In the News: Jul-24

Iraq banned from Beijing Olympics - 24 Jul 2008 at 2:53pm - Iraq has been banned from competing at the Beijing Games because of government interference, the International Olympic Committee announced Thursday.

Federal commission calls for 2 million poll workers - 24 Jul 2008 at 2:40pm - WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal commission is working to recruit 2 million poll workers for the November election to help handle what could be a record turnout for the presidential election. "We have seen historically high voter turnout during the primaries and continued high registration rates this year," Rosemary Rodriguez, chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, said Thursday.

Few volunteering to cut greenhouse gases - 24 Jul 2008 at 2:37pm - WASHINGTON -- Voluntary pollution-reduction programs touted by the Bush administration as part of the solution to global warming have "limited potential" to reduce greenhouse gases, according to an internal government watchdog.

US envoy says Iraq insurgency has lost its clout - 24 Jul 2008 at 2:24pm - BAGHDAD -- The insurgency that bedeviled U.S. forces for years and killed thousands of Iraqis and Americans has withered to the point where it is "not even much of a challenge any more" to Iraq's future, Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.

White House reverses experts on Yellowstone policy - 24 Jul 2008 at 2:09pm - WASHINGTON -- The National Park Service wanted to close a section of Yellowstone Park in the wintertime because of the risk of avalanche. No way, protested businesses in Cody, Wyo., that wanted to promote more tourism.

EPA Document Squelched by White House Called for Emission Limits Now - 24 Jul 2008 at 2:06pm - WASHINGTON — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency told the Bush administration in December that high levels of man-made heat-trapping gases are causing global warming and endanger the American people, Sen. Barbara Boxer said Wednesday after she reviewed the EPA finding, which has not been made public.

Memo: 'Good faith' protects against torture charge - 24 Jul 2008 at 1:16pm - WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break the will of prisoners, including waterboarding, would not cause "prolonged mental harm."

Vast oil, natural gas reserves estimated in Arctic - 24 Jul 2008 at 10:21am - WASHINGTON -- Some 90 billion barrels of oil and a third of the world's undiscovered natural gas lie beneath an area north of the Arctic Circle, government scientists estimate in the largest-ever survey of the energy resources there.

Iran to end cooperation with IAEA investigation - 24 Jul 2008 at 9:05am - VIENNA (AP) — Iran will no longer cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency in its investigation of allegations that its government has tried to make nuclear arms, Iran's vice president said Thursday. Investigating such allegations "is outside the domain of the agency," Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh told reporters. Any further queries on the issue "will be dealt with in another way," he added, without going into detail.

IRAQ: WHO returns after five-year absence - July 23, 2008 8:57:00 PM - DUBAI, 23 July 2008 (IRIN) - Doctors in Iraq have welcomed the return of World Health Organization (WHO) international staff to the country in June, after an absence of five years. Foreign WHO staff were withdrawn after the August 2003 attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad which killed 22 people, including UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. Over 100 others were injured.

Fatal MRAP accidents prompt warnings - 24 Jul 2008 at 8:07am - WASHINGTON -- The towering trucks that give U.S. troops the best protection against roadside bombs and enemy bullets also make them vulnerable to routine hazards like sharp turns, rutted roads and rickety bridges.

Thought for the day:
The history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal. -Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Advice to Youth