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| Taking a Closer Look at the Stories Ignored by the Corporate Media |
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Archive for the Month of March, 2005.
Viewing ALL NEWS articles 1 through 75 of 156.
- In Vermont, a Town-Meeting revolt over Iraq war. On Tuesday, one-fifth of Vermont towns will consider what role the state's National Guard should play in the war. - Drafters of an anti-Iraq War resolution appearing on more than 50 Town Meeting Day warnings across the state of Vermont told Mad River Valley residents Monday night that small-town democratic forums are the birthing center for national policy change - Human rights lawyers will file a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday against Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight men who say they were tortured by US forces in custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. - Paul Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy secretary of defense, has emerged as a top contender for the job of leading the World Bank. - The Supreme Court abolished capital punishment for juvenile offenders yesterday, ruling 5 to 4 that it is unconstitutional to sentence anyone to death for a crime he or she committed while younger than 18. By far the largest impact of yesterday's ruling will be felt in Texas, where there are 29 juvenile offenders awaiting execution, and Alabama, where there are 14. No other state has more than five. There have been 22 executions of juveniles since 1976, 13 of them in Texas. - Vermont voters went to the polls Tuesday to overwhelmingly support a referendum to bring US troops home from Iraq, according to preliminary returns. - Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the streets here to celebrate the sharp break with the past. Until Dr. Vázquez, a Socialist, won a narrow victory in balloting, two traditional parties that had become increasingly difficult to distinguish from each other had alternated in power for more than 150 years. - As a week-long US operation ends, residents and some troops worry that insurgents will soon return.
- The US military is funding development of a weapon that delivers a bout of excruciating pain from up to 2 kilometres away. - Bush’s administration gave Israel the go-ahead to attack Syria in retaliation to Tel Aviv bombing that took place last weekend, killing 5 Israelis. - Over 700 top US scientists have protested at the massive funds being ploughed into studying biological weapons. - The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq rose to 1,500 after the military announced Thursday that a soldier was killed in action. US troops are killed nearly every day in Iraq. - The Bush administration policy toward the Middle East is being run by men - yes, only men - who were routinely referred to in high circles in Washington during the 1980s as the "crazies".
- The London mayor accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and said its prime minister should be imprisoned. He also accused Israel of demonising Muslims. - Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli, an official at Iraq’s health ministry, said that the U.S. military used internationally banned weapons during its deadly offensive in the city of Fallujah. - The American military's major detention centers in Iraq have swelled to capacity and are holding more people than ever, senior military officials say. - The Bush administration is considering a more aggressive effort to foster opposition inside Iran and seeking ways to use a new $3-million fund to support "activists". Seems the US is trying to sponsor a coup.
- In July 2003, the Washington Post published a harrowing account of the torture of an Assyrian Christian woman in Baghdad at the hands of Hussien. Unfortunately it was not true. No retractions were ever published. - The U.S. military is to beam its own news coverage to millions of Americans. - A $70 billion gas deal has brought Tehran and Beijing closer together. And
that could spell trouble for the U.S. - An Army intelligence sergeant who accused fellow soldiers in Samarra, Iraq, of abusing detainees in 2003 was in turn accused by his commander of being delusional and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. - American soldiers guarding a checkpoint here fired Friday night on a car carrying a kidnapped Italian journalist who had just been freed, wounding the journalist and killing an Italian intelligence agent. - House Republican leaders overcame earlier concerns and decided yesterday to give President Bush most of the emergency war spending money he requested last month, including $600 million for a compound in Baghdad that will be the largest US embassy in the world. - The Americans and Italians knew about her car coming." "Giuliana had information, and the US military did not want her to survive." And then they opened fire. - Johnson said he told the president: "Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an F-15, put two nukes on 'em and I'll make one pass. We won't have to worry about Syria anymore." - Jeers and catcalls greeted the top U.S. delegate to a global women's conference on Friday as she stressed Washington's opposition to abortion and support for sexual abstinence and fidelity.
