Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/20102905431956447.html

The United States and France have called for fresh sanctions against Iran after Tehran formally said it would begin enriching higher-grade nuclear fuel to a level of 20 per cent. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said Iran should face "strong sanctions" over its nuclear programme, a French official said following a meeting between the two men in Paris.

Link: http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/cybersecurity-not-your-gig-nsa

The news that the NSA and Google are working on a deal for the military agency to help protect the information giant's data networks comes at a time when the NSA is angling to get a major piece of cybersecurity action. The only problem is, despite what the agency would have us believe, the NSA is mainly a spy agency, not a cybersecurity agency. The agency's website says:

Link: http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/oh-my-who-controls-my-myspace

A pair of February 4 federal appeals court decisions from Pennsylvania involving ACLU clients made the important issue of how much authority school officials can exercise over students' out-of-school Internet speech as clear as, well … mud. See if you can figure it out.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50271

A campaign of attacks against the New Israel Fund (NIF), a U.S.-based progressive organisation that supports human rights groups in Israel, has gained attention in both the Israeli and U.S. media, raising questions about the role played by foreign non-profits and non-governmental organisations in influencing Israeli government policy. But an IPS investigation into publicly available tax records has shed light on where funding for the attacks may have originated.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/cook02092010.html

Jerusalem’s mayor threatened last week to demolish 200 homes in Palestinian neighborhoods of the city in an act even he conceded would probably bring long-simmering tensions over housing in East Jerusalem to a boil. His stance is the latest stage in a protracted legal battle over a single building towering above the jumble of modest homes of Silwan, a deprived and overcrowded Palestinian community lying just outside the Old City walls, in the shadow of the silver-topped al Aqsa mosque. Beit Yehonatan, or Jonathan’s House, is distinctive not only for its height -- at seven storeys, it is at least three floors taller than its neighbors -- but also for the Israeli flag draped from the roof to the street.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35315598/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

Finding a job got much tougher last year, as the number of available openings fell by nearly one quarter. At the same time, the unemployed population soared by more than one-third, leaving more laid-off workers competing for fewer jobs. All told, there were 6.1 unemployed workers in December, on average, for every available position, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday.