--US death toll hits 1,000 in "Operation Enduring Freedom" By Patrick Martin The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening against a resolution to end the war in Afghanistan and begin a withdrawal of US troops within 30 days... The leaders of both parties lined up in unanimous opposition to the resolution, which would have invoked the 1973 War Powers Act. This provides that the president can send US armed forces into war abroad only with the authorization of Congress or if the US is already under attack.

A member of Iraq's National Alliance (INA) has warned that the US is possibly attempting to manipulate the results of the country's general elections as the release of the vote tally was postponed again. INA candidate, Entifadh Qanbar told press TV that the United States might try to intervene in the process of vote counting through the High Electoral Commission. "The concern is that how the ballots from each voting center are going to be processed in the computer center inside the Electoral Commission," Qanbar said. "The reason we are insisting on this issue is that we are afraid there is some sort of American intervention inside the Electoral Commission in processing these numbers and may be altering these numbers," he added. [Count on it! The same 'people' who installed George W. Bush in two US coups d'etat want a similar sociopath at the helm in Iraq to keep Blackwater afloat and the Western oil deals in tact. I sincerely hope that the Iraqis -- unlike the US sheep, who did *nothing* -- will overthrow their illegitimate dictator. --LRP]

US soldiers killed an Iraqi couple for unknown reasons... Iraqi interior ministry officials said that US soldiers opened fire on a civilian vehicle at around 1:00 p.m. (1000 GMT) Wednesday for reasons that are still under investigation. The US military declined to confirm that the couple had been killed by American soldiers, and only said that a joint US-Iraqi probe had been launched into the causes of the incident.

The US House of Representatives has rejected an effort by anti-war lawmakers to force a withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. On Wednesday, Sixty-five lawmakers, most of them Democrats, voted for the pullout resolution, while 356 voted against. The resolution written by Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) called for President Barack Obama to pull out US forces from Afghanistan by the end 2010.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) railed against the Washington press corps today on the House floor for paying more attention to the likes of scandal-ridden Eric Massa than the war in Afghanistan. "There's two press people in this gallery," Kennedy yelled during a debate over an anti-war resolution. "We're talking about Eric Massa 24-7 on the TV, we're talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press? No press." "You want to know why the American public is fit?" he continued. "They're fit because they're not seeing their Congress do the work that they're sent to do. It's because the press, the press of the United States is not covering the most significant issue of national importance and that's the laying of lives down in the nation for the service of our country. It's despicable, the national press corps right now."

'Suspected Islamist militants' have attacked the office of a British aid agency in Pakistan killing up to five people, say reports.The militants stormed the World Vision agency in the Mansehra district, about 40 miles north of Islamabad, then opened fire. "They opened fire and also exploded hand grenades," a senior police officer said.

Two US drone attacks on Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region have killed at least 14 people and injured a number of others. Eight people were killed when a drone fired five missiles at a vehicle in Mizar Madakhel village, Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed on Wednesday. The second drone fired three missiles at villagers, who were recovering bodies from the site of the first attack, killing six others, Press TV correspondent reported. Several Pakistanis were also wounded in the strikes. [I don't understand. The drones are there to kill. Ergo, if people see one, they shoot it down. It's a no-brainer.]

Two soldiers from South Carolina and Georgia have been killed in a vehicle rollover in Iraq. The Department of Defense announced Wednesday that 25-year-old Sgt. Aaron Arthur, of Lake City and 23-year-old Spc. Lakeshia Bailey of Columbus, Ga., died Monday north of Al Kut in Iraq of injuries from the incident.

President Barack Obama appears near a compromise [surrender] to allow military tribunals to move forward for the alleged September 11 plotters in exchange for a deal to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center prison. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has offered a deal that would allow Obama to fulfill his pledge to close the criticized Guantanamo Bay detention center at a US base in Cuba if the president agrees to use military courts.

'Mossad-mania' continued in Israel this week when a supermarket chain filmed a television commercial inspired by the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai by a 27-strong hit squad. The commercials for the Mahsaney Kimat Hinam (Almost Free Warehouse) supermarket chain shows actors carrying tennis rackets, and wearing hats, glasses and wigs -- the same disguises worn by the alleged killers in surveillance images released by Dubai police -- as they make their way through store aisles.

Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem's construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem.

Innsbruck political scientist Claudia von Werlhof has accused the USA of being behind the Haitian earthquake in January, it emerged today (Tues). Werlhof said that machines at a military research centre in Alaska used to detect deposits of crude oil by causing artificial earthquakes had intentionally been set off to cause the Haitian earthquake and enable the USA to send 10,000 soldiers into the country.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Chile again at 11:39 a.m. local time Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was 95 miles southwest of the capital, Santiago. Chile, which was struck by an 8.8-magnitude quake on Feb. 27, continues to suffer from a series of strong aftershocks.

10 Mar 2010; House Democratic leaders banned Wednesday the practice of doling out multimillion-dollar, no-bid contracts to private contractors. At a meeting of the Democratic caucus, leaders unveiled the new rule that forbids private contractors from receiving earmarks. House Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.), whose panel issues thousands of these line-item grants each year, estimated that the fiscal 2010 budget included more than 1,000 earmarks to private companies, through which businesses reaped billions of dollars.

KBR Inc. said Tuesday that its building subsidiary received a $94 million contract to provide various construction services for a new hospital near Atlanta. KBR's Building Group was awarded the contract by Piedmont Healthcare to provide pre-construction and construction services for a replacement facility for Piedmont Newnan Hospital in Newnan, Ga. [Are KBR's rapes, electrocutions and chemical burn pits included in the contract?]

An airman stationed at Minot Air Force Base faces court-martial in the alleged sexual abuse of his 14-month-old son. Base spokesmen say Senior Airman Clifton Huebner is charged with aggravated sexual contact. Court-martial proceedings are scheduled to begin April 6. The boy's mother, Rebecca Forteau, says daycare workers reported the alleged abuse in January 2009, when he was living on base with Huebner.

A British Airways computer expert charged with terror offences planned to take advantage of a strike by BA staff to become a temporary member of the cabin crew, a court heard today. Rajib Karim, 30, from Newcastle upon Tyne, faces three charges under counter terrorism legislation. He is accused of two counts of planning suicide bombings and his own martyrdom.

By Brian Blum A small Israeli startup has developed a potentially game-changing, high-tech solution where a single surveillance camera can monitor a panoramic field of view and zoom in on any spot in real time with exceptional clarity. The company, Adaptive Imaging Technologies, calls its invention a "panoramic telescope," and aims to shake up the global security space. The company won the "Most Promising Startup" award from the Global Security Challenge last year, has received a $100,000 cash grant from the US Department of Defense, and already has orders, even though its flagship camera is still only in a pre-prototype stage.

--All US workers eventually required to obtain biometric ID card Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain. Under the potentially [] controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.

--'Didn't find' proof immunization stops virus A new Canadian-led study has added to a simmering scientific dispute over flu-shot campaigns, concluding that immunizing nursing-home workers does nothing to cut the number of confirmed influenza cases among the homes' elderly residents. "What troubled us is that [shots] had no effect on laboratory-confirmed influenza," said Dr. Roger Thomas of the University of Calgary, lead author of the paper published by the respected Cochrane Library. In media interviews last year, Dr. Jefferson was quoted as saying he "can't see any reason" for vaccinating anyone against flu -- arguing the shots did nothing to save lives -- and that most influenza-vaccine studies are "rubbish."