One would think that the effort to downplay the killings of as many as 64 civilians, including a large number of children, would be enough to spark considerable anti-US outrage, but apparently Gen. David Petraeus saw an opportunity to make things even worse, and took it.

In a closed door meeting aimed at explaining why they had killed so many civilians, Gen. Petraeus actually accused parents in the region of burning their own children in an attempt to raise the death count and make the US look bad. Of course if there is one thing the occupation forces don’t need any help with, it’s looking bad, and the shocking accusation sparked considerable anger amongst the Karzai government. It was quickly dismissed by provincial officials, of course, but did immeasurable damage to US credibility on the matter of the rising civilian toll.

Jason Ditz: New US Drone Strikes Kill 15 in Waziristan -At least 15 people were killed today in a new flurry of US drone strikes against Pakistani tribal areas. The first strike killed seven people in South Waziristan, while a second strike killed another eight in North Waziristan. The strikes were the first in nearly a month, an atypical lapse that has fueled reports that the detained CIA spy and US ‘consulate worker’ Raymond Davis, who police say was captured with GPS tracking devices on him, played a key role in the strikes.

Reuters: US/NATO forces kill 64 civilians

The people of Lahore now see CIA agents like game hunters, operating under paid immunity. Last summer in Lahore, I had a little party at my house for the final of the football World Cup. It was a pretty relaxed affair, maybe 20 people, cushions on the TV room floor, pizza on the dining room table. Some of my friends brought friends of their own. One was an American man. He was wearing a light jacket. After he left, my wife told me he was also wearing a gun. Now, I'm open to my friends bringing their friends to my house. But I'm not very accepting of a friend bringing a gun – or, worse, bringing a complete stranger with a gun. Yet that's what happened, and it left me angry and disturbed.

Like everyone else I knew, I'd heard the stories about large numbers of armed Americans in Lahore, staying at such-and-such hotels or working out at such-and-such gyms. Maybe I became more sensitive to their presence after the incident at my house, but suddenly I began to see them all around town. To be precise, I didn't know if the men I was seeing were armed. But they looked like Americans, and they didn't look like rock guitarists or maths teachers or irrigation specialists or heart surgeons. They looked, to my unschooled eye, like what I'd expect trained killers to look like.

Then, last month, in broad daylight on a main Lahore road, one such man, Raymond Davis, shot dead two Pakistani citizens with his Glock, and a US consular car sent to retrieve him killed another Pakistani citizen while speeding the wrong way down a street. On Sunday, the Guardian revealed that Davis is in fact a CIA agent.

Salon: The NYT's journalistic obedience
AWIP: Pak intel: US killer official linked to CIA

New WikiLeaks releases, accessed by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, continue to embarrass the Norwegian government as well as the US’, with latest revelations suggesting that Norway’s ambassadors joined their US-led NATO allies in attempts to avoid a messy debate on civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Leaked cables from the American delegation to NATO, written in September 2008, allege that "Norway’s ambassador emphasized the need to avoid a public debate about the reporting of the number of civilians killed." They claim to record then-Norwegian ambassador and former deputy foreign minister Kim Traavik pouring scorn on the UN’s civilian death toll figures, stating that "UN employees themselves in Kabul doubt the method that is used."

[News in English: Norway joined NATO in suppressing reports of civilian Afghan deaths]

A major earthquake in Christchurch has left at least 65 people dead, hundreds more injured and toppled buildings in what the prime minister has described as "New Zealand's darkest day". Rescue workers scrambled to free scores of people trapped in buildings, some crews arriving by helicopter because streets were blocked by rubble and jammed traffic. Officials fear the death toll could double amid reports that more than 200 were trapped in collapsed buildings and wreckage of homes. Bodies were seen lying in the streets, untended until emergency services were able to reach them. A special "person finder" established by Google, the search engine giant, said it was currently tracking more than 3600 "records".

Daily Mail: At least 65 dead as huge earthquake rocks New Zealand with fears that the toll may rise to 300

The Prime Minister said that popular uprisings now flaring across the Middle East showed the West had been wrong to support dictators and oppressive regimes. Speaking to the Kuwaiti Parliament, Mr Cameron said Britain would back democracy campaigners seeking greater rights across the Middle East. "History is sweeping through your neighbourhood," he said. "Not as a result of force and violence, but by people seeking their rights, and in the vast majority of cases doing so peacefully and bravely." Britain and other Western countries supported Hosni Mubarak, ousted by protests in Egypt. They have also backed authoritarian regimes in the Gulf region, making few efforts to push allies towards democratic reform. That approach was wrong and counter-productive, Mr Cameron said.

