Articles by News

We found 1770 results.


Uganda: Scientific Statement from the Ministry of Health on Homosexuality
Pambazuka News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Mar 2014

A team of top scientists appointed by the government to give an opinion on homosexuality is unanimous that this sexual orientation is natural and has existed in Africa and everywhere in the world since time immemorial. It is strange for President Museveni to claim he relied on this expert report to assent to the draconian anti-gay bill.

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Four Ways to Evolve Beyond Capitalism
Carl Gibson - Reader Supported News, 10 Mar 2014

Now that we’re having a serious conversation about capitalism, we can also have a conversation about solutions. Along with calling out flaws of capitalism, I’m proposing four solutions that would fix the most glaring problems in capitalism and blaze a new path forward for the next generation.

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A Look at Africa’s Anti-Gay Laws
Denis Nzioka – Pambazuka News, 10 Mar 2014

A trend is forming from African nations – which already criminalize same sex acts, albeit, through laws inherited from colonial masters – to further put in place legislation that amplify, further criminalize and increase punishment for same sex acts.

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America’s Staggering Hypocrisy In Ukraine
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 10 Mar 2014

The United States has invaded or otherwise intervened in so many countries that it would be challenging to compile a complete list. Just last decade, there were full-scale U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, plus American bombing operations from Pakistan to Yemen to Libya. So, what is to make of John Kerry’s pronouncement that Russia’s military intervention in the Crimea section of Ukraine – at the behest of the country’s deposed president – is a violation of international law that the United States would never countenance?

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Crop Diversity Decline ‘Threatens Food Security’
Mark Kinver - BBC News, 10 Mar 2014

Fewer crop species are feeding the world than 50 years ago – raising concerns about the resilience of the global food system, a study has shown.

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The ‘We-Hate-Putin’ Group Think
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 10 Mar 2014

7 Mar 2014 – The only foreign policy show on the U.S. media dial this past week has been the bashing of Russian President Putin over the Ukraine crisis – with a slap or two at President Obama for having worked with Putin on Syria and Iran. Lost in this “group think” is the why behind this demonization.

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The Ukraine Crisis through the Whimsy of International Law
Neil Macdonald - Radio Canada CBC News, 10 Mar 2014

This is the commander-in-chief of a military that operates a prison camp on Cuban soil, against the explicit wishes of the Cuban government, and which regularly fires drone missiles into other countries. He is a president who ordered that CIA torturers would go unprosecuted, of a nation that has invaded other countries whenever it wished, regardless of what the rest of the world might think.

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On The Third Anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi Catastrophe
Karl Grossman, Nuclear News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

3 Mar 2014 – With the third anniversary of the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe coming next week, the attempted Giant Lie about the disaster continues—a suppression of information, an effort at dishonesty of historical dimensions.

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U.S. Christian Right behind Anti-Gay Law Passed in Uganda
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Mar 2014

Feb 24, 2014 – Rev. Kapya Kaoma: “New Ugandan law that makes homosexual acts punishable by life imprisonment was modeled after the talking points of right-wing U.S. evangelicals.”

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Western Media Cheering a ‘Democratic’ Coup in Ukraine
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 3 Mar 2014

In the upside-down world that has become the U.S. news media, the democratically elected president was a dictator and the coup makers who overthrew him were “pro-democracy” activists. Events in Ukraine and Venezuela suggest that the idea of respecting the results of elections and working within legal, albeit flawed, political systems is no longer in vogue, unless the “U.S. side” happens to win, of course.

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Fighting Disparity: The Dream of Davos Elites
Farooque Chowdhury – Pambazuka News, 24 Feb 2014

The world’s richest nations have admitted that global inequality is appalling. But are they prepared to radically tackle the capitalist system that harbours rich tax thieves and appropriators of labour, who increase their wealth with political favours? A system that safeguards the interests of the minority at the expense of the majority poor?

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China in Africa: Devil or Angel?
Luo Jianbo and Zhang Xiaomin – Pambazuka News, 24 Feb 2014

One of the most outstanding features of China’s policy is its aspiration to promote South-South cooperation and to achieve the renaissance of Asia and Africa. Unlike the former colonial masters, China’s engagement provides Africa with new development opportunities.

