Leila Fadel, Baghdad Bureau Chief of McClatchy Newspapers speaks to Paul Jay about the recent escalation in violence in Iraq’s capital. She says the former fighters termed the “Sons of Iraq” who have turned on al- Qaeda and joined the US are now being persecuted by the Iraq government. She says the Maliki government is afraid of the power they’ve accumulated in the neighborhoods they were put to protect by the US and many are now in exile or in [...] [...more]
A dispute over mice that don’t wear pants is headed court.
The Jackson Laboratory in Maine and a Japanese company are involved in a dispute over a specialized strain of mice used by researchers.
The Central Institute for Experimental Animals, based in Kawasaki, Japan, is suing The Jackson Laboratory for patent infringement in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The Japanese company accuses the Jackson Lab of producing and marketing a strain of immunodeficient mice that was patented and trademarked in the United [...] [...more]
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery will alter the text on a sign next to a new painting of President Bush in order to accurately reflect that fact that there was no connection between the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and the war in Iraq.
The change came in response to a request from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who asked curators at the gallery to alter the wording posted with the painting went on display December 19 [...] [...more]
Scientists have issued a new warning about climate change after discovering a sudden and dramatic collapse in the amount of carbon emissions absorbed by the Sea of Japan.
The shift has alarmed experts, who blame global warming.
The world’s oceans soak up about 11bn tons of human carbon dioxide pollution each year, about a quarter of all produced, and even a slight weakening of this natural process would leave significantly more CO2 in the atmosphere. That would require countries to adopt stricter [...] [...more]
Parash Hill, a nature reserve in southern Israel, is a great spot for a picnic. With lush green fields and a view all the way to the Mediterranean, it is a serene and picturesque place where residents of Sderot come to quietly enjoy nature. But in a nation obsessed with the glories of its latest military adventure, Parash Hill is now a place for Israelis to gather and watch the death unfold.
They come with binoculars. They bring their families and [...] [...more]
First, it took the animals. Goats fell silent and refused to stand up. Chickens died in handfuls, then en mass. Street dogs disappeared.
Then it took the children. Toddlers stopped talking and their legs gave out. Women birthed stillborns. Infants withered and died. Some said the houses were cursed. Others said the families were cursed.
The mysterious illness killed 18 children in this town on the fringes of Dakar, Senegal’s capital, before anyone in the outside world noticed.
When they did – when [...] [...more]
Nathan Hodges at Wired.com has been tracking arms shipments from the U.S. to Israel and reports that the U.S. Sealift Command is currently looking for two ships to take ammunition from a storage area in Greece to Israel.
He also reports on the sale and shipment of high tech weaponry to the IDF just prior to the launching of the attacks on Gaza.
Link is here.
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George W. Bush late Friday asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate whether hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters in the battleground state of Ohio would have to verify the information on their voter registration forms or be given provisional ballots, an issue the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on last week.
The unprecedented intervention by the White House less than two weeks before the presidential election may result in at least 200,000 voters in Ohio not being able to [...] [...more]
Music beds by Kat Epple
www.KatEpple.com
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