CLG News

Top UK commander to lose job over Afghan war 13 Jun 2010 Britain will replace its most senior military officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, over failures in Afghanistan, a top British official has suggested. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Defense Secretary Liam Fox said his ministry will be replacing Sir Stirrup as well as Sir Bill Jeffrey, the department's top civil servant, by next autumn.

Central Bank Targeted In Baghdad Bombings 13 Jun 2010 A series of bomb attacks in Baghdad is thought to have killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more. Gunmen detonated one bomb outside the Iraq Central Bank and then battled security forces from the building's roof. Another four bombs are thought to have exploded in just 10-minutes in the bank's compound as bank workers left the building.

Former Homeland Security official faces sentencing 13 Jun 2010 A former Department of Homeland Security official once responsible for stopping illegal aliens from entering the country through key ports in New England faces sentencing this week for encouraging her Brazilian housekeeper to remain in the United States illegally.

Ducks Unlimited: Oil threatens millions of birds 11 Jun 2010 Oil could turn Gulf marshlands into open water and affect millions of migratory birds for generations, Tom Moorman, the senior science official and leader of the oil spill task force for Ducks Unlimited said Friday. It has taken more than 50 years for the plant root network holding the marshlands together at the base of the Mississippi River to form, he said at a briefing for reporters...

Obama overlooked key points in giving OK to offshore drilling 11 Jun 2010 An in-depth review by McClatchy reveals how Obama reached that initial decision to expand offshore drilling [on 31 March] _ and why he failed to get information that might have led him instead to delay or oppose it and perhaps even raise questions about the deepwater drilling that was already under way.

Utah Oil Spill: 500 Barrels Spill Into Red Butte Creek After Pipeline Breaks 13 Jun 2010 A leaked pipeline sent oil spilling into a Salt Lake City creek, coating geese and ducks and closing a park, officials said Saturday as they started a cleanup effort expected to last weeks. At least 400 to 500 barrels of oil spewed into Red Butte Creek before crews capped the leak site.

Pakistani agents 'funding and training Afghan Taliban' 13 Jun 2010 Pakistani intelligence gives funding, training and sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought, a report says. Taliban field commanders interviewed for the report suggested that ISI intelligence agents even attend Taliban supreme council meetings. Support for the Afghan Taliban was "official ISI policy", the London School of Economics (LSE) authors suggest.

Israel looted Flotilla, activists say 12 Jun 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla activists say they were robbed of their cash and equipment by the Israeli military after their ships came under a deadly attack on May 31. According to Gaza flotilla survivors speaking to Press TV, activists on board the aid convoy were robbed of an estimated 3.5 million dollars in cash and equipment by Israeli commandos.

Arab League head calls for end of Gaza blockade 13 Jun 2010 The blockade on the Gaza Strip "must be broken", the head of the Arab League Amr Moussa has said. The Arab world's most senior diplomat spoke at the beginning of his first trip to the Palestinian territory.

Karzai: Americans attacked peace conference, not Taliban 11 Jun 2010 Two senior Afghan officials were showing President Hamid Karzai the evidence of the spectacular rocket attack on a nationwide peace conference earlier this month when Mr. Karzai told them that he believed the Taliban were not responsible. A prominent Afghan with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr.

North Korea Threatens 'All-Out Military Strike' on South's Loudspeakers 12 Jun 2010 North Korea warned of an "all-out military strike” to destroy South Korean loudspeakers and other propaganda tools along their fortified border, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

CIA trolls are busy little bees! Al-Jazeera says its World Cup kick-off sabotaged 12 Jun 2010 Al-Jazeera television's sports coverage was hit by outages during the opening match of the football World Cup by what the company claims was sabotage. Al-Jazeera Sport, which has exclusive transmission rights of the event in the Arab world, was deliberately jammed on the Nilesat and Arabsat satellites, said a statement issued late on Friday.

British serviceman killed in Helmand 12 Jun 2010 Another British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan as the death toll for the US-led troops continues to rise and set new records. The soldier, from 1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment, was killed on Saturday in Nahr-e Saraj in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, AFP quoted the Ministry of Defense in London as saying.

Al-Jazeera furious after World Cup signal hacked 12 Jun 2010 Al-Jazeera Sport, the network with exclusive broadcasting rights for the World Cup in the Middle East and North Africa, has said its signal was deliberately jammed on satellite channels Nilesat and Arabsat in an "act of piracy." Viewers were faced with blank or frozen screens when they tried to watch the opening game between Mexico and South Africa on Friday until its signal returned in the second half of the match, but the qualit

'Arrest me, I'm a terrorist' 11 Jun 2010 Responding to US Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Nutjob-CA) call for the arrest and prosecution of "any US citizens who were aboard or involved with the Freedom Flotilla," several American activists "turned themselves in" Thursday - at Sherman's office. "Arrest me, I'm a terrorist," said one of the activists, several of whom were affiliated with the Free Gaza Movement, Gaza Freedom March, Code Pink, and Freedom Flotilla, when the group arrived at Rep.

