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HavenWorks.com/us/archive/2005 |
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US
- 
International
- 
Iraq
- 
Secret
- 
GOV
- 
Terrorism
- 
Intelligence
- Telecommunications
- E-Mail
- 
Privacy
- 
Politics
- 
Media
- 
Enforcement
- "US
investigates leak of spy program: Prosecutors focus
on disclosure to New York Times." ... "The Justice Department has opened
a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial
domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President
Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said yesterday."
... "Justice Department prosecutors will focus on whether classified information
about the program was unlawfully disclosed to The New York Times, which
reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency
to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of people in the
United States without court-approved warrants, officials said." ... "The
case is the latest in a series of clashes between the media and the Bush
administration, which has aggressively enforced restrictions on classified
information and has frequently complained about media disclosures related
to terrorism or the war in Iraq." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
via -BostonGlobe
Intel
- 
Computer
- Marketing
- 
History
- Consumer
- 
Entertainment
- 
CA
-
NV
- "Intel
Drops Logo After 37 Years; Seeks to Take Image Beyond PCs."
... "Intel Corp., whose marketing made its computer chips a household name,
is changing its logo for the first time in 37 years." ... "The dropped
``e'' in Intel will be shed in favor of a swoop around the company's name
with the tag line ``Leap Ahead.'' The ``Intel Inside'' phrase, a fixture
since 1991, will be dropped, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said yesterday."
... "Intel's image change, to coincide with next week's Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas [Nevada], is part of an effort by new Chief Executive
Officer Paul Otellini to push Intel into home entertainment. The company,
whose processors run more than 80 percent of personal computers, is trying
to gain a foothold in the consumer market to counter slowing growth in
PC chips." -By Ian King
-Bloomberg
Secret
- Government
- Intelligence
- Civil
Liberties - Privacy
- Politics
- Media
- "Justice
Dept. Opens Inquiry Into Leak of Domestic Spying."
... "The Justice Department said today that it had opened a criminal investigation
into the disclosure of classified information about a secret National Security
Agency program under which President Bush authorized eavesdropping on people
in the United States without a court warrant." ... "The investigation apparently
began in recent days following a formal referral from the agency regarding
the leak, federal officials said on condition of anonymity." ... "The program,
whose existence was revealed in an article in The New York Times on Dec.
16, has provoked sharp criticism from civil liberties groups, some members
of Congress and some former intelligence officials who believe it circumvents
the law governing national security eavesdropping." -By
Scott Shane -NYTimes
Pakistan
- Religious
- 
Schools
- Politics
- Terrorism
- London
bombings
- 
UK
- "Pakistan's
Islamic schools resist expulsion order: ·
Ban on foreign students followed London bombs · Leaders claim Musharraf
ruling is discriminatory." ... "Leaders of Pakistan's 13,000 madrasas have
vowed to defy a government deadline to expel foreign students by December
31, saying the regulations discriminate against religious schools." ...
"President Pervez Musharraf required Pakistan's madrasas to expel about
1,800 foreign students after the July 7 bombings in London highlighted
the extremist links of some schools. Three of the London bombers were of
Pakistani descent, and the Aldgate bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, attended a
Lahore madrasa that has since been linked to Islamist militants." -By
Imtiaz Gul -Guardian.co.uk
Guantanamo
Bay - 
Cuba
- US
- 
Military
- Prisons
- 
Food
- "Guantanamo
Hunger Strike More Than Doubles; 84 Inmates Involved."
... "The number of detainees on a hunger strike at the U.S. naval base
at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay has more than doubled in the past week, the U.S.
military said." ... "Forty-six detainees joined existing hunger strikers
on Dec. 25, to bring the total number of prisoners refusing food to 84,
the military said yesterday on the Southern Command's Web site. That's
about a sixth of the internment center's inmates." ... "The military said
the detainees are trying to put pressure on the U.S. to release them. Detainees'
lawyers have said the hunger strikers are protesting their continued detention
without trial and conditions at the base." -By Alex
Morales -Bloomberg
Auto
- 
Company
- 
Retiree
- History
- Government
- "How
Bedrock Promises Of Security Have Fractured Across America:
Companies are discarding traditional pensions -- or making government foot
the bill. Delphi workers struggle with the changing landscape." ... "[Oct.
