As part of its expanding counterterrorism program in Somalia, the CIA also uses a secret prison buried in the basement of Somalia’s National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters, where prisoners suspected of being Shabab members or of having links to the group are held. Some of the prisoners have been snatched off the streets of Kenya and rendered by plane to Mogadishu.
While the underground prison is officially run by the Somali NSA, US intelligence personnel pay the salaries of intelligence agents and also directly interrogate prisoners. The existence of both facilities and the CIA role was uncovered by The Nation during an extensive on-the-ground investigation in Mogadishu.
A US human rights group has called on foreign governments to prosecute George W Bush and some of his senior officials for war crimes if the Obama administration fails to investigate a growing body of evidence against the former president over the use of torture.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for fluoride fanatics to defend the practice of artificial water fluoridation, thanks to a plethora of new reports highlighting its many dangers. A new study published in the journal Neurologia reveals that chronic exposure to, and ingestion of, the synthetic fluoride chemicals added to water supplies can cause serious brain and neurological damage. Confirming several others recently published, the study further exposes the lunacy of deliberately adding toxic chemicals to the water supply in the name of saving teeth.
Ossur Skarphedinsson, Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, and his entourage had their trip to Gaza interrupted yesterday when Israeli soldiers obstructed the path of their cars with large rocks.
Yahoo! has been accused of changing its terms and conditions to allow it to read its customers' private emails.
A News Corp. stockholder group Monday sued Rupert Murdoch, saying they found it hard to believe he was unaware of the phone-hacking scandal at a tabloid. The shareholder group includes banks and pension funds. The shareholder group accused Murdoch of "rampant nepotism" and viewed his media holdings as a "family candy jar," The Guardian reported.
The Israeli parliament has passed a controversial law that will punish any Israeli individual or organisation boycotting West Bank settlements. Rights groups say the legislation stifles freedom of speech and compromises Israeli democracy.
“Planned Parenthood has stopped providing birth control pills and other contraception in New Hampshire after the state’s executive council rejected up to $1.8 million in funding for the group” because it also provides privately-funded abortions.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday appeared to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq as part of the war against al-Qaeda, an argument controversially made by the Bush administration but refuted by President Obama and many Democrats.
