Articles by AP
We found 804 results.
Raytheon Video Claims Riot Software Can Track Users Via Social Networks
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
18 Feb 2013
Raytheon, a U.S. military manufacturer, is selling a new software surveillance package named “Riot” that claims to predict where individuals are expected to go next using technology that mines data from social networks like Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter. Based just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, Raytheon sells $25 billion worth of equipment a year to military clients like the Pentagon.
→ read full articleTAPI: A Step Closer to Realization
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2013
On 7 February 2013, the Indian Cabinet approved the formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to study the feasibility and design parameters of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, originally mooted in 2006.
→ read full articleMedical Trial Data Activists Score Win Over Glaxo
Pratap Chatterjee - Corpwatch,
11 Feb 2013
7 Feb 2013 – All data on completed medical experiments are to be made available to the general public by GlaxoSmithKline, the biggest UK pharmaceutical company. The announcement is a major win for the AllTrials campaign mounted by healthcare activists as well as researchers that has gathered widespread support. “There is a fundamental lack of scientific progress because clinical trial evidence is being withheld.”
→ read full article(Português) Conheça 10 Transgênicos Que Já Estão na Cadeia Alimentar
Thomas Pappon - BBC Brasil,
11 Feb 2013
Salmão: É a primeira vez que um animal geneticamente modificado é aprovado para consumo humano. Mas muitos consumidores nos Estados Unidos, Europa e Brasil, regiões em que os OGMs em questão de poucos anos avançaram em velocidade surpreendente dos laboratórios aos supermercados, continuam desconfiados da ideia do homem cumprindo um papel reservado à natureza ou à evolução – e guardam na memória os efeitos nocivos, descobertos tarde demais, de “maravilhas” tecnológicas como o DDT e a talidomida.
→ read full articleAppeal to the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India
The Catholic Faithful Radhapuram Taluk– TRANSCEND Media Service\,
11 Feb 2013
We have been struggling continuously against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project in peaceful and nonviolent manner for a quarter century and for almost 550 days in a more recent concerted campaign. We have been asking in vain for the basic information about the project such as the Site Evaluation Report, Safety Analysis Report, Emergency Preparedness Plan, the performance report of the reactor, and the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Agreement on Liability and so forth.
→ read full articleGandhi’s Death Anniversary: Reflections
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
On 30 January 65 years ago Mahatma Gandhi was shot while attending a prayer in New Delhi. Every day he used to attend prayers, which served two purposes: to pray to God for well being of mankind, and to meet visitors and interact with them.
→ read full article“Cyberazzi” – Data Mining Companies Investigated for Invasion of Privacy
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
The paparazzi hide in bushes and use telephoto lenses to snap pictures of celebrities. The “cyberazzi” parachute into web browsers and sneak up behind mobile phones to spy on ordinary people. Nine such data mining companies must report to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by Feb 1, 2013 what personal information they gather for sale.
→ read full articleInternational Essay Contest for Young People
Goi Peace Foundation, Japan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Organized by The Goi Peace Foundation and UNESCO – Theme: “The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future”
→ read full articleUS General Says Britain Risks ‘Special Relationship’ if It Cuts Military
Peter Foster – The Telegraph,
21 Jan 2013
Britain will be shut out of key decisions in the ‘Special Relationship’ with the US if it does not maintain credible military capabilities, Stanley McChrystal, America’s former top commander in Afghanistan has warned.
→ read full articleAbbas Changes Name of Palestinian Authority to ‘State of Palestine’
Raphael Ahren and AP – The Times of Israel,
7 Jan 2013
Palestinian Authority President Abbas signed a presidential decree changing the name of the Palestinian Authority to the “State of Palestine,” following the Palestinians’ upgraded status at the United Nations as a non-member observer state. According to the decree, reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa Thursday [3 Jan 2013] night, all stamps, signs, and official letterheads will be changed to bear the new name.
→ read full article‘Tsunami Bomb’ Tested Off New Zealand Coast
Jonathan Pearlman – The Telegraph,
7 Jan 2013
The United States and New Zealand conducted secret tests of a “tsunami bomb” designed to destroy coastal cities by using underwater blasts to trigger massive tidal waves.
→ read full articleWelcome 2013
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
The more we rise in consciousness, the more we see the world as a part of our family. The expansion of the individual consciousness is a certain remedy not only for the individual, but also for the society. When we say the world is our family and think and act in that spirit, most of the problems we confront and call insurmountable will wither away. One does not need to be a genius to understand this simple dictum of life.
→ read full articleGlobal Ambulance Chasers: Lawyers Profit from Suing States for Multinationals
Pratap Chatterjee - CorpWatch,
24 Dec 2012
Dozens of highly paid international lawyers are pocketing millions of dollars in fees from multinational corporations to sue governments in secretive “arbitration tribunals” for profits they claim to be owed under international investment treaties, according to “Profiting from Injustice” – a new report from Corporate Europe Observatory & Transnational Institute.