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Remembering Malcolm X 49 Years On
Ama Biney – Pambazuka News, 24 Feb 2014

Malcolm X, otherwise known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was a fierce African American human rights crusader with an international agenda. Progressive people commemorating his assassination this week [21 Feb 1965] reflect on his legacy to the Black struggle and to all people around the world who are oppressed by imperialism and capitalism.

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Are African Conflicts Exclusive to Africans?
Abdul Ghelleh – Pambazuka News, 24 Feb 2014

A Critical Look at the Role of Western Mainstream Media – The Western media misdiagnoses the root causes of African conflicts and reduces them to tribalism and religion as in the respective case of South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

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US Drones Reaping Death by SIM Card
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Feb 2014

Feb 16, 2014 – Michael Ratner: Eliminating Targets Based on NSA spying but not verified by human intelligence demonstrates Obama’s false promise of oversight.

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Syria: “There are Terrorists from 83 Countries, Armed and Funded by Saudi Arabia”
Global Research News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Feb 2014

Syria Information Minister, Omran al-Zoubi said Saudi Arabia’s decision that Saudi citizens who fight in conflicts outside the Kingdom would face harsh punishment does not mean that the Kingdom will stop funding and arming terrorist groups.

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Will Boycotting Israel Go Mainstream?
Steve Weissman - Reader Supported News, 10 Feb 2014

If peace talks failed, Kerry warned, the effort to delegitimize Israel would go ‘on steroids.’ “Today’s status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained,” Kerry warned like an Old Testament prophet and the grandson of Eastern European Jews who converted to Catholicism. “It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary.”

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AIPAC and the Israel Lobby: Down, but Not Yet Out!
Steve Weissman - Reader Supported News, 10 Feb 2014

To this day, Washington has not shown that the horrific use of gas came from Assad’s forces rather than from the Sunni rebels. But, no matter, AIPAC and its pro-Israel allies led a massive campaign to support U.S. military intervention. They pushed and they failed.

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Big Media Again Pumps for Mideast Wars
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 10 Feb 2014

Official Washington’s neocons still influence U.S. foreign policy despite their Iraq War disaster. Forever pushing what they view as Israel’s strategic needs, the neocons now are stoking fires of war against Iran and Syria by piling on old and new arguments.

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Philippines – The Women in the Bangsamoro Peace Process: History, Herstory
Carolyn O. Arguillas – Minda News, 3 Feb 2014

[Note from TMS editor: TRANSCEND member Emma Leslie is featured prominently on this report.] When the history of the peace process between the Philippine government and the Bangsamoro is written, the story of the women who helped make it possible will certainly be one of the highlights of this 40-year journey to peace.

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Ownership of Washington Post by CIA Contractor Puts U.S. Journalism in Dangerous Terrain
Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Feb 2014

Jan 21, 2014 – Norman Solomon: There is a major conflict of interest in the ownership of The Washington Post by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who holds a $600 million contract with the CIA.

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Cuba Will Propose CELAC to Declare Latin America a Peace Zone
Cuban News Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jan 2014

Cuban deputy foreign minister Abelardo Moreno said that his country will propose the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, to take place January 28 and 29 [2014] in Havana, to declare this region a peace zone.

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US Largest Cocaine Smuggler Revealed: The Drug Enforcement Agency-DEA
NextNewsNetwork – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jan 2014

Jan 15, 2014 – For decades, it has been rumored the United States government was secretly sponsoring the smuggling of cocaine into the country. Newly released documents, and testimony from Justice Department and DEA officials now show the stories of government running cocaine are true.

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Human Rights Watch’s Syria Dilemma
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 27 Jan 2014

Human Rights Watch, which has pushed for a U.S. military intervention in Syria, continues to blame the Assad government for the Aug. 21[2013] Sarin attack even though the group’s high-profile map supposedly proving the case has been debunked.

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Haiti: Four Years On From the Quake
Ama Biney – Pambazuka News, 20 Jan 2014

The people of Haiti continue to suffer the economic tremors of a post-earthquake reconstruction programme that has failed to transform the lives of the majority of the people, despite the fact that it is the people of Haiti who must not only construct the future of Haiti but also decide that future.

