CommonDreams.org Headlines

Zelaya Blocked From Landing in Honduras After Supporters Shot

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 21:25:55 -0400

by Andres R. Martinez and Steven Bodzin

A plane carrying deposed President Manuel Zelaya was blocked from landing in Honduras as he tried to enter the country and resume power. He vowed to return as the jet he was traveling in headed to Nicaragua.

At least one person was killed near the airport in the capital, Tegucigalpa, as security forces blocked the runway with trucks and clashed with demonstrators. Six people were injured, five by gunshots, according to aid workers at the scene. Telesur, a television network owned by Venezuela's government, reported that at least two Zelaya supporters were killed.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Prevented from Returning

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 20:44:29 -0400

by Hannah Strange in Tegucigalpa

The military government of Honduras tightened its grip on power last night as it prevented the ousted President from landing in the capital and fired on protesters who had gathered to support him.

Manuel Zelaya's jet circled over Tegucigalpa as he begged the Army to let him land, but troops blocked the runway with military vehicles and unleashed live rounds and teargas on the ground, killing at least one protester and injuring dozens. Mr Zelaya was forced to divert to Nicaragua.

Group of Almost 100 US Activists Hoping to Bring Aid to Gaza Strip Arrive in Egypt

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 17:17:46 -0400

by Sarah El Deeb

CAIRO — About 100 U.S. activists arrived in Egypt Sunday on their way to Gaza, hoping to deliver medical aid, trucks and support for lifting a 2-year old Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the territory.

Honduran Military Ordered to Turn Back Zelaya's Jet

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 13:34:01 -0400

by Will Weissert and Nestor Ikeda

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduras braced for confrontation Sunday as ousted President Manuel Zelaya insisted on coming home to reclaim his post, urging his supporters to mass at the airport for a showdown with the interim government in power since the army sent him into exile a week ago.

The interim government said it ordered the military to prevent the landing of a plane carrying Zelaya or any unidentified plane.

Italians Protest US Base Expansion, G8

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 11:45:26 -0400

by Ian Simpson

VICENZA, Italy - Anti-G8 demonstrators clashed briefly with Italian police on Saturday in the first big protest ahead of next week's summit of the world's richest nations.

Police in riot gear fired teargas at protesters to prevent them from crossing a bridge and moving closer to a controversial U.S. military base in the northeastern city of Vicenza.

A group of demonstrators, some of them wearing motorcycle helmets and with their faces covered, threw bottles, rocks and lit firecrackers they were pushed back by security forces.

Healthy Examples: Plenty of Countries Get Healthcare Right

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 11:34:23 -0400

by Jonathan Cohn

"I DON'T WANT America to begin rationing care to their citizens in the way these other countries do."

Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib... Bagram?

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 11:15:43 -0400

by Ian Pannell, BBC Afghanistan Correspondent

NOOR HABIB'S hands shake as he draws a picture of how he says he was abused. He claims that he was taken to a small, darkened cell where his arms were tied to the ceiling and he was made to stand in waist-deep water for six hours at a time.

He says he was beaten, threatened with dogs, and deprived of sleep. He also claims there was nothing unusual about his treatment, "everyone else has the same story".

Costa Rica is World's Greenest, Happiest Country

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 11:05:30 -0400

by Ashley Seager

Costa Rica is the greenest and happiest country in the world, according to a new list that ranks nations by combining measures of their ecological footprint with the happiness of their citizens.

Britain is only halfway up the Happy Planet Index (HPI), calculated by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), in 74th place of 143 nations surveyed. The United States features in the 114th slot in the table. The top 10 is dominated by countries from Latin America, while African countries bulk out the bottom of the table.

Obama’s Youthful Ideals Shaped the Long Arc of His Nuclear-Free Vision

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 10:59:47 -0400

by William J. Broad and David E. Sanger

In the depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Columbia University wrote in a campus newsmagazine, Sundial, about the vision of "a nuclear free world." He railed against discussions of "first- versus second-strike capabilities" that "suit the military-industrial interests" with their "billion-dollar erector sets," and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads.

