Pakistani troops fire on US soldiers near Afghan border, reports say

Security officials say soldiers were trying to enter South Waziristan by helicopterPakistani soldiers near the Afghan border. Photograph: Matiullah Achakzai/EPAPakistani troops opened fire on US soldiers trying to enter the country’s lawless tribal area today, according to reports, marking a dangerous further deterioration in relations between the two anti-terror allies.Details of the incident, in South [...] continue reading the breaking news

Scottish activist films Israeli navy shooting at Gaza fishermen

Claims of 14 deaths in previous incidentsA SCOTTISH human rights activist has filmed the Israeli navy firing machine guns at unarmed Palestinian fishing boats in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip.The footage, taken on September 6 by Andrew Muncie, who is from the Highlands, shows an Israeli gunboat engaging fishing boats [...] continue reading the breaking news

Home Office: Car journeys to be stored on a national database for five years

CCTV cameras, converted to read ANPR data, capturing people’s movement. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/ReutersThe police are to expand a car surveillance operation that will allow them to record and store details of millions of daily journeys for up to five years, the Guardian has learned. Paul Lewis on police plans to store car surveillance records [...] continue reading the breaking news

Controlled drugs dumped uncontrolled into water

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - In a frustrating quirk in government policy, the most tightly controlled drugs - like painkilling narcotics prone to abuse - are the ones that most often elude environmental regulation when they become waste.Federal narcotics regulators impose strict rules meant to keep controlled pharmaceuticals out of the wrong hands. Yet those rules also [...] continue reading the breaking news

Cheney Misled GOP Leaders, New Book Says

A GOP congressional leader who was wavering on giving President Bush authority to wage war in late 2002 said Vice President Cheney misled him by saying that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had direct personal ties to al-Qaeda terrorists and was making rapid progress toward a suitcase nuclear weapon.That’s one of the revelations in the new [...] continue reading the breaking news

Russia halts trading after 17% share price fall

(Financial Times) - Russian shares suffered their steepest one-day fall in more than a decade on Tuesday, losing up to 20 per cent, as a sharp slide in oil prices and difficult money market conditions triggered a rush to sell.The heads of the Russian central bank, the finance ministry and the financial market regulator met [...] continue reading the breaking news

Fed pumps $70B into nation’s financial system

WASHINGTON - Urgently trying to keep cash flowing amid a Wall Street meltdown, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday pumped another $70 billion into the nation’s financial system to help ease credit stresses.The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s action came in two operations in which $50 billion and then another regularly scheduled $20 billion were [...] continue reading the breaking news