Link: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/30/teaparty-social-security/

Last night on CNN, Larry King discussed the rise of the tea parties with a variety of guests and featured footage from last weekend’s lobbyist-organized Tea Party Express rally in Searchlight, NV.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/30/us-israel-lobby-pressure-obama

America's main pro-Israel lobby group is mobilising members of Congress to pressure the White House over its bitter public confrontation with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/30/our_president_is_deceiving_the_american

We are joined by a man who played a major role in efforts to end the Vietnam War in the 1970s. In 1971, the then-RAND Corporation analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked to the media what became known as the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000-page classified history outlining the true extent of US involvement in Vietnam. After avoiding a life sentence on espionage charges, Daniel Ellsberg has continued to speak out against US militarism until the present day. [includes rush transcript]

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/unem-m30.shtml

The US Senate left Washington on its two-week spring vacation last Friday without passing a $10 billion extension for jobless benefits, due to expire April 5. The Senate’s failure to approve the measure means that more than 200,000 people who have been out of work for more than six months will have their checks cut off beginning next week.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/30/us-oil-donated-millions-climate-sceptics

A Greenpeace investigation has identified a little-known, privately owned US oil company as the paymaster of global warming sceptics in the US and Europe. The environmental campaign group accuses Kansas-based Koch Industries, which owns refineries and operates oil pipelines, of funding 35 conservative and libertarian groups, as well as more than 20 congressmen and senators. Between them, Greenpeace says, these groups and individuals have spread misinformation about climate science and led a sustained assault on climate scientists and green alternatives to fossil fuels.

Link: http://www.truthout.org/eugene-robinson-the-far-right%E2%80%99s-hate-element58113

The arrests of members of a Michigan-based "Christian" militia group should convince doubters that there is good reason to worry about right-wing, anti-government extremism -- and potential violence -- in the Age of Obama.

Link: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0330/protesters-cuff-rove-drive-stage/

The former White House Deputy Chief of Staff and top Bush adviser was treated to a cadre of protesters Monday, who threatened him with a citizen's arrest and ultimately succeeded in driving him offstage. As the local CBS News affiliate described it, "Karl Rove book tour starts out with a bang."

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50844

Shortly after it informed the world of the discovery of three new species of frogs, the environmental organisation Fundación Andígena closed its doors in Venezuela this month due to lack of financial support.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/hallinan03302010.html

When Israeli Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled said recently that a war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah was “just a matter of time” and that such a conflict would include Syria, most observers dismissed the comment as little more than posturing by a right-wing former general. But Peled’s threat has been backed by Israeli military maneuvers near the Lebanese border, violations of Lebanese airspace, and the deployment of an anti-missile system on Israel’s northern border.

Link: http://environment.independentminds.livejournal.com/299187.html

Data from the US Department of Agriculture show a 29 percent drop in beehives in 2009, following a 36 percent decline in 2008 and a 32 percent fall in 2007. This affects not only honey production but around 15 billion dollars worth of crops that depend on bees for pollination. Scientists call the phenomenon "colony collapse disorder" that has led to the disappearance of millions of adult bees and beehives and occurred elsewhere in the world including in Europe.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/201033032153200764.html

Russian leaders have pledged to "find and wipe out" those behind twin suicide bombings at metro stations in Moscow that killed 39 people and left scores injured. "They are simply beasts," Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said of the bombers after laying a wreath of red roses at Lubyanka metro station, one of the sites targeted.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9010110

U.S. transit agencies beefed up security as a precaution Monday after the double suicide bombing in Moscow's subway system, sending more police into stations and officers to conduct random inspections of rail yards.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/29/teenagers-charged-girls-suicide

Nine teenagers have been charged over the death of a 15-year-old Irish migrant who killed herself after months of merciless and sometimes violent bullying by fellow students at a Massachusetts school.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9010183

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Who doesn't want to be a millionaire? Maybe a 43-year-old unemployed bachelor who lives with his elderly mother in Russia — and who won $1 million for solving a problem that has stumped mathematicians for a century.

Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/republicans-in-strip-club-row-1930847.html

The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, was under pressure last night after it emerged that the committee signed off a bill for $1,949 (£1,300) spent at a Hollywood club that features topless dancers and bondage outfits.

Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/born-in-the-usa-someone-doesnt-think-so-1930680.html

She's been called a heroine, a patriot, and a tireless defender of liberty, justice, and the American way. She's also been dubbed a racist crank who exemplifies the worst excesses of the blowhard right.

Link: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/819708-bodies-of-21-babies-discovered-in-chinese-river

The investigation into Jining Medical College Hospital in Shangdong province started after eight of the 21 babies were found to still be wearing the hospital’s tags which showed their mother’s names, birth dates, measurements and weight.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7080660.ece

Nato’s military offensive in Afghanistan will prove a waste of time unless President Karzai can stamp out corruption in the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar, the US said yesterday in its second top-level warning to the Afghan leader in less than 24 hours.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7080594.ece

Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni have finally been invited to the White House
After a year of frostiness Barack Obama will finally grant Nicolas Sarkozy the special gesture that he craves tonight: a cosy meal for the French first couple in the Obama family dining room.

Link: http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-03-30/moscow-metro-blast-casualties.html

The death toll from the bomb attacks on two Moscow underground stations has reached 38 people. More than 70 others were injured in the explosions during the crowded morning rush hour. Many of those wounded remain in a critical condition. Tuesday, 30th March, has been declared a day of mourning in the Russian capital.