By Andrew Wander, a Reprieve Media Fellow
When Ayman al-Shurafa was taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, few outside Chicago had heard of Barack Obama.
By the time Obama, a junior senator from Illinois, announced he was running for president in 2007, al-Shurafa, a Palestinian, had already spent five years in the jail and had been cleared for release by the administration of George Bush, the then-president.
When Obama became president almost two years…
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Added by Tara on July 21, 2009 at 11:47am —
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AP
Monday, 20 July 2009
South Africa launched clinical trials of the first Aids vaccine created by a developing country today, as its own scientists overcame deep skepticism from political leaders who had shocked the world with their unscientific pronouncements about the disease.
The new vaccine targets the specific HIV strain that has ravaged South Africa's people and produced the worst Aids epidemic in the world.
"It has been a very, very hard…
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Added by Tara on July 20, 2009 at 11:10am —
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Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:36:46 GMT
Charles Taylor, Liberia's former president and Africa's first head of state to stand trial in an international court, claims the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped his escape from a US jail.
Taylor denied all of the 11 charges of war crimes against him in his first testimony Tuesday at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague.
One of the most intriguing mysteries of Taylor's rise to power from a rebel leader to…
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Added by Tara on July 19, 2009 at 3:02pm —
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Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:02:49 GMT
A US Air Force linguist joins a host of doctors in demanding a new probe into the mysterious death of a British scientist and weapons expert who opposed the Iraq war.
The controversy surrounding Dr. David Kelly's death was first rekindled following a Daily Express report in June that revealed the expert was in the middle of writing a book containing damaging government secrets on the Iraq war as well as biological warfare in apartheid South…
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Added by Tara on July 19, 2009 at 2:54pm —
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I've alway's loved poetry and the written word because of the beauty of thought, feeling and emotion expressed in a way that no movie script could ever convey.
We all need to be reminded of that tree of liberty of which we all stand united under, trying to escape the weeds entangling....that wish to strangle the roots of which we came.
Many of you probably have read this poem before but I thought that I should add it because of its relevance to the fight for freedom, when…
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Added by Tara on July 19, 2009 at 2:00am —
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The US government has sent a strong message to Iran, saying it is running out of time to engage in dialogue over its nuclear programme to avoid further isolation or even military action.
Warning that Washington would only grant Iran a limited amount of time to respond to its offer to hold talks, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said: "The choice is clear: we remain ready to engage with Iran, but the time for action is now. The opportunity will not remain open…
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Added by Tara on July 16, 2009 at 10:56am —
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Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:45:00 GMT
Tel Aviv takes a step closer to war with Tehran as two Israeli warships sail through the Suez Canal within cruise-missile range of Iran.
Earlier this week, two Israel Navy gunboats, the Hanit and the Eliat, passed through the Suez Canal and across the Red Sea.
In a Thursday interview with the Times, a senior Israeli defense official said the move should be seen as serious preparations for a long-expected attack on Iranian nuclear…
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Added by Tara on July 16, 2009 at 9:19am —
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Posted: July 14, 2009
9:53 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling and Joe Kovacs
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.
His attorney, Orly Taitz, confirmed to WND the military has rescinded his impending…
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Added by Tara on July 15, 2009 at 11:41am —
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Let us begin today with full disclosure: For those who don't know my position on global warming alarmism and its insidious uses, it is that this phenomenon is the greatest hoax in modern times and is being used to achieve things - bad things - quite apart from its ostensible goal of "saving the planet."
Al Gore wanders the spheroid he is determined to save, spouting increasingly inane observations as his bank account grows and his "carbon footprint" becomes ever more Godzilla-like,…
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Added by Tara on July 14, 2009 at 12:31pm —
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by Jeff Huber, July 14, 2009
A July 5 story by David Sanger of the New York Times typifies how completely our mainstream media have been bulldozed by the warmongery’s propaganda machine. "Despite Crisis, Policy on Iran Is Engagement" states that "the accelerating crackdown on opposition leaders in Iran" will not deter the Obama administration from "seeking to engage the country’s top leadership in direct negotiations."
