The world’s richest people added a combined $21.4 billion to their collective net worth this week as the wealth gap between billionaire Carlos Slim and Eike Batista widened to more than $50 billion. Batista’s net worth fell $4 billion. Shares… Read More ›
International
Translations, Party Statements, and News from Around the World.
Why Washington and Moscow want a backroom deal over Syria
The scene is set for a Clinton-Lavrov meeting that could still ring the death knell for the Assad regime Months of futile diplomatic tussling, UN deadlock and finger-pointing over Syria have boiled down to a dramatic, last-ditch effort this weekend… Read More ›
Is Turkey moving toward ‘hard power’ over Syria?
The downing of a Turkish jet over the Mediterranean last Friday by a Syrian missile took Turkish-Syrian tensions to a new level. Though the Turkish government did not declare war as some expected, and others feared, it did declare Syria… Read More ›
Kim Dotcom judge rules Megaupload founder mansion raid was illegal
New Zealand police ‘exceeded authority’ when storming home of Megaupload founder, who US wants to extradite by Toby Manhire Attempts to extradite internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom to the US have suffered a further setback, with a ruling in the New… Read More ›
Troops have withdrawn from Iraq, but U.S. money hasn’t
By Walter Pincus The State Department is planning to spend up to $115 million to upgrade the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, already its biggest and most expensive in the world, according to pre-solicitation notices published this month. Remember, it… Read More ›
Uganda’s Oil: A Bonanza Beckons
Hope and peril for the Great Lakes A DETERMINED push by Western wildcatters and big oil companies from fast-growing Asian economies such as those of China and Malaysia may change the fortunes of several countries in remoter and trickier bits… Read More ›
Deadly Drone Strike on Muslims in the Southern Philippines
Marking the first time the weapon has been used in Southeast Asia Early last month, Tausug villagers on the Southern Philippine island of Jolo heard a buzzing sound not heard before. It is a sound familiar to the people of… Read More ›
Is the US Poised to Regain Control of Latin America with Regional Proxy Wars Through Colombia?
The Summit of the Americas, Drug Legalization, ‘Asymmetric’ Relations & Security Cooperation by ANNIE BIRD The Summits of the Americas began in 1994 as forums to promote free trade. In 2009 the Summit’s focus shifted to demands for the inclusion… Read More ›
Michael Parenti: U.S. Aggression & Propaganda Against Cuba
Why the unrelieved U.S. antagonism toward Cuba? by Michael Parenti In recent times, U.S.-Cuban relations have gone from bad to worse. Under the Administration of George W. Bush, the U.S. boycott has been more stringently imposed. Anti-government agitation within Cuba… Read More ›
Lost in Translation: Did Iran’s President Call for Israel to be “Wiped Off the Map?”
Experts confirm that Iran’s president did not call for Israel to be ‘wiped off the map’. Reports that he did serve to strengthen western hawks. by Jonathan Steele My recent comment piece explaining how Iran’s president was badly misquoted when… Read More ›
Election apocalypse: Greeks hoard canned food
NERVOUS Greeks are withdrawing up to 800 million euros ($1.01 billion) a day and stocking up on canned food as they fear the country will be forced to leave the eurozone after this Sunday’s election. Greek citizens fear the ramifications… Read More ›
Egypt’s Elections in Turmoil After Rulings Boost Military
By CHARLES LEVINSON And MATT BRADLEY CAIRO—Egypt’s 16-month transition toward democracy was thrust into turmoil just two days before the country’s historic presidential election, as the country’s highest court dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament and its top generals took over legislative… Read More ›
Egypt supreme court calls for parliament to be dissolved
Egypt’s supreme court has caused widespread alarm by calling for the dissolution of the lower house of parliament and for fresh elections. Two days before Egyptians choose a new president, it has declared last year’s parliamentary vote unconstitutional. Muslim Brotherhood… Read More ›
US expands ‘shadow war’ in Africa with spy planes, report says
By Dylan Stableford The U.S. military is expanding its intelligence-gathering operations across Africa, the Washington Post reports, mainly using small, unarmed planes “equipped with hidden sensors that can record full-motion video, track infrared heat patterns, and vacuum up radio and… Read More ›
Tunisian court sentences Ben Ali to life in prison
A Tunisian military court has sentenced Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to life in prison for the killings of protesters during last year’s popular revolution that ousted the longtime dictator. The verdict was handed down in absentia on Wednesday after… Read More ›