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by NICHOLAS CHRISTIAN
AN AMERICAN has admitted staging a hoax video that appeared to show him being beheaded in Iraq.
Benjamin Vanderford, 22, from San Francisco, said he made the tape months ago as part of his campaign for local office as city supervisor.
The video, which was reported to have been made by militants linked to top al-Qaeda suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, immediately made headlines around the world.
Al-Zarqawi’s group has released videos of hostage beheadings, but doubts (…)

by Robert Thompson
We are all reeling from the shock of seeing on our television screens the horrific and inhuman ritual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners who have had the ill fortune to find themselves in an establishment run by the armed forces of the U.S.A. Immediately following on from this we have seen re-runs of the sight of a swaggering Mr George W. Bush on 1st May 2003, after he had landed on an aircraft-carrier under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished", somewhat prematurely (…)

The US-Australia Free Trade Agreement poses a grave threat to the entire Australian software development industry due to the legal framework on intellectual property which is required upon adoption of the pact, the Open Source Industry Association and Linux Australia have warned.
In a statement issued in Melbourne today, both organisations said the FTA would hamper Australia’s ability to efficiently compete in global markets. "Much like the introduction of a flawed patenting regime for (…)

A VIDEO found on an Islamic militant Web site today showed footage of an American man telling US troops to stop the occupation of Iraq and then showed his head being cut off.
The video, titled "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Slaughters an American," interspersed the footage with clips of disfigured and injured adults and children in Iraq. A recording of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, played in the background.
The man identified himself as Benjamin Danforth, although another report said his surname (…)

Some of America’s allies in its war on Iraq vow to stay in the country, but they are facing mounting criticism at home.
All 31 countries remaining in Iraq have signed a declaration this week condemning recent kidnappings and beheadings of foreign workers and promised not to make any concessions to the kidnappers.
However, the tough talk by militaries and governments hasn’t calmed the fears of their people.
Nearly three in four Poles say they oppose keeping militaries in Iraq, a poll (…)

Tadatoshi Akiba Mayor The City of Hiroshima
PEACE DECLARATION
"Nothing will grow for 75 years." Fifty-nine years have passed since the August sixth when Hiroshima was so thoroughly obliterated that many succumbed to such doom. Dozens of corpses still bearing the agony of that day, souls torn abruptly from their loved ones and their hopes for the future, have recently re-surfaced on Ninoshima Island, warning us to beware the utter inhumanity of the atomic bombing and the gruesome horror (…)

My Right Foot Gordon McGuire’s becoming a role model for the severely disfigured. But he’s by no means any sweet-natured Elephant Man type. BY ROBERT NELSON robert.nelson@newtimes.com
Irvin Serrano Gordon McGuire with his new foot and his new dog Doogan at McGuire’s mother’s house in Paradise Valley.
Gordon McGuire reaches into the back of his mother’s fridge and pulls out the front part of his right foot. After eight months in formaldehyde, the skin on the body part is (…)

Arab States Should Take Steps to Ensure Protection of Civilians in Western Sudan
At its emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation in Darfur, the Arab League should firmly condemn the gross human rights violations by Sudanese government forces and the government-backed Janjaweed militias in this western region of Sudan, Human Rights Watch said today. The pan-Arab group should also make public the report of its May fact-finding mission to the region.
At the request of the (…)

New sign that the economy weakens, making problems for Bush campaign NEW YORK Job growth ground nearly to a halt last month, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday, in a new sign that the economy has weakened in recent months.
U.S. employers added just 32,000 jobs in July, a small fraction of forecasts and the smallest gain this year. The government also announced that job growth in May and June was less than initially estimated.
"It’s clear that the economy is hitting a soft (…)

TOKYO - Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, currently fighting Japanese and U.S. authorities who accuse him of traveling with an invalid passport, said he wants to renounce his U.S. citizenship and took his case to court Friday, his lawyer said.
Masako Suzuki said her client phoned the U.S. Embassy from detention at Narita airport on Thursday to convey his decision to renounce his citizenship.
"I no longer wish to be an American citizen. Enough is enough. I hereby authorize my (…)