Archive for February 17th, 2009

Judge Upholds Charges Against Blackwater Guards

Feb 17, 2009 Industry News

By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post
Tuesday, February 17, 2009; 3:04 PM

A federal judge today refused to toss out charges against five U.S. security contractors accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in a busy Baghdad square in 2007.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina came in an early legal challenge brought by defense attorneys representing the guards, who worked at the time for Blackwater Worldwide. The guards’ attorneys had argued the government didn’t have jurisdiction to bring the charges.

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Triple Canopy Sponsors Reconstruction and Stabilization Conference

Feb 17, 2009 Industry News

HERNDON, Va., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Triple Canopy, Inc., a leading provider of integrated security solutions to organizations worldwide, will sponsor the 4th Annual Reconstruction and Stabilization conference scheduled to take place Feb. 18 to 20 in Arlington, Va. at the Sheraton National Hotel. Lee Van Arsdale, Triple Canopy’s CEO, will deliver a presentation, “Protecting People and Places in High-Risk Environments,” on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 9:45 a.m.

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Gunmen attack presidential palace in Equatorial Guinea

Feb 17, 2009 Africa, Equatorial Guinea

Reuters
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea: Gunmen in motor boats attacked the presidential palace in oil-producing Equatorial Guinea’s island capital on Tuesday before being repelled by the armed forces, the government said.

The government said the attackers came from the Niger Delta, a Nigerian territory where seaborne raiding parties have grown increasingly bold in the past two years, launching raids against banks and other targets in neighboring countries.

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Obama to decide ’shortly’ on troops for Afghan war

Feb 17, 2009 Afghanistan

17 FEB 2009
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The White House on Monday promised that President Barack Obama would “shortly” make a decision on whether to pour thousands more US troops into the Afghan war.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama returned to Washington from a weekend in Chicago that the decision, the subject of intense speculation here, was still expected soon.

“I would expect the presidential decision could come shortly.”

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