*Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The bloc's executive, the European Commission, tabled proposals earlier this month giving governments the freedom to choose whether or not to grow GM crops (EurActiv 14/07/10). To pass, the plans must first be approved by EU governments and lawmakers. The move was seen as an attempt by the Commission to break a longstanding deadlock in EU GM approvals, which has seen just two products authorised for cultivation in Europe, restricting commercial plantings to less than 100,000 hectares. Several EU governments have already criticised the proposals, and last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel attacked the plans as a first step towards dismantling the bloc's single market.A first meeting of EU government officials to discuss the proposals in Brussels on Tuesday confirmed the widespread opposition to the plans. "There is huge opposition against the proposals by member states, for several different reasons," the Belgian Presidency source told Reuters.
The bloc's executive, the European Commission, tabled proposals earlier this month giving governments the freedom to choose whether or not to grow GM crops (EurActiv 14/07/10).
To pass, the plans must first be approved by EU governments and lawmakers.
The move was seen as an attempt by the Commission to break a longstanding deadlock in EU GM approvals, which has seen just two products authorised for cultivation in Europe, restricting commercial plantings to less than 100,000 hectares.
Several EU governments have already criticised the proposals, and last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel attacked the plans as a first step towards dismantling the bloc's single market.
A first meeting of EU government officials to discuss the proposals in Brussels on Tuesday confirmed the widespread opposition to the plans.
"There is huge opposition against the proposals by member states, for several different reasons," the Belgian Presidency source told Reuters.
Pordenone, Italy - Greenpeace activists from Italy, Austria, Germany and Hungary are quarantining illegal Genetically Engineered (GE) crops being grown in Italy. Wearing safety equipment to protect against contamination, the activists are isolating, cutting and securing the top of the GE maize plants, the part that contains the pollen. Last week, Greenpeace took samples from the field in Friuli, northern Italy to a certified laboratory for analysis. The results confirm without doubt that the maize being grown in these fields is a patented Mosanto GE maize type, MON810. GE crop cultivation without a permit is illegal in Italy (1). There is considerable documentation highlighting the threats posed by MON810 to biodiversity, including the accumulation of toxins in soil, and negative impacts on species such as butterflies and moths (2).
Last week, Greenpeace took samples from the field in Friuli, northern Italy to a certified laboratory for analysis. The results confirm without doubt that the maize being grown in these fields is a patented Mosanto GE maize type, MON810. GE crop cultivation without a permit is illegal in Italy (1). There is considerable documentation highlighting the threats posed by MON810 to biodiversity, including the accumulation of toxins in soil, and negative impacts on species such as butterflies and moths (2).
The European Commission on Thursday said it is up to member states to decide whether they expel Roma people, but only on an individual basis and respecting the principle of "proportionality", in reaction to France's announcement it will dismantle 300 Roma camps within three months. "We're not here, as the European Commission, to judge on individual cases of Roma people. It's for each government, each authority to make those decisions," Matthew Newman, spokesman for justice and human rights said during a press conference.
The European Commission on Thursday said it is up to member states to decide whether they expel Roma people, but only on an individual basis and respecting the principle of "proportionality", in reaction to France's announcement it will dismantle 300 Roma camps within three months.
"We're not here, as the European Commission, to judge on individual cases of Roma people. It's for each government, each authority to make those decisions," Matthew Newman, spokesman for justice and human rights said during a press conference.
Struggling in the opinion polls after his government was implicated in a financial scandal and in the wake of a spate of violent unrest, Sarkozy announced a headline-grabbing package of security measures. Top of the list, in a week when Sarkozy had already threatened to expel foreign Roma minorities who commit crimes back to Eastern Europe, was a vow to tighten nationality rules for other non-French-born criminals. "Nationality should be stripped from anyone of foreign origin who deliberately endangers the life of a police officer, a soldier or a gendarme or anyone else holding public authority," Sarkozy said.
Top of the list, in a week when Sarkozy had already threatened to expel foreign Roma minorities who commit crimes back to Eastern Europe, was a vow to tighten nationality rules for other non-French-born criminals.