8,] That's when Delphi Chief Executive Robert S. "Steve" Miller, citing
global competition and crippling "legacy costs," ushered the $28.6 billion-a-year
company into one of the largest industrial bankruptcies in U.S. history.
In short order, Miller called for slashing workers' compensation by almost
two-thirds, threatened to void the company's union contracts, and hinted
broadly that he would follow the playbook he had used elsewhere of pushing
responsibility for paying the firm's pensions to the federal government
and dumping its retiree health benefits altogether." ... "Delphi is at
the cutting edge of a crisis that's engulfing the U.S. auto industry, much
as it did steel and airlines. Its actions are adding to a gathering trend,
a shift of economic risks once largely borne by business and government
to the backs of working families." ... "Before the trouble is over, some
believe, a corporate icon such as Ford Motor Co. or GM could be swept from
the American landscape. So too could much of what remains of the already
frayed relationship between millions of working people and their employers."
-By Peter G. Gosselin
-LAtimes
Indonesia
- US
- Business
- Police
- "Indonesian
military admits being paid by US mining firm." ...
"Indonesia's military admitted yesterday that officers received payments
from a local subsidiary of the American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan to
guard its huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua, the western, Indonesian,
half of New Guinea island." ... "The admission comes after a report in
the New York Times claimed that Freeport Indonesia paid military and police
officers, and several army units £11.7m from 1998 to 2004. Some officers
allegedly received tens of thousands of pounds. If they kept any of the
money themselves, it would be a criminal offence." -By
John Aglionby -Guardian.co.uk
Hackers
- 
Music
- Entertainment
- Computer
- Business
- 
Technology
- Consumer
- Privacy
- "Sony
BMG tentatively settles CD software suits." ... "Sony
BMG Music Entertainment has reached a tentative settlement with consumers
who filed a class action lawsuit over the music company's copy-protection
software on CDs, court papers show." ... "Consumers complained that the
technology -- known as XCP -- violated their rights by potentially leaving
computers vulnerable to hackers and allowing the company to track listening
habits." -Reuters
Business
- 
Accounting
- 
Law
- "SEC
calls for clarity in executive pay." ... "Public
companies in the US could have to provide investors with valuations of
the pensions and stock options of senior executives as part of a far-reaching
overhaul of the disclosure rules on executive pay by the Securities and
Exchange Commission." ... "The chief US financial regulator is preparing
the first update of its disclosure rules on executive pay in more than
a decade, because of concerns that investors do not receive adequate information
about compensation. An important requirement could focus on executives'
pensions and options." ... "The median total pay of chief executives increased
by 30 per cent in 2004, according to a survey of 1,522 chief executives
by the Corporate Library, a corporate governance watchdog, published in
October." -By Andrew Parker
-FT.com via
-MSNBC
Economy
- "U.S.
Economy: Home Resales Fall to Lowest in 8 Months (Update4)."
... "Sales of existing homes fell to an eight-month low in November, leaving
the number of houses on the market at the highest since 1986 and suggesting
one pillar of the U.S. economy will weaken next year." ... "Home sales
dropped 1.7 percent to a 6.97 million annual rate, the National Association
of Realtors said today in Washington. Mortgage rates are higher than a
year ago and today's report showed the median price rose 13.2 percent since
November 2004 to $215,000, making homes less affordable." ... "The housing
industry accounts for only about 5 percent of the U.S. economy and yet
generated half of the growth in this year's first six months and more than
half of the private jobs added since 2001, Merrill Lynch & Co. said
in an August report. Price appreciation helped add $5.2 trillion to Americans'
balance sheets during the current expansion, or 68 percent of all wealth
creation, according to the Federal Reserve." -By Courtney
Schlisserman and Andrew Ward -Bloomberg
People
- Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Civil
Liberties - Politics
- 
Illinois
- 
Florida
- 
Virginia
- "U.S.
