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Secret Service Expands Misconduct Probe to El Salvador

Susan Cornwell and Tabassum Zakaria
Reuters
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:31 UTC
The U.S. Secret Service is examining a new report of alleged misconduct by agents at an El Salvador strip club ahead of a trip there last year by President Barack Obama, a senior lawmaker said on Thursday.
Image
© Reuters/Luis Galdamez
Men work in front of a billboard welcoming U.S. President Barack Obama, near the presidential house in San Salvador March 18, 2011.
Representative Peter King, a Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement to Reuters that the review is part of an extensive investigation the Secret Service is conducting in the aftermath of an incident involving prostitutes in Columbia.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters the agency also is looking into the El Salvador allegations, aired Thursday in a report by Seattle channel KIRO-TV, part of the CBS-Cox media group.

In the television interview, an anonymous U.S. contractor described visiting a club offering sexual favors with some Secret Service agents and U.S. military specialists in advance of Obama's March, 2011, visit.

"Obviously, we will inquire of our embassy in San Salvador with regard to the conduct of our own employees. But the article alleges that they attended the establishment, not that they engaged in any illegal or unsanctioned conduct," Nuland said.

Southern Command was looking into whether investigation of the allegations was merited, a spokesman said.

Interest in the El Salvador allegations came a day after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano assured lawmakers that no Secret Service misconduct similar to the recent carousing in Cartagena, Colombia, had been found in the last two and a half years.
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Eye 2

Anatomy of a Psychopath: Norwegian Mass Murderer Breivik stuns trial by comparing grief of victims' families to his 'pain' at being shunned


The Guardian
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:10 UTC
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Anders Behring Breivik tells Oslo court on his last day of evidence that he lost contact with friends and family after attacks

Anders Behring Breivik has compared the pain he caused the families of his victims to his own situation, saying he lost contact with his friends and family after the 22 July attacks.

The 33-year-old rightwing extremist, who has admitted killing 77 people last summer, showed no remorse on Monday as he continued his shocking testimony about the massacre at the annual youth camp of the governing Labour party.

Calling the rampage "necessary", Breivik compared being shunned by those close to him to the grief of the bereaved. "The only difference was that for my part it was a choice," he said.
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Family

Drugs firm takes cost conscious doctors to court

Jacky Law
Independent
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:57 UTC
Image
© unk
Independent experts have condemned the Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis for trying to force the NHS to buy an expensive drug to treat patients suffering from a degenerative eye disease, rather than using a cheaper, unlicensed alternative.

Novartis is taking four NHS areas in the south of England to a judicial review because they have allowed doctors to prescribe the anti-cancer drug Avastin to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration.

Novartis wants Southampton, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth to revoke the policy of prescribing Avastin, but is not making any financial claims of the Primary Care Trusts or the NHS.

Novartis says Avastin is unlicensed for the eye disease and wants its own licensed drug Lucentis, which costs £740 an injection compared with £60, to be used.
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Heart - Black

Secret service orgies in Brazil: A fresh embarrassment to Obama

Matt Roper
Mail Online
Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:23 UTC
Romilda Ferreira
© TV Globo
U.S. marines are accused of injuring a Brazilian prostitute after throwing her out of an official Embassy car
American marines injured a Brazilian prostitute after throwing her out of an official Embassy car, it was reported today.

Romilda Ferreira was left with a broken collar bone, two broken ribs and a punctured lung after the incident in Brazil's capital Brasilia.

The three marines on a U.S. Embassy security team, and an Embassy staff member, were pulled out of the country before police were able to press charges, according to Brazil's Jornal Nacional programme.
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War Whore

As Western terrorists break ceasefire in Syria, French government calls for full-scale intervention


Press TV
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:15 UTC
Image

Syrian army soldiers carry the coffins of their comrades who were killed in recent violence in the country, during their funeral procession at the military hospital in Homs, Oct. 1, 2011.
Armed groups have killed two military officers and three civilians in the flashpoint southern province of Dara'a, SANA reported.

According to the official Syrian news agency, Lieutenant Colonel Habes Aslan and Captain Nawras Rahieh were killed in two separate incidents on Wednesday.

A policeman was also gunned down in the restive city.

Meanwhile, terrorists have opened fire on an ambulance in the Damascus suburb of Douma, killing a Red Crescent volunteer and injuring another.

Civilian casualties were also reported in Idlib and Aleppo.

The latest round of violence comes as French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe urged military action in Syria.
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Star of David

Illegitimate Canadian Government Sponsoring Terrorists in Syria While Canadian Army Fights Same Terrorists in Afghanistan

Joshua Blakeney
Press TV
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:26 UTC
Image
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, appears on the Qatari state media and affirms Canada's partisan support for the Syria rebels. Baird asserts that Canada's Middle East policy is motivated by Human Rights concerns yet he appears scared to criticize the human rights abuses of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. He remains noticeably silent on the lack of democracy in Saudi Arabia and Qatar which perhaps stems from the fact that his own conservative party are currently under fire with accusations that they rigged the 2011 Canadian elections in which they attained a majority in the Canadian parliament.

