Wikileak Sparked The Tunisian Crisis

By Gregory White

Tunisia's government has collapsed, partially due to food price inflation and unemployment, but also because of WikiLeaks. Continue

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Sadr Insists on US Withdrawal
Demands Oil Shares for Iraqis

By Juan Cole

The military-industrial complex wants to find a way of keeping thousands of US troops in Iraq past that deadline. Continue

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Lebanon in Limbo
A Nation Haunted by the Murder of Rafiq Hariri

By Robert Fisk

On Monday, so we are told, the Hague tribunal of the United Nations will tell us that members of Hezbollah killed the former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri. Continue

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Hanan Ashrawi : 20 Years of Disappointments

By Akiva Eldar

"I think Israelis are going backward, moving toward racism. They are more closed in, understand Palestinians much less. The peace camp in Israel has disappeared." Continue

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Congress Quietly Prepares to Renew Patriot Act

By David Edwards and Stephen Webster

"I’d love to be proven wrong, but I suspect this is how reining in the growth of the surveillance state becomes an item perpetually on next year’s agenda." Continue

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Can You Imagine? Double Standards and Doublethink

By June Terpstra, Ph.D.

Can you imagine stories about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed being a lonely bi-polar guy who could have been saved if someone had just said hello or given him a hug as was suggested at a memorial service in Tucson yesterday about Loughner? Continue

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What Does Wikileaks Have on Bank of America?

By Mary Bottari

In 2008, BofA acquired Countrywide, one of the most aggressive and fraudulent lenders during the housing bubble. The result has been a train wreck of liability and lawsuits for the megabank that now has over 1.3 million customers in foreclosure. Continue

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What Chance a U.S. Default?

By James Politi

As it stands today, the U.S. borrows about 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Continue

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Austerity Policies Worsen Racial Economic Inequalities
Hits Black and Latino People Hardest

By United for a Fair Economy

The official unemployment rate is 15.8 percent among Blacks and 13 percent among Latinos; Blacks earn only 57 cents for each dollar of White family income, Latinos earn 59 cents; and Blacks have only 10 cents of net wealth while Latinos have 12 cents to every dollar of net wealth that Whites have. Continue

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Seven civilians killed in Afghanistan: Seven Afghan civilians were killed Friday when the vehicle they were driving in was blown up by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Zabul, a local official said.

Unconfirmed report: Afghan girl raped, killed by US troops: The daughter of an Afghan politician has reportedly died of her injuries after being raped by American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan's southwestern province of Farah.

Abbas: U.S. not working hard enough for Palestinian state: Abbas told Al-Jazeera that the Palestinians would agree to return to peace talks with Israel only if the United States agreed to recognize a state within 1967 borders and adhere to security accords reached during the Bush administration.

Guyana recognises Palestinian state: Guyana joins Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Ecuador in recognising Palestine as an independent state within the borders that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war.

Alan Hart: What’s the difference between Nazi and Zionist war criminals?: Short answer: Great effort is made to hunt down and prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals, no effort is made to bring Zionist war criminals to justice.

US rights group accuses Rumsfeld of torture: A US rights group Thursday appealed to a court in the case of former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan who accuse ex-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld of being to blame for their torture.

LIVE: Tunisia In Chaos As President Flees Country: Details are still sketchy, but it appears the Prime Minister has just conducted a coup against the president, according to Al Jazeera.

Tunisia crisis: live updates: Italy's Adnkronos news agency says Ben Ali has arrived in Malta "under Libyan protection".

Tunisia: A Wikirevolution?: Secret documents leaked to WikiLeaks describe "persistent rumors of corruption" as fueling frustration with Tunisia's government. Tunisians have already been frustrated with their repressive leadership, but these documents may have helped to incite the current protests.

Jordanians march against inflation: Thousands vent anger in Amman and other cities against government's inability to rein in prices and poverty.

Soaring prices spark fears of social unrest : "We are entering a danger territory," Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said

Ireland's prime minister faces no-confidence vote as opposition seeks to force early election: Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore announced Friday he has submitted a motion for a no-confidence vote for parliament next week — a challenge that further complicates Cowen's struggle to stay in office.

Ireland May Have Lent Banks Up to 51.1 Billion Euros: Ireland’s central bank may have loaned as much as 51.1 billion euros ($68.4 billion) to the country’s lenders by the end of last year as the country and its banks suffered further ratings downgrades even after an international bailout.

Sarkozy demands Ireland raise corp taxes: "I deeply respect the independence of our Irish friends and we have done everything to help them," said Sarkozy, speaking on a visit to an Airbus factory in Toulouse on Thursday

UN 'under attack' in Cote d'Ivoire: The United Nations has accused security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivorian president who refused to resign after a disputed election, of attacking and burning UN vehicles in the city of Abidjan.

TSA makes ‘nominal’ payment to settle suit over exposing 24-year-old’s breasts: "For an extended period of time" other agents made jokes about the incident. "One male TSA employee expressed to the plaintiff that he wished he would have been there when she came through the first time and that 'he would just have to watch the video.'"

In a world gone crazy: Texas school police ticketing students as young as 6: "Disrupting class, using profanity, misbehaving on a school bus, student fights, and truancy once meant a trip to the principal's office. Today, such misbehavior results in a Class C misdemeanor ticket and a trip to court for thousands of Texas students and their families each year,"
JPMorgan Chase profit soars 47%: JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest bank in Arizona by deposits, beat Wall Street estimates Friday with a 47 percent increase in fourth quarter profit to $4.83 billion, or $1.12 a share.
S&P, Moody's Warn On U.S. Credit Rating: With attention focused on sovereign-debt worries in Europe, two major credit-rating firms reminded investors again that the U.S. has debt problems of its own.
Foreclosure Filings in U.S. May Jump 20% From Record 2010 as Crisis Peaks: The number of U.S. homes receiving a foreclosure filing will climb about 20 percent in 2011, reaching a peak for the housing crisis, as unemployment remains high and banks resume seizures after a slowdown, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
Jobless claims hit a 10-week high: The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly to 445,000 from 410,000 in the prior week, a Labor Department report showed. It was the biggest one-week jump in about six months and confounded analyst forecasts for a small drop to 405,000.
Why does health care in Cuba cost 96% less than in the US?: Life expectancy of about 78 years of age in Cuba is equivalent to the US. Yet, in 2005, Cuba was spending US$193 per person on health care, only 4% of the $4540 being spent in the US. Where could the other 96% of US health care dollars be going?