What's New
| Presdent Obama Donated $250,000 of Nobel Prize Money to Fisher House |
March 11, 2010, Washington, DC (New York Times) - President Obama made good on his promise to give his $1.4 million Nobel Prize money to charity, releasing the names on Thursday of the organizations that will benefit. |
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| Dr. Haley at UTSW Presents Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness |
VCS Asks VA: Since UTSW Research Remains Vital to Understanding Gulf War Illness, Then Why Did a Handful of VA Staff in Washington Impede UTSW Contract and Then End Funding for UTSW? March 9, 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah (Science News) - Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome. |
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| March 9 VCS Weekly Update |
This week’s VCS update keeps you in the loop with news on issues you care about. One good change – our weekly news updates won’t ask you for money. Instead, our news updates point you to news articles at our web site. We hope you will read them and share the important facts with your friends. This week's update includes news about VA and suicides, VCS on CNN, our VCS FOIA campaign, VA automating Agent Orange claims, a waterboarding torture video, and Gulf War veterans' benefits. |
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| Federal Court Keeps Torture Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld Alive |
What's Waterboarding? Watch Video of Torture March 5, 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Associated Press) - A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm. [Rumsfeld served at the Pentagon under former President George W. Bush.] |
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| Reducing Suicides: VA Adopts Policy on Emergency Care for Mental Health Patients |
This Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive provides policy to ensure the provision of safe and secure mental health services during all hours of operation for Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) in VHA |
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Silvio Berlusconi Wants Exit Plan for Nato Troops in Afghanistan
Written by Associated Press
Friday, 18 September 2009 09:20
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Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi reacts after his forces suffer their deadliest attack in Afghanistan to date September 18, 2009 - Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi called today for a "transition strategy" in Afghanistan, hours after suggesting that Nato forces should "get out soon" following the death of six Italian troops in a bomb blast. Berlusconi said on Thursday that "we are convinced it's best for everybody to get out soon" after Italian forces suffered their deadliest attack in Afghanistan to date. Today, he sought to qualify his remarks, saying international allies must come up with a "transition strategy in order to charge the new government with more responsibility". He said the shift of security duties to the Afghan forces would go hand-in-hand with a decrease in international troops. Italy has about 2,800 soldiers in Afghanistan. Thursday's victims, part of a contingent deployed in Kabul, bring to 20 the number of Italian troops who have died in Afghanistan, according to the defence ministry. Comments from the conservative premier and some of his allies in government appeared to show some political confusion over what effect the attack will have on Italy's staunch commitment to helping the US militarily in Afghanistan. Italy's defence minister, Ignazio La Russa, said early in the day that the "cowardly" attack in the Afghan capital would not affect Italy's commitment. But later on Thursday he indicated the role of Italy's mission would be reviewed. And a key coalition partner in Berlusconi's government said he hoped Italy's troops could leave within three months. "I hope that at Christmas all can return home," Umberto Bossi, the minister for institutional reforms, told reporters in northern Italy. A poll for Corriere della Sera newspaper conducted last week before the bomb attack found that 58% of people wanted the troops out and 40% believed the mission had become "a war operation". Italy's commitment to the US-led war in Iraq wavered after 19 troops were killed there in a single attack in 2003. It then pulled out of the Iraq mission completely in 2006.
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