The CIA offered $177,600 to Mafia figures to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro, just one of several CIA plots against foreign leaders detailed in 693 pages of classified US documents released today.for more click here
INDONESIAN Muslim hardliners have called for the Australian-backed anti-terrorism squad Detachment 88 to be abolished because they say it is financed and trained by foreign countries to destroy Islam.
Islamic leaders including the cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged former leader of the terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah, and lawyers for terrorist suspects recently arrested by the squad, made the demand at a press conference yesterday. for more click here
In a statement emailed to AFP Tuesday, June 26, the Palestinian radicals demand that Jordan release the Iraqi woman, Sajida al-Rishawi, who was sentenced to death over triple hotel attacks in Amman that killed 60 people in 2005; Abu Mohammed al-Maqdissi, also held in Jordan since then; and the radical Palestinian-born cleric Abu Qatada, reputed former al Qaeda spiritual leader in Europe, who is held in Britain. for more click here
A LAST-MINUTE plea to MSPs to back Edinburgh’s tram scheme was issued today as the Scottish Executive revealed the battle lines for tomorrow’s crucial vote on the project.
Former council leader Ewan Aitken sent a letter to all 129 MSPs, setting out the case for the £594m project which has been left hanging in the balance by the SNP’s election commitment to scrap the scheme. for more click here
Railway signal workers in Scotland are to stage a one-day strike over cuts in their bonuses following a previous walkout in March.
The strike by the Rail Maritime and Transport union on Friday 6 July is likely to severely disrupt Scottish train services and could affect fans heading for the T in the Park music festival in Kinross, which this year opens for the first time on a Friday night. Fans from northern Scotland would be unable to travel by rail if the strike had the same effect as in March, which halted three-quarters of the country’s trains and saw most services ending by early evening and none running north of Stirling. for more click here
BMA Scotland today delivered a damning verdict on the UK implementation of Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), the programme of reform of junior doctors’ training. It comes as BMA Scotland published its evidence to an independent review of the disastrous medial training application system (MTAS) which has left many junior doctors facing an uncertain future. for more click here
House prices in Scotland fell by an average of 2.2 per cent over the first quarter of 2007, new statistics have revealed.
The latest report published by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) found that a typical property in the country lost around £3,000 in value over the period, with the average house price now standing at £139,836. for more click here
BMA Scotland published a five point plan to tackle Scotland’s alcohol problem. The five demands where highlighted in a new paper published by BMA Scotland on the opening day of the BMA’s annual UK conference in Torquay.
Alcohol kills six people every day in Scotland and doctors report an increase in the number of young people presenting to the NHS with serious illness resulting from alcohol misuse. for more click here
WORKING away from home can sometimes be a pain.
But not, presumably, when it involves attending Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster’s £1 million wedding on the Italian Riviera.
Reverend Ian Gilmour, the minister of South Leith Parish Church, was asked to read the marriage vows to the happy couple at the star-studded ceremony. for more click here
SOME of the most prolific graffiti “taggers” in the Capital are being targeted by police using a new vandalism database.
Officers have released images of three tags - “Renos”, “Okhs” and “Zebo” - which have been spray-painted on walls in Leith and Bonnington in recent weeks. for more click here