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Canatxx's gas storage plan rejected
The government has rejected U.S.-based Canatxx's appeal to build an underground gas storage site in northwest England. In a letter dated October 16, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears dismissed Canatxx's appeal against earlier planning permission rejections. Permission was withheld due to concern over the site's suitability for safely storing up to 2 million tonnes of gas underground at Preesall in Lancashire. The government recognised the need for more gas storage to help bolster supplies on cold winter days. But it said the company had not proved that the geology of the site was suitable and that it would not ruin the Wyre Estuary landscape. See also

No! Canatxx gas plan rejected
The Government today threw out plans to store millions of tonnes of gas under the Wyre countryside. Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, refused American gas giant Canatxx's plans, which residents have fought for almost five years The news sparked delight from campaigners who fought a long battle to block the scheme. More than 12,000 people wrote to Lancashire County Council to oppose the plans which would have seen up to 1.3 million tonnes of natural gas stored in hollowed out salt caverns close to the River Wyre at Preesall. Ben Wallace, MP for Lancaster and Wyre said: 'It's great news for the local residents, campaign groups and the people who have fought this every step of the way. 'Despite hints from the Department for Trade and Industry that this was going to be pushed through, the decision has been made and the choices are clear. 'The message is loud and clear - Hands off our Wyre Estuary!' See also

Lawyers take MoD to court over Iraqi mutilation claims
The Ministry of Defence will come under fresh pressure tomorrow to launch an independent inquiry into allegations of abuse of Iraqis by British soldiers after a fierce gun battle with insurgents three years ago. Papers to be handed to the high court include witness statements, death certificates and a video taken by relatives of dead Iraqis showing bodies being taken to a hospital in Amara and bodybags being opened. The statements were taken last month in Damascus from hospital workers who say they saw the bodies of Iraqis handed over by the soldiers for burial. They claim the bodies show evidence of gouged-out eyes, serious injuries to genitals, asphyxiation and hanging.

Blackwater won't allow arrests
A defiant Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said yesterday he will not allow Iraqi authorities to arrest his contractors and try them in Iraq's faulty justice system. 'We will not let our people be taken by the Iraqis,' Mr. Prince told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. At least 17 of 20 Blackwater guards being investigated for their roles in a Sept. 16 shooting incident are still in a secure compound in Baghdad's Green Zone and carrying out limited duties. Two or three others have been allowed by the State Department to leave the country as part of their scheduled rotation out of Iraq and are expected to return. 'In an ideal sense, if there was wrongdoing, there could be a trial brought in the Iraqi court system. But that would imply that there is a valid Iraqi court system where Westerners could get a fair trial. That is not the case right now,' said Mr. Prince.

Blackwater: Mercenaries by Definition
Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater mercenaries, has been a huge financial supporter of George W. Bush and the Republican Party. That might explain why Mister Bush's State Department worked with Prince's people to try and cover up the latest Blackwater slaughter of civilians in Iraq, and could be a big part of the reason why so many Republicans came to the chief mercenary's defense during Congressional hearings. His fondness for and belief in all things Republican probably answers too, Erik Prince's problem with honesty. Blackwater's Mister Prince has a problem with people calling his mercenaries well... err... mercenaries. He appeared on CBS's '60 Minutes,' a onetime news program-turned Blackwater infomercial, and said with a straight face, 'You know the definition of a mercenary is a professional soldier that works in the pay of a foreign army. I’m an American working for America.'

Ed Brown gassed and tortured in sensory deprivation tank
In a disturbing audio clip, Ed Brown speaks for the first time since his arrest and relates how he was gassed by noxious fumes for three days in a detention center as well as being put in a deprivation tank for 15 hourss. Sensory deprivation is a form of torture and extended deprivation can result in extreme anxiety, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts, depression, and antisocial behavior. Brown also said he had been prevented from making any phone calls or receiving mail. For the first time, Brown reveals what happened when he was tricked and arrested by U.S. Marshals, including how he was tasered multiple times. Brown said that he had a chance to fight back during the arrest but that he did not want to hurt anyone. Brown said his captors were treating him with 'professional cruelty' and mentioned that they had also done harrowing things to his wife following her arrest, but refused to go into detail.

Naomi Wolf: US - Paths Towards Fascism
In a talk by author of 'The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot' given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus, Nami Wolf says that Americans expect to have freedom around us just as we expect to have air to breathe, so we have only limited understanding of the furnaces of repression that the Founders knew intimately. Few of us spend much time thinking about how 'the system' they put in place protects our liberties. We spend even less time, considering how dictators in the past have broken down democracies or quelled pro-democracy uprisings.

Menezes picture 'manipulated' to look like bomber
A composite photograph used on behalf of the Metropolitan Police to attempt to show the similarity between Jean Charles De Menezes and a failed suicide bomber was dishonestly manipulated to make the two men appear more alike, a court at the Old Bailey was told yesterday. The photograph consisted of half the face of Mr De Menezes and half the face of Hussain Osman, the bomber who attempted to blow up a train carriage at Shepherds Bush on 21 July 2005. By placing the two pictures side by side, lawyers for Scotland Yard had sought to show the difficulties that officers tracking Mr De Menezes would have faced in trying to differentiate between the men. But a forensic expert told the court that the picture of the Brazilian in the police composite appeared to have been brightened and the definition of some of his facial characteristics had been reduced.