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Sewage Sludge as Fertilizer: Safe?
Jill Richardson – Food Safety News, 20 Jan 2014

Despite sludge’s relative obscurity, the newly formed Food Rights Network is taking on sewage sludge as its flagship issue. Simply put, the group says that it is not safe to grow food in sewage sludge [industrial, hospital, human excrements/waste].

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Japan’s Response to Fukushima Should Worry Us All
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 13 Jan 2014

Japan has created a funhouse of distorting mirrors from which emerging information about the ongoing disaster cannot be considered credible without reliable, independent verification.

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Toyota’s New Hydrogen Car to Emit Only Water Vapor
AP, msn news – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Jan 2014

Toyota said Monday [6 Jan 2014] that a hydrogen-powered vehicle that emits only water vapor as exhaust will go on sale in the U.S. in 2015, a year earlier than it promised just two months ago.

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New York Times Backs Off Its Syria-Sarin Analysis
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 6 Jan 2014

For months, the “slam-dunk” evidence “proving” Syrian government guilt in the Aug. 21 [2013] Sarin attack near Damascus was a “vector analysis” pushed by the New York Times showing where the rockets supposedly were launched. But the Times now grudgingly admits its analysis was flawed.

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Fukushima, a Global Conspiracy of Denial
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 6 Jan 2014

Does anyone in authority anywhere tell the truth about Fukushima? If there is any government or non-government authority in the world that is addressing the disaster at Fukushima openly, directly, honestly, and effectively, it’s not apparent to the outside observer what entity that might be.

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Lynne Stewart Coming Home
Stephen Lendman – Media With Conscience News, 6 Jan 2014

For Lynne, husband Ralph, their children, other family members, and legions of worldwide supporters, New Year’s Day 2014 is special. It’s reason to celebrate. On December 31, Lynne wrote from Carswell federal prison as follows.

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The Eleventh Hour – Decision Time
R. Teichmann – News Beacon Ireland, 6 Jan 2014

It is a well-known fact in biology that pressures of an existential nature on a species result in two possible outcomes. The first outcome is that the species evolves. It adapts by way of biological evolution to the new conditions and survives. The second is that the species does not evolve and thus perishes.

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New Evidence of Contra-Cocaine Scandal
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 16 Dec 2013

Special Report: Since journalist Gary Webb died in 2004, the story that destroyed his life has slowly come into clearer focus, revealing how President Reagan’s beloved Contras really were enmeshed in cocaine trafficking. On this ninth anniversary of Webb’s suicide, new corroboration has emerged.

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Is NATO’s Trojan Horse Riding Toward the ‘Ukraine Spring’?
Dennis Kucinich - Reader Supported News, 16 Dec 2013

While the draft of the EU “Association Agreement” is being sold as an economic boon for Ukrainian citizens, it is a massive expansion of NATO’s military position in the region. Naomi Klein’s Disaster Militarism. Ukrainians may be pro-EU, but are the EU and NATO pro-Ukrainian?

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Fresh Doubts about Syria’s Sarin Guilt
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 16 Dec 2013

Exclusive: A new analysis, buried in a UN report, reveals that one of the two missiles at the center of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis, which nearly led to a U.S. military attack, showed no evidence of Sarin, further undermining Official Washington’s certainty that the Syrian government was to blame.

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A Taste of the Horrible Things to Come for Windows XP
Zach Epstein, Yahoo News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Dec 2013

Windows XP is now more than 12 years old but is still used on more than 31% of desktop and laptop computers around the world. Those tens of millions of PC users could be in for a very rude awakening next year once Microsoft cuts off support for the aged operating system.

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US Government Considered Nelson Mandela a Terrorist Until 2008
Robert Windrem, Investigative Producer, NBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Dec 2013

From the White House to the halls of Congress, U.S. government officials have responded to the death of Nelson Mandela with a hail of testimonials to the late South African president’s leadership in the struggle for freedom and human rights. Until five years ago, however, the U.S. officially considered Mandela a terrorist.

