The Drug Enforcement Administration has agreed to pay 14 contractors $500,000 to settle a lawsuit that accuses the agency of illegally requiring them to undergo highly intrusive lie detector tests to keep their jobs as translators.
The settlement appears to be the first time that a federal government agency has settled allegations involving contractors’ lie detector tests since a 1988 law banned the use of polygraph screening for most private employees, said a lawyer for the group.
DEA settles suit alleging government lie-detector abuses
Medical experts warn against high levels of radon and radium from fracking
A group of health professionals opposed to hydraulic fracturing penned a letter Wednesday to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, calling on him to take a closer look at radon levels in shale gas before allowing fracking in New York.
The letter, signed by nine people including a representative of the American Lung Association, urges Cuomo’s administration to first examine whether gas from the Marcellus Shale has elevated levels of radon before green-lighting fracking. The state should take a closer look at radiation issues related to shale-gas before proceeding, the letter signers content.
New documents point to CIA rendition network through Djibouti
New evidence culled from a court case involving CIA contractors has revealed flight paths through Djibouti that appear to indicate the country’s role as a hub of the CIA’s rendition network in Africa, according to documents released by the U.K.-based human rights group Reprieve and New York University’s Global Justice Clinic.
The documents could support the case of Mohammad al-Asad, a former CIA detainee who is suing the government of Djibouti for its alleged role in hosting CIA “black sites” – specifically the one where he says he was detained and tortured for two weeks between Dec. 2003 and Jan. 2004. A Senate investigation into the agency’s “detention and interrogation program” had previously confirmed that several individuals had in fact been detained in Djibouti, according to two officials who read the still-classified report and who spoke to Al Jazeera.
German spying investigators to call on Snowden
Edward Snowden will be called to testify as a witness, the German parliamentary committee investigating the U.S. National Security Agency's activities said Thursday.
Testimony from the American whistleblower and former NSA contractor was agreed to by all political parties in the investigative committee, said Martina Renner of the socialist Die Linke party. Since the German government will likely prevent Snowden from attending a hearing, he is expected to be questioned by either a video link, or a visit from a parliamentary delegation to Moscow, his current home.
GOP-run House votes 274 to 131 to make business tax break permanent--and increase deficit
The House of Representatives voted 274 to 131 Friday to make the research and development tax credit permanent--and add $155.5 billion to federal deficits over the next 10 years.
Republicans, who have consistently complained about deficit spending, nevertheless were nearly unanimous in backing the plan. Only one Republican voted no. Sixty-two Democrats joined those in favor, while 130 voted no.
Sentinel satellite spies speed-up of ice cap melting
Melting at one of the largest ice caps on Earth has produced a big jump in its flow speed, satellite imagery suggests.
Austfonna on Norway's Svalbard archipelago covers just over 8,000 sq km and had been relatively stable for many years. But the latest space data reveals a marked acceleration of the ice in its main outlet glacier to the Barents Sea.
The research was presented in Brussels on Thursday to mark the launch of the EU's new Sentinel-1a radar spacecraft.
Bob Alexander: I've Always Liked Chris Hedges
Yeah -- except for that time back in 2008 when he said atheists were as dangerous as Christian fundamentalists. Remember?
http://www.salon.com/2008/03/13/chris_hedges/
But what the hell -- Everybody blows their wheels every now and again. I mean he earned a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School so we know he spent a lot of time, and allocated a lot of head space, to the study of gibberish. It was only natural some of that lunacy leaked out. But after The Big Blowout I guess he called the mental health department of Triple A and got back on the road again.
Strong earthquake of 6.4 magnitude hits Mexico
An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude has shaken parts of Mexico, causing buildings to sway in the capital.
The US Geological Survey said it was centred near the town of Tecpan de Galeana in southern Guerrero state, about 190 miles (300km) south-west of Mexico City.
It was also felt in the resort city of Acapulco, the Associated Press says. There are no reports of any damage or injuries but frightened office workers ran into the streets in the capital.
Tremors
Less Nutritious Grains May Be In Our Future
In the future, Earth's atmosphere is likely to include a whole lot more carbon dioxide. And many have been puzzling over what that may mean for the future of food crops. Now, scientists are that some of the world's most important crops contain fewer crucial nutrients when they grow in such an environment.
The data come from that have been set up to see how crops will perform as levels of carbon dioxide in the air soar past 500 parts per million. (The current level is around 400 ppm.)
These experiments are operating in various parts of the world, and have included test plots of rice, wheat, peas and other crops.
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