Exxon Mobil makes $10B on record gas prices 27 Jul 2007
Exxon Mobil makes $10B on record gas prices 26 Jul 2007 Exxon Mobil reported over $10 billion in quarterly profit Thursday as higher gasoline prices helped offset a decline in revenue from natural gas. But Exxon's profit fell short of last year's and missed estimates. It was also lower than the $10.7 billion it reported in the fourth quarter of 2005, the highest quarterly corporate profit ever.
Shell 2Q Net Profit Rises 18 Percent to $8.67 Billion 26 Jul 2007 Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Thursday net profit rose 18 percent in the second quarter, thanks to asset sales and strong increases in margins at oil refineries but the company's net gas and oil production dipped. Net profit at the Hague, Netherlands-based company came to $8.67 billion (6.27 billion euros), close to a European record for quarterly earnings, up from $7.32 billion.
Abuse of workers building U.S. embassy in Iraq is alleged 27 Jul 2007 Two American civilian contractors who worked on a massive [$592m ] U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad told Congress yesterday that foreign laborers were deceptively recruited and trafficked to Iraq to toil at the site, where they experienced physical abuse and substandard working conditions.
Third Person Charged in Iraq Fraud Case 26 Jul 2007 A third member of a Texas family has been arrested in connection with what a federal official says is the largest Army contract-rigging and bribery case to emerge from the Iraq reconstruction [destruction] effort. Carolyn Blake, a former schoolteacher, was charged Wednesday with laundering money and conspiring to accept $3.1 million in bribes from contractors.
Defence committee: British troops in Iraq face 'nightly suicide missions' --MPs told by soldiers that role in Basra is over --US influence blamed for government strategy 25 Jul 2007 British soldiers are going on "nightly suicide missions" in southern Iraq and they are there only at the behest of the US, Labour MPs on the Commons defence committee told the government yesterday. In evidence that reflects deepening concern among army commanders, the MPs said they were told during a recent visit to British troops in Basra that the UK's military role in Iraq was over.
US: Attackers in Iraq Have Improved Aim 26 Jul 2007 The U.S. military has noted a "significant improvement" in the aim of attackers firing rockets and mortars into the heavily fortified Green Zone in the past three months that it has linked to training in Iran, a top commander said Thursday.
Baghdad car bomb kills 25, wounds 115 27 Jul 2007 A [US] parked car bomb killed 25 people and wounded 115 when it exploded near an intersection in central Baghdad on Thursday and police said the toll could rise as many bodies were believed still buried under rubble.
Eight U.S. troops killed in Iraq 26 Jul 2007 The U.S. military on Thursday reported eight recent troop deaths in Iraq... Also Thursday, police found 20 bodies dumped across the capital, the Interior Ministry said.
Denmark 'pulls out troops early' 26 Jul 2007 Denmark has withdrawn most of the 430 troops it has stationed in Iraq earlier than expected, a report said today quoting the Danish military. The battalion, stationed in the southern city of Basra since 2003, under British command, was supposed to begin pulling out its soldiers on August 10. But, according to a report by the Iraqi correspondent of the Danish TV channel TV2, sustained attacks by 'insurgents' have led to most of them heading home early.
Pentagon says making contingency Iraq pullout plan 26 Jul 2007 The Pentagon is making contingency plans for a U.S. withdrawal of troops from Iraq, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who called the planning a "priority." In a letter delivered on Tuesday to Sen. Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat and presidential candidate who tangled with the Pentagon to learn whether such plans exist, Gates said he was actively involved in drafting them.
Two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan convert to Islam - paper 26 Jul 2007 Two American soldiers have converted to Islam and married in Afghanistan, a state newspaper said on Thursday. A U.S. military spokesman said he was checking the reports and pointed out that freedom of religion was enshrined in the U.S. constitution.
AP: Tillman killed by M-16 fired from 10 yards away 26 Jul 2007 Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. "The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators. The doctors whose names were blacked out said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away. Ultimately, the Pentagon did conduct a criminal investigation, and asked Tillman's comrades whether he was disliked by his men and whether they had any reason to believe he was deliberately killed.
Army to Punish Officers in Tillman Case --Seven Army Officers to Be Reprimanded for Mishandling Tillman Case 26 Jul 2007 ABC News has learned that seven Army officers will receive career-ending administrative punishments for mishandling the Pat Tillman case. The Army has decided not to punish three other officers who had been accused of wrongdoing by the Pentagon inspector general. None of the officers will face criminal charges.