Secret service turns to video games to recruit future spies
In years gone by, potential recruits to the secret services would be approached with a quick flash of the old school tie, or a discreet chat in an Oxbridge junior common room. The spymasters of today are resorting to very different tactics to sign up the next generation of spooks: GCHQ, the government's electronic eavesdropping service will this month become the first intelligence agency to post recruitment adverts in the virtual worlds of online computer games. The advertisements will appear as billboards in the backgrounds of computer games such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent. A spokeswoman for GCHQ - the surveillance branch of the intelligence service - said the agency was looking for recruits who were 'computer-savvy, technologically able, quick thinking'.

Wargaming Iraq's future
What would happen if US troops were withdrawn early from Iraq? Pentagon war games may have the answers. When President Bush speaks to America tonight he'll back his general's plan to bring around 30,000 troops home by next summer. That's a very limited and highly cautious withdrawal - and Colonel Gary Anderson knows why. In the last two years the colonel's conducted at least a dozen war games for the US army. Those role-playing exercises are classified, but Anderson makes no secret of the Pentagon's opposition to a hasty withdrawal. We would see an acceleration of the ethnic cleansing which is going on, civil war. According to Colonel Gary Anderson, Special Adviser to the US Deputy Secretary of Defense. He doesn't see the conventional Sunni-Shia Bosnia-like bloodletting. But internecine war among the Shia for control.

Burmese regime admits arresting 3,000 in purge
The Burmese regime has rebutted international criticism of its crackdown against democracy campaigners, revealing that 3,000 people have been arrested and saying that it will continue its repression. 'We will go ahead. We will not deviate from our path,' the regime said in a commentary published in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper. 'We will get rid of the barriers and obstacles on the way.' The newspaper said that 2,927 people had been detained and 468 remained in custody. Observers and exile groups believe that many more are still being held in jails and detention centres since the crackdown was launched against last month's marches and demonstrations. The defiant words from the military regime came as three democracy activists still at liberty inside the country released a letter they addressed to the UN Security Council calling for a blanket ban on arms sales and investment to Burma.

How China Could Crash the US Dollar on a Whim
Over the last 30 years, China’s economy has grown at an average annualized rate of nearly 10%. While this statistic alone is jaw-dropping, what is more impressive is the extent to which the nominally Communist country’s economy has become intertwined in the global economy. China now exerts enormous influence over the economies of virtually every country in the world, and a slight change in its domestic economic policy has the potential to send shockwaves rippling throughout the world. Nowhere is this more apparent-and frightening-then in China’s economic relationship with the United States, which is very much at the mercy of China when it comes to prices, wages, interest rates, most importantly, the value of the Dollar.

Japan ceases to use US dollar as reserve currency
Japanese oil refiners Cosmo Oil Co. and Japan Energy Corp. have started paying for Iranian crude oil in yen instead of dollars, announced company spokesmen on October 9. Both companies are following in the footsteps of Nippon Oil Corp. - Japan's largest oil refiner-which made the same announcement in September. How significant is it that more and more nations are ceasing to use the dollar as a reserve currency? Since the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement, the US dollar has been the world's primary reserve currency. This has been especially true regarding the crude oil trade, in which the majority of nations pay for crude oil in dollars. The resulting massive demand for dollars has allowed the United States to accumulate trade deficits and fiscal debts without experiencing the negative economic impacts that such imbalances normally cause.

Putin warns Washington on using force against Iran
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States this Tuesday that it must not use force against Iran, and affirmed that any intervention would be unacceptable. 'We should not think about using force in this region,' said the Russian leader, addressing dignitaries from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan attending the 2nd Summit of countries bordering the Caspian Sea, who are meeting here. Putin stated that the area must be a common space and not a point of disagreement among the countries, for which reason 'it is our conviction that there should not be an accumulation of borders, sectors and exclusion zones,' he stressed. Putin’s statement is in line with the meeting’s final declaration, which states that 'its Armed Forces do not have the objective of attacking other countries in the Caspian area.'

Anti-war protesters moved from Parliament Square
Scuffles erupted outside Parliament as anti-war protesters were forced to move on yesterday afternoon. Officials from the Greater London Assembly were pushed and shoved as they moved tents and other paraphernalia from the semi-permanent 'peace camp', watched by police. Twenty demonstrators against the war in Iraq shouted 'shame on you' as their belongings were shifted. The GLA said it was enforcing a bylaw which prevents protests on the grass in Parliament Square. An official added: 'They are only allowed to be on the pavement.' He stressed they were taking no action against the veteran peace campaigner Brian Haw. His colourful anti-war display, which is on the pavement across the road from St Stephen's Tower, was left untouched. However, as the rest of the camp on the grass was removed, Mr Haw berated police for not intervening.

