Saturday, May 16, 2009

SPB News for Saturday


CIA Director Rejects Pelosi's Charge That CIA Misled Her CIA Director Leon Panetta rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's charge that the agency misled her in 2002 about its use of waterboarding and other coercive interrogation methods on suspected terrorists. Panetta, who took office as President Obama's CIA chief in February, reasserted the agency's claim that it told congressional leaders about the use of such methods during a closed-door briefing in September 2002. Pelosi (D-Calif.) has acknowledged attending the briefing but says she was told only that the CIA was considering the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning.

Ted Stevens' Attorney Fees At Least $1 million - Nobody’s ever said Ted Stevens’ defense team would come cheap. Stevens paid his lawyers at Williams & Connolly between $1 million and $5 million, according to...

US Treasury stops payment to al-Qaeda man The US Treasury Department has frozen all assets held by Abu Khalaf, a Syrian al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leader. The Treasury announced is would place the tight financial restrictions on Khalaf, who has been accused of helping supply terrorists in Iraq. The restrictions will also prohibit American citizens from doing business with Khalaf, who has been named as a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq's facilitation network, which controls the flow of weapons, money and militants from Syria into Iraq.

Man arrested over bank tweets --Jean Anleu Fernandez jailed over 96-character message Police in Guatemala have arrested a Twitter user and confiscated his computer for "inciting financial panic" after he urged people to remove funds from a state-owned bank. Jean Anleu Fernandez, was handcuffed, fingerprinted and jailed for posting the 96-character message on the micro-blogging site earlier this week. It is thought to be the first such case in central America. Police raided the information technology worker's home in the capital, Guatemala City, on the orders of the public ministry division in charge of banks, according to local media.

Six Insurers Named to Get U.S. Taxpayer Aid --The Hartford said was told it could receive $3.4 billion Six major insurance companies have received preliminary approval to get billions of dollars in fresh capital as part of the government’s financial rescue program, a Treasury Department spokesman confirmed on Thursday. The department said the Hartford Financial Services Group, Prudential Financial, Lincoln National, Allstate, Ameriprise and Principal Financial Group have all received approval for capital infusions, subject to terms still to be negotiated.

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