SPB News for Tuesday.

Halliburton accused of supplying rotten food to U.S. forces --Halliburton and KBR--the companies that were controlled by Dick Cheney until he became vice president [sic]--are facing a mountain of lawsuits over their past and present activities in Iraq and elsewhere. U.S military contractor KBR, a former subisidary of Halliburton, is facing a number of lawsuits over its activities in Iraq, and elsewhere. KBR is the largest contractor for the United States Army and a top-ten contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense. In one class-action suit Joshua Eller, a civilian who worked for the U.S. Air Force in 2006 at the Balad air force base northeast of Baghdad, alleges KBR 'knowingly and intentionally supplied to U.S. forces and other individuals food that was expired, spoiled, rotten, or that may have been contaminated with shrapnel, or other materials'.

DOJ: L-3 Communications to Pay $4 Million to Settle Army's Overbilling Claim An L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL) unit agreed to pay $4 million to the U.S. government in a settlement over overbilling claims by the U.S. Army for hours worked to support military operations in Iraq. The settlement with company subsidiary L-3 Vertex Aerospace involved allegations that L-3 submitted false time records and inflated claims of hours worked by the company's employees at Camp Taji in Iraq from March 2004 through August 2005, according the Justice Department.

Defence says witness in Omar Khadr trial withdrawn to 'cover up' abuse The American government has withdrawn a witness against Omar Khadr in an effort to hide evidence of its torture of the Canadian during his detention at Guantanamo Bay, his Pentagon-appointed lawyer says. The special agent had been slated to testify at Khadr's war-crimes 'trial' next month about a self-incriminating statement the prisoner gave in December 2004. Khadr's legal team maintains the statement was coerced and wanted to question the U.S. Defence Department agent about the statement. Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, who is defending Khadr before a military commission, said the government is trying to cut off defence probing of his abuse by U.S. authorities. Khadr was held at the infamous Bagram prison following his capture in Afghanistan in July 2002 at the age of 15, before being shipped to Guantanamo Bay.

Taliban in 72 pct of Afghanistan, think-tank says The Taliban hold a permanent presence in 72 percent of Afghanistan, a think-tank said on Monday, but NATO and the Afghan government rejected the report, saying its figures were not credible. The findings by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) come in the wake of a series of critical reports on Western-led military and development efforts to put an end to the seven-year Taliban 'insurgency' in Afghanistan.

Tribune Files for Bankruptcy The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware on Monday, as the owner of The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs baseball team struggled to cope with rising debt and falling ad revenue.

Times Co. to Borrow Against Building The New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.

Fears of a million layoffs a month in corporate America As many as a million American jobs could be lost every month by next spring as businesses struggle to raise capital in financial markets consumed by fear, according to a new analysis. November was the worst month in the US labour market since the oil crisis of 1974, as more than 500,000 US workers were laid off, according to official figures released on Friday.

Clinton to Dine With Condoleezza Rice

Watch: Rev. Wright TV Ad That McCain Would Not Run — 30-second Spot on Obama's Pastor Was Ready to Air, Would It Have Made a Difference? — Even as his campaign fell far behind in the polls, Sen. John McCain refused to authorize the use of a fully-produced 30-second television commercial …

ILLINOIS SUSPENDS BANK OF AMERICA