Judge orders CIA to turn over "torture" memo: ACLU - HotNews

Reuters - Hewlett-Packard Co has struck a deal to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp for $12.6 billion, seeking to boost its technology services business to better compete against market leader IBM .

Wal-Mart profit up, but shares fall (Reuters)

Reuters - Wal-Mart Stores Inc , the world's largest retailer, reported a 7 percent rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday as discounts drew U.S. shoppers looking for bargains on necessities like food and pharmacy items.

Stock futures lower on banks, Wal-Mart (Reuters)

Reuters - Stock index futures fell on Tuesday after Oppenheimer & Co slashed its price targets on a number of brokerages and on concern about Wal-Mart Stores Inc's outlook.

Bernanke says markets healing but still not well (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday that emergency Fed liquidity measures have helped relieve strain in financial markets, but the recovery process remains incomplete.

Retail sales show resiliency (Reuters)
Reuters - Total sales at U.S. retailers weakened modestly in April, the government reported on Tuesday, but outside the hard-pressed auto sector they showed more resiliency than many analysts had anticipated.

Retail sales dip for second time in 2 months (AP)
AP - Consumers, battling soaring gasoline prices and a slumping economy, cut back further on their spending in April.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ordered the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday to submit to the court a 2002 memo said to specify harsh interrogation methods used on suspected terrorists held abroad.The American Civil Liberties Union said the memo was written by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel and sent to the CIA in August 2002. The ACLU described the memo as "one of the most important torture documents still being withheld by the Bush administration."In a copy of the order posted on the ACLU's Web site, Judge Alvin Hellerstein told the government to produce the memo so he can determine whether it should be made public as part of a lawsuit the ACLU and other organizations filed in June 2004 requesting records concerning the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad.Hellerstein has scheduled a review of the document for Monday."This memo authorized the CIA to use specific torture techniques -- including waterboarding," Jameel Jaffer, ACLU's national security project director, said in a statement."CIA agents waterboarded prisoners because this memo told them that they could," he said. "The memo is being withheld not for legitimate security reasons, but in order to protect government officials from accountability for their decisions."Waterboarding is a simulated drowning technique.The ACLU said more than 100,000 pages of government documents have been released in response to its lawsuit.Among those was a declassified 2003 memo, released by the U.S. Justice Department on April 1, that justified the use of harsh interrogation methods for suspected terrorists held abroad.

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Lebanese army begins drive to restore order - 13, May 2008

Shi'ite gunmen in Baghdad ignore truce - 13, May 2008

Rain lashes Myanmar cyclone survivors - 13, May 2008

Clinton aims for big win in West Virginia - 13, May 2008

Marijuana may up heart attack, stroke risk: study - 13, May 2008

Bush heads back to Mideast amid fading peace hopes - 13, May 2008

U.S. revives reward plan for Rwanda suspects - 13, May 2008

Lebanese army starts drive to end armed presence - 13, May 2008

McCain runs strong despite low Bush ratings: poll - 13, May 2008

Two more U.S. aid flights set to fly to Myanmar - 13, May 2008