The Midwestern US state of Wisconsin has become the scene of angry protests against a Republican proposal targeting the rights or public workers' unions among other things. The demonstrations entered their sixth-day on Saturday, with crowds of protesters and counter-protests descending on the state capitol building in Madison, Reuters reported. Up to 70,000 protesters -- including civil servants, teachers, students, and unions -- were protesting at Republican Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget. The bill includes measures to curb unions' collective bargaining rights and public workers' pay and benefits.

Leaked cable reveals THE RED CROSS has been covering up civilian casualties in Afghanistan for the US Military. Red Cross responds to leak, "This is standard procedure". The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has published an article on NATO, US, and the Red Cross and the Bala Baluk massacre on May 4, 2009. The article features a cable that shows the Red Cross put together a report that raised significant doubt about military reports on the number of civilians killed. The cable reveals how a PR campaign kicked into gear to sell the idea that the deaths were not intentional and to skew coverage of the event to fit the interests of NATO and US forces in Afghanistan.

War Crime: U.S. Forces Kill 64 Civilians In Afghanistan - Gen. Khalilullah Ziayi said 15 men, 20 women and 29 children or young adults were killed during operations in Ghazi Abad district in the past four days. Kunar provincial governor, Fazlullah Wahidi, also said that 64 civilians were killed. Tribal elders told the provincial governor that air strikes hit a village in the area and that "women and children had been killed inside their houses," said Nawrdin Safi, a member of the Kunar provincial council. Kunar province police chief Gen. Khalilullah Ziayi said local residents claimed 15 men, 20 women and 29 children or young adults were killed during operations in the area, about 190 kilometers (117 miles) east of Kabul.

Documents show Raymond Davis, an American who killed two Pakistanis in Lahore in January, had links with CIA's espionage and sabotage plans in the Asian country. “The documents, photographs and the evidence that has come out from Davis' sofa almost confirms his links with Taliban terrorism…the attacks on ISI and the security establishment as well as the drone attacks,” Pakistani defense analyst and security consultant Zaid Hamid said in an interview with Press TV's US Desk on Saturday. Hamid added that there is evidence confirming Davis has been a US undercover operative in Pakistan. “With this kind of evidence the issue is not just the assassination of those two boys on the streets of Lahore but it is an indication of a much larger network of CIA espionage and sabotage inside Pakistan,” he said.

AWIP: Pakistan court delays immunity ruling on CIA agent

The troublesome record of spin by conservative television station Fox News has long been a cause for concern to many Americans, who frequently allege that the nation's most viewed "news" network has the effect of dumbing down voters. Turns out, they were right.

It seems some pretty shady tactics are being used to push the bill through. Rep Gordon Hintz provides some insight on the bill's handling from an opposing representative's point of view.

Forbes: Koch Brothers Behind Wisconsin Effort To Kill Public Unions
Yes Magazine: Wisconsin: The First Stop in An American Uprising?
FightBackNews: Wisconsin governor tries to strip state employees of union rights, workers fight back
Alternet: Wisconsin Is a Battleground Against the Billionaire Kochs' Plan to Break Labor's Back
Stephen Lendman: Egypt's Spirit Lands in Wisconsin

ENGLISHTRANS LPC #Benghazi man: "Muammar's special forces are executing doctors." #Libya #Feb17

BBC: Libya machine gunning protestors and launching mortars at them VIDEO -Libyan troops have opened fire with machine-guns and large-calibre weapons on anti-government protesters in the second city Benghazi, witnesses say. An unknown number of people, including children, are said to have been killed. Witnesses described scenes of chaos as snipers shot from the roofs of buildings and demonstrators fought back against troops on the ground. A doctor at a local hospital said he and his colleagues were treating hundreds of injured protesters.

CNN: Libya - Hovering helicopters fired into the crowds and the hospital was receiving a steady stream of injured people

The Guardian: Libyan protesters risk 'suicide' by army hands - Gaddafi confronts the most serious challenge to his 42-year rule by unleashing army on unarmed demonstrators. The pro-government Al-Zahf al-Akhdar newspaper warned that the government would "violently and thunderously respond" to the protests, and said those opposing the regime risked "suicide".

"Chinese workers at a company in Israel have been forced to agree not to have sex with or marry Israelis as a condition of getting a job."

Chinese workers at a company in Israel have been forced to agree not to have sex with or marry Israelis as a condition of getting a job. According to a contact they are required to sign, male workers may not have any contact with Israeli women - including prostitutes, a police spokesman, Rafi Yaffe, said. He said there was nothing illegal about the requirement and that no investigation had been opened. An Israeli lawyer who did not want to be named said while the contract might appear legal, it would be rejected if challenged in court. "The point is that a Chinese worker will agree to anything and then will not have anyone to help them if there is a problem," he said.

Gilad Atzmon: Truth in Stuttgart -‘[U]niversalism’ is a beautiful idea, it is incompatible with Jewish culture, since Jewish culture is tribally oriented.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities cracked down on activists as a call circulated for people to gather in more than a dozen cities Sunday for a "Jasmine Revolution." The source of the call was not known, but authorities moved to halt its spread online. Searches for the word "jasmine" were blocked Saturday on China's largest Twitter-like microblog, and the website where the request first appeared said it was hit by an attack.

Activists seemed not to know what to make of the call to protest, even as they passed it on. They said they were unaware of any known group being involved in the request for citizens to gather in 13 cities and shout "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness." Some even wondered whether the call was "performance art" instead of a serious move in the footsteps of recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. China has limited reporting on the protests in the Middle East and quickly shuts down most protests at home.