No Charges to be Filed in US Attorneys Scandal
The Justice Department has decided not to file charges against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or any other officials involved in the firings of nine US attorneys in 2006. Special prosecutor Nora Dannehy concluded the firings violated Justice Department principles but did not constitute a crime.


"Top Secret America" Washington Post Investigation Reveals Massive, Unmanageable, Outsourced US Intelligence System
An explosive investigative series published in the Washington Post begins, "The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work." Among the findings: An estimated 854,000 people hold top-secret security clearances. More than 1,200 government organizations and nearly 2,000 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in 10,000 locations.


Probe Reveals BP Knew of Problems Ahead Deepwater Horizon Rig Explosion
An investigation into the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion has uncovered new evidence that BP was aware of problems aboard the rig prior to the April 20 blowout that killed eleven workers, destroyed the rig, and launched the worst US oil spill. A BP employee has testified that Deepwater Horizon’s blowout preventer had a leak in the days before the explosion, but BP did not comply with a federal regulation requiring the rig to suspend operations. In addition, the Houston Chronicle reports Halliburton warned BP two days before the deadly accident that it could have a severe problem with natural gas escaping from the well. The ongoing investigation has also revealed that a September 2009 audit by BP identified 390 maintenance projects aboard the rig that were past due.


Gulf Coast Workers to Have Cleanup Pay Deducted from Claims
According to BP, the oil spill cleanup has cost nearly $4 billion so far, including $207 million to settle damage claims. Gulf Coast residents meanwhile are voicing outrage over news the government-administered claim fund will subtract any money they earn by working for the cleanup effort from any future claims. Fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg says the ruling will apply to anyone who participates in the Vessels of Opportunity program, which has employed hundreds of Gulf Coast residents left out of work because of the spill. A group of fishermen walked out of a recent public meeting after Feinberg announced the decision.


Oakland Approves Plan for Large Marijuana Production Plants

Big pot plants for Oakland...

Oakland’s City Council has approved a plan to license four large production plants where medical marijuana would be grown, packaged and processed. The main opposition to the proposal came from small medical marijuana growers who fear the move will put them out of business.


Goldman Settles Fraud Case over Mortgage Investments
The Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs has agreed to a $550 million fine to settle a civil fraud lawsuit over selling a mortgage investment that had been established to fail. The investment consisted of pools of risky mortgages that had been packaged together. It’s the largest civil fraud settlement in Wall Street history, but according to reports, Goldman had been expecting to pay at least twice as much.


Foreclosures Expected to Top 1 Million This Year
New figures show more than one million Americans are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure this year. According to RealtyTrac, close to 528,000 homes were foreclosed in the first six months of the year, a figure on pace to surpass last year’s 900,000 repossessed homes. The one million mark is about ten times the historical average for foreclosures per year.


Ex-Police Officer Avoids Jail in Bicycle Assault Case
A former New York police officer who was videotaped tackling a bicyclist has escaped a prison sentence. The then-officer, Patrick Pogan, violently knocked the cyclist off his bike during a Critical Mass bike ride in 2008. Pogan then charged the cyclist with attempted assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Pogan was convicted in April of lying about the incident in his police complaint. He had faced up to four years in prison but has been given a conditional discharge.


Afro-Colombian Activist Assassinated
In news from Latin America, an Afro-Colombian activist named Jair Murillo was assassinated, a day before he was to take part in a march led by internally displaced groups in Colombia. The Washington Office on Latin America reports Murillo’s organization was one of several Afro-Colombian groups that recently received death threats from a paramilitary organization called the Black Eagles.


Palestinian Guilty of Rape after Consensual Sex with Israeli Jew
The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reports a Palestinian man has been convicted of rape after having consensual sex with an Israeli woman who had believed him to be a fellow Jew. Sabbar Kashur was sentenced to 18 months in prison after the court ruled that he was guilty of rape by deception because he had posed as a Jewish bachelor. When the woman later found out he was Palestinian, she filed a criminal complaint for rape and indecent assault, alleging that she would not have consented if she had not believed he was Jewish.


US Has Delivered None of Pledged Aid Money to Haiti
CNN has revealed just four countries have delivered on any of the over $5.3 billion in new pledges collected at a major donor conference for Haiti’s reconstruction in March. Brazil, Norway, Estonia and Australia are the only countries to have paid so far, accounting for just two percent of the total pledged. The biggest donors, the US and Venezuela, haven’t paid anything so far. The United Nations’ top humanitarian official, John Holmes, said the UN is well short of its goal for building temporary shelters.

John Holmes: "Shelter, in particular, is at the front of people’s minds, and the almost 1.5 million people who are still living in tents or under tarpaulins are, to repeat myself again, in a very precarious situation. We need to accelerate the contingency planning for the hurricanes. We need to accelerate putting in place the arrangements and incentives for people to return to their houses and, in particular, for more transitional shelters to be built. We are planning some 125,000 and have so far built a few more than 5,000."


France Threatens Legal Action over Haiti Reparations Hoax
In other Haiti news, the French government says it’s considering legal action against the perpetrators of an Internet hoax that claimed France would repay the billions of dollars it took from Haiti for an indemnity dating back to the nineteenth century. France forced Haiti to pay the so-called "reparations" of 90 million gold francs up until the Second World War to cover its financial losses from the Haitian uprising against foreign colonization. In a video falsely attributed to the French Foreign Ministry, an actor posing as a French government spokesperson said the money would be given back.

Speaker: "France is repaying the historic debt of 90 million gold francs Haiti paid to France following the former’s independence at the dawn of the nineteenth century. For too long, Haiti has been saddled with the burden of foreign debt, debt that has just added to natural catastrophes to block this country’s development over the past decades. The disaster that has befallen the Haitian people is clearly not merely the result of January’s earthquake. It is in part the result of long-term economic and social policies."

The group behind the hoax, the Committee for the Repayment of the Indemnity Money Expropriated from Haiti (CRIME), provided a statement to Democracy Now! saying, "The announcement was a hoax, but the far bigger hoax is how little France, as well as the U.S. and Canada, have offered Haiti in earthquake relief, relative to what Haitians are owed in reparations."



IMF Cancels Haiti’s Debt But Gives Haiti a New Loan
Debt relief activists are praising the International Monetary Fund’s decision to cancel Haiti’s $268 million debt to the institution, but at the same time groups including Jubilee USA have criticized the IMF for continuing to give Haiti loans instead of outright grants. Earlier this week, the IMF gave Haiti a $60 million loan to help fund post-earthquake reconstruction efforts. Eric LeCompte of Jubilee USA said, "The role of the IMF in Haiti has been long criticized, and this new loan could set Haiti on the wrong path toward a new cycle of debt."


Trafigura Fined for Exporting Toxic Waste to Ivory Coast
A Dutch court has fined commodities trader Trafigura $1.3 million for illegally exporting toxic waste to Ivory Coast in 2006. The toxic waste ended up in the open air and made thousands ill.

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