31 January 2014 — Corpwatch Holding Corporations Accountable
Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank, is being sued in London for selling Libya “worthless” derivatives trades in 2008 that the country’s financial managers did not understand. Libya says it lost approximately $1.2 billion on the deals, while Goldman made $350 million.
16 January 2014 — Boston Review
Across the country from Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, miles of decrepit pot-holed streets give way to a smooth roadway leading up to the gates of the Caracol Industrial Park, but no further. The fishing hamlet of Caracol, from which the park gets its name, lies around the bend down a bumpy dirt road. Four years after the earthquake that destroyed the country on January 12, 2010, the Caracol Industrial Park is the flagship reconstruction project of the international community in Haiti. Signs adorn nearby roads, mostly in English, declaring the region “Open for Business.” In a dusty field, hundreds of empty, brightly colored houses are under construction in neat rows. If all goes as hoped for by the enthusiastic backers of the industrial park, this area could be home to as many as 300,000 additional residents over the next decade.
31 January 2014 — WashingtonsBlog
Newly-released documents from Edward Snowden show that the NSA and other spy agencies are tracking people’s psychological and lifestyle traits such as sexual preference, extroversion-versus-introversion, and whether people are leaders or followers. See this and this. Continue reading
29 January 2014 — OurNHS
As Davos trade negotiators announced they would ‘consult’ over one part of the controversial deal, the TUC met them to ask if the deal would really benefit ordinary people – or just offer up our public services to multinational investors.
31 January 2014 — OurNHS
‘Integrated health and social care’ should mean a focus on wellbeing – not an excuse for cuts and squeezing more ‘productivity’ from the low paid and unpaid. Continue reading
31 January 2014 — WSWS
Simon Stevens is set to take over as chief executive of National Health Service (NHS) England in April 2014.
Underscoring the orientation toward privatisation of healthcare during his tenure, Stevens has called for the “opening up” of the NHS and “reshaping our care system”. He wants to “draw back the veil between what those of us working inside health know about it and what the people on the receiving end… get to see”.
31 January 2014 — WSWS
On Thursday afternoon, United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced that federal authorities will seek the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if he is found guilty of the Boston Marathon bombing last April.
30 January 2014 — VTJP
Peace, Love and Occupation? Tell Ben & Jerry’s to Stop its Complicity with the Israeli Occupation!
News
International Middle East Media Center
Israeli Forces Demolish Entire Village In Jordan Valley
IMEMC – [Thursday Evening, January 30, 2014] The Israeli army demolished, on Thursday, at least 50 structures, including residences, displacing 13 families in the northern Jordan Valley, as a result , according to a local official. …
Continue reading
30 January 2014 — WSWS
The United Kingdom’s opposition Labour Party has pledged to introduce laws to enforce “tough” fiscal rules if it wins the election in 2015.
30 January 2014 — Voice of Russia and Stop NATO
The situation in Ukraine is a fluid one and changing by the hour. Although it had appeared that there was a resolution to the protests that had broken out after the government of Ukraine had made the sovereign decision of sticking with Russia and saying no to closer European Union integration, excessive violence from the western backed opposition has spread like a wave throughout the country.
29 January 2014 — VTJP
Peace, Love and Occupation? Tell Ben & Jerry’s to Stop its Complicity with the Israeli Occupation!
News
International Middle East Media Center
Jerusalemite Prisoner Announces Open-ended Hunger Strike
IMEMC – Jerusalemite Ubaida Asaid, age 16, has begun an open-ended hunger strike to protest against transferring him to Ofek criminal jail. …
Continue reading
29 January 2014 — Black Agenda Report
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Before the nation and the world, President Obama pledges to take “action” against “economic inequality,” while simultaneously holding secret negotiations on a Trans Pacific Partnership trade scheme that will quicken the pace of the global Race to the Bottom, deepening economic inequalities. “Lies of omission are even more despicable than the overt variety, because they hide.” Continue reading
29 January 2014 — Unlock Democracy
I am writing to update you on the campaign to fix the Lobbying Bill and to thank you for your support during our campaign. As you may have heard, the Bill has progressed through its final stages and will now become law. On Wednesday, the House of Lords narrowly voted to reject the amendments we had been pushing to fix the Bill; one amendment fell on a tied vote – 245-245.
28 January 2014 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Clashes Reported In al-Azza Refugee Camp In Bethlehem
IMEMC – Soldiers Place Sand Barrier On Road Near Beit Ummar [Tuesday Evening, January 28, 2014] Dozens of Israeli soldiers attempted to invade the al-Azza refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and clashed with local youths. Palestinian kidnapped in Deheisha refugee camp. …
Continue reading
28 January 2914 — Mondoweiss
From Ferrari Sheppard’s website Stop Being Famous:
Up-and-coming Pittsburgh Emcee Jasiri X releases “Checkpoint,” a chilling music video documenting his experience visiting Palestine in 2014. The video features footage Jasiri himself captured of Israeli soldiers, as well as newsreel clips of IDF brutality against Palestinians and internationals. Watch closely, Ferrari Sheppard of Stop Being Famous has cameo in this powerful video.
Share and Enjoy. Continue reading
29 January 2014 — Links • International Journal of Socialist Renewal
Salih Muslim, president of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, interviewed by Thomas Schmidinger
Salih Muslim shares the presidency of the Democratic Union Party (Partiya Yekitîya Demokrat, PYD) with Asya Abdullah. The PYD is a sister party of the Kurdistan Workers Party PKK and shares the same ideological background as its leader Abdullah Öcalan. The party is the ruling force in the Kurdish areas of Syria and took over three enclaves with Kurdish majorities in 2012.
28 January 2014 — SACSIS
The decision of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) to cut ties with the African National Congress (ANC) has received poor analysis. Comment has tended to focus on the possibility of a new political party in 2019 or whether all this means that Zwelenzima Vavi will get his job back. As such, the greater significance of the biggest trade union in the country throwing in its lot with a growing movement in opposition to the neo-liberal order, and thus to the left of the ANC, rather than the line up to the right (which includes the newly merged Agang and Democratic Alliance who want more of the same), is being missed.
28 January 2014 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Clashes Reported In al-Azza Refugee Camp In Bethlehem
IMEMC – Soldiers Place Sand Barrier On Road Near Beit Ummar [Tuesday Evening, January 28, 2014] Dozens of Israeli soldiers attempted to invade the al-Azza refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and clashed with local youths. Palestinian kidnapped in Deheisha refugee camp. …
Continue reading
28 January 2014 — The Register
28 January 2014 — RT
Protests in Ukraine, turning more violent day by day, are rapidly spreading from Kiev to the most populous and traditionally trouble-free industrial regions. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 