By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) | – China and Pakistan announced, with considerable fanfare in Islamabad, a $46 billion dollar investment program to build a transportation corridor from the western Pakistani port of Gwadar to Xinjiang region in northwestern China. In time, the route will link with Chinese railways bringing Afghanistan’s wealth to […]
10,000 Turkish Police Repress Mayday Labor Protests
Aljazeera Top Stories | – Aljazeera Top Stories: “TURKEY MAYDAY PROTEST” See also: AJ+: “May Day Protest In Turkey Goes Ahead Despite Ban” For more see Turkey marks tense May Day as police enforce lockdown in central Istanbul
Tesla batteries: just the beginning of how technology will transform the electric grid
By Michael McElfresh | (The Conversation) | – Tesla Motors already makes batteries for its electric cars. On Thursday, it’s expected to introduce battery systems for homes, businesses and electric utilities. The spread of cost-effective batteries will fundamentally change the way the electric grid operates. Combined with other innovations, batteries in homes and businesses will […]
Could the New USA Freedom Act stop NSA Bulk Collection of Americans’ Telephone Records?
By Mark Jaycox and Rainey Reitman | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) A bipartisan group of congressional leaders has reintroduced the USA Freedom Act. The bill is an attempt to rein in the intelligence community’s “Collect It All” strategy, and passing USA Freedom is a first, small step in the right direction. However, it has serious faults […]
Palestinian-Israelis: Hundreds pray outside closed mosque in Beersheba
BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) — Some 250 Palestinians performed Friday prayers outside a mosque in Beersheba in southern Israel that Israeli authorities have kept closed since 1948. The prayers came amid heavy Israeli police presence, with police sealing the roads leading toward the mosque. The initiative was called for by Sheikh Hassan Abu Ubeid from al-Ramla along […]
Israeli PM Begins Forming Pro-Settlement Coaltion
By IMEMC | – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed coalition deals with two parties on Wednesday, in his first steps toward constructing a new government, one week before the deadline to present a cabinet. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in cabinet meeting, April 19, 2015. (AFP/Menahem Kahana, File) Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in cabinet meeting, […]
The One-State Conundrum: The Everyday Politics of Confinement in Palestine
By Sandy Tolan | (Tomdispatch) | – The SUV slows as it approaches a military kiosk at a break in a dull gray wall. Inside, Ramzi Aburedwan, a Palestinian musician, prepares his documents for the Israeli soldier standing guard. On the other side of this West Bank military checkpoint lies the young man’s destination, the […]
“We had to destroy Tikrit to save it from ISIL”: Recovered Iraqi City a Ghost Town
By Mustafa Habib | Tikrit | (Niqash.org) – It’s been almost a month since the Islamic State group was expelled from Tikrit. NIQASH went there and found a graffiti-covered ghost town ruled by opposing groups of gunmen, none of whom trust one another. In Basha Street in the centre of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, […]
Don’t Be Fooled by Saudi’s Reshuffle
By Adam Coogle | (Human Rights Watch) | – King Salman’s promotion of his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef to the position of crown prince and heir apparent marks a change of direction for Saudi Arabia, raising the possibility that power in the kingdom may be put directly into the hands of the House of Saud’s […]