US hands over last Iraqi prison under its control

Iraqis take charge of Camp Cropper as US military winds down presence in country before full withdrawal by end of next year

Major General Jerry Cannon, right, and Iraq's justice minister Dara Nur al-Din sign documents during the handover ceremony of Camp Cropper from US forces to the Iraqi government. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
The US transferred the last detention camp under its control in Iraq today as it continues to wind down its military presence in the country.

Iraqi authorities are to rename Camp Cropper Karkh prison.

Major General Jerry Cannon, the head of US detention facilities in Iraq, said the US would continue holding 200 detainees – out of 1,500 prisoners – including eight former regime members. They will be held in a separate area of the prison known as compound five.

Yesterday Iraqi officials said the US had turned over 55 former senior officials, including former foreign minister Tariq Aziz, to Iraqi custody since last year.

The transfer of Camp Cropper, near Baghdad airport, comes amid concerns about sectarian tensions spilling over into the prison system. Inmates in Iraqi prisons have repeatedly complained about torture and beatings by the police, as well as overcrowding and poor conditions.

Camp Cropper, established in April 2003 as a "high value" detention site, was named after Sergeant Kenneth Cropper, a member of the Maryland National Guard who died during physical training in 2002 at Fort Myer, Virginia.

The camp, which held Saddam Hussein until his execution in 2006, was supposed to have been a "holding centre" or temporary camp for up to 300 detainees who would be held for no more than a few days.

After being processed, prisoners were supposed to be moved to other locations in Baghdad and Iraq. This proved unworkable as most prisons in Baghdad were badly damaged by looting after the fall of Saddam's government.

Camp Cropper has a troubled history. Five prisoners were shot during a riot in 2003. After the closure of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison and the transfer of prisoners to Camp Cropper, it too was criticised for alleged mistreatment of detainees. In 2006 three prisoners died. One died from injuries inflicted by fellow inmates and the other two from natural causes.

In 2007, Lieutenant Colonel William Steele, who was in charge of Camp Cropper was sentenced to two years in prison for "unauthorised possession of classified documents, and behaviour unbecoming an officer for an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter and failing to obey an order".

Camp Cropper is the last of three US prisons handed over to Iraqi control. Camp Bucca was transferred last September, and Camp Taji, a detention facility at an airbase north of Baghdad, in January. The handover of Camp Cropper comes as the US is preparing to pull out all combat forces by September, leaving a force of some 50,000 before a full withdrawal by the end of next year

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Final bet: Oracle Paul the Octopus picks Spain over Netherlands to win World Cup

We are saw this new video enjoy Final bet: Oracle Paul the Octopus picks Spain over Netherlands to win World Cup



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Pelosi, White House Feud Over Gibbs' House Prediction

We saw this Pelosi, White House Feud Over Gibbs' House Prediction



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the driving force behind the Obama agenda in Congress, sharply criticized White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs at a closed-door House Democratic caucus meeting late Tuesday, according to Democratic sources.

Pelosi, irked since Sunday by what she and other top Democrats considered Gibbs' careless and dismissive comments that Democrats could lose their House majority this November, upbraided a top White House aide as she knocked Gibbs' unwelcome handicapping of House races.

"How could he [Gibbs] know what's going on in our districts?" Pelosi said, according to Democrats who attended the meeting. "Some may weigh his words more closely than others. We have made our disagreements known to the White House."

Senior Pelosi staff contacted the White House Monday to express displeasure with Gibbs' statement on "Meet the Press" that Democrats could lose the majority won in 2006 after 12 years out of power.

Pelosi aides and operatives at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee were, according to sources, told Gibbs would "walk back" his dire prediction at Monday's White House briefing. Instead, Gibbs said he was merely -- and, by Washington standards, courageously -- stating "the obvious."

That declaration deepened the sense of House Democratic alienation from Gibbs that boiled over with tonight's rare broadside from Pelosi. But this wasn't the only manifestation of Democratic pique.

House Democratic leaders encouraged rank-and-file party members to vent their anger at White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, a key architect of the successful Democratic plan to win back the House in 2006, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina, Political Director Patrick Gaspard and the head of White House legislative affairs Phil Schiliro. Schiliro is a former senior aide to Rep. Henry Waxman, the powerful chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and a Pelosi ally.

"There was no doubt where we, meaning the caucus, stood," a top Democratic aide said.

In the past two days, House leaders Steny Hoyer, the majority leader, and Chris Van Hollen, head of the DCCC, have declared Democrats will retain their majority.

