An attorney for President Obama's Department of Justice has told the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that it supports the Bush administration's controversial state secrets defense in a lawsuit over the prior president's "extraordinary rendition" program.
Obama's Justice Department backs Bush secrecy on renditions suit
Israeli accused of anti-Arab racism could become kingmaker
Avigdor Lieberman has been denounced by Israeli leftists as "the most dangerous politician in Israel." Israeli-Arab lawmakers call him a racist for proposing new laws to strip Israeli citizenship from anyone who refuses to take a loyalty oath. One prominent rabbi suggested that a vote for him was a vote for Satan.
But such attacks have done little to dent Lieberman, a former nightclub bouncer who at 50 may be about to become one of the country's most influential politicians.
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TVNL Comment: And then complaint that anti-Semitism is gaining strength around the world.
US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme
The US military has been using Britain's atomic weapons factory to carry out research into its own nuclear warhead programme, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.
US defence officials said that "very valuable" warhead research has taken place at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire as part of an ongoing and secretive deal between the British and American governments.
Last night, opposition MPs called for a full parliamentary inquiry into the extent of the collaboration at Aldermaston and campaign groups warned any such deal was in breach of international law. They added that it also undermined Britain's claim to have an independent nuclear weapons programme and meant British taxpayers were effectively subsidising America's nuclear programme.
Reporters Without Borders and Washington's Coups
British press baron Lord Northcliff said, "News is something that someone, somewhere wants to keep secret, everything else is advertising." If this is true, then U.S. government funding of Reporters Without Borders must be news, because the organization and its friends in Washington have gone to extraordinary lengths to cover it up. In spite of 14 months of stonewalling by the National Endowment for Democracy over a Freedom of Information Act request and a flat denial from RSF executive director Lucie Morillon, the NED has revealed that Reporters Without Borders received grants over at least three years from the International Republican Institute.
Vince Cable: 'Bring back the guillotine...for bankers'
The crass behaviour of Britain’s financial aristocracy rivals the last of the Bourbons. Marie Antoinette famously patronised the Parisian mob with her ‘let them eat cake’, while dining in luxury in the Tuileries.
The City bankers who ruined their banks but have been kept in employment by the taxpayer now demand we pay them their bonuses to maintain the aristocratic lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. They know no shame and take no blame. They are lucky the British have no guillotines in stock.
Top US lawyer warns of deaths at Guantánamo
"At least 50 people are on hunger strike, with 20 on the critical list, according to Binyam. The JTF [the Joint Task Force running Guantánamo] are not commenting because they do not want the public to know what is going on.More...
Vatican scrambles as holocaust-denying Bishop promises to 'look again'
The Vatican is in damage control mode in a continuing row over a Bishop who recently espoused beliefs that the Nazis did not use gas chambers to murder Jews, and that far fewer than 6 million were slaughtered during the Holocaust.
"Since I see that there are many honest and intelligent people who think differently, I must look again at the historical evidence," he told Der Spiegel, according to the Jerusalem Post. "It is about historical evidence, not about emotions. And if I find this evidence, I will correct myself. But that will take time."
TVNL Comment: The term "denial" is used as a weapon against anyone who questions the account of the Holocaust. There are serious questions as to the details of the historical account. There is valid suspicion that the details of the losses and horrors suffered by Jews was exaggerated to in order to invoke sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish state. Most people accused of denying the Holocaust are not doing so, they are simply questioning the details and extent of what happened.
Halliburton spinoff prepares to admit bribery
Court papers filed in Houston on Friday show Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC is preparing to plead guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for promising and paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to officials in Nigeria in exchange for engineering and construction contracts between 1995 and 2004.
The government filed a criminal information in federal court, a document which is often used as part of a plea deal.
KBR, a major engineering and construction services company with operations around the world, was split off as a separate public company from Halliburton in 2007.
How Bush Threatened Britain
In order to prevent any details of its torture record being publicly disseminated, the Bush administration threatened the British government with withdrawal of intelligence sharing if they allowed a court to publish the redacted evidence. Foreign secretary David Miliband denied this on Wednesday, but the letters from the US have been released by Channel 4 News. And their message is unmistakable. The first letter:
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