99-percenters hold Los Angeles rally against financial firms

Anti-corporate protesters and labor unions in Los Angeles have staged a protest rally, urging city officials to take meaningful measures to hold banks accountable for their business policies.The 99-percenters and Occupy Los Angeles activists demonstrated from the City Hall on Tuesday amid a new plan by city officials to deal only with financial institutions involved with community services. Los Angeles authorities are reportedly proceeding ahead with a law that makes it binding for the city to conduct official business merely with those banks that extend various sorts of aid to local communities. However, the protesters insist that such a measure does not adequately hold banks liable for their business dealings with common consumers. Demonstrators also voiced their opposition against a plan by city authorities to prohibit setting up of tents in parks across Los …

Anti-govt. protesters block roads in Bahrain amid regime crackdown

Anti-regime protesters in Bahrain have set tires on fire and blocked the main roads leading to the capital, Manama, as government forces continue their severe suppression of demonstrators.Security forces attacked the protesters in several villages on Tuesday night. They fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters in the villages of Sitra and Dair. They also arrested several youngsters in Dar Kulaib. The latest developments come as the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is set to discuss Bahrain’s rights record in the upcoming session of its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group in Geneva. The UPR is a UNHRC mechanism to examine the human rights records of all UN member states. The Working Group on the UPR is to hold its 13th session from May 21 to June 4. On Monday, Bahraini forces once again attacked anti-regime demonstrators in the …

4 anti-NATO protesters arrested in Chicago

Four anti-NATO protesters have been arrested at a demonstration outside a Chicago immigration court, just days before a two-day NATO summit kicks off in the city.Police made the arrests when around 100 people gathered outside the court on Tuesday to protest against US wars, economic injustice, and the country’s immigration policy. A Chicago priest from Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Mission and a woman were among those arrested. A group of anti-Wall Street Occupy Chicago protesters also joined the protesters, and as the group marched downtown, the police detained two of the Occupy Chicago protesters. On Monday, eight protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing after they refused to leave the Chicago office tower housing US President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign headquarters. Thousands of protesters are expected to come to the city when leaders of the 28 NATO …

Butcher of Bosnian Muslisms trial to open

Bosnian Serb ex-army chief Ratko Mladic goes on trial Wednesday, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in his campaign of ethnic cleansing and the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica.Prosecutors will open his long-awaited trial at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) before judges at the ex-Yugoslavia war crimes court in The Hague, just short of a year following his arrest in Serbia after 16 years on the run.Mladic, now 70, has been indicted on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Balkan country's brutal 1992-95 war that killed 100,000 and left 2.2 million others homeless.Former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic -- Mladic's political alter ego -- is already on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Both men are believed to be the main players in a plan to rid multi-ethnic Bosnia of Croats and …

Chomsky:
Bush kidnapped & tortured, Obama murders

Noam Chomsky has slammed US drone strikes and said while the Bush administration kidnapped and tortured, present-day White House resorts to murder.“If Bush, the Bush administration, didn’t like somebody, they’d kidnap them and send them to torture chambers,” the renowned American scholar told Democracy Now on Monday. “If the Obama administration decides they don’t like somebody, they murder them, so you don’t have to have torture chambers all over,” he said. Chomsky also criticized Obama team for the extrajudicial murder of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric, in Yemen in a drone strike. “He (Awlaki) was killed. The guy next to him was killed. Shortly after, his son was killed. Now, there was a little talk about the fact that he was an American citizen: you shouldn’t just murder American citizens.” Chomsky commented. “But, you know, the …

Israeli troops clash with Palestinians, 70 injured

At least 70 people have been injured in the West Bank as Israeli troops clash with Palestinians protesting Israeli occupation on the Nakba Day, Press TV reports.The protesters were wounded in Qalandiya on Tuesday as they marked the anniversary of the Nakba Day. Clashes were also reported in other areas in the occupied Palestinian territories. One Palestinian photographer was among the injured, Press TV correspondent reported. Israeli riot and undercover policemen also arrested at least six people. Thousands also rallied in the West Bank city of Ramallah as well as in Gaza, Nablus and alkhalil (Hebron) to mark the anniversary. Palestinians set dozens of Israeli flags on fire in East al-Quds (Jerusalem). Palestinians across the occupied territories annually mark the Nakba Day in protest against the Israeli occupation of their homeland on May 15, 1948. Thousands of …

People Stage Rally to Shout Protest against Annexation of Bahrain to S. Arabia

Thousands of the Bahraini people took to the streets in Manama and other cities across the country on Monday to voice their strong protest at a recent plot by the Al-Khalifa and Al-Saud regimes to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.Protesters chanted slogans against the Al-Khalifa dynasty and renewed their call for the ouster of their country's tyrannical rulers. Demonstrators also set fire to the US flag to show their anger at Washington's support for the Manama dictators. The Untied States has recently resumed supply of arms to the rulers of the tiny country to help them suppress the Shiite majority who are calling for democracy and human rights. Sporadic police clashes were reported on Monday. The Saudi-backed security forces used tear gas and bullets to disperse the rallies. The protest rallies were staged after a key opposition coalition in the Persian Gulf island …