Week ending: Saturday 13th November 2004

'Toxin link' to veterans' illness
The illnesses suffered by veterans of the first Gulf War appeared to be linked to toxins including nerve gas, according to a US report. The US Veterans Affairs Department said stress or mental illness did not explain most veterans' complaints, but there was a probable link to toxins. British campaigners are demanding the government recognise 'Gulf War Syndrome'. The UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) says there is not enough evidence to prove its existence.

US Troops Reportedly Gassing Fallujah
US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein’s alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988.“The US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting them with internationally-banned chemical weapons,” resistance sources said. The fatal weapons led to the deaths of tens of innocent civilians, whose bodies litter sidewalks and streets, they added.

Get ready for more Fahrenheit 9/111⁄2
' We want to get cameras rolling now and have it ready in two-three years,' Moore says. 'We want to document and commercialize it. Fifty-one percent of the American people lacked information (in this election) and we want to educate and enlighten them. They weren't told the truth. We're communicators and it's up to us to start doing it now. The official mourning period is over today and there is a silver lining -- George W. Bush is prohibited by law from running again.' And as for those who claim that Hollywood was an albatross on the Democrats' neck, Moore says, 'America loves Hollywood. When given a chance to vote for someone from Hollywood, they jump in.'

Video of Tanks at anti-war protest in LA
At 7:50 PM November 8th two armored tanks showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood. The tanks circled the block twice, the second time parking themselves in the street and directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered. Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the tanks, but police quickly cleared the street. The people continued to protest the presence of the tanks, but about ten minutes the tanks drove off. It is unclear as to why the tanks were deployed to this location. Uploaded here is video from the event.

Nicaragua Leftists Gain in Elections
Nicaragua's leftist opposition Sandinista party, which fought a civil war with U.S.-backed rebels when it ruled in the 1980s, made strong gains in weekend elections, taking control of almost all major cities. Results released Monday showed the Sandinistas handing a heavy defeat to the ruling party, which has been weakened by internal feuding and a drive to remove President Enrique Bolanos amid campaign finance and corruption allegations.

Judge warns of Orwellian terrorism laws
The last line of defence for human rights in the terrorism age are courts and judges across the world that have been putting a brake on laws that infringe on fundamental freedoms, Justice Michael Kirby said. The High Court judge pointed out that since 2001, 17 items of legislation restricting civil rights have been adopted by the Federal Government, as well as complementary state laws. 'There is a tendency in this area to give legislation stirring names in the hope of rendering exceptions to civil liberties more palatable and opposition to such laws more difficult,' he said.

Palestinian Leader Arafat Dies in France
Yasser Arafat, the man who embodied the cause of the Palestinian people for four decades, died at 3:30 a.m. November 11th at a hospital outside Paris, according to Palestinian and hospital officials. He was 75. Arafat was flown to France nearly two weeks ago with what was said to be an intestinal disorder, but he lapsed into a coma and suffered a brain hemorrhage and liver and kidney failure. The doctors treating him in France never said publicly what caused the illness that led to his death.

Four killed in Baghdad blast
A huge explosion hit the heart of Baghdad today, killing at least four and destroying several cars, according to witnesses. The blast - reportedly a car bomb - hit near Saadoun Street, a densely populated commercial area with major hotels housing foreigners at 11.30am local time (0830 GMT). Ambulance sirens were heard wailing nearby. A journalist for Reuters reported seeing four charred bodies in burned-out cars at the scene. The news agency quoted a police officer at the site of the blast as saying that a car bomb hit a police patrol, wounding several policemen.

Dangerous jobs at the JobCentre
Passers-by may have been confused for thinking they were either at the centre of a major criminal incident or part of a sci-fi movie as half a dozen staff - kitted out in special protective suits - tentatively made their way into crisis-hit Fleetwood JobCentre. The building has been closed since May, amid claims it was causing illness among staff. People who worked there are said to have developed brain tumours, multiple sclerosis, cancers, heart and thyroid problems and have suffered miscarriages.

