Urban warfare erupts in Bangkok as troops and protesters clash
The Thai army has threatened a full-scale crackdown on the anti-government protests in Bangkok if demonstrators do not disperse. Eight people were killed and at least 187 injured Saturday as troops clashed with opposition protesters.

Bangkok Protest Leader Calls For Ceasefire
An anti-government protester in Bangkok has said the Red Shirts will negotiate with authorities to end the deadly clashes if troops stop shooting.

US funds Israel’s apartheid roads plan
Settlers benefit from Israeli-only routes

Pictures from Bangkok Demonstrations

Iraq's Maliki edges nearer power as rival warns of civil war
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki took a major step toward staying in power on Saturday when a top Shiite cleric said he would not stop him from keeping his job, but an arch-rival warned of civil war.

'Nobody is winning,' admits McChrystal
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in London yesterday as US generals express doubts that the fight against the Taliban is having any success.

UK vows to back US against Iran
“The United Kingdom will work solidly alongside the United States to secure the Security Council resolution,” the British minister said at a Friday joint press conference with his US counterpart Hillary Clinton.

A Factual Appraisal Of The 'Holocaust' By The Red Cross
The ICRC successfully applied the 1929 Geneva military convention in order to gain access to civilian internees held in Central and Western Europe by the Germany authorities.

Israel’s Intimidation Tactics Won’t Stop Us: First Ship Sets Sail for Gaza!
London – 14 May 2010 – At 22:45 local time tonight, the MV Rachel Corrie, a 1200-ton cargo ship, part of the eight-vessel Freedom Flotilla, set sail from Ireland on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. Three, ships from Turkey and Greece will join her, then sail to Gaza.

Maliki edges nearer power as rival warns of violence
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki took a major step toward staying in power on Saturday when a leading Shiite cleric said he would not block him, as an arch-rival warned of civil war.

UK vows to back US against Iran
Days after the establishment of a new British government, Foreign Secretary William Hague vows to work with the US against Iran, going so far as to consider military action against Tehran.

Scramble! RAF warplanes are intercepting Russian nuclear bombers at least once a month
Streaking across the sky in front of a rising sun, the huge Russian jet heads towards Britain.

Webster Tarpley: Karzai Visit a Charade
Webster Tarpley said that in the end the meetings were not productive and they had little to no affect on any problems that the US and Afghanistan have. As the US plans to push back its troop withdrawal from Iraq, what will happen in Afghanistan now?

Seven dead, 101 wounded in Thailand clashes - medical centre
Seven people were killed and 101 wounded in street clashes between Thai anti-government protesters and troops in central Bangkok on Friday, the Erawan medical centre said.

Kyrgyz government claims control in restive south
Kyrgyz authorities said they regained control across the volatile south on Friday after at least two people died in violent clashes with supporters of the ousted president.

USSR planned nuclear attack on China in 1969
The Soviet Union was on the brink of launching a nuclear attack against China in 1969 and only backed down after the US told Moscow such a move would start World War Three, according to a Chinese historian.

Cameron Already Following Bilderberg Orders
David Cameron risked a confrontation with the Tory Right yesterday by stripping his party’s eurosceptic wing of the symbolic post of Europe Minister.

Footage of Polish air crash ’shows Russians executing survivors’… but is it a cruel propaganda stunt?
A video of the plane crash which killed the president of Poland apparently shows survivors being shot.

Turkish Air Defense System Deployed to “Defend Syria, Iran against Israel Raids”
High-ranking sources in the Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed displeasure with Turkey over deploying anti-aircraft batteries along the Syrian border in the Iskenderun district.

Wanted Posters Issued for Alleged Israeli War Criminals
The posters were created and posted by an Israeli human rights group that is maintaining a great deal of anonymity at this point.

U.S. efforts in Kandahar, barely begun, already are faltering
Key military operations have been delayed until the fall, efforts to improve local government are having little impact and a Taliban assassination campaign has brought a sense of dread to Kandahar's dusty streets.

Treaty Aimed at Banning Nukes Remains Grounded
Asked why a proposed nuclear weapons convention (NWC) has failed to get off the ground, Alyn Ware, global coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), told IPS: "The nuclear weapon is both a military and a political weapon.