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Chernobyl’s Arch: Sealing Off a Radioactive Sarcophagus
Nick Meo – BBC News, 2 Dec 2013

One of the biggest engineering projects in history, it has been likened to a gigantic metal igloo, built to seal off hundreds of tons of nuclear fuel and dust buried inside reactor number four, which in 1986 blew up and burned for 10 days. Everything about the project is epic: the size, the 1.5bn euro (£1.2bn) cost, the technical problems of working on a radioactive building site.

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The Warsaw Walkout and the Climate Movement
Sasha Reid Ross, Earth First! Newswire - TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Nov 2013

The story is now part of climate history. Yesterday [21 Nov 2013], as climate talks degraded into a sideshow for the coal industry, more than 800 conference participants walked out. Wearing T-shirts adorned with the word, Volveremos (We will return), the activists handed in their registration badges and abandoned the United Nations Climate Change Summit.

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Syrian Nun Seen as Threat to War Resistance
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 25 Nov 2013

Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross is a Carmelite nun and mother superior of the Monastery of James the Mutilated in Qara, Syria, which has a community of three monks and twelve nuns. Born in Lebanon in a refugee camp 61 years ago, she is Palestinian on her father’s side and has worked in Syria for about 20 years. She is the spokesperson for the Catholic Information Center in Beirut, where the Musalaha Initiative also has its office.

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The Killing Fields of Myanmar
Kate Linthicum – Gulf News, 18 Nov 2013

Buddhist hardliners’ call for an ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Muslims may end up radicalising the minorities too. The Rohingyas have never been recognised as citizens of Myanmar. In some areas they are barred from travelling, marrying or giving birth without state permission.

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A Showdown for War or Peace
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 11 Nov 2013

In pressing for negotiated settlements to the Iranian nuclear dispute and the Syrian civil war, President Barack Obama is challenging the imposing lobbying, propaganda and financial clout of the new Saudi-Israeli alliance, with the future direction of U.S. foreign policy – and geopolitical stability – at stake.

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US Is a State Sponsor of Terrorism
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 11 Nov 2013

Drone attacks are raw terror tactics that terrorize civilian populations.

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Mike Michaud: Yes, I am gay. ‘But why should it matter?’
Bangor Daily News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

That may seem like a big announcement to some people. One thing I do know is that it has nothing to do with my ability to lead the state of Maine.

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Israel Issues 1,859 Settler Home Tenders ahead of Kerry Visit
Channel NewsAsia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Nov 2013

Israel issued tenders to build 1,859 settler homes on Sunday [3 Nov 2013], angering Palestinians ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry aimed at pushing the peace process forward.

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Detention of Greenwald’s Partner for Terrorism is “Criminalization of Journalism”
Jaisal Noor interviewing Chris Hedges – The Real News Network, 11 Nov 2013

Nov 8, 2013 – Chris Hedges says David Miranda’s detention represents an assault on journalism by the US and its allies.

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LGBT Americans Need Congressional Protection
US Pres. Barack Obama - Reader Supported News, 11 Nov 2013

Millions of LGBT Americans go to work every day fearing that, without any warning, they could lose their jobs — not because of anything they’ve done, but simply because of who they are. It’s offensive. It’s wrong. And it needs to stop, because in the United States of America, who you are and who you love should never be a fireable offense.

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Ireland: Israeli Products Marked with Yellow Sticker
Itamar Eichner - Ynetnews, 11 Nov 2013

Sources in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said that the phenomenon is severe and it is not by chance that the BDS organization chose to express its protest with a yellow sticker – which is reminiscent of dark days of racism and incitement.

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Huge GMO News
Ocean Robbins - Reader Supported News, 28 Oct 2013

It has not been a good week for Monsanto and the rest of the biotech industry.

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Black Market for Counterfeit Goods Rakes in $500 Billion Yearly
ABC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Oct 2013

Counterfeit goods — from luxury handbags to DVDs — are a huge problem. Trade groups claim criminals steal copyrighted material worth half a trillion dollars every year. Counterfeit goods account for nearly 10 percent of worldwide trade, an estimated $500 billion annually, according to the World Customs Organization.