US claims militants are trapped as air strike hits clinic
As heavy fighting continued in Fallujah yesterday, US forces claimed they had taken control of 70 per cent of the city and cornered insurgents in a narrow strip of land. But it was impossible to verify the US claims, and Iraqi journalists inside the city said they doubted US forces were in control of as much of the city as they claimed. Twenty Iraqi doctors and dozens of civilians were killed in a US air strike that hit a clinic in Fallujah, according to an Iraqi doctor who said he survived the strike. There are fears that heavy civilian casualties could be damaging for US-led forces. The US military said it had killed 71 insurgents, and that 10 American soldiers and two members of the Iraqi security forces fighting alongside the Americans had been killed.

Gonzales to Succeed Ashcroft, Sources Say
President Bush has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and one of the most prominent Hispanics in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said. Ashcroft announced his resignation on Tuesday, along with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Texas friend of the president's. Gonzales, 49, has long been rumored as a leading candidate for a Supreme Court vacancy if one develops. Speculation increased after Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist announced he has thyroid cancer.

Israeli police arrest Vanunu
Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has been arrested this morning by Israeli police for allegedly passing on classified information to unnamed international parties. Mr Vanunu was released from Ashkelon prison in April, after serving an 18-year sentence for an interview he gave to The Sunday Times, which revealed the Israel's secret weapons program. He has been barred from leaving Israel since his release from jail and has not been permitted to meet foreign journalists to discuss his work at Dimona, the nuclear facility in the Negev Desert.

Tobacco giant says 'no cover-up'
A tobacco firm has said allegations it covered up evidence of the harmful effects of passive smoking are 'false, inaccurate and highly misleading'. A paper in the Lancet alleges Philip Morris hid investigations and declined to publish evidence on the risks. The claims relate to work carried out by a German research facility acquired by the company in the 1970s. But a spokesman for Philip Morris said the Lancet claims were 'highly distorted'.

What is Operation Unicorn?
An ambiguous French military engagement in the Ivory Coast called Operation Unicorn had “attracted little international attention until an outburst of weekend violence which included the deaths of nine French soldiers, the retaliatory destruction of the country’s tiny air force and the killing of 50 Ivorian demonstrators by French troops.” Ivorian President Gbagbo is trying to frame this as a struggle to resist an attempt by France to reassert colonial dominance.

Evidence of hostage murders discovered
Iraqi forces fighting alongside US troops in Fallujah yesterday claimed to have found the houses in which civilian hostages were held by militants and beheaded in front of a camera. Iraqi troops found video disks with recordings of the killings, the black clothes worn by militants in the videos and records of the names of hostages, Major-General Abdel Qadir Jassem said. 'We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people,' said General Jassem, who has just been named military governor of Fallujah by the US-appointed Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.

Japan Navy Mobilized After Mystery Submarine Spotted
Japan's top government spokesman, Hiroyuki Hosoda, said a Japanese navy patrol plane continued to track the submarine. Media reports said it was heading toward the Chinese coast. Relations between China and Japan are chilly. China, occupied by Japan in the 1930s and 1940s, is upset by Koizumi's annual visits to honor war dead at a Tokyo shrine and the two countries have a long-running dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, some 200 km (124 miles) northwest of the area where the submarine was found.

Meltdown: Arctic wildlife is on the brink of catastrophe
Polar bears, the biggest land carnivores on Earth, face extinction this century if the Arctic continues to melt at its present rate, a study into global warming has found. The sea ice around the North Pole on which the bears depend for hunting is shrinking so swiftly it could disappear during the summer months by the end of the century, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ICIA) says.

