Peru finds human sacrifices from Inca civilization
by Reuters
LIMA (Reuters) - Researchers at an archeological site in northern Peru have made an unusually large discovery of nearly three dozen people sacrificed some 600 years ago by the Incan civilization. The bodies, some of which show signs of having been cut along their necks and collarbones, were otherwise found in good condition, said Carlos Webster, who is leading excavations at the Chotuna-Chornancap camp. |
Court adds uncertainty to Chrysler reorganization
by Bree Fowler
NEW YORK -- The Obama administration had expected Chrysler's sale to Italy's Fiat to close more than a week ago, and perhaps to have seen the automaker already emerge from bankruptcy protection. But the Supreme Court's decision to delay the sale while it studies an appeal now threatens to derail Chrysler's restructuring plans. |
Barney Frank endorses outing anti-gay politicians
by John Byrne
Gay politicians who keep their sexuality secret but lobby against gay rights should be outed, House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) said explicitly in an interview with GQ published Monday.Asked about a new documentary, Outrage, which focuses on the media’s complicity in protecting the privacy of the sexual orientation of anti-gay politicians, Frank likened outing anti-gay politicians to outing gun ownership of a landmark anti-gun advocate. |
Turning Point?
by Noam Chomsky
The Obama-Netanyahu-Abbas meetings in May, followed by Obama's speech in Cairo, have been widely interpreted as a turning point in US Middle East policy, leading to consternation in some quarters, exuberance in others. Fairly typical is Middle East analyst Dan Fromkin of the Washington Post, who sees 'signs Obama will promote a new regional peace initiative for the Middle East, much like the one championed by Jordan's King Abdullah... [and also] the first distinct signs that Obama is willing to play hardball with Israel.' (WP, May 29). A closer look, however, suggests considerable caution. |
Brazil finds key piece from downed Air France jet
by AFP
FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil (AFP) - Brazil's navy on Monday recovered the tail fin from an Air France jet that plunged into the Atlantic a week ago, and was transporting 16 bodies to shore for identification.ADVERTISEMENTThe recovery of the fin was seen as important to the search for answers as to what knocked the Airbus A330, flight AF 447, out of the sky on June 1 as it was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board. |
Seas could rise four feet along US east coast, threaten Washington
by John Byrne
Two to four feet in the next 91 years.That's the potential sea level rise along the eastern coast of the United States according to a new study. Already, the oceans are rising worldwide as ice melts from glaciers, Greenland and Antarctica -- but the report says that sea level rise could be greater along the US East Coast because of various scientific phemonena. |
Global Weapons Spending Hits Record Levels
by Richard Norton-Taylor
Worldwide spending on weapons has reached record levels amounting to well over $1tn last year, a leading research organisation reported today.Global military expenditure has risen by 45% over the past decade to $1.46tn, according to the latest annual Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). |
Obama promises more than 600,000 stimulus jobs
by Mark Silva
As the $787-billion stimulus plan gears up this summer, federal agencies will pump billions into public works projects, schools and youth programs.President Obama today will promise to deliver more than 600,000 new jobs this summer with accelerated spending of some of the $787-billion economic stimulus that Congress approved at his urging earlier this year. |
Gordon the Unlucky
by Paul Krugman
What would have happened if hanging chads and the Supreme Court hadn’t denied Al Gore the White House in 2000? Many things would clearly have been different over the next eight years.But one thing would probably have been the same: There would have been a huge housing bubble and a financial crisis when the bubble burst. And if Democrats had been in power when the bad news arrived, they would have taken the blame, even though things would surely have been as bad or worse under Republican rule. |
Dick Cheney and Aunt Helen
by Tom Gallagher
When former Vice President Dick Cheney, instigator of invasion and defender of torture, reiterated his support for gay marriage, I thought of my cousin Helen – and the family roots of tolerance. Helen does not have to watch her foreign travel plans out of fear of indictment for war crimes or anything like that. But way back when, she was probably my most right wing relative. May still be today, but these days I don’t ask and she don’t tell. |
Words and War
by Norman Solomon
It takes at least tacit faith in massive violence to believe that after three decades of horrendous violence in Afghanistan, upping the violence there will improve the situation.Despite the pronouncements from high Washington places that the problems of Afghanistan can’t be solved by military means, 90 percent of the spending for Afghanistan in the Obama administration’s current supplemental bill is military. |
Report finds billions of waste in Iraq, Afghanistan
by RICHARD LARDNER
The Defense Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over tens of billions of dollars in contracts to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, says a new report by an independent commission investigating waste and fraud in wartime spending. |
