by Vandana Shiva
Source: Project Syndicate
NEW DELHI – An epidemic of farmers’ suicides has spread across four Indian states – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Punjab – over the last decade. According to official data, more than 160,000 farmers have committed suicide in India since 1997.
These suicides are most frequent where farmers grow cotton, and appear [...]
May 11, 2009
India: Harvest of Suicides
May 11, 2009
Ugly truth about foreign aid in Afghanistan…
Exorbitant sums of international aid to Afghanistan are being lavished by Western aid agencies on their own officials in the conflict-stricken country.
“In the United States, Britain, and other countries, people work and taxpayers pay money that goes to help Afghanistan to build roads, dams, and electricity lines,” Ramazan Bashardost, an Afghan parliament member and former [...]
May 11, 2009
US soldier has shot dead five of his colleagues at a base in the Iraqi capital Baghdad…
Two other people were hurt in the shootings and the gunman is in custody, Pentagon officials have said.
An earlier military statement said the incident happened at Camp Liberty near Baghdad’s international airport at about 1400 (1100 GMT).
It reportedly occurred at a clinic where troops receive help for personal issues or combat stress.
It is not the [...]
May 11, 2009
White House: Budget deficit to top $1.8 trillion, 4 times 2008’s record…
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year.
The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion — about four times the record set [...]
May 11, 2009
After US Strikes, Afghans Describe “Tractor Trailers Full of Pieces of Human Bodies”…
As President Barack Obama prepares to send some 21,000 more US troops into Afghanistan, anger is rising in the western province of Farah, the scene of a US bombing massacre that may have killed as many as 130 Afghans, including 13 members of one family. At least six houses were bombed and among the dead [...]
May 11, 2009
Civilians pay price of war from above…
by Robert Fisk
Source: independent.co.uk
Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as “human shields” by the Taliban and we shall say that we “deeply regret” innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it’s all the fault [...]
May 11, 2009
Israel shuts down Palestinian press center ahead of pope’s Jerusalem visit…
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli police and intelligence forces raided the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem early on Monday morning, shutting down in advance a Palestinian Media Center planned in advance of the pope’s visit to Jerusalem.
The Israelis handed the management of the hotel an order signed by the Israeli internal security minister closing off [...]
May 11, 2009
US Aid to Israel to Continue despite Financial Crisis…
Despite the deep financial crisis in the United States, Washington has no plans to halt its foreign aid. The American administration recently asked the Congress to approve the full security aid to Israel, which stands at $2.775 billion, as part of the 2010 budget plan.
Outgoing Israeli Ambassador to Washington Salai Meridor expressed his appreciation Saturday [...]
May 11, 2009
US military: 44 Afghan cases of white phosphorus…
The U.S. military accused militants in Afghanistan on Monday of using white phosphorus munitions in attacks on American forces and in civilian areas, saying it has documented at least 44 incidents of insurgents using or storing the weapons. A spokeswoman labeled the attacks “reprehensible.”
White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable material that leaves severe chemical burns [...]
May 11, 2009
US terror suspects subjected to sleep deprivation…
More than 25 of the CIA’s war-on-terror prisoners were subjected to sleep deprivation during the administration of former president George W. Bush, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Citing memoranda made public by the Justice Department, the newspaper said that at one point, the Central Intelligence Agency was allowed to keep prisoners awake for as long as [...]
