Common Dreams
Campaign Finance Reformers Facing Major Political, Legal Obstacles
This has not been a kind year for campaign finance reformers.
Setting aside the now-famous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling from the Supreme Court, which allowed corporations and unions to spend freely on campaign advertisements, there has been a flurry of challenges to other campaign finance laws in the courts.
Sweden Reopens Investigation Into Rape Claim Against Julian Assange
STOCKHOLM -- A senior Swedish prosecutor reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday, the latest twist to a puzzling case in which prosecutors of different ranks have overruled each other.
Assange has denied the allegations and suggested they are part of a smear campaign by opponents of WikiLeaks - an online whistle-blower that has angered Washington by publishing thousands of leaked documents about U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army Downplays Depleted Uranium Risk on Hawaiian Island
The Army said yesterday that the results of a depleted uranium study at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island show radiological doses "well within limits" considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Army studied the potential health risk posed by residual DU in Pohakuloa areas where past and current weapons firing has taken place.
'Triple Threat' Looms Over Pakistan
The World Food Programme has warned that flood-ravaged Pakistan faces a "triple threat" after the worst disaster in the country's history left eight million people dependent on aid to survive.
Torrential rains triggered massive floods that have moved steadily from north to south over the past month, engulfing a fifth of the country and affecting 17 million of Pakistan's 167 million people.
US Drones Will Patrol Entire Southern Border
WASHINGTON - The US will today send another Predator drone on patrol flights along its border with Mexico, allowing authorities for the first time to monitor the entire frontier with the unmanned aircraft.
National Guardsmen will also arrive at the border this week as part of the Obama administration's plan to strengthen security and combat smuggling.
Farewell to Iraq, but No Talk of Mission Accomplished
Barack Obama last night brought down a curtain on the long, costly and inconclusive war in Iraq, but amid near indifference from a country now worried about the economy to the exclusion of virtually all else.
"It is time to turn the page," the President declared in a prime-time address from the Oval Office - only the second of its kind since he took power in January 2009. "Ending this war is not only in Iraq's interest, it is in our own," he argued. "The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people."
On Eve of Peace Talks, Four Israelis Killed in Occupied West Bank
The military wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for a shooting that killed four Israelis near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
At least one gunman opened fire on a car driving on Highway 60 near the Kiryat Arba settlement on Tuesday.
The
Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, claimed
responsibility for the attack in a short statement posted on its
website, and said it would be the first in a "series of operations" in
the West Bank.
Secret 'Kill Lists' Fly in the Face of US and Int'l Law
NEW YORK -
Two of the nation's most influential human rights organisations have
filed a lawsuit challenging the government's authority to carry out
"targeted killings" of U.S. citizens located far from any armed
conflict zone.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for
Constitutional Rights (CCR) charge that the authority contemplated by
the Obama administration is far broader than what the Constitution and
international law allow.
Afghanistan Bomb Attacks Kill Twenty-One US Soldiers in 48 hours
A series of bomb attacks have badly hit US troops in eastern and southern Afghanistan in the past 48 hours.
The death toll among in the Nato-led coalition has reached 484 this year and is predicted to far surpass 2009's total of 521.
Deaths have risen consistently each year since 2001. Afghan police and civilians have suffered far higher casualties.
The coalition blames the rise in troop deaths partly on the influx of reinforcements, which is allowing commanders to target previously untouched insurgent safe havens where rebels are mounting stiff resistance.
Oilsands Operations Boosting Toxic Metals in Northern Watershed: Study
EDMONTON — Canada's oilsands industry is polluting northern waters with toxic concentrations of metals, according to a study released Monday.
The new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that national or provincial guidelines for the protection of aquatic life were exceeded for seven metals considered toxic in low concentrations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, silver and zinc — in the Athabasca River watershed in northern Alberta.
Why Failure of Climate Summit Would Herald Global Catastrophe: 3.5°
The world is heading for the next major climate change conference in Cancun later this year on course for global warming of up to 3.5C in the coming century, a series of scientific analyses suggest. The failure of last December's UN climate summit in Copenhagen means that cuts in carbon emissions pledged by the international community will not be enough to keep the anticipated warming within safe limits.
Greenpeace 'Shuts Down' Arctic Oil Rig
Greenpeace claims to have shut down offshore drilling by a British oil company at a controversial site in the Arctic after four climbers began an occupation of the rig just after dawn.
The environment campaigners said the four protesters evaded a small flotilla of armed Danish navy and police boats which have been guarding the rigs in Baffin Bay off Greenland since the Greenpeace protest ship Esperanza arrived last week.
US Homeowners Flock to Florida Event in Desperate Bid to Save Properties
In the pre-dawn darkness of a steamy night of sub-tropical rain, a queue of anxious, soggy people snakes around the palm trees outside a cavernous Florida convention centre. Some have erected camp beds or makeshift tents. All clutch sheaves of mortgage documents.
Iraq Withdrawal: Amid Heat and Broken Promises, Only the Ice Man Cometh
On a pot-holed backstreet in eastern Baghdad, Saad Turki is sweltering under a corrugated tin roof, manning a giant pulley. The grime of yet another merciless summer day has stained his shirt ochre and he is parched from the rigour of a Ramadan fast.
Media Didn't Buy Petraeus Command's Story of Low Taliban Morale
WASHINGTON - In an effort to introduce a story of "progress" into media coverage, Gen. David Petraeus's command claimed last week that the Taliban is suffering from reduced morale in Marjah and elsewhere, despite evidence that the population of Marjah still believes the Taliban controls that district.
But the news media ignored the command's handout on the story, which did not quote Petraeus.
Can Our Schools Run on Duncan?
When President Barack Obama announced that his choice for Secretary of Education was Arne Duncan, chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools, he extolled his basketball buddy as a pragmatic, successful school reformer.
Rights Groups File Challenge to Targeted Killing by US
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today filed a lawsuit challenging the government's asserted authority to carry out "targeted killings" of U.S. citizens located far from any armed conflict zone.
Economists Agree: Stimulus Created Nearly 3 Million Jobs
Amid mounting signs that the economic recovery is faltering, one potential remedy seems out of the question: a booster shot of government spending.
The White House says the multiyear $814 billion stimulus program passed by Congress in 2009 boosted employment by 2.5 million to 3.6 million jobs and raised the nation's annual economic output by almost $400 billion. A recent study by two prominent economists generally agrees, crediting the pump-priming with averting "what could have been called Great Depression 2.0."
US Military Loses Control Of Subcontractor Spending, Warlords Benefit
This piece is a collaboration between the Huffington Post Investigative Fund and the Center for Public Integrity.
When federal investigators discovered that the manager of a Saudi Arabian company paid bribes to win two lucrative subcontracts supplying food to American troops in Iraq, they naturally wanted to know more. Did he act on his own? Had U.S. taxpayers been cheated?
Muslims See Murfreesboro Mosque Fire as Sign of Hate
MURFREESBORO - Bassma Fathy stood at the edge of a leveled lot where four construction vehicles used to break ground for an Islamic mosque were vandalized and one was set afire early Saturday morning.
Murfreesboro is the only home Fathy has ever known. She said she grew up with curiosity and questions about her Islamic faith, but this is the first time she has seen hatred.