"The CIA has cancelled a contract with US private security firm Blackwater for its operatives to load bombs onto drone aircraft in Pakistan and Afghanistan. CIA Director Leon Panetta wanted such work to be done by the organisation's own employees only, officials said. The New York Times revealed the existence of the secret contract with Blackwater, renamed Xe, in August. On Thursday, the paper also reported that Xe employees had been involved in "snatch-and-grab operations" in Iraq. Xe, based in North Carolina, changed its name from Blackwater after several of its employees were accused of killing 17 civilians in a shooting incident in Baghdad in September 2007. Four men are due to stand trial next year." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet