Link: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m70256&hd=&size=1&l=e

The U.S. army attack on three houses in Falluja in the early morning of September 15 requires an explanation from various parties. The U.S. is required to explain the reason it deployed helicopter gunships in attacking a civilian target inside an Iraqi city after the withdrawal of its combat troops. The troops staying behind were supposed to be only engaged in training and offering of advice.

Link: http://www.truth-out.org/census-data-america-got-poorer-200963661

2009 was a year of accelerating economic pain and loss, according to US Census data released today. Although the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) tells us that the "Great Recession" officially ended in December of 2009, the labor force of the US shrank by more than 130,000 from 2008 to 2009. The median family income - a better measure than average income because it reflects the exact middle of income distribution - decreased by $2,254 or 3.5 percent. The median income for all workers in the US fell from $29,868 in 2008 to $28,365 in 2009 - a 5 percent decline.

Link: http://www.truth-out.org/911-responders-health-problems-worsen-legislation-languishes63652

A rescue worker takes a break from finding survivors following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. (Photo: Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Jim Watson / US Navy)
A new AFL-CIO report shows that more than 13,000 of the truly heroic firefighters, police, and other rescuers who were the first to rush to the scene of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, are still being treated for the serious injuries they received.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/researchers-onefifth-earths-plants-threat/

More than a fifth of the world's plant species faces the threat of extinction, a trend with potentially catastrophic effects for life on Earth, according to research released on Wednesday. But a separate study cautioned that extinction of mammals had been overestimated and suggested some mammal species thought to have been wiped out may yet be rediscovered.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/gop-blocks-democrats-jobs-outsourcing-bill/

Senate blocks bill to punish firms that export jobs overseas The Senate on Tuesday blocked tax legislation that would have punished U.S. firms that export jobs. But the political symbolism of trying to save American jobs, not passing a bill, was the Democrats' closing argument on the economy in the waning weeks of the congressional elections.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/internets-creator-slams-blight-web-disconnection-laws/

Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the world wide web, warned Tuesday of the "blight" of new laws being introduced across the globe allowing people to be cut off from the Internet. "There's been a rash of laws trying to give governments and Internet service providers (ISPs) the right and the duty to disconnect people," he told a conference on web science at the Royal Society in London.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26469.htm

As consensus grows regarding the futility of US national security policy, concerns arise over Barack Obama's strategy. In possibly the most dramatic mea culpa in Presidential history, Bill Clinton, newly appointed as UN Special Envoy for Haiti, admitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the US policy of compelling poor developing countries to buy US agricultural products at subsidised prices, which destroyed local agricultural sectors, was a disaster.

Link: http://www.thenation.com/article/155055/sucking-bankers-ii

After squandering his first year in office catering to Wall Street, Obama suddenly attempted to shift course. It took a rebellion by Massachusetts’s voters in January 2010 to get him to pay full attention to the failures of his economic program. In the bluest of blue states, the voters who had given Obama a 26 percent plurality in the presidential election the year before spurned his personal entreaty to send another Democrat to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. The message was understood by Obama, who the very next day fundamentally altered his administration’s response to the economic meltdown. Or so it seemed for the moment.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100928/ap_on_bi_ge/us_census_recession_s_impact

The recession seems to be socking Americans in the heart as well as the wallet: Marriages have hit an all-time low while pleas for food stamps have reached a record high and the gap between rich and poor has grown to its widest ever. The long recession technically ended in mid-2009, economists say, but U.S. Census data released Tuesday show the painful, lingering effects. The annual survey covers all of last year, when unemployment skyrocketed to 10 percent, and the jobless rate is still a stubbornly high 9.6 percent.

Link: http://www.mndaily.com/2010/09/28/protests-arise-nationwide-over-fbi-raids

Friday’s raids hit three U employees and a former student. The two sides of Washington Avenue South in front of the Minneapolis FBI headquarters were in stark contrast Monday evening. On one sidewalk stood a group of about 200 chanting protestors denouncing a string of FBI raids and grand jury subpoenas, including three against University of Minnesota employees and one against a former student.

Link: http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/feds-funding-study-oil-spills-effect-flesh-eating-bacteria-blamed-multiple-recent-gulf-area-deaths-after-waterseafood-contact-videos

Some bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico love eating oil as much as they like infecting humans. … One of the more pressing questions involves Vibrio… vulnificus… this year there is a likely possibility, scientists say, that Vibrio growth could be further spurred, directly or indirectly, in response to the oil and the organic flotsam it has left behind.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/zadeh09282010.html

The unrelenting diplomatic and geopolitical standoff between Iran and the United States is often blamed on the Iranian government for its “confrontational” foreign policies, or its “unwillingness” to enter into a dialogue with the United States. Little known, however, is the fact that during the past decade or so, Iran has offered a number of times to negotiate with the United States without ever getting a positive response from the U.S.

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/28/3023721.htm

Corporal Jeremy Morlock told investigators his sergeant randomly picked out Afghan civilians to be killed. (ABC) Video: US soldiers accused over Afghanistan 'kill team' (ABC News) Video: US soldiers face charges over killings (7pm TV News NSW) Related Story: US army opens hearing into Afghan killings In what is being described as one of the worst crime cases out of Afghanistan, five US soldiers have been accused of the premeditated murder of three randomly selected civilians. The five soldiers, who were stationed in the country's south, are accused of forming their own "kill team". Prosecutors say the soldiers kept body parts of their victims and three of the accused men have confessed.

Link: http://www.aclu.org/human-rights/un-report-highlights-need-us-civil-and-human-rights-commission

A report examining the state of human rights of people of African descent in the United States was presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council today. The U.N. Working Group on the Rights of People of African Descent reported that, while the U.S. government has taken some steps to promote the rights of people of African descent, much more needs to be done to bring the U.S. into compliance with international treaty obligations.

Link: http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51799320100928

U.S. chief executive officers' view of the economy darkened in the third quarter, with top executives saying they were less willing to hire new workers as they fear sales growth will slow. The change in mood reported in a Business Roundtable survey on Tuesday bodes poorly for the tepid U.S. economic recovery, which as been held back by stubbornly high unemployment. The news was not entirely grim, though -- more CEOs expect to boost their capital spending over the next six months, a trend that reflects both strong corporate balance sheets and a desire to lift productivity.

Link: http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/health_stories/middle_aged_suicide_US/2010/09/28/353568.html

Suicide rates for middle-aged people are edging up — particularly for white men without college degrees — and a combination of poor health and a poor economy may be driving it, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Middle-aged people usually have a relatively low risk for suicide as they seek to support their families, but baby boomers are bucking this trend, sociologists Julie Phillips of Rutgers University in New Jersey and Ellen Idler of Emory University in Atlanta found.

Link: http://jazzaproductions.squarespace.com/press/2010/9/26/mamoon-alabbasi-londons-jazza-festival-highlights-palestinia.html

A music festival will be held in London on October 12th and 13th dedicated to highlighting the plight of Palestinians and help raise aid for the Gaza Strip. The event, dubbed 'Jazza Music Festival' , will feature singer-songwriter Sarah Gillespie, London-based Israeli-born saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, with the participation of other leading artists and performers such as the Mercury Prize nominated 'Unthanks' sisters. http://www.middle-east-online.com:80/english/culture/?id=41540