The embassy says a bomb was discovered on a flight inside Iraq on 22 November. It shows that insurgents have been able to penetrate the stringent security at Baghdad airport. The embassy says its own staff have been advised against taking commercial planes.

The warning is in sharp contrast to more optimistic statements from US military commanders after the capture of Fallujah in which they have spoken of "breaking the back of the insurgency".

The embassy says that the road between Baghdad and the international airport, perhaps the most important highway in the country, is now too dangerous to use. The advice says starkly: "With effect from 28 November, the British embassy ceased all movements on the Baghdad International airport road."

The airport road is littered with evidence of previous attacks: the twisted cars used by suicide bombers and craters from roadside bombs.

( Read More... | 534 words in story | War )

The organisation, which maintains a rigidly neutral stance in public, took the unusual step of voicing its concerns in uncompromising language after the former detainees, known as the Tipton Three, revealed that they had been beaten, shackled, photographed naked and in one incident questioned at gunpoint while in US custody.

Their vivid account of the harrowing conditions at the camp, as told to their lawyers and published for the first time in yesterday's Guardian, has reignited the debate about the treatment of prisoners and the British government's role in their questioning and detention.

Last night the Red Cross was joined by the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, which argued that if the allegations were true they indicated systematic abuse, amounting to torture.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats' deputy leader, called for the Foreign Office to mount a "searching investigation" into what British officials had seen or been told when they visited Guantánamo Bay.

( Read More... | 657 words in story | 911 )

http://www.guardian.co.uk

By JOHN McCARTHY

Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Nearly a month after John Kerry conceded Ohio to President Bush, complaints and challenges about the balloting are mounting as activists including the Rev. Jesse Jackson demand closer scrutiny to ensure the votes are being counted on the up-and-up.

Jackson held rallies in Ohio over the weekend to draw attention to the vote, and another critic plans to ask the state Supreme Court this week to decide the validity of the election.

Ohio essentially decided the outcome of the presidential race, with Kerry giving up after unofficial results showed Bush with a 136,000-vote lead in the state.

Since then, there have been demands for a recount and complaints about uncounted punch-card votes, disqualified provisional ballots and a ballot-machine error that gave hundreds of extra votes to Bush.

Jackson said too many questions have been raised to let the vote stand without further examination.

( Read More... | 442 words in story | Elections )

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran escaped U.N. censure over its nuclear program but Washington, which accuses it of seeking an atomic bomb, said on Monday it reserved the right to take the case to the Security Council on its own.

Reuters Photo Reuters Slideshow: Iran Nuclear Issues

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a U.N. watchdog, passed a resolution approving Iran's week-old suspension of sensitive nuclear activities as part of a deal with the European Union (news - web sites).

Crucially, and in line with Iranian demands, the resolution described the freeze as a voluntary, confidence-building measure and not a legally binding commitment.

Its passage meant that Tehran, which denies it wants the bomb, had achieved its immediate goal: to prevent the IAEA from referring it to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions.

"This resolution which was approved by the IAEA was a definite defeat for our enemies who wanted to pressure Iran by sending its case to the U.N. Security Council," President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) was quoted by state radio as saying.

( Read More... | 756 words in story | Foreign Policy )

Public Works personal place barriers around Parliament Hill in preparation for a visit from American President George W. Bush.(CP/Jonathan Hayward)

OTTAWA (CP) - They're protesting everything from capitalism and corruption to criminality, and they're blaming it all on U.S. President George W. Bush.

Thousands of activists are expected to march on the capital Tuesday, clogging streets and shouting complaints over all manner of perceived wrongs - imperialism, racism, elitism, torture, treaties and terrorism.

One group, Lawyers Against the War (LAW), wants Bush arrested and charged with war crimes.

"LAW believes that George Bush must be brought to justice rather than be treated as a guest in Canada," said Amy Bartholomew, whose Canadian-based group claims about 150 members in 14 countries.

The group wants Ottawa to rescind Bush's invitation and deny the U.S. president entry into Canada "on the basis of Canadian immigration law, which bars entry to those who have engaged in gross violations of human rights."

( Read More... | 516 words in story | Dissent )

( Read More... | Terror )

The cause of the mysterious ailment — that sickened at least 20 people, including children — was pepper spray, FDNY officials said at the scene.

The massive 3:25 p.m. exodus caused traffic in Times Square to come to a dead halt as cops immediately closed a five-block swath from 42nd Street to 47th Street around the Broadway store.

( Read More... | 296 words in story )

Bushwhacked in Fallujah
TIME photographer Yuri Kozyrev comes under fire on patrol with the 82nd Airborne

STREETS OF FIRE:
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne prepare to cross a street under cover of smoke during a firefight in downtown Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - At first glance, the U.S. Marines saw nothing extraordinary about a baby crib in the corner of a bombed-out house in Fallujah. But when Lance Cpl. Nick Fenezia threw back the blankets, a Kalashnikov rifle and bulletproof vest lay on the tiny mattress.

"Man, did you have to be just another muj?" Fenezia mused of the baby’s missing father, employing U.S. shorthand for Iraq’s insurgents - mujahedeen - or Muslim holy warriors. "Couldn’t you have stopped shooting at us and watched your baby grow instead?"

( Read More... | 282 words in story | War )

From the rich walnut paneling and carved arches to the molded Italian Renaissance patterns on the ceiling, the circa 1925 council chamber room of Akron's municipal hall evokes a time when the America's manufacturing heartland was at the peak of its power. But when the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission, a congressionally appointed panel, convened there on Sept. 23, it was not to discuss power but decline. One after another, economists, union officials, and small manufacturers took the microphone to describe the devastation Chinese competitors are inflicting on U.S. industries, from kitchenware and car tires to electronic circuit boards.

( Read More... | 4003 words in story )

Denver Post and 94+ Newspapers, Radio Stations, TV Stations

Corporate Profits vs Civil Rights, and the Vote

by Kali Autumn Lynn

The Denver Voice

Denver, Co: November 26, 2004

To those of us on the inside of this issue, it seems inconceivable that our local newspapers would offer a front page story on election fraud in Ukraine while ignoring stories of the same right here at home in the United States. Every day, since November 2nd, 2004, stories have emerged detailing such things as malfunctioning voting machines, fraudulent election records in Volusia, Florida, inconsistent numbers of voter registrations vs. vote totals in Ohio, credible university studies showing serious statistical impossibilities in election results, and much more. Yet, these daily revelations have been almost completely ignored by our media. These reports are coming not from persons with tin foil hats as is often claimed, but from PhD level citizens, election officials, and voting rights activists.

But to the rest of America, who get their information from corporate owned media sources, there is nothing missing from the daily news. That's because, if they don't report it, it didn't happen. For most of America, we trust our local papers to report honestly and fairly. But what many of us don't realize is that our local newspapers are not so local after all.

( Read More... | 2854 words in story | Elections )