News aggregator

By Tim McSorley - September 3, 2010

Police continue to make arrests in relation to June's G20 protests in Toronto...The latest is 28-year-old Montreal resident Juan Lepore, who appeared in a Toronto court this morning on charges of mischief exceeding $5000, mischief endangering life, and assault.

read more

Before he started drawing thousands of viewers with YouTube stunts, a controversial Londoner sent shockwaves through the Internet with an entirely different type of video.

Saturday, September 4, 2010 - The Guardian/UK

DUBLIN - Violent skirmishes broke out between protesters and police at the first public signing for Tony Blair's memoirs, with shoes and eggs hurled at the former prime minister...Protesters shouted "Whose cops? Blair's cops!" as they taunted the gardai while Blair remained inside the bookshop. They also shouted: "Hey hey Tony hey, how many kids have you killed today?"

read more

The U.S. government punished Mexico on Friday for human rights abuses in its war against drug cartels, cutting $26 million from an upcoming $175 million aid payment and demanding that Mexican soldiers be tried in civilian courts.

HAVANA a ' Fidel Castro dusted off his full military uniform for the first time since stepping down as president four years ago, a symbolic act in a communist country where little signals often carry enormous significance.

A Colorado pollster has a new poll suggesting Lamontagne could be emerging as front-runner Kelly Ayotte's prime challenger in the Republican U.S. Senate primary race.

A Sacramento restaurant has agreed to stop serving live shrimp after an animal-rights group said the practice was cruel.

The flag of the United Nations, July 11, 2006. UNITED NATIONS a ' A U.S. human rights group urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to secure the release of a prominent Iranian journalist and activist who goes on trial Saturday on charges that carry the death penalty.

A U.S. human rights group urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to secure the release of a prominent Iranian journalist and activist who goes on trial Saturday on charges that carry the death penalty.

Mohammad Mostafaei specialized in defending Iranians under the age of 18 who have been sentenced to death.

Amnesty International is demanding Zimbabwean government take immediate action to protect 250 people who were forcibly evicted from their homes on 25 August.

His address to my graduating class inspired this article.

read more

By Lawrence Davidson - August 30, 2010

It is not the Palestinian national character that has been shaped by anti-semitism. Rather, it is the Israeli national character that has been shaped by a fear and loathing of all Arabs and Palestinians in particular. If you doubt this just go to Israel and keep your ears open. There you will find that too many of its Jewish citizens see Arabs as dirty, promiscuous, untrustworthy, and all the other things that we Americans once ascribed to Irishmen, Italians, Poles, African Americans, and the Jews as well.

read more

By MARGARET KIMBERLEY - September 2, 2010

In the same week in which the world was told about mass rapes taking place in the Congo, a report was released which detailed the prevalence of rape in prisons and jails across the United States. In 2008 and 2009, 88,500 adults held in jails and prisons reported being sexually assaulted. The rates of exploitation of juveniles is even higher...

read more

By John Pilger - September 03, 2010

...[T]he good news is that false realities often fail when the public trusts its own critical intelligence, not the media...For the rulers of the world, this is a conundrum, because their unaccountable power rests on the false reality that no popular resistance works. And it does.

read more

This is a question posed by multiple readers, and it's worth considering carefully.

It’s been a month since torrential rains triggered the worst floods in Pakistan’s recent history. Nearly 20 million people are homeless or hungry, with one million people displaced in the past week alone. The official death toll is at 1,760 but is expected to rise as survivors are threatened by diseases. Madiha Tahir, a freelance journalist in Pakistan, files a report from the Razzaqabad relief camp in Karachi. [includes rush transcript]

A new study shows the CEOs who fired the most workers during the economic recession have also taken home the highest pay. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the CEOs of the fifty corporations responsible for the worst layoffs were paid an average $12 million—42 percent more than the average for the Standard & Poor’s 500. [includes rush transcript]

It’s back-to-school season. As millions of children around the country begin a new school year, the Obama administration is aggressively moving forward on a number of education initiatives, from expanding charter schools to implementing new national academic standards. We talk to Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and Lois Weiner, a professor of education at New Jersey City University. [includes rush transcript]

Another oil and gas rig exploded yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico, renewing calls for the government to impose a ban on offshore oil drilling. The fire broke out on a rig operated by Mariner Energy Thursday morning about 100 miles south of the Louisiana coast. The rig was anchored in 340 feet of water, relatively shallow compared to the BP Deepwater Horizon, which exploded in April setting off the worst oil spill in US history. [includes rush transcript]