A father's anger: 'I would kill Geoff Hoon'
The father of two Black Watch soldiers serving at Camp Dogwood in Iraq threatened to kill the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, yesterday because he was a 'two-faced lying git'. James Buchanan, whose sons Gary, 27, and Craig, 24, both corporals, were due to return home but then redeployed north to reinforce the American assault on Falluja, said: 'This man has got me so angry. If I see him in the street I would kill him. I would kill that man. I would cut his throat.' The former RAF warrant officer's outburst came at the launch of Families Against the War, a group of families who will campaign for British troops to be pulled out of Iraq.

France introduces chemical castration for sex offenders
France launched a pilot plan yesterday to offer rapists and paedophiles chemical treatment to inhibit their sex drive. The move, announced by justice minister Dominique Perben, aims to reduce the population of French prisons where 8,200 men - or 22 per cent of male inmates - are convicted sex offenders. Of those, three out of four have been jailed for crimes of paedophilia.

Allawi relatives kidnapped
Some members of Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi's family have been kidnapped and threatened with being beheaded in 48-hours unless the US-led Falluja offensive stops, it emerged today. A police spokesman, Lt Colonel Maan Khalaf, said three of Mr Allawi's relatives had been kidnapped from their home in the south-west of Baghdad: the prime minister's cousin, Alaa Abdul Majeed Allawi, his cousin's wife and his cousin's daughter-in-law.

Marines 'control 70% of Fallujah'
The US Marines said today that American forces control an estimated 70 per cent of Fallujah. Army and Marine units that pushed south through the city's central highway overnight now control an estimated 70% of the city, said Maj Francis Piccoli, of the 1st First Marine Expeditionary Force. Left unclaimed is a band through the central part of the city, running along the main east-west route, but US and Iraqi forces are expected to battle to try for that strip today, he said.

Attorney general quits US cabinet
US Attorney General John Ashcroft has resigned from the Bush cabinet, the White House has announced. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a close Bush friend, has also quit his post. They are the first departures from President Bush's cabinet since he was re-elected for another four-year term. Mr Ashcroft, in a letter announcing his departure, said the objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror had been achieved.

35 US soldiers captured in Fallujah: mosques
Mosques in Iraq's restive city of Fallujah announced on Monday that the fighters inside the city have captured 35 US soldiers. Loud speakers of the mosques blared out the news as US forces were trying to penetrate the rebel-held city, but the news could not be independently confirmed. US troops and Iraqi special forces stormed into the western districts of Fallujah early Monday and seized the main city hospital and two key bridges over the Euphrates River. US officials said there may be more fierce fighting to come if US forces try to enter downtown Fallujah on the east bank of the river.

Calls for end to violence at funeral of murdered filmmaker
The Dutch film-maker whose brutal murder sparked a spiral of racial violence in the Netherlands was cremated yesterday amid appeals for an end to a spate of attacks on mosques, schools and churches. On a bitterly cold Amsterdam night, the public heeded calls from municipal leaders not to turn up en masse but to follow the ceremony at home on TV. Theo van Gogh, a descendant of the 19th-century artist, was shot, stabbed and had his throat cut last week. Police later arrested a 26-year-old man who had dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality and was suspected of links to radical Islamic groups, after a shoot-out in an Amsterdam park.

U.S. Helicopter Shot Down in Falluja -Witness
A U.S. helicopter was shot down over Falluja on Tuesday as U.S.-led forces were pressing home an offensive on the rebel-held city. 'I saw the helicopter collide with a rocket. It turned into a ball of fire and fell to the ground,' said Reuters reporter Fadel al-Badrani. 'There was smoke everywhere.' He said the helicopter crashed in the city's Jolan district. There was no immediate word on casualties.

'I got my kills ... I just love my job'
After seven months in Iraq's Sunni triangle, for many American soldiers the opportunity to avenge dead friends by taking a life was a moment of sheer exhilaration. As they approached their 'holding position', from where hours later they would advance into the city, they picked off insurgents on the rooftops and in windows. 'I got myself a real juicy target,' shouted Sgt James Anyett, peering through the thermal sight of a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) mounted on one of Phantom's Humvees.