Israeli officials vow to build for Jews, demolish Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish coalition partners vowed Thursday to keep building Jewish settlements and demolishing unauthorized Palestinian homes in contested east Jerusalem — despite indications the Israeli leader has put the brakes on both.

Remove Card and Take Bullion; Gold ATM Debuts
Amid fears over the strength of nearly every major currency, Abu Dhabi’s top hotel has come up with a new type of ATM for their most risk-averse guests.

States joined in suit against healthcare reform
A national business lobbying group on Friday joined 20 U.S. states in a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

Surprise! Cost Of Healthcare Bill Already Spiraling Beyond Estimates, And Democrats Are Ignoring The Reasons Why
Henry Waxman canceled his War on Accounting, not because there was a sudden breakout of common sense on Capitol Hill, but because his committee's investigation revealed that companies had begun exploring whether they should drop their health insurance plans entirely--a move that would cost over $100 billion dollars thanks to the huge new subsidies the government would have to dole out.

US demands oil spill costs 'clarification' from BP
The US government has demanded immediate clarification from BP over its commitment to pay for costs caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Giant Plumes of Oil Found Forming Under Gulf of Mexico
Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given.

Filmmaker Roman Polanski hit by fresh sex allegations
Fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski was hit by fresh sex crime allegations Friday by a British actress who claimed the director "forced himself" upon her just after her 16th birthday.

Governor vetoes open carry, health care lawsuit measures
Gov. Brad Henry today vetoed a bill that would have allowed Oklahomans to opt out of the national health care system and another measure that would have allowed them to wear handguns in public view.

Detroit To Destroy 10,000 Abandoned Homes
Mayor Dave Bing has pledged to knock down 10,000 structures in his first term as part of a nascent plan to “right-size” Detroit, or reconfigure the city to reflect its shrinking population.

BP Spill May Exceed Estimates, U.S. Congressman Says
U.S. Representative Edward Markey said he is concerned BP Plc’s well in the Gulf of Mexico may be leaking as much as 70,000 barrels of oil a day, compared with previous estimates of 5,000 barrels.

Whistleblower Claims That BP Was Aware Of Cheating On Blowout Preventer Tests
As the federal and congressional probes continue into the causes of the Gulf oil rig explosion, new information is coming to light about the failure of a key device, the blowout preventer, to shut off the gushing well, which could have prevented the growing catastrophe.

Obama wants $80 billion to upgrade nuclear arms complex
President Barack Obama sent a landmark arms-reduction treaty with Russia to the Senate on Thursday for ratification and called for $80 billion in nuclear funding, which could help win opposition support.

'Black Friday,' birth of U.S. protest movement
It is the 50th anniversary of "Black Friday," May 13, 1960, when a demonstration against the House Subcommittee on Un-American Activities turned into a so-called riot.

Pentagon works to lay out rules of electronic war and when to strike back at cyber attacks
The U.S. military may never have a direct answer on when to fire back against a computer-based attack, a top Pentagon leader said Wednesday, reflecting the complex world of cyber warfare.

Hawaii law lets state ignore repeated demands for Obama’s birth certificate
The island state’s Republican Gov. Linda Lingle signed into law on Wednesday a bill that would allow Hawaii to ignore repeated requests for President Obama’s birth certificate.

Scientists forecast decades of ash clouds
The Icelandic eruption that has caused misery for air travellers could be part of a surge in volcanic activity that will affect the whole of Europe for decades, scientists have warned.

Suggestion for Prepandemic Vaccine Ignites Debate
An influenza specialist who previously led the World Health Organization's (WHO's) flu program and now works for Novartis, has recommended that developing a prepandemic vaccination to get a grip on the next flu endemic, a thought that other experts are welcoming with concern or cynicism.

FDA: Glaxo, Merck vaccines OK despite pig virus
Rotavirus vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck & Co Inc are safe to use despite being contaminated with a pig virus, U.S. health regulators ruled on Friday.

Study Claims Unlawful Broadband File Sharing is Good for Sales
A new study by the University of Amsterdam, which sought to identify the short and long-term economic and cultural effects of unlawful file sharing by broadband ISP customers, claims that such activity appears to be considerably less harmful than Rights Holders maintain and could even be beneficial to music, film and video game sales.

