By Nigel Morris The few Iraqi refugees who complete the perilous and expensive trip to Britain have little prospect of being allowed to stay. Of the two million Iraqis who have fled their homeland, only about 9,000 have claimed asylum in this country since Saddam Hussein was toppled by the US-led invasion in March 2003. Just 1,305 Iraqi asylum-seekers landed in Britain in 2006, a fraction of the 8,950 who ...

John Wildermuth State-sanctioned teams of computer hackers were able to break through the security of virtually every model of California's voting machines and change results or take control of some of the systems' electronic functions, according to a University of California study released Friday. The researchers "were able to bypass physical and software security in every machine they tested,'' said Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who authorized the "top to bottom ...

By Nigel Morris Legislation proposed by the Government to allow terrorist suspects to be held for up to 56 days without charge will be condemned today by a parliamentary committee. The Joint Committee on Human Rights says that ministers and police have failed to make the case for extending the detention period beyond the current 28-day limit. It says it has seen no evidence that 28 days has been inadequate ...

Global Health Draft In 2006 Rejected for Not Being Political By Christopher Lee and Marc Kaufman A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public ...

The new Prime Minister is subtler than Mr Blair, but he also believes our freedom gets in the way of security Henry Porter The Observer It is precisely because the Prime Minister appears so earnest and reasonable - is so solicitous, so keen to discover common ground, so conscious of our tradition of rights and freedom, and so strategic in the presentation of his case - that ...

By Todd Lewan Radio frequency ID chips already track products. What about people? The implantation of RFID chips in human beings has lead critics to draw comparisons to livestock, George Orwell's 1984 and even the Bible's Book of Revelations. Meanwhile, manufacturers of the devices insist that in some emergency situations, the chips could mean the difference between life and death. CityWatcher.com, a provider of surveillance equipment, attracted ...

By Tim Weiner An on-the-record master history of the CIA has finally been published, and it lesson is that an incompetent intelligence agency can be as great a threat to national security as not having one at all. The American people may not know it but they have some severe problems with one of their official governmental entities, the Central Intelligence Agency. Because of the almost total secrecy surrounding its activities and ...

By Ellen Connolly POLICE are advising parents to join social networking websites - such as MySpace and Facebook - to "spy" on their children. The move follows growing concern by authorities at teenagers who post intimate information and photos of themselves on the sites for the world to see. Police say the explosion in popularity of sites like MySpace (owned by News Corp, parent company of the publisher of NEWS.com.au)and ...

By SCOTT SHANE and DAVID JOHNSTON A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive electronic databases, according to current and former officials briefed on the program. It is not known precisely why ...

By David Rose When Bisher al-Rawi agreed to work for the British government, he thought he was doing the right thing. He spent four gruelling years at Guantanamo Bay for his efforts. In this remarkable interview he breaks his silence and tells his extraordinary story to David Rose. James Bond used to interview informants in nightclubs and luxury hotels. Le Carré's George Smiley preferred park benches, or safe houses ...

By Trevor Wells Farmers Legal Action Group-South Africa The industry front Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO), on Wednesday, revealed their latest public relations plans to introduce third-party auditing "to help agricultural players around the world feel confident that biotech crops are subject to stringent safety standards."  According to Carey Gillam, Kansas City, Missouri, agro-chemical giants Monsanto and DuPont endorsed  this plan. Monsanto has consistently shown disrespect for biosafety rules and a persistent reluctance to ...

Liberal Democrats Lib Dem Shadow Minister for Schools Greg Mulholland leads a House of Commons adjournment debate on use of biometric data in schools. Opening the debate, Lib Dem Shadow Minister for Schools, Greg Mulholland said: “In this country, thousands of schools are collecting fingerprints or other forms of biometric data from pupils as young as three. They are collected for registration, the lending of library books and the administration of ...

By W. Christopher Epler (Bill) We're still in denial about 9/11 and ongoing Bush/Republican Treason. The evidence just keeps growing and growing that sociopathic ...

By RYAN LENZ A film producer and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who backed a movie about alleged conspiracy theories behind Sept. 11 has been arrested for deserting the 101st Airborne Division two years ago, military officials said Friday. Korey Rowe, 24, a private in the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based division, was arrested in Oneonta, N.Y., and returned to Kentucky despite claiming to have been honorably discharged. Military officials at Fort ...