"Nationality should be stripped from anyone of foreign origin who deliberately endangers the life of a police officer, a soldier or a gendarme or anyone else holding public authority," Sarkozy said.
Eh? And what about those threatening police with a domestic origin?... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
His polls are tanking; his ministers are embroiled in financial scandals, so it's time to do some more empty macho rhetoric; worked for him so far. Not sure for how long, as I commented before. Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
French Police Question Labor Minister PARIS--French police on Thursday questioned Labor Minister Eric Woerth for nearly eight hours as part of a preliminary probe into allegations of illicit campaign financing and conflict of interest that have dogged President Nicolas Sarkozy and his administration for two months.
PARIS--French police on Thursday questioned Labor Minister Eric Woerth for nearly eight hours as part of a preliminary probe into allegations of illicit campaign financing and conflict of interest that have dogged President Nicolas Sarkozy and his administration for two months.
Wind power
France orders police to advise suspects of their rights upon arrest PARIS -- France's highest constitutional court on Friday ordered that French police be stripped of their power to arrest ordinary suspects and interrogate them for 48 hours without bringing charges or reading them their rights. The landmark decision, handed down by the Constitutional Council, seemed to herald the end of an ancient but widely criticized practice that defense lawyers and rights advocates have long denounced as an invitation to abuse by police officers seeking to browbeat suspects into confessing. In focusing on suspects' rights, the council was bucking a hard-line anti-crime trend set by President Nicolas Sarkozy, a security-minded conservative who repeatedly has urged a tough approach to law enforcement. Hours before the ruling was announced, for instance, Sarkozy called for broadening minimum sentences and stripping nationalized immigrants of their citizenship if they are convicted of attacking a police officer or government official.
PARIS -- France's highest constitutional court on Friday ordered that French police be stripped of their power to arrest ordinary suspects and interrogate them for 48 hours without bringing charges or reading them their rights.
The landmark decision, handed down by the Constitutional Council, seemed to herald the end of an ancient but widely criticized practice that defense lawyers and rights advocates have long denounced as an invitation to abuse by police officers seeking to browbeat suspects into confessing.
In focusing on suspects' rights, the council was bucking a hard-line anti-crime trend set by President Nicolas Sarkozy, a security-minded conservative who repeatedly has urged a tough approach to law enforcement. Hours before the ruling was announced, for instance, Sarkozy called for broadening minimum sentences and stripping nationalized immigrants of their citizenship if they are convicted of attacking a police officer or government official.
This has been one of the nastiest trends of the past several years. With all the tough law'n'order push by Sarkozy (as Minister for the Interior for almost 5 years, and then as President), one of the things that has happened is that police has an increasing feeling of impunity, and have been behaving increasingly badly towards citizens (of course with a special preference to being nasty to darkies).
This is unlikely to change that long term trend on its own, but it's still a major decision. Wind power
We have all watched American police or legal dramas - whether in the original version or dubbed or subtitled - and we are all familiar with and could probably recite the warning a police officer gives to a suspect as he is being handcuffed. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law," the cop says to the villain. "You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" ... On Tuesday, the European Commission proposed that a common warning about an equivalent set of rights, but in written form in equally simple language - and in the suspect's own tongue - be adopted across Europe.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law," the cop says to the villain. "You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"
...
On Tuesday, the European Commission proposed that a common warning about an equivalent set of rights, but in written form in equally simple language - and in the suspect's own tongue - be adopted across Europe.
Supreme Court backs off strict enforcement of Miranda rights [2 June 2010] The Supreme Court backed off Tuesday [1 June 2010] from strict enforcement of its historic Miranda decision, ruling that a crime suspect's words can be used against him if he fails to clearly tell police that he does not want to talk. In the past, the court said the "burden rests on the government" to show that a crime suspect had "knowingly and intelligently waived" his rights. Some police departments tell officers not to begin questioning until a suspect has waived his rights, usually by signing a waiver form. But in Tuesday's 5-4 decision, the court shifted the balance in favor of the police, saying a suspect has a duty to speak up and say he does not want to talk. Moreover, the police are "not required to obtain a waiver" of the suspect's "right to remain silent before interrogating him," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote. Read more...
