U.S. to Seek Dismissal Of Terrorism Convictions
From the Washington Post
Excerpt: The Justice Department will ask a federal judge in Detroit to dismiss the convictions of three men in a high-profile terrorism case last year, saying it has uncovered serious prosecutorial misconduct in the case... More

Labels: law, national security, prisoner

Bush Battles over Sick Workers
From the Associated Press
Excerpt: The Bush administration is locked in a rare election-year fight with fellow Republicans in the Senate over a troubled program for tens of thousands of weapons plant workers who got sick building nuclear bombs.

The lawmakers say they don’t understand why the administration is blocking a Senate-passed amendment to the defense bill that would overhaul a compensation program bogged down by delays and other problems.

"I can’t fully understand what their resistance is," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is in a tough re-election battle in Alaska. "We’ve been hammered by our constituents.”...

..."These people are sick and dying," said Terrie Barrie of Craig, Colo., whose husband was sickened while working at the former Rocky Flats plant near Denver. "The administration, the Department of Energy, is just refusing to listen." ...
...The lawmakers complain the Energy Department has squandered much of the $95 million it received since Congress created the program. As of the end of July, the agency has paid only 31 claims out of about 25,000 filed. The $700,000 in paid claims amounts to an average benefit of roughly $22,500... More

Labels: agency, bush, DOE, health, spending

Locust Plague hits "Passion of Christ" Town
From the Guardian (UK)
Excerpt: Tourist spots in Italy are being invaded by plagues of locusts. The town of Matera in the south of the country, which was the location for Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ, has been overrun by the insects just as it was hoping for a tourist boom prompted by the film... More

Bush Campaign Lawyer Tied to Group's Anti-Kerry Ads
From Reuters
Excerpt: A top lawyer for President Bush's re-election campaign has been providing legal advice to the group that has accused Democrat John Kerry of lying about his Vietnam War record, informed sources said on Tuesday.

The sources, who asked not to be identified, said Ben Ginsberg, the Bush campaign's chief outside counsel, has also been giving legal advice to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that is attacking Kerry.

Bush's campaign insists it has no relationship with the group and has denied Kerry's charge that it is a front for the president's re-election team... More

Labels: bush, kerry, politics

Vets Call for Resignation of Prosecutor in Swift Boat Ad
From KGW-TV Portland
Excerpt: A group of about a dozen Clackamas County veterans rallied on the steps of the coutny courthouse Monday afternoon calling for the resignation of a prosecutor who appeared in a controversial television ad criticizing Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War service.

Alfred French, 58, a senior deputy district attorney, appeared in the recent ad by the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth and said: "I served with John Kerry. . . . He is lying about his record." French also signed a legal affadavit attesting to the claim.


But French, in an interview with The Oregonian newspaper last week, said he was relying on the accounts of three other veterans when he said Kerry lied.


"I was not a witness to these events but my friends were," said French, who was awarded two Bronze Stars during the war.


That acknowledgement fueled Monday's protest, where the veterans contended French is unfit to serve as a prosecutor after swearing to facts that he never personally witnessed. ...

..."Mr. French signed an affidavidt defaming John Kerry's military service and then he admitted that he had no first hand knowledge of what he swore to," Stewart said. "To lie in a sworn affidavit goes beyond political smear, it is cause for this assistant district attorney to resign, and resign now."
More

Labels: politics

London: Prozac Found in Drinking Water
From Reuters
Excerpt: Traces of the anti-depressant Prozac have been found in the drinking water supply, setting off alarm bells with environmentalists concerned about potentially toxic effects.
The Observer said that a report by the government's environment watchdog found Prozac was building up in river systems and groundwater used for drinking supplies.
The exact quantity of Prozac in the drinking water was unknown, but the Environment Agency's report concluded Prozac could be potentially toxic in the water table...

... But environmentalists called for an urgent investigation into the findings.
Norman Baker, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said it looked "like a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public".
"It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water," he told the Observer. More

Labels: environment, health, UK