In the News: Dec-11

Bush relaxes protections for endangered species - 11 Dec 2008 at 3:05pm - WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is reducing protections for endangered animals and plants.

Marines defend decision-making leading up to crash - 11 Dec 2008 at 2:12pm - WASHINGTON -- Marine Corps. generals are defending the decision to direct a jet pilot over a crowded San Diego neighborhood after an engine on his F/A18-D Hornet failed.

Suspected U.S. strike kills 6 in Pakistan - 11 Dec 2008 at 2:02pm - DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected U.S. strike killed six people Thursday on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border, a lawless region believed to be a stronghold of al-Qaeda, two intelligence officials said. The identities of those killed in the attack was not immediately known, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Panel on Iraqi Detainees Meets - 11 Dec 2008 at 1:51pm - Under the terms of the recently ratified security agreement, U.S. forces must begin releasing or transferring to Iraqi custody some 15,800 detainees on Jan. 1.

Musicians back campaign against 'audio torture' - 11 Dec 2008 at 12:53pm - A group of musicians, including bands such as Massive Attack, has backed a lobby group that is urging governments to stop the use of music in torture.

White House, not U.S. soldiers, cited for abuse - 11 Dec 2008 at 12:42pm - A new U.S. Senate report says the physical and mental abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was the direct result of Bush administration policies and should not be blamed on guards and interrogators. The report from the Senate Armed Services Committee is the result of a two-year investigation. It directly links President Bush's policies after the Sept. 11,2001 terrorist attacks, legal memos on torture and interrogation rule changes with the abuse that was photographed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq four years ago. The report says administration officials publicly blamed the abuses on low-level soldiers but called that "both unconscionable and false."

Senators urge swift probe of jet fighter crash - 11 Dec 2008 at 10:58am - SAN DIEGO -- California's two U.S. senators want the Marine Corps to review its entire fleet of F/A18-D Hornet jets for possible problems after one of the jets crashed into a home and killed two young girls, their mother and their grandmother.

Report: U.S. executions, death sentences on decline - 11 Dec 2008 at 9:14am - New death sentences in the United States were at or near a three-decade low this year and the number of people executed will be the lowest since 1994, according to a new report. The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center reports 37 executions in 2008, with no more expected for the remainder of the year. That's down 12% from 42 in 2007 and a 30% drop from 2006.

Portugal offers to take Guantanamo detainees - 11 Dec 2008 at 7:40am - European Union countries should offer to take in any detainees released from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Portugal's foreign minister said in a letter published Thursday. Portugal is willing to grant asylum to Guantanamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries, Foreign Minister Luis Amado said in the letter sent to his EU counterparts.

Gitmo commander: Prison won't close soon - 10 Dec 2008 at 4:43pm - GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Guantanamo's commander believes that the prison on this base won't close anytime soon after President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Rear Adm. David Thomas said he expects "rigorous debate" in America before the 250 detainees are flown out, pouring cold water on speculation that the military's offshore prison might close within days after Obama is sworn in on Jan. 20.

Thought for the day:
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and, whatever you hit, call it the target. -Ashleigh Brilliant