Hard News
16 killed in intense Syria shelling: UN is expected to send a special envoy to deliver humanitarian aid, Russia says
Libya 2.0:
U.S. 'May Have To Consider Additional Measures' To End Bloodshed: The United States says it will consider taking "additional measures" to end the bloodshed in Syria if an international outcry and a strengthened sanctions regime do not convince the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its crackdown on the opposition. http://bit.ly/yDIOOu
Russia: 'We won't go to Syria summit': Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the meeting in Tunisia "looks like an attempt to forge some kind of international coalition as it was with the setting-up of a 'contact group' for Libya." http://bit.ly/AcKGY0
Fact or fiction? No Iranian ships docked in Syrian port-Pentagon: The Pentagon said on Tuesday it had no indication that Iranian ships had docked in Syria over the weekend, contrary to an account by Iran's state-run media. http://reut.rs/zqmz4O
Iran: We Will Make Pre-emptive Strike If Threatened: "Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran's national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions," Mohammad Hejazi told Fars news agency. http://bit.ly/wEwjQy
Analysts warn oil could pass $200 on Iran tensions: Oil hit a nine-month high yesterday, peaking at around $124, spurred by supply problems in South Sudan, Libya and Yemen as well as the escalating concern over disruption in Iran. http://bit.ly/Ac7pRd
Iran is "winning" on Western oil sanctions - Vitol: An increase in world oil prices has more than compensated Iran for revenues lost to lower crude exports because of sanctions imposed by the West, the head of the world's leading oil trader said on Tuesday. http://yhoo.it/ArUSZx
Oil Embargo Sends US Gas Prices Soaring: Forecasters at GasBuddy.com predict the price may be on its way to $5 a gallon by Memorial Day weekend. http://bit.ly/AC9G6i
Israel: Public U.S. objections to military attack serve Iran's interests: Netanyahu, Barak, senior officials make their displeasure known to national security adviser during visit to Israel. http://bit.ly/A4zlD7
NATO Says 3 Service Members Killed in Roadside Bombing in Southern Afghanistan http://abcn.ws/AgDFHx
2 Albanian occupation force soldiers shot dead in Afghanistan: Suspected Afghan police opened fire on Albanian and other foreign troops in the war-wracked country's south Monday, killing two Albanian soldiers and prompting the arrest of 11 Afghan policemen, authorities said. http://bit.ly/AdoL4Q
Afghanistan to Spy on Its Soldiers: Afghanistan is rolling out an ambitious plan to spy on its own soldiers, the most serious attempt so far to halt a string of attacks by Afghan troops on their Western comrades-in-arms, according to Afghan and American military leaders. http://on.wsj.com/zrzvdu
'Quran burning' triggers Afghan protests: Top NATO commander apologises and orders investigation into reported incident as protesters besiege Bagram airbase. http://aje.me/yTbKI3
Bagram prisoner's bid for freedom rebuffed in UK: Britain's Court of Appeal has accepted that the government has been unable to comply with an order to obtain the release of a Pakistani man from a U.S. military prison in Afghanistan because "the Americans are not going to play ball." http://bit.ly/A5Cdyh
Arab League condemns Netanyahu''s wish of "death to all Arabs" remarks: - The Arab League Monday condemned a phrase posted in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's facebook page in which he wished death to all Arabs, following a school bus accident that killed 10 children and injured 40 others. http://bit.ly/AAUi79
Saudi Arabia vows 'iron fist' to end violence: The Sunni Muslim kingdom has accused an unnamed foreign power, widely understood to mean Shiite Iran, of backing attacks on its forces in the Eastern Province. http://bit.ly/x09WcS
Libyan leader acknowledges government is powerless to control militias: Abdul-Jalil said the governing National Transitional Council has made mistakes, but he also criticized former rebels who have formed powerful militias and local governments that have emerged as rivals to the Tripoli-based central government that assumed power after Gadhafi was ousted. http://wapo.st/yuIJW0
Elections in Libya's Misrata show a splintered nation: Libya is splintering into largely autonomous city-states, with powerful local militias and emerging local governments that at best have loose ties to the Tripoli-based central government known as the National Transitional Council. http://bit.ly/w0PnTx
Libya: Displaced People Barred from Homes: Authorities in and around Misrata are preventing thousands of people from returning to the villages of Tomina and Kararim and have failed to stop local militias from looting and burning homes there, Human Rights Watch said today. http://bit.ly/wGAbyv
FBI Tries To Coax Muslim Into Bombing US Capitol : Video report http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1sYlW5al_4
Drones come to the US: A little-noted amendment to a $63 billion Federal Aviation Authority appropriations bill has ominous implications for democratic rights in the United States. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f21.shtml
Owe IRS Taxes, Lose Your Passport: This is only a proposed law and only for those owing more than $50,000 to the IRS. Another proposal is to make the Thrift Savings Fund accounts federal employees have-currently exempt from IRS levies-fair game. Both proposals are from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). See Hatch's Memo to Reporters & Editors http://onforb.es/zY9McI
"Let us be peace and joy"
Tom Feeley |