The Army's most decorated serving war hero has accused the Government of failing soldiers suffering from mental trauma resulting from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for twice saving the lives of colleagues in Iraq while under heavy rocket fire, told The Independent it was "disgraceful" that some veterans were struggling to receive treatment. He said the Government was relying on military charities to cover its own deficiencies and called on it to act to better help the growing number of his comrades suffering from severe combat stress, depression and mental breakdowns.
Iraq hero goes on the warpath
Civil servants attacked for using anti-terror laws to spy on public
Controversial surveillance powers employed to fight terrorism and combat crime have been misused by civil servants in undercover "spying" operations that breach official guidelines, the Guardian has learned.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show some government departments and agencies have used these powers incorrectly or without proper controls. They also show the official government watchdog set up to monitor the use of such clandestine techniques criticised the departments for their behaviour.
Israelis at center of ecstasy drug trade
Israel is at the center of international trade in the drug ecstasy, according to a document published last week by the U.S. State Department.
In recent years, organized crime in Israel, some with links to criminal organizations in Russia, have come to control the distribution of the drug in Europe, according to a Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs document.
The 'right' to discriminate
TVNL REMINDER: July 2007 - A new bill in the Knesset seeks to perpetuate discrimination against Israel's Arab citizens.
Last week, the Israeli Knesset passed, on first reading, the Jewish National Fund bill which allows the JNF to refuse to lease land to Arab citizens. The JNF is a quasi-public charity established to raise funds to purchase land for Jewish settlement within Israel. In 1961, the Israeli government transferred 13% of Israeli land to the JNF. Included in this were one million dunams expropriated from Arab residents who fled Israel in 1948.
The government had sold the land to the JNF at bargain-basement prices in order to remain at arm's length from the tainted process. Historically, the JNF has maintained a ban against Arab use of its land. But the Israeli supreme court, in a landmark ruling, said that the JNF can no longer discriminate against the Arab population. The Court maintained that such a ban defies the norms of a democratic state and must be ended.
The Knesset bill, co-sponsored by a ruling party Kadima Knesset member, is an attempt to get around the court ruling.
AstraZeneca Suppressed Information about Seroquel Link to Diabetes, Told Sales Reps to Lie
Drug maker AstraZeneca, seller of the Seroquel antipsychotic drug, suppressed clinical studies showing its drug significantly increased the risk of diabetes, say internal e-mails.
As Bloomberg is reporting today, employee emails that were unsealed as part of a lawsuit reveal AstraZeneca deliberately hid at least three studies that established a significant link between its Seroquel drug and the onset of diabetes in patients. This fact was blatantly admitted in a 1999 e-mail sent by an AstraZeneca official.
Return Of The War Party
Real men go to Tehran!" brayed the neoconservatives, after the success of their propaganda campaign to have America march on Baghdad and into an unnecessary war that has forfeited all the fruits of our Cold War victory.
Now they are back, in pursuit of what has always been their great goal: an American war on Iran. It would be a mistake to believe they and their collaborators cannot succeed a second time.
SEC alerted about Stanford in 2003
A whistleblower contacted US regulators more than five years ago with allegations that Sir Allen Stanford’s businesses were involved in an “illegal Ponzi scheme”, the Financial Times has learnt, raising new questions about why authorities waited until last week to shut down the alleged $8bn fraud.
Leyla Basagoitia, a former Stanford employee, raised a series of red flags about the tycoon’s empire in a 2003 employment dispute with her company at a tribunal run by the finance industry’s self-regulatory body. Ms Basagoitia also alerted the US Securities and Exchange Commission at about the same time, her lawyer said, echoing criticisms the agency ignored early warnings about the alleged $50bn Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff.
Tough-on-Crime Groups Cut to the Chase
Only in America can elected officials go on TV and confess to felonies (including torture and warrantless spying, not to mention aggressive war) and the resulting debate focus around the question of whether investigating the "possibility" of wrong-doing would be too radical. This week a coalition of dozens of human rights groups including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Society of American Law Teachers released a statement, as drafted by The Robert Jackson Steering Committee, cutting to the chase.
Obama Plans to End Combat Mission in Iraq by August 2010
President Obama arrived at one of the nation’s most storied military bases Friday morning to unveil plans to pull most troops out of Iraq by August 2010 after receiving support from an unlikely quarter — Senator John McCain, the Republican he beat in last year’s election.
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