Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4p1kD8CZX8

A UN nuclear watchdog report suggests Iran could be developing a nuclear bomb, apparently confirming long-held suspicions in the West. But Tehran denies the claims, again insisting that its atomic intentions are peaceful. Michel Chossudovsky, who's from an independent Canadian policy research group, believes that what Iran says hardly matters, because the U.S. is planning for war...

Link: http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/time-to-leave-citibank-folks

Seen on a recent Citibank (C) statement: "Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change."

Link: http://www.aclu.org/national-security/justice-department-report-reveals-new-details-about-development-and-justification-

A report released today by the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), as well as several related documents, reveal new details about the development of the Bush administration's torture program. The American Civil Liberties Union called on the Justice Department to expand its criminal investigation of the torture program.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hait-f19.shtml

French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled for a one-day visit to Haiti on February 17, amid rising popular opposition to the Western-backed Préval government and international tensions over how to rebuild the country. The US military occupied Haiti after the devastating January 12 earthquake that killed over 200,000 people, wounded over 250,000, and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/jobs-f19.shtml

New claims for unemployment benefits rose last week at a sharper rate than expected by analysts. The number of workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits jumped by 31,000 to 473,000 in the week ending February 13, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/stat-f19.shtml

Despite claims that the “Great Recession” has ended, the fiscal crisis confronting US states and local governments will continue for years to come, according to a number of reports.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/prof-f19.shtml

The five largest US health insurance companies set new profit records in 2009, while the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression sent millions of Americans onto the unemployment line and into poverty.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/pers-f19.shtml

President Barack Obama’s establishment by executive order of a bipartisan commission on deficits on Thursday is the latest step in his administration’s attack on health care and retirement programs upon which millions of Americans depend

Link: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233916

Law enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real time—without the benefit of a warrant. Amid all the furor over the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program a few years ago, a mini-revolt was brewing over another type of federal snooping that was getting no public attention at all. Federal prosecutors were seeking what seemed to be unusually sensitive records: internal data from telecommunications companies that showed the locations of their customers' cell phones—sometimes in real time, sometimes after the fact.

Link: http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/314.php

One of the first photographs I ever posed for was of my dad and me skating on our frozen backyard in Winnipeg. I wasn't even a year old but I was already engaged in an activity that would frame my moral and ideological compass for the better part of three decades (and counting.) Hockey has given me community – even as it has been used to legitimate politics that destroy communities. Hockey taught me values like teamwork and commitment – even as it reinforced values that perpetuate sexism, heterosexism and racism. And in perhaps the greatest irony of them all, hockey saved my life – even as it has been a vehicle for the propaganda that justifies our savage occupation of Afghanistan that continues to take so many lives.

Link: http://www.truthout.org:80/doj-report-torture-memos-released-yoo-bybee-offficials-cleared-congress-plans-hearings57039

Former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo argued that President George W. Bush’s commander-in-chief powers were so sweeping that he could willfully order the massacre of civilians, yet Yoo’s culpability in Bush administration abuses was deemed “poor judgment,” not a violation of “professional standards.”

Link: http://www.paltelegraph.com/opinions/views/4244-time-for-britain-to-hold-israel-to-account

British Middle East policy in the human rights arena has long been suspect. Evidence of this is plentiful: its complicity with the United States in misleading the public to go along with the war on Iraq, our support for ongoing drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Britain's obvious silence on Israel's collective punishment of nearly 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/02/20102192182809493.html

China has summoned the US ambassador in Beijing to protest Washington's decision to go ahead with a meeting between the Dalai Lama and the US president. Thursday's encounter at the White House came against a background of strained relations between Washington and Beijing, with China warning that Barack Obama's welcoming of the exiled Tibetan leader would risk further damaging ties.