Defends Conduct in Padilla Case: Supreme Court Asked
To Overrule 4th Circuit." ... "A federal appeals court infringed on President
Bush's authority to run the war on terror when it refused to let prosecutors
take custody of "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, the Justice Department
said yesterday, as it urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene." ... "The
sharply worded Justice Department filing was the latest salvo in an increasingly
contentious battle over Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested in Chicago [Illinois]
in 2002 and initially accused of plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty
bomb." Padilla was held for more than three years by the military before
he was indicted last month in Miami [Florida] on separate criminal terrorism
charges." ... "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit refused last
week to allow prosecutors to take custody of Padilla from the military
and rebuked the Bush administration for its handling of the high-profile
case. The Bush administration took strong issue yesterday with the Richmond-based
[Virginia] court's decision and appealed it to the Supreme Court." -By
Jerry Markon-WashingtonPost
Military
- Auto
- 
Airplane
- "Corps
pays $100K for retooled jeep." ... "The Marine Corps
is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped Vietnam-era jeep as part of its
program to outfit the hybrid airplane-helicopter V-22 Osprey, Pentagon
records show." ... "That's seven times what a deluxe commercial version
of the vehicle costs. It's also three times what U.S. Export-Import Bank
records show the Dominican Republic paid four years ago for a military
version of the vehicle, called the Growler, a recycled version of the M151
jeep." -By Steven Komarow
-USATODAY
EU
- Global
- 
Russia
- US
- Military
- Technology
- "Sky-High
Ambitions: Europe attempts to find its own place
in the world of satellite navigation with the launch of GIOVE-A." ... "Europe
has moved one giant step closer to operating its own long-awaited global
navigation satellite system, Galileo, designed to challenge the domination
of the U.S. military's GPS, or Global Positioning System." ... "GIOVE-A
(or Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) will be testing new technologies
— including atomic clocks, signal generators and user receivers — for what
has been a dream of the European Union since the early 1990s: a wide-ranging
navigation system that is faster and more precise than GPS, provides an
uninterrupted service under civilian control, and offers a commercial alternative
to the U.S. system and its Russian counterpart, GLONASS (Global Navigation
Satellite System)." -By Maryann Bird
-TIME.com
EU
- Global
- Russia
- US- Military
- Politics
- "EU
sends up 1st of 30 satellites in GPS network." ...
"The European Union on Wednesday launched the first satellite in its $4.5
billion Galileo global positioning system, a bid to enhance the world's
growing reliance on satellite navigation and to break the U.S. monopoly
on networks in space." ... "Many Europeans see political significance in
the project too: The world's only civilian-controlled system will give
Europe and its partner nations self-sufficiency from the United States,
which has warned it could diminish or cut off GPS satellite coverage to
countries considered enemies in times of national emergency." ... "The
launch comes at a time when Russia is moving forward with a positioning
system known as GLONASS. On Sunday it put into orbit three new satellites
for the network, which is scheduled to be operational in 2010." -By
Molly Moore-WashingtonPost
via -ChicagoTribune
Labor
- "Executive
pay to be new year's hot topic." ... "Investors plan
to make executive pay the number one issue at companies' annual meetings
this spring." ... "New evidence suggesting that executive pay growth is
accelerating, coupled with outrage at big severance packages for some bosses,
has pushed the issue to the top of investors' concerns." ... "The AFSCME
union, whose pension fund is worth $800m, is calling for UK-style votes
by shareholders on executive pay at the 2006 annual meetings of US Bancorp,
Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Home Depot and Countrywide Financial."