US 'pacifies' city but rebels take violence to rest of country
US forces reached the centre of Fallujah yesterday after hours of street fighting and barrages from artillery, tank and helicopter gunships. As night fell, the Americans announced that they had captured key strategic targets and were carrying out house-to-house searches. The Pentagon said that at least 10 US and two Iraqi soldiers had died since the offensive began on Monday night. Reports of insurgents' deaths vary between 12 and 42. Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi interim Prime Minister, claimed that troops had detained 38 insurgents entrenched at the hospital.

Brown stakes claim to Labour leadership
Gordon Brown staked his claim to the Labour leadership last night in the clearest terms since Tony Blair said he would not stand for a fourth term. The Chancellor's remarks will fuel speculation that Mr Blair could be forced out before the end of a third term. Asked whether he wanted the premiership, Mr Brown told the BBC: 'I want to do what is right for the country. I believe that we do have a national mission. I believe as a country we need a stronger sense of our destiny as a nation. I do believe there are difficult long-term choices we have got to make, and I can help make them.'

Bush victory starts rush to leave US for 'safer' life abroad
Americans have been bombarding New Zealand officials with inquiries about emigrating since President George W Bush was re-elected last week. The Immigration Service in Wellington said its website recorded 10,300 hits from America the day after Mr Bush was re-elected, more than four times the average of 2,500. A further 300 inquiries were being received daily by telephone and e-mail, compared with about eight a day before the election.

Fatality fuels anti-nuclear protest
The death of an anti-nuclear protester, run over this weekend by a train carrying radioactive waste, has prompted new unease in France about the transportation of nuclear materials through the countryside. Environmental campaigners say that the death of Sebastien Briat, 21, who had chained himself to the railway track in front of a train carrying 12 containers of radioactive waste, illustrated the dangers of this kind of transportation. Activists said the accident showed how difficult it was to guarantee the security of the cargo as it travelled along the nation's rail network.

John Pilger: Bush and Blair are Extremists
We have an extreme rightwing government in this country, although it's called the Labour government. That's confused a lot of people, but it's confusing them less and less. The British Labour Party has always had a very strong 'Atlanticist component,' with an obsequiousness to American policies, and Blair represents this wing. He's clearly obsessed with Iraq. He has to be because the overwhelming majority of the people of Britain oppose a military action. I've never known a situation like it.

US: Indymedia raid 'part of international terror investigation'
In a response to an Electronic Frontier Foundation motion to unseal, the U.S. government now claims that hard drives seized belonging to Indymedia in a recent raid on a London-based web server company are part of an international “criminal terrorism investigation,” and thus the U.S. District Court’s gag order should be upheld.

Grandma's a chip on the shoulder
Even the keenest RFID advocates generally draw the line at tagging humans, but growing numbers of people think it's okay to implant health records under the skin in case of a medical emergency, okay to chip grandma in case she wanders away from the nursing home, and okay to tag babies in case they're abducted and turn up years later in another state with other family and you have to prove their identity. Some people even think it's a good idea to implant a chip to gain entry to a VIP nightclub – it solves the door pass problem, but where do you put the wallet and keys?

Yasser Arafat has 'hours to live'
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has only hours to live, according to unnamed Palestinian officials quoted by news agencies. Officials at the hospital near Paris where he is being treated said Mr Arafat's condition had worsened and his coma had deepened. Later, amid rumours that Mr Arafat had died, the hospital said that as of 1430 GMT, he was still alive. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei has visited Mr Arafat's bedside.

US troops meet fierce resistance in Falluja
US troops today pushed further towards the centre of Falluja after a night of artillery and aerial bombardment of the city. The Associated Press reported heavy street fighting in the northern districts from as US forces met heavy resistance as they battled towards suspected rebel strongholds. Civilians were huddled in homes as the city shook to constant explosions. There was no immediate information on casualties.

