Link: http://news.yahoo.com/jimmy-carter-accuses-u-widespread-abuse-human-rights-154057442--abc-news-politics.html

A former U.S. president is accusing the current president of sanctioning the "widespread abuse of human rights" by authorizing drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists. Jimmy Carter, America's 39 th president, denounced the Obama administration for "clearly violating" 10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writing in a New York Times op-ed on Monday that the "United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights."

Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/uk-swiss-boxes-idUKLNE85O02220120625

Investors trying to protect their wealth from global economic uncertainty have been stashing bank notes, gold bars and other valuables in Swiss banks, fuelling demand for safe deposit boxes.

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/56c7e518-bc8f-11e1-a111-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1yzlI3mBW

US inequality is at its highest point for nearly a century. Those at the top – no matter how you slice it – are enjoying a larger share of the national pie; the number below the poverty level is growing. The gap between those with the median income and those at the top is growing, too. The US used to think of itself as a middle-class country – but this is no longer true.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/25-0

The contents are surreal and shocking, and prima facia evidence for how corporations have become the master puppeteers of our government. The leaked document reveals that the trade agreement would give unprecedented political authority and legal protection to foreign corporations. Specifically, TPP would (1) severely limit regulation of foreign corporations operating within U.S. boundaries, giving them greater rights than domestic firms, (2) extend incentives for U.S. firms to move investments and jobs to lower-wage countries, (3) establish an alternative legal system that gives foreign corporations and investors new rights to circumvent U.S. courts and laws, allowing them to sue the U.S. government before foreign tribunals and demand compensation for lost revenue due to US laws they claim undermine their TPP privileges or their investment “expectations.”

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/turk-j25.shtml

The United States has sharply escalated its campaign against Syria over the weekend, in response to Syria’s shooting down of at Turkish fighter Friday. After speaking to Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said on Sunday: “The United States condemns this brazen and unacceptable act in the strongest possible terms. It is yet another reflection of Syrian authorities’ callous disregard for international norms, human life and peace and security.”

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/pers-j25.shtml

With the new fiscal year commencing next Sunday for most of the 50 US state governments, the balance sheet of the 2012 fiscal year shows that European-style austerity measures, on the scale of those imposed in Spain, Ireland and approaching those in Greece, are being carried out in one state after another.