Early report doesn’t recommend charges for torture memos

A preliminary internal report on the Justice Department investigation into the Bush Justice Department authors of the "torture memos" does not call for them to be criminally prosecuted for the writing and distribution of the controversial legal policies but raises the possibility of sanctions by state bar associations, according to two government sources familiar with the report. The draft, which now goes to Attorney General Eric Holder for approval or revisions, is expected to be finalized in the coming days and is likely to be made public in the near future, Justice Department sources said Tuesday. Other sources say the investigators for the Justice Department’s ethics unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility, have focused heavily on internal communications involving former Office of Legal Counsel lawyers John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury

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Ukraine security service raids state gas HQ

Ukraine’s Security Service launched a raid on the country’s state-run gas company Wednesday, searching for documents related to a gas deal with Russia, a spokesman for the company said. A group of about 30 gunmen wearing masks and carrying machine guns entered the offices of Naftogaz and took control of every floor of the company’s building in the capital of Kiev, Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky said. Operatives from the security service then began a search for various company documents, including those pertaining to the Russia-Ukraine gas deal signed in January to end a weeks-long gas dispute, Zemlyansky told journalists, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency

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Drugs suspected in teen’s death at Fort Lewis barracks, Army says

Army investigators suspect drugs played a role in the death of a 16-year-old girl found unconscious with another teenage girl at a closed barracks, a spokesman for the investigation said Wednesday. The incident happened last weekend at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, as the girls were visiting an acquaintance at the barracks, which are closed to the public, according to Chris Grey, a spokesman for the base’s Criminal Investigation Command.

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Is Genius Born or Can It Be Learned?

Is it possible to cultivate genius? Could we somehow structure our educational and social life to produce more Einsteins and Mozarts — or, more urgently these days, another Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes? How to produce genius is a very old question, one that has occupied philosophers since antiquity

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