By David Gutierrez | The FDA allowed tests to proceed on new varieties of artificial blood even though it should have been aware that the products drastically increased patients' risk of heart attacks and death, according to a review conducted by the National Institutes of Health and Public Citizen, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "It's hard to understand," lead researcher Charles Natanson said. "They already ...

http://revcom.us/a/144/BNQ-en.html | “The young man was shot 41 times while reaching for his wallet”…“the 13-year-old was shot dead in mid-afternoon when police mistook his toy gun for a pistol”… “the unarmed young man, shot by police 50 times, died on the morning of his wedding day”… “the young woman, unconscious from having suffered a seizure, was shot 12 times by police standing around her locked car”… “the victim, arrested ...

Corporate Watch | Detainees at the Campsfield House immigration prison in Oxfordshire are being “exploited for cheap labour” due to staff cuts, the Oxford and District Trades Union Council has revealed. The rejected asylum seekers, who are locked up for lengthy periods pending their deportation, are being paid £5 for six-hour shifts of cleaning and kitchen work. A statement by the Oxford and District TUC said: “We maintain our ...

By David W. Dunlap | This is the scale of 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower, which is now beginning to emerge from below ground: the contract for the electronic security system alone is worth $20,407,680. Meeting last week for the first time within sight of ground zero, the commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ...

By James Petras | Human Rights Watch, a US-based group claiming to be a non-governmental organization, but which is in fact funded by government-linked quasi-private foundations and a Congressional funded political propaganda organization, the National Endowment for Democracy, has issued a report “A Decade Under Chavez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela” (9/21/2008 hrw.org). The publication of the “Report” directed by Jose Miguel Vivanco and ...

By Duncan Campbell | The government's 42 days counterterrorism legislation came under fresh fire last night when a former director general of MI5 said the provision to hold suspects for six weeks without charge was excessive. Dame Stella Rimington became the second former MI5 chief in three months to come out against the controversial measures. "It's too much, quite frankly," she said when asked about ...

Media Workers Against the War | Jon Snow, Channel 4 news anchor, reveals his anger on Radio 4 at the news blackout on Prince Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan. On a programme stacked with pro-war journalists, he was asked by media analyst Steve Hewlett how he felt when he found out there had been an embargo. Snow replied: I was absolutely enraged. I couldn’t ...

By Greg Gordon | McClatchy.com | WASHINGTON - Colorado Democrats accused a Republican county clerk Wednesday of falsely informing Colorado College that students from outside the state could not register to vote if their parents claimed them as a dependent on their tax returns. At a news conference in Colorado Springs, Democrats also criticized Robert Balink, the El Paso County clerk and recorder, who was a delegate to the Republican National ...

ShortNews | Even as the McCain-Palin campaign seeks to distance itself from the Bush administration, at least half a dozen former Bush operatives are now advising McCain-Palin. A Republican with ties to Bush questioned the wisdom of the move. McCain-Palin advisors include Bush U.N. appointee Mark Wallace, Bush communications coordinator Tucker Eskew and Bush deputy assistant Greg Jenkins. They are now working with Sarah Palin on media interviews and debate preparation. One ...

New Scientist | Last year, New Scientist revealed that the US Department of Homeland Security is developing a system designed to detect "hostile thoughts" in people walking through border posts, airports and public places. The DHS says recent tests prove it works. Project Hostile Intent as it was called aimed to help security staff choose who to pull over for a gently probing interview - or more. ommentators slated ...

Just outside Andrew Holden’s office at the Christchurch Press off Cathedral Square – and, believe me, New Zealand’s prettiest city is as colonial as they come, a Potemkin town of mock-Tudor government buildings, Scottish baronial churches and wooden versions of Victorian homes – is a brightly coloured, cheerful little water-colour. Boarding a big steamship, thousands of New Zealanders in big broad-bottomed brown hats are lining the quaysides, the gangplanks and ...

By Matthew Rothschild | The race boils down to racism. All things being equal, Barack Obama would win the presidency hands down. Unemployment is at a five-year high. Wages are shrinking. The stock market is in the doldrums. The home foreclosure crisis has shattered the dreams of millions of Americans. Health care costs keep rising. Food costs keep rising. Tuition costs keep rising. The price of gasoline hit record highs this summer. We’re in the midst of two ...

By Richard Down | ALMOST 1,000 local authority CCTV cameras provide surveillance on Merseyside as people go about their everyday lives, the Daily Post has found. Additional CCTV cameras are located on Merseytravel trains and buses, more still monitor customers outside bars, while thousands more fill workplaces across the region. A survey, as part of the Daily Post’s personal data special investigation, found there are 318 cameras owned and run by ...

Councils will be ordered to stop spying on local residents amid Government concerns over the continuing creep of the surveillance state.  By Rosa Prince | Ministers from the Department of Communities and the Home Office have undertaken a thorough review of official surveillance powers, some of which are open to public bodies such local authorities, the NHS and even the Coastguard. The review was triggered by ministers' concerns that ...

The estimated cost of policing a week-long protest against climate change stands at just under £6 million, it has been disclosed. Around £5.9 million has been spent policing the Camp for Climate Action event which was held last month close to Kingsnorth Power Station near Hoo, Kent. The money, revealed to BBC South East following a Freedom of Information Act request, was spent on officers, accommodation, air support and planning. But Kent Police ...