We will fight to the death, Kurdish rebel leader vows from his hideout
Sipping milky coffee from a glass mug as he sat crosslegged on a cushion, the Kurdish rebel commander cut more of a kindly father figure than that of a fighter preparing to defend his cause to the death against Turkey. The friendly smile and calm exterior, however, hide a steely determination to protect and promote Kurdish rights in the region, helped by several thousand men and women who inhabit the remote mountains of northern Iraq. Murat Karayilan, the leader of the armed wing of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), gave warning that a major attack by Turkish forces to crush his rebels would end in defeat because all Kurds in Iraq and Turkey would unite against them. He insisted, however, that he still hoped to resolve the crisis peacefully. The answer was for Ankara to agree to establish a semi-autonomous state, like Scotland, for the Kurds in southeast Turkey.

Turkey okays Iraq incursion
Turkey has voted to grant its troops freedom to enter northern Iraq and crush Kurdish separatists Iraqi leaders have stepped up their diplomatic efforts to avoid any confrontation, as has the US - Turkey's Nato ally. Washington fiercely opposes military intervention in Iraq's most stable region, not least because it could trigger involvement by Iran. The stance by Turkey - which is hoping to join the EU - has hit the country's lira currency, and helped drive global oil prices to a record $88 a barrel. Although Erdogan has moved to play down expectation of an imminent attack, the parliamentary vote today means Turkey can hit back at Kurdish rebels.

Chavez plans leisure revolution
President Hugo Chavez has proposed slashing Venezuela's working day to six hours to turn its socialist revolution into a paradise of leisure - with one exception. Under a new draft constitution debated in congress this week everyone will have more time for recreation and relaxation. Everyone, that is, except Mr Chavez. As part of the same package of changes presidential term limits will be abolished, allowing Mr Chavez, who seldom seems to sleep or take time off, to continue his hyperactivity for some time to come. Critics say the two proposals are directly related: the six-hour proposal is a populist sweetener to ease the constitution's passage in a December referendum which will give the president the right to stand for continuous re-election. They have also criticised a proposal to suspend due process in 'emergencies', allowing citizens to be detained without charge. Under the existing constitution the 53-year-old soldier-turned-president, first elected in 1998, is obliged to step down when his current term ends in 2012.

Museum drops race row scientist
The Science Museum has cancelled a talk by American DNA pioneer Dr James Watson after he claimed black people were less intelligent than white people. Dr Watson, who won a Nobel Prize in 1962 for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, was due to speak at the venue on Friday. But the museum has cancelled the event, saying his views went 'beyond the point of acceptable debate'. Skills Minister David Lammy said Dr Watson's views 'were deeply offensive'. He added: 'They will succeed only in providing oxygen for the BNP.' 'It is a shame that a man with a record of scientific distinction should see his work overshadowed by his own irrational prejudices.' Dr Watson, currently director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York, has arrived in Britain to promote his latest book.

Green groups condemn UK's claim in Antarctica
Environmental groups yesterday condemned British plans to claim sovereignty over a vast tract of the seabed off the coast of Antarctica, with Greenpeace and WWF expressing dismay that the Foreign Office was contemplating possible oil, gas and mineral exploration in the region. The Guardian yesterday revealed that the Foreign Office was preparing to submit a rights claim to the UN commission on the limits of the continental shelf (CLCS) for 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) of seabed off the coast of the British Antarctic Territory. Any claim, it is alleged, could threaten the stability of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which froze territorial disputes on the world's least explored continent. Drilling for oil or gas would disrupt the fragile marine ecology of the Southern Ocean, environmentalists warn.

France prepares for Black Thursday as unions stage national rail strike
Nicolas Sarkozy's iron will to face down trade unions and modernise France meets its first test today as a national strike threatens to paralyse public transport, shut down the Paris Opera and disrupt fans travelling to the Rugby World Cup. Dubbed 'Black Thursday' by unions, Parisian commuters face at least 24 hours of chaos and cities across France will be left without viable transport as workers take to the streets for the first time over the president's reforms. Railway staff and other transport unions will lead 70 marches across France to protest at Mr Sarkozy's plans to axe the special pensions privileges enjoyed by certain state workers. These generous packages have allowed a number of employees at state-controlled companies to retire early on highly favourable terms. But Mr Sarkozy wants to end the special deals and streamline the costly state sector.

UK house market is 'heading for crash'
The property boom of the past ten years has left the British housing market in danger of following the slump in American house prices, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday. In a bleak warning, the IMF found that homes in Britain were overpriced by up to 40 per cent - far more than the overpricing in the US before the current property slump began there. The finding will fuel fears over housing market prospects after growing evidence recently that prices have already begun to fall in some parts of Britain. The warning came as it emerged yesterday that the Bank of England discussed whether to lower interest rates this month to shore up Britain’s growth. But there was substantial reluctance among the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee to rush into lowering borrowing costs, with only one of the nine-strong panel voting for a rate reduction. The IMF report said: 'The extent of house price overvaluation may be considerably larger in some national markets in Europe than in the US. The estimates suggest that a number of advanced economies' housing markets outside the US could be vulnerable to a correction.'