→ read full articleSwitzerland’s UBS Becomes Second Bank to Settle LIBOR Rate-Rigging Probe
AP-The Washington Post – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Dec 2012
Swiss bank UBS agreed Wednesday [19 Dec 2012] to pay $1.5 billion in fines for trying to manipulate a key interest rate that affects borrowers around the world.
→ read full articleThe US Strategy in Asia
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2012
Besides the New Silk Road idea, Indo-Pacific corridor too has been increasingly finding mention in policy circles in recent months. The corridor as explained by Blake will link South Asian countries including India and Bangladesh to further east through Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries. The corridor will link South Asia to the Pacific through Southeast Asia.
→ read full articleUK 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.
→ read full articleSmokeless Tobacco Lobbyists Set Off European Alarms
Pratap Chatterjee - CorpWatch,
26 Nov 2012
A clandestine lobbying effort at the European Union (EU) by Swedish Match company to get legislators to lift a ban on a special kind of smokeless tobacco has forced the resignation of a top European bureaucrat and prompted renewed calls to strengthen rules on undue business influence in Brussels.
→ read full articleAnonymous Downs Hundreds of Israeli Sites over Gaza
Sapa-AFP, The Citizen – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
Online activist group Anonymous said on Saturday [17 Nov 2012] that their operation “OpIsrael” had either damaged or completely erased the sites of more than 650 private and public institutions that included the Bank of Jerusalem — one of the country’s main finance houses. “Bank of Jerusalem database has been deleted,” the group said in a tweet next to a link to the lender’s non-functioning website.
→ read full articleKudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and Civil Nuclear Liability
Kapil Patil and G. Balachandran – Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses,
19 Nov 2012
The Russian President Vladimir Putin was expected to visit India in early November 2012. That visit has now been postponed to late December 2012. This postponement has been largely attributed to some of the unresolved issues in India-Russia relations, which include their differing perceptions over civil nuclear liability for Units III, IV, V and VI at the Kudankulam site in Tamil Nadu.
→ read full articleArgentine Judge Freezes Chevron Assets to Pay $19 Billion Ecuador Fine
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
19 Nov 2012
Adrian Elcuj Miranda, a judge in Buenos Aires, has ordered the seizure of Chevron’s assets in Argentina, to force the company to pay a $19 billion penalty for polluting the Amazon in Ecuador. The plaintiffs are seeking similar legal action in Brazil, Canada, Colombia and other countries.
→ read full articleJapan Appeals to India against Nuclear Power
Nuclear Action Committee Japan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
If you have come to Japan to promote a nuclear power agreement, don’t confine your discussions to the high and mighty in Tokyo, go to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and visit the peace museums there. Listen to the experiences of the hibakusha. And by all means go to Fukushima. Find out how people are trying to live with the 4 reactors emitting radioactive material around them; find out the horrendous conditions of radiation exposure that the thousands of workers trying to contain the accident must endure, and learn what has happened to the seas, the forests and the farm land. If you do that, we think that you will change your mind.
→ read full articleBritish Have Invaded Nine Out of Ten Countries – So Look Out Luxembourg
Jasper Copping – The Telegraph,
12 Nov 2012
Britain has invaded all but 22 countries in the world in its long and colourful history, new research has found.
→ read full articleAn Appeal to the Political Leaders of India
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
Protests against corruption in India or other parts of the world are not new. History shows enough evidence of such kinds of protests from time to time. In case of India, there appears a mismatch between concept of public service and political power as a means to realize that goal.
→ read full articleIndia: Why We Don’t Talk About Inequality—And How to Start Again
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Centre Tricontinental – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
Equality is forged in the crucible of politics; it would be presumptuous to prescribe solutions. But the politics of equality will have to cut more insistently through the culture of avoidance; this is easier said than done, because this culture has become deeply embedded in everyday sites and practices. Economically, growth is not everything; in many ways, it will pose new and serious challenges.
→ read full article(Croatian) „Veličanstveni Magnezij“
Katherine Czapp – Weston A. Price Foundation,
29 Oct 2012
Zanemareni mineral, bez kojeg ne možemo živjeti
→ read full articleMagnificent Magnesium
Katherine Czapp – The Weston A. Price Foundation,
29 Oct 2012
The Neglected Mineral We Cannot Live Without
→ read full articleGreek State on Life Support
Apostolis Fotiadis – TerraViva Europe,
15 Oct 2012
Like a person on life support whose vital functions are failing, the Greek economy is slowly but surely shutting down as radiation from the so-called ‘austerity plan’ erodes public institutions. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived here on Tuesday [9 Oct 2012] morning for an economic assessment of the debt-ravaged country, she did not see the things that, for thousands, have become commonplace: cancer patients dying outside clinics, unable to access the treatment they need, or kindergartens turning students away due to overcapacity.