[2 June 2010] The Supreme Court backed off Tuesday [1 June 2010] from strict enforcement of its historic Miranda decision, ruling that a crime suspect's words can be used against him if he fails to clearly tell police that he does not want to talk. In the past, the court said the "burden rests on the government" to show that a crime suspect had "knowingly and intelligently waived" his rights. Some police departments tell officers not to begin questioning until a suspect has waived his rights, usually by signing a waiver form. But in Tuesday's 5-4 decision, the court shifted the balance in favor of the police, saying a suspect has a duty to speak up and say he does not want to talk. Moreover, the police are "not required to obtain a waiver" of the suspect's "right to remain silent before interrogating him," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote.
Read more...
Related commentary: 08-1470 Berghuis v. Thompkins, wiki pdf, majority opinion ACS Panel Discussion: Miranda's Future, podcast, ENG Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
This is not the first time the Council has thrown a spanner in Sarkozy's works (complete list here in French), and it is expected that the infamous "burqa law" will also undergo similar treatment.
Get ready for for renewed talks of "judicial activism" from the UMP quarters and its corporate press. Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
Brussels, Jul. 28 (Prensa Latina) The growing wave of xenophobia in Europe did not prevent immigration from having a positive influence on the growth of the European Union''s population, which in 2009 exceeded 500 million. Immigrants represented 60 percent of all new inhabitants registered in 2009, when the birth rate slightly dropped and the mortality rate remained stable. Read more...
Immigrants represented 60 percent of all new inhabitants registered in 2009, when the birth rate slightly dropped and the mortality rate remained stable.
Liberal Democrat ministers have warned that the Conservatives will inflict lasting political damage to Nick Clegg's party if voters think the coalition Government is relishing the task of cutting public spending. Although the Cabinet has agreed to try to blame the cuts on its inheritance from Labour, senior Lib Dems are worried that some Tory politicians - including George Osborne, the Chancellor - give the impression they are on a Thatcherite mission to shrink the state. One Liberal Democrat minister warned yesterday: "If we look as though we are enjoying it, we're dead. We have to take people with us."
Liberal Democrat ministers have warned that the Conservatives will inflict lasting political damage to Nick Clegg's party if voters think the coalition Government is relishing the task of cutting public spending.
Although the Cabinet has agreed to try to blame the cuts on its inheritance from Labour, senior Lib Dems are worried that some Tory politicians - including George Osborne, the Chancellor - give the impression they are on a Thatcherite mission to shrink the state.
One Liberal Democrat minister warned yesterday: "If we look as though we are enjoying it, we're dead. We have to take people with us."
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott privately harboured doubts about the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he disclosed today. Giving evidence to the final session of the Iraq Inquiry before the summer, he said that many of the reports about Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) appeared to be just "tittle tattle".Lord Prescott also spoke of the intense pressure on the former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, saying that he was "not a very happy bunny" as he agonised over whether military action was legal.And he revealed that he had complained to the cabinet secretary about Tony Blair's informal style of "sofa government", and that he had regarded the lack of formal cabinet discussion as "dangerous".
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott privately harboured doubts about the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he disclosed today.
Giving evidence to the final session of the Iraq Inquiry before the summer, he said that many of the reports about Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) appeared to be just "tittle tattle".
Lord Prescott also spoke of the intense pressure on the former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, saying that he was "not a very happy bunny" as he agonised over whether military action was legal.
And he revealed that he had complained to the cabinet secretary about Tony Blair's informal style of "sofa government", and that he had regarded the lack of formal cabinet discussion as "dangerous".
Sinking ship and rats? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Where were you all when Robin Cook resigned ? Or even when Clare short did (and she was too late by half as well) ?
