Obama challenges Miranda rights

US President Barack Obama

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171511.html

The Obama administration has introduced new interrogation rules that allow investigators to keep terrorism suspects in detention for an extended time without informing them of their Miranda rights.



According to an FBI memo revealed by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, interrogations are now allowed to be carried out without suspects being notified of their rights in order to “collect valuable and timely intelligence."



The Miranda rights is a legal document that constitutionally obligate US law enforcement officers to read out to all criminal suspects before subjecting them to any interrogations.



Among other things, the document reminds individuals in custody of their right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during the interrogation.



President Barack Obama tried to alter the constitutionally mandated Miranda rights last year but was rebuffed by Congress. This time, Obama plans to effect the change administratively rather than through the legislative process in Congress.



The new policy is the latest in a series of controversial measures Obama has taken to limit the civil rights of American citizens and legal immigrants.



Despite criticizing the Bush administration for rights violations and its treatment of terrorist suspects, Obama has been embracing many of the same policies, in addition to new ones such as restricting the Miranda rights.



Recently, the Obama administration has also instituted official procedures for indefinitely detaining foreign suspects at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison, barring them from access to any legal representations.

Shocking photos of US troops released

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171151.html

German Magazine Der Spiegel has released hideous photographs of US soldiers posing with what looks like dead Afghan men.

In one of the pictures, a US soldier holds a bleeding man's head up, and then in another photo a soldier is smiling, a Press TV correspondent in Washington reported on Monday.

In a third photograph, two men are tied together, appearing to have been shot -- slumped up against a post.

Der Spiegel published the photos over the weekend but they should reach the United States by Tuesday.

The US army officials have apologized for the pictures, calling them repugnant and contrary to army values but have not released further comments.

Two of the soldiers in the photographs -- Specialist Jeremy Morlock and Private First Class Andrew Holmes -- are part a group of US soldiers that already face murder charges for allegedly blowing up and randomly shooting at Afghan civilians before collecting their fingers as trophies.

Trial for the two soldiers is being held in Washington State. Morlock's court martial is scheduled for Wednesday. Holmes' court martial has not been publicly announced.

In November 2010, a group of US soldiers, accused of killing and allegedly mutilating Afghan civilians for sport, appeared before court but received only light prison sentences.

They were accused of changing the crime scenes to make them look like defensive combat.

Prosecutors say they also mutilated the bodies of their victims.

Last year, more than 2,000 civilians lost their lives in violence across Afghanistan, making 2010 the deadliest year ever for civilian casualties in the war-hit country.

Baltic life at risk as algae grow

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135918&sectionid=3510212

A blue-green algae mass at about the size of Germany now covers huge parts of the Baltic Sea, putting the marine habitat at risk, a satellite view of the sea shows.

The huge carpet of foul-smelling algae has grown rapidly due to record summer heat, the dumping of farm fertilizers and calm sea, threatening tourism and the marine habitat in the process.

The size of the blue-green algae is so huge that it can be compared with the size of Germany. It is estimated that the weed covers an area as large as 377,000 sq km. In fact, the affected area extends from Finland to the southern coast of Sweden, surrounding the Danish island of Bornholm.

As an affected country, scientists from the German division the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature located in Hamburg are warning about the damaging effects of the algae.

"These huge algae carpets hit the marine environment most…They kill plants and encourage the spread of dead zones on the sea bed which have no oxygen left in them," WWF project spokesman Jochen Lamp said.

The foul weed often smells like rotten eggs. They are not only dangerous to the sea habitat as they deprive them off oxygen, but also are harmful to humans because they spread cynano-bacteria which can generate skin rashes as well as other allergic symptoms eventually damaging people's liver.

According to doctors, drinking water contaminated by the weed 'can cause severe diarrhea,' the Independent reported.

Considered the harshest expansion of algae in the Baltic Sea since 2005, the weed explosion has been being rapidly expanding in size.

The cause of the expansion varies from record temperatures of up to 38 C, to a lack of strong winds and also a no wave in the sea as they all help to break up algae carpets.

Experts believe that the blue-green algae is helped by over-fertilization of farmland that leads to the wash up of large quantities of phosphorous and nitrogen off the soil and later dumped into the Baltic Sea via rivers.

"Over-fertilization is the biggest environmental problem facing the Baltic; it is the driving force behind the spread of dead zones on the sea bed," Lamp said.

Germany, which had to close its many Baltic beaches in 2001, has already warned swimmers not to go into the water due to its contaminated water.

US House votes killing of Armenians as 'genocide'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120060§ionid=351020204



US lawmakers have voted to brand the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide," ignoring fierce opposition from Turkey.

