For the first time, survivors of a U.S. military drone strike have an opportunity to travel to Capitol Hill to give a voice and face to the reality of the CIA’s killer drone program.
Their lawyer, Shahzad Akbar, has represented more than 150 survivors of U.S. drone aggression. He once sued the CIA over drone strikes in Pakistan.
The DC political establishment is very familiar with Shahzad. While his clients’ visas for the trip have been approved, his has not.
Clearly, the hold-up is political. We will not stand for this.
There is no scientific consensus on the safety of genetically modified foods and crops, according to a statement released today by an international group of more than 90 scientists, academics and physicians.
The statement comes in response to recent claims from the GM industry and some scientists, journalists, and commentators that there is a “scientific consensus” that GM foods and crops were generally found safe for human and animal health and the environment. The statement calls these claims “misleading”, adding, “This claimed consensus on GMO safety does not exist.”
„Der Hang zum Geld zerstört die Persönlichkeit und die Familien“, warnte Franziskus am Montag bei seiner Frühmesse. „Unser einziger Gott ist der Herr, nicht das Geld.“
Seit fast vierzig Jahren (seit 1975) ist Chile Schauplatz eines tiefgreifenden wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Experiments. In einem durch den Staatsstreich (September 1973) und die darauf folgende blutige Repression (1973-1978) mit Gewalt befriedeten Land konnten die zivilen Minister der Militärregierung auf brutale Weise jegliches institutionelle Hindernis beiseite schieben und mittels Verordnungen ein der chilenischen Tradition völlig fremdes Wirtschaftsmodell implementieren. Dafür gab es weltweit keinen Präzedenzfall.
Viele der von den neoliberalen Theoretikern in den letzten Jahrzehnten entwickelten Wirtschafts- und Sozialformeln wurden erstmalig in Chile angewandt. Der viel gepriesene „Erfolg“ des chilenischen Modells verschleiert aber vor allen Dingen die soziale Katastrophe, die es für die meisten Chilenen bereit hält und verschweigt, dass es auf Raubbau und Plünderung der chilenischen Ressourcen beruht. Hier sollen zwei Angaben genügen:
Nach einer Massenverhaftung am Rande einer Demonstration in Rio de Janeiro am Dienstagabend hat der Professor der privaten Hochschule Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), Rafael Alcadipani, scharfe Kritik an den lokalen Sicherheitskräften geäußert. Die Polizei des Staates von Rio de Janeiro habe sich laut Alcadipani zu einer „politischen Polizei“ entwickelt.
Das Konsortium blieb am Montag bei diesem Mindestgebot und bekam – mangels Konkurrenz – bei einer live im Fernsehen übertragenen Veranstaltung den Zuschlag.
Zuvor waren mehr als tausend Polizisten und Soldaten vor dem Hotel in Barra da Tijuca westlich von Rio de Janeiro aufmarschiert, um die Ölfeld-Auktion vor den erwarteten Demonstranten zu schützen. Doch die Situation eskalierte.
But it’s far from being the first that JPM has paid. In a little over 10 years, the bank has paid out (not counting the present agreement which is still being negotiated) more than $5.2 billion in settling claims ranging from fraud involved in underwriting Enron and WorldCom bonds, and engaging in a “pay-to-play” scheme that brought Jefferson County, Alabama, to the brink of bankruptcy, to wrongly overcharging several thousand military families for their mortgages.
Congress gets involved
More than two years later, more answers may be forthcoming.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, is making inquiries after meeting with some families.
A nonprofit organization has appealed to the Supreme Court to readdress its decision that the existence of an Israeli nationality has not been proved.
(03.10.) Three-judge panel rejects appeal to force the state to register individuals as ‘Israeli’ instead of ‘Jewish’
Israel complains to parliament‘s president after socialist faction holds panel claiming ‚ethnic cleansing‘ taking place against Bedouins
Why were there no facilities for the Arab home only 15 meters away? When I looked into the matter I discovered taxes actually paid by Arab residents of east Jerusalem do not afford them a proportional share of services. (..)
Having asked a lot of questions, I now believe garbage in east Jerusalem is frequently not collected to promote the left-wing pro-Oslo agenda.
Citing a basic imbalance in powers, two right-wing Knesset members have launched a legislative initiative aimed at curbing the Israeli Supreme Court‘s powers over the Knesset.
