With nine major refineries closed and many oil rigs or platforms reported missing in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurrice Katrina, the US government has decided to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves to help offset… Read moreBush opens Strategic Reserves
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says Hurricane Katrina probably killed hundreds and “most likely, thousands” of residents. “We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,” and others dead on roofs and in attics, Nagin told… Read moreKatrina: levee system made disaster worse
Warmer sea-surface temperatures caused by climate change could boost the frequency and potency of hurricanes, and that may be what we are now witnessing following the wave of ferocious Atlantic storms in recent years. A paper published last month in… Read moreKatrina, Republican “witch-hunt” worry climate scientists
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is devastated. Eighty percent of the city is submerged and the water is expected to keep rising for days due to levee breaks. The death toll of 60 could be just the… Read moreIraq impacts felt in New Orleans
Note how this Aug. 30 Associated Press report implicitly accepts Sharon’s language that “the main settlement blocs will remain under Israeli sovereignty.” Of course none of the settlement blocs are under Israeli sovereignty, according to international law. Sharon: Not all… Read moreSharon: No major West Bank pullout
Reporters Without Borders is calling for the immediate release of Nosir Zakirov, a correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Uzbekistan’s eastern province of Namangan, who was convicted of “insulting a government official” and sentenced to six months on prison… Read moreReporter gets prison in Uzbekistan
From Halliburton Watch: Army demotes senior official who exposed Halliburton cronyism 29 August 2005 WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (HalliburtonWatch.org) — The top civilian contracting official at the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was demoted after exposing cronyism between Halliburton and… Read moreUS Army “reprisal” against Halliburton whistle-blower
Raymond Bonner reports for the New York Times Aug. 28 that a new grass-roots political movement here has gathered more than 7,000 names of supporters on its web site in a campaign to free David Hicks, an Australian citizen being… Read moreCampaign to free Aussie in Gitmo
Oil prices hit new record highs, crossing $70 a barrel in Asian trading, as Hurricane Katrina threatened the Gulf of Mexico region and Bush urged residents of New Orleans to comply with a general evacuation order. A state of emergency… Read moreKatrina hikes oil over $70 mark; National Guard police New Orleans
Violence continues to escalate in Haiti, with the world paying very little note. In a grim irony, the latest massacre—carried out with the complicity of police forces—took place at a football match organized to promote peace. UN “peacekeeping” forces are… Read moreNew massacre in Haiti; Dominican Republic steps up deportations
Henry Kissinger, a key architect of the US war in Vietnam told CNN‘s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” Aug. 28 that he has “a very uneasy feeling” that some of the same factors that damaged support for the war in… Read moreIraq: Kissinger “uneasy,” has Vietnam deja vu
From Iraq scholar Juan Cole’s Informed Comment website. While we share Prof. Cole’s concern about civil war in Iraq, we question whether the US troop presence is forestalling or hastening it… Monday, August 22, 2005 Ten Things Congress Could Demand… Read moreJuan Cole weighs in on Iraq withdrawal
