Articles by News

We found 1805 results.


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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Student Science Experiment Finds Plants Won’t Grow Near Wi-Fi Router
Global Research News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Jun 2013

The results were blatantly obvious — the cress seeds placed near the radiation emitter Wi-Fi router had not grown. Many of them were completely dead. While the cress seeds planted in the other room, away from the routers, thrived. The experiment earned the girls top honors in a regional science competition and the interest of scientists around the world.

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Services Collapsing in Syrian Rebel-Controlled Areas
The Media Line, Ynetnews – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Jun 2013

Ravaged Aleppo sees food, fuel prices skyrocket, staples like medicine, baby formula non-existent; ‘We’ve nothing to feed babies,’ says resident. The streets in the Aleppo neighborhood of Hannano are piled high with garbage. Flies buzz around putrid bags that extend farther than the eye can see.

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India Bans Captive Dolphin Shows as ‘Morally Unacceptable’
News Editor – Environment News Service, 27 May 2013

17 May 2013 – India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests has decided to forbid the keeping of captive dolphins for public entertainment anywhere in the country. “This is a huge win for dolphins.” Not only has the Indian government spoken out against cruelty, they have contributed to an emerging and vital dialogue about the ways we think about dolphins – as thinking, feeling beings rather than pieces of property to make money off of.”

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The Militant American Empire
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 27 May 2013

The Militant American Empire Doesn’t Need Any More AUMF [authorization to use military force] – The United States has been in a permanent state of war ever since [September 2001]. And on May 16, 2013, the Obama administration’s Pentagon officials testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that they expected this permanent state of war to last another 10 to 20 years.

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Syrian Refugees
Luke Waters – World News Australia, 20 May 2013

Story from 8th May 2013 about a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon, interviews with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire and Father Dave Smith. Photo journalist Luke Waters participated in the Mussalaha Peace Delegation to Syria.

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Ten Years after Invasion, Iraq Continues to Import Oil Products
Global Research News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 May 2013

Former Iraqi oil minister Issam al-Jalabi says that although Iraq is an oil-rich country, it still imports petroleum products from abroad to meet its needs 10 years after the US-led invasion of the country.

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Syrian Forces Inflict Heavy Losses on US Sponsored Terrorists
Global Research News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 May 2013

19 May 2013 – Reports from Syria suggest that the US sponsored Al Nusra mercenary force and affiliated formations have inflicted heavy losses in different part of the country. Press reports confirm that the rebel stronghold of Al Qusayr on the Northern border of Lebanon is now under the control of government forces.

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US Lets Swiss Banks, Accused of Aiding Tax Fraud, Avoid Prosecution with Fines
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 May 2013

“Swiss banks are negotiating fines to avoid prosecution, while billions of dollars continue to be hidden away from taxes.”

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Austerity: Planned Poverty
Carl Gibson - Reader Supported News, 13 May 2013

If a math textbook that never underwent an official academic review and was proven to contain basic factual inaccuracies were nonetheless used by an entire school to teach math, wouldn’t it be fair to say that all of that school’s graduates were incapable of doing math?

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Privatizing Europe
Paul Jay – The Real News Network, 13 May 2013

Nick Buxton: A massive European fire sale is one way finance is using the crisis to entrench neo-liberalism.

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28-Year Old PhD Student Debunks the Most Influential Austerity Study
Paul Jay – The Real News Network, 22 Apr 2013

New study refutes Reinhart and Rogoff analysis that underpins austerity policy around the world; shows no relation between debt and lack of growth.

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Deadly Sins in the Brazilian Amazon
Bianca Jagger - Reader Supported News, 22 Apr 2013

The trampling of indigenous rights, military force used against protesters, impunity, megadams and environmental destruction. The controversial Belo Monte Dam, which is under construction on the Xingu River, is roughly twenty percent completed. It will displace over 20,000 people, gravely endanger the survival of indigenous peoples and local communities and cause irreparable environmental damage to the Brazilian Amazon.

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Tales of Reagan’s Guatemala Genocide
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 22 Apr 2013

Guatemala is finally putting ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt on trial for genocide in the extermination of hundreds of Mayan villages in the 1980s, but Ronald Reagan remains an American icon despite new evidence of his complicity in this historic crime.

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Canada-India Nuclear Deal Moves Forward
Bryn Levy, Saskatoon News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Apr 2013

Saskatchewan uranium could soon be bound for India as the federal government wraps up a new trade deal. Canada had halted sales of uranium, reactors and other nuclear materials and equipment to India in the 1970s. This was a response to India’s detonation of a nuclear device in 1974 that was built using a Canadian reactor.