Cowards. cowards all. I almost admire Tony Blair because at least he stood up for what he believed even if he was psychotic and wrong. keep to the Fen Causeway
If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas. "..if we're enjoying it"? Who's he kidding ? they are damned that the tories are enjoying it; the LDP are left looking like fools whatever they do now. keep to the Fen Causeway
Hannelore Kraft, state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, has called on the lord mayor of the western German city of Duisburg to accept moral responsibility for the deaths of 21 people at a stampede at the Love Parade techno festival on Saturday. In a statement in Thursday's edition of the regional paper Rheinische Post, Kraft said Adolf Sauerland "and those responsible in the city government will ultimately have to take political responsibility." Kraft's statements have been interpreted by German media as an indirect call for Sauerland's resignation. Meanwhile, a group of 150 young protesters gathered in Duisburg Thursday morning, demanding that Sauerland step down.
In a statement in Thursday's edition of the regional paper Rheinische Post, Kraft said Adolf Sauerland "and those responsible in the city government will ultimately have to take political responsibility."
Kraft's statements have been interpreted by German media as an indirect call for Sauerland's resignation. Meanwhile, a group of 150 young protesters gathered in Duisburg Thursday morning, demanding that Sauerland step down.
EULEX, the EU's law enforcement mission in Kosovo, has carried out a string of high-profile arrests leading to charges against government officials in the former Serbian province, which declared its independence in 2008.Kosovo's Special Prosecutor's Office yesterday (29 July) expanded an investigation of the governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo to include additional charges of "abusing official position" and "receiving bribes," EULEX said. "The matter involves the issuing of operating licences in relation to insurance companies during the period 2006 to 2008," the EU's mission in Kosovo said in a statement. Local media report that Central Bank Governor Hashim Rexhepi was arrested on 23 July in Pristina as part of a corruption investigation. Raids were conducted at the Central Bank's offices, a private company and private properties of four suspects, including Rexhepi.
Kosovo's Special Prosecutor's Office yesterday (29 July) expanded an investigation of the governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo to include additional charges of "abusing official position" and "receiving bribes," EULEX said.
"The matter involves the issuing of operating licences in relation to insurance companies during the period 2006 to 2008," the EU's mission in Kosovo said in a statement.
Local media report that Central Bank Governor Hashim Rexhepi was arrested on 23 July in Pristina as part of a corruption investigation. Raids were conducted at the Central Bank's offices, a private company and private properties of four suspects, including Rexhepi.
Hong Kong billionaire seals deal on UK networkEDF of France is to sell its UK electricity networks business to Cheung Kong Infrastructure of Hong Kong for £5.8bn ($9bn) - 45 per cent more than the price originally suggested for the deal.The state-controlled French electricity group confirmed the sale alongside its half-year results on Friday. The deal at a stroke reaches the €5bn ($6.5bn) target the French utility set for disposals by the end of 2011.CKI, controlled by Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire, outbid a consortium of Macquarie of Australia, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Canada Pension Plan.In EDF Networks, it has acquired low-voltage electricity distribution networks in the east and south of England, and long-term contracts with businesses such as the London Underground, Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and the Channel tunnel.
EDF of France is to sell its UK electricity networks business to Cheung Kong Infrastructure of Hong Kong for £5.8bn ($9bn) - 45 per cent more than the price originally suggested for the deal.
The state-controlled French electricity group confirmed the sale alongside its half-year results on Friday. The deal at a stroke reaches the €5bn ($6.5bn) target the French utility set for disposals by the end of 2011.
CKI, controlled by Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire, outbid a consortium of Macquarie of Australia, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Canada Pension Plan.
In EDF Networks, it has acquired low-voltage electricity distribution networks in the east and south of England, and long-term contracts with businesses such as the London Underground, Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and the Channel tunnel.
Italy on Friday appeared to be heading for early elections or a government shake-up after Silvio Berlusconi moved to expel dissidents from his People of Liberty party, reducing his parliamentary majority to a thread.Although an acrimonious divorce between the prime minister, 73, and Gianfranco Fini, co-founder of their party, had been on the cards for months, there was still confusion over how much life was left in Mr Berlusconi's two-year-old centre-right coalition.The rift ends 16 years of collaboration between the two politicians and sounds the death knell, at least for the moment, of Italy's brief flirtation with a two-party system.Mr Fini, 58, a former neo-fascist who has moved to the mainstream, insisted at a press conference in Rome that he would remain in his post as speaker of parliament, in spite of Mr Berlusconi's efforts to remove him.
