The US military is close to charging at least five US Marines in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November, a military spokesperson said late Tuesday. Though specific details have not yet been disclosed, some Marines may be charged with murder and others with the lesser charge of negligent homicide. The 24 deaths prompted two separate military investigations: one conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS), aimed at determining whether to prosecute the soldiers involved, and an investigation into decisions made by Marine leadership led by US Army Major General Eldon Bargewell. An anonymous US official familiar with the NCIS investigation, speaking in May, suggested the Marines murdered in cold blood, and the probe concluded in August that evidence exists to support murder allegations. Bargewell's report has not yet been released, but officials briefed on the investigation said that there was evidence that soldiers concealed and destroyed evidence relating to the incident and were reluctant to hand over evidence.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, the US Marine commander in charge of the Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment implicated in the Haditha incident, told the Washington Post in August that he did not order an immediate investigation into the deaths because he did not suspect any wrongdoing. Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the officer responsible for determining whether to charge the Marines involved, attracted press attention in 2005 when he told a panel discussion that "It's fun to shoot people".

An Italian prosecutor on Tuesday requested the indictment of 26 Americans and five Italian secret service officials in the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan - a case that continues to be an irritant to U.S.-Italian relations.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro said the indictment request is aimed at CIA agents and the former head of Italian military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, for alleged involvement in the kidnapping.

Prosecutors have identified all but one of the Americans as CIA agents, including former station chiefs in Rome and Milan, and the 26th as a U.S. Air Force officer stationed at the time at Aviano air base near Venice.

Last month, Spataro asked the center-left government of Romano Prodi to request the Americans' extradition; he has not received a response.

The operation was believed to be part of an alleged CIA "extraordinary rendition" program in which terrorism suspects are transferred to third countries where some allegedly are tortured. It is the first known prosecution of alleged participants in such operations, which have come under growing criticism by America's allies in Europe.

The United States and Italy have an extradition treaty, although it was not likely that CIA agents would be turned over for trial abroad. In some instances, only the aliases of the agents are known.

The previous government of conservative Silvio Berlusconi had refused to request the Americans' extradition, and contended his government and Italian secret services were not informed about the operation and did not take part.

Berlusconi, one of the United States' staunchest allies in the war against terrorism and the invasion of Iraq, expressed support for Pollari.

"Gen. Pollari was one of the few to fight terrorism in the front lines, with the result that he came under the scrutiny of all Italians. Let's ask the government how it intends to protect those like Pollari who go up against terrorists, and the good name of our intelligence and Italy's reputation abroad," Berlusconi said.

Pollari was replaced last month as part of a purge that also included the heads of the civilian secret service agencies. Pollari, 63, had long resisted calls for his resignation that only intensified with the abduction case. He took over SISMI, the Italian military intelligence agency, in 2001 after holding key posts with Italy's financial police and civilian secret service agency.

Besides Pollari, the request also names his former deputy Marco Mancini, and three other secret service officials.

Pollari has insisted in questioning before parliamentary committees that Italian intelligence had no role in the cleric's disappearance, while Mancini, who was arrested this summer, is said by his lawyers to be cooperating with prosecutors in implicating his boss.

Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, an Egyptian cleric and terrorist suspect, also known as Abu Omar, was allegedly abducted from a Milan street in February 2003 and flown out of Italy from Aviano.

Among the Americans named in the request are Robert Seldon Lady, a former station chief in Milan, and Jeffrey Castelli, identified as a former CIA chief in Rome.

Spataro also is seeking indictments on charges of aiding and abetting against two other secret service officials and the deputy director of the newspaper Libero, Renato Farina. Four others - three secret service officials and a reporter for Libero - were dropped from the investigation.

From the outset, U.S. officials have declined comment. A lawyer for Lady, the only American who was living in Italy when arrest warrants were issued, said she was surprised by the indictment request.

"Even the documents of the prosecution show that he was not an organizer. If anything, he was someone who obeyed orders," lawyer Daria Pesce said.

Lady left the country before the warrant was served. Pesce said he lives in the United States, but declined to say where.

Prosecutors raided Lady's home near Turin last year, collecting a central piece of evidence - a picture of Nasr taken in January 2003 on the street where he was allegedly abducted a month later.

In another case, lawmakers from an Italian communist party demanded Tuesday that the government take action in the case of Abou Elkassim Britel, a Moroccan-born Italian citizen whose family and lawyer say was seized during a 2002 trip to Pakistan, tortured and interrogated by U.S. intelligence and local officials, then put on a CIA flight to Morocco, where he is serving a nine-year prison sentence on terrorism charges.

A report issued last week by the European Parliament committee investigating alleged CIA kidnappings and prisons in Europe condemned Britel's extraordinary rendition and said documents presented by lawyer Francesca Longhi show the Italian Interior Ministry cooperated with the foreign secret services who seized him.

Longhi and the lawmakers told reporters in Rome that Britel was sentenced in Morocco on the basis of a 2001 Italian terror investigation that has since been closed without any charges being brought.

