Democracy Now!

The Obama administration has reportedly finalized a $60 billion deal to sell advanced military aircraft to Saudi Arabia. It would be the largest-ever single arms deal in US history. State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley declined to confirm the plans until the White House submits the deal for congressional approval.

President Barack Obama is preparing to officially declare the end of US combat operations in Iraq seven-and-a-half years after the US invasion. Barack Obama will make the announcement in a nationally televised speech tonight from the Oval Office. He gave a preview of his speech in his weekly radio address over the weekend.

Federal authorities have launched an investigation into a fire set at the site of a future Islamic center and mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, thirty-five miles outside of Nashville. The apparent arson destroyed an earth mover and damaged three other vehicles. The equipment was reportedly doused with gasoline and set on fire on Friday night or early Saturday morning.

In Pakistan, it has been a month since torrential monsoon rains triggered the country’s worst natural disaster on record. As many as 20 million people have been left homeless due to the massive flooding. UN officials say an estimated 72,000 children in flood-affected areas are at high risk of death because of severe malnutrition.

The United Nations says the number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan has now exceeded 13 million which is more than the combined total of people affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined, though the death toll in Pakistan is far lower.

Former CIA director Michael Hayden said Sunday the chances the US will attack Iran are increasing. Hayden made the comment in an interview on CNN.
Candy Crowley: “If it should, is there any alternative to taking out their facilities?”
Michael Hayden: “It seems inexorable, doesn’t it? We engage, they continue to move forward.”

In Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Israel’s Foreign Minister has dismissed the prospect of Palestinian statehood within the next two years, by 2012. Avigdor Lieberman made the comment to reporters in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is due in Washington next week for talks with President Obama.

Police in Toronto arrested over six hundred protesters taking part in demonstrations against the G20 global economic summit. Many of the arrests occurred on Sunday when police raided a University of Toronto building housing protesters. Amnesty International has called for an independent probe into the police crackdown.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, hundreds of people streamed through Kinshasa on Saturday for the funeral of Floribert Chebeya, one of Congo’s top human rights activists. Chebeya was found dead in his car two weeks ago after being summoned to meet the chief of the national police. Supporters of Chebeya have called for an independent probe into his death.

The Israeli military has announced that it will conduct its own internal investigation into last week’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turkish passengers dead. Israel has rejected calls for an international tribunal. On Monday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there should be an international presence in the inquiry.