Washington Post News Alert Exclusive: CIA misled on interrogation program, Senate report says

Washington Post News Alert: 

Exclusive: CIA misled on interrogation program, Senate report says

A report by the Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that the CIA misled the government and the public about aspects of its brutal interrogation program for years — concealing details about the severity of its methods, overstating the significance of plots and prisoners, and taking credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact surrendered before they were subjected to harsh techniques.

The report, built around detailed chronologies of dozens of CIA detainees, documents a long-standing pattern of unsubstantiated claims as agency officials sought permission to use — and later tried to defend — excruciating interrogation methods that yielded little, if any, significant intelligence, according to U.S. officials who have reviewed the document.

Read more at: 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-misled-on-interrogation-program-senate-report-says/2014/03/31/eb75a82a-b8dd-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html 


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News from The Hill Caterpillar avoided $2.4B in taxes, charges Sen. Levin By Peter Schroeder

News from The Hill

Caterpillar avoided $2.4B in taxes, charges Sen. Levin By Peter Schroeder

Caterpillar avoided $2.4 billion in taxes thanks to a reorganization that housed its most profitable business in Switzerland, according to a Senate report.

While the report, from the Senate Permanent subcommittee on Investigations, said Caterpillar had done nothing illegal, it criticized the manufacturing giant for trying to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

“Caterpillar is an American success story that produces tremendous industrial machines,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the head of the investigatory panel, said Monday. “But it’s also a member of the corporate profit-shifting club that has shifted billions of dollars in profits offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes."


Read the story here.
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HTC's next flagship smartphone needs more than Robert Downey Jr. | PCWorld

HTC's next flagship smartphone needs more than Robert Downey Jr. | PCWorld: "The HTC One: is a good phone not enough?"

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2111121/htcs-next-flagship-smartphone-needs-more-than-robert-downey-jr.html#tk.nl_today

[...]

The second iteration of the One is expected to have a 5-inch full HD screen and a Snapdragon 801 processor with four cores running at 2.3GHz. The phone is also rumored to have two cameras on the back that will work together to produce better images.

[...]

An improved camera has been one of the main themes on smartphones HTC’s newcomer will compete with, including the Sony’s Xperia Z2 and the Galaxy S5 from Samsung, They were launched at Mobile World Congress last month and will go on sale in April, with the S5 starting to ship on the 11th.
The smartphone market is anticipated to heat up further with a successor to the G2 from LG Electronics and a new iPhone as early as May or June.
HTC has already introduced three new phones this year: Desire 310, Desire 610 and Desire 816, which are all part of an increased focus on the midrange of the market. But a successful high-end model is key for any smartphone company, because it can both help improve profits with better margins and create a trickle-down effect for the rest of the portfolio.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2111121/htcs-next-flagship-smartphone-needs-more-than-robert-downey-jr.html#tk.nl_today

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GOP slams VA: 'Bureaucracy run amok' | TheHill

GOP slams VA: 'Bureaucracy run amok' | TheHill: "By Bernie Becker"

President Obama should back a measure to streamline a Veterans Affairs “bureaucracy run amok,” a House Republican said in the party’s weekly address Saturday.

Rep. Jackie Walorksi (Ind.), a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, called on the White House to support a bill that would empower the VA secretary “to fire senior officials who aren’t up to the job,” helping to clean up the department’s current backlog on disability claims that averages 330 days a case.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/202096-gop-on-veterans-affairs-backlog-bureaucracy-run-amok
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook


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News from The Hill Is Obama pivot to Asia on hold? By Jeremy Herb

News from The Hill Is Obama pivot to Asia on hold? By Jeremy Herb

Plans for the United States to pivot to Asia are on hold again with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

It’s just the latest complication in the Obama administration’s plans to rebalance the military toward Asia to counter China.

Read the story here.
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