6,500 American G.I.'s and 2,000 Iraqis on Attack
Thousands of American marines and soldiers swarmed over a railroad embankment on the northern edge of Falluja on Monday night and early Tuesday, setting off a wild firefight and making their first advances across the deadly streets and twisting alleyways of this rebel-held city. The move, following weeks of bombings by American airplanes, marked the beginning of the main assault on Falluja, expected to be the most significant battle since the fall of Baghdad 19 months ago.

US to remain 'aggressive' abroad
The US Secretary of State has said that his country will continue to pursue an 'aggressive' foreign policy. In an interview with the Financial Times, Colin Powell said President George Bush would not alter or curtail his policies abroad in his second term. 'The president is not going to trim his sails or pull back,' Mr Powell said in his first interview since the election. 'It's a continuation of his principles, his policies, his beliefs,' he told the London-based newspaper.

Western journalists quit Falluja
Only a handful of independent journalists remain in Falluja after the Sunday Times' Hala Jaber left ahead of the assault by American and Iraqi forces. Jaber was the last western newspaper reporter inside the rebel-held city west of Baghdad, which is expected to come under heavy bombardment in the US-led attack. The few reporters left in Falluja are mainly Iraqi journalists and include two stringers for Reuters Television. But the absence of western reporters has raised questions over the ability of major news organisations to accurately report the assault on the city and its consequences.

Man commits suicide at 9/11 attack site
A man who shot himself at the World Trade Centre site was apparently distraught over President George Bush's re-election, a newspaper reported. The body of 25-year-old Andrew Veal of Athens, Georgia, was found inside the off-limits site, said Steve Coleman, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A shotgun was found nearby, but no suicide note was found, Coleman said. An unidentified police source said that Veal opposed the war against Iraq and was apparently distraught after the election.

Nuclear waste reaches German site
A controversial shipment of nuclear waste has arrived at Germany's Gorleben storage site after a journey marred by the death of a French environmentalist. Thousands of protesters along the route forced the rail convoy of 12 containers to stop repeatedly before arriving at the site. The shipment of spent fuel rods left La Hague reprocessing plant in Valognes, northwestern France. A protester died after being hit by the train in eastern France.

Protester dies under atomic train
An anti-nuclear protester died after his leg was severed by a train carrying atomic waste from France to Germany. The 23-year-old lay down on the track as the train passed near the town of Avricourt, eastern France. The train had already been delayed for two hours while police cut free two other protesters who had chained themselves to a section of track. The train was carrying nuclear waste being sent back to Germany after reprocessing in northern France.

Beslan hostage-takers were able to flee, soldier says
Russian authorities captured one of the men who masterminded and led the Beslan school siege and are interrogating him although he has been officially declared dead, a newspaper claims. A man identified as Vassily K who says he was in the botched operation to free the hostages on 3 September has also said the authorities dramatically played down the number of hostage-takers and that many of the mostly Chechen militants were able to flee.

Black smoke billows from Fallujah after hospital, bridges seized
Black smoke plumed into the air around the west of Fallujah on Monday where US and Iraqi forces seized a hospital and two bridges as warplanes pounded the rebel enclave and gunfire thundered from inside. A sizeable unit of US marines coupled with some specially-trained Iraqi troops were poised on the outskirts of the city, waiting to enter if given the go-ahead by the interim government, an AFP reporter embedded with the marines said.

Motion to impeach Blair accuses him of 'gross misconduct'
The Independent on Sunday said it had obtained the text of the motion from a cross-party group of MPs, adding it would be offered for debate soon after the new parliamentary session begins later this month. The motion calls for a select committee to investigate the 'conduct of the PM in relation to the war in Iraq,' the daily said. The committee would draw up the 'articles of impeachment' and a panel of law lords would judge whether Blair deliberately misled the nation into waging an unlawful war, it said. A guilty verdict would see Blair arrested by parliament's Sergeant at Arms.