Although an acrimonious divorce between the prime minister, 73, and Gianfranco Fini, co-founder of their party, had been on the cards for months, there was still confusion over how much life was left in Mr Berlusconi's two-year-old centre-right coalition.
The rift ends 16 years of collaboration between the two politicians and sounds the death knell, at least for the moment, of Italy's brief flirtation with a two-party system.
Mr Fini, 58, a former neo-fascist who has moved to the mainstream, insisted at a press conference in Rome that he would remain in his post as speaker of parliament, in spite of Mr Berlusconi's efforts to remove him.
Fini's new group, Future and Liberty for Italy, has presently 33 deputies and 10 Senators. Although Fini's group will continue to belong to the majority, without their vote on bills, Berlusconi no longer has a majority. This makes it very difficult to force confidence votes on key legislation.
Berlusconi presently cannot risk resigning without backroom bargaining with other political forces such as Casini's Center Democrats. Casini, who has more price tags on him than a Walmart giveaway, does not have the numbers to substitute Fini. In theory parliament could simply express another majority which excludes Berlusconi's personal political entity without resorting to elections. Appeal to popular will is just hot air. There are no constitutional grounds for curtailing the legislature at the moment.
As for Fini resigning as President (Speaker) of the House, it's out of the question. On the contrary, the House President was traditionally chosen among opposition members until Berlusconi reversed that practice in 1994 by electing a 27 year old dance hall number, Irena Pivetti, as his House Speaker and a pataintellectual, Carlo Scognamiglio, as Senate President.
The best strategy is to leave Berlusconi in power without a rubber-stamp parliament to satisfy his every caprice. If on the contrary he were to resign by deliberately forcing a confidence vote to his disadvantage, it would be a national priority to create a coalition to change the electoral law, deal with ordinary administration, and- very wishful thinking- pass draconian antitrust laws to dismember the Berlusconi media empire.
House arrest on Saint Helena would be the best solution.
a pataintellectual, Carlo Scognamiglio
Do you mean he graduated from Collège de 'Pataphysique?
House arrest on Saint Helena would be the best solution
Saint Helena is to easy to reach nowadays. An asteroid would be better. "Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char
Jarry and Ionesco- and Gadda in other terms- long predicted Berlusconi's absurd Italy.
Even better would be the solution adopted by Augustus for his horny daughter, Julia. Ban him to an island with no possible contact with females of any kind.
history rhyme... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
What does one have to do to get the "centre-" dropped?
We are talking about a far right party having made an open alliance with a neo-fascist one, remember. And dismantled the judiciary for personal and business purposes. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
By your standards, the European Social Democrats are centre-right. By laying out pros and cons we risk inducing people to join the debate, and losing control of a process that only we fully understand. - Alan Greenspan
So what do you need to be at least "right", even if we go by relative terms? What do you have that would be significantly to the right of Berlusconi yet clearly not extreme?
To me it seems more like journalist laziness. And cowardice to actually make a meaningful statement. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
Actually, Mussolini would then have to be called centre. The median voter was with him. Some threats probably ensured that it was so, of course.
