International

U.S. Vice President Biden has reaffirmed a U.S. pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Biden met top officials in Baghdad for the first time since Iraqi lawmakers agreed on a new government last year. Biden says he told the Iraqi government the U.S. is committed to meeting a status of forces agreement that calls for a full U.S. withdrawal this year.

Pinagpalang Kamay Association or PKAI is an NGO formed by Ms. Mina Tecson to aid two communities in need, one a poverty-stricken community in Payatas on the outskirts of Quezon City, and the other a home for abandoned physically and mentally ill children residing at Cottolengo Filipino, Montalban Rizal, quite nearby. I toured both in December 2010.

President Barack Obama signed a slew of bills into law during the lame-duck session of Congress, and was dubbed the “Comeback Kid” amid a flurry of fawning press reports.
In the hail of this surprise bipartisanship, though, the one issue over which Democrats and Republicans always agree, war, was completely ignored.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, now free on bail in the UK, believes his extradition to USA is politically impossible because he is at risk of being killed there.

Assange told The Guardian newspaper it would be unlikely for British authorities to hand him over to the United States if he has public support in the UK.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he believes the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-III) will be the cornerstone of the world’s security for the next decade.
“I also think that U.S. President, Barack Obama, did a good job when accomplishing the ratification of the START-III in the Senate,” Medvedev said at a Friday press conference.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains in a London jail after Swedish officials challenged a British court decision to release him on bail.
Julian Assange has been detained since last week, when he was arrested in London, United Kingdom, on an international warrant to face supposed sexual crime allegations in Sweden.

*I am looking at the families that have been affected by the violence. Especially those families like ours whose members have been killed or detained or tortured. I want to focus on what happens with these families, especially of the children, for the restoration of peace in the family, the restoration of peace in the communities.
*

Critical negotiations are under way here in Cancun, under the auspices of the United Nations, to reverse human-induced global warming. This is the first major meeting since the failed Copenhagen summit last year, and it is happening at the end of the hottest decade on record. While the stakes are high, expectations are low, … read more.

The massive campaign of intimidation against WikiLeaks is sending a chill through free press advocates everywhere.

Legal experts say WikiLeaks has likely broken no laws. Yet top US politicians have called it a terrorist group and commentators have urged assassination of its staff. Avaaz is organizing a massive campaign to defend Wikileaks.

*The second-last tranch of entrants into the School of Silo took place at the 20 Parks of Study and Reflection, 4 December, 2010. It was a simple procedure. People came and went. There were group discussions and parties were held. The collective conscious life of a relative few was substantially augmented to the betterment of the general human condition.*