... "The union claims to have identified excessive compensation at these
companies and warns it may try to oust directors on their compensation
committees if they do not take steps to align bosses' pay with company
performance." -By Andrew Parker
-FT.com via
-MSNBC
Texas
- 
Oklahoma
- 
Homes
- Disaster
- "Five
die in wildfires sweeping US: At least five people
have died in the wildfires which have swept across parts of the US states
of Texas and Oklahoma." ... "The fires, fanned by strong winds and dry
weather, have destroyed nearly 200 homes and scorched thousands of acres
of land in the past two days." ... "An estimated 124 homes were destroyed
in Texas and 50 in the neighbouring state of Oklahoma." ... "Worst hit
was the central Texan town of Cross Plains, where the fires forced its
1,000 inhabitants to leave."-BBC
/News
Hawaii
- History
- 
Museum
- "Group
hides native Hawaiian artifacts: Judge jails leader,
holds three others in contempt of court." ... "Leaders of a Hawaiian group
vowed not to divulge the location of a cache of native artifacts obtained
from a museum and then buried, despite the jailing of their director."
... "One of the four, executive director Edward Halealoha Ayau, was taken
into custody after refusing [Chief U.S. District Judge David] Ezra's order
to reveal the exact location of the 83 artifacts from the Bishop Museum."
-AP via -CNN
US
- 
Mexico
- Migrant
- Labor
- 
Family
- Calif.
- 
Iowa
- "Channeling
the Remittance Flood: In 2005, migrant workers in
the U.S. sent $52 billion back to Latin America and the Caribbean." ...
"Alvaro RamÍrez is no stranger to back-breaking work: The 29-year-old
Mexican spent six years picking apples and grapes in Wasco, Calif., earning
less than $4.50 an hour. Four years ago, having heard that meat-packing
plants paid much higher wages, he moved to a small town in Iowa, where
his wife packages pork and he works the graveyard shift maintaining plant
machinery. They each earn $12 an hour, and after income and Social Security
taxes are withheld -- yes, they do pay U.S. taxes -- they clear about $3,500
a month (see BW Online, 7/18/05, "Embracing
Illegals")." ... "That's nearly 10 times what they would earn in Mexico,
and it's enough to buy a used two-bedroom trailer and a 1998 pickup truck
to cart their two preschool daughters around town. Once a month, Ramírez
wires $250 to his 50-year-old mother in Mexico City -- something he has
done almost without fail for the 11 years he has lived in the U.S. as an
illegal alien. "I'll keep sending her money as long as she lives," he vows."
... "Ramírez (not his real name) is one of an estimated 11 million
Mexicans living in the U.S. -- some legally and some illegally -- who are
expected to send a record $20 billion to Mexico in 2005, a 20% increase
over last year. Mexico is the world's largest recipient of "remittances,"
or funds sent home by migrant workers abroad (see BW Online, 10/18/05,
"Immigration:
Is Bush Fenced In?")." -By Geri Smith
-BusinessWeek
Texas
-Enron
- Accounting
- 
Energy
- Business
- "Enron's
Causey pleads guilty: Judge grants two-week delay
to Lay, Skilling trial." ... "Rather than face trial next month, Enron's
former chief accounting officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges
stemming from the scandal that brought down the energy company in late
2001." ... "Richard Causey's plea bargain, made in U.S. District Court
in Houston [Texas] before Judge Sim Lake, can't be welcome news for Kenneth
Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the two top ex-Enron executives federal investigators
claim were kingpins in one of the biggest scandals ever to rock corporate
America." ... "At the same time, the deal requires Causey to cooperate
with federal prosecutors honing their case against his onetime bosses and
raises the possibility of his taking the witness stand against them." -By
Jim Jelter -MarketWatch
Massachusetts
- Computer
- "Massachusetts
CIO quits amid OpenDocument furore." ... "The man
responsible for bringing OpenDocument to Massachusetts has resigned following
controversy and personal attacks over the initiative." ... "Peter Quinn
has resigned from his post as chief information officer for the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts to avoid further mudslinging over the state's controversial
move to OpenDocument." -By Ingrid Marson
-ZDNet.co.uk
NY- 
Internet
- Messaging
- Telecommunications
- 
Patent
- 
Search
Engine - Business
- "Google
Talk faces patent lawsuit." ... "A New York company
[Rates Technology (RTI)] is suing Google for patent infringement over the
voice-over-Internet portion of its Google Talk instant messaging and voice
chat program." ... "It alleges infringement on two of its patents for minimizing
the cost of long-distance calls using the Internet."" ... "RTI President
Jerry Weinberger returned a call seeking comment on Thursday and said his
firm also has sued Vonage and Cablevision over patent infringement." ...