→ read full articleTestifying against Israel’s Apartheid
Gary Lapon and Daphna Their – Socialist Worker,
15 Oct 2012
Nearly 1,000 people gathered in the Great Hall at Cooper Union in lower Manhattan on October 6 and 7 to hear two days of testimony on the complicity of the U.S. government and the United Nations in Israel’s past and present crimes against the Palestinian people. The jury for the New York session included activists, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, legal professionals and scholars, and prominent intellectuals, ranging from Native Americans to African Americans born in the Jim Crow South, to people from South Africa and Northern Ireland.
→ read full articleCalifornia Law Bans Gay Teen ‘Conversion’ Therapy
Associated Press (AP) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
California has become the first state to ban a controversial form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight.
→ read full articleClinton Offers $45 Million to Syrian Rebels, Who Want More Support
Hannah Allam - McClatchy Newspapers,
1 Oct 2012
Hillary Clinton on Friday [28 Sep 2012] announced $45 million in additional aid for Syrian rebels. U.S. aid for Syria now will total more than $132 million this year, though Syrian rebels are more interested in weapons and military training than in ‘nonlethal assistance.’ “The irony of our fear of supplying Islamist groups is that the others who are arming the opposition – the Saudis, the Qataris, the Turks – are doing just that, providing weapons and ammunition to Islamists,” Holliday said.
→ read full articleLetter from Japanese Anti Nuclear Activists to Tamil Nadu Residents
No Nukes Asia Forum Japan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Oct 2012
A Historic movement is underway in Tamil Nadu-India, against Koodankulam nuclear power station. People across the world are moved by the resistance and want to express solidarity. We tried to visit India to show our solidarity on September 25, 2012 but were denied access at Chennai airport. After an hour-long interrogation, we had our papers written as “Inadmissible persons”, which denied our entrance to India.
→ read full articleTotal Warns Against Drilling For Oil in Arctic
Jonathan Russell – The Telegraph,
1 Oct 2012
Total has become the first oil major to publicly warn against drilling for oil in the Arctic on concerns of the potential environment impact. Chief executive Christophe de Margerie said his company would not be joining the stampede north as an oil leak “would do too much damage to the company”.
→ read full articleBritain Silent on Ecuador Assange Proposal
The Australian, AAP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Sep 2012
Britain’s Foreign Office is tightlipped over a proposal from Ecuador that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be transferred from London to Sweden but stay under Quito’s protection. Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Saturday [22 Sep 2012] he was weighing such a transfer as a possible alternative for Assange to “remain under our protection while also satisfying the demands of the Swedish justice system”.
→ read full articleAP Sources: US to Take Iran Group Off Terror List
Bradley Klapper and Matthew Lee, Associated Press – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Sep 2012
The decision to remove the MEK list rested on two factors: whether it still had the capacity and intent to commit acts of terror. Several American military officials and defense contractors were killed by the MEK in the 1970s, U.S. officials maintain, and its attacks have killed hundreds of Iranians.
→ read full articleA Significant Leap in Indo-Pak Relations
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Sep 2012
Confidence building measures play a significant role towards addressing contentious issues between the nations. This well practiced rule of conduct among nations can be no less than accurate in the context of India and Pakistan, which have fought four wars since their independence.
→ read full articlePrivate Prison for Asylum Seekers on Pacific Island
Pratap Chatterjee - CorpWatch,
17 Sep 2012
Transfield Services, an Australian logistics company that provides services to the mining and oil industry among others, has won a A$24.5 million (US$25.9 million) contract from the government of Australia to run a detention center for asylum seekers in the Pacific island nation of Nauru.
→ read full articleStanford Organics Study “A Fraud” – Linked to Cargill & Tobacco Money
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
17 Sep 2012
A new study by Stanford University that suggests that organic food has no medical or health values is deeply flawed, say outraged activists. “Make no mistake, the Stanford organics study is a fraud,” says Mike Adams of Naturalnews.com and Anthony Gucciardi of Naturalsociety.org. “The mainstream media has fallen for an elaborate scientific hoax that sought to destroy the credibility of organic foods by claiming they are “no healthier” than conventional foods (grown with pesticides and genetically modified organisms).”
→ read full articleGazprom Arctic Oil Rig Blockaded By Greenpeace
Pratap Chatterjee - CorpWatch,
3 Sep 2012
Last Friday [24 Aug 2012] climbers from the environmental group scaled the Prirazlomnaya rig and spent 15 hours holding up a banner that read “Save the Arctic.” On Monday [27 Aug 2012] the Greenpeace activists used four speed boats to block the Anna Akhmatova ship from bringing workers to the rig. Sailors turned water cannons on the boats to force them out of the way.
→ read full articleIndian Supreme Court to Hear Novartis “Patents versus Patients” Case
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
27 Aug 2012
Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, will appear before the Indian Supreme Court Wednesday [22 Aug 2012] to appeal against a patent rejection for a popular cancer drug. A decision in favor of the company could have a devastating impact on cheap supplies of many kinds of generic drugs for poor patients.
