Link: http://bodyontheline.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/note-literature-is-illegal-in-palestine/

i went to the last night of the palestine festival of literature expecting that it would be shut down yet again. five minutes after they got started israeli terrorist soldiers invaded al hakawati. they came in and posted a court order in hebrew and arabic on the door and asked everyone to leave the theatre.

Link: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/69014.html

In a reminder that the nation's economic problems aren't going away anytime soon, the report also found that the foreclosure rate on prime fixed-rate loans to financially healthy borrowers has doubled in the past 12 months. SacBee: New 5 percent cut for state workers on the table.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/pers-m29.shtml

The events of the past few days have demonstrated the naked class interests behind the Obama administration’s “restructuring” of the auto industry and its plan to throw General Motors into bankruptcy.

Link: http://firedoglake.com/2009/05/29/abuse-photos-pentagon-cya-with-oak-leaf-clusters/

The UK's Daily Telegraph says that the abuse photos being withheld by the DOD at Obama's request show rape by uniformed US military personnel. At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts. Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. URUKNET: FLASHBACK: Pentagon Blocks Release of Abu Ghraib Images: Here's Why.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8071491.stm

Israel will continue to allow some construction in West Bank settlements despite US calls for a freeze on its work, a government spokesman says. Mark Regev said the fate of the settlements should be decided in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Link: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/france/090522/the-slaves-next-door

Yasmina was 12 years old when an aunt and uncle brought her to France from Mali to be a live-in nanny to their children. Once she was settled in a suburb near Paris, her new life consisted of 16 hours of household chores and regular beatings with electric cables. Although slavery is illegal in most of the world, an estimated 27 million people live in bondage, according to Free the Slaves, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit group working to eradicate the phenomenon globally.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383449.ece

With the world’s media and aid organisations kept well away from the fighting, the army launched a fierce barrage that began at the end of April and lasted about three weeks. More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final throes of the Sri Lankan civil war, most as a result of government shelling, an investigation by The Times has revealed. The number of casualties is three times the official figure.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/tort-m29.shtml

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph published Wednesday, former US General Antonio Taguba said that photographs the Obama administration is seeking to suppress show images of US soldiers raping and sodomizing Iraqi prisoners.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/iraq-m29.shtml

Amid mounting violence in Iraq and preparations for a major escalation of the US war in Afghanistan, the chief of staff of the US Army said that the military is preparing to continue its interventions in the two countries for at least another decade.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/environment/140297/how_much_has_changed_obama_administration_deals_series_of_anti-environmental_blows/

The Dems have unleashed a slew of anti-environmental policies that would have enraged any reasonable conservationist during the Bush years.

Link: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/052809c.html

Watching retired Gen. Colin Powell cite Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan during Sunday’s Memorial Day ceremonies on the Mall in Washington, it struck me that Powell was giving hypocrisy a bad name.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/29

Global Warming is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is affecting 300m people, according to the first comprehensive study of the human impact of global warming. It projects that increasingly severe heatwaves, floods, storms and forest fires will be responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths a year by 2030, making it the greatest humanitarian challenge the world faces.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325973.800-cancer-therapy-when-all-else-fails.html

Lawrence Burgh has a sober outlook on life. A 48-year-old physician whose career has centred on treating seriously ill patients, Burgh was diagnosed with cancer in December 2006. Yet despite his clinical experience, he has taken an extraordinary step to try to rid himself of his illness, a step many would consider to be a medical heresy.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/28/barack-obama-jewish-settlements-israel-palestine-relations

Increasingly fractious relations between the US and Israel hit a low unseen in nearly two decades yesterday after the Jewish state rejected President Obama's demand for an end to settlement construction in the West Bank, and the president responded by suggesting that Israeli intransigence endangers America's security.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/29/hugo-chavez-venezuela-books

Cultural revolution had been declared and the crowd jostled in anticipation of receiving the latest tool in President Hugo Chávez's effort to transform Venezuela: books. Government trucks were unloading crates of books in plazas across the country, some 2.5m volumes in total, and those gathered in the capital, Caracas, surged forward to collect their prizes.