French send army into Ivory Coast capital
In what was developing into one of the most high-profile French army interventions on foreign soil for years, 700 troop reinforcements sent to Ivory Coast had last night stationed 50 armoured vehicles and tanks in the country's main city, Abidjan. The move by the former colonial power was in retaliation for the killing on Saturday of nine French peacekeepers by Ivorian government forces. Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo claimed that France wished to overthrow him but President Jacques Chirac insisted the enhanced military deployment was aimed at 'reassuring French and foreign interests in Ivory Coast'.

A Hidden Story Behind Sept. 11? One Man's Ad Campaign Says So
The grainy 30-second commercials are eerie and cryptic, and they suggest a government cover-up of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One implies that no plane flew into the Pentagon. The other suggests that 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed late in the afternoon that day, was detonated from within. The advertisements, which ran repeatedly here and in New York between Oct. 20 and Nov. 2 on several cable networks, including CNN, Fox News and ESPN, offer a Web site, an address and a phone number but give little indication who is behind them.

Palestinians 'burying Arafat alive', wife says
A team of Palestinian leaders arrived in Paris last night despite a televised outburst by Yasser Arafat's wife, Suha, in which she accused them of making the trip to 'bury alive' the dangerously ill President of the Palestinian Authority. The delegation, which is determined to establish the gravity of Mr Arafat's condition, will question officials and medical staff before meeting the President of France, Jacques Chirac this afternoon after reinstating the journey they had initially cancelled in response to the highly emotional attack on their motives by Mrs Arafat.

One of Every 140 U.S. Residents is in Prison
The Department of Justice has released its 2003 prisoner statistics. The most astonishing figure: One of every 140 U.S. residents is now in prison or in jail. The bulletin, 'Prisoners in 2003 (NCJ-205335),' was written by BJS statisticians Paige M. Harrison and Allen J. Beck. There are now more than 100,000 women in America's prisons. The women's prison rate grew 3.6%, almost twice the rate of that for men.

'Suicidal' chef drove to track after work
A chef aged 48 was revealed last night as the man who apparently committed suicide and caused the Berkshire rail disaster in which six other people died. Bryan Drysdale, who was unmarried with no children, was named as the motorist who appeared deliberately to park his car in front of a First Great Western express on Saturday night. As police continued their investigation into his background for clues to the disaster, a picture began to emerge of a loner who had held a number of manual jobs in recent years.

Aide alleges Israel poisoned Arafat
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was poisoned by Israel, one of his advisers said. The option is being seriously considered by the PA, which has sent blood samples to the US and Germany to confirm or rule out the option, he said. Arafat suffers symptoms similar to those of former PFLP military leader Wadi'a Hadad, he said. Hadad was poisoned in the late 1970s by a close aide who was allegedly recruited by the Mossad, the adviser said, although the official reason for his death was cancer.

Prescott asked to apologise for referendum
John Prescott faced taunts in the Commons that he was 'history' yesterday after he was forced to shelve plans for elected local assemblies across England. The Deputy Prime Minister was jeered as he admitted defeat for his long-standing vision of a network of assemblies following his crushing defeat in the North-east, where his plans were rejected by a margin of 78 per cent to 22 per cent. Admitting they had delivered an emphatic verdict, he announced that plans to hold referendums in the North-west and in Yorkshire and the Humber were being abandoned.

CIA role inside the USA greater
The CIA has assigned dozens of case officers and analysts to work with FBI agents throughout the USA in the most extensive deployment of intelligence officers on domestic soil in the spy agency's history. Officials at both agencies say the deployment, which pairs CIA officers with FBI agents in the bureau's offices to assist with terror-related investigations, also represents the CIA's broadest association with federal law enforcement since the CIA was created after World War II.

