Friday, January 18, 2008

CIA operative says US, Pakistan agree on Bhutto killer, PPP skeptical, accused denies; UK property fund halts withdrawals amid panic...

18 January :: LA Times quotes unnamed CIA operative as saying US concurs with Pakistan on Bhutto killer; the official is quoted as saying "There are strong indications that Baitullah Mahsud was behind the Bhutto assassination", adding "There is certainly no reason to doubt that Mahsud was behind this", though Mahsud has publicly denied involvement, and political goals of Pakistani Islamists are not clear with regard to opposition groups seeking to depose Musharraf, as was Bhutto's case; Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has expressed skepticism about the allegation, citing lack of investigation to date, according to LA Times "Party officials say that most, if not all, of the evidence in the case was destroyed by police and firefighters who hosed down the site within hours of the shooting and suicide attack, making it virtually impossible to gather evidence to help determine who else might have been involved"... One of the UK's wealthiest property investment funds was forced to shut its doors yesterday, as panic selloffs and withdrawals threatened its solvency; the Guardian reports "Scottish Equitable said yesterday that 129,000 small investors in its £2bn property fund will not be able to access their money for up to a year, although payments relating to regular income already being paid, retirements and death claims will not be affected"... Allegations emerge in Nevada of voter-intimidation efforts by Culinary Workers Union; no investigation as yet into allegations, which came from Clinton campaign, just hours after a judge ruled the Nevada Democratic party can host caucuses inside casinos and other such venues, where many workers are members of the CWU...

Monday, January 14, 2008

Israel, Palestinians open peace talks; Kucinich calls for manual recount in New Hampshire; China says military buildup is no threat to US...

14 January :: Israel, Palestinians have opened most extensive peace negotiations in more than 7 years, after US pres. Bush toured region in effort to accelerate talks; Reuters reports: "Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said she would keep details of her talks with former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie confidential, but later told parliament she was 'prepared to make significant territorial concessions' to further Israel's interests"... Presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has called for a manual recount of all ballots cast in New Hampshire primaries for his party's nomination, due to what his campaign's press release said were "unexplained disparities between hand-counted ballots and machine-counted ballots"; Kucinich himself wrote "This is not about my candidacy or any other individual candidacy. It is about the integrity of the election process"; mechanized voting technologies have been brought into question in several elections over the last decade, as security flaws, alleged misuse have become apparent... China says its rapid military buildup is not intended as a threat to the United States, with the People's Liberation Army chief of staff even saying "We don't have the ability to make you afraid of us"; statements are perceived as attempt to cool tensions that flared when Beijing attempted to block a ceremonial visit by US ships to Taiwan in 2007... "More than 10 years after her death, Princess Diana's former butler has said he believes there was no royal plot to murder her, and also disputes the rumors that she was engaged to marry Dodi al-Fayed; Reuters reports: "Dodi's father, Harrods luxury storeowner Mohamed al-Fayed, alleges that he and Diana were killed by British security services on the orders of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband and Diana's former father-in-law", further alleging "that Diana's body was embalmed to cover up evidence she was expecting a baby"; an ongoing inquest into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding her death recently revealed that Prince Philip had allegedly sent "extremely derogatory" and "cruel" letters to Diana, but that they did not contain threats, and her former security chief said he believed her private calls were being monitored by security services...

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Indian, Chinese leaders meet in Beijing to discuss economic cooperation; Clinton camp says criticism of remarks about MLK have been "distorted"...

13 January :: IHT reports from Beijing "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India will arrive in Beijing on Sunday for a three-day visit to China, with each country eager to increase bilateral trade, promote mutual friendship and offer reassurances that Asia is big enough to accommodate the ambitions of both rising powers"; the two nations with more than 1 billion inhabitants each, are foreseen as major economic competitors for unprecedented shares of world resources, as they develop their economies... Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has complained that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) campaign has "distorted" her statements regarding the value of Martin Luther King's civil rights movement; while both Sen. Clinton and her husband have long lauded the civil rights movement of the 1960s, she attempted to play down her rival's appeal to hope and American ideals by saying that "It took a president" (Lyndon Johnson) to realize the dream of Dr. King, by forcing legislation through Congress; the Obama campaign has said it has not released any misleading statements about Sen. Clinton's words... An asteroid observers feared could strike Mars is now estimated to miss the Red Planet by a considerably safe distance, reducing likelihood of impact to 1 in 10,000; Discovery reports "Scientists said the best estimate was for the asteroid to pass at a distance of more than 16,000 miles from the surface of Mars, or at worst, no closer than 2,480 miles"...

In the [ media ] Loop

GAO Reports