The Enemy Within
When the Conficker computer “worm” was unleashed on the world in November 2008, cyber-security experts didn’t know what to make of it. It infiltrated millions of computers around the globe. It constantly checks in with its unknown creators. It uses an encryption code so sophisticated that only a very few people could have deployed it. For the first time ever, the cyber-security elites of the world have joined forces in a high-tech game of cops and robbers, trying to find Conficker’s creators and defeat them. The cops are failing. And now the worm lies there, waiting …

Facebook founder called trusting users dumb f*cks
Loveable Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called his first few thousand users “dumb fucks” for trusting him with their data, published IM transcripts show. Facebook hasn’t disputed the authenticity of the transcript.

Biometric cash machine lands in Europe
A Polish bank has become the first in Europe to offer the use of biometrics instead of PINs at cash machines.

Heavy Metals Poisoning, Brain Injury, and Clandestine Weather Modification Programs. Connecting the Dots.
For decades, we have known that heavy metals and chemicals can cause grave physical harm.

Robot arm controlled by the mind
Doctors say he is the first person in the world to drive a car using a mind-controlled robotic limb

$3 Microscope Plugs into Cell Phones
A small digital microscope that costs just a few dollars can plug into a cell phone and perform basic medical diagnostics that would ordinarily require expensive lab equipment.

Jupiter loses a stripe
Jupiter has lost one of its prominent stripes, leaving its southern half looking unusually blank. Scientists are not sure what triggered the disappearance of the band.

Oh No! Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill Would Create ‘60 new Programs, Studies, and Reports’
Climate Depot has obtained an advance memo circulating on Capitol Hill about the Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill.

'Starving yogi' astounds Indian scientists
An 83-year-old Indian holy man who says he has spent seven decades without food or water has astounded a team of military doctors who studied him during a two-week observation period.

Pentagon Turns to Brain Implants to Repair Damaged Minds
An estimated 10 to 20 percent of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, which afflict 1.7 million Americans each year. Now the Pentagon’s rolling out a revolutionary initiative to treat the condition: brain implants that one researcher likens to “replacement parts” for damaged gray matter.

Desperation as alarmists sense the battle is lost
The more desperate the quotes, the more tragic the arguments, the more it reveals that the alarmists realise that not only is the planet not complying with their incomplete and worthless climate models, but also that the penny has dropped in the public mind.

Bill Gates pays for ‘artificial’ clouds to beat greenhouse gases
The first trials of controversial sunshielding technology are being planned after the United Nations failed to secure agreement on cutting greenhouse gases.

Largest scientific instrument ever built to prove Einstein's theory of general relativity
Three spacecraft flying three million miles apart are to fire laser beams at each other across the emptiness of space in a bid to finally prove whether a theory proposed by Albert Einstein is correct.

Bank Failures Exceed 2009's Pace
State regulators closed four community banks Friday, bringing the total number of failed banks for 2010 to 72.

Fed Board May Soon Add Three More Millionaires to Its Ranks
The Federal Reserve Board may soon be adding three millionaires to its ranks.

Get Ready To Taste The Bitter Side Of Keynesian Economics
Most Americans have no idea what the term “Keynesian economics” means, but the truth is that it has been deeply influencing U.S. economic policy for decades.

Europe eyes tougher fiscal discipline; creation of EMF
Following hot on the heels of Monday morning’s shock announcement of a trillion dollar safety net for an increasingly shaky euro, the European Commission today announced a set of proposals aimed at increasing the economic and fiscal coordination of European Union member states. The new measures, if implemented, would move beyond immediate fire fighting and instead begin to redress the fundamental imbalances and contradictions within the euro zone that allowed an emergency like the Greek sovereign debt crisis to arise in the first place.

Morgan Stanley’s Doomed Baldwin CDOs Thwarted ‘Natural Process’
In June 2006, a year before the subprime mortgage market collapsed, Morgan Stanley created a cluster of investments doomed to fail even if default rates stayed low -- then bet against its concoction.

Sarkozy threatened to quit euro in showdown with Germany: report
French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull his country out of the euro currency group to force Germany to help Greece with its debt crisis, El Pais newspaper reported Friday, quoting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Volcker Sees Euro ‘Disintegration’ Risk From Greece
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said he’s concerned that the euro area may break up after the Greek fiscal crisis that sparked an unprecedented bailout by the region’s members.