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US Sending Weapons to Syria
News Day – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Apr 2013

Contrary to claims by US officials that they do not deliver weapons to militants in Syria, US Senator Rand Paul said that the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, not only supervised the shipment of weapons to the Syrian opposition, but also recruited jihadists for them. Paul confirmed that Syrian fighters for the most part are composed of members of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organisation and have a relationship with al-Qaeda.

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1913: When Hitler, Trotsky, Tito, Freud and Stalin All Lived in the Same Place
Andy Walker – BBC News, 22 Apr 2013

A century ago, one section of Vienna played host to Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin.

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Chávez, Internationalism, and Socialism
Beverly Bell – Pambazuka News, 15 Apr 2013

Economist Camille Chalmers is a leader in Latin American social movements and executive secretary of the Platform for Alternative Development in Haiti (PAPDA) and was interviewed by Beverly Bell. He shares his views on Chávez’s vision of a revolutionary Latin America that sought internationalist solidarity with Haiti, Africa and Asia among other issues.

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Land Mines Still Victimizing the Vietnamese 37 Years after War End
Hong Minh – Viet Nam News, 8 Apr 2013

Over 20 per cent of the entire country has been contaminated with bombs and mines and over 100,000 people, mostly children and breadwinners, have been killed or injured so far. Of the 15 million tonnes of bombs and mines dropped by the US in Viet Nam during the war, there are still 800,000 unexploded across the country.

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Paranoia Sells
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 8 Apr 2013

North Korean “Threats” to World Peace Can Sell Military Hardware – Which is the more paranoid statement?
1. AMERICAN MEDIA: “North Korea is threatening to attack us with nuclear weapons.”
or:
2. NORTH KOREAN MEDIA: “The United States is threatening to attack us with nuclear weapons.”

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28 Guantanamo Prisoners Now On Hunger Strike; 3 in Hospital for Dehydration
Ben Fox, The Associated Press – CTV News, 1 Apr 2013

More prisoners have joined a hunger strike at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, officials said Monday [25 Mar 2013], as defence lawyers expressed alarm about one of the most sustained protests at the base in several years. The military is force-feeding 10 of the prisoners to prevent dangerous weight loss, Navy Capt. Robert Durand, a spokesman for the prison on the U.S. base in Cuba said.

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The Washington Post’s Unbridled Arrogance
Robert Parry – Consortium News, 1 Apr 2013

Perhaps more than any news organization, the Washington Post steered the United States into the illegal invasion of Iraq. But a Post editorial, which belatedly takes note of the war’s tenth anniversary, admits to no mistakes and acknowledges no lessons learned.

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Fighting Nukes in Israel Is an Uphill Battle
Sharon Dolev - InDepthNews, 1 Apr 2013

Around the world, when it comes to nuclear weapons, it is a well know “secret” that Israel is a Nuclear Armed State. Just like India and Pakistan, Israel has developed a nuclear arsenal, but unlike the two, Israel’s arsenal remains a secret. Israel doesn’t talk about its arsenal and usually, doesn’t take part in any international or regional discourse about it.

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China and Brazil Sign Agreement to Trade in Their Local Currencies
MercoPress South Atlantic News Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Apr 2013

China and Brazil signed an agreement to do billions of dollars of trade in their local currencies, as the five-nation BRICS forum of emerging market powers work to lessen dependence on the US dollar and Euro.

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BRICS Viewed from Russia
Vladimir Shubin – Pambazuka News, 25 Mar 2013

There are some who see BRICS as ‘the Center’s fifth column’ whilst Russia sees it as an alternative centre of global influence despite the differing ideological viewpoints of its member states. Russia is committed to BRICS as a constraint to the ambitions of the USA, NATO and the world reactionary forces behind them.

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The BRICS Come to Durban
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane – Pambazuka News, 25 Mar 2013

Keynote Speech at the BRICS Academic Forum by South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation – The BRICS are catalysts and drivers of a multipolar world, aiming to demolish the hegemony of the West in global affairs.

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‘I Can Forgive Lesbians but Not Gay Men’, Says Belarus’ Lukashenko
euronews – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Mar 2013

“I forgive women for their lesbianism,” he said. “But I will never in my lifetime forgive men for being gay… A woman becomes a lesbian only if we men are so wretched.”

