The United States handed over control of all combat duties to Iraqi security forces on Saturday in a further sign its withdrawal is on track despite a political impasse in Iraq and a recent rise in violence.
President Barack Obama said last Monday he would stick to his promise to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq by August 31, with security being left in the hands of Iraq's own U.S.-trained army and police.
Iraq forces take over from last U.S. combat brigade
Guantanamo trial to go ahead
The US supreme court has refused to delay the military trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen held at Guantanamo Bay. Lawyers for Khadr had sought to have the trial, scheduled for next week, put on hold while they challenged the constitutionality of the military tribunals at the US army base in Cuba.
But the US supreme court said on Friday that it had decided to deny the request. "The application for stay presented to the chief justice and by him referred to the court is denied," the court said in a one-line brief that provided no explanation for the decision.
With well shut, next worry is health of cleanup workers
As BP moves to seal the Deepwater Horizon well permanently, more than 31,000 cleanup workers continue to rely on incomplete and at times misleading information about toxic exposure to the spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
Public health officials say they face a daunting challenge: how to inform workers about the possible dangers when studies on the toxic effects of such a large spill have never been done.
Massive ice island breaks off Greenland
A piece of ice four times the size of Manhattan island has broken away from an ice shelf in Greenland, according to scientists in the U.S. The 260 square-kilometer (100 square miles) ice island separated from the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland early on Thursday, researchers based at the University of Delaware said.
The ice island, which is about half the height of the Empire State Building, is the biggest piece of ice to break away from the Arctic icecap since 1962 and amounts to a quarter of the Petermann 70-kilometer floating ice shelf, according to research leader Andreas Muenchow.
Donna Shalala Detained at Ben-Gurion
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala was detained and interrogated for two hours at Ben-Gurion Airport last month, according to The Chronicle for Higher Education’s blog The Ticker.
Shalala is currently serving as president of the University of Miami; she was on her way back to the U.S. following a visit to Israel as part of a delegation of U.S. university presidents. An Israeli media report stated that she was subjected to a “humiliating” security debriefing and asked “invasive” personal questions because of her last name.
Israeli suspected of running Ukraine organ trafficking ring
According to the report, the network operated for over three years and recruited donors via the internet. Most of the donors were young women who agreed to sell a kidney for $10,000.
The organs were then allegedly transferred to Israelis in need of a kidney transplant, which cost over $200,000, said the head of the Ukrainian organization for combating human trafficking during a press conference following the arrests.
Influential Newsweek Magazine Sold for $1 To CFR’s Super-Rich, Pro-Israel Harman Couple
Newsweek magazine is now the property of Zionist billionaire Sidney Harman and his wife Jane—a fervent advocate for the interests of Israel—who (rather than serving in Congress as she does) should instead be serving time in prison for influence peddling and conspiracy to obstruct justice on behalf of two Washington operatives for AIPAC, the powerful lobby for Israel.
An apology fatally devalued by the passage of 65 years
At last we’ve apologised for Hiroshima – well, sort of. We’ve recognised the suffering our atom bombs caused –well, kind of. President Obama was showing off his anti-nuclear credentials in the killing grounds of Hiroshima, but this was not to be confused with saying sorry.
The presence of John Roos, the US ambassador to Japan, and the British deputy ambassador, David Fitton, at the site of the world's first atomic bombing was an odd appearance.
CIA whisked detainees from Gitmo
Four of the nation's most highly valued terrorist prisoners were secretly moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2003, years earlier than has been disclosed, then whisked back into overseas prisons before the Supreme Court could give them access to lawyers, The Associated Press has learned.
The transfer allowed the U.S. to interrogate the detainees in CIA "black sites" for two more years without allowing them to speak with attorneys or human rights observers or challenge their detention in U.S. courts. Had they remained at the Guantanamo Bay prison for just three more months, they would have been afforded those rights.
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