Thursday, May 25th
Last update05:20:13 AM GMT
Blackwater has been fired by the State Department from its job protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
Executives of the controversial U.S. security company were notified today by the State Department that its five-year, $1.2 billion contract for services in Iraq will not be renewed in May, U.S. officials tell ABC News. The contract provides yearly options for cancellations.
The declaration, supported by Prince Albert II of Monaco, builds on findings from an earlier international summit.
More than 150 top marine researchers have voiced their concerns through the "Monaco Declaration", which warns that changes in acidity are accelerating.
But now, in a Thursday editorial published by the Wall Street Journal, John Yoo, the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, explained that the Bush administration's torture programs, for which he co-authored the legal justifications, were initially designed to outwit crafty defense attorneys.
"The first thing any lawyer will do is tell his clients to shut up," writes Yoo. "The [Khalid Sheikh Mohammeds] or Abu Zubaydahs of the future will respond to no verbal questioning or trickery -- which is precisely why the Bush administration felt compelled to use more coercive measures in the first place."
While Israeli academics have grown used to such news from Great Britain, where anti-Israel groups several times attempted to establish academic boycotts, the formation of the United States movement marks the first time that a national academic boycott movement has come out of America. Israeli professors are not sure yet how big of an impact the one-week-old movement will have, but started discussing the significance of and possible counteractions against the campaign.
Federal officials are asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a convicted terrorism conspirator who says he was abused while being held in a South Carolina military prison. Attorneys for the Justice Department will ask a federal judge in Charleston Thursday to dismiss the claim by Jose Padilla, who was convicted in 2007 of three terrorism-related charges in Miami federal court.
In 2007, Padilla and his mother filed a civil lawsuit accusing the federal government of mistreating and illegally detaining Padilla while he was being held at a U.S. Naval brig near Charleston.
Chemicals known as perfluorinated chemicals, which are pervasive in food packaging, pesticides, clothing, upholstery, carpets and personal care products, may delay pregnancy, a new study suggests.
These chemicals are being phased out in the United States because of their toxic effects, and are expected to be completely gone by 2010. However, they remain in the environment and in the body for decades, and have been linked to developmental problems.
President Obama this morning signed a law that expanded the time frame in which workers can sue for discrimination they have experienced based on gender, race, national origin or religion.
The Army is expected to release a report later today revealing the highest number of suicides among troops in nearly three decades, according to CNN.
The network reported this morning that the Army will confirm 128 suicides in 2008, along with 15 suspected suicides currently under investigation among active-duty Soldiers and activated National Guard and Army Reserve troops. The Army also will announce a study of Soldier suicides and links to post-combat stress, CNN says.
Not including the cases now under investigation, the suicide rate among Soldiers is 20.2 per 100,000, according to the Army, which last month said the nation's suicide rate was 19.5 per 100,000. The national statistic is from 2005 but is the most recent, the Army said.
TVNL Comment: Another Bush Legacy.
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