Israeli wanted over Dubai killing 'held in Poland' 12 Jun 2010 Polish authorities have reportedly arrested a suspected Israeli agent in connection with the murder of a Hamas operative in Dubai in January. German prosecutors say the agent was arrested in early June. Media reports named him as Uri Brodsky. Germany is seeking his extradition over a forged German passport used by one of the killers, the prosecutors say.

Pentagon 'hunting Wikileaks founder over Iraq video' 12 Jun 2010 The Pentagon is trying to establish the whereabouts of the founder of Wikileaks, the whistle-blowing website, as it tries to stop the publication of classified documents it says could damage US national security.

'US troops kill 5 Iraqi bystanders' 12 Jun 2010 Five Iraqis who were standing on their rooftop witnessing the arrival of US infantrymen have lost their lives after their house was attacked by the troops. The Friday attack took place in al-Khanafsa area, south of Baghdad and near the holy city of Karbala, witnesses said, according to Reuters. "The US troops came from here on foot patrol…," said one witness.

Doctors "calibrated" pain for CIA interrogations By Ed Hightower 12 Jun 2010 According to a recent report, the CIA’s Office of Medical Services (OMS) utilized doctors to carefully monitor the physical effects of torture techniques on prisoners.

Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites 12 Jun 1010 Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

NRC to consider allowing blended waste in Utah 10 Jun 2010 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing a rule change that would allow hotter radioactive waste to be mixed with less hazardous waste so it could be disposed of in Utah. Utah is home to the only low-level radioactive waste facility available to 36 states. But it only disposes of Class A waste, considered the least hazardous.

Under cover of the BP oil gusher: NRC approves operation of New Mexico uranium plant 11 Jun 2010 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized startup of a [deadly] $3 billion uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico, the first major nuclear facility to be licensed in the US in the past three decades. NRC officials said in a news release Thursday they are satisfied the facility can begin operations. [Thanks, Obusha!]

Efforts to Limit the Flow of Spill News 10 Jun 2010 A pilot wanted to take a photographer from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans to snap photographs of the oil slicks blackening the water. The response from a BP contractor who answered the phone late last month at the command center was swift and absolute: Permission denied...

BP and government authorities collude to suppress reality of oil spill By David Walsh 11 Jun 2010 Numerous media accounts confirm that oil giant BP, in collusion with the Obama administration and various federal agencies, is attempting to block information about the extent of the damage wreaked on the Gulf Coast and other areas.

Ex-head of MI5 among new witnesses at Iraq inquiry --Lady Manningham-Buller, who expressed concern about plans to invade Iraq, is to give evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, it was announced today 11 Jun 2010 The head of MI5 at the time of the Iraq invasion, Lady Manningham-Buller, who expressed concern about plans to invade Iraq, is to give evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, it was announced today.

Police say 16 dead, dozens missing in Ark. floods 11 Jun 2010 Flash floods swamped valley campgrounds along a pair of southwestern Arkansas rivers early Friday, killing 16 and leaving anguished families pleading with emergency workers for help in finding dozens of missing people.

Marine from Camp Pendleton dies in Afghanistan; fifth this week 11 Jun 2010 Another Marine from Camp Pendleton has died while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced. The death of Lance Cpl. Michael G. Plank, 25, of Cameron Mills, N.Y., is the fifth fatality this week of Marines from Camp Pendleton deployed to Helmand province.

Blast kills 9 Afghan civilians 11 Jun 2010 A roadside bomb has killed at least nine people and wounded several others in southern Afghanistan amid growing discontent over the civilian causalities. According to Afghan officials, the blast struck a minibus in Maywand district of Kandahar province on Friday. "Nine civilians were killed and eight others were wounded," Zalmai Ayobi, a Kandahar provincial spokesman, said in a statement.

Bombing kills 2 US troops, 5 Iraqis 11 Jun 2010 An bomb has been set off near a US military patrol in eastern Iraq, killing seven people, including two US troopers, and wounding more than 20 others. The blast in the town of Jalawla of the Diyala province on Friday also killed five Iraqi policemen, the US Army said, AFP reported.

Afghan war claims two US-led soldiers 11 Jun 2010 At least two US-led soldiers and two civilians have been killed in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan amid the escalation of violence in the country. NATO said in a statement on Friday that the bomb went off at a market near a highway in Zabul province. The bombing also injured thirteen civilians.