- DVD surfaces showing US soldiers beating and torturing Iraqis. The US Army says that these acts of torture are "inappropriate rather than criminal behavior". That's good to know that torture of Iraqis isn't criminal, it's only inappropriate. - Chavez agrees with the Iraqi Ministry of Health that the US used mustard gas in its assault on Fallujah. - The Navy and marine wildlife experts are investigating whether the beaching of dozens of dolphins in the Florida Keys followed the use of sonar by a submarine on a training exercise off the coast. - The Presidents of Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela have issued a joint statement saying they are committed to pursuing a South American Community of Nations. President Chavez Frias had declared the elitist, US Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA) is dead. - The vehicle was not travelling fast and had already passed several checkpoints on its way to the airport. The Americans shone a flashlight at the car and then fired between 300 and 400 bullets at if from an armoured vehicle.
- 73 charred bodies -- women and children -- were found. US government used napalm in Fallujah. Was this the story that made this reporter a target of the US government? - Today, roughly 75 percent of U.S. processed foods, boxed cereals, other grain products, frozen dinners, cooking oils and more ? contain some genetically modified, or GM, ingredients, said Stephanie Childs of the Grocery Manufacturers of America.
- Environmentalists tried to block loggers from starting work Monday on the first salvage timber sale inside an old-growth forest reserve burned by a major 2002 fire. - Evo Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), the country's second-largest force in Congress, leads a movement to pass a new energy law that would raise royalties paid by multinationals from 18 to 50 percent. Twenty-six companies including Total (France), Petrobras Brazil), British Gas (Britain), Exxon Mobil (US), Repsol (Spain) and Plus Petrol (Argentina) risk seeing their contracts in Bolivia cancelled if the law is passed. - Venezuela will have no problems finding buyers for its oil if President Hugo Chavez halts exports to the United States if U.S. aggression against his country takes place, Venezuela's oil minister said Monday. - A missile fired by insurgents from the ground probably destroyed an RAF Hercules C-130 cargo plane in Iraq with the loss of 10 British special operations servicemen. Insurgents could possess a new missile capable of hitting aircraft flying above 15,000 feet.
- The Senate defeated dueling proposals Monday to raise the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage. Isn't this interesting in light of the continual regular wage increases these same politicians give themselves. - Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese have flooded central Beirut for a pro-Syrian rally called by Hizb Allah. This rally dwarfed any previous anti-Syria protests. - More than 2,000 supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched through a slum in Haiti's capital Friday, accusing police of killing two men during a recent protest. "We are living a nightmare under this de facto government. All they do is kill Aristide supporters." - Following the Pentagon, CIA, FBI and other government agencies, the Department of Homeland Security has hired a Hollywood liaison to work with moviemakers and script writers. Are movies with scripts written with Pentagon, CIA, and FBI input called propaganda? - Terrorist suspects in the United States are buying firearms with the knowledge and approval of the security forces, a congressional report revealed yesterday.
- More than 80,000 black Americans die every year because of continuing disparities in health care, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said on Wednesday. - U.S. military officials in Iraq had approved an Italian intelligence officer's mission to free a kidnapped journalist and were expecting their arrival at Baghdad's airport on Friday when U.S. soldiers opened fire on the Italians at a checkpoint, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roadways more dangerous for all drivers. - The percentage of new Army recruits who are black has slipped dramatically over the past five years, reflecting a lack of support among African Americans for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. - Bolivian lawmakers unanimously rejected a resignation offer by President Carlos Mesa, granting crucial support to his government after days of street protests. Morales, a prominent insisted he had not been seeking the president's ouster but instead wanted a modification of the oil tax law.
- A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated. "I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced."
- The Bush administration has decided to pull out of an international agreement that opponents of the death penalty have used to fight the sentences of foreigners on death row in the USA. In a two-paragraph letter Condoleezza Rice informed Kofi Annan that the USA "hereby withdraws" from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. - Middle-aged black men are dying at nearly twice the rate of white men of a similar age, reflecting lower incomes and poorer access to health care, a study has found. - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday offered a point-by-point rebuttal of President Bush's argument that the Middle East is opening to an era of democracy stimulated by the US invasion of Iraq. - The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) today released its 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure—assigning a cumulative grade of D for the nation’s infrastructure. The condition of our nation’s roads, bridges, drinking water systems and other public works have shown little to no improvement since they were graded an overall D+ in 2001. ASCE estimates an investment need of $1.6 trillion over a five-year period from all levels of government and the private sector - Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian foreign minister, fires back at U.S. -- and Canadian -- critics of our Ballisitic Missle Defence decision in An Open Letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
- Poland will withdraw "several hundred" of its troops from Iraq in July, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski was quoted as saying Friday.