© 2010 FOX News Network, LLC.

Moscow art curators await fate as trial over 'insulting' exhibition nears end

We are understanding this Moscow art curators await fate as trial over 'insulting' exhibition nears end



A judge in Moscow could send two prominent art curators to jail tomorrow as a 14-month trial that has provoked fears of rising intolerance and attempts at censorship in Russia comes to an end.

Prosecutors charged Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev with fomenting ethnic and religious hatred and "insulting human dignity" for organising an exhibition in 2007 titled Forbidden Art.

The exhibition, which was held at Moscow's Sakharov Museum named after the Soviet-era dissident, featured several doctored images of Jesus. In one, his head was replaced with an Order of Lenin medal and in another he was depicted as Mickey Mouse.

Samodurov, a former director of the museum, and Yerofeyev, a former head of contemporary art at the State Tretyakov Gallery face up to five years in prison if convicted.

The exhibition was designed to highlight censorship and included many exhibits that had been banned from display at other art shows the previous year.

The defendants say their prosecution reveals a worrying trend of growing nationalist sentiment and the Russian Orthodox Church – which has called for the two men to be punished – meddling in cultural matters.

"This is a political case, which has nothing to do with democratic justice," Yerofeyev said. "This conflict has more profound and complex roots. The judge is experiencing very large state and church pressure."

A group of artists and rights activists sent an open letter to Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, earlier this month calling for the charges to be dropped.

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Obama administration to sue Arizona over migrant laws

Part of a large steel fence separating Mexico and Arizona. The state is the biggest entry point into the US for illegal immigrants. Photograph: Larry W. Smith/EPA

Special announced Obama administration to sue Arizona over migrant laws
Republicans condemn White House move to reassert its authority on immigration policy

The Obama administration has moved to reassert its authority on immigration policy by suing Arizona state over its draconian plans to curb illegal immigration.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Phoenix, argues that Arizona's law requiring state and local police to question anyone they reasonably suspect of being an illegal immigrant undermines the federal government's authority.

"In our constitutional system, the federal government has pre-eminent authority to regulate immigration matters," the lawsuit says. "This authority derives from the United States constitution and numerous acts of Congress. The nation's immigration laws reflect a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations, and humanitarian interests."

The government is seeking an injunction to delay the 29 July implementation of the law until the case is resolved. It ultimately wants the law declared invalid. Mexico as well as several civil liberties groups have opposed the Arizona measure, and several other legal challenges are pending in federal court in the state.

Republicans condemned the lawsuit, saying the law had not yet entered into force so the challenge was premature. They also argued that the Arizona law was justified as the federal government had failed to deal with the issue.

"The Obama administration has not done everything it can do to protect the people of Arizona from the violence and crime illegal immigration brings to our state," the two Republican senators from Arizona, John McCain and Jon Kyl, said in a statement.

Arizona passed the law after years of frustration over problems associated with illegal immigration, including drug trafficking and kidnappings. The state is the biggest entry point into the US for illegal immigrants, and is home to an estimated 460,000 of them.

The White House fears that the Arizona law could lead to a patchwork of different laws passed by various states and local authorities. Last week, Fremont, a small town in Nebraska, voted to in effect banish all illegal immigrants.

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Europe's edge over South America in Cup

