North America

Filmmaker and environmentalist Josh Fox is to appear in court on 15 February on a charge of “unlawful entry” following his arrest in Congress on 1 February, when he was prevented from filming a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment on the grounds that he lacked press credentials.

Russia and China vetoed on Saturday a draft resolution on the crisis in Syria led by the Western powers who advocate regime change in that country. The resolution was approved by the other 13 members of the body (United States, France, Britain, Germany, Portugal, India, Colombia, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Togo and Azerbaijan).

Occupyface art by Paul-Felix Montez, a new face on the arts scene, providing a visual message for the Occupy movement world wide protestors. The proposal sees a 40-foot tall sculpture monument based on the artist’s art work designs. First, a half scale mock up is to be constructed and brought to downtown Manhattan for exhibition in 2012.

The deaths caused by the U.S. in Iraq are “untold” by the media, writes Danny Lucia.

Over a million Iraqis are dead from America’s war.

That sentence is a cognitive litmus test. Some people’s immediate reaction is, “That can’t be right,” because the United States couldn’t do that. Or because crimes on that scale don’t still happen.

Geneva – The UN human rights chief spoke out against “the failure by the United States to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and to ensure accountability for serious violations – including torture – that took place there.”

In his State of the Union address, many heard echoes of the Barack Obama of old, the presidential aspirant of 2007 and 2008. Among the populist pledges rolled out in the speech was tough talk against the too-big-to-fail banks that have funded his campaigns and for whom many of his key advisers have worked: “The rest of us are not bailing you out ever again,” he promised.

When an international commission headed by Willy Brandt drew attention to global economic interdependence in its report in 1980, the world was divided between rich North and poor South. More than 3 decades later, the IMF is asking what were until recently developing countries to help stave off the European financial crisis resulting in the global economy sinking like Titanic

In his last State of the Union speech before the November election, President Barack Obama defended his record addressing the financial crisis and called for greater economic fairness. He warned that Wall Street would no longer be allowed to play by its own set of rules. But the bulk of the speech dealt with the economy.

Responding to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader says President Obama’s criticism of income inequality and Wall Street excess fail to live up to his record in office. “[Barack Obama] says one thing and does another,” Nader says.

No time is more appropriate than now to build the culture of peace. No social responsibility is greater nor task more significant than that of securing peace on our planet on a sustainable foundation. Today’s world with its complexities and challenges is becoming increasingly more interdependent and interconnected. The sheer magnitude of it requires all of us to work together