Dallas Morning News breaks US media silence on Sibel Edmonds case; Serbia pledges "peaceful" resistance to Kosovo independence...

18 February :: Dallas Morning News becomes first "mainstream" or corporate-owned US media outlet to run the now partially corroborated story regarding allegations of US officials' selling nuclear secrets to foreign operatives, possibly to enemy, terrorists; DMN ran revised edition of Philip Giraldi's investigative report from The American Conservative magazine questioning the US media's role in keeping the story from public view; among the information Sibel Edmonds is allegedly prohibited from disclosing are contacts between State and Defense Dept. agents and foreign spies, involving a transfer of cash, and the sale of nuclear secrets:

Ms. Edmonds' revelations have attracted corroboration in the form of anonymous letters apparently written by FBI employees. There have been frequent reports of FBI field agents being frustrated by the premature closure of cases dealing with foreign spying, particularly when those cases involve Israel, and the State Department has frequently intervened to shut down investigations based on "sensitive foreign diplomatic relations."

Giraldi's report also states that:

Curiously, the state-secrets gag order binding Ms. Edmonds, while put in place by DOJ in 2002, was not requested by the FBI but by the State Department and Pentagon – which employed individuals she identified as being involved in criminal activities. If her allegations are frivolous, that order would scarcely seem necessary.

the scope of the allegations and the peril posed by the alleged corruption to international peace and security, US foreign policy, and American lives, can scarcely be overstated, if the details Edmonds and corroborating FBI leaks are true... Kosovo braces for Serb resistance to independence declaration; Reuters reports "Serbia's leaders pledged peaceful resistance after Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, but angry protesters turned to violence in Belgrade and a Serbian stronghold in Kosovo", while Russia, China openly declare the independence move troubling, illegitimate; EU debating official policy, as western powers plan mission to help build, protect, new state... Though the original ballot measure proposing splitting California's Electoral College votes by population has been withdrawn, report suggests ballot initiative continues "full steam ahead", with aim to sway presidential election tally nationwide; California would be the only state with such a system, some aim to pressure Gov. Schwarzenegger to back a rival proposal that would commit California's electors to backing the winner of the national popular vote, a nationwide campaign that aims to end the relevance of a system some say was designed to protect slave-owners' political interests...

UN reports US maternal death rate 4x European avg; US life expectancy rises to record 77.9 years for 2005...

14 October :: UN report shows rate of women dying during or just after childbirth in US on par with Belarus, Serbia, ten times worse than world's safest, Ireland; a UN statement on the joint UN-World Bank report said "Among the ten top-ranked European and other industrialized countries, where women are guaranteed good-quality health and family planning services that minimize their lifetime risk, fewer than one in 16,400 will die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth", childbirth in US being 4 times more dangerous for women than European avg, US 41st among 171 nations studied... US Centers for Disease Control has released data showing "that a child born in the United States in 2005 can expect to live 77.9 years, up from 77.8 in 2004 and continuing a rise dating back decades. U.S. life expectancy was 75.8 years in 1995 and 69.6 years in 1955", according to ENN; infant mortality reportedly increased in 2005, and US ranks 42nd in world for life expectancy... Reuters reports "Iran jailed a prominent pro-reform journalist and rights activist, Emadeddin Baghi, on Sunday for acting against national security, a close friend said"; Baghi is accused of publishing classified information, has previously been jailed for "insulting Islamic sanctity" and criticizing the Islamic state; his book on the chain killings of intellectuals by gov't agents have been banned in Iran... Interfax has reported Russian special services have been warned of a plot to assassinate Russian pres. Putin during an upcoming visit to Teheran; Iran says no such plot exists and rumor is attempt to sour Iran-Russian relations; report suggests "a number of groups of suicide bombers" involved; Putin 1st Russian head of state to visit Iran since Soviet dictator Stalin in 1943... In effort to steer regional business culture away from dangerous practices involving conflicts of interest and bribery, banned under its corporate charter, Merck has instituted an ethics center in Dubai; after 7 years and $3 million of Merck backing, it was given independence and is now the Dubai Ethics Research Center, part of Dubai's effort to become a "regional medical center"; Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship found it "had clearly impressed a cross-section of government, military and business thought leaders on the importance of codifying and enforcing 'workplace ethics'"...