In the News - Feb. 22

Bush was in the dark on port deal - 22 Feb 2006 at 12:39pm - President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.


Libby's Lawyers Fire Back - 22 Feb 2006 at 10:43am - Lawyers for Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, denied they were trying to scuttle his prosecution in the CIA leak case by demanding access to sensitive government material - a practice known as "greymail."


Privacy group: U.S. laws needed to reign in surveillance - 21 Feb 2006 at 1:59pm - U.S. laws haven't kept up with the government's ability to use technology to spy on people, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). As U.S. government agencies conduct domestic surveillance and attempt to gain access to Internet search records, privacy laws do not adequately deal with technologies that allow the government access to all kinds of digital records, said CDT, a privacy and civil liberties advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

White House to Issue Own Katrina Report (AP) - 22 Feb 2006 at 1:53pm - AP - The White House will make 125 recommendations for how the government could have reacted better to Hurricane Katrina in a report to be released Thursday on the catastrophe and the Bush administration's response to it.


Terror fears, stoked by Bush, now bite him - 22 Feb 2006 at 1:29pm - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For almost five years President George W. Bush has warned Americans to fear terrorism, but now those words may come back to bite him.


Anarchy warning on protest claim - 22 Feb 2006 at 12:14pm - "Anarchy" could prevail if protesters are allowed to argue that they were right to take action to prevent the Iraq war, Law Lords hear.


New pressure over terror flights - 22 Feb 2006 at 10:50am - A watchdog could be asked to force the ministers to give more details of what they know about US "terror flights".


Former Bush advisor defends White House spying powers - 22 Feb 2006 at 8:23pm - WASHINGTON (AFP) - A controversial constitutional expert defended the White House's powers to authorize warrantless spying on Americans.


Controversy may end Calif. executions - 22 Feb 2006 at 8:18pm - SAN FRANCISCO -- The state's postponement of an execution because no medical professional would take part amounts to a moratorium on capital punishment in California, home to the nation's largest death row, and could have implications for other states that use lethal injection.