Army May Demote General for Misleading Statements in Tillman Death Probe 26 Jul 2007 Army Secretary Peter Geren is considering disciplinary action against seven Army officials, including a retired three-star general, for making misleading statements in reporting the friendly-fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, according to a service official.
VA Secretary faces wrongful death suit 26 Jul 2007 The family of an Iraq war veteran filed suit Thursday accusing Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson of negligence in the suicide death of their son... The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages names Nicholson, who is leaving his job, and the U.S. government as defendants.
Army's 'Debt Of Service' Leaves Vets Perplexed --Unbelievably, Soldiers Must Pay For Damaged Equipment 24 Jul 2007 Brian Rodriguez is a fighter, an honorably discharged soldier who'd been deployed in Iraq. Former Army Specialist Rodriguez started getting bills for $700 for lost or damaged government property this summer. Although he was discharged some four years ago, bills recently arrived demanding payment, but giving no details on what or why -- nor do they offer a way to dispute the charges... A 2006 government report found more than 1,000 soldiers being billed a total of $1.5 million.
CIA discounted British concerns, say MPs --Americans ignored caveats on intelligence --'Serious implications' after British residents seized 26 Jul 2007 MI5 contributed to the seizure of two British residents by the CIA, which secretly flew them to Guantánamo Bay in a move with "serious implications for the intelligence relationship" between Britain and the US, a cross-party committee of senior MPs said in a damning report released yesterday. The security service passed information to the Americans on Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi, and Jamil el-Banna, from Jordan, as they flew to the Gambia to set up a business there in 2002.
Hundreds of Syrian missiles poised for possible first strike against Israel 26 Jul 2007 Despite appeals by United States, Syria has maintained its forward ballistic missile positions near Israel. Israeli military sources said the Syrian military has positioned its Scud C and Scud D ballistic missile batteries in southern Syria. The sources said the missile batteries have maintained full combat readiness and could be launched at any time.
Sentient world: war games on the grandest scale 23 Jul 2007 Perhaps your real life is so rich you don't have time for another. Even so, the US Department of Defense (DOD) may already be creating a copy of you in an alternate reality to see how long you can go without food or water, or how you will respond to televised propaganda. The DOD is developing a parallel to Planet Earth [the Sentient World Simulation (SWS)], with billions of individual "nodes" to reflect every man, woman, and child this side of the dividing line between reality and AR.
Bush warns Al-Qaida following bin Laden, poses U.S. threat 25 Jul 2007 President [sic] Bush on Tuesday presented his most detailed and lengthy argument that al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] in Iraq was intimately tied to Osama bin Laden's terrorist operation as he sought to rebut his critics' assertion that the Iraqi group was not a threat to American security.
Australia drops bomb plot charges 27 Jul 2007 Australian authorities dropped terrorism charges against an Indian doctor [Dr Mohamed Haneef], arrested in connection with a failed car bomb plot in Britain, Australia's chief prosecutor Damian Bugg said on Friday. Bugg intervened to review the evidence against Haneef after weeks of media leaks and growing public criticism about the lack of strong evidence against the doctor. "On my view of this matter, a mistake has been made," Bugg told reporters in Canberra.
Heathrow puts up legal barricades to keep away protesters --If you're a member of the National Trust, the RSPB, the Woodland Trust or Friends of the Earth, then you could be banned from Britain's biggest airport. And the Piccadilly line. And parts of Paddington station. And sections of the M4. All because the authorities want to halt a protest against climate change... 27 Jul 2007 Five million people in peaceful environmental organisations such as the National Trust and the RSPB have become the subject of an extraordinary legal attempt to limit their right to protest. In legal documents seen by The Independent, the British Airports Authority has begun moves that would allow police to arrest members of 15 environmental groups to prevent them taking part in demonstrations against airport expansion.
Aspirin Spurs ABC News Office Evacuation 26 Jul 2007 A building housing the Washington bureau of ABC News was temporarily evacuated Thursday because of a suspicious envelope containing a white powdery substance that turned out to be aspirin, District of Columbia authorities said. D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter said people were forced to leave the downtown building for about 45 minutes.
Suspicious Package Found at Long Beach Airport Not an Explosive Device 26 Jul 2007 A suspicious item in luggage prompted an evacuation of hundreds of people from the Long Beach Airport terminal Thursday before the object was found to be an electronic game, authorities said. Transportation Security Administration screeners spotted the suspicious item in a checked bag around 9:30 a.m., said Jennifer Peppin, a spokeswoman for the federal agency.