→ read full article(Italian) Animalismo, Specismo, Antispecismo e Diritti degli Animali
Roberto Russo, GraphoMania – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
Parliamo spesso di animali: ci stanno particolarmente a cuore e non è un mistero. Ma non vogliamo che sia un discorso sdolcinato: secondo noi è importante guardare agli animali come esseri viventi, al pari nostro, con i loro diritti. Il fatto che noi siamo animali appartenenti alla specie umana non ci autorizza certo a trattare male gli animali non umani.
→ read full articleTrapWire Leaks Shine Light on New Video Tracking Technologies
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
20 Aug 2012
TrapWire, a company founded and run by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers, that offers to track “suspicious” activities from surveillance video, has been spotlighted in a new Wikileaks release.
→ read full articleChevron Face Opposition over Eastern Europe Fracking Plans
Pratap Chatterjee - CorpWatch,
13 Aug 2012
Chevron – the Northern California-based oil and gas company – has been quietly acquiring rights to drill for natural gas in Eastern Europe using “fracking” technology – a controversial technique. However, grassroots opposition in Bulgaria and Romania has thwarted the company’s plans so far. Fracking can dramatically increase the likelihood of earthquakes, according to recent research in Youngstown, Ohio, where residents were hit last Christmas Eve and again on New Year’s Eve.
→ read full articlePfizer Admits Bribery in Eight Countries
Pratap Chatterjee - CorpWatch,
13 Aug 2012
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to pay a total of $60.2 million in penalties to U.S. government regulators to settle documented charges of bribery in eight countries: Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Serbia.
→ read full articleCan Syria be a Zone of Peace?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2012
Instead of viewing the Syrian conflict as a national interest crucible, the time has come that it must be seen as an international challenge to be met by international players in a framework of cooperation. Towards this, making Syria a zone of peace may prove a clincher, with no side losing, but all sides gaining, and peace constituency getting stronger.
→ read full articleMalaysian Water Company Claims To Have Run Dry
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
6 Aug 2012
Syabas, a private water company in Malaysia, has threatened to start water rationing in the state of Selangor after claiming that it had almost no water reserves left. “Here, we have a corporation holding a state government and public to ransom,” Charles Santiago, the coordinator of the Coalition Against Water Privatisation who is also a local member of parliament, told Free Malaysia Today.
→ read full articlePreventing another Hiroshima
Rebecca Johnson, Int’l Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2012
Sixty-seven years ago, on August 6, the first uranium bomb was exploded above Hiroshima with the force of 15 thousand tons of TNT. Three days later, Nagasaki was shattered by a plutonium bomb. Over the next 40 years, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (US, Soviet Union, Britain, France and China) amassed some 70,000 nuclear weapons with a combined explosive force of 15 million tons. Between them Israel, Pakistan and India could have 300-400 nuclear weapons. [Enough to obliterate the planet 12 TIMES OVER]
→ read full articleUS Marine Corps Creates Law Enforcement Battalions
Julie Watson – The Associated Press-AP,
30 Jul 2012
The Marine Corps has created its first law enforcement battalions — a lean, specialized force of military police officers that it hopes can quickly deploy worldwide to help investigate crimes from terrorism to drug trafficking and train fledgling security forces in allied nations. The Corps activated three such battalions last month [June 2012]. Each is made up of roughly 500 military police officers and dozens of dogs.
→ read full articleCourt to Hear Challenge to Myriad’s Human Gene Patent
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
23 Jul 2012
Should a private company be allowed to patent isolated human genes? A lawsuit to be heard Friday [20 Jul 2012] pits Myriad Genetics of Utah against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Myriad wants to be the exclusive U.S. commercial provider of genetic screening tests for breast cancer or ovarian cancer but the non-profit says the patent limits scientific research as well as health care options for women.
→ read full articleRio+20 Ends in Failure, Corporate Capture
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
2 Jul 2012
The United Nations Rio+20 Conference in Brazil concluded this past weekend [24 Jun 2012] with no new government pledges. On the other hand, multinationals scored a public relations victory. Some activists say that the initiative is just “greenwash” and that the Sustainable Energy For All initiative proves that the UN has sold out to corporate interests.
→ read full articleSpies in Africa’s Skies: New Contractors for the Pentagon
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
19 Jun 2012
The Pentagon and the CIA have long used private contractors for covert wars. Air America and Air Asia were the front companies used to bomb Cambodia and Laos for president Lyndon Johnson. Bigger, more established companies, like Northrop Grumman were used to spy in Colombia under president Bill Clinton.
→ read full articleSyria: No Repeat of Sykes-Picot in Mideast Chaos
M.D. Nalapat – Global Times, China,
19 Jun 2012
On May 16, 1916, in the middle of World War I, Paris and London approved a secret agreement to dismember the Ottoman Empire and divide the Middle East between themselves. The Sykes-Picot agreement set new boundaries for many countries in the region, and began a period of direct control of the Middle East that the West has sought to perpetuate to the present.
→ read full articleFake Drug Plague or Pharmaceutical Industry Attack on Generics?