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HSBC Faces New Money Laundering Claims in Argentina
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Mar 2013

Banking giant HSBC, which was hit with a US fine for money laundering last year, is facing fresh accusations of illegal activity in Argentina, which has alleged that the bank used “fake receipts” to facilitate money laundering and tax evasion, and launder 392m pesos ($77m; £50m).

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Introducing BRICS from above and BRICS-from-below
Patrick Bond – Pambazuka News, 25 Mar 2013

There seem to be three narratives about BRICS. The first is promotional and mainly comes from government and allied intellectuals; the second perspective is uncertainty, typical of fence-sitting scholars and NGOs; and the third is highly critical, from forces sometimes termed the ‘independent left.’

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Forbes Billionaires List Growing
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Mar 2013

Corporate profits at record levels – as austerity hits and unemployment remains high. US still leads as many new billionaires emerging in China and Russia.

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Chávez and Nonviolence
Onwubiko Agozino – Pambazuka News, 18 Mar 2013

Hugo Chavez may have helped to inspire social democratic revolutions across South America in preference to the fruitless decades of violent armed struggles.

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Jerusalem Man Forced to Demolish His Own Home
Ma’an News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Mar 2013

A Palestinian was forced to demolish his own home in East Jerusalem on Monday [4 Mar 2013]. Daoud Eseid demolished his home to avoid paying the fees charged by Israeli authorities if Israeli forces had carried out the demolition, he told Ma’an. “I am unemployed at the moment and have seven children. We suffer daily from Israeli brutality,” the Old City resident told Ma’an.

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Hebron Apartheid: Separate Roads for Jews, Palestinians
Elior Levy – Ynetnews, 11 Mar 2013

Road leading to Cave of Patriarchs separated by fence: paved side for Jews, unpaved for Arabs. Peace Now: With settler pressure, government continues building walls, fences of racism. The segregated Jewish-Palestinian bus lines offered by the Afikim bus company in the West Bank have caused quite the stir recently, but this division has already been effective in Hebron for years.

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‘Pervasive’ Fraud by Our ‘Most Reputable’ Banks
Bill Black - Reader Supported News, 4 Mar 2013

The key conclusion of the study is that control fraud was “pervasive.” Finance scholars are not known for their sense of humor, but the irony of calling the world’s largest and most harmful financial control frauds our “most reputable” banks is quite wondrous. The point the financial scholars make is one Edwin Sutherland emphasized from the beginning when he announced the concept of “white-collar” crime.

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Haiti’s ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier Avoids Appearing in Court
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Feb 2013

Haiti’s former ruler Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier has been ordered to appear in court in Port-au-Prince after failing to attend a hearing. Relatives of some of those allegedly killed or tortured by his militias in the 1970s and 1980s want him charged with crimes against humanity.

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French Imperialism Moves Deeper Into Mali
Abayomi Azikiwe – Pambazuka News, 25 Feb 2013

Despite French military intervention and claims of success in fighting Islamist militias, the conflict in Mali is getting worse. There is also some evidence of imperialist propaganda about the course of events.

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[Tragicomic] French President François Hollande Awarded UNESCO Peace Prize
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Feb 2013

The President of France, François Hollande, will receive the United Nations cultural agency’s peace prize this year for his “valuable contribution to peace and stability in Africa,” it was announced today [21 Feb 2013].

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Cholera and Healthcare in Haiti
Sokari Ekine – Pambazuka News, 25 Feb 2013

The problem with healthcare in Haiti is that there is no system, no structures, no plan – at least not one that has been implemented. The healthcare facilities are wholly inadequate. It is impossible to talk about health care in Haiti without mentioning the 2010 earthquake and the subsequent cholera epidemic which so far has affected 630,000 people and taken the lives of 7,500.

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UN Kicks Off Year Promoting International Cooperation on Water Management
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Feb 2013

11 February 2013 – The United Nations today launched the International Year of Water Cooperation, which seeks to provide a platform for countries to collaborate in the management of this precious resource in the interest of peace and development.

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Palestine: More Than 400 New Colony Homes Approved by Israeli Government
Agence France Press – Gulf News, 18 Feb 2013

Israel has given approval for hundreds of new homes in West Bank Jewish colonies in a move likely to spark tension ahead of a top-level visit by US President Barack Obama, officials and an NGO said on Monday [11 Feb 2013]. On Sunday, the Israeli defence ministry confirmed that it had given the green light for the construction of 346 new homes in two Jews-only colonies in the southern West Bank, Tekoa and Nokdim.