The Yedioth Ahronoth website reported on Sunday morning that the Israeli right-wing is introducing a series of laws during the Knesset‘s winter session primarily aiming to limit the power and influence of the Israeli Supreme Court, including preventing it from interfering in legislation after its recent decision regarding the illegality of a number of laws proposed by the right-wing, the most controversial being the law limiting the arrest and detainment of illegal African immigrants in Israel.
Wie das niederländische Außenministerium am Montag bekannt gab, hat die Regierung in Den Haag den Internationalen Seegerichtshof in Hamburg angerufen, um die Freilassung der dreißigköpfigen Besatzung der Arctic Sunrise zu erwirken. Das unter niederländischer Flagge fahrende Schiff war von russischen Behörden am 19. September beschlagnahmt und die Crew festgesetzt worden, nachdem Besatzungsmitglieder friedlich an einer Gazprom-Bohrinsel protestiert hatten.
Credited as a precursor and the partial model for what became the Occupy Movement in the U.S., the indignados in Spain have continued their organizing despite the end of mass encampments in the nation‘s city centers.
Last night, along with the bill reopening the government, the Senate confirmed Stephen W. Preston, the top lawyer at the C.I.A., to move to the Pentagon to serve in the same role there. The vote slipped by unnoticed by most, but on close inspection, it revealed previously unreleased documents that lift the lid on an unusual standoff between Congress and the Obama Administration’s C.I.A. At its core is a bitter disagreement over an apparently devastating, and still secret, report by the Senate Intelligence Committee documenting in detail how the C.I.A.’s brutalization of terror suspects during the Bush years was unnecessary, ineffective, and deceptively sold to Congress, the White House, the Justice Department, and the public.
So much attention concerning the intelligence community lately has been focused on the NSA. There has been a bit of looking at the FBI as well, but for the most part the CIA has been left untouched — even though when the Washington Post released details of the US‘s black budget (thanks to Ed Snowden), it surprised many people to discover that the CIA still has a significantly larger budget than the NSA.
In its weekly message, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood criticizes the West’s not-so-tacit support of the murderous military coup that trampled all democratic and constitutional principles and values.
We are saddened to see that, far from fulfilling their duty of care, the military backed authorities continue to turn a blind eye to deliberate acts of arson, vandalism and murder. This is a duty of care that every Egyptian has a right to expect regardless of creed or class.
It is painful to note that Beshay Lotfi, priest of Al-Warrak Church where the attack took place, confirms a total lack of police protection since the 30th of June.
Thousands of students from Egypt‘s al-Azhar University staged a third day of protests on Monday, in one of the boldest challenges to the army since it toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July.
A teacher who taped three of her students‘ mouths shut was cleared of abuse charges Monday by a court that ruled she was simply playing a kind of game.
INPS claims the pensioner received a cent in excess of what was owed her for the period beginning January 1, 1996 and ending December 31, 2000.
The registered letter also indicated „the possibility to pay reimbursement in installments“.
Italy‘s three main trade union confederations will hold strikes and protests against the government‘s 2014 budget plan, they said on Monday, piling more pressure on Enrico Letta‘s fragile coalition government.
The men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were arrested on October 13 in a car on an east London street by police officers who fired „Hatton rounds“, special shotgun rounds designed to burst vehicle tires or blow the hinges off doors. (..)
The details of the alleged offence cannot be published for legal reasons.
The ruling Awami League in 2011 scrapped a „caretaker government“ system – whereby neutral leaders take over three months before elections and oversee polls – and is now refusing to step down by October 24, as should have happened ahead of elections due to be held by January.
Dozens of activists demanding better social housing continued to camp out Monday in front of the Italian government‘s Infrastructure ministry, extending a string of protests that began on the weekend.
“The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology,” he said, according to Radio Vatican. “And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid.
Zu konstatieren ist das Verschwinden der Rechtspolitik, zu konstatieren ist das Verschwinden einer gestaltenden Innenpolitik. Der Rechtspolitik ergeht es wie der Donau im Oberlauf; die versickert zwischen Immendingen und Möhringen im wasserdurchlässigen Karstgestein. Das geschieht an durchschnittlich 150 Tagen im Jahr.