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
19 Jun 2012
Are Africa and South East Asia just suffering from a deluge of fake medicines that is causing disease resistance to rise? Or are they also suffering from a deluge of poorly informed media articles, encouraged by the pharmaceutical industry that wants to make war on generic drugs?
→ read full articleForgiving Siemens: Unraveling a Tangled Tale of German Corruption in Greece
Lena Mavraka and Vasilis Papatheodorou – CorpWatch,
11 Jun 2012
To understand the pervasive corruption in Greek politics, it is necessary to examine the company that has probably paid the biggest bribes to both major parties: Siemens from Munich, Germany, a company with contracts in practically every ministry from culture to telecommunications. On November 11, 2010, Siemens turned off 35 traffic lights in central Athens in protest against Greek government fines as high as €500 million ($650 million) to settle allegations of bribery to win contracts.
→ read full articleSpiritual Cooperation: A Possibility or Farfetched Dream?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jun 2012
In international politics, relations of trade and commerce among nations are known, but spiritual cooperation?
→ read full articleBailing out Germany: The Story behind the European Financial Crisis
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
4 Jun 2012
A large chunk of the Eurozone bailouts are for speculative schemes that were handed out by banks in just four countries Belgium, France, Germany and the UK. So why are Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain being blamed? And who is really getting bailed out? The Indignados in Madrid, Blockupy in Frankfurt and Occupy Wall Street have it right.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Mu’l’livaaykkaal – The Slaughter Unheard and Unpunished
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – Colombo Telegraph,
21 May 2012
Criminal goals of ethnically cleansing as many Tamils by orchestrating the slaughter of at-least 40,000 unarmed Tamils in Mullivaaykaal during the finals day of the war. The denial of food and medicine prior to the final assault was intentionally and strategically coordinated by the regime.
→ read full articleFacebook Lobbies Washington to “Like” Spying on Users
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
30 Apr 2012
Facebook, the social network behemoth that is about to become a multi-billion dollar company, has been lobbying for a proposed new U.S. law called the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) that would allow companies to share information with government agencies. On Friday [27 Apr 2012], when Congress gets to vote, we will find out which members “like” Facebooks plans.
→ read full articleMemories Conscious and Subconscious
Johan Galtung, 30 Apr 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Apr 2012
Two kinds of memories serve politics: glories and traumas. The glories–victory, liberation, constitution–are celebrated as the birth of a nation. The traumas–defeat, invasion-occupation, decline and fall–are surrounded with the oath NEVER AGAIN! We are guided not only by future goals, but also by past memories. They set the discourse, the frame for what happens. Anybody attacking the USA on US territory invokes Pearl Harbor; 9/11 is then sedimented on top of that, tripling the response should there ever be one more. Better know the wounds imprinted on the collective soul
→ read full articleDoes Microwaving Veggies Kill the Nutrients?
SHAPE magazine, Healthy Living – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Apr 2012
Despite what you might read on the Internet, microwaving your food does not “kill” nutrients. In fact, it can make certain nutrients more available to your body .
→ read full articleJohnson & Johnson Fined $1.2 billion for Drug Labeling Failure
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Apr 2012
Johnson & Johnson has been fined $1.2 billion in Arkansas over the sales of Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug. A circuit judge ruled that the company did not warn patients that the drug places elderly patients with dementia at an increased risk of major weight gain, possible diabetes and potential death.
→ read full articleWhat Do You Want USA, Up or Down?
Johan Galtung, 9 Apr 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
One wonders what the US political leaders want. The incumbent lives in this world, playing an ultra-realist game: extra-judicial executions in maybe 70 countries, drone attacks; minimizing US losses, maximizing direct hits at what he sees as the problem, concrete identified individuals, not concrete unidentified conflicts. He has neither the moral nor the intellectual courage to do that.
→ read full articleArab League a Divided House
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The old regional organizations Arab League (formed in 1945) has shown all weakness of a broken house with members failing to take coordinated position on any of the raging international issues. A simple juxtaposition of the Arab League summit with the BRICS summit, held on the same date, 29 March 2012, brings stark contrast how coordination in one part of the world is failing acutely, while the rise of BRICS in global arena is a foregone conclusion.
→ read full articleRadiation at Fukushima Plant at Lethal Levels
Minoru Matsutani – Japan Times,
2 Apr 2012
Radiation inside the reactor 2 containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has reached a lethal 73 sieverts per hour and any attempt to send robots in will require them to have greater resistance than currently available, experts said Wednesday [28 Mar 2012]. Exposure to 73 sieverts for a minute would cause nausea and seven minutes would cause death within a month , Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
→ read full articlePortuguese Seek Future in Mozambique
Andrew England in Maputo – The Financial Times,
2 Apr 2012
How Portuguese people are fleeing their homeland in search of economic opportunities in Mozambique. The paper estimates that there are 20,000 Portuguese in Maputo with the number of people registering at the Portuguese consulate up by 10 per cent in recent years.