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Paxman Pocketet by Brand (Must Watch)
BBC Newsnight – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Oct 2013

Oct 23, 2013 – Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman in a hostile interview is clobbered by Russell Brand about [not] voting, revolution and changed consciousness.

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Melted Nuclear Fuel Sank into the Ground under Fukushima Reactors — Irradiated Groundwater Is Flowing into Ocean through Sea-Bottom Springs
Energy News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Oct 2013

It’s Too Late to Do Anything about This: Japan Journalist – A Letter to All Young Athletes Who Dream of Coming to Tokyo in 2020, and to Their Coaches and Parents: Some Facts You Should Know.

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Treating Anti-Syria Charges as Flat Fact
Robert Parry - Consortium News, 28 Oct 2013

With the blessing of the New York Times, the Obama administration has succeeded in cementing a dubious conventional wisdom about the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons last Aug. 21 – without presenting a shred of actual evidence.

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Does America Have a “Licence to Kill”? US Drone War on Yemen Violates International Law
Global Research News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Oct 2013

These aerial attacks have occurred in almost every province of the country. In the past two years, the number of drone strikes has multiplied and the infrastructure required for these attacks have been expanded.

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NSA Spied on 124.8 Billion Phone Calls in Just One Month: Watchdog
Eric Pfeiffer - Yahoo News, 28 Oct 2013

According to a collection of the reports and leaked classified government files, the monitored calls took place throughout the month of January 2013 and tallied to 124.8 billion.

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US vs. Lavabit
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 21 Oct 2013

Now we have a police state apparatus of almost unimagined dimension, most of which is kept secret and remains unknown, despite the efforts of a few reporters and whistleblowers who tell the truth at their personal peril.

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How US Pressure Bends UN Agencies
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 21 Oct 2013

Exclusive: Lost in the celebration over the Nobel Peace Prize to the UN agency eliminating the Syrian government’s chemical weapons is the question of who was really behind the Aug. 21 poison-gas attack near Damascus. Relevant to that mystery is the recent U.S. pressure to control key UN agencies including the prize recipient, reports Robert Parry.

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Snowden Accepts Whistleblower Award
Ray McGovern – Consortium News, 14 Oct 2013

Though former NSA contractor Edward Snowden has been indicted for leaking secrets about the U.S. government’s intrusive surveillance tactics, he was honored by a group of former U.S. intelligence officials as a courageous whistleblower during a Moscow ceremony, reports ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern who was there.

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Nuclear Engineer: Japan’s PM “Lying to the Japanese People” About Safety of Fukushima
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Oct 2013

Oct 1, 2013 – Arnie Gundersen: Japan’s PM claims Fukushima is safe but the nuclear disaster is underfunded and lacks transparency, causing the public to remain in the dark.

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New York Times Again Ignores Israel’s Nukes
Robert Parry - Consortium News, 7 Oct 2013

The U.S. news media’s bias in favor of Israel and against Israel’s enemies represents a journalistic failure to honestly inform the American people about issues that can lead to war. A glaring example is the double standard applied to Israel’s rogue nuclear arsenal.

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Saudi Arabia Group behind Chemical Weapons Provocation in Syria: Source
Voice of Russia, RIA, Interfax - Global Research News, 7 Oct 2013

“Having analyzed this information, which was received from a whole range of sources, we are getting a picture that confirms that the criminal provocation in Eastern Ghouta was committed by a specialized group that was sent by Saudi Arabia from the territory of Jordan and acted under the cover of the Liva al-Islam group,” one of the sources said.

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Glenn Greenwald ‘Hostile’ Interview on Snowden, NSA, GCHQ and Spying
BBC Newsnight – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Oct 2013

Oct 3, 2013 – BBC Newsnight exclusive hostile interview with journalist Glenn Greenwald.

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From NSA Spying & VIPR Sweeps to Domestic Drones: A Round-Up of the Police State Programs NOT Affected by Govt Shutdown
John Whitehead – OpEdNews, 7 Oct 2013

Take a look at the programs and policies that will not be affected by a government shutdown, and you’ll get a clearer sense of the government’s priorities–priorities that have little to do with serving taxpayers and everything to do with maintaining power and control, while being sold to the public under the guise of national security.