Hundreds evacuated from Long Beach airport 26 Jul 2007 A suspicious piece of luggage prompted the evacuation of several hundred people from the Long Beach Airport terminal Thursday and delayed inbound flights, authorities said. The baggage was discovered by federal Transportation Security Administration workers at about 9:30 a.m., city police spokeswoman Kathy Parsons said. Firefighters, police and a bomb squad were called to the airport, about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Explosion at Mojave Airport Kills 2 27 Jul 2007 An explosion killed two people and critically injured four others at a Mojave Desert airport site used by the pioneering aerospace company that sent the first private manned rocket into space, authorities said. The blast at a Mojave Air and Space Port facility belonging to Scaled Composites LLC also left some toxic material, said Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston.
Tanks of propane, acetylene explode near downtown Dallas; 3 hurt 25 Jul 2007 Flaming debris rained onto a busy highway during a series of explosions at a gas facility near the city's dense downtown area, injuring three people and rattling windows and buildings blocks away.
White House Defends Gonzales 26 Jul 2007 The White House defended Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [aka Tortureboy] on Thursday against accusations he gave misleading testimony to Congress. A key Republican senator critical of Gonzales said there was no sign that President [sic] Bush's support for the attorney general was weakening. [Of course! One lying sack of sh*t defends another!]
FBI director contradicts Gonzales 26 Jul 2007 The head of the FBI [Robert S. Mueller] contradicted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' sworn testimony and Senate Democrats requested a perjury investigation Thursday in a fresh barrage against the truthfulness of President [sic] Bush's embattled longtime friend and aide.
Bush aides in 'snooping' case 27 Jul 2007 Karl Rove was one of two White House aides sub-poenaed by the Senate judiciary committee yesterday in a rapidly escalating confrontation between the Bush administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress. Mr Rove, President [sic] Bush's closest adviser, received the summons just one hour after a group of Democratic senators had demanded that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, America's most senior legal officer and a member of Mr Bush's inner circle, be investigated for perjury.
Senate panel subpoenas White House aide Rove 26 Jul 2007 The chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee [Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)] said on Thursday he had subpoenaed two more White House aides, including political adviser Karl Rove, in the probe of fired federal prosecutors.
Senators call for probe of Gonzales' statements --Senate Democrats seek perjury inquiry after contradictory documents found 26 Jul 2007 A group of Senate Democrats called Wednesday for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales perjured himself regarding the firings of U.S. attorneys and administration dissent over President [sic] Bush's domestic surveillance program.
Alaska Lawmakers Coming Under Scrutiny 25 Jul 2007 A government watchdog group filed a complaint Wednesday with the U.S. Senate ethic committee over a land deal involving Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Another Alaska Republican in Congress, Rep. Don Young, is under criminal investigation, a federal law enforcement official said.
US Senators back web censorship 26 Jul 2007 US senators issued a bipartisan call for filtering and monitoring technologies on the Internet. In a meeting where civil liberties groups were not invited, Democrats and Republicans [GOPedophiles] said that the web needed to be censored to protect children.
Judge slams 'absurd' FBI, orders $114m payout 27 Jul 2007 A federal judge has ordered the US government to pay more than $US101 million ($114.4 million) in the case of four men who spent decades in prison for a 1965 murder they did not commit after the FBI withheld evidence of their innocence. The judge called the government's defence that the FBI had no duty to get involved because it was a state case "absurd".
Professor in 9/11 dispute files lawsuit day after firing 25 Jul 2007 The University of Colorado professor who was fired after comparing some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi fought back with a lawsuit on Wednesday, saying the school retaliated against him for exercising his right to free speech.
FCC chair: Fairness Doctrine not needed 26 Jul 2007 The Federal Communications Commission has no intention of reinstating the Fairness Doctrine imposing a requirement of balanced coverage of issues on public airwaves, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said.
Senators are asked to block Bush's EEOC nominee --Palmer undermined the unit's mission of securing the employment rights of women and minorities in the public sector, while defending employers' rights to discriminate based on religion. 23 Jul 2007 President [sic] Bush's nominee [David Palmer] to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was himself the subject of at least one complaint of employee abuse in his supervisory role at the Justice Department, eight former department civil rights employees charged Monday. [Gee, this maggot sounds like a *terrific candidate* to serve on the EEOC.]
Lawmakers grill EPA chief on Calif. law 26 Jul 2007 The head of the Environmental Protection Agency refused on Thursday to say whether he knew the Transportation Department was lobbying against a California global warming law. "I defer to the Transportation Department," EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson repeated three times in a row in response to questions from Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Number of environmental cops decreasing 26 Jul 2007 Fewer U.S. environmental cops are tracking criminal polluters these days, their numbers steadily dropping below levels ordered by Congress. The number of the Environmental Protection Agency's criminal investigators has dropped this year to 174, below the 200-agent minimum required by Congress, even as the EPA's overall criminal enforcement budget rose nearly 25 percent over three years to $48 million, according to EPA records.
