Taliban defectors: US, Israel funding militants 19 Jun 2009 Two militants’ leaders who defected from notorious Taliban chief in Pakistan have revealed that their comrade was pursuing a US-Israeli agenda across the country. A prominent militant leader, Turkistan Bittani, who broke away from Baitullah Mehsud, called him “an American agent”. Mehsud, a warlord in his late 30s, has claimed responsibility for dozens of devastating string attacks on both civilians and security forces throughout the feared region. Baetani also noted that al-Qaeda and Taliban’s leadership was never targeted in the dozens of US drone strikes in the country’s troubled north-west region.
Tribesmen protest US drone attacks 19 Jun 2009 Hundreds of local tribesmen in Pakistan’s South Waziristan Agency are protesting US drone attacks on their areas. Soon after the Friday prayers, the tribesmen and elders of the Waziristan tribes staged a large protest rally in Wana city, the main town of South Waziristan Agency and marched in strong condemnation of the unmanned aircraft attacks, terming it an assault on Pakistan’s sovereignty, a Press TV correspondent reported late on Friday.
Errors ‘likely’ caused Afghan deaths: US 20 Jun 2009 A failure by US forces to follow procedures in deadly air strikes in Afghanistan last month “likely” caused the death of at least 26 civilians, the US military said. During a May 4 ‘battle with Taliban insurgents’ in western Afghanistan, US air crews… three air strikes by a B-1 bomber “did not adhere to all of the specific guidance” under US combat rules, a military investigation concluded. “Not applying all of that guidance likely resulted in civilian casualties,” said a summary of the probe released on Friday.
Jazeera staff held for “promoting terrorism”: Karzai 17 Jun 2009 Two Al Jazeera journalists who were freed Wednesday after three nights’ detention were held because the Afghan authorities believed their work promoted terrorism, President Hamid Karzai said. Qais Azimy, a producer on the network’s English-language channel, and Hameedullah Shah, a producer on its Arabic station were freed Wednesday after being held since Sunday afternoon by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS).
Iraqi oil director wants to scrap deals 18 Jun 2009 The state-owned South Oil Co. of Iraq called on the Iraqi oil minister to abandon plans for the end of June to open the country to foreign investors. Fayad al-Nema, the director of the company, said in a memo that some of the terms of the pending 20-year service contracts were identical to the work conducted currently by SOC. Nema had complained earlier the foreign deals would put the national economy in “chains” and “shackle” national independence for decades.
Georgia-Russia war: EU blames Saakashvili 19 Jun 2009 Confidential documents written by the EU team investigating last year’s Russian-Georgian war assign much of the blame to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. A majority of EU experts say the Georgian president, and not the Kremlin, ordered the first military strike against two breakaway provinces, according to the documents obtained by German news magazine Der Spiegel. The Georgian offensive into South Ossetia and Abkhazia escalated into a five-day war with Russia that the powerful neighbor won.
Obama holds to measured course on unrest in Iran 19 Jun 2009 The Obama administration on Friday stuck to a measured response to the uprising in Iran over a disputed presidential election, even as both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn an official crackdown on mostly peaceful demonstrations in the streets of Tehran. Administration officials said they remained convinced that the wiser U.S. course was caution over confrontation.
Alaska polar bear numbers declining – U.S. agency 18 Jun 2009 Polar bear populations in and around Alaska are declining due to continued melting of sea ice and Russian poaching, according to reports released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fewer polar bears have survived in the southern Beaufort Sea, which extends from northern Alaska to parts of Canada, and in the Chukchi and Bering Seas between northwestern Alaska and Russia, the agency’s draft population assessments show.
Kansas bank is 40th failure of 2009 19 Jun 2009 Anthony, Kan.-based First National Bank of Anthony became the third bank seized by regulators Friday, marking the 40th bank failure of 2009, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. South Hutchinson, Kan.-based Bank of Kansas has agreed to assume the failed bank’s deposits, the regulator said.
Bank failures in Ga., N.C. bring 2009 tally to 39 19 Jun 2009 Bank failures in Georgia and North Carolina have brought the number of failures in 2009 to 39, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. late Friday. Southern Community Bank of Fayetteville, Ga., was the year’s seventh bank failure in that state and United Community Bank of Blairsville, Ga., will assume all of the deposits. Cooperative Bank of Wilmington, N.C., became the year’s second bank to fail in that state. North Carolina First Bank of Troy, N.C., will assume all Cooperative deposits, except those from brokers.
Calif. unemployment rate hits 11.5 percent 19 Jun 2009 California’s unemployment rate climbed to 11.5 percent in May, the highest in modern record-keeping, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday. The loss of another 69,000 jobs comes as a blow to the state after unemployment dipped slightly to 11.1 percent in April, according to revised figures.
Bush finally attacks Obama 20 Jun 2009 George Bush has broken his vow of silence on President Barack Obama to attack him over the recession, health reform and Guantanamo in a speech to a business convention. Speaking in Erie, Pennsylvania, Mr Bush argued that health care should be left to private insurance companies… Mr Bush also took a swipe at Mr Obama’s planned closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison.
US hospital staff ‘covered up’ death 20 Jun 2009 Staffers at a Brooklyn hospital falsified medical records and lied to authorities in an attempt to cover up the neglect of a patient who died on the waiting room floor, according to city investigators. The report by New York’s Department of Investigation was released on Friday, exactly one year after the death of Esmin Green, a Jamaican immigrant.
Vienna Man Dies After Bid to Stop Verizon Van 19 Jun 2009 (Washington) A 79-year-old Vienna man who was fed up with his Verizon service died after trying to stop a technician’s van from pulling out of his driveway. The man, identified by neighbors as William Cornelius, fell after grabbing the steering wheel of the van late Wednesday afternoon and died hours later at a hospital, police said.
Female grizzly and cub killed by train 09 Jun 2009 Another two of Alberta’s grizzly bears have been killed. A mature female grizzly known as Bear #71 and one of her two cubs were hit and killed on the tracks operated by Canadian Pacific Railway on Saturday. The animals were being tracked by Parks Canada officials. Both the mother and her yearling male cub were struck and killed on the tracks about three kilometres east of Canmore.
