News Articles

Spanish Indignados Return to Their Squares

Ter Garcia, Waging Nonviolence — 2012-05-16T17:17:00-04:00

Garcia writes: "The day of action on May 12 this year exceeded the expectations of many people who thought the 15M movement was dead, who didn't recognize that it had only moved to neighborhood assemblies."

Spanish protesters fill up the Puerta del Sol square during a protest marking the one year anniversary of Spain's Indignados movement. (photo: Paul Hanna)

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Urgent Request for UN Intervention to Stabilize Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Nuclear Fuel

Shut Tomari, Green Action — 2012-05-02T12:13:00-04:00

Excerpt: "We Japanese civil organizations express our deepest concern that our government does not inform its citizens about the extent of risk of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. It is imperative for the Japanese government and the international community to work together on this crisis before it becomes too late. We are appealing to the United Nations to help Japan and the planet in order to prevent the irreversible consequences of a catastrophe that could affect generations to come."

The fourth reactor at Fukushima on February 20, 2012. The yellow area is the containment vessel. (photo: The Asahi Shimbum Digital)

A coalition of Japanese civil organizations and leading nuclear expert Robert Alvarez Senior, Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, along with Hiroaki Koide Kyoto University Nuclear Reactor Research Institute, Mitsuhei Murata, former ambassador to Switzerland and to Senegal, board member, Global System and Ethics Society (Japan), and Akio Matsumura, former United Nations diplomat, have made an urgent request to the UN for a coordinated international attempt to stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool to avoid irreversible catastrophic consequences with worldwide implications. -- CW/RSN

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FOCUS: Sneak Attacks

Jane Mayer, The New Yorker — 2012-03-31T13:32:00-04:00

Jane Mayer reports: "A new and highly aggressive multi-million-dollar anti-Obama ad campaign has started airing on television stations in eight key political swing states - but for now at least, the funders are staying hidden in the shadows."

President Barack Obama is facing attack ads paid for by secret donors. (photo: zumia)

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NSA Building Foreign/Domestic Spying Supercenter in Utah

James Bamford, Wired — 2012-03-22T18:51:00-04:00

Excerpt: "A new expose in Wired Magazine reveals details about how the National Security Agency is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah, as part of a secret NSA surveillance program codenamed 'Stellar Wind.'"

Wasatch Range in Bluffdale, Utah. (photo: Jesse Lenz)

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Why 49 Advertisers Dropped Limbaugh, in Their Own Words

Adam Peck, ThinkProgress — 2012-03-08T10:29:00-05:00

Excerpt: "Thousands of angry customers have been inundating dozens of Limbaugh's corporate sponsors, demanding that they cut ties with the program. ... Here are the companies we have confirmed that have already pulled their sponsorship from Limbaugh's show."

Corporate sponsors are dropping Rush Limbaugh like a hot potato. (photo: Independent UK)

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Occupy Wall Street Calls for May Day General Strike

Nathan Schneider, Waging Nonviolence — 2012-02-17T16:45:00-05:00

Schneider reports: "At the General Assembly meeting last night, Occupy Wall Street's dreamer contingent got a very special valentine: the GA endorsed the Direct Action Working Group's proposal to call for a general strike on May Day - May 1, 2012."

An Italian worker participates in a general strike in Turin, Italy. November 1, 2011. (photo: Daniele Badolato/AP)

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Poor America: 'Some Kids Are Making Ketchup Soup'

Hilary Andersson, BBC News/Panorama — 2012-02-14T16:44:00-05:00

Intro: "Panorama's Hilary Andersson travelled to Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas to meet some of America's youngest poor. Children told of going to bed hungry and worrying about their families, while school officials said some children were resorting to eating 'ketchup soup.'"

Leslie, 6, appears in Panorama's report on poverty in America titled 'We Don't Have Dinner at Home'. (image: BBC Panorama)

This excerpt comes from 'Poor America,' the latest installment from the BBC's flagship news documentary program Panorama. Since it is currently airing in the UK the entire episode is not yet available to view online. -- JPS/RSN

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The Right to Be Healthy

Michelle Chen, In These Times — 2012-01-23T17:50:00-05:00

Chen reports: "In many industrialized countries around the world, taking time off from work to deal with a medical issue isn't just a benefit; it's considered an entitlement, as much as an eight-hour day. But in the world's richest nation, a worker who claims that right has had to appeal to the highest court in the land."

The Supreme Court will hear Coleman v. Maryland Court of Appeals to weigh the rights of public workers. (photo: Larry Downing/Reuters)

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Michigan Democrats to Finance Free College Tuition by Ending Corporate Tax Credits

Tanya Somanader, ThinkProgress — 2012-01-18T10:10:00-05:00

Excerpt: "Senate Democrats have released a new plan that puts Michigan students ahead of wealthy corporations.... Michigan's high school graduates will be eligible for free tuition at one of Michigan's community colleges or universities. ... The program will be funded entirely by eliminating $3.5 billion in tax credits and loopholes."

College students in Michigan may be receiving free tuition to community colleges or universities. (photo: Tainted Green)

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Honeybee Problem Nearing a 'Critical Point'

Claire Thompson, Grist — 2012-01-17T10:23:00-05:00

Excerpt: "Of particular concern is a group of pesticides, chemically similar to nicotine, called neonicotinoids (neonics for short), and one in particular called clothianidin. Instead of being sprayed, neonics are used to treat seeds, so that they're absorbed by the plant's vascular system, and then end up attacking the central nervous systems of bees that come to collect pollen. Virtually all of today's genetically engineered Bt corn is treated with neonics."

Honeybees gathering corn dust to take back to the hive. (photo: Hilton Pond Center)

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