→ read full articleChiquita Banana to Face Colombia Torture Claim
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Chiquita, the global banana producer, was ordered this week to face a federal court over their role in paying off right wing death squads in Colombia. Villagers allege that the death squads used “random and targeted violence in exchange for financial assistance and access to Chiquita’s private port for arms and drug smuggling,” according to a lawsuit filed on their behalf by EarthRights International and Cohen Milstein.
→ read full articleChevron & Transocean Back in the Dock over Oil Spills
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
26 Mar 2012
Brazil has demanded that 17 Chevron and Transocean executives surrender their passports while they await the outcome of criminal charges brought against them for a spill that took place off the coast of Rio de Janeiro last November [2011]. The company has also been sued for $11 billion in damages by a Brazilian federal prosecutor. Both companies have been in trouble for similar problems in the past.
→ read full articleNow Even the Eurozone Admits It Has Condemned Greece to Never-Ending Austerity
Jeremy Warner – The Daily Telegraph,
19 Mar 2012
According to Reuters, an unpublished “Compliance Report” by EU executives has concluded that Greece will have to impose a further fiscal squeeze in 2013/14 in order to meet the targets that underpin the second international bailout. The chances of Greece being able to do this are about zero, though that is my conclusion, not that of the report. Where is Greece expected to find these cuts? Further savings in welfare payments, pharmaceutical spending?
→ read full articleIndia Ends Bayer Monopoly, Helps Slash Prices for Life-Saving Drugs
Pratap Chatterjee – CorpWatch,
19 Mar 2012
Bayer, a German multinational, has been selling Sorafenib, under the brand name of Nexavar, for $5,600 a month. (The average per capita income in India is a little under $100 ie two percent of the price of the drug) Natco Pharma, an Indian company which applied for permission to manufacture and sell the drug, will now be able to sell the drug for $176 a month.
→ read full articleDon’t Bank on the Bomb
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
A fantastic report with many detailed tables.The Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers – With a Foreword by Desmond Tutu. The first major global report on the financing of companies that manufacture, modernize and maintain nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles. It identifies more than 300 banks, insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers from 30 countries that invest significantly in the, also listed, 20 major nuclear weapons producers.
→ read full articleIceland’s Viking Victory
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – The Telegraph,
20 Feb 2012
Congratulations to Iceland. Fitch has upgraded the country to investment grade BBB – with stable outlook, expecting government debt to peak at 100pc of GDP. The OECD’s latest forecast said growth will be 2.4pc this year, after 2.9pc in 2011. Unemployment will fall from 7pc last year to 6.1pc this year and then 5.3pc in 2013.
→ read full articleChevron Rig Burns Off Nigeria as Damage Hits Shore
Sapa-AP – Times Live, South Africa,
20 Feb 2012
The burning inferno of what used to be a Chevron Corp. natural gas rig still stains the night’s sky orange more than two weeks after the rig caught fire, and no one can say when it will end as swarms of dead fish surface.
→ read full articleDelhi Bomb Blast and India’s Options
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2012
The bomb blast in New Delhi on 13 February 2012 has certainly raised India’s stakes in highly contested debate on international terrorism. The combination of its domestic policy matrix, its approach to extremism and radicalism, and its external policies and posturing will put India in a tough place in crafting decisions which may be difficult but necessary.
→ read full articleRothschilds Want Iran’s Banks
Pete Papaherakles – American Free Press,
20 Feb 2012
The Rothschilds exert powerful influence over the world’s major news agencies. By repetition, the masses are duped into believing horror stories about evil villains. The Rothschilds control the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the IMF, the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements. Also they own most of the gold in the world as well as the London Gold Exchange, which sets the price of gold every day. It is said the family owns over half the wealth of the planet—estimated by Credit Suisse to be $231 trillion—and is controlled by Evelyn Rothschild, the current head of the family.
→ read full articleComplexities of Post-Laden Politics in Pakistan and Implications
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jan 2012
The recent developments in Pakistan’s politics particularly the relations between the civilian government and military, in the background of troubled US-Pakistan relations exacerbated by the November killing of Pakistan soldiers by US drones and killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May, will have far reaching implications not only for Pakistan, but also for Afghanistan, South Asia, and far beyond.
→ read full articleMy Dreams for 2012
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Coming to my nation, India, called the largest democracy in the world with thriving freedom and equality but in reality which is a nation, majority of which are stricken by poverty, poor health, poor education system, and poor governance. That one of the great Gandhians, Anna Hazare launched the movement for Lok Pal to make India corruption free is something which I dream to see successful in the New Year.
→ read full articleWhither Alliance of Civilizations?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon during his speech at the UN Alliance of Civilizations forum on 11 December 2011 asserted the much cherished ideal of alliance among ‘civilizations’ so that enemies of humanity such as extremism and terrorism can be fought and won over and the world can live in an ideal of shared humanity. But the past decade provides sufficient proof to the contrary and to the dictum Might is Right, and the inverse relationship between high sounding ideals and chauvinistic national policies.