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Kachin Response to Elders’ Myanmar Visit
Pangmu Shayi – Kachinland News, 7 Oct 2013

Instead of viewing Kachins recalcitrant for not falling in line with the government’s grandiose plan of a nationwide ceasefire signing ceremony, it is more important to try to understand why Kachins are wary of ceasefire agreements that fail to lead to genuine and lasting political transition.

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Opposing Intervention in Syria without Apologizing for a Dictatorship
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Oct 2013

Sep 23, 2013 – In part two of Reality Asserts Itself, Paul Jay and Rania Masri discuss the charge that opposing foreign intervention is support for Assad; the idea that Assad is “anti-imperialist”; and the role of violence in fighting dictatorship.

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Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday Celebrated in India
Mercury News Media Center – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Oct 2013

PHOTOS-Considered the father of independent India, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on Oct 2, 1869 under British rule. After spending his life working for social justice and leading India to independence, Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 at the age of 78 by an Indian nationalist who believed he was too passive. Gandhi’s birthday is now a national holiday in India and celebrated worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence.

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Fukushima Autumn
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 7 Oct 2013

Dishonesty of the Abe sort has characterized the nuclear industry (weapons and power) since its earliest days when its spokespersons were telling us radiation was more or less good for us.

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Greenwald-Scahill to Report on ‘NSA and US Assassinations’
Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press – Reader Supported News, 1 Oct 2013

Two American journalists known for their investigations of the United States’ government said Saturday [28 Sep 2013] they’ve teamed up to report on the National Security Agency’s role in what one called a “U.S. assassination program.”

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House Extends Monsanto Protection Act
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Sep 2013

Sep 19, 2013 – House passes a rider which protects biotech giants like Monsanto from being sued in federal court.

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Hugo Boss Gave the Nazis Style
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 23 Sep 2013

Russell Brand: “Also glad to grace the stage where [London mayor] Boris Johnson has just made light of the use of chemical weapons in Syria – meaning that GQ can now stand for Genocide Quips. If any of you know a little bit about history and fashion, you know that Hugo Boss made the uniforms for the Nazis – now the Nazis did have flaws, but they did look f-ing fantastic, let’s face it – while they were killing people on the basis of their religion and sexuality. “

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Are USA and NATO Replacing the UN?
Motsoko Pheko – Pambazuka News, 23 Sep 2013

Is the United States of America and its NATO Allies replacing the United Nations? Is this alliance now the supreme world body in international affairs? Is the United Nations going the disastrous end of its predecessor the League of Nations? Should the civilised nations of the world allow the nefarious schemes of these self-appointed police of the world to destroy the world again through disguised colonialism, racism and new imperialism? And enslave other nations especially in the developing world through terrorist militarism?

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Sri Lanka: Tamil National Alliance Wins Landslide Victory in First Local Elections since Civil War
Michael Edwards and wires – Australia Network News, 23 Sep 2013

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party has secured 30 seats in the 38-member Northern Provincial Council. A coalition of parties representing president Mahinda Rajapaksa won seven seats, while a Muslim party won one.

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Optimism Is Your Choice
Maxim Varfolomeyev, ISKCON News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Sep 2013

Optimism is not something emotional. It’s a very practical tool, a mindset. It’s like a morning workout, an exercise. It took you years to train your brain to look at the problems, now start training it to look at the opportunities. It takes time, but as they say, practice makes perfect.

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Five Years after Lehman Brothers Fall, Big Banks Even Larger
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Sep 2013

In contrast to workers and homeowners, banks fully recover from the financial crisis.

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The Two-State Solution Died Over a Decade Ago
Ilan Pappe - Gulf News, 16 Sep 2013

Israel continues to look for more Oslos to gain international legitimacy. The Israelis may occupy the best deck on the Titanic, but the ship is nonetheless sinking.

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War May Be Over but Sri Lanka Is Still Far from Peace
UCANews – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Sep 2013

“After the war people expected a lot from the government, that there would be reconciliation, peace. But the people have been deceived,” says Father Regno, director of HUDEC Jaffna, the social arm of the Catholic Church of Jaffna. “There has been no sign of reconciliation. Without a political solution, we have no future.”