""When a VOIP call can be transferred to the regular PSTN (telephone network),
the switching of that call infringes our patents," Weinberger said." -By
Elinor Mills -CNET
/News
Terrorism
- Business
- Politics
- "Sept.
11 loan recipients weren't hurt by attacks." ...
"Most companies interviewed about the government-backed Sept. 11 loans
they received have told investigators they weren't hurt by the suicide
attacks and didn't know they were getting terrorism assistance, an internal
government investigation found." ... "The Small Business Administration's
inspector general also reported Wednesday that lenders who doled out billions
of dollars in such loans failed — 85% of the time — to document that recipients
were actually hurt by the terrorism attacks and therefore eligible for
the federal aid." -AP
via -USATODAY
Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Florida- 
Oregon
- 
Ohio
- Virginia
- "Defense
Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts."
... "Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say
they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security
Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al
Qaeda." ... "The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether
the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government
withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about
how and why the men were singled out." ... "The expected legal challenges,
in cases from Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia, add another dimension
to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program
and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom
victories in terror cases, legal analysts say." -By
Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2)
-NYTimes
Enron
- Accounting
- Business
- "UPDATE
5-Ex-Enron chief accountant pleads guilty to fraud."
... "Enron's former chief accountant, Richard Causey, on Wednesday pleaded
guilty to securities fraud in exchange for a maximum seven-year jail sentence
for his role in the financial scandal that led to the 2001 collapse of
the power-trading giant." ... "Causey, 45, had been scheduled to go on
trial next month with former Enron chief executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling,
facing the possibility of more than 20 years behind bars, but now may cooperate
with federal prosecutors against them in a switch legal experts said could
hurt his former bosses." ... "Causey pleaded guilty to a single count of
securities related to false filings and statements about Enron's financial
performance. He also agreed to forfeit $1.25 million as part of a sentence
that [U.S. District Judge Sim] Lake said would be set April 21." (1, 2,
3)
-By Jeff Franks with contributions by Deborah Charles
and Ben Berkowitz -Reuters
Government
- Military
- Psychology
-
Health
- "A
Political Debate On Stress Disorder: As Claims Rise,
VA Takes Stock." ... "The spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder
among war veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited
fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits for emotionally
scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan." ... "A total of 215,871
veterans received PTSD benefit payments last year at a cost of $4.3 billion,
up from $1.7 billion in 1999 -- a jump of more than 150 percent." ... "Experts
say the sharp increase does not begin to factor in the potential impact
of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, because the increase is largely the
result of Vietnam War vets seeking treatment decades after their combat
experiences." (1, 2)
-By Shankar Vedantam -WashingtonPost
Secret
- Government
-Law
Enforcement
- Law
- Privacy
- "U.S.
secret surveillance up sharply since Sept. 11." ...
"Federal applications for a special U.S. court to authorize secret surveillance
rose sharply after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the panel required
changes to the requests at a even greater rate, government documents show."
... "The Justice Department's reports to the U.S. Congress on the surveillance
court's activities show that the Bush administration made 5,645 applications
for electronic surveillance and physical searches through 2004, the most
recent year for which figures are available. In the previous four years,
the court received a total of 3,436." -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
US
- Iraq
- Police
- "U.S.
Seeks To Escape Brutal Cycle In Iraqi City: 3rd Try
at Pullout Depends on Police." ... "On one of his last days in Iraq, Sgt.