We don’t have a clue what’s actually going on in Iran.…
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Added by Tara on July 14, 2009 at 11:16am —
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Two hard-line US lawmakers have called for greater efforts to topple the Tehran government, going as far as to suggest support for anti-Iran terrorist groups.
Democratic Representative and Chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, Bob Filner called, on June 26, for greater support for what he called "resistance groups" in Iran, putting a special emphasis on the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), UPI reported.
On Sunday, Former House Speaker and leading…
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Added by Tara on July 14, 2009 at 10:31am —
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(LONDON) - The House of Commons will tonight be debating the interception of a boat in international waters by the Israeli Navy and the abduction of six British civilians on board. The debate[1] will be led by Emily Thornberry, MP, and constituent MP for Alex Harrison, a human rights worker who was one of those abducted.
On June 30th 2009 a small ferry, carrying 21 unarmed civilians and a small amount of humanitarian aid, was forcibly boarded by armed Israeli commandos as it sailed…
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Added by Tara on July 13, 2009 at 10:52am —
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Israel's illegal settlers in the West Bank have set fire to more than 120 hectares of Palestinian land, the Ministry of Agriculture says.
In a series of attacks since the spring, settlers have gone on the offensive, attacking Palestinian farmers particularly in villages surrounding the cities of Nablus and al-Khalil (Hebron), the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture said on Sunday.
The ministry issued a statement after settlers in the West Bank town of Beit Ummar set fire…
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Added by Tara on July 13, 2009 at 1:30am —
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By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Pentagon health experts are urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end its sale on military property, a change that could dramatically alter a culture intertwined with smoking.
Jack Smith, head of the Pentagon's office of clinical and program policy, says he will recommend that Gates adopt proposals by a federal study that cites rising tobacco use and higher costs for the Pentagon and Department of Veterans…
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Added by Tara on July 11, 2009 at 11:21am —
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The former speaker of the US House of Representatives has said that the US should "sabotage" Iran's oil and gas infrastructure as part of its efforts to bring down the government.
In an interview with Al Jazeera's Avi Lewis for the Fault Lines programme, Republican Newt Gingrich said targeting Iran's refinery would spark an economic crisis that would destabilise the government in Tehran.
He said the US should "use covert operations … to create a gasoline-led crisis to try…
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Added by Tara on July 11, 2009 at 12:43am —
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Though I don't subscribe to their beliefs and such....it is becoming quite clear that freedom of speech isn't so free anymore and what happens in the UK eventually makes its way to our shores. They don't even lock up pedophiles and rapists as long as they're locking up these two guys.
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Two men have been jailed after becoming the first in the UK to be convicted of inciting racial hatred online.
Simon Sheppard, 51, of Selby in…
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Added by Tara on July 10, 2009 at 11:01am —
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By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposal from a long-time congressional foe of the Federal Reserve that could give lawmakers sway over monetary policy has won the support of a majority in the House of Representatives, alarming officials at the U.S. central bank.
The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, put forward by Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas, now has 250 co-sponsors in the House. It will get air-time on Thursday during a congressional hearing on…
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Added by Tara on July 9, 2009 at 9:40am —
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By Matthew Shaer | 07.08.09A series of attacks on computer networks in South Korea and the US was apparently the work of North Korean hackers, several news agencies are reporting today. The attacks, which targeted the White House, the Pentagon, and the Washington Post, among other high-level institutions, are raising concerns that the long-simmering conflict with North Korea is expanding into a dangerous new theater.
According to Seoul’s National Intelligence Service, the “attacks…
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Added by Tara on July 8, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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US president goes on first trip to Russia and calls on Moscow to stop viewing America as an enemy
Luke Harding in Moscow guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 July 2009 15.07 BST Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/07/obama-russia-first-trip
Barack Obama today set out his vision for a new post-cold war world, and urged Russia not to interfere in…
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Added by Tara on July 7, 2009 at 12:19pm —
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By Flavia Krause-Jackson
July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Pope Benedict XVI called for a new financial order with “real teeth” as Group of Eight leaders prepare to discuss ways out of the worst recession since World War II.
“Profit is useful if it serves as a means toward an end,” he wrote in a letter to Catholic bishops worldwide published today. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks…
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Added by Tara on July 7, 2009 at 11:39am —
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