- Bernie Sanders (I-VT), members of the American Library Association and Representatives from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression introduces the "Freedom to Read Protection Act." The legislation would exempt libraries and booksellers from provisions of the USA Patriot Act that allow the federal government to access library or bookstore records without having to get a traditional search warrant. - "Iran has every right, like many other countries, to develop its atomic energy, to continue their investigations in this field." Chavez said today in a televised speech from the presidential palace in Caracas.
- Long-term unemployment, defined as joblessness for six months or more, is at record rates. But there's an additional twist: An unusually large share of those chronically out of work are, like Gillespie, college graduates. - US soldier, who acknowledged striking a detainee named Dilawar 37 times, was accused of killing him after maiming him over a five-day period by "destroying his leg muscle tissue with repeated unlawful knee strikes," according to the Times. - The warden and guards at a federal prison discriminated and retaliated against Muslim inmates, the Justice Department's inspector general said yesterday in a report that also detailed allegations of mistreatment of Muslims at other U.S. lockups. - "Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers. To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. - The Bush administration came out in support of the coup. Chavez had antagonized the Bush regime by questioning the anti-terror strategy of the US and had traveled all over the world striking friendship with anti-US players including Saddam Hussein. Chavez also enraged Bush and Co. by openly praising Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has himself weathered a forty year-long campaign by the US to dislodge the communist rule from Havana. - I went to Google.com and searched for images of Saddam’s capture. All the major news networks and publications showed pictures of the hole and a beleaguered Saddam: Time Magazine, CNN News, magazines, daily newspapers, etc. You name it and they published it.But, they were all wrong. Not one publication took the time to research the story. Not one. They just took pictures given by the U.S. military and parroted the lines they were given. - The dealings of coalition officials in Iraq and a contractor now accused of fraud illustrate what went wrong in early rebuilding efforts. What went wrong was no accountability and rampant corruption. - Gov. Brian Schweitzer has touched off a political fight with Montana Republicans after calling for the return of National Guard troops serving in Iraq.
- A radical Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar was walking to a Milan mosque
for noon prayers in February 2003 when he was grabbed on the sidewalk by two men, sprayed in the face with chemicals and stuffed into a van. He hasn't been seen since. Investigators believe he was abducted by the CIA and taken to a nation that allows torture. - The tobacco treaty is the one of numerous international treaties including, ABM, human rights, public health, maritime policies, and environmental protection that the Bush administration has failed to sign or has pulled out of. The USA demands that nations unquestioningly support its agenda, while absolutely ignoring other nations concerns. This is called "democracy" in USA doublespeak. - Hundreds of thousands of people turned out for a Hizbollah rally against the United States on Sunday. - Washington is "hallucinating" if it thinks Iran will scrap its nuclear fuel production plans in return for economic incentives, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying Sunday. - Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if US threats fail to halt the Iranian nuclear programme. - As oil prices remain above $45 a barrel, a major market mover has cast a worrying future prediction. Energy investment banker Matthew Simmons, of Simmons & Co International, has been outspoken in his warnings about peak oil before. His new statement is his strongest yet, "we may have already passed peak oil".
- The White House, in concert with the Republican National Committee and well-financed business groups, has launched an unprecedented campaign for changes in Social Security, including essays in local newspapers, media interviews and supporters calling in to radio shows to back President Bush.
- More than 5,000 Chinese miners are killed each year, 75% of the global total, even though the country produces only a third of the world's coal. Working under appalling safety conditions, they are sacrificed to fuel the factories that make the cheap goods snapped up by consumers in Britain and other wealthy nations - Bowing to popular pressure, the Italian Government said last night that it would start pulling its more than 3,000 troops out of Iraq in September. - Former WorldCom Inc. chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers was found guilty Tuesday on all counts against him of conspiracy, securities fraud and false regulatory filings for his role in a massive accounting fraud that led to the downfall of the nation's second-largest telecommunications firm and cost investors billions of dollars - Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit in seeking records from the Department of Defense concerning Pentagon funded programs engaged in "strategic influence, perception management, strategic information warfare and/or strategic psychological operations" through media consultants, "think tanks," foreign expatriate political organizations
and Internet sites.
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