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US Military Contractors Celebrate Record High Profits and Stock Prices
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Sep 2013

Sep 4, 2013 – The business of war is more profitable than ever.

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Syrian President Bashar al Assad Charlie Rose Interview
CBS News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Sep 2013

PBS’ Charlie Rose interviews Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, September 9 in a special presentation. In this global television exclusive, Assad gives his only television interview since President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve the use of force against the Syrian regime for alleged use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

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A Non-Military Approach to the Syrian Conflict
Paul J. Magnarella – Huntington News, 10 Sep 2013

An ICC strategy should be pursued in conjunction with robust diplomacy and peace negotiations involving the key Syrian parties, the Arab League, the European Union, Turkey, Russia, Iran and the United States. Certainly, such a combined approach is more appropriate for a Nobel Peace Laureate President than one involving cruise missiles. In the long run, it may be much more effective.

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Commercial News Beats the War Drum
Mark Ash - Reader Supported News, 2 Sep 2013

The New York Times, following in the great tradition of Washington correspondent extraordinaire Judith Miller, is busy rationalizing and explaining the White House’s mind on the upcoming military action. The point of the proposed attack, explains the Times, is to “Restore a ‘Red Line’ That Became Blurred.” Presumably the mission will then be accomplished.

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Bradley Manning: ‘Everything Is Going To Be OK’
Scott Galindez - Reader Supported News, 26 Aug 2013

Bradley Manning, moments after being sentenced to 35 years in prison, turned to his attorney David Coombs and told him, “It’s okay … I’m okay, everything is going to be okay.” Coombs said it was the first time a client had cheered him up after a verdict.

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Who Benefits from the Various ‘Wars’?
Arjen Kamphuis – Consortium News, 19 Aug 2013

P.R. experts are skilled at framing policy debates in favorable though misleading ways like the “war on terror” or the “war on drugs.” What gets shielded by this packaging are the unstated goals, interests and outcomes that would draw popular opposition if known.

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An Apology to Bradley Manning
Scott Galindez - Reader Supported News, 19 Aug 2013

First of all Bradley, it is the court, the Army, and the American people that should be apologizing to you. We failed you, not the other way around. None of us are perfect, Bradley. Your honorable conduct has already had a positive impact on society. I am sorry – sorry that our society continues to fail you. Thank you, Bradley.

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The Moral Imperative of Activism
Ray McGovern – Consortium News, 19 Aug 2013

Today’s crises – endless war, environmental catastrophe, desperate poverty and more – can seem so daunting that they paralyze action rather than inspire activism. But the imperative to do something in the face of injustice defines one’s moral place in the universe.

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Nightmare Island Where Traffickers Imprison Burma’s Rohingya
John Sparks – Channel 4 News, UK, 19 Aug 2013

Beaten, imprisoned and sold into slavery – Channel 4 News reveals the fate of Burma’s Muslim Rohingya refugees, who flee conflict only to end up in the clutches of brutal human traffickers.

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Bradley Manning, the Nuremberg Charter and Refusing to Collaborate with War Crimes
Paul Jay – The Real News Network, 12 Aug 2013

In this segment of Reality Asserts Itself, Paul Jay and Vijay Prashad discuss the Bradley Manning case in light of the 68th anniversary of signing the Nuremberg Charter [8 Aug] which states it is illegal to follow orders to commit a war crime.

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120 Children Slaughtered in Syria’s Tal Abyad
Fars News Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Aug 2013

Terrorists affiliated to the al-Nusra Front massacred 120 children and 330 men and women in Syria’s Northern district of Tal Abyad on Monday [5 Aug 2013]. As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists. Washington has remained indifferent about warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.

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Glenn Greenwald: Low-Level NSA Analysts Have ‘Powerful and Invasive’ Search Tool
Kari Rea, ABC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jul 2013

“These programs are very simple screens, like the ones that supermarket clerks use, where all a low-level analyst has to do is enter an email or an IP address, and it searches that database and lets them listen to the calls or read the emails, or look at the browsing histories or Google search terms, and it also alerts them to any further activity that people connected to that email address or that IP address do in the future.”