Dale Evans looked out over the turbulent city from a rooftop tower piled
high with sandbags, manning a machine gun. Below him, rows of Bradley Fighting
Vehicles stood at the ready. Dusty streets were lined with coiled barbed
wire and abandoned houses pockmarked from gunfire -- a protective no-man's
land around a base that U.S. commanders describe as their "battleship"
in downtown Samarra." ... "This month, Evans and his company from the 3rd
Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, will leave Patrol Base Uvanni, beginning
a third attempt in as many years by U.S. forces to hand this Sunni city
over to Iraqi police. It's a major test for the U.S. military in Iraq,
and one U.S. commanders here say they can't afford to fail." ... "Since
2003, Samarra has come to symbolize the trials and errors of U.S. strategy
in Iraq -- a cycle of military offensives, lulls and new waves of lethal
insurgent attacks." (1, 2)
-By Ann Scott Tyson -WashingtonPost
Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Secret
- Prisons
- Civil
Liberties - Privacy
-Law
- Media
- Politics
- "Fear
destroys what bin Laden could not." ... "One wonders
if Osama bin Laden didn't win after all. He ruined the America that existed
on 9/11. But he had help." ... "If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that
four years after bin Laden's attack our president would admit that he broke
U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution -- and then
expect the American people to congratulate him for it -- I would have presumed
the girders of our very Republic had crumbled." ... "Had anyone said our
president would invade a country and kill 30,000 of its people claiming
a threat that never, in fact, existed, then admit he would have invaded
even if he had known there was no threat -- and expect America to be pleased
by this -- I would have thought our nation's sensibilities and honor had
been eviscerated." ... "If I had been informed that our nation's leaders
would embrace torture as a legitimate tool of warfare, hold prisoners for
years without charges and operate secret prisons overseas -- and call such
procedures necessary for the nation's security -- I would have laughed
at the folly of protecting human rights by destroying them." ... "If someone
had predicted the president's staff would out a CIA agent as revenge against
a critic, defy a law against domestic propaganda by bankrolling supposedly
independent journalists and commentators, and ridicule a 37-year Marie
Corps veteran for questioning U.S. military policy -- and that the populace
would be more interested in whether Angelina is about to make Brad a daddy
-- I would have called the prediction an absurd fantasy." -By
Robert
Steinback -Miami/Herald
US
- 
Iran
- 
Nuclear
- Military
- Politics
- Bill
Frist -
"Reining
in Iran." ... ""Iran's ruling mullahs have waged
a 26-year campaign to suppress dissent, support terror and pursue a nuclear
weapons program. In recent weeks, it has become clear that international
efforts to stop Iran's atomic program have failed to bear fruit. Unless
we act quickly, the United States will have a nuclear crisis on its hands."
... "If we let Tehran develop nuclear weapons covertly while IAEA negotiations
slog forward, Iran's theocrats will have little reason to negotiate with
anyone. The U.S. needs to act before a regime that has denied the real
Holocaust unleashes another. " -By Bill Frist
-LAtimes
Ocean
- Animals
- "Oregon
Surfer Punches Shark in the Nose." ... "A surfer
says he reacted on instinct when he punched a great white shark that grabbed
his leg near the northern Oregon coast." ... "He said he learned from television
shows including the Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" that a shark's nose
is its most sensitive area." -AP
via -WashingtonPost
US
- Iraq
- "A
look at U.S. military deaths in Iraq." ... "As of
Sunday, Dec. 25, 2005, at least 2,168 members of the U.S. military have
died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count." ... "Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared
that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 2,029 U.S. military members
have died, according to AP's count." -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Government
- Terrorism
- Law
Enforcement - Law
- Telecommunications
- Business
- Internet
- Privacy
- Politics
- "Spy
Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report."
... "The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes
of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United
States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity,
according to current and former government officials." ... "The volume
of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks,
without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has
acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly
into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they
said." ... "As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic
surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of
American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams
of domestic and international communications, the officials said." ...
"The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic
have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials
familiar with the program." -By Eric Lichtblau and
James Risen
(1,
2)
-NYTimes
US
- 
Egypt
-Law
- "U.S.
Protests Jailing of Egyptian Opposition Leader (Update2)."
