Current Event News & Videos: Current Events: News // Current

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3 months ago

Somali Pirates Seize 4 Ships in 24 Hours

The wave of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia seems to have increased after the rescue of French and American sailors last... more

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Woman feeds herself to polar bear at Berlin Zoo

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- A polar bear attacked a woman at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into... more

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North Korea launches rocket, sparks international criticism

"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the... more

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Iowa Court: Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

How cool is this?! If the "Mom and apple pie" midwestern and eastern states can see the light, what's the matter... more

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John F. Kennedy

The CIA movement was in full swing when Kennedy was elected and he began to clamp down on them. He refused to back the CIA Bay of... more

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Do you remember that before the ground incursion began, E and I were spending nights with our Jabalia friends as they hid in the basement while the bombs fell? And then we would go out in the morning (somewhat less bombs) to document the attacks.
Bloggers in Gaza have not been surprised by the testimonies of Israeli soldiers documenting war crimes they committed or witnessed during the recent attacks on Gaza - or by any of the other stories now being reported regarding the Israeli military's conduct.
Canadian activist Eva Bartlett blogs at In Gaza:
What we knew of Israel’s war crimes during Israel’s war on Gaza, what the medics, the victims, the doctors, the witnesses have testified is now gaining growing recognition. The calls for international inquiry are growing, as are the reasons. […] The Guardian has just published an excellent series of articles and videos on Israel’s crimes of war in and on Gaza. Included in the reports are focuses on attacks on medical workers, Israel’s use of drones to target and kill with pinpoint accuracy civilians, and Israel’s use of civilians (including minors) as human shields during their military operations. […] People in Gaza were very acutely aware of the lethal drones, without having to be told thus by formal groups or experts. At new year’s the sordid text message about zanana (drone) missiles spread in a dark attempt at humour. We knew they were deadly.
Eva then provides links to other media sources, including Al Jazeera, Ha'aretz, The Independent, and The Times.
Australian activist Sharyn Lock writes at Tales to Tell:
Do you remember that before the ground incursion began, E and I were spending nights with our Jabalia friends as they hid in the basement while the bombs fell? And then we would go out in the morning (somewhat less bombs) to document the attacks. And you might remember a picture we took of a yellow truck in which a family had been blown up.
Well, what I didn’t know was that Israel was actually using footage of the last minutes of these people’s lives, taken from the air, as a youtube propaganda video about how they were just targeting Hamas rocket firers. However the locals told a B’Tselem field worker the same story they told us (the Guardian newspaper picked up on it also) and a very different version of events was posted to youtube here.
Louisa Waugh, who works in Gaza, writes at New Internationalist's Gaza Blog:Do you remember that before the ground incursion began, E and I were spending nights with our Jabalia friends as they hid in the... more

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4 months ago

Thai Spiderman saves autistic boy

Great feelgood story amid all the bad news.

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4 months ago

18 AIG Employees to Return Bonuses

By Brady Dennis Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, March 23, 2009; 8:14 PM The e-mail went out at 6:46 p.m. on Friday.... more

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4 months ago

Lance Armstrong suffers injury in Spain race crash

(CNN) -- American cyclist Lance Armstrong suffered a shattering blow in his comeback bid on Monday when he broke his right... more

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4 months ago

The Politics Of Bollocks

The Politics Of Bollocks By John Pilger February 06, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" --- Growing up in an... more

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4 months ago

AIPAC puts the boot in

Freeman’s Fight The Israel Lobby Gets Its Man—And Tips Its Hand. By Philip Weiss March 19, 2009 "The... more

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4 months ago

Of Patriots and Assassins

Of Patriots and Assassins
By Pat Buchanan

Freeman echoed the Obama of yesterday, who bravely blurted, "Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people."

At MEPC, however, Freeman committed a great crime. He published "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" by Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, which went onto the New York Times best-seller list — and put Freeman on AIPAC's enemies list.

Hence, when his name surfaced as Blair's choice to chair the NIC, the Israel Firsters went berserk, with Steven Rosen declaring him to be a "textbook case of the old-line Arabism" that infected the Department of State when Gen. George Marshall was secretary.

And who is Rosen?
A former fixture at AIPAC, Rosen faces imminent federal criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act for transferring top-secret Pentagon documents to the Israeli Embassy. Rosen's accomplice, Larry Franklin, is serving a 12-year sentence.

Picking up the Rosen dog whistle, the neocommentariat came howling. To Gabriel Schoenfeld, late of Commentary, Freeman is a "China coddling Israel basher." Tom Piatak of Chronicles found no fewer than five blogs from National Review Online, in two hours, savaging Freemen, two by Jonah Goldberg and two by Michael Rubin.

Rich Lowry of NR calls Freeman "Chas of Arabia," a diplomat of "odious" views, a "lap dog" and "blinkered ideologue" who enjoys "pandering to and making excuses for the world's dictators and terrorists."

