(Image from an unrelated event)

A US airstrike has killed at least nine school children and wounded several others in an area of the troubled eastern Afghanistan, locals say.

The causalities come after US forces dropped bombs in a mountainous village of Nangalam in Kunar province on Tuesday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The US Media Information Center in Jalalabad has confirmed the strike, claiming that all the killed were the Taliban militants. However, eyewitnesses say the victims of the air raid were innocent children.

Locals say children were targeted on a hilltop while gathering wood fuel in the volatile region. The locals have shifted the dead bodies to their families.

Last week, over 60 Afghan civilians lost their lives during NATO airstrikes on residential areas in the same province.

An Afghan study on the unexploded munitions has recently revealed that the US-led NATO forces have been using internationally prohibited bombs against civilians in the war-torn country.

Thousands of Afghan people have so far lost their lives due to military operations by foreign troops since the 2001 US-led invasion. Insecurity is on the rise across the country despite [because of] the presence of over 150,000 US-led forces there.

The U.S. Navy was repositioning its heavy-hitting warships around North Africa today as America and Britain dramatically increased pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which had been had been on pirate-hunting duty off the coast of Somalia, is now steaming to the mouth of the Suez Canal in the Red Sea. The deadly strike force aboard the nuclear-powered carrier is already within flying distance of Libya but the Enterprise is said to be heading closer to country and its rogue dictator.

NYT: U.S. Readies Military Options on Libya
PressTV: US, NATO bases prepare Libya attack?

PressTV: US urges support for Libya mercenaries - The United States has demanded the United Nations Security Council to remove the provisions of charging mercenaries with war crimes in the killing of Libyan civilians.

king and exploitation in the United States have become a booming industry for the wealthy at the cost of victimizing a huge number of many teenagers and even children.

Human rights advocates say the men that purchase mostly female subjects for sexual exploitation in Washington DC are often among the affluent professionals that include politicians and police officers, while the estimated 300,000 annual victims are mainly at-risk and run-away children and youth without a home, a Press TV correspondent reported on Tuesday.

With 13 as the average age, many victims of sexual trafficking are usually beaten and raped into submission by the men who hire and exploit them.

The booming prostitution and child-sex industry in the US has made human rights advocates fight for stronger laws to bring predators to justice and to help get the young kids off the streets.

Courtney's House, a non-profit organization committed to providing a safe place for child trafficking victims, passes out information to young at-risk girls so they know help is available.

“Now more than ever, it is easy to buy someone, and it is easier to buy a child,” says an assistant project manager at Courtney's House.

“Local traffickers in the DC area are preying upon predominantly girls but also boys who are homeless, facing a lot of poverty,” says the executive director of FAIR Fund - a Washington DC-based international non-profit organization that works to prevent human trafficking and sexual violence.

Despite efforts by human rights organizations throughout the United States to limit the impact of the industry on at-risk youth, experts admit that it is easier than ever for predators to buy young girls on the Internet, leaving law enforcement with a lack of paper trail.

[VIDEO] Dear Citizens of the United States of America,

It has come to our attention that the brothers, David and Charles Koch--the billionaire owners of Koch Industries--have long attempted to usurp American Democracy. Their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin are the final straw. Starting today we fight back.

Koch Industries, and oligarchs like them, have most recently started to manipulate the political agenda in Wisconsin. Governor Walker's union-busting budget plan contains a clause that went nearly un-noticed. This clause would allow the sale of publicly owned utility plants in Wisconsin to private parties (specifically, Koch Industries) at any price, no matter how low, without a public bidding process. The Koch's have helped to fuel the unrest in Wisconsin and the drive behind the bill to eliminate the collective bargaining power of unions in a bid to gain a monopoly over the state's power supplies.

The Koch brothers have made a science of fabricating 'grassroots' organizations and advertising campaigns to support them in an attempt to sway voters based on their falsehoods. Americans for Prosperity, Club for Growth and Citizens United are just a few of these organizations. In a world where corporate money has become the lifeblood of political influence, the labor unions are one of the few ways citizens have to fight against corporate greed. Anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen-workers of Wisconsin, or the opportunity to fight for the people in America's broken political system. For these reasons, we feel that the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere. As such, we have no choice but to spread the word of the Koch brothers' political manipulation, their single-minded intent and the insidious truth of their actions in Wisconsin, for all to witness.

Anonymous hears the voice of the down trodden American people, whose rights and liberties are being systematically removed one by one, even when their own government refuses to listen or worse - is complicit in these attacks.

We are actively seeking vulnerabilities, but in the mean time we are calling for all supporters of true Democracy, and Freedom of The People, to boycott all Koch Industries' paper products. We welcome unions across the globe to join us in this boycott to show that you will not allow big business to dictate your freedom.

AnonNews: Open Letter To The World

Iran has threatened to boycott the London Olympics unless the organisers replace the official logo, which Tehran claims spells out the word "Zion".

The logo, a jagged representation of the year 2012, has been said by its critics to resemble many things, from a swastika to a sexual act, but the Iranian government argues it represents a veiled pro-Israeli conspiracy.

In a formal complaint to the International Olympic Committee, Tehran has called for the graphic to be replaced and its designers "confronted", warning that Iranian athletes might otherwise be ordered to stay away from the London Games.

According to the state-backed Iranian Students News Agency, which is frequently used to convey official pronouncements, the letter says: "As internet documents have proved, using the word Zion in the logo of the 2012 Olympic Games is a disgracing action and against the Olympics' valuable mottos.

The People's Voice: London unveils "Spirit of zionism" statue for 2012 Olympics

Insurers cannot charge different premiums to men and women because of their gender, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. The decision means that women can no longer be charged lower car insurance premiums than men, and the cost of buying a pensions annuity will change. The court was ruling on a challenge by a Belgian consumer group Test-Achats. It had argued that a current exemption for insurers contradicted the wider European principle of gender equality.

"Taking the gender of the insured individual into account as a risk factor in insurance contracts constitutes discrimination," the ECJ said.

The requirement for unisex insurance premium and benefits will start on 21 December 2012, giving national governments and the European insurance industry time to adjust.