Harley Schlanger Interviewed on the Glass-Steagall Act (Video)
An interview on the immediate need for a Glass-Steagall reform of the financial system. Without Glass-Steagall there is no hope for the survival of the United States. Harley Schlanger is Larouche's Western States Spokesman.

Geithner Briefs Super Power Elite, Friday Afternoon
The heavyweights want a report from the Treasury Secretary, including David Rockefeller and Lynn Forester de Rothschild.

When Will China's Bubble Burst?
As Bloomberg notes, Marc Faber thinks China may crash in 9 to 12 months, and hedge fund manager Jim Chanos and Harvard University’s Kenneth Rogoff are also warning of a crash.

Criminal probe targets 6 Wall Street firms: source
Prosecutors are conducting a broad criminal investigation of six major Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc, to determine if they misled investors, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley shares drop on reported probe
Morgan Stanley shares dropped Wednesday after a report the investment bank is facing an investigation into mortgage derivative deals.

Prosecutors Ask if 8 Banks Duped Rating Agencies
The New York attorney general has started an investigation of eight banks to determine whether they provided misleading information to rating agencies in order to inflate the grades of certain mortgage securities, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation.

Flashback - William K. Black's eye-popping opening statement at House Financial Services Committee (Video)
Black exposes Wall Street liar's loans. The Fed and SEC knew exactly what needed to be done and they refused to do their jobs.

Germany, France May Hurt AAA Ratings in ‘Ponzi Game’
Germany and France are among top- rated euro-area states that may compromise their AAA grades by standing behind the debts of weaker members with their 750 billion-euro ($955 billion) stabilization fund.

JP Morgan: Gold Could Now Face 'Unlimited' Demand
JP Morgan's John Bridges believes the latest breakout for gold was a huge positive sign for the metal.

NY attorney general investigating eight banks: report
The New York attorney general has begun an investigation into eight banks to determine whether they provided misleading information to agencies that rate mortgage securities, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Loss of American Citizenship and Assassinations
By David McKalip, M.D.
Imagine you are sitting home on a quiet Sunday afternoon in conversation with your beloved spouse. Suddenly your husband slumps over, blood draining from his head as a sniper's bullet shatters your living room window. Your husband has just been assassinated by a government agent and it is later discovered -- after ten years of painful inquiries carried out under the threat of your own assassination -- that your husband was targeted as an enemy combatant and a terrorist.

Will the New Bailout Save Europe?
By William Anderson
With the announcement of “rescue packages” for Greece and other European countries facing ruin, we have heard cheers from the Usual Suspects, beginning with the New York Times…

Assassination in Dubai, Israel's Warning to the World
By Gordon Duff
When Israel sent 27 Mossad agents to a 5 star hotel in Dubai to murder Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a minor Hamas figure, it had nothing to do with Hamas or Dubai. It was a warning to President Obama and anyone else that nobody is safe and no reason is small enough to not justify a killing if key interests are involved, money, drugs, power and, least of all, the security of Israel.

Our Paradise on Earth
The Zionists claim we never existed. They claim they turned the desert into paradise. They claim we left on our own free will. What person leaves paradise freely to become a refugee? What person leaves his home and lands freely to live in a tent? What person leaves his fields and cattle freely to stand in a line waiting for a meagre food ration? They come from everyway and steal our land and deprive us from our homes.

Ron Paul on the Euro, the Dollar and Gold (Video)
Ron Paul was interviewed by Jan Mickelson on WHO Newsradio 1040 (Des Moines, Iowa) this morning. The Congressman talked about the dollar, the euro and gold, and gave an update on his efforts to audit the Federal Reserve.

Ten Things For 2010
By Karl Denninger
Yes, I expected the game to end in 2009. I did not believe that our government could sell a net $1.5 trillion of new issuance (debt) for more than a year or so, nor could they roll over some $600 billion every month to keep the Ponzi going for long. They got away with it for two years, one more than I thought they would, but now cracks are appearing in this facade globally, not just here in the US.

Federal Reserve Bank Chairman NWO Elite
The Federal Reserve Bank Chairman is Not Publicly Elected. Elite Bankers Who Put Him Into Office Are Power Players Who Run the World From Behind the Scenes.

Economist Tim Madden: The PIIGS Brief: understanding how oligarchs rig, loot our economies.
By Carl Herman
Tim’s following article explains collusion of government and judicial “leadership” to facilitate criminal looting through parasitic credit practices.