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Netherlands: Retailers Ban Goods from Israeli Settlements
Hillel Posek – Ynet News, 29 Jul 2013

Dutch media reports two of country’s largest retail chains announce they will not sell more products originating beyond Green Line. Foreign Ministry: ‘Boycott is tainted with hypocrisy, prejudice.

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India: Army ‘Mistook Planets for Spy Drones’
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jul 2013

25 Jul 2013 – India’s army reportedly spent six months watching “Chinese spy drones” violating its air space, only to find out they were actually Jupiter and Venus.

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UN Struggles to Feed Millions of Syrians
Margaret Brennan, CBS News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jul 2013

“People cannot borrow. People do not have credit cards; people do not have a purchasing facility,” said Muhannad Hadi, the Regional Emergency Coordinator for the World Food Program. “We have gotten to the stage where people receive food from the World Food Program inside Syria or they don’t eat. It is very simple. There is no other way.”

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Patience Running Out in Bulgaria
Nick Thorpe, BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jul 2013

Protesters in Bulgaria pack the streets of Sofia each evening, but after 35 days in a row, their patience with Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski’s government is wafer-thin.

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European Commission President Meets Religious Leaders
Kumari Kunti Sherreitt, ISKCON News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jul 2013

Eighteen senior religious leaders from all over Europe met on May 30, 2013 to discuss the EU’s yearly theme of “citizenship” hosted by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, President Van Rompuy and Vice Presiden Laszlo Surjan, and organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors.

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Fukushima Continues
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 15 Jul 2013

The first thing to know about the danger from the radioactive mass remaining in the three reactors that melted down at Fukushima is that nobody knows how much radioactive material there is, nobody knows how much uranium and plutonium it contains, and nobody knows how to make it safe – so no one knows how great the continuing danger is.

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Interview with al-Assad: “In Egypt, the Fall of So-Called Political Islam”
Syrian Arab News Agency-SANA – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jul 2013

“The rifts we have witnessed in modern history have come with the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood and the negative role they have played. They created a split between Pan-Arabism and Islam to form a country for Islamists and another for nationalists.”

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Latin America: New Coalition of Countries to Take On the Multinationals
Martin Khor - IDN-InDepth News, 1 Jul 2013

Leaders of several Latin American countries have set up a new coalition to coordinate actions to face the growing number of international legal suits being taken against governments by transnational companies. A ministerial meeting of 12 countries held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, decided on several joint actions to counter the threat posed by these law suits, which have claimed millions or even billions of dollars from governments.

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Sunni Clerics Call for Jihad against Syria’s Assad, Allies
Reuters, Newsmax – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Jun 2013

Concluding a conference in Cairo at which more than 70 Sunni scholarly organizations were represented, a leading Egyptian preacher issued a call to holy war on Thursday [13 June 2013] against the Damascus government and its Shi’ite allies. He urged the faithful to send money and arms to Syria and pursue “all forms of jihad.”

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100-Year-Old General: We Razed Arab Villages, So What?
Gil Ronen - Arutz Sheva Israel National News 7, 17 Jun 2013

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Pundak: If we hadn’t done it, there would be a million more Arabs and there would be no Israel.

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Independent UN Panel Calls for Diplomatic Surge to End ‘Daily Reality’ of War Crimes in Syria
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Jun 2013

4 June 2013 – With Syria engulfed in an escalating and increasingly brutal civil war, a panel of United Nations human rights experts today issued its latest report on the crisis, detailing war crimes it says were committed by both the Syrian Government and opposition forces, and calling for a “diplomatic surge” to end the violence.

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Former Drone Operator Says He’s Haunted by His Part in More Than 1,600 Deaths
Richard Engel - NBC News, 10 Jun 2013

Former drone operator Brandon Bryant says he felt like he became a “heartless” “sociopath” under the drone program. He remembers watching one of the first victims bleed to death and coming to work, seeing pictures of targeted individuals on the wall and musing, “Which one of these f_____s is going to die today?”

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