Many Canadian-Syrians are ill at ease with their government's financial and political support for groups that they are allegedly committing acts of terrorism in Syria at the behest of the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

This testimony brings into question the claim by the Canadian government that it is engaged in a so-called war on terror. If the Canadian government is indeed aiding and abetting terror groups, as alleged by these Syrian patriots, then it would vindicate the claim by many that terrorism is but a tool of Western governments that are in fact engaged in a war of terror against the inhabitants of the Middle East.
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Rocket

Pakistan Tests Missile Days After India's Launch

Sebastian Abbot
The Associated Press
Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© EPA
Pakistan's Hatf-IV, also called Shaheen-1A, intermediate-range ballastic missile from an undisclosed location in Pakistan 25 April 2012
Islamabad - Pakistan successfully launched an upgraded ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead Wednesday, days after its neighbor and archenemy India conducted its own missile test, the Pakistani military said.

The Hatf IV Shaheen-1A missile was fired into the sea, the military said in a written statement.

It was described as an intermediate-range missile having a longer range than its predecessor, the Shaheen-1, which is believed to fly up to 750 kilometers (465 miles).

"The improved version of Shaheen-1A will further consolidate and strengthen Pakistan's deterrence abilities," said Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, who witnessed the launch and is responsible for the country's nuclear program.

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of 3,000 to 5,000 kilometers (1,865 to 3,110 miles), according to the website GlobalSecurity.org.

If the Shaheen-1A is indeed an intermediate-range missile, it would represent a quantum leap from the previous version. Pakistan's longest range missile before Wednesday's launch was believed to be the Shaheen II, with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles). That is far enough to hit targets anywhere in India.
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Gear

Bo Xilai Scandal: China President 'Was Wire-Tapped'


BBC News
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:30 UTC
Bo Xilai
© Reuters
Since Bo Xilai's downfall, his activities have come under immense media scrutiny
Bo Xilai ran a wire-tapping system that extended as far as China's president, the New York Times has reported.

Citing "nearly a dozen people with party ties", it said the disgraced Mr Bo ran a wire-tapping network across Chongqing, where he was party chief.

His officials even listened to a phone call involving Hu Jintao, it said.

Chinese authorities have not mentioned wire-tapping in reports about Bo Xilai, whose wife is being investigated over the death of a British national.

They are investigating Mr Bo over "serious discipline violations", while his wife, Gu Kailai, has been detained as a suspect in the death of Neil Heywood, the British businessman found dead in Chongqing in November 2011.

Chinese authorities say they believe Mr Heywood was murdered.

Mr Bo - a high flier once expected to reach the top echelons of office - has not been seen in public since he was removed from his political posts, in the biggest political shake-up in China in years.
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Attention

Pakistan's Top Court Convicts PM of Contempt

Asif Shahzad
The Associated Press
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00 UTC
Yousuf Raza Gilani
© unknown
Yousuf Raza Gilani
The Supreme Court convicted Pakistan's prime minister of contempt on Thursday but spared him a prison term for refusing to reopen a corruption case against his boss, the president, leaving the premier in power but facing fresh calls to resign.

The ruling against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani added to political uncertainty and tensions between the government and the court, effectively crippling an administration that has shown little will to tackle the economic and security challenges facing the country.

Thursday's hearing had been widely anticipated by opponents of Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, who were hoping the Supreme Court would sentence the prime minister to prison and order his immediate dismissal from office. That would have triggered a major political crisis, brought criticism on the court and could have benefited Gilani and Zardari electorally by making them martyrs in the eyes of their supporters.

Gilani is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan, where civilian governments have repeatedly been toppled by the country's powerful military, often with the support of the Supreme Court, which critics allege is heavily politicized. Corruption charges have routinely been used to target those in power, or seeking to return.

Gilani's conviction in a court of law means there are now grounds to initiate dismissal proceedings, which involves the speaker of the parliament and the election commission. It could take up to four months and be fiercely contested every step of the way.
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Dominoes

Rupert Murdoch to Return for 2nd Day of Questioning by London Inquiry

Alan Cowell
The New York Times
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:38 UTC
Rupert Murdoch
© Desconocido
London - After a day of testimony at a British judicial inquiry over his ties, friendships and fall-outs with British politicians, Rupert Murdoch was to return to the witness stand on Thursday to face what could be far tougher questions about the hacking scandal that has convulsed his media outpost here.

His appearance offers rare public scrutiny of Mr. Murdoch, usually shielded by his power, influence and wealth.

Since the scandal blossomed last summer, Mr. Murdoch, 81, has been forced to undertake once unthinkable measures, such as the closure of The News of the World Sunday tabloid and the abandonment of a $12 billion satellite television bid, as questions have deepened about the behavior and ethics of journalists, editors and managers working for him.

Last July, he and his son James Murdoch appeared side by side at a separate parliamentary inquiry into the scandal when the elder Mr. Murdoch was assailed by a protester who threw a foam pie in his face.

In addition to the investigations by Parliament and the current inquiry under Lord Justice Brian Leveson, the British police have launched three separate inquiries into hacking of voice mail, e-mail and the alleged bribery of police officers.
      Read More...
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