2008-11-19
news blips
• Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzalez indicted in South Texas! Charges related to alleged abuse of prisoners in federal detention centers. A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in`Willacy County, Texas federal detention centers.
Cheney's indictment on a charge of engaging in an organized criminal activity criticizes the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.
The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
• FDA questioned about widespread use of psychiatric drugs with children. Powerful antipsychotic medicines are being used far too cavalierly in children, and federal drug regulators must do more to warn doctors of their substantial risks, a panel of federal drug experts said Tuesday.
More than 389,000 children and teenagers were treated last year with Risperdal, one of five drugs known as "atypical anti-psychotics". In many cases, the drug was prescribed to treat attention deficit disorders.
But Risperdal is not approved for attention deficit problems, and its risks — which include substantial weight gain, metabolic disorders and muscular tics that can be permanent — are too profound to justify its use in treating such disorders, panel members said.
Food and Drug Administration officials wanted the committee to endorse the agency’s routine monitoring of the medicines in children.
But committee members unanimously rejected the agency’s proposals, saying that far more needed to be done to discourage the medicines’ growing use in children, particularly to treat conditions for which the medicines have not been approved.
SOURCE: New York Times
• Milky Way's Black Hole Sending Out Flares. Two different telescopes simultaneously observed violent flares from the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. The outbursts from this region, known as Sagittarius A*, reveal material being stretched like bread dough out as it orbits in the intense gravity close to the central black hole.
Sagittarius A* is located at the centre of our own Milky Way Galaxy at a distance from Earth of about 26,000 light-years. It is a supermassive black hole with a mass of about four million times that of the Sun. Most, if not all, galaxies are thought to have a supermassive black hole in their center.
SOURCE: Universe Today
• Oil price dives under 55 dollars per barrel in London. Oil prices sank under 55 dollars a barrel on Tuesday to strike a 21-month low as fresh recession jitters fanned fears about slowing global energy demand, traders said.
On London's InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December plunged to 54.92 dollars per barrel -- a level last seen on January 30, 2007. Brent later stood at 55.94 dollar, down 3.14 dollars from Monday.
"News that China's crude oil imports jumped by 28 percent in October from a year ago and that militants are threatening to renew attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria failed to lift prices," noted Sucden analyst Michael Davies.
The oil market was also undermined by the strengthening dollar which tends to dampen demand because dollar-priced crude becomes more expensive for buyers holding weaker currencies.
OPEC president Chakib Khelil indicated over the weekend another round of production cuts may occur should oil prices remain below the cartel's preferred range of 70 to 90 dollars.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps more than 40 percent of the world's crude, announced in October that its daily output would be cut by 1.5 million barrels per day to 27.3 million barrels per day from November.
SOURCE: Energy for the Future [blog]
Double click on the lead sentence of each article for the complete story quoted
• Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzalez indicted in South Texas! Charges related to alleged abuse of prisoners in federal detention centers. A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in`Willacy County, Texas federal detention centers.
Cheney's indictment on a charge of engaging in an organized criminal activity criticizes the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.
The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
• FDA questioned about widespread use of psychiatric drugs with children. Powerful antipsychotic medicines are being used far too cavalierly in children, and federal drug regulators must do more to warn doctors of their substantial risks, a panel of federal drug experts said Tuesday.
More than 389,000 children and teenagers were treated last year with Risperdal, one of five drugs known as "atypical anti-psychotics". In many cases, the drug was prescribed to treat attention deficit disorders.
But Risperdal is not approved for attention deficit problems, and its risks — which include substantial weight gain, metabolic disorders and muscular tics that can be permanent — are too profound to justify its use in treating such disorders, panel members said.
Food and Drug Administration officials wanted the committee to endorse the agency’s routine monitoring of the medicines in children.
But committee members unanimously rejected the agency’s proposals, saying that far more needed to be done to discourage the medicines’ growing use in children, particularly to treat conditions for which the medicines have not been approved.
SOURCE: New York Times
• Milky Way's Black Hole Sending Out Flares. Two different telescopes simultaneously observed violent flares from the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. The outbursts from this region, known as Sagittarius A*, reveal material being stretched like bread dough out as it orbits in the intense gravity close to the central black hole.
Sagittarius A* is located at the centre of our own Milky Way Galaxy at a distance from Earth of about 26,000 light-years. It is a supermassive black hole with a mass of about four million times that of the Sun. Most, if not all, galaxies are thought to have a supermassive black hole in their center.
SOURCE: Universe Today
• Oil price dives under 55 dollars per barrel in London. Oil prices sank under 55 dollars a barrel on Tuesday to strike a 21-month low as fresh recession jitters fanned fears about slowing global energy demand, traders said.
On London's InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December plunged to 54.92 dollars per barrel -- a level last seen on January 30, 2007. Brent later stood at 55.94 dollar, down 3.14 dollars from Monday.
"News that China's crude oil imports jumped by 28 percent in October from a year ago and that militants are threatening to renew attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria failed to lift prices," noted Sucden analyst Michael Davies.
The oil market was also undermined by the strengthening dollar which tends to dampen demand because dollar-priced crude becomes more expensive for buyers holding weaker currencies.
OPEC president Chakib Khelil indicated over the weekend another round of production cuts may occur should oil prices remain below the cartel's preferred range of 70 to 90 dollars.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps more than 40 percent of the world's crude, announced in October that its daily output would be cut by 1.5 million barrels per day to 27.3 million barrels per day from November.
SOURCE: Energy for the Future [blog]
Labels: big pharma, cheney, gonzalez, oil prices, prisons, space, treason
¶ 08:29
