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/ 8 December 2007
The intelligence came from an exotic variety of sources: there was the so-called Laptop of Death; there was the Iranian commander who mysteriously disappeared in Turkey. But pivotal to the United States investigation into Iran’s suspect nuclear-weapons programme was the work of a little-known intelligence specialist, Thomas Fingar.
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/ 3 December 2007
She can sell books — but can she sell a politician? Barack Obama confirmed recently that Oprah Winfrey will join him in his campaign in three key states next month for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the United States presidential election. The Obama team anticipates a huge demand for tickets for one of the US’s most popular television celebrities.
For Americans sitting in cinemas watching the summer’s fun movies, such as The Simpsons and Hairspray, the trailer for Lions for Lambs is jarring and unexpected. It opens with a moody shot of the Washington Memorial, and shifts to a series of quick-fire scenes about President George W Bush’s ”war on terror”.
When George W Bush appeared at the White House correspondents’ dinner last year beside an impersonator, everyone other than those at the front tables had trouble telling who was who. A new cartoon that debuted on Wednesday night on the American cable channel Comedy Central could pose the same dilemma.
The CIA, faced with the impossibility of infiltrating white Americans into radical groups in the Middle East, is recruiting Arab-speaking Sudanese citizens, in spite of sanctions against the country over the killings in Darfur, it emerged this week. Sudanese recruits have been providing information about individuals passing through Sudan to Somalia and elsewhere in the the Horn of Africa and Iraq.
The Mehdi Army Shi’ite militia vowed on Friday night to conduct revenge attacks on British soldiers in southern Iraq after its Basra leader was killed by Iraqi special forces in an operation supported by British troops. Wissam Abu Qader was described by British officials as responsible for criminal activities and attacks against foreign troops.
Barack Obama, a star of the Democratic party and a frontrunner in the presidential race, was forced on to the defensive this week over past financial dealings. Disclosure of his share dealings in two companies was a knock to Obama, who is campaigning on a platform of higher ethical standards in politics and tougher restrictions on political funding and lobbying.
The downfall of Lewis ”Scooter” Libby, one of the leading figures in the Bush administration, was completed recently. The man who had swaggered round the White House as chief of staff to the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, was subdued as he listened to the verdict in courtroom 17 of the United States District Court, within walking distance of his former office.
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/ 18 January 2007
Hillary Clinton risked being outflanked in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination this week when she softened her position on the Iraq war but failed to go far enough to satisfy anti-war critics. Clinton, who voted for the war in 2002 and has so far refused to renounce that, took to television and radio studios for a media blitz on Wednesday morning to set out a revised position.
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/ 20 October 2006
Britain has joined the United States, China and Russia to block a proposed ban on cluster bombs in the wake of extensive use of the weapons during the war in Lebanon. A group of countries, led by Sweden, is urging a worldwide ban on cluster bombs at arms talks in Geneva.