Detention Without Trial In Obama's Gulag
US Preparing to Hold Some Guantanamo Inmates 'Indefinitely'

By VOA

An executive order being prepared for review by President Barack Obama says that Guantanamo Bay prisoners kept in "prolonged detention" will not be put on trial. Continue

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John Pilger - The War You Don't See

Video Documentary

John Pilger says in the film: "We journalists... have to be brave enough to defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody adventure in someone else's country... In this age of endless imperial war, the lives of countless men, women and children depend on the truth or their blood is on us... Those whose job it is to keep the record straight ought to be the voice of people, not power." Continue

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President Obama’s Christmas Gift to AT&T (and Comcast and Verizon)

By Amy Goodman

Obama is clearly in the back seat, being driven by Internet giants like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. With him is his appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, his Harvard Law School classmate and basketball pal who just pushed through a rule on network neutrality that Internet activists consider disastrous. Continue

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Speaking Ill of ‘the Best and the Brightest’

By Robert Scheer

Holbrooke’s life marks the propensity of our elite institutions to turn out alpha leaders with simplistic world-ordering ambitions unrestrained by moral conscience or intellectual humility. Continue

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The Next Financial Meltdown
State Budgets: The Day of Reckoning

Must Watch Video

The day of reckoning is at hand. Steve Kroft tells us what we need to know about the looming financial crisis that almost no one is talking about. Continue

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Several Afghan troops killed in ambush: Militants ambushed a military bus outside a main army recruitment center on the outskirts of Kabul, killing five and wounding nine.

British soldier killed by blast in Afghanistan: The Ministry of Defense says a British soldier has died after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

Pentagon slammed for 'hyper-secret' $2bn Afghan fuel deals: US Congress investigators have sharply criticised the Pentagon for allowing an "ultra-secretive" business group to control more than $2 billion in crucial Afghan fuel contracts, while turning a blind eye to the alleged elaborate fraud by which it sourced more than half a billion gallons of jet fuel from Russian refineries.

Iraqi soldier killed, four people wounded in Baghdad violence: An Iraqi soldier was killed and four people were wounded in gunfire and bomb attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source said.

Iraqis wary of new 'unity' leadership: "Promises were made that trustworthy, competent people would be ministers this time around, but it looks as if everything has just been divided out according to sectarian interests," said Hussein Abed Mohammad, a 35 year-old high school teacher.

Beleaguered Iraqi Christians Cancel Christmas Celebrations Across Iraq: Iraqi Christian leaders have decided to cancel most evening worship services and forgo other festivities for Christmas.

'I didn't think of Iraqis as humans,' says U.S. soldier who raped 14-year-old girl before killing her and her family: 'I was crazy,' Green said in the exclusive telephone interview from federal prison in Tucson, Arizona. 'I was just all the way out there. I didn't think I was going to live.'

Cables Reveal Delicate Diplomacy After U.S. Soldier Killed Italian in Iraq: The Italian report cited "inexperience and stress" among American troops as the cause of the shooting.

Rape rampant in US military: Statistics and soldiers' testimonies reveal a harrowing epidemic of sexual assault in the US military.
Leaked US Cable Stirs Animosities Between Palestinian Factions: The head of Israeli Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin, is quoted as saying that Fatah forces asked Israel to attack Hamas in Gaza and that the Palestinian Authority shared its intelligence with Israel.
Bolivia formally recognizes Palestine as independent state: Reports earlier this week indicated such a move was imminent; earlier this month, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela have already recognized Palestine within 1967 borders and Venezuela plans to do so next year.
Palestinian FM says Spain to recognize Palestinian state: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki said Spain promised the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to recognize a Palestinian statehood next year, Ramallah-based Al-Ayyam daily reported Wednesday.
Israel fears UK moving towards recognising Palestinian state: The UK is preparing to confer diplomatic status on the Palestinian delegation in London for the first time, renewing fears in Israel that Europe is moving closer to recognising an independent Palestinian state.
U.S. congressman urges France to rethink missile sale to Lebanon: Representative Steve Rothman tells Sarkozy that 'the stakes are too high' for such a deal, considering the 'grave danger' that the anti-tank missiles will be used against Israel.
U.S. criticized New Zealand for reaction to 2004 Israel spy affair, WikiLeaks cables reveal: Ties between Israel and New Zealand grew strained after two Israelis, thought to be Mossad agents, were caught trying to illegally forge local passports.
Cote d'Ivoire standoff deepens: World Bank stops loans to West African nation as disputed president insists on asserting his leadership.
WikiLeaks Joins Forces With Lebedev's Moscow-Based Newspaper Novaya Gazeta: Novaya Gazeta, the Moscow newspaper controlled by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and billionaire Alexander Lebedev, said it agreed to join forces with WikiLeaks to expose corruption in Russia.
Argentina to sentence ex-leader: Charges concern Videla's role in the murder of at least 31 political prisoners during the 1970s' Dirty War.
Mass kidnapping of migrants alleged in Mexico: El Salvador's foreign ministry said that around 50 immigrants of various nationalities, mostly women, had been kidnapped during the attack in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, also citing interviews with witnesses.
Judge orders feds to pay $2.5M in wiretapping case: U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the attorneys for the Ashland, Ore., chapter of the now-defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation should receive $2.5 million for waging its nearly five-year legal challenge to the Bush administration's so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program.
Government liabilities rose $2 trillion in FY 2010: Treasury: The Financial Report of the United States, which applies corporate-style accrual accounting methods to Washington, showed the government's liabilities exceeded assets by $13.473 trillion. That compared with a $11.456 trillion gap a year earlier.
Banks accused of illegally looting homes: 'When a burglar goes in, they don't take your photos and your husband's ashes,' says alleged victim of wrongful foreclosure
11 Ways Bank of America Practices Hurt Americans: Today's front page New York Times story about Bank of America illegally breaking into people's homes and taking their possessions is a painful reminder that many American families are spending the holiday season desperately trying to save their homes.
51 million, mostly lower-income, will do worse under new tax law: The federal tax bill passed by Congress yesterday includes some extras for the middle class and lots of goodies for the wealthy. But individuals making less than $20,000 and households making less than $40,000 a year will actually get less tax relief in 2011 than they got in 2010 and 2009.