To The New Republic's Jonathan Chait, Freeman is a "fanatic." To Jeffrey Goldberg of Atlantic, formerly of the Israeli Army, Chait's piece was dead on.
Click to learn more...
To TNR ex-publisher Marty Peretz, Freeman is a "bought man." To Michael Goldfarb of The Weekly Standard, Freeman is a "shill for the Saudis," who defends "corrupt Arab states that foment and support terror."

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Who among them questioned State's decision to hand the Iran portfolio to Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a creation and front of AIPAC?

Realizing the assaults would not end, Freeman last week withdrew, saying, "I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction of a foreign country."Of Patriots and Assassins By Pat Buchanan Freeman echoed the Obama of yesterday, who bravely blurted, "Nobody is... more

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4 months ago

Women's Rights in Iran

Good news! Iran's Nobel Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi's secretary, Jinus Sobhani, has been released from prison on bail.... more

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4 months ago

US Empire and.....

US Empire and the Conflict in Israel/Palestine US Empire and the Conflict in Israel/Palestine By GRITtv February 20, 2009... more

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4 months ago

Obama Caves to Israel Lobby

Obama Caves to Israel Saturday, March 14 Obama Caves to Israel Lobby Ray McGovern is a veteran CIA analyst, who... more

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4 months ago

Israel's "Right To Exist" ?

The Case Against Israel's "Right To Exist"

By Roger Tucker

14 March, 2009
Countercurrents.org

An Open Letter to Representative David Price (D) 4th District, NC

As you know, Mr. Price, I was invited to join a group of activists who met with you Monday morning to urge you to take action regarding the siege of Gaza, the Occupation and American support for Israel. I declined to attend because my particular focus is on One State advocacy, and you have made it crystal clear that this is not your view, nor is it ever likely to be (unless and until, in the due course of time, it becomes politically expedient). You represent the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill), fondly known as the pat of butter in a sea of grits, a highly educated, liberal, metropolitan area that votes heavily Democratic. You received 63% of the vote in the recent election, and fly under the "progressive" flag. Yet you voted for House Resolution 34, supporting Israel's massacre in Gaza.

Dr. Sarah Shields of UNC took you to task for that in her excellent article, but biting and accurate as that was, she only went halfway. All of the actions you were urged to take are mere palliatives .They would serve no other purpose than to apply a little band-aid to a wound so deep and life threatening that the patient belongs in the Intensive Care Unit (too bad the hospital was bombed out of existence). That sort of thing makes progressives feel good about themselves but doesn't even begin to address the real problem, which is the continued existence of the State of Israel. To say such a thing is the most blasphemous conceivable heresy from the Zionist perspective, which they have managed to convince most Americans is a sane and reasonable point of view. But, like the "official" version of the Holocaust, that other jury-rigged pillar supporting the edifice of the Rube Goldberg contraption called Israel, it is actually sane and reasonable to call such dogmas into question. From the point of view of science and history, of reason and the pursuit of truth, there can be no forbidden subjects, or we take the risk of returning to the Dark Ages.The Case Against Israel's "Right To Exist" By Roger Tucker 14 March, 2009 Countercurrents.org An Open... more

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4 months ago

Outrageous fees attached to unemployment debit cards

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- If you're out of work like Steve Lippe, who was laid off from his job as a salesman in January, you know you already have problems. But looking at the fine print that came with his new unemployment debit card, he became livid. "A $1.50 [fee] here, a $1.50 there," he said. "Forty cents for a balance inquiry. Fifty cents to have your card denied. Thirty-five cents to have your account accessed by telephone."

He was quoting fees listed in a brochure that goes out to every unemployed person in Pennsylvania who chooses to receive benefits via debit card. He was given the option when he filed for jobless payments: Wait 10 days for a check or get the card immediately. Like most of the 925,000 state residents who received unemployment benefits in February in Pennsylvania, he chose the debit card and only then, he says, did he learn about the fees.

"I was outraged by it," he told CNN. "I was very noisy about it. I just couldn't believe it. An outrage is just too weak a word. It's obscene."

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 30 states offer direct deposit cards to the unemployed. Many of the nation's biggest banks have contracts with the individual states. JP Morgan Chase, for instance, has contracts with seven states and has pending deals with two others, according to Chase spokesman John T. Murray. About 10 states, the Labor Department says, pay by check only.

The National Consumer Law Center says fees range from 40 cents to a high of $3 per transaction, if the debit card is used at an out-of-network ATM. Most banks give jobless debit card users one free withdrawal per deposit period, which averages every other week in most states. But consumer advocates, including the Law Center, say the unemployed "should be able to obtain cash and perform basic functions with no fees."

A key Democratic member of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees bank regulation and theTroubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), told CNN she agrees wholeheartedly.

"Fees should not be attached to unemployment benefits that the taxpayers are paying to help Americans," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, told CNN. "Particularly, these fees should not be attached by banks that are getting TARP money and are being supported by taxpayer dollars."PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- If you're out of work like Steve Lippe, who was laid off from his job as a salesman in... more