Somehow, I rarely see Chavez described as a centre politician. Yet he is spot on where the median voter is, in his country. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
Now, even those few pence are being stripped away -- gleefully -- by what many say is the most extremist government Britain has ever seen, outstripping even Margaret Thatcher in the scope of its draconian cuts and the fervor of its market fundamentalism. The savage cutbacks and vast, churning upheavals being pushed through, at breakneck speed, by the new Conservative government (and its truly pathetic coalition "partner," the lapdog Lib Dems) will sends millions of people tumbling down into a permanent underclass -- and finally, after 60 years of trying, gut the national health service with a stealth "Americanization" that will turn the operation of local doctors' offices over to private firms (many of them from the US) and privatize public hospitals, allowing them to "fail" -- and close -- if they don't produce enough cash for their elite shareholders. Meanwhile, the schools are now in the hands of the arch-neocon Michael Gove, who is plotting with revisionist historian Niall Ferguson to impose a pro-Empire, pro-elite "national greatness" ideology on the young. Gove is also using "emergency" legislative procedures to strip public schools away from the oversight of democratically elected local government and put them into the hands of unaccountable corporations, religious groups and wealthy elites. This Revolution of the Rich is being justified by a carefully crafted, constantly stoked panic about budget deficits, pointing to the example of the perpetually weak government and economy of Greece as a horror story to be avoided at all costs. Yet even if the Greek situation was as dire as the fearmongers make out, the fact remains that the cuts which the Tory-LapDog coalition is making in the much stronger, much more stable UK are actually far in excess than those being imposed upon Greece. As with the fearmongering about "Iraqi WMDs," the "dangers of the deficit" are being exaggerated -- and manufactured -- in order to put into place a pre-existing (and transatlantic) ideological agenda: neo-feudal oligarchism.
Now, even those few pence are being stripped away -- gleefully -- by what many say is the most extremist government Britain has ever seen, outstripping even Margaret Thatcher in the scope of its draconian cuts and the fervor of its market fundamentalism. The savage cutbacks and vast, churning upheavals being pushed through, at breakneck speed, by the new Conservative government (and its truly pathetic coalition "partner," the lapdog Lib Dems) will sends millions of people tumbling down into a permanent underclass -- and finally, after 60 years of trying, gut the national health service with a stealth "Americanization" that will turn the operation of local doctors' offices over to private firms (many of them from the US) and privatize public hospitals, allowing them to "fail" -- and close -- if they don't produce enough cash for their elite shareholders. Meanwhile, the schools are now in the hands of the arch-neocon Michael Gove, who is plotting with revisionist historian Niall Ferguson to impose a pro-Empire, pro-elite "national greatness" ideology on the young. Gove is also using "emergency" legislative procedures to strip public schools away from the oversight of democratically elected local government and put them into the hands of unaccountable corporations, religious groups and wealthy elites.
This Revolution of the Rich is being justified by a carefully crafted, constantly stoked panic about budget deficits, pointing to the example of the perpetually weak government and economy of Greece as a horror story to be avoided at all costs. Yet even if the Greek situation was as dire as the fearmongers make out, the fact remains that the cuts which the Tory-LapDog coalition is making in the much stronger, much more stable UK are actually far in excess than those being imposed upon Greece. As with the fearmongering about "Iraqi WMDs," the "dangers of the deficit" are being exaggerated -- and manufactured -- in order to put into place a pre-existing (and transatlantic) ideological agenda: neo-feudal oligarchism.
The Poor Must Die
Not all the poor. First start with the uppity intelligent educated ones (that's YOU, ET!) who cause trouble. Leave the rest for a while ... still plenty of menial labor to perform until the robots are in place; plus, live human tissue is needed for work on the Immortality Project for the uber-wealthy. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
I refuse to accept it's a deliberate policy, not because I don't think people like Osborne are incapable of being so heartless, I just don't believe they understand the mechanisms of the economy sufficiently to aim so accurately.
But it is as good a description of where the tories are going as we're gonna get. keep to the Fen Causeway
hard to change, once you've been programmed... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Madrid, Jul. 29 (Prensa Latina) A Spanish judge has issued arrest warrants for three U.S. soldiers involved in the killing of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz ordered the arrests after the Spanish Supreme Court ordered Couso's case to be reopened. On April 8, 2003, Sergeant Thomas Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant Colonel Phil de Camp fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, killing Jose Couso, a cameraman for Telecinco, and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukranian. Read more...
National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz ordered the arrests after the Spanish Supreme Court ordered Couso's case to be reopened.
On April 8, 2003, Sergeant Thomas Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant Colonel Phil de Camp fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, killing Jose Couso, a cameraman for Telecinco, and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukranian.