... "The U.S. government protested the conviction of Egyptian opposition
politician Ayman Nour on forgery charges and requested he be released from
jail." ... "Nour's conviction ``calls into question Egypt's commitment
to democracy, freedom and the rule of law,'' White House press secretary
Scott McClellan said in a statement. The U.S. calls on Egypt ``to release
Mr. Nour from detention.''" -By Carlos Torres -Bloomberg
Consumer
-Food
- Health
- "Labels
on food to list allergens more plainly: New federal
law intended to help consumers find ingredients that could sicken them."
... "A federal law effective Jan. 1 requires food labels to list ingredients
made from proteins derived from any of the eight major allergenic foods:
milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, wheat, tree nuts, soybeans and peanuts.
The Food and Drug Administration says they account for 90 percent of all
food allergies." -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Jerry
Lewis - 
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- Government
- Military
- Money
- Law
- Politics
- California
- "Close
ties make Rep. Lewis, lobbyist Lowery a potent pair."
... "From powerful positions on the House Appropriations Committee, California
[Republican Representative] Rep. Jerry Lewis has greenlighted hundreds
of millions of dollars in federal projects for clients of one of his closest
friends, lobbyist and former [Republican Represenatative from California]
state Congressman Bill Lowery." ... "Meanwhile, Lowery, the partners at
his firm [Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White] and their clients
have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis' political action
committee received in the past six years." ... "One of the defense companies
that received federal contracts with [convicted California Republican Representative
Randy "Duke"] Cunningham's support was a Lowery client [Brent Wilkes' ADCS
Inc.]. And some of the money was disbursed when Cunningham was a member
of the defense appropriations subcommittee and Lewis was the committee
chairman." ... "Lowery, his partners and their spouses have contributed
$135,000 to Lewis' campaigns and political action committee over the past
decade, routinely giving the maximum allowed by law. Lowery also organizes
and hosts Lewis fundraisers. And many of Lowery's defense-contractor clients
contribute to Lewis as part of their lobbying strategy." ... "Taken together,
they have contributed $480,000 to Lewis' political action committee since
2000." ... "Last year Lewis used some of that money to wow the Republican
leadership with checks for $650,000 in "excess campaign funds" to help
maintain Republican control of the House." ... "In 1999 Lewis became chairman
of the defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees more discretionary
spending than any other congressional body." ... "Despite that early demonstration
of fiscal toughness, earmarks in the defense bills exploded on Lewis' watch."
... "Many of the earmarks went to clients of Lowery's firm, which grew
even more prosperous when Lewis' principal defense-earmarks gatekeeper,
Letitia White, joined the firm in 2003." -By Jerry
Kammer with contributions by Denise Davidson, Erin Hobbs and Peter Uribe
-CopleyNews.com
via -SignOnSanDiego.com
Samuel
Alito
- 
Women's
- Abortion
- Health
- History
- Law
- "Alito
Argued to Overturn Roe in 1985 Memo: Supreme Court
Nominee Samuel Alito Advocated Reversing Roe V. Wade in 1985 Memo." ...
"In paperwork released earlier from Alito's time in the Justice Department's
solicitor general's office, he recommended a legal strategy of dismantling
abortion rights piece by piece. And as part of an application for a job
as deputy assistant attorney general, Alito said the Constitution does
not guarantee abortion rights." -By Donna Cassata
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
Samuel
Alito
- Women's
- Abortion
- Health
- History
- Law
- "Alito
abortion memo drew cautionary response: Reagan administration
official said '85 correspondence should be kept quiet." ... "A June 1985
memo by Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito arguing that the Roe v. Wade
decision legalizing abortion should be overturned set off alarms in the
Reagan administration, prompting a senior official to caution that the
correspondence should be kept quiet, a new document released Friday shows."
... "In a recommendation to the solicitor general on filing a friend-of-court
brief, Alito said the government "should make clear that we disagree with
Roe v. Wade and would welcome the opportunity to brief the issue of whether,
and if so to what extent, that decision should be overruled."" ... "The
June 3, 1985 document was one of 45 released by the National Archives on
Friday. A total of 744 pages were made public."
-AP via -MSNBC
Secret
- Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Law
- Privacy
- History
- Samuel
Alito
- "In
1984 memo, Alito defends domestic wiretaps." ...
