Pentagon chief: Time in Afghanistan short
July 19, 2009
After eight years, US-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next year to avoid perceptions that the conflict has become unwinnable, the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, has said in a sharp critique of the war effort.
British spy chief outed on wife’s Facebook page
July 5, 2009
The wife of the next head of Britain’s spy agency has posted pictures of her husband, family and friends on the social networking site Facebook, details which could compromise security, a newspaper said on Sunday.
Sir John Sawers is due to take over as head of the Secret Intelligence Service in November. The SIS, popularly known as MI6, is Britain’s global intelligence-gathering organisation.
Saddam told FBI : I was no al-Qaeda ally
July 2, 2009
Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews just released. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as “a zealot” and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda.
Saddam, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the “fanatic” leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a “security agreement with the United States to protect it [Iraq] from threats in the region”.
Fashionistas: Michelle Obama meets Carla Bruni
June 9, 2009
Michelle Obama, whom French fashionistas regard as the best-dressed American first lady since Jackie Kennedy, has lived up to her sartorial reputation during her trip to Paris, sporting a wardrobe of fashion-forward classics by top American designers.
Air France jet with 215 on board drops off radar
June 1, 2009
An Air France passenger jet with 215 people on board has gone missing after dropping off the radar over the Atlantic off the Brazilian coast Monday, a Paris airport official said.
Intern’s secret affair with JFK
May 28, 2009
A White House intern who had a 17-month affair in the 1960s with the former US president John F. Kennedy is to tell her story for the first time.
Mimi Beardsley Alford, now 66, a retired New York church administrator, will receive an advance believed to be worth nearly $US1 million for her memoirs.
John Stewart Discusses the Right Wing Media’s Outrage Over Wanda Sykes Comments, Yet Still Defend Torture
May 12, 2009
The mass hysteria from the right rolled in overnight, just two days after Wanda Sykes appeared at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and gave Rush Limbaugh a taste of his own medicine. Much like when Limbaugh would gleefully sing “Barack the Magic Negro” on a daily basis or when he rabidly, and brutally ripped into Michael J. Fox and his illness – Sykes decided to take it to the next level in her digs aimed at Rush.
Anger in the streets over Sarkozy reforms
March 21, 2009
Record numbers of people have taken to the streets of France, in the biggest demonstrations since Nicolas Sarkozy’s election to the presidency, to protest about his handling of the economic crisis.
Unions estimated that more than 3 million people took part in demonstrations across the country on Thursday, in the second general strike over the economic crisis in two months. Police put the figure at 1.2 million.
New start in US – unBush’ing of America
March 15, 2009
If ever the world would have forgiven a man for not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time, it would have been now. No one would blame Barack Obama if he focused exclusively on the economic crisis, pushing the foreign policy in-tray to the back of his desk. After all, there’s only so much even a Messiah can handle.
For all that, the new US President has crammed a slew of foreign policy moves into his first six weeks, any one of which would have made big news in normal times.
Man who wouldn’t talk takes $65b secret to jail
March 13, 2009
While Bernard Madoff sits in his New York cell facing a life behind bars today, the search for any accomplices continues.
By choosing to plead guilty in court, Madoff has robbed the prosecution and victims of the chance to hear details of how he perpetrated the world’s biggest fraud to date. Questions about whether Madoff acted alone or in concert remain unanswered but the victims of Madoff’s fraud will hope that remains a temporary state of affairs.
