Common Dreams
Nato Afghan Bases Come Under Attack
Up to 30 Taliban-linked fighters, including suicide bombers, have attacked two Nato bases in Afghanistan's east.
At least 21 fighters were killed and four Nato soldiers wounded in the pre-dawn attacks on Saturday, officials told Al Jazeera.
The fighters launched the first attack on the Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost province near the southeastern border with Pakistan before moving on to occupy the nearby Camp Chapman.
Exodus as Floods Threaten More Pakistan Towns
THATTA, Pakistan - Hundreds of thousands of people were fleeing areas of southern Pakistan Saturday as rising floodwaters breached more defences and inundated towns.
For nearly a month torrential monsoon rains have triggered massive floods, moving steadily from north to south in Pakistan, affecting a fifth of the volatile country and 17 million of its 167 million people.
Chilcot Inquiry Accused of Fixating on West and Ignoring Real Victims
The Chilcot inquiry has "fixated" on decision-making in Whitehall and Washington, obsessed over the ''war at home" and given "derisory" attention to the plight of the main victims, the Iraq Body Count (IBC) claims today.
Study of Coal Ash Sites Finds Extensive Water Contamination
WASHINGTON — A study released on Thursday finds that 39 sites in 21 states where coal-fired power plants dump their coal ash are contaminating water with toxic metals such as arsenic and other pollutants, and that the problem is more extensive than previously estimated.
Obama Resists Pressure for Red Line on Iran's Nuclear Capability
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's refusal in a White House briefing earlier this month to announce a "red line" in regard to the Iran nuclear programme represented another in a series of rebuffs of pressure from Defence Secretary Robert Gates for statement that the United States will not accept its existing stocks of low enriched uranium.
The Obama rebuff climaxed a months-long internal debate between Obama and Gates over the "breakout capability" issue which surfaced in the news media last April.
Ninth Circuit: The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves (without a Warrant)
Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway - and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.
UN Security Council Urges Justice for Congo Rape Victims
UNITED NATIONS – An outraged UN Security Council called Thursday on the Democratic Republic of Congo to find and punish those behind a horrific mass rape in the war-torn east of the country.
The United Nations on Monday reported that at least 179 women and children had been raped between July 30 and August 3 in and around the town of Luvungi in Nord-Kivu province, where Rwandan Hutu rebels are active.
Is Fracking Even Worse Than Drilling?
NEW YORK - With cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico barely underway, energy companies are already assuming a crouching stance in anticipation of a no-holds-barred attack by environmentalists on what the industry says is the next major breakthrough in natural resource extraction.
The breakthrough is called fracking - short for hydraulic fracturing - the process of injecting water and chemicals into reservoirs to fracture rock and free up gas and oil.
Climate-Related Security Predictions Coming True in Pakistan
WASHINGTON - Analysts have been warning for several years that the impacts of climate change directly relate to the national security of the U.S. and other countries, but the link has never been so clear as it is today in northwest Pakistan.
The security implications of climate change first got official U.S. government attention this February, in the Quadrennial Defence Review, a four-yearly report from the Pentagon on the direction of national security strategy.
Anti-Latino Hate Crime is Spreading, Says Report
On the heels of a horrific anti-Muslim attack in New York City on Tuesday night, there’s new disturbing evidence that hate crimes are on the rise across the country for Latinos.
'Frankenfish' May Go on Sale in US After Public Consultation
US authorities today began the process to approve the first GM animal for human consumption.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a 60-day period of consultation and public meetings over whether to permit a GM strain of salmon to be eaten by humans, even though it has been called a "frankenfish" by critics. The approval process could take less than a year, and if it gets the green light the fish could be on the market in 18 months.
Atrazine Threat to Male Sexual Development Revealed
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina - Male rats exposed before birth to low doses of the weedkiller atrazine are more likely to develop prostate inflammation and to go through puberty later than non-exposed animals, finds a new study conducted by federal government scientists.
One of the most common agricultural herbicides in the United States, some 80 million pounds of atrazine are applied across the country every year to control broadleaf and grassy weeds in crops such as corn and sugar cane. It is the main ingredient in about 40 name-brand herbicides.
Social Security Cuts Threaten to Hurt Low-Income Americans More
This summer, Social Security - the government program that provides a steady check for seniors - turned 75. In Washington, lawmakers celebrated its platinum anniversary not with champagne, but with a heated argument over whether to reform the costly entitlement program by slashing benefits or raising the retirement age.
Women's Equality Day: Time for Constitutional Guarantee of Women's Rights
WASHINGTON - As students return to school this week, many will open their history books to learn that 90 years ago today women were given the right to vote when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was signed into law. The history books will explain how this event began to radically transform the role of women in our society. Today, women have more opportunities than ever before. For the first time, more women attend and graduate college than men, and women now make up half the workforce.
Calif. Hotel Walk-Off Strike Continues New Wave of Worker Militancy
The Embassy Suites hotel in Irvine, Calif., bears a number of similarities to workplaces around the country.
Like other workers around the country, employees there say they're getting squeezed. They're expected to do more with less: fewer supplies, fewer breaks, and less money. Like the vast majority of American workers, they're not unionized. Company-wide profits, however, seem to be doing okay.
Massacre Victims in Mexico Likely Migrants to US
SAN FERNANDO, Mexico – Seventy-two people found murdered on a ranch in northeast Mexico are believed to have been migrants bound for the United States, officials said, in one of the most horrific examples of Mexican violence in years.
Marines discovered the bodies of 58 men and 14 women after a clash with a suspected drug cartel in Tamaulipas state, which borders the US state of Texas.
A marine and three gunmen were also killed in the clash, the military said Wednesday.
Facing Prison for Filming US Police
When police arrested Anthony Graber for speeding on his motorbike, the 25-year-old probably did not see himself as an advocate for police accountability in the age of new media.
But Graber, a sergeant with the Maryland Air National Guard, is now facing 16 years in prison, not for dangerous driving, but for a Youtube video he posted after receiving a speeding ticket.
Glenn Beck Turns MLK’s Dream to Nightmare on Anniversary
August 28 marks the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and while crowds gather to celebrate the anniversary in Washington, DC, they’ll be joined by an unlikely visitor: Glenn Beck.
Shhhhhh! JSOC is Hiring Interrogators and Covert Operatives for 'Special Access Programs'
The US military's most elite counter-terrorism force, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), prides itself on the secrecy of its operations. JSOC runs classified, compartmentalized task forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere around the world. It has operated secret prisons and detention sites globally and is the premiere organization tasked with killing or capturing individuals deemed by the president to be threats to the national security of the United States.