"As a Reagan administration lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito
argued that federal officials can't be sued for damages for wiretapping
Americans without warrants in national security cases, a document released
Friday showed." ... "Alito's position may complicate his prospects for
confirmation because its disclosure comes amid an uproar over a four-year-old
Bush administration counterterrorism operation that's been eavesdropping
on Americans without court approval." ... "President Bush's argument that
he has the legal and constitutional authority to direct the National Security
Agency to conduct the secret domestic surveillance operation is almost
certain to end up before the Supreme Court." -By Jonathan
S. Landay -Knight
Ridder via -MercuryNews
Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Civil
Liberties - Politics
- Florida
- "Terror
case challenges White House strategy: An appeals
court refused the government's request to have Jose Padilla transferred
to Florida for a criminal trial." ... "Suddenly, terror suspect Jose Padilla
seems a lot more dangerous to the Bush administration." ... "It has nothing
to do with his suspected involvement in Al Qaeda bomb plots, analysts say.
Rather, the administration worries that the US Supreme Court might agree
to hear Mr. Padilla's case and decide one of the most pressing constitutional
issues in the war on terrorism. And by all appearances, government lawyers
think they might lose." ... "The issue: Does President Bush have the power
as commander in chief to order the open-ended military detention of US
citizens that he deems enemy combatants?" -By Warren
Richey -CSMonitor
Travel
- Terrorism
- Law
Enforcement - "Airport
security changes create little noise: Guidelines
that now allow small scissors, sharp objects have little effect on travelers."
... "New airport security guidelines that allow passengers to carry small
scissors and other sharp objects were implemented Thursday at airports
nationwide, including Houston." ... "Security personnel will now focus
on detecting explosives rather than confiscating small sharp objects."
-By Armando Villafranca -HoustonChronicle.com
California
- WalMart
- Employees
- Business
- Food
- "Wal-Mart
hit with $172.3m lunch bill." ... "A jury in Oakland,
California on Thursday ordered Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, to pay
$172.3m to current and former employees, after finding that the company
had failed to respect their right to a 30-minute unpaid lunch break." ...
"The verdict is the largest penalty of its kind imposed by a court on the
retailer in a range of lawsuits that have accused it of deliberately allowing
its employees to work unpaid overtime, or to work during legally required
breaks." ... "State law in California requires employers to grant its workers
the 30 minute unpaid break, or to compensate them if they decline to take
the time." -By Jonathan Birchall
-FT.com via
-MSNBC
Italy
- EU
- US
- Egypt
-Intelligence
- "Italy
court issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team." ...
"A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected
of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003,
Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday." ... "Milan magistrates suspect
a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew
him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured."
-Reuters
Italy
- EU
- US
-Egypt
-Intelligence-
"Italy
court issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team." ...
"A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected
of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003,
Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday." ... "Milan magistrates suspect
a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew
him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured."
-Reuters
US
- Iraq
- "Rumsfeld
suggests some U.S. troops will be heading home from Iraq."
... "The reductions would bring U.S. troop levels down from about 158,000
to slightly under 130,000. But Rumsfeld warned that "until it's announced,
the government's decision hasn't been announced. Therefore it's not final.""
-By Richard Sisk -MercuryNews
South
Korea - Stem
Cells - Cloning
- Genetics
- Health
- US
- "S.
Korean's Stem Cell Data Fake, Panel Says." ... "A
panel investigating the work of South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo
Suk has concluded that he deliberately fabricated key data in a landmark
paper this year, offering the first evidence of what is potentially one
of the greatest frauds in modern science." ... "The expert panel at Seoul
National University, where Hwang conducted his research, found that nine
of 11 stem cell lines he claimed to have created did not exist." ... "Hwang's
paper, published in May by the U.S. journal Science, purported to describe
the creation of 11 human embryo clones using DNA from patients suffering
from spinal cord injuries and genetic diseases. No other research group
has succeeded in cloning human embryos, though many have been trying."
... "Hwang's team claimed it used the embryos to create individualized
lines of stem c