In the News: Feb-06

$35M contract despite electrocutions - 6 Feb 2009 at 2:53pm - WASHINGTON -- Defense contractor KBR Inc., which is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq, has been awarded a $35 million contract by the Pentagon to build an electrical distribution center and other projects there.

With ice in retreat, U.S. regulators ban fishing in Arctic - 6 Feb 2009 at 2:42pm - Federal fishery regulators Thursday approved an unprecedented plan to ban U.S. commercial fishing in the Arctic Ocean.

Panetta: No Prosecution For CIA Interrogators - 6 Feb 2009 at 1:42pm - President Obama's choice for CIA director makes the clearest statement yet that the Obama administration will not prosecute CIA officers who participated in harsh interrogations that critics say crossed the line into torture. Panetta confirmed the policy in an interview with The Associated Press.

U.K. resident held at Gitmo alleges Canadian involvement in torture - 6 Feb 2009 at 11:43am - Allegations are emerging that two Canadians may have been involved in the torture of one of Britain's last remaining citizens at Guantanamo Bay.

U.S. employers cut 598,000 jobs in January - 6 Feb 2009 at 9:14am - The U.S. economy lost 598,000 jobs last month - the biggest one-month drop since 1974 - as the jobless rate climbed to 7.6 per cent.

129,000 jobs lost in January - 6 Feb 2009 at 7:29am - Canada's unemployment rate shot up by 0.6 percentage points in January to 7.2 per cent as 129,000 jobs were lost last month, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Canadian soldiers to target Afghan drug trade linked to Taliban - 6 Feb 2009 at 8:12am - Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will be ordered to attack opium traffickers and their drug facilities when there is proof of direct links to the Taliban, CBC News has learned.

Thought for the day:
Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative. -Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007)