Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/224797.html

US Senate's latest package of sanctions against Iran seeks to shut out the Iranian financial sector form a global banking system used to transfer money between banks across the world. The new bill would also give the US legal authority to sanction foreign companies that buy oil from Iran.
In addition, the new legislation would penalize US companies that conduct business with Iran

Link: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/

If Israel does attack Iran, it will not simply be “a surgical strike” that destroys Iran’s key nuclear facilities. Any Iranian retaliation will be used by the US as a pretext for a massive air war aimed at destroying the country’s military and infrastructure.

Link: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/admin.php?ctrl=items&action=new&blog=3

The United Nations Security Council has just voted on a draft resolution concerning the ongoing violence in Syria. Russia and China were the only voting members to oppose the draft. And as permanent members of the UNSC, they had the option to use veto power to block the draft's passage. Beijing and Moscow have both taken issue with the draft's vague wording, which they say leaves the door open for possible international military intervention in Syria

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/wkrs-j28.shtml

About 100 Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) members at BHP’s coal terminal in Port Kembla and 300 at the company’s West Cliff coal mine have threatened a seven-day strike Port Kembla terminal employees are demanding a 4.5 percent pay rise with enhanced entitlements, stronger job security

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/wkrs-j28.shtml

Japanese-owned Schweppes Australia has offered 150 striking employees at its Tullamarine plant in Melbourne bonuses of up to $5,000 if they cross the picket line and return to work. The United Voice members turned down the offer saying they would maintain the 24-hour picket.Schweppes wants to abolish the eight-hour working day and implement 12-hour shifts to reduce overtime penalty payments.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/wkrs-j28.shtml

Field staff at Parks Victoria imposed state-wide work bans on January 26 to protest the Baillieu government’s annual 2.5 percent wage rise ceiling. Last year the state government granted police close to a 20 percent pay rise over four years, but has refused to offer similar increases to nurses and other public sector employees unless they agreed to productivity gains.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/wkrs-j28.shtml

Nearly 900 employees at the Shimano Cambodia footwear factory in Kampong Speu province returned to work on January 24 after the company agreed to reinstate a disabled administration chief. Workers walked out on January 20 after discovering that the administrator, Touch Manin, who had encouraged the hiring of people with disabilities, was being moved out of his position. Manin said that 127 of the factory’s 887 workers, including him, were disabled.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/wkrs-j28.shtml

Nine hundred employees of the German-owned PT Varta Microbattery Indonesia plant in Batam on Riau Island walked off the job on January 19 over housing allowances.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/wkrs-j28.shtml

Tens of thousands of workers in West Java’s Cikarang industrial area walked off the job on January 19 to oppose the Indonesian Employers Association’s (Apindo) lawsuit against the West Java government’s decision to lift the minimum wage in the Bekasi district by up to 30 percent. Demonstrators rallied in the streets, stopping traffic throughout most of the Cikarang industrial area.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/wkrs-j28.shtml

Hundreds of midday meal cooks at government schools in Bangalore struck on January 23 for a pay increase, an end to job outsourcing and other claims. Their major demand is for an increase in daily pay—from 38 rupees ($US0.85) to 150 rupees—in line with a labour department directive.Strike leaders claimed that over 20,000 midday meal workers had not been paid for two months.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f04.shtml

The announcement this week by the Susan G. Komen Foundation that it would cut off funding to Planned Parenthood unleashed a popular backlash, with hundreds of thousands expressing their outrage via social networking sites. Komen abruptly reversed its decision on Friday, but not before the move had exposed the advocacy group’s capitulation to extreme-right, religious forces.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/aumi-f04.shtml

The initial recommendations of a “posture review” of the Australian armed forces, unveiled this week, dovetail with the preparations by US imperialism for a military confrontation with China. The posture review makes clear that the Labor government views the primary function of the Australian armed forces as a supplement to American operations and that it is prepared to spend billions of dollars to ensure adequate facilities are at the disposal of US ships, aircraft and troops.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/iran-f04.shtml

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak argued again on Thursday that military action had to be taken soon.Israeli moves toward attacking Iran are driven by other considerations, not least of which is to maintain an unchallengeable military superiority in the Middle East.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/cana-f04.shtml

Caterpillar subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) has announced that it is transforming the lockout at its London, Ontario diesel-locomotive manufacturing facility into a plant closure.Six weeks ago, Caterpillar locked out the 465 production workers at its London plant after they overwhelmingly rejected the company's demands for a 55 percent wage cut, the elimination of their pension plan, and other sweeping concessions.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/hung-f04.shtml

Millions of people in the largest and wealthiest city in the US struggled to afford food last year, according to a report released last month by the Food Bank for New York City.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/post-f04.shtml

An unknown number of the 18,000 casual workers employed by Royal Mail over the Christmas period did not receive their pay, or were short-changed for weeks.. Some complained that they had only received part of their pay—sometimes, as low as one pence for a week’s work—or no pay at all. Others described how they had worked in excess of 50 hours a week, been given wrong shifts or paid at rates lower than advertised. Still more revealed how they were turned away at the gates because they did not appear on staff listings or had not received security badges.

Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/brazil-the-geopolitical-benefits-of-energy-independence-4651/

Brazil is a rare gem, a rising power that has put itself on the path of energy independence thanks to a combination of forward-looking energy policies and newly discovered oil reserves. But what does this actually mean for Brazilian foreign policy?

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096488/Iran-moves-cut-oil-exports-countries-Europe.html

Iran has vowed to cut oil exports to some European countries in retaliation over the bloc's recent decision to ban oil imports from the Islamic Republic.
It has not named the countries which will be affected, but officials insist it is a decision made in response to the EU deciding to stop importing Iranian crude oil as of July 1.

Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/231199#.TzDce3pTDGh

Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle said on Saturday that Europe is determined to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran but is warning against military action.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30446.htm

War creates an enemy that must be extinguished by government force. The more broadly defined the enemy is, the bigger the government's role becomes in eradicating it. And when the government wages war against anything, it's a cycle that's nearly impossible to stop. The government creates new agencies, and staffs them with union jobs that depend on never actually winning the wars, but rather only perpetuating them.
There is no real enemy, but rather the inflated or imagined creations of the government/corporate power structures that benefit most from war.