→ read full articleThe New Cyber-Industrial Complex Spying On Us
Pratap Chatterjee – The Guardian,
12 Dec 2011
WikiLeaks has just released the Spy Files – a trove of almost 300 documents from the companies that shine a light into this industry. At the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, where I work, we trawled through these documents, and tracked down yet more material, which our research team – Matthew Wrigley, David Pegg, Christian Jensen and Jamie Thunder – used to create an online database that will soon cover over 160 companies in some 25 countries.
→ read full articleUnequal under the Law
Eric Ruder interviews Ilan Pappé – Socialist Worker,
5 Dec 2011
The growing global criticism of Israel’s apartheid system provides a ray of hope for Palestinians inside Israel, in the Occupied Territories and beyond.
→ read full article(Castellano) Argentina: Los Fondos Rapaces
Raúl de Sagastizabal – PoliticaPress,
28 Nov 2011
En 2002, Anne Krueger, Subdirectora Gerente el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), lanzó al ruedo la idea de que los países podían quebrar y expuso su opinión sobre un posible mecanismo internacional de reestructuración de deudas soberanas, y al analizar los impedimentos a una reestructuración ordenada de deudas mencionó expresamente el comportamiento de los fondos buitres en los siguientes términos:
→ read full articleEurope – The Vicious Circle of Paying Debts With More Debts
Raul de Sagastizabal, PoliticaPress – Human Wrongs Watch,
14 Nov 2011
With two years of failed plans, pseudo-plans and announcements of plans, Europe has acquired a huge pile of debt and a decade of agony.
→ read full articleBlack, Asian Teens Less Likely Than Whites to Abuse Drugs, Duke Study Concludes
Jay Price - McClatchy Newspapers,
14 Nov 2011
Black and Asian adolescents are much less likely than their white peers to abuse or become dependent on drugs and alcohol, according to a Duke University-led study based on an unusually large sample from all 50 states. “There is certainly still a myth out there that black kids are more likely to have problems with drugs than white kids, and this documents as clearly as any study we’re aware of that the rate of . . . substance-related disorders among African American youths is significantly lower,” said Dr. Dan Blazer of Duke’s Department of Psychiatry, a senior author of the study.
→ read full articleThe CIA’s Unaccountable Drone War Claims another Casualty
Pratap Chatterjee – The Guardian,
14 Nov 2011
Last Friday [4 Nov 2011], I met a boy, just before he was assassinated by the CIA. Tariq Aziz was 16, a quiet young man from North Waziristan, who, like most teenagers, enjoyed soccer. Seventy-two hours later, a Hellfire missile is believed to have killed him as he was travelling in a car to meet his aunt in Miran Shah, to take her home after her wedding. Killed with him was his 12-year-old cousin, Waheed Khan.
→ read full articleThe Commonwealth Summit and Human Rights Debate
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Nov 2011
Safeguarding human rights is such a lofty ideal that nation-states with diverse socio-political and economic set ups proclaim that they respect this basic human value. As the term is contested, and as there are divergent interpretations as to what exactly constitute human rights, the debates about it have often pushed the nations towards contestation and conflicts of interests.
→ read full articleBrazil to Overtake UK as Sixth-Largest Economy
Robin Yapp, in São Paulo – The Telegraph,
7 Nov 2011
The Latin American giant’s GDP for 2011 is expected to hit $2.44 trillion (£1.51 trillion) compared with $2.43 trillion for the UK, the latest monthly forecasts from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) show. This will see Brazil, which last year overtook Italy to become the world’s seventh biggest economy, move up one more place to sixth with the UK falling to seventh.
→ read full articleThe Two Halves of the Eurozone Are Locked In a Broken Marriage
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – The Daily Telegraph,
31 Oct 2011
One by one, the democracies of Southern Europe are being broken on the wheel of monetary union.
→ read full articleSufism Asserting Against Extremism
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Oct 2011
One of the foremost challenges that multiethnic and pluralistic societies confront in 21st century is religious based extremism, which is resented by both state and non-state actors who believe in the values of peaceful coexistence of religions and other pluralistic values practiced by human society.
→ read full articleUS Supreme Court Confirms Ruling Lifting Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Death Penalty
Dave Lindorff - This Can’t Be Happening,
31 Oct 2011
The choice belongs to Seth Williams, the district attorney of Philadelphia, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided, today [11 Oct 2011], on its second time around dealing with the issue, not to overturn the decision of a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which had, on orders of the Supreme Court, reheard, reconsidered and reaffirmed its earlier decision upholding the tossing out of Abu-Jamal’s death sentence by a lower federal district court.
→ read full articleWithout Credit Card Donations, WikiLeaks Facing Funding Crisis
Mark Seibel - McClatchy Newspapers,
24 Oct 2011
WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website that has been at the center of some of the world’s most controversial news for the past 18 months, is facing dire economic times, largely, the website says, because Visa, MasterCard and PayPal have refused for more than 10 months to process donations made on its behalf.
→ read full article(Castellano) Las Culturas del FMI
Raúl de Sagastizabal - PoliticaPress,
17 Oct 2011
Cultura aislacionista, pensamiento de grupo, captura intelectual, sesgo cognitivo y actitudes de feudo.