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Worker Owned Businesses Point to New Forms of Ownership
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Feb 2013

Can co-ops come out of the margins of the economy and be part of a larger political project to transform how things are owned?

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China Overtakes US to Become Largest Trading Country in World
ANI – Yahoo! News, 18 Feb 2013

China is now the largest trading country in the world in terms of imports and exports, after overtaking the US in 2012. The Asian country overtook the US to become the world’s biggest trading nation, bringing an end to the US’ post-war dominance of global commerce.

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UN Body “Alarmed” by US Killings of Afghan Children
Channel News Asia – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Feb 2013

A UN committee has expressed “alarm” over reports that hundreds of children have been killed by US military forces in Afghanistan in the past five years. The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the deaths were “due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force”. The report, received by AFP on Friday [8 Feb 2013], also expressed concern that troops responsible for the killing of children had not always been held accountable and that family grievances had not been redressed.

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Eliminating the Scourge of Female Genital Mutilation
Ruth Njeng’ere – Pambazuka News, 11 Feb 2013

Recent Successes Inspire Hope – A world without FGM is within sight. But more efforts are needed to ensure worldwide legislation against the practice and increased education to attain that goal.

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Argentina in the Process of Quitting from World Bank Investment Disputes Centre
South Atlantic News Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Feb 2013

Argentina says it plans to withdraw from a World Bank body designed to arbitrate between states and foreign investors. This follows similar decisions by several other countries in Latin America like Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Eduardo Barcesat, the chief legal advisor to Argentine’s Treasury, says ICSID is “a tribunal of butchers” that only rules in favour of multinational companies. Barcesat believes quitting the Center would be a key move to recover Argentina’s legislative and jurisdictional sovereignty.

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Amia Bombing: Argentina and Iran Agree Truth Commission
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Feb 2013

Argentina and Iran are to jointly set up a commission to investigate the 1994 bombing of the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (Amia) Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. The commission will be made up of five independent judges, none of whom will be from either Argentina or Iran. The Jewish organisation was reported to be vehemently opposed to the move.

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Habits of French Colonialism
Vijay Prashad – Newsclick, 4 Feb 2013

François Hollande’s claim that French military intervention in Mali will protect the country from Islamism is deceitful.

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Cornel West on Obama vs Luther King
MoxNews – TRANSCEND Media Services, 28 Jan 2013

C-SPAN 19 Jan 2013 – At George Washington University, Washington-DC. Cornel West is a professor at the Union Theological Seminary.

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Why Is Guantanamo Still Open?
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 28 Jan 2013

Official US policy pretty much still supports everything that was done and continues to be done at Guantanamo.

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The Debt Owed to Haiti
Nia Imara – Pambazuka News, 28 Jan 2013

Three years after the unprecedented earthquake in Haiti that extinguished at least 300,000 lives and upended millions more, the world is asking the same questions.Today the question ought not be how much debt the world superpowers condescend to forgive Haiti, nor even how many millions they promise for earthquake relief. Genuine rebuilding must take as its premise that the Haitian people are due a justice at least 200-years-old. Their claims for justice are both legally and morally sound and have been ignored for far too long.

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How Washington Helped Foster the Islamist Uprising in Mali
Jeremy Keenan – Pambazuka News, 28 Jan 2013

How the US and Algeria have been sponsoring terror in the Sahara. On 12 October 2012, the UN Security Council voted unanimously in favour of a French-drafted resolution asking Mali’s government to draw up plans for a military mission to re-establish control over the northern part of Mali, an area of the Sahara bigger than France. Known as Azawad by local Tuareg people, northern Mali has been under the control of Islamist extremists following a Tuareg rebellion at the beginning of the year.

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Anonymous ‘Operation Last Resort’ Hacks US Gov’t Websites
CNN, MoxNews – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Jan 2013

26 Jan 2013 – “Sounds like they want a war” in retaliation for Aaron Swartz’ s death.

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Secrecy and National Security Whistleblowing
Daniel Ellsberg - Reader Supported News, 21 Jan 2013

The mystique of secrecy in the universe of national security…is a compelling deterrent to whistleblowing and thus to effective resistance to gravely wrongful or dangerous policies.

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UNESCO Recognizes Brazilian Friar’s Contribution to Social Justice in Latin America and Caribbean
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Jan 2013

11 Jan 2013 – The United Nations has recognized a Brazilian Dominican friar, Frei Betto, with a leading international prize for his “exceptional contribution” to building a universal culture of peace, social justice and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. The author of more than 50 books, Frei Betto was born in 1944 and joined the Dominican Order at the age of 20 while studying journalism, and during the time of military dictatorship in Brazil, he was imprisoned twice, in 1964 and again from 1969 to 1973.

