● Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons
● Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
● Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi: 'I had the chance to fabricate something ...' Link to this video. The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war. Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks and clandestine factories in an attempt to bring down the Saddam Hussein regime, from which he had fled in 1995. "Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right," he said. "They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy."

US President Barack Obama has unveiled his budget for the 2012 fiscal year which aims to cut $1.1 trillion (€820 billion) from the country’s deficit over the next decade. The budget is described by Obama as a “downpayment” on fiscal control but the opposition Republican party said that the US was still taxing and borrowing too much. The president’s announcement kick starts months of wrangling with congress, where Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, are calling for deeper cuts. A long process of negotiation will be needed before a budget is agreed on and passed into law. Obama’s budget proposes total spending of $3.73 trillion in the 2012 fiscal year, which begins in October. That is a 2.4 per cent reduction from the current year.

PressTV: Obama budget cuts devastate the poor
Native American Netroots: Ziebach County, South Dakota: America's Poorest County

Many people don’t understand our country’s problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don’t see it. People just don't understand how much wealth there is at the top now. The wealth at the top is so extreme that it is beyond most people’s ability to comprehend. If people understood just how concentrated wealth has become in our country and the effect is has on our politics, our democracy and our people, they would demand our politicians do something about it.

On "Parker Spitzer," debt commission co-chair Alan Simpson comments on Pres. Obama's proposed budget, saying the deficit "ain't going away" and is a "stink bomb" in the garden party.

The Colombian navy has seized a submarine believed to have been built to smuggle cocaine to Mexico. The 31m-long (100ft) fibreglass vessel was found hidden in a jungle area in Timbiqui, in south-western Colombia. Navy officials said it was the most sophisticated submarine they had found so far, capable of travelling 9m (30ft) below water. The officials said it could carry four people and up to eight tonnes of cargo, and was ready to launch. Commander of the Pacific Naval Force Adm Hernando Wills Velez said it was one of the biggest homemade submarines ever found. He said it was equipped with sophisticated navigational equipment, which would have allowed the crew to sail as far as Mexico. Officials estimated the cost of the vessel at more than $2m.

PressTV: Argentina to protest illicit US cargo - The Argentine government is moving to lodge an official protest to Washington following the seizure of undeclared weapons and drugs aboard a US military plane.

In a case that has dragged on for nearly two decades, Chevron has been fined by an Ecuadorian court for dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into the Amazon. A court in Ecuador has fined US oil giant Chevron $8.6bn (£5.3bn) for polluting a large part of the country's Amazon region. The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers.

Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased. Condemning the ruling as fraudulent, Chevron said it would appeal. The company will also have to pay a 10% legally mandated reparations fee, bringing the total penalty to $9.5bn (£5.9bn). Pablo Fajardo, lawyer for the plaintiffs, described the court ruling as "a triumph of justice over Chevron's crime and economic power". "This is an important step but we're going to appeal this sentence because we think that the damages awarded are not enough considering the environmental damage caused by Chevron here in Ecuador," he told the BBC.

Bloomberg: Chevron's Ecuador Judgment May Be `Unenforceable,' Analyst Says
Raw Story: Chevron sues Ecuadorians who stood up to toxic contamination

Researchers say cadmium and other sewage toxins have poisoned large amounts of a Chinese staple. As much as 10 percent of China's rice may be tainted by poisonous cadmium, a heavy metal discharged in mine and industrial sewage that makes its way into rice paddies, according to agricultural researchers at a major university. Much of this poisoned rice is consumed by farm families or sold in areas of the nation's food market beyond the reach of government safety regulators.

Following the lead of research conducted by scientists at Nanjing Agricultural University's agricultural resource and environment institute, a Caixin probe found several dozen farmers in the village of Sidi in southern China's Guangxi Autonomous Region have been troubled by a strange weakness of the legs for decades. Health officials have declined to link the feeble leg condition to pollution, but similar conditions have been found among farmers in Zhejiang Province that the Nanjing scientists blamed on high levels of cadmium in the rice local families eat almost daily. Rice is a staple food for 65 percent of the population in China, where annual rice farm output is about 200 million tons.

Jigme Norbu hit by sport utility vehicle on dark road 25 miles into 300-mile walk to raise awareness of Tibetan struggle. Norbu was on a 300-mile "Walk for Tibet" from St Augustine to West Palm Beach. He had done similar walks several times before, including one of 900 miles in 2009 from Indiana to New York. That walk marked the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan rebellion against Chinese rule that resulted in the exile of his uncle, who is Tibet's spiritual leader. Norbu, of Bloomington, Indiana, is the son of the Dalai Lama's late brother, Taktser Rinpoche. Pierre Tristam, the editor of flaglerlive.com, a community non-profit news service, said Norbu was walking along the white line on the side of the unlit road when he was hit. The incident happened about 25 miles south of St Augustine, where Norbu had begun his journey with several others.