Weary of War, Young Afghans Pay for an Exit

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 18:42:56 -0400

by Adam B. Ellick

KABUL, Afghanistan - Through two decades of war, Abdul Ahad never contemplated leaving Afghanistan. But as his country started to deteriorate rapidly in 2007, so did his life. He was laid off from his full-time driving job and forced to take the only work he could find: a once-a-week driving gig through Taliban territory.

Obama Urges Liberal Advocacy Groups to Stop Attacks

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 16:07:34 -0400

by Ceci Connolly

President Obama, strategizing yesterday with congressional leaders about health-care reform, complained that liberal advocacy groups ought to drop their attacks on Democratic lawmakers and devote their energy to promoting passage of comprehensive legislation.

In a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats, whom they criticize for not being fully devoted to "true" health-care reform.

Free Gaza Activists Still in Custody in Israel

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 13:27:14 -0400

by Aron Heller

JERUSALEM -- Most members of a group of foreign peace activists seized at sea by the Israeli navy remained in custody Friday, three days after their failed attempt to run Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, relatives and supporters said.

In the latest attempt by activists to break a crippling two-year blockade of Gaza, a group called the Free Gaza Movement sent the ship loaded with humanitarian supplies and 21 activists and crew from Cyprus.

OAS Set to Suspend Honduras as It Renounces Charter

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 13:02:36 -0400

by Patrick Markey

TEGUCIGALPA - The Organization of American States prepared to suspend Honduras on Saturday after a caretaker government refused to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya and defiantly renounced the OAS charter in an apparent preemptive move.

The measure by Honduras to distance itself from the hemispheric group came after its rulers rejected an OAS demand to restore Zelaya, who was ousted by troops in Central America's worst political crisis since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989.

Obama's Nuclear-Weapons Adviser Delivers Doomsday Scenario

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 11:56:03 -0400

by Mike Blanchfield

It's springtime in Ottawa, and Barack Obama's nuclear weapons adviser invites a luncheon gathering to join him on an imaginary journey that is more Dr. Strangelove than A Moveable Feast.

``Picture in your mind's eyes your favourite bistro, or some other cherished spot in the city of Paris,'' Dr. Bruce Blair tells the 75 guests picking at a rubber-chicken lunch recently at a downtown Ottawa hotel.

Mountaintop Removal: Fourth of July Festival Organizers Fear Violence

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 10:56:04 -0400

by Paul J. Nyden

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Larry Gibson, the well-known, 72-year-old activist against mountaintop-removal mining, will host his annual July 4 music festival at his Kayford Mountain home above Cabin Creek Saturday and Sunday.

"I've been having this event, which is open to the public, for 23 years. Everyone is welcome," Gibson said.

Maria Gunnoe, a Boone County native, who won this year's international Goldman Environmental Prize in April for her anti-mountaintop-removal activism, is among the many planning to attend.

Fears for the World's Poor Countries as the Rich Grab Land to Grow Food

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 10:36:44 -0400

by John Vidal

The acquisition of farmland from the world's poor by rich countries and international corporations is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe's farmland targeted in the last six months, reports from UN officials and agriculture experts say.

About Face: Obama to Proceed with Bush-Era Cybersecurity Plan

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 11:42:17 -0400

by Ellen Nakashima

The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.

President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve "monitoring private-sector networks or Internet traffic," and Department of Homeland Security officials say the new program will scrutinize only data going to or from government systems.

Anti-US Protest Marks Start of Biden's Iraq Trip

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 11:31:14 -0400

BAGHDAD - A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shiite anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes.

Biden met General Ray Odierno, the top US officer in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, Washington's ambassador in Baghdad, who briefed him on the military and political situation, three days after a major US troop pullback.

Los Angeles Will End Use of Coal-Fired Power

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 10:28:01 -0400

by Bernie Woodall

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles will eliminate the use of electricity made from coal by 2020, replacing it with power from cleaner renewable energy sources, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Consumers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest city-owned utility in the United States with 1.45 million electricity customers, will see higher power bills in the fight against climate change, he added in his inaugural speech for his second four-year term as mayor on Wednesday.