Euro Rises Up Further Against U.S. Dollar
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet expressed concern Monday about the growing strength of the euro, saying a rally that sent the shared currency to an all-time high of US$1.2987 earlier in the day was 'brutal' and 'not welcome.' Trichet's strong words came after less forceful comments he made last week failed to halt the rise in the euro, which has been fueled by concerns over high oil prices and the U.S. trade and budget deficits.

Rights a Victim of Terror War, U.S. Judge Says
U.S. Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima expressed skepticism Saturday that the Bush administration's war on terror can succeed without trampling the civil rights of citizens. 'The war on terrorism threatens to destroy the very values of a democratic society governed by the rule of law,' Tashima told a conference at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. A detainee at an internment camp near Parker, Ariz., during World War II, Tashima, 70, said that he feared history could repeat itself unless courts intervene. 'It's happening all over again,' he said, blaming the federal courts for failing to assert themselves during that war.

Terror watch site says Jazeera won’t air new Bin Laden tape
A terrorism watch site which first reported that Al-Jazeera was in posession of a new tape from Osama Bin Laden claims that the Arabic television network is bowing to pressure from U.S. authorities not to air the tape. The tape(s), which are alleged to contain Bin Laden’s prerecorded responses to the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, are said to contain a congratulatory message for Senator Kerry or a warning for President Bush.

Carlyle Covers Up
Less than twenty-four hours after it was disclosed that former Secretary of State James Baker and the Carlyle Group were involved in a secret deal to profit from Iraq's debt to Kuwait, NBC was reporting that the deal was 'dead.' At The Nation, we started to get calls congratulating us on costing the Carlyle Group $1 billion, the sum the company would have received in an investment from the government of Kuwait in exchange for helping to extract $27 billion of unpaid debts from Iraq.

U.S. Forces Begin Moving Into Fallujah
Explosions and heavy gunfire thundered through the outskirts of Fallujah on Sunday night and early Monday as American soldiers and marines swept toward strategic bridges, hospitals and other objectives in what appeared to be the first stage of a long-expected invasion of the city. Hours earlier, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, faced with an outbreak of insurgent violence across the country, declared emergency law for 60 days across most of Iraq. The proclamation gave him broad martial powers that allow him to impose curfews, order house-to-house searches and detain suspected criminals and insurgents.

Henry Kissinger: Now, back to defining a new world order
The election campaign that has mesmerized America - and the world - is over. What remains are the challenges that gave rise to this occasionally frenzied battle and the responsibility of dealing with them. No president has faced an agenda of comparable scope. This is not hyperbole; it is the hand history has dealt this generation. Never before has it been necessary to conduct a war with neither front lines nor geographic definition and, at the same time, to rebuild fundamental principles of world order to replace the traditional ones that went up in the smoke of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Post Election Angst is a Diversion
Consternation over John Kerry's defeat diverts us from the real issue: World domination by a subversive occult elite. Although Bush and Kerry aroused deep antagonism, they were identical on the important issues: Iraq, 9-11 fraud, 'terror' hoax, Patriot Act and illegal aliens. Both candidates even opposed gay marriage. Many people wanted to repudiate Bush for launching a gratuitous obscene and tragic war against Iraq. According to British commentator Tim Rifat, Bush's victory is a 'disaster' for the New World Order and Jacob Rothschild is apoplectic. Bush's imperialist ambitions run counter to the integration of the US into a world government where China, Russia and Europe have priority.

Wake Up, Michael Moore
You seemed to miss this vote fraud issue in your humor. Why? There were negative vote counts. There was a county in Ohio where 638 people voted yet Bush received over 4200 votes. There were over 2,000,000 people disenfranchised in Florida. There was a machine in Florida that counted up to around 67,000 and then started counting backwards. In predominantly Black/Democratic areas, there were too few machines to use and some people stood in line for up to NINE hours to vote. Every single state which used electronic voting machines experienced problems, some major.

