Africa leaders edge towards unity The agreement came after hours of often-heated debate in Sirte African Union (AU) members have agreed a plan to give its executive arm enhanced powers to co-ordinate common-interest policies, officials say. But the African Authority will not be able to act internationally unless it has a mandate from heads of state. The compromise on the draft came after hours of heated debate in a closed session in the Libyan town of Sirte. Correspondents... Read Full Story

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s leader praised President Barack Obama’s outreach for dialogue and invited him to visit Damascus in remarks released Friday just days after the United States said it plans to return its ambassador to Syria after a four year absence. Syrian President Bashar Assad comments came in a telegram he sent to Obama on the occasion of the July 4 Independence Day and in an interview he gave to Britain’s Sky News. Also on Sky News, Syria’s First Lady Asma ... Read Full Story

Not long after the statue of Saddam fell in Firdos Square, several CODEPINK women and I returned to Iraq.  We’d first visited in February during the time Bush proclaimed, “The game is over” and announced his plans for “shock and awe.”  We’d learned then how much Iraqis loved Americans and did not want our disrupting their country; they asked us to let them deal with Saddam because the change had to come from within or it could be a disaster. We fell in love... Read Full Story

Author Naomi Klein Calls for Boycott of Israel   BILIN , West Bank – Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.   Bestselling Canadian author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters. ‘Boycott is a tactic . . . we’... Read Full Story

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) made the following statement on June 30, 2009 regarding the announcement that U.S. troops have left the cities and towns of Iraq and turned over formal security to Iraqi security forces: The withdrawal of some U.S. combat troops from Iraq’s cities is welcome and long overdue news. However, it is important to remember that this is not the same as a withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors from Iraq. U.S. troop combat missions throughout Iraq are not schedule... Read Full Story

“From now on, the war they started is ours.” Seemingly these words of an Iraqi soldier, noted in a Guardian U.K. story, were uttered in pride. This was on June 30: National Sovereignty Day, the day U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. Sorry, but it sounds more like someone enthusing over a case of venereal disease. Oh national sovereignty! Could its inadequacies as a concept – as a means of dividing and governing the human race – be more painfully exposed than in Iraq on its day of faux-ce... Read Full Story

While on the surface the pro-US team here did preserve its ‘majority’ the Hezbollah led opposition actually won the election by nearly ten percent of the popular vote. Of approximately 1,495,000 votes cast on June 7, 815,000 voted for the National Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah while 680,000 voted for the March 14 government parties. As Lebanon’s new Prime Minister, Saad Hariri labors to put together a coalition Cabinet, Hezbollah is currently stronger politically in Lebanon than it has... Read Full Story

As Pakistan continues large-scale military operations against Taliban militants in the country’s northwest and the United States ratchets up its troop presence in Afghanistan, a recent comment by Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev captured in a nutshell the speculation these efforts are causing in Central Asia. Speaking on June 8, Bakiev warned of the encroachment of Taliban militants. After noting the “seriousness” of the situation in both Pakistan and Afghanistan Bakiev ask... Read Full Story

 The characteristic double-standard of Europeans and Americans is not going to help them any longer. The UN resolutions related to Iraq and East Timor were implemented quickly and brutally because those resolutions served the Westerners’ global interests. The UN resolutions on Kashmir and Palestine, on the other hand, were put in cold storage even though the people of Kashmir and Palestine kept continuously suffering under the brutal and illegal occupations. Almost daily killings and destruct... Read Full Story

Ongoing Civilian casualties have become an important consideration when looking at and considering the use and legitimacy of drones in South Asia. In a belated admission last month the U.S. had admitted to 26 civilian deaths in a series of drone attacks that took place in May but was not released to the media until over a month later. In the May attacks Afghan officials put the death toll at 140, significantly higher than U.S. claims. In the same strikes the Afghan Independent Human Rights Co... Read Full Story