US-led forces in Afghanistan have killed at least three civilians as their new commander General David Petraeus makes his debut in Kabul. The civilians, including a woman, were killed in a NATO operation in the volatile southern province of Kandahar, a Press TV correspondent reported. NATO has confirmed the attack. However, it claims that its soldiers only killed two civilians. The Western military alliance claims that its forces also accidentally injured another person. The foreign troops also killed eight civilians inside their houses during an operation in Kandahar Province last week. NATO claimed the raid targeted militants. The developments come as a big blow to the new commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. PressTV: US-led forces have killed over 2,500 Afghan civilians last year, according to official figures.

In an article on Thursday entitled “Continuity in foreign affairs but questions remain”, Greg Sheridan foreign editor of Murdoch’s Australian, noted appreciatively that Gillard had, to a considerable extent, been “even more courageous than Rudd in staring down the Left of her own party.” Referring to limited criticism of her attendance at the Australia Israel Leadership Forum in 2008, he wrote: “But she defied it and gave a fine address at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel celebrating not only Australia and Israel’s friendship, but also the common values of the two countries.” Sheridan had nothing but praise for Gillard’s backing of Israel’s murderous war on Gaza in 2008-09. As acting prime minister, she “steadfastly, day by day, defended Israel’s right to self defence against overwhelming commentariat hostility”. [...] There is no doubt that Washington would have known of last week’s coup and had vetted Gillard in advance. It also cannot be ruled out that the US had a more direct hand. Interestingly, President Obama twice cancelled visits to Australia this year.

WSWS: The Australian Labor Party coup: a warning to the working class. Gillard is an unelected prime minister heading an illegitimate government lacking any public support for the assault on the social position on the working class it is about to undertake. For these very reasons, she is being urged to trigger an early election, possibly for August, thereby short circuiting any debate on how Rudd was ousted and why. Such an election campaign will take the form of yet another conspiracy against the Australian people, with neither the Labor nor Liberal parties discussing the real agenda they are preparing to implement once the election is over.

One of the women accused of being a Russian spy in the U.S. travelled on a British passport, according to the FBI. Tracey Lee Ann Foley, who was posing as a naturalised U.S. citizen born in Canada, is believed to have been given forged British documents by her Russian handlers. She used them to travel to and from Moscow with greater ease, the FBI has claimed. The Foreign Office said today it was investigating the claim.

Been booted out by the Times paywall? Allow us to introduce you to the Guardian's website. Come on in – the more the merrier. And a very warm welcome to all our readers from The Times. We're very sorry you awoke to find you could no longer read your newspaper online without a credit card and we feel your pain. We couldn't get into the Times site either last week when it was supposed to still be free as the registration system had crashed. But we can help you through this trauma. Call it a belief in an open internet or care in the community if you like, but here at the Guardian we can offer everything you ever wanted from the Times – and more – for nothing.

A 'Big Brother' stop and search power which has been used by police to harass hundreds of thousands of innocent people will remain in force despite being ruled illegal. The news that police may continue to search members of the public without having any reasonable grounds for suspicion provoked fury among civil liberties campaigners. The power - section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 - was ruled unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday. The Home Office now has no remaining grounds for appeal. But, despite the crushing Strasbourg defeat, officials say they will not stop the police from using the power for months or even a year or more.

Embargo 'Not a Good Way to Settle Differences'. Speaking today at an economic forum Christophe de Margarie, the CEO of French oil giant Total S.A., condemned the recent series of international sanctions targeting Iran’s petroleum industry as a mistake. “The embargo affects the population, too many things are politicized, de Margarie insisted, adding that “we do not think an embargo on the delivery of petrol products is a good way to settle differences of a political nature.” The unilateral US sanctions against Iran, which were signed by President Obama this week, have ordered every energy company in the world to stop delivering refined petroleum to Iran, nominally to punish it for its civilian nuclear program. Total announced on Monday that they would be suspending all deliveries to Iran to avoid US punishment. Though Iran is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, they have comparatively little refining capacity and have had to rely on imports from international companies like Total for civilian needs like gasoline. Since the sanctions Iran has pledged it will increase its refining capacity and become self sufficient. Antiwar: Outgoing UN Nuclear Inspector Pushed Dubious Iran Nuclear Weapons Intel.

FROM THE MADHOUSE: U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, isn't the only Texas congressman making headlines in Washington. Citing a "retired F.B.I. agent" as his source, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, said on the floor of Congress last week that terror cells are plotting to breed future terrorists inside the United States. "It appeared they would have young women who became pregnant [and] would get them into the United States to have a baby. They wouldn't even have to pay anything for the baby," Gohmert said. "And then they would return back where they could be raised and coddled as future terrorists. And then one day, 20, 30 years down the road, they can be sent in to help destroy our way of life."

Employment fell in June for the first time this year, reflecting a drop in federal census workers and a smaller-than-forecast gain in private hiring. The pace of hiring signals it will take years for the world’s largest economy to recover the more than 8 million jobs lost during the recession that began in December 2007. The turmoil in financial markets brought on by the European debt crisis raises the risk that employment will slow, depriving American households of the income needed to maintain spending.

Israel has ruled out any formal apology for the May 31 attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine Turkish activists dead. In a meeting with Israeli Trade Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer in Brussels on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reiterated Ankara's demands that Israel apologize for the deadly attack on the Turkish-owned ship Mavi Marmara, offer compensation to the victims, agree to an international investigation, and end the blockade of Gaza. Ankara, a former ally of Israel, recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and cancelled military exercises with Israel. It has also twice denied Israel the use of its airspace. The international community condemned the attack on the Freedom Flotilla and several countries summoned Israeli ambassadors. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the attack, describing it as an act of self-defense. Haaretz: Netanyahu: No apology, no compensation to Turkey over Gaza flotilla.

As BP makes its latest attempt to plug its gushing oil well, news photographers are complaining that their efforts to document the slow-motion disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are being thwarted by local and federal officials—working with BP—who are blocking access to the sites where the effects of the spill are most visible.

Do you ever just sit back and wonder what in the world has happened to America? The truth is that the America that so many of us once loved so much has been shattered into a thousand pieces. The "land of the free and the home of the brave" has been transformed into a socialized Big Brother nanny state that is oozing with corruption and has accumulated the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. The greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen is falling apart before our very eyes, and even when our politicians actually try to do something right (which is quite rare) the end result is still a bunch of garbage. For those who still love this land (and there are a lot of us) it is heartbreaking to watch America slowly die. The following are 50 random facts that show just how dramatically America has changed....

As some of you know, Falluja is a forbidden city. It was subjected to intense bombardments in 2004, with DU bombs and White phosphorus, and since it has become a no go zone - meaning that both the Iraqi puppet authorities and the U.S invading/occupying forces do not allow anyone to conduct any real study in Falluja. Falluja is basically under siege. Obviously both the Americans and the Iraqis know something and are hiding it from the public. And this is where Prof. C.Busby comes in the picture. He was/is adamant to get to the bottom of what took place in Falluja in 2004.

How Israel is using language to normalise its image lest the world finally wakes up to its racist, supremacist goals. This should help activists combat the verbal and written attacks they are likely to encounter when advocating for Palestine. Download pdf file