encyclopedia of current events

Israel submitted its terrorism-+Obstacle+to+peace/Hamas+war+against+Israel/Gaza_Operation_Investigations_Update_Jan_2010.htm">formal response last month to a U.N.-commissioned probe that accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during last winter's war in the Gaza Strip. Israel defended its conduct and pledged to fully investigate the U.N. allegations, but stopped short of a U.N. demand to appoint an independent commission to probe its army's conduct.

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Islamabad, Pakistan  -- There are more private security contractors from Xe, formerly Blackwater, operating in Islamabad than capital police, a religious leader said.

Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman, the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a Deobandi political party in Pakistan, said there were as many as 9,000 Xe contractors working in Islamabad, compared with just 7,000 capital police, Pakistan's News International reports.

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Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito may not have wanted to hear it during the State of the Union address, but a new poll shows the majority of Americans agree with President Obama's take on the Citizens United ruling. More than 60 percent of respondents say it was a bad idea.

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VANCOUVER - Robert Bonner is not impressed that Vancouver is hosting the Winter Olympics and thinks the millions of dollars spent on the event would have better gone on alleviating problems like poverty and homelessness.

"Spending C$178 million ($166 million) for a skating oval isn't really impressive when you're sleeping in a doorway," Bonner told the "Poverty Olympics," a colorful protest on Sunday to highlight Vancouver's social problems.

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The price of power has always been a political issue -- but now campaigners argue it could be the key to starting a green energy revolution.

On February 1, the British government announced details of the rates that will be paid for renewable power generated by homeowners and communities.

Called the Clean Energy Cashback, or feed-in tariff (FIT), the aim is to provide an above-market bonus that will encourage individuals and groups to invest in solar panels, wind turbines and other forms of green power.

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The Obama administration is reaching out to business-friendly Democrats to win support for free-trade policies that divide the party.

The effort is part of President Barack Obama's push on trade that was launched with his State of the Union address. Obama said he wanted to double exports over the next five years as part of an effort to grow the U.S. economy.

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WASHINGTON - As the Supreme Court nears the midpoint of its annual term and prepares to hear several momentous cases, one question looms: Will the justices' split decision reversing past rulings and allowing new corporate spending in political races set the tone for the term, or will Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission be an exception?

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MIDDLETOWN - - UPDATE (7:18 a.m.): Crews are returning to the Kleen Energy plant this morning to determine when rescuers can resume their search through the rubble for workers who remain unaccounted for.

The search was suspended at about 2:30 a.m. because the debris is unstable, said Middletown Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano.

Lights were brought in and dogs were assisting rescuers, he said. But all were called out when it was determined that the rubble may be dangerous.

He said experts will determine when, and under what circumstances, the search can resume.

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WASHINGTON - If the Democratic party has a stronghold on Wall Street, it is JPMorgan Chase.

Its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is a friend of President Obama's from Chicago, a frequent White House guest and a big Democratic donor. Its vice chairman, William M. Daley, a former Clinton administration cabinet official and Obama transition adviser, comes from Chicago's Democratic dynasty.

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Jerusalem - Human Rights Watch said on sunday that Israel has failed to properly investigate alleged crimes committed during last winter's devastating Gaza war as demanded by the United Nations.

"Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case," said Joe Stork, HRW's New York-based group's deputy director for the Middle East.

"An independent investigation is crucial to understand why so many civilians died and to bring justice for the victims of unlawful attacks," Stork said in a statement.

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GREENWICH, Conn. - After one of the leanest years in memory, life in this upper-crust enclave is slowly returning to normal. The Greenwich version of normal, anyway.

Caterers' cell phones are ringing again. Luxury car dealers are sending the Porsches out for test drives. An architect is booking multimillion-dollar jobs for his "masters of the universe" clients, titans of Wall Street who've made this leafy Connecticut suburb of New York one of the wealthiest towns in the country.

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In one of the great unmentioned effects of the earthquake in Haiti, women and young girls are suffering a rising number of rapes and sexual assaults, according to leading aid agencies. So widespread are the reports - and they include the rape of a girl of 12 by her rescuer after she was pulled out from the rubble - that emergency measures are now being taken.

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An orchestrated campaign is being waged against climate change science to undermine public acceptance of man-made global warming, environment
experts claimed last night.

The attack against scientists supportive of the idea of man-made climate change has grown in ferocity since the leak of thousands of documents on the subject from the University of East Anglia (UEA) on the eve of the Copenhagen climate summit last December.

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Salt Lake City, Utah - Just because other bidders have failed to pay for oil and gas leases without facing federal prosecution doesn't mean the U.S. attorney for Utah discriminated against monkey-wrencher Tim DeChristopher by indicting him, new court papers say.

prosecutors filed papers Friday that say DeChristopher's January motion for evidence from the Justice Department, Bureau Of Land Management and Interior Department supporting a claim of selective prosecution shouldn't be granted.

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The roof of the world is heating up, according to a report today that said temperatures in Tibet soared last year to the highest level since records began.

Adding to the fierce international debate about the impact of climate change on the Himalayas, the state-run China Daily noted that the average temperature in Tibet in 2009 was 5.9C, 1.5 degrees higher than "normal".

It did not define "normal", but Chinese climatologists have previously drawn comparisons with an average over several decades.

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