Top Stories
Russian Fires Spread to Areas Contaminated by Radioactive Fallout
Like the old Soviet government did in downplaying the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, Russian officials are publicly minimizing the risk posed by wildfires in the same region that is still contaminated by radiation. Of particular concern are thre... read more
Texas Sues BP…But Not over Oil Spill
BP is being sued by the state of Texas for excess pollution that has nothing to do with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In April and May, while all eyes were on the broken well that released millions of gallons of oil into the ocean, BP’s Texas City... read more
Is Time Magazine Part of CIA Strategy to Gain Support for Afghan War?
The August 9 edition of Time featured a cover photo of an Afghan woman who had her nose chopped off, along with the headline: “What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan.” The implication was that, despite the increasing unpopularity of the war, the U.S... read more
Burn Pits: the Agent Orange of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Although no formal policy has been adopted for dealing with the problem, defense officials are moving closer to acknowledging the health consequences of open-pit burning on soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some soldiers who have devel... read more
Federal Reserve May Foreclose on Homeowners
When the Federal Reserve Bank of New York helped bail out Bear Stearns two years ago, it didn’t anticipate becoming the bad guy and having to foreclose on American homeowners and business owners. But that’s the ugly situation facing the New York F... read more
American Eye Clinic Workers Killed in Afghanistan
Eight foreign aid workers, including six Americans, were murdered in Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan on Saturday. The six were medical workers belonging to the Christian aid group International Assistance Mission. Two Afghan interprete... read more
Obama Withholds Signing of Mine Ban Treaty Despite Bipartisan Senate Support
President Barack Obama continues to drag his feet over signing an international agreement banning the use of land mines, even though more than two-thirds of the Senate is in support of the U.S. becoming a party to the treaty.
Sixty-eight senat... read more
Obama Keeps Combat Troops in Iraq…and They will Still Engage in Combat
America’s “combat mission” in Iraq will officially come to an end on August 31. But soldiers making up U.S. combat brigades won’t be coming home anytime soon…and they’ll still be engaged in combat.
President Barack Obama stated in a speech on ... read more
Women over 65 Twice as Likely to Live Alone than Men
Women who make it into their “golden years” are far more likely to live alone than men, according to a new report (Older Americans 2010) from the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics.
Based on data from 2008, the study found w... read more
Netherlands First NATO Country to Pull Out of Afghanistan
The Dutch have had enough and are pulling out of Afghanistan, becoming the first NATO country to leave and marking what could be the beginning of many U.S. allies withdrawing from the war. After the Netherlands removes its 1,900 troops from Afghan... read more
Obama Administration Begins Criminal Probe of BP, Transocean and Halliburton
Known as the “BP squad,” a group of federal investigators charged with examining the Deepwater Horizon accident have begun looking into what roles BP, Transocean and Halliburton played in the disaster.
Officials with the Department of Justice... read more
Bipartisan Congress Clashes with EPA over Coal Ash
A group of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House have chosen jobs over the potential health hazards posed by coal ash.
Nine Democrats and 22 Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee voiced opposition in a letter to the U.S.... read more
Obama Moves to Expand U.S. Weapons Sales Abroad
The United States is already the biggest supplier of weapons in the world, but President Barack Obama is not satisfied. As part of his plan to double the amount of U.S. exports by 2015, Obama wants to ease certain restrictions on military hardware... read more
Insurance Companies Profit from Troop Deaths
Insurance companies contracting with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide life insurance to soldiers have been profiting off monies intended for survivors of those killed in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Instead of paying lump sums to ben... read more
Deaths of Law Enforcement Officers on the Rise
After enjoying a 50-year low in deaths last year, law enforcement is suffering through a significant rise in 2010 in on-duty fatalities among officers. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, so far this year 87 law enfor... read more
Modern Wars: Fewer Soldiers, More Money
When the United States fought World War II, it spent $4.1 trillion (in inflation-adjusted dollars) while putting together a fighting force of 16 million men and women and battling the Axis powers (Japan, Germany, Italy) on three continents. Flash ... read more