The Plug Nickel Times is proud to bring you website links to news information that you may not find through your local media. All links are offsite unless otherwise noted - followed links should open in another browser window. Links can become dated or otherwise fail to function, for this reason we quote the actual headline of an article. This may allow you to find an alternate copy of the article through a news index or search engine. Some sites we link to may require a registration process to view an article - this website may be useful to you in those instances. Comments, corrections and submissions are welcome - an email link is at the bottom of the page.
July 1-15, 2005
July 11, 2005
Iraqi police killed in checkpoint raid
Many die in Iraq army centre blast
US launches new offensive in Iraq
Ten Afghan Soldiers Beheaded by Taliban
Philippine Political Crisis Continues
"Pressure continued to mount Monday for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign over allegations of vote-rigging in the 2004 elections. Former president Corazon Aquino again called for Mrs. Arroyo to step down, and the opposition is planning protests in the capital later this week."
Email spying 'could have stopped killers'
"Millions of personal email and mobile phone records could be stored and shared with police and intelligence officials across Europe to help thwart terrorist attacks.
The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, will propose new measures at an emergency meeting of European Union interior ministers which will discuss the implications of Thursday's London bombings.
...
'Terrorism today is by definition international: the more we can survey the way in which people operate, the way in which they make their phone calls, the better your chance of identifying patterns of behaviour which are a threat,' he said."
Military's Energy-Beam Weapons Delayed
Executive Order 13382 - Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters
"This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers or employees, or any other person."
Executive Order 13381--Strengthening Processes Relating to Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified National Security Information
The coming Web security woes
Montana troopers must make hourly stops
"A new policy requires state troopers to stop at least one vehicle an hour, but the driver need not be ticketed, and the chief said the rule steers clear of an anti-quota law."
Workers indicted for selling matches used in meth manufacture
"Two Rutherford County convenience store workers have been arraigned on a federal charge of selling massive quantities of household matches containing a key ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
Each is charged with distributing materials which may be used to manufacture a controlled substance with reasonable cause to believe the materials would be used for that purpose."
Meat can be 'grown' in laboratories
Methinks the editor shoulda' put the quote marks around 'meat'...?
July 5, 2005
Events in Iraq from Prof. Juan Cole at Informed Comment
Dulaimi to Iran: No attack by US from Iraq - AMS Repudiates Call for Sunni Votes
Bahrain Diplomat Wounded in Baghdad - Bombing Near Iran Embassy
Saturday Toll 26 Killed, Nearly 50 Wounded - Hilla Bombings Kill 6, Injure 26
European Parliament Committee Calls for UN Command in Iraq - Sistani Aide Killed in Baghdad
UK aid funds Iraqi torture units
"British and American aid intended for Iraq's hard-pressed police service is being diverted to paramilitary commando units accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and extra-judicial killings, The Observer can reveal.
Iraqi Police Service officers said that ammunition, weapons and vehicles earmarked for the IPS are being taken by shock troops at the forefront of Iraq's new dirty counter-insurgency war.
The allegations follow a wide-ranging investigation by this paper into serious human rights abuses being conducted by anti-insurgency forces in Iraq. The Observer has seen photographic evidence of post-mortem and hospital examinations of alleged terror suspects from Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle which demonstrate serious abuse of suspects including burnings, strangulation, the breaking of limbs and - in one case - the apparent use of an electric drill to perform a knee-capping."
U.S. is urged to leave Central Asia
"Russia, China and four Central Asian nations issued a declaration Tuesday calling on the United States to set a deadline for withdrawing from its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan."
US Afghan tactics 'need rethink'
"The Afghan government has called for a rethink in the US-led fight against the Taleban and their allies.
Seventeen people, including women and children were killed in a US bombing raid in the eastern province of Konar last week, the local governor says."
India surrenders Ocean to US
"India has virtually agreed to joint policing of international waters with the United States in the 10-year defence agreement signed between the two governments in Washington.
The agreement is being seen as a 'back-door entry' for India into the US-led 11-nation Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) that is now claiming the right to stop and search ships not merely in coastal waters, but also on international waters, merely on the suspicion that a vessel could be carrying missile shipments.
...
The 11 nations in the PSI are the US, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Australia, Japan, Poland and the Netherlands. Asian and African countries have kept out of the initiative so far.
The provisions of the PSI allow the member nations to stop and search air, sea and land cargo based on mere suspicion that these could be linked to WMDs. Such searches can be conducted in sovereign waters and airspace."
U.K. ID Card Battle Heats Up
Rebels ready to face prison over ID cards (UK)
Senate Overrides Medical Pot Vote
"The Senate voted Thursday to override the governor's veto of a bill allowing the seriously ill to use marijuana.
If the House overrides the veto as well, Rhode Island would become the 11th state to permit medical marijuana use."