Are the bombers Al-Qaeda, the CIA or Israel?
By Christopher King
Christopher King argues that it is likely that the American CIA – or Israel acting on its behalf – is responsible for recent atrocities in Iraq, in order to extend and consolidate the occupation, just as it is probable that the Times Square bomber was, wittingly or otherwise, acting for the CIA or Israel, to justify the US military intervention in South Asia.

Drug Czar Admits Failure, Pledges to Continue It
We're in the middle of an economic crisis, and here's the drug czar telling us we can't stop funding programs that even he himself admits are a complete waste.

CEO Predicts Market Armageddon: Dow To 5,000
Cornerstone Wealth Management CEO David Hefty says real estate collapse in China before end of 2010 will send shockwaves through global economy.

And Now Machete? This Is Supposed To Be A Coincidence?
Everyone will lose, because they will again look to the State to protect them.

Elena Kagan’s Opposition to Gun Rights
By Ken Klukowski
A third instance of Elena Kagan opposing Americans’ Second Amendment right to own a gun has now become public, and is sure to become a major issue in her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. And it confirms that President Obama’s gun-control agenda is to create a Supreme Court that will “reinterpret” the Second Amendment until that amendment means nothing at all.

New target of rights erosions: U.S. citizens
By Glenn Greenwald
A primary reason Bush and Cheney succeeded in their radical erosion of core liberties is because they focused their assault on non-citizens with foreign-sounding names, casting the appearance that none of what they were doing would ever affect the average American. There were several exceptions to that tactic -- the due-process-free imprisonment of Americans Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, the abuse of the "material witness" statute to detain American Muslims, the eavesdropping on Americans' communications without warrants -- but the vast bulk of the abuses were aimed at non-citizens. That is now clearly changing.

Britain and Europe are living separate crises. Underneath, it's the same one
By Timothy Garton Ash
What a week. While Britain lives one of the greatest political dramas in its postwar history, the continent is convulsed by a historic crisis of the eurozone. Here in Brussels, I keep flicking to and fro between the two, like someone trying to watch two cliffhanger Wimbledon finals simultaneously.

The Torture of Omar Khadr, a Child in Bagram and Guantánamo
By Andy Worthington
Too much about this story — from the trumped-up war crimes charges, to the doubts about Khadr’s guilt, to his age and the abuse to which, on occasion, he was undoubtedly subjected — makes proceeding with the trial an unpalatable and essentially pointless exercise.

Obama Scraps Iraq Withdrawal
By David Swanson
So, we elected a president who promised a withdrawal from Iraq that he, or the generals who tell him what to do, is now further delaying. And, of course, the timetable he's now delaying was already a far cry from what he had promised as a candidate.

Obama on Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan: "I Am Accountable"
By Jeremy Scahill
That statement is quite remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it is not true. How are President Obama or Gen. McChrystal accountable? Afghans have little, if any, recourse for civilian deaths.

Gambling With Our Future
By Dave LIndorff
Hard times are coming, especially for retirees.

Outrage at secret probe into 47,000 innocent flyers
Police secretly investigated the travel habits, family, friends and backgrounds of 47,000 innocent people last year after they bought plane tickets to fly into and out of Britain.

Facebook faces a consumer backlash over security concerns as bloggers urge users to ‘kill’ their accounts
Facebook has been at the forefront of online communications for the last three years.

Inside the Secret Interrogation Facility at Bagram
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) runs a classified interrogation facility for high-value detainees inside Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, defense and administration officials said, and prisoners there are sometimes subject to tougher interrogation methods than those used elsewhere.

U.S. Approval of Killing of Cleric Causes Unease
The Obama administration’s decision to authorize the killing by the Central Intelligence Agency of a terrorism suspect who is an American citizen has set off a debate over the legal and political limits of drone missile strikes, a mainstay of the campaign against terrorism.

Barack Obama visits Real Time Crime Center
President Obama was shown how the New York police track suspected criminals and record their movements.

US drug war has met none of its goals
After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.

Woman Hospitalized Following Botched Raid
An elderly Polk County woman is hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a heart attack when drug agents swarm the wrong house.

Big Brother Wants To Know How You Spend Your Money
Big Brother wants to watch you more closely. Especially how you spend your money. His latest snooping plan comes from provisions in the banking bill being debated in the Senate. The bill is being pushed by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.