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Further details about Bush-Blair memo stopped The U.K. attorney general Lord Goldsmith has warned British media that further reporting of details from an allegedly leaked memo about a dispute between Tony Blair and George Bush "could be in breach of section 5 of the Official Secrets Act."
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Four Westerners have been kidnapped in Iraq while in Baghdad. The former Prime Minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, has claimed in the Observer newspaper, that Human Rights abuses in Iraq are as bad now as they were in the time of Saddam Hussein. Presidential elections are taking place today in Honduras with either Porfirio Pepe Lobo or Manuel Mel Zelaya expected to win. Singapore's hangman Darshan Singh is dismissed after his identity is revealed in an Australian newspaper prior to the planned 2 December execution of Australian Nguyen Tuong Van. A new hangman is expected to be imported from Malaysia for Nguyen's execution. An earthquake hits southern Iran, measuring 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale.

Four US soldiers face disciplinary action for burning Taliban soldiers' bodies
Four US soldiers involved in the burning of two dead Taliban bodies on October 1st now face disciplinary measures for their actions. The two officers who ordered the burning of the bodies were reprimanded for lacking cultural and religious sensitivity when they allegedly shouted harmful messages to Taliban fighters while burning the bodies.

Kandahar's governor, Asadullah Khalid, expressed his confidence into the investigation. Religious leaders in the region, however, have criticised its findings and called for more severe punishment of the soldiers involved. An Afghan investigation into the matter that was ordered by President Hamid Karzai has also been completed, although the results have not been released.

The US army investigation concluded that there was no intent to desecrete the bodies as the intention behind the burnings were hygenic reasons. No criminal charges were pressed against any of the soldiers involved. Two of the soldiers who are responsible for recording a message about the act of the burning and broadcasting it on loudspeakers will face non-judicial punishment, which may include a loss of pay or demotion in rank.

The footage, filmed by Australian journalist Stephen Dupont, has not been aired in Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.

One third of English pubs allowed to extend their opening hours
At midnight on November 24, a new licensing law concerning the opening hours of English and Welsh pubs, clubs or shops selling alcohol came into effect, allowing around 60,000 establishments in England and Wales to extend their opening hours beyond the 23.00 limit in force until then, and dating back to the First World War. About 1000 premises, among which 359 are pubs or clubs, have applied and been granted a round the clock authorization, allowing them to stay open for 24 hours.

Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, expressed hope that this extension in opening times will lower the crave for massive drinking, prompted by the early closing of establishments. The British Beer and Pub Association, in a press release from 25 November, 2005, states "The change is about treating adults like grown-ups, and giving them more choice for a social life after eleven o’clock.".

Concern has been raised througout the media and diverse health organisations about a possible rise in violence and alcoholism due to this new law, but the first night seems to have gone well, although authorities claim that the effects can only be really measured in six months time, when more establishments have been granted extended hours and the public has gotten used to the new hours.

Further details about Bush-Blair memo stopped
Lord Goldsmith. (Image credit: http://www.lslo.gov.uk/goldsmith.htm Crown copyright)

The U.K. attorney general Lord Goldsmith has warned British media that further reporting of details from an allegedly leaked memo about a dispute between Tony Blair and George Bush "could be in breach of section 5 of the Official Secrets Act." The Guardian quoted an unnamed Downing Street source as saying that the decision whether to prosecute was "entirely up to the attorney general", who intended to "draw a line in the sand" to stop further leaks.

Jeremy Dear, secretary of National Union of Journalists, called it "a heavy-handed attempt to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. It is a double attack on the freedom of the press and freedom of information." Mr Dear continued "These sort of attempts to stifle uncomfortable revelations printed in a newspaper, which is only carrying out its proper duty to inform the British public, does the government of what is supposed to be a democracy no credit whatsoever."

According to The Guardian this "is believed to be the first time the Blair government has threatened newspapers in this way". The British government has before obtained court injunctions against newspapers, but never prosecuted editors for publishing contents of leaked documents.

Former British defence minister Peter Kilfoyle earlier called for the full text of the memo to be published. "I believe that Downing Street ought to publish this memo in the interests of transparency, given that much of the detail appears to be in the public domain". He added "If it was the case that President Bush wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in what is after all a friendly country, it speaks volumes and it raises questions about subsequent attacks that took place on the press that wasn't embedded with coalition forces."

Tuesday, the Daily Mirror, a British tabloid, ran a front page story under the headline "Bush plot to bomb his ally", citing the memo in question (see previous story). In response to the attorney general, the Daily Mirror said it had "essentially agreed to comply". Boris Johnson, MP for Henley and editor of The Spectator magazine, has condemned the Attorney General's actions and offered to risk jail by printing the memo if he receives it within the next few days.

The Washington Post cited an unnamed senior Washington diplomat saying that the Bush remark as reported by the Daily Mirror "sounds like one of the president's one-liners that is meant as a joke." But, the diplomat said, "it was foolish for someone to write it down, and now it will be a story for days."

The meeting between Bush and Blair occured on April 16, 2004, at the height of the US assault on Fallujah. According to some reports, al-Jazeera was the only major news organisation providing eyewitness reports and video footage from within the city at the time.

There is a history of enmity between senior U.S. officials and al-Jazeera. Vice President Dick Cheney has said that the network ran the risk of being labeled "Osama [bin Laden]'s outlet to the world", and Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has called its coverage "outrageous" and "inexcusably biased".

Al-Jazeera's news bureau in Kabul was destroyed by a U.S. missile during the aerial assault on the Taliban. The Pentagon later stated it did not know that the network's offices were in the building. Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau was also hit by US forces, resulting in the death of an al-Jazeera journalist during the April 2003 assault on Baghdad. The Pentagon claimed U.S. troops were responding to enemy fire from the building.

Japanese probe snatches first asteroid sample

25143 Itokawa

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has achieved the primary goal of the Hayabusa probe's mission by touching down on the surface of an asteroid in an attempt to collect a sample of what is thought to be the oldest material in the solar system.

Despite an earlier aborted attempt, and the apparent loss of an exploratory "micro rover", Hayabusa's achivement is significant. No other mission has attempted to bring back material from an asteriod which is believed to be a remnant from the formation of the solar system.

The actual success of the mission to the Itokawa asteroid cannot actually be known until 2007 when the probe returns to Earth. Only at that time can it be established if firing a metal pellet into the surface of the asteroid disturbed it enough to allow a sample to be obtained.

Today in History
1660 - Christopher Wren and other leading scientists met at Gresham College in London, England and founded a learned society now known as the Royal Society.

1905 - Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith (pictured) first presented his "Sinn Féin Policy".

1925 - The country music radio program Grand Ole Opry was first broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, USA.

1943 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met at the Tehran Conference.

1990 - After being elected as leader of the British Conservative Party, John Major succeeded Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

November 28 is Independence Day in Albania (1912) and Mauritania (1960)

Quote of the Day

"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees." ~ William Blake

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