BP dumps mercury in lake --Refinery has been exemptand new permit gives it 5 more years 27 Jul 2007 Although the federal government ordered states more than a decade ago to dramatically limit mercury discharges into the Great Lakes, the BP refinery in northwest Indiana will be allowed to continue pouring small amounts of the toxic metal into Lake Michigan for at least another five years. A little-noticed exemption in BP's controversial new state water permit gives the oil company until 2012 to meet strict federal limits on mercury discharges. In documents, Indiana regulators predict the refinery won't be able to comply and will ask to continue polluting after that date.
Tiny Town Demands Justice in Dioxin Poisoning By Adrianne Appel 25 Jul 2007 A U.S. health agency has made research subjects of people in tiny Mossville, Louisiana by repeatedly monitoring dangerously high levels of dioxin in their blood while doing nothing to get the community out of harm's way, residents say. Further, the agency failed to release important test results for five years, and made it difficult for the community to obtain the actual data, say residents and their lawyers.
Dow slides over 300 points to finish 2nd worst day of 2007 26 Jul 2007 Stocks plunged Thursday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down over 300 points for its second worst day of the year, as anxiety about shaky credit markets and the troubled housing sector swept Wall Street. The Dow industrials first fell by over 450 points, before recouping a chunk of its losses.
An Ugly Day for Stocks --Credit market worries alarm markets, while new home sales plunge and oil prices rise 26 Jul 2007 The bears roamed freely on Wall Street Thursday as investors weighed a nasty brew of continued dreadful home sales, mixed earnings news, a jump in energy prices, and further retrenchment for the credit markets. In the mid-afternoon on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 391.4 points, or 2.84%, to 13,393.67.
India confirms bird flu outbreak is H5N1 strain 26 Jul 2007 The Indian government confirmed on Thursday that the latest outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the remote northeast of the country was of the dangerous H5N1 strain. "It has been confirmed as the H5N1 strain," Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Vineet Chawdhry told Reuters.
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'DC Madam' Phone Records --By Lori Price Updated! 'DC Madam' phone records - 2006 (50 pages, .pdf) has been added. 26 Jul 2007FBI Proposes Building Network of U.S. Informants 25 Jul 2007 The FBI is taking cues from the CIA to recruit thousands of covert informants in the United States as part of a sprawling effort to boost its intelligence capabilities. Other recent proposals include expanding its collection and analysis of data on U.S. persons, retaining years' worth of Americans' phone records and even increasing so-called "black bag" secret entry operations. To handle the increase in so-called human sources, the FBI also plans to overhaul its database system, so it can manage records and verify the accuracy of information from "more than 15,000" informants, according to the document.
Iraq Parliament Passes Law to Privatize Oil Refineries 25 Jul 2007 Iraq's Parliament has approved a law privatizing the country's oil-refining sector in order to lure investment [US corpora-terrorists] and stem a [US-created] fuel shortage. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told United Press International Wednesday from his mobile phone in Baghdad that the government will provide incentives to both domestic and foreign private oil companies whose refinery plans the ministry approves.
Iraqis blame U.S. depleted uranium for surge in cancer 23 Jul 2007 Iraq's environment minister blamed Monday the use of depleted uranium weapons by U.S. forces during the 2003 Operation Shock and Awe for the current surge in cancer cases across the country. As a result of "at least 350 sites in Iraq being contaminated during bombing" with depleted uranium (DU) weapons, Nermin Othman said, the nation is facing about 140,000 cases of cancer, with 7,000 to 8,000 new ones registered each year.
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Exxon Mobil makes $10B on record gas prices 26 Jul 2007 Exxon Mobil reported over $10 billion in quarterly profit Thursday as higher gasoline prices helped offset a decline in revenue from natural gas. But Exxon's profit fell short of last year's and missed estimates. It was also lower than the $10.7 billion it reported in the fourth quarter of 2005, the highest quarterly corporate profit ever.
Shell 2Q Net Profit Rises 18 Percent to $8.67 Billion 26 Jul 2007 Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Thursday net profit rose 18 percent in the second quarter, thanks to asset sales and strong increases in margins at oil refineries but the company's net gas and oil production dipped. Net profit at the Hague, Netherlands-based company came to $8.67 billion (6.27 billion euros), close to a European record for quarterly earnings, up from $7.32 billion.
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