In a statement released by the White House December 4, the president credited Bolton with leading negotiations in the U.N. Security Council that resulted in unanimous resolutions on North Korean military and nuclear activities, a resolution calling on Iran to suspend the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium, and a U.N. peacekeeping commitment to Sudan.

Bolton was appointed to the post in August 2005 during a period when the U.S. Senate, which normally would vote on the nomination, was in recess.  Under the U.S. Constitution, a president may make temporary recess appointments without Senate confirmation.

The president re-nominated Bolton on November 9, but administration officials believed that his nomination did not have enough support in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to come to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Bush said some senators were practicing “stubborn obstructionism” by “obstruct[ing] his confirmation” despite Bolton having the support of the majority of the Senate.  “[T]heir tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time,” Bush said.

White House press secretary Tony Snow blamed Bolton’s difficulties in the Senate on “partisanship and not performance,” adding, “for whatever reason the confirmation process seems to be broken.”

The press secretary called on both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to cooperate on “a confirmation process that allows competent people who share the president’s goals and policies to become confirmed for key positions.”

Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs (FDA), today announced the appointment of Susan C. Winckler, RPh, Esq., as the agency’s  Acting Chief of Staff. Ms. Winckler is replacing Patrick Ronan who announced his resignation last week after several years of service at the FDA.

In this role, Susan will coordinate staff activities in the Office of the Commissioner and serve as the principal liaison to Department of Health and Human Services.

"Susan has taken a leadership role on important policy initiatives, such as the implementation of improvements to our Advisory Committee process," said Dr. von Eschenbach. "She has a distinguished record of public health leadership and will bring her perspective as healthcare provider to the management challenges of this important post."

Susan joined FDA in September 2006 as the Director, Policy Communications, in the Office of Policy and Planning within the Office of the Commissioner. In this capacity she has been a point person for constituent communications and policy development on key issues, including updating policies and operations related to the management and operation of FDA advisory committees.

Prior to joining the agency, Susan most recently served as the Vice President for Policy and Communications and Staff Counsel for the American Pharmacists Association, the national professional society of pharmacists. In that capacity, she was responsible for coordinating the Association's legislative, regulatory and private sector advocacy agenda and public relations programs. Ms.Winckler served as a frequent spokesperson for the Association for media interviews, on Capitol Hill, and with external organizations.

Susan is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and the Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude. Winckler is a licensed pharmacist in Iowa and is admitted to the bar in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Susan will begin her new role in early January 2007.

Washington -- President Bush has accepted “with deep regret” the resignation of U.S. Representative to the United Nations John Bolton.

In a statement released by the White House December 4, the president credited Bolton with leading negotiations in the U.N. Security Council that resulted in unanimous resolutions on North Korean military and nuclear activities, a resolution calling on Iran to suspend the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium, and a U.N. peacekeeping commitment to Sudan.

Bolton was appointed to the post in August 2005 during a period when the U.S. Senate, which normally would vote on the nomination, was in recess.  Under the U.S. Constitution, a president may make temporary recess appointments without Senate confirmation.

The president re-nominated Bolton on November 9, but administration officials believed that his nomination did not have enough support in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to come to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Bush said some senators were practicing “stubborn obstructionism” by “obstruct[ing] his confirmation” despite Bolton having the support of the majority of the Senate.  “[T]heir tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time,” Bush said.

White House press secretary Tony Snow blamed Bolton’s difficulties in the Senate on “partisanship and not performance,” adding, “for whatever reason the confirmation process seems to be broken.”

The press secretary called on both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to cooperate on “a confirmation process that allows competent people who share the president’s goals and policies to become confirmed for key positions.”

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has announced an 18-month timetable for lifting the state of emergency that Egypt has lived under since 1981. The administration of President Hosni Mubarak will present proposed changes to the Egyptian Constitution to parliament this year, with a referendum on those changes expected in the summer. Egypt has remained under the emergency laws, which give the president quasi-military control over the population, since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. After the referendum, the government hopes to introduce new anti-terror laws that would replace the emergency laws.

Proposed changes to the constitution would limit the president to two seven-year terms of office. Mubarak has governed since 1981. Another proposed change, announced by Mubarak last week, would allow political parties with one member in either house of parliament to nominate a presidential candidate. The present system grants that privilege only to parties holding 5 percent of the seats in each house. The reforms will not allow the opposition Muslim Brotherhood to nominate a presidential candidate, however.

The Maryland Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on Monday in a case challenging a 1973 state law banning same-sex marriage. Plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), argued that marriage is a fundamental right which should not be denied according to the parties' genders. In response, Maryland Attorney General Robert Zarnoch argued that no court in the country has identified same-sex marriage as a fundamental right, and he urged the court to defer to the legislature. The state is appealing a January ruling by the Baltimore City Circuit Court in which the law was held to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Currently, Massachusetts is the only state to allow same-sex marriage, which was legalized when the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in 2003 that a ban on such marriages was unconstitutional. Several cases similar to the Maryland case have been decided or are pending in other states including California, New Jersey, Washington, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Connecticut.