PressTV: West flawed policies behind uprisings
Andy Worthington: Revolution in Libya: Protestors Respond to Gaddafi’s Murderous Backlash with Remarkable Courage; US and UK Look Like the Hypocrites They Are

Mercenaries from Russia and former Soviet nations are fighting Libyan protesters on behalf of Muammar Gaddafi, it has emerged.

The embattled Libyan leader has launched a brutal crackdown as his bloody 41-year grip on power appears to be nearing its end and Eastern European gunmen have been spotted with black African mercenaries from French-speaking African nations such as Chad. The mercenaries, many of whom are white, are believed to have received up to £18,000 each to prop up but hey also face being shot or hanged if they are captured by the growing number of armed revolutionaries in Libya. Tripoli woke today to find bodies littering the streets after security forces loyal to embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi opened fire on protesters.

PressTV: Libya hires African mercenaries

In a fresh wave of violent crackdown on protests which have rocked the North African nation for nearly a week, Libyan army warplanes have bombed the capital city of Tripoli. Reports suggested that army warplanes bombed protesters in Tripoli early on Tuesday. Residents reported gun

Meanwhile, cracks have been reported between Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's supporters as several army personnel and politicians take side with people protesters.

Government control and repression of civil society remain the norm in Libya, with little progress made on promised human rights reforms. While releases of large numbers of Islamist prisoners continued, 2010 saw stagnation on key issues such as penal code reform, freedom of association, and accountability for the Abu Salim prison massacre in 1996. Libya maintains harsh restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression, including penal code provisions that criminalize “insulting public officials” or “opposing the ideology of the Revolution,” although there has been slightly more media debate in recent years, particularly online.

Libya appeared to slip further from the grip of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Tuesday, as opposition forces in eastern Libya moved to consolidate control of the region, arming themselves with weapons taken from security warehouses, and fighting continued in Tripoli, witnesses said. In Tripoli, the capital, the government was striking back at protesters challenging Colonel Qaddafi’s 40-year rule. Security forces and militiamen backed by helicopters and warplanes besieged parts of the city overnight, according to witnesses and news reports from Tripoli. Fighting was heavy at times on Monday night, witnesses said, and the streets were thick with special forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi fighting alongside mercenaries. Roving the streets in trucks, they shot freely as planes dropped what witnesses described as “small bombs” and helicopters fired on protesters. Hundreds of Qaddafi supporters took over the central Green Square in the capital after truckloads of militiamen arrived and opened fire on protesters, scattering them. Residents said they now feared to leave their houses.

Two Libyan Air Force fighter pilots defected on Monday and flew their jets to Malta where they told authorities they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Maltese government officials said. They said the two pilots, both colonels, took off from a base near Tripoli. One of them has requested political asylum. The pilots are being questioned by the Maltese police. The two said they decided to fly to Malta after being ordered to bomb anti-government protesters in Libya's second largest city of Benghazi, the sources said.

Antiwar: Senior Libyan Pilots Defect to Malta After Orders to Attack Protesters

A leaked manuscript by one of Sarah Palin's closest aides from her time as governor charges that Palin broke state election law in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign and was consumed by petty grievances up until she resigned. The unpublished book by Frank Bailey was leaked to the media and widely circulated on Friday. The manuscript opens with an account of Palin sending Bailey a message saying "I hate this damn job" shortly before she resigned as Alaska's governor in July 2009, less than three years into her four-year term. The manuscript goes on for nearly 500 pages, a mixture of analysis, gossip and allegation. Copies of the manuscript were forwarded around Alaska political circles on Friday. The Daily News received copies from multiple sources, the first from author Joe McGinniss, who is working on his own Palin book. McGinniss didn't respond to a message asking where he obtained the manuscript and the reason he circulated it. Bailey, a political insider who joined Palin's 2006 campaign for governor and became part of her inner circle, has never before told his version of the Palin story. Bailey has consistently refused requests for interviews and did so again Friday. The book was co-written with California author Ken Morris and Jeanne Devon of Anchorage, who publishes the popular anti-Palin website Mudflats.