We saw the Europe's edge over South America in Cup

Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) -- If the World Cup were contested among continents instead of countries, the tournament would have only had two winners in its 80-year history: South America and Europe. And that isn't going to change this year.
This year, all the signs in the host country say "SOUTH AFRICA 2010." But for most of June, some graffiti artist seemed to have painted an ME over the F on each of those banners, for what we were witnessing was, in essence, SOUTH AMERICA 2010.
South America dominated from the start -- from the opening kickoff concert, headlined by Shakira, the pop star from Colombia. Even before that, staring vacantly from the covers of countless previews, was the World's Best Player, Lionel Messi of Argentina. And even before that, five-time champion Brazil was expected to do what the Brazilians always do. Like Lance Armstrong, they wear yellow shirts and crush Europeans.
For three weeks, Argentina's manager-mascot, Diego Maradona -- rosary wrapped around his fist, like brass knuckles -- strode the touchline like a sub-compact colossus. Refulgent in his shiny suit and diamond earrings, his black-and-white beard ablaze, Maradona carried off soccer balls and very nearly the entire show before his team came up against Germany in the quarterfinals.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the semis: Netherlands came from behind ... to beat Brazil.
--Steve Rushin
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Steve McManaman, the former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder turned ESPN analyst, spoke for many viewers when he said before that match: "I want to see the little lunatic, Maradona, running up and down the touchline, so I've got him to beat the German team on his own."
As recently as those quarterfinals, there was the real possibility that all four teams in the semis would be from South America, winners of nine World Cups.
Europe, winners of the other nine, might be shut out of this rubber match. Past champions France, Italy and England had crashed out in the first round to varying degrees of domestic condemnation: Calamité (the French), cataclisma (the Italians), catastrophe (the English).
But a funny thing happened on the way to the semis: Netherlands came from behind in the second half to beat Brazil. Then the rest of Europe did the same, coming from behind in the second half of the World Cup to assert its dominance over South America, most emphatically when Argentina lost 4-0 to the free-scoring Germans, who suddenly seem to be the new Brazil, soccer's latest thing, its -- how's this for etymological irony? -- bossa nova.
And Spain beat Paraguay. As a result, the only South American team in the final four is two-time champion Uruguay. And even then, the most effective Uruguayan at the tournament was a referee. England's Frank Lampard scored an obvious goal against Germany, but play was waved on by Uruguayan ref Jorge Larrionda. In missing the goal, Larrionda almost certainly ushered in a long-overdue era of instant replay or other goal-line technology to assist officials.
As for the Uruguay team, it needed a miracle to beat Ghana in one of the most improbable finishes to a sporting event we will see in this century. Asamoah Gyan's penalty kick on the final play of the game rocketed off the crossbar to spare South America one spot in the semifinals among three elite European teams: Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
No matter. South America has already secured a World Cup trophy in 2010. The other day at the airport in Bogota, Colombia officials seized a gold-painted replica of the famous Jules Rimet trophy. It was made entirely of cocaine.

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Locking horns over the running of the bulls

We are enjoy Locking horns over the running of the bulls

CCNN) -- A 400-year-old tradition is facing some new challenges this year at this week's annual running of the bulls in Spain.
Celebrations for the festival in San Fermin are already underway, but the first running of the bulls will be held Wednesday in the northern town of Pamplona.
The city is once-again handing out 100,000 leaflets to local and foreign festival-goers explaining how to minimize the risk of accidents during the spectacle.
It's a warning and a reminder of the dangers and even death that can occur when hundreds of runners sprint alongside the half ton bulls and steers. Last year saw the first fatal goring in more a decade.
For the sixth year now, Pamplona has sprayed the entire 825 meter route with a special anti-slipping chemical to help avoid injury to the bulls and the red-and-white clad runners.
The run in Pamplona started 400 years ago and became popular worldwide after author Ernest Hemingway wrote about it in the 1920s in his book "The Sun Also Rises," also published under the title "Fiesta."
The event is held July 7-14. Six bulls and a pack of tame steers run from the corrals, through Pamplona's old town, to the bullring -- where the bulls will die later in the day in a bullfight.
Including the recent death, 14 people have been killed in the runs since 1924, when record-keeping began.
But while the narrow cobblestone streets of Pamplona are expected to be as packed as ever, the tradition of bullfights, or "corridas" is under pressure elsewhere.
The economic downturn is certainly taking its toll. With nearly one in five Spaniards out of a job there are fewer spectators in packing the rings.
And struggling towns are looking for ways to slash spending.
Some local governments are cutting the expensive spectacles to save money for basic services like schools and police salaries.
But there is also pressure brewing to change cultural attitudes about the tradition of bullfighting as well.
Just as most years, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other animal rights groups organized a rally Sunday featuring semi-nude protesters covered in red paint in Pamplona, but also have staged protests outside Spanish embassies around the world.
The tactics may be gaining some traction. A 2006 Gallup poll showed more than 70 percent of those surveyed said they have "no interest" in bullfighting, while 82 percent of those aged 15 to 24 held that same view.
And now the tradition has begun facing legal and political challenges.
The government in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia with its capital Barcelona is plans to put a ban on the practice to a vote, potentially making it the second region in Spain to outlaw bullfighting after the Canary Islands in the Atlantic did so in 1991.
While Pamplona embraces tradition, one thing you won't be seeing -- or hearing -- this year... the incessant buzz of the "vuvuzela!"
The government there has banned the sale of the plastic horns along the bull-run route, saying they would be dangerous and distracting to the animals.

Coppied by 2010 Cable News Network.