War-protest crowd ranges from babies to 'grannies'
The rain fell softly as protesters marched through the streets of downtown Seattle yesterday, yelling, chanting and singing to demand an end to the war in Iraq . Some shouted, 'Peace! Now!' while others screamed, 'More money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!' Police estimated more than 500 protesters participated in the march and rally sponsored by Not in Our Name, a national peace organization.

Why Kerry Conceded Defeat despite Electoral Fraud
Speaking out against voter fraud would carry an implicit challenge to the myth of American democracy. There are reasons why Kerry conceded so quickly, there are reasons why he never mentioned a single instance of voter fraud or intimidation as widespread evidence of disenfranchisement was surfacing (at least through independent media outlets) and there are reasons why he didn't use his concession speech as an opportunity to articulate even mild opposition to Bush policies. The reasons are rooted in the fact that Kerry has much more allegiance to elite power in the U.S. than he has or ever will have to the millions of disenfranchised and unrepresented voters in this country.

Evidence Mounts That The Vote May Have Been Hacked
The Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 16th District said he was waiting for the FBI to show up. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida election was hacked, but of who hacked it and how. And not just this year, he said, but that these same people had previously hacked the Democratic primary race in 2002 so that Jeb Bush would not have to run against Janet Reno, who presented a real threat to Jeb, but instead against Bill McBride, who Jeb beat. 'It was practice for a national effort,' Fisher told me. And some believe evidence is accumulating that the national effort happened on November 2, 2004.

Plane passengers shocked by their x-ray scans
An X-ray machine that sees through air passengers’ clothes has been deployed by security staff at London’s Heathrow airport for the first time. The device at Terminal 4 produces a “naked” image of passengers by bouncing X-rays off their skin, enabling staff instantly to spot any hidden weapons or explosives. But the graphic nature of the black and white images it generates - including revealing outlines of men and women - has raised concerns about privacy both among travellers and aviation authorities. In America, transport officials are refusing to deploy the device until it can be further refined to “mask” passengers’ modesty.

After the Taliban, women still suffer
Eyes darting back and forth, crouching against a wall, Anar Gul has the distressed look of a chained animal. That's because, until recently, she lived like one. Pulling back her burqa, the nervous mother told how she had been tortured for 20 days by her opium-addicted former husband in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. Humiliated by their recent divorce, he lured Anar to their one-room house, bound her in rusty chains and flung her into a dark alcove. For almost three weeks she cowered in the gloom, unable to move, eating scraps from a dog bowl and enduring relentless beatings.

Death of Arafat likely to be announced this week
Yasser Arafat is all but dead with only the time of death and place of burial to be determined. Conflicting reports over the Palestinian president's health have hugged headlines for days. Arafat's health was described initially two weeks ago as the flu, it then became a stomach ailment, and as he was being flown on October 29 to the Percy military training hospital in Paris there was the suggestion of a virus. Then it came down to a blood disorder and possibly leukemia, which was later ruled out. He was then described as being in a coma, firstly an irreversible coma, then a reversible one.

Canadian freedoms 'under threat'
Canada's privacy commissioner has warned in her annual report that personal freedoms in the country are being eroded by the 'war on terror'. Jennifer Stoddart told parliament that as agencies collected more information on people, there were higher risks that travellers would be treated unfairly. The kinds of security measures taken by the US came in for particular scrutiny. Better solutions might lie in using existing information more effectively, she added.

Patriot Act critic urges townspeople to speak out
A Bridgewater State College professor plans to urge voters at Bridgewater's Special Town Meeting tomorrow night to pass a resolution protesting the USA Patriot Act. Vernon Domingo, who teaches geography and is also a longtime Bridgewater resident, belongs to Citizens for an Informed Community, a local group that submitted the article through a petition. Domingo, 54, said he was prompted to act by his experiences in South Africa, where he was raised. 'I was classified as mixed race,' he said. He describes himself as part African, Indian, Indonesian, and Portuguese.