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Different Rules for Plutocrats
Carl Gibson - Reader Supported News, 21 Jan 2013

26-year-old Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz faced up to 35 years in federal prison for the ‘crime’ of downloading academic files from the JSTOR database for anyone to have, free of charge. Contrast that with recent news of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who gambled and lost $6 billion in other people’s money in a high-risk trading scheme. Jail wasn’t even considered, despite their open complicity in bilking millions of people out of their money, and aiding criminals.

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(Português) Brasil É Segundo Maior Consumidor Mundial de Ritalina
Globo News - TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Jan 2013

Chamada a ‘droga da obediência’ para ‘curar’ crianças hiperativas ou com débito de atenção, pode causar morte súbita ou torna-las predispostas à dependência de drogas no futuro. Provoca um ‘efeito zumbi’ nas crianças e não é uma solução mas sim um paliativo com consequências funestas.

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Net Worth of World’s Richest Rose by $241B In 2012
Bloomberg News – Chicago Tribune, 7 Jan 2013

The richest people on the planet got richer in 2012, adding $241 billion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 100 wealthiest individuals.

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Swiss Bank Wegelin to Close After US Tax Evasion Fine
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jan 2013

Switzerland’s oldest bank is to close permanently after pleading guilty in a New York court to helping Americans evade their taxes. Wegelin, which was established in 1741, has also agreed to pay $57.8m (£36m; 44m euros) in fines to US authorities. It said that once this was completed, it “will cease to operate as a bank”. The bank had admitted to allowing more than 100 American citizens to hide $1.2bn from the Internal Revenue Service for almost 10 years.

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What’s at Stake in the Central African Republic?
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor - Pan-African News Wire, 7 Jan 2013

Neo-Colonial Intrigue, Minerals, Militarism and the Struggle for Sovereignty and Unity

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Michael Cremo Brings Vedic Perspectives to the Scientific Table
Madhava Smullen, ISKCON News – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Dec 2012

A new book shows that it is possible to present Vedic perspectives on consciousness, human origins and human antiquity in modern scientific discourse. The book is a collection of twenty-four papers that Drutakarma presented at major international scientific conferences, mostly on archeology, from 1994 to 2009.

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Why Malawi Can’t Just Legalise Homosexuality
Sitinga Kachipande – Pambazuka News, 17 Dec 2012

The debate about decriminalising homosexuality must be strategically taken to Malawian people. One cannot simply change the law on such a sensitive issue without first addressing attendant social and religious concerns.

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UK Pays Libyan $3.5m over Rendition
AP, News24 – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Dec 2012

13 Dec 2012 – Lawyers say a Libyan military commander and his family have accepted £2.2m from the British government to settle a claim that the UK approved their rendition to face imprisonment by Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

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US Admits Hundreds of Afghan Teens Detained
Peter James Spielmann - Reader Supported News, 17 Dec 2012

The U.S. military has detained more than 200 Afghan teenagers who were captured in the war for about a year at a time at a military prison next to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations.

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TRANSCEND Member Prof. Vandana Shiva – The Original Tree Hugger (Video of the Week)
HARDtalk – BBC News, 10 Dec 2012

19 Nov 2012 – BBC HARDtalk speaks to the original tree hugger. The phrase was coined back in the seventies when she, along with a group of women in India, hugged trees to stop them from being chopped down. In the decades since, Vandana Shiva has become known throughout the world for her environmental campaigns.

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Facebook’s Privacy Vote: What the Email Actually Means
Rob Waugh, Yahoo! News – Reader Supported News, 10 Dec 2012

Facebook has sent all its users an email this week about a vote on its proposed changes to Data Use Policy – the site’s term for its privacy policy. The dry, quietly worded email is more significant than it sounds.

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Bradley Manning and Our Decade of Denial
Seamus McKiernan - Reader Supported News, 10 Dec 2012

Manning has been in the dark for more than 900 days — with most of that time spent in solitary confinement. The extreme conditions of Manning’s detention have been widely reported. A Navy psychiatrist who treated Manning testified that his medical recommendations were consistently ignored by commanders. A UN investigation last spring described Manning’s conditions as “cruel” and “inhuman.” But the first rule about denial is that no one talks about denial.

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