Loss of World's Seagrass Beds Seen Accelerating

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 10:20:54 -0400

by Jim Loney

MIAMI - The world's seagrass meadows, a critical habitat for marine life and profit-maker for the fishing industry, are in decline due to coastal development and the losses are accelerating, according to a new study.

Billed as the first comprehensive global assessment of seagrass losses, the study found 58 percent of seagrass meadows are declining and the rate of annual loss has accelerated from about 1 percent per year before 1940 to 7 percent per year since 1990.

Countries 'Wasting Money and Blood' in Afghanistan

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 09:55:35 -0400

by Sophia Gardner

A politician who has been described as "the bravest woman in Afghanistan" says that military intervention is not the way to find democracy in the war-torn county.

Malalai Joya gained international attention for standing before Afghanistan's constitutional grand assembly and accusing her country's leaders of war crimes, human rights violations and supporting the Taliban.

She spent most of her childhood in refugee camps and as a young woman she worked as a women's rights activist under the Taliban.

Pakistan Desperately Needs Money to Resettle Swat Residents

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 07:55:11 -0400

by Saeed Shah

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Major Western countries, after applauding Pakistan's military crackdown on Islamic extremists in the Swat valley in the country's northwest, haven't pledged the money needed to resettle the population now that the fighting is mostly over, and humanitarian organizations fear that 2 million people will be sent back home before it's safe to go.

Unless the United States and other allies provide the required money to reconstruct Swat, Pakistan risks losing the "hearts and minds" of those who had to flee the operation that fought the Islamic extremists who'd overrun

WaPo Cancels Lobbyist Event Amid Uproar

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 07:02:08 -0400

by Mike Allen and Michael Calderone

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" - Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper's own reporters and editors.

Documents Describe Chaos of Gitmo's Early Months

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 06:39:49 -0400

by Pamela Hess and Nedra Pickler

WASHINGTON - Newly released Defense Department documents and memos about the first years of operation of the jail at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, portray a chaotic and sometimes violent operation that its own commanders described as dysfunctional.

President Barack Obama has ordered the detention facility closed next year. It holds more than 200 terror suspects whose cases are undergoing review for their potential release, prosecution or continued confinement.

Purity of Federal 'Organic' Label Is Questioned

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 06:11:30 -0400

by Kimberly Kindy and Lindsey Layton

Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal standards and should be banned from a product carrying the federal organic label. Today the same additives, purported to boost brainpower and vision, can be found in 90 percent of organic baby formula.

US Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:34:50 -0400

by Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - The Barack Obama administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself.

The new twist in the charge is that it is being made in the context of serious talks between NATO officials and Iran involving possible Iranian cooperation in NATO's logistical support for the war against the insurgents in Afghanistan.

Obama Administration Backs Bush White House on Cheney Interview

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:09:31 -0400

by David Corn

WASHINGTON - When it comes to the Bush White House's decision to withhold from the public Dick Cheney's interview with FBI agents investigating the CIA leak case, the Obama administration says its predecessor did the right thing. And it's fighting hard to do the same.

EPA Allows TVA to Dump Spilled Coal Ash in Ala.

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 13:24:40 -0400

by Jay Reeves

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The nation's largest utility can dump millions of tons of coal ash from a Tennessee spill into an Alabama landfill, federal regulators said Thursday, despite criticism that the plan is unfair to one of Alabama's poorest counties.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would let the Tennessee Valley Authority ship dredged material about 300 miles from the site of a huge retention pond failure in eastern Tennessee to the Arrowhead Landfill in central Alabama's Perry County.

UN to Study Potential Threats to Canada-U.S. World Heritage Site

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 12:30:37 -0400

by Cindy Chan

Decades-long concerns over energy and mining development proposals near a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Canada-U.S. border have prompted the agency to launch a fact-finding mission to investigate potential threats to the region.

UNESCO's 21-member World Heritage Committee voted unanimously last week for a mission to evaluate and recommend requirements to protect Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park .

Organic Farms as Subdivision Amenities

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 11:13:20 -0400

by Alec Appelbaum

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The bewildered Iowan who converted his farm into a ballpark in "Field of Dreams" in 1989 might reverse the move today. From Vermont to central California, developers are creating subdivisions around organic farms to attract buyers. If you plant it, these developers believe, they will buy.