Despite fierce opposition to the move from Turkey and the White House, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the symbolic resolution by the slimmest of margins, 23 votes to 22, setting the stage for the bill to be put before the full House of Representatives, AFP reported.

The Turkish government, which had warned of serious repercussions for bilateral relations, has responded by recalling its ambassador from the United States for consultations. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he is seriously concerned that the motion will harm Turkey-US relations.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged the committee not to press ahead with the vote. She also said that the vote might harm reconciliation moves between Armenia and Turkey.

The United States has traditionally condemned the 1915-1918 mass killings of Armenians, but has always refrained from calling the killings as "genocide," wary not to strain relations with Turkey, a NATO member and a key ally in the Middle East.

Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed in 1915. But it denies that it amounted to genocide.

Dubai: Israeli premier faces arrest

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/201033465170139.html

The head of the Dubai police is planning to seek the arrest of the prime minister of Israel and the head of the country's secret service, Mossad, over the killing of a Hamas leader.

Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told Al Jazeera he would ask the Dubai prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu and Meir Dagan this week.

Tamim said he was "almost certain" Israeli agents were involved in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, at a Dubai hotel in January.

Israel has has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in al-Mabhouh's murder.

The police chief said Mossad had "insulted" Dubai and Western countries whose fraudulent passports were used by suspects in the assassination.

Investigation expanding

And a UAE newspaper reported that Dubai had also asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look into prepaid credit cardsissued by the Meta Financial Group's MetaBank which the suspects used.

Citing an FBI source, The National newspaper said the investigation would look into any Israeli involvement in the killing.

Quoting Dubai police, the newspaper said: "Thirteen of the 27 suspects used prepaid MasterCards issued by MetaBank, a regional American bank, to purchase plane tickets and book hotel rooms."

MetaBank said it followed proper procedures when it issued the cards.

Authorities told the bank that the suspects appeared to have used stolen passports to get employment with US companies, MetaBank said in a statement on Tuesday.

Dubai police have published details of 26 suspects together with passport photographs, and claim to have DNA evidence of the identity of at least one of the killers.

As a consequence of the assassination, UAE officials say they will prevent Israeli citizens travelling on foreign passports from entering the country.

Dubai police last Sunday issued a statement saying the "killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate al-Mabhouh before they suffocated him" and that "assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural".


Al-Mabhouh's killing has led investigators to Britain, Ireland, Australia and Germany - countries whose passports the assassins allegedly used.

US spies authorized to kill American 'terrorists'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117855&sectionid=3510203


US spy agencies have the license to 'take out' any American they deem a threat to the national security, an intelligence chief declares.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair admitted Wednesday that Washington can take out potential American terrorists overseas.

Blair told the Intelligence Committee of the US House of Representatives that direct action will be taken against US citizens that threaten other Americans.

"We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community. If that direct action, we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that." The intelligence chief said.

The National Security Council and the Justice Department will have to determine who fits that profile.

"I just don't want Americans who are watching this to think that we are careless about endangering -- in fact, we're not careless about endangering American lives as we try to carry out the policies to protect most of the country," Blair claimed at the annual threat briefing before the committee.

His comments came amid reports indicating US President Barack Obama's approval of the continuation of the Bush-era policy of killings Americans deemed involved in 'terrorist activities' overseas.

Egypt builds anchorage to tighten Gaza siege

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116199&sectionid=351020202


The Egyptian government is building a dock at the Rafah border in an attempt to tighten up and make the blockade on Gaza stricter.

“The new anchorage will enhance the work of the Egyptian patrol boats on the sea border with Gaza and prevent any attempts of smuggling by sea,” a security source in North Sinai told Reuters on Thursday.

“It is to secure the area. It will be used to direct fishing boats in the area to ensure they do not cross the Israeli sea border and risk getting fired at,” he added.

According to Egyptian security sources, the anchorage will be 10 meters deep and 25 meters long.

The Egyptian building work was condemned by Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri who called it a “clear plan to cement the blockade and the siege on Gaza.”

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege ever since the Hamas resistance movement won parliamentary elections in 2007.

To help Israel implement the siege, Cairo has also been building an underground wall along its border with the impoverished coastal sliver.

The wall destroys many tunnels along the border that have served as a crucial lifeline since Israel sealed off the strip from almost all vital supplies. The wall will be 9 to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) long, and will go as deep as 20 to 30 meters into the ground.

Palestinians say they use the tunnels to transport basic necessities including food and medicine to the besieged Gaza Strip.