A.M. Links: NATO Gets Drones , Obama Pans Maximizing Profits, Pepper Spray Lawsuit Settled

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  • NATO closed the deal on purchasing five Global Hawk drones for its "Allied Ground Surveillance" system, signing a $1.7 billion contract with Northrop Grumman.

  • Iraq is buying drones, too, from the U.S. to patrol its oil fields and infrastructure. It may have even bought them already. "Iraq's navy has purchased U.S. drones to protect the country's oil platforms in the south, from where most of Iraq's oil is shipped," an unnamed Iraqi security official told Reuters.
  • New Jersey's Muslim leaders are returning to Trenton this week for a follow-up meeting with the state's Attorney General. They've demanded a formal investigation into what role New Jersey government agencies may have played in abetting the NYPD's Muslim surveillance program in the state.
  • Focus on "maximizing profits" is not always "good for communities or businesses or workers," according to Barack Obama, who doubled down on his campaign's Bain attacks at a press conference at the close of the NATO summit in Chicago yesterday, saying  the issue "is what this campaign is going to be about."
  • The Prince George's County Police Department settled a lawsuit filed by a mother and daughter for $400,000 after a traffic accident last year turned into a pepper spraying when the seventeen-year-old took a picture of the responding officer's patrol car. The teenager was booked on assault but the officer never showed up to court so the charges were dismissed. He is on desk duty and has been treated at least twice for mental health issues since the incident.
  • New research shows effects of a common crop chemical on pregnant rats lasting up to three generations. The researchers suggest a similar phenomenon could be occurring in humans.  "There is no doubt that we have been seeing real increases in mental disorders like autism and bipolar disorder," lead author David Crews of the University of Texas said.
  • SpaceX tries again.

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