In almost every instance if you mention to a Fox viewer that what he or she is watching is full of absurdities and fabrications, instead of debating the topic, they inevitably mention their ratings. If ratings is comparable to truth, then our society has been astoundingly dumbed down. A Smart Politics analysis of more than 500 PolitiFact stories over the last year finds that statements made by Republican politicians have been rated as false at more than three times the rate of those made by their Democratic counterparts. Leading the way for the GOP with the largest number of false statements: Sarah Palin with eight, Michele Bachmann with seven, and John Boehner, Mike Pence, and the National Republican Congressional Committee with four each.

Bob Altemeyer: The Authoritarians
Bob Altemeyer: Comment on the Tea Party Movement

[Ed Brayton/Glenn Greenwald/Salon.com] Last week, Aaron Barr, a top executive at computer security firm HB Gary Federal, boasted to the Financial Times that his firm had infiltrated and begun to expose Anonymous, the group of pro-WikiLeaks hackers that had launched cyber attacks on companies terminating services to the whistleblowing site.

The leaked report suggested numerous ways to destroy WikiLeaks, some of them likely illegal [...] and a "media campaign to push the radical and reckless nature of wikileaks activities." Many of those proposals were also featured prongs of a secret 2008 Pentagon plan to destroy WikiLeaks.

My initial reaction to all of this was to scoff at its absurdity. Not being familiar with the private-sector world of internet security, I hadn't heard of these firms before and, based on the quality of the proposal, assumed they were just some self-promoting, fly-by-night entities of little significance. [...] But after learning a lot more over the last couple of days, I now take this more seriously -- not in terms of my involvement but the broader implications this story highlights.

But the real issue highlighted by this episode is just how lawless and unrestrained is the unified axis of government and corporate power. [...] There is very little separation between government power and corporate power. Those who wield the latter intrinsically wield the former. The revolving door between the highest levels of government and corporate offices rotates so fast and continuously that it has basically flown off its track and no longer provides even the minimal barrier it once did. It's not merely that corporate power is unrestrained; it's worse than that: corporations actively exploit the power of the state to further entrench and enhance their power.

The whole situation is appalling but hardly surprising. And as Greenwald notes, much of it is illegal. But don't expect anyone to be charged with those crimes any time soon. It was the DOJ that recommended HB Gary to Bank of America. And their actions fit the DOJ's agenda to destroy WikiLeaks. The DOJ will conveniently look the other way.

Justin Elliott/Salon.com: New information emerges on anti-WikiLeaks plot

TEHRAN - Crowds of demonstrators battled security forces armed with tear gas and batons during a surprisingly large anti-government protest in the Iranian capital Monday that drew inspiration from the recent popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Dodging clouds of tear gas fired by police and pro-government militiamen, the protesters marched down a central boulevard and shouted slogans such as "Death to the dictator," "We are all together" and "Down with Taliban, in Cairo and Tehran." Witnesses at several positions along the route said vast throngs of people could be seen marching from Enghelab (Revolution) Square toward Azadi (Freedom) Square, overwhelming police efforts to stop them.

Dozens of protesters were arrested for participating in the banned rally, an opposition Web site reported. A similar demonstration, clashes and arrests were reported in the central Iranian city of Isfahan. The gathering in Tehran appeared to be the most significant anti-government protest here since security forces cracked down on a series of massive demonstrations in 2009. The size of the crowd was difficult to estimate. Some witnesses said they believed it exceeded 200,000. The Associated Press said tens of thousands of people demonstrated.

BBC: Clinton expresses US support for Iran protesters

[Editor's Comment:] Hillary Clinton couldn't find it in her heart to support protesters fighting for freedom in Egypt. There she supported the dictator & his torture regime. She did this for Israel, of course. This time people are protesting in Iran and they immediately receive St. Hillary's blessing. Again, for Israel. - The whole thing is glaringly transparent, isn't it?

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is reported to have fallen into a “full coma” on Saturday evening at his family’s holiday residence. The al-Masry al-Youm newspaper cited well-informed sources in saying that Mubarak – who fled to Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday after announcing that he would remain in power until elections in September – had lapsed into a full coma in the UAE resort. Al-Arabiya, reporting the story, adds that earlier rumours suggested Mubarak had fainted twice during the recording of his final speech, which was broadcast (and proclaimed to be live) on Thursday evening.

It further adds that there had been longstanding concerns over the former president’s health, since the 82-year-old had undergone surgery in March 2010 for an inflamed gallbladder. Russian agency RIA Novosti, however, said the pro-government daily newspaper al-Gomhuria reported treatment for a “severe psychological condition” and denied that Mubarak was in physical ill-health.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will stand trial in April on charges of paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl following a judge’s ruling today. A judge in Milan ordered that Berlusconi stand trial with prosecutors saying that the 74-year-old billionaire businessman paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl and then conspired to cover it up, reports the Washington Post. Prosecutors allege that Berlusconi paid for sex with a Moroccan born Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby, who was underage at the time. He is then said to have used his influence to get her released after she had been arrested for an alleged theft. Berlusconi denies the allegations of paying for sex but admits to seeking her release from police custody, denying it was an abuse of power. Judge Cristina Di Censo issued her indictment with a terse statement and said the trial against Berlusconi will begin on 6 April.

BBC: Silvio Berlusconi faces Ruby sex charge trial in April