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Shhhhhh! JSOC is Hiring Interrogators and Covert Operatives for 'Special Access Programs'
The US military's most elite counter-terrorism force, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), prides itself on the secrecy of its operations. JSOC runs classified, compartmentalized task forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere around the world. It has operated secret prisons and detention sites globally and is the premiere organization tasked with killing or capturing individuals deemed by the president to be threats to the national security of the United States.
Wikileaks Releases CIA 'Exporter of Terrorism' Report
Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has published a CIA memo examining the implications of the US being perceived as an "exporter of terrorism".
The three-page report from February 2010 says the participation of US-based individuals in terrorism is "not a recent phenomenon".
The memo cites several cases of alleged terrorist acts by US residents.
An official played down the report from the CIA's so-called Red Cell, saying it was "not exactly a blockbuster paper".
Poorer Nations Hit with 'Exorbitant' Consultancy Fees for Carbon Offset Projects
The UN-certified scheme that allows developed nations to pay for carbon reductions abroad instead of making domestic cuts has come under fire for paying high fees to consultants from rich countries.
The Guardian has learned that the Nepalese government has so far paid a Norwegian company €150,000 to verify a greenhouse gas reduction programme for which it is seeking carbon credits. That sum would pay for 340 of the small-scale carbon cutting projects the government is trying to set up.
SB 1070 Protestors Take a Swing at Major League Baseball
Since SB 1070 became law in Arizona, dozens of cities and musicians have joined a boycott against the state. The Arizona Diamondback baseball team has also become a target since the team’s owner, Ken Kilpatrick, is a well-known donor to the state’s Republican party, which has backed some of SB 1070’s most fervent supporters.
After Katrina, New Orleans Cops Were Told They Could Shoot Looters
NEW ORLEANS, LA - In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina, an order circulated among New Orleans police authorizing officers to shoot looters, according to present and former members of the department.
It's not clear how broadly the order was communicated. Some officers who heard it say they refused to carry it out. Others say they understood it as a fundamental change in the standards on deadly force, which allow police to fire only to protect themselves or others from what appears to be an imminent physical threat.
Pain Ray, Rejected by the Military, Ready to Blast L.A. Prisoners
Inmates of the Pitchess Detention Center, watch your step. If you get out of line, you may get blasted with an invisible heat ray.
Pakistan Floods: 800,000 Can Only Be Reached by Air
The UN added that it needs at least 40 more helicopters to ferry lifesaving aid to increasingly desperate people. More than 1,500 people have been killed as floods swept from north to south across the country, while more than 17 million have been affected.
The flood chaos has raised concerns that the humanitarian crisis is being exploited by Islamist militants.
Iraq Car Bombs Kill 46: Officials
BAGHDAD - A series of apparently coordinated car bombs targeting police across Iraq on Wednesday killed 46 people, including women and children, one day after the US military confirmed a major troop reduction.
The trail of bloodshed started in the capital Baghdad before stretching to the north and south of the country, hitting a total of seven cities and towns in quick succession in tactics that bore the hallmark of Al-Qaeda.
Afghanistan: Ouster of Contractors Throws US Strategy in Doubt
NEW YORK - Charging that U.S. private security contractors are "mafia- like groups" being financed by U.S. taxpayers to carry out "terrorist activities" with the support of the U.S. government, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a four- month phaseout of all private security companies in his embattled country.
Report: Yemen Sacrificing Rights
Yemen's catalogue of human-rights abuses over the past two years includes unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest, torture, unfair trials and enforced disappearances, Amnesty said.
Alan Simpson: Social Security Is 'A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits'
Alan Simpson believes that Social Security is "like a milk cow with 310 million tits," according to an email he sent to the executive director of National Older Women's League Tuesday morning. Simpson co-chairs the deficit commission, which is considering various proposals to cut Social Security benefits.
Scientists Attack Court Ruling Against Barack Obama's Stem Cell Policy
American scientists have reacted with anger at a court ruling that strikes down Barack Obama's decision to greatly expand medical research using stem cells taken from human embryos.
Scientists described the order by a federal judge in Washington, who said that the president had overstepped a law barring the government funding of research in which human embryos are destroyed, as "deplorable" and "a serious setback" in the search for cures to major diseases.
No South Afghanistan Handover for a 'Few Years': US
WASHINGTON - The head of the US Marine Corps on Tuesday said Afghan forces would not be ready to take over security from US troops in key southern provinces for at least "a few years."
"I honestly think it will be a few years before conditions on the ground are such that turnover will be possible for us," General James Conway told reporters, referring to Marines deployed in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.
Russ Feingold: I Won't Be Done In By Citizens United Ruling
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) stressed on Monday that in his tight re-election contest, he won't be done in by the unraveling of campaign finance laws that he principally authored.
Tribal Groups, Activists Claim Victory as Vedanta Mine Plan Halted by Indian Government
Controversial plans to develop a bauxite mine on sacred tribal land in India have been scuppered as India's environment ministry has rejected a proposal by Vedanta Resources to mine the aluminium ore in the eastern state of Orissa.
Auto Union Joins Labor, Green Groups on Climate Bill Push
The United Auto Workers is the latest union to join the BlueGreen Alliance, which unites labor and environmental groups pushing for greenhouse gas limits and other policies to create "green" jobs.
The UAW - also known as the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America - claims to have more than 390,000 active members.
Court Halts President’s Stem Cell Expansion
A federal judge in Washington yesterday temporarily blocked the Obama administration's efforts to expand stem cell research, ruling in a case brought by a former MIT scientist and others who oppose embryonic stem cell research.
Royce C. Lamberth, chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, said in his 15-page decision that regulations designed to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research violated a law prohibiting destruction of embryos for research purposes.
Al-Shabab Vows 'Massive' Somali War
Al-Shabab fighters have attacked a hotel in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, killing at least 35 people, a day after declaring a massive war.
Members of al-Shabab, disguised as government workers, launched the attack on Tuesday at the Muna Hotel, which is known to host many Somali government officials and politicians, Al Jazeera's reporter in the city said.
Hunger-Striking Guantanamo Detainees are Being Force-Fed at Night During Ramadan
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Here's a new twist in the U.S. military's Islamic sensitivity effort in the prison camps for suspected terrorists at the Guantánamo Bay Navy base:
Military medical staff are force-feeding a secret number of prisoners on hunger strike between dusk and dawn during the Muslim fasting holiday of Ramadan.
State Department Details Blackwater Violations of US Laws
WASHINGTON — The company formerly known as Blackwater violated U.S. export control laws nearly 300 times, ranging from attempts to do business in Sudan while that country was under U.S. sanctions to training an Afghan border patrol official who was a native of Iran, the State Department said Monday.