed to have a background in nuclear, chemical or biological programs, a congressional report said Friday
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jN5zJm
THTRJvnylt-fCuoq1PxnfAD8U402MG0
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Appeals court rules against ex-detainees:
A federal appeals court ruled Friday against four British men who contend they were systematically tortured and their religious rights abused throughout their two-year detention at Guantanamo Bay.
snipurl.com/1xc6p
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Computer hackers ‘may be behind Hillary Clinton’s shock New Hampshire victory’:
Dennis Kucinich, an outsider in the battle for the Democratic nomination, cited “serious and credible reports, allegations and rumours” about the integrity of the surprise result.
snipurl.com/1xc6r
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Kucinich asks for NH recount, but he’ll have to pay for it:
The New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office said Kucinich can have a recount but he will have to pay for it. Under state law if a candidate loses by less than 3 percent they can pay a flat $2,000 for the recount. If they lose by more than 3 percent they have to pay the entire cost.
snipurl.com/1xc6u
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Asian voters in US ‘got raw deal’ :
Many Asian American voters faced discrimination from voting officials during 2006 mid-term elections in the US, a civil rights group has alleged.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7182758.stm
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US Federal Reserve chairman warns of recession danger, promises more rate cuts:
US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Wednesday that the US economy is slowing dramatically and broadly hinted that the Fed would aggressively cut interest rates in response, perhaps before its next scheduled policy meeting at the end of January.
www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/econ-j12.shtml
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Precious metals sparkle as US dollar continues slide:
GOLD rose to a record and silver matched its highest level since 1980 as a weakening American dollar increased demand for alternative investments.
snipurl.com/1xc6w
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Greenspan’s Reputation at Risk as Recession Odds Grow :
The next bubble to deflate may be Alan Greenspan’s reputation.
snipurl.com/1xc6x