→ read full articleWhat Do We Mean By Exploitation?
Gary Lapon – Socialist Worker,
3 Oct 2011
The distinction between “labor-power” and “labor” is the key to understanding exploitation under capitalism. When a capitalist pays a worker a wage, they are not paying for the value of a certain amount of completed labor, but for labor-power. The soaring inequality in contemporary society illustrates this–over the past three decades of neoliberalism, the wealth that workers create has increased, but this has not been reflected in wages, which remain stagnant. Instead, an increasing proportion of the wealth produced by workers swelled the pockets of billionaires, who did not compensate the workers for their increased production on the job.
→ read full article(Castellano) Los Yerros del FMI
Raúl de Sagastizabal - PoliticaPress,
3 Oct 2011
La tormenta que amenaza a la economía mundial está a la vista desde que se iniciara la crisis de los activos tóxicos hace cinco largos años. Aquella crisis no ha terminado, ni se ha revertido, sino que ha mutado en múltiples crisis: del déficit fiscal y la deuda soberana, de la pobreza, del desempleo y el alza del precio de los alimentos y los combustibles, etc. Sin embargo no hay renuncias, ni despidos, ni responsables. Como si sus yerros fueran intrascendentes; apenas un error en una receta de cocina.
→ read full articlePeace Efforts in Afghanistan Jeopardized
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2011
The killing of Barhanuddin Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik and leader of High Peace Council to broker peace in the conflict-torn country is certainly a setback to the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan.
→ read full articleMonsanto’s Cotton Strategy Wears Thin
April Davila – United Nations University,
19 Sep 2011
When pulling on their pants in the morning, most people don’t think about Monsanto. When it was first introduced in 1996, Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) cotton seemed like a dream come true. However, after the first harvest of Monsanto’s GE cotton, outraged American farmers began filing lawsuits against Monsanto, claiming that the company misrepresented the effectiveness of their product.
→ read full article(Italian) La Strategia della Monsanto sul Cotone per Farci Vestire Leggeri
April Davila – United Nations University,
19 Sep 2011
Quando fu introdotto nel 1996, il cotone geneticamente modificato (Genetically Engineered, GE) della Monsanto sembrava un sogno divenuto realtà. Tuttavia, dopo il primo raccolto di cotone GE della Monsanto, gli indignati agricoltori americani hanno intentato azioni legali, poi archiviate, contro la Monsanto, sostenendo che l’azienda aveva mistificato l’efficacia dei propri prodotti.
→ read full articleAt The UN, the Funeral of the Two-State Solution
Ilan Pappe - The Electronic Intifada,
19 Sep 2011
The charade will end in September or October — when the Palestinian Authority plans to submit its request for UN membership as a full member — in one of two ways. It could be either painful and violent, if Israel continues to enjoy international immunity and is allowed to finalize by sheer brutal force its mapping of post-Oslo Palestine. Or it could end in a revolutionary and much more peaceful way with the gradual replacement of the old fabrications with solid new truths…
→ read full articleNATO in Libya a ‘Model’ For Euro-US Cooperation: US Official
The Telegraph – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Sep 2011
The operation in Libya was “in many ways a model on how the United States can lead the way that allows allies to support,” Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Philip Gordon said at an event in Washington.
→ read full articleChavez: Libya’s Tragedy Begins With Gadhafi’s Fall
The Associated Press-AP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Aug 2011
Chavez has been a staunch defender of Gadhafi throughout the conflict, and he condemned NATO airstrikes and killings of civilians. “The drama of Libya isn’t ending with the fall of Gadhafi’s government. It’s beginning,” Chavez said. “The tragedy in Libya is just beginning.”
→ read full articleAfghanistan: From a Battlefield to a Business-field
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Aug 2011
Is it necessary that the interested players will have to wait till the violent atmosphere in the region is subsided completely and then think about business? Or is it possible to initiate commercial ventures in a violent atmosphere, which can only succeed with the cooperation of the national government as well as local warlords and also the Taliban?
→ read full article(Castellano) Si el Autor Fuera del Tercer Mundo
Manuel E. Yepe, aporrea.org – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Aug 2011
Behring Anders Breivik, el noruego autor confeso de las horripilantes masacres de Oslo y la isla de Utoya que conmovieron al mundo con un saldo de 76 personas muertas, dejó colocado en Internet un “manifiesto” que define el ideario ultraderechista, anti islámico y anticomunista que movía al repugnante asesino múltiple.
→ read full articleTerror in the Maximum City
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2011
Indian city Mumbai is famed as the ‘maximum city’ as it is in a sense represents maximum in everything. It represents all contradictions and paradoxes. A casual traveller to the city can find the wealthiest and the poorest co-existing side by side. The most beautiful and the most wretched co-exist in Mumbai. The city provides everything to everybody: daily work to a daily labourer, a job to educated, underworld facilities to mafia, tinsel town to socialites and sophisticated.
→ read full article