Stockholm- American Daniel Ellsberg, famed for leaking classified documents on the US war in Vietnam in 1969, Wednesday expressed concern over possible US plans to attack Iran. Ellsberg was one the winners of the 2006 Right Livelihood Awards, often called the Alternative Nobel Prizes, to be handed out on Friday (December at a ceremony in the Swedish parliament.

Co-winners were Brazilian Chico Whitaker Ferreira who helped found the World Social Forum, Indian social activist Ruth Manorama and a Colombian poetry festival.

Ferreira, 75, won the Right Livelihood Honarary Award which carries no prize money while the other winners shared the 2 million kronor (273,000 dollars) monetary prize.

Ellsberg said it was key for US officials who had information and documents relating to plans to launch airstrikes on Iran to leak them in order to “avert a war” that may include the use of nuclear weapons. (more…)

Thousands of students across Durham Region face suspension if they don’t get their immunization records updated.

The Durham Region Health Department has sent out final notices to 5,907 elementary students and 8,621 secondary school students and their parents.

Starting January 16, 2007, elementary students who don’t have incomplete immunization records will be suspended from school until the information is recieved by the Health Department. (more…)

‘No finger, no fly’ to commence at Heathrow

As has been illustrated all too frequently in the past, they don’t tell immigration ministers anything - and, if what he had to say this week at the official unveiling of Heathrow’s biometric trial is anything to go by, current incumbent Liam Byrne is no exception. Quoted here in the Telegraph, Byrne observes that he does not see the Heathrow system as being a “stand-alone scheme”, and that the Government wanted to see it used as part of efforts to control immigration and to check the identity of people coming to this country.

So perhaps now would be a good time for us to introduce Mr Byrne to those aspects of the scheme that haven’t been widely publicised, but in which his department is intimately involved. They’re to do with universal biometric entry validation for British airports, and with checking the records, including immigration status, of those participating in the current trial, miSense. (more…)

Factories in Bangladesh are breaking pledges to workers made by big UK retailers

Some of Britain’s best-known high street brands are selling “cheap chic” clothes at the expense of workers in Bangladesh who are paid 5p an hour despite pledges to protect basic labour rights, an investigation by War on Want will reveal today.

Employees in Bangladesh are forced to work excessive hours, refused access to trade unions and face abuse and sacking if they protest, says the report, Fashion Victims, based on interviews with 60 garment workers from six factories.

War on Want says that although Primark, Asda and Tesco have stated publicly they will limit the working week and pay a “living wage” overseas, these commitments are flouted in their suppliers’ factories. The Guardian, which interviewed workers in Dhaka, confirmed the allegations of excessive hours and poor working conditions in the report. Employees making clothes for the three retailers said they had no choice but to work longer than the agreed 60 hours a week. (more…)

German virtual hitmen, among the most feared in the world, could soon find themselves behind real bars if the regional governments of Bavaria and Lower Saxony have their way.

The two states have drafted a bill that would subject developers, distributors and players of video games whose goal is to inflict “cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters” to a fine and a maximum of one year in jail.

The draft law, a reaction to a school shooting that shook German public opinion last month, will come before the upper house of parliament next year. But it is already sending shockwaves through the 2m-strong German online gaming community.

“We have among the most drastic censorship rules for games,” said Frank Sliwka, head of the Deutsche E-Sport Bund, an umbrella federation for German online gaming teams. “Now we are being labelled as a breeding ground for unstable, dysfunctional and violent youngsters.” (more…)

A Russian businessman who met with a former Russian domestic intelligence officer in London the day the man fell ill from radioactive poison has himself become suddenly and seriously sick, Russian news organizations reported Thursday night.

Dmitry Kovtun, a business consultant who met with Alexander Litvinenko on Nov. 1 at a bar in the Millennium Hotel in London, suffered a severe health breakdown from radiation exposure, according to the reports. He had earlier been interviewed by Russian investigators, with detectives from Scotland Yard present as well.

According to the Russian Interfax news agency, Kovtun “has an acute form of radiation sickness, with internal contamination from alpha-radiation by radio-nuclides affecting the liver, the kidneys, and the intestines.” (more…)

Iraqi and U.S. officials disputed each others’ accounts of an overnight raid and air strike on Friday that killed up to 20 people in a new sign of friction over allegations of American troops killing civilians.

The U.S. military said ground forces with air support killed 20 suspected al Qaeda militants, including two women, in an area where the Sunni Arab insurgency is strong.

Police and officials in Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, said the bodies of 17 civilians, including six women and five children, were found in the rubble of two homes.

“The Americans have done this before but they always deny it,” Ishaqi Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters by telephone. “I want the world to know what’s happening here.” (more…)

A U.S. judge expressed skepticism on Friday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could be held personally liable for the abuse of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners, including at Abu Ghraib.

U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas Hogan said that while torture is unacceptable, he was not sure whether the nine Iraqi and Afghan residents had a right to sue Rumsfeld in U.S. courts.

“What you’re asking for has never been decided by a court before,” Hogan said at a hearing in the high-profile case.

“How do you (limit) this right … so you don’t have a bin Laden or somebody bringing lawsuits here? How do you control that, and where does it stop, I guess is my problem,” he added. (more…)