Capping weeks of secretive negotiations and intense political jockeying, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and leaders of the Legislature on Sunday announced a $132.5 billion budget agreement that would cut overall spending, impose no major new taxes and begin a long-term overhaul of New York State’s bloated Medicaid programs. The agreement, five days before the March 31 budget deadline, offered the prospect of Albany’s first on-time budget in five years. If enacted by lawmakers, the deal would cut the state’s overall year-to-year spending for the first time in more than a decade. While some details were not available on Sunday night, the outlines of the deal suggested that Mr. Cuomo had won a significant victory in his battle to rein in state spending and corral the unions and other special interests that have long dominated the budget process in Albany. It would also fulfill one of Mr. Cuomo’s main campaign pledges: to avoid new taxes in addressing the state’s financial problems.

Bernie Sanders: A list of some of the 10 worst corporate income tax avoiders
JustinWrites: General Electric made 14.2 billion profit in 2010 and paid $0 in U.S. taxes

The Libyan National Council, the Benghazi-based group that speaks for the rebel forces fighting the Gaddafi regime, has appointed a long-time CIA collaborator to head its military operations. The selection of Khalifa Hifter, a former colonel in the Libyan army, was reported by McClatchy Newspapers Thursday and the new military chief was interviewed by a correspondent for ABC News on Sunday night.

Hifter’s arrival in Benghazi was first reported by Al Jazeera on March 14, followed by a flattering portrait in the virulently pro-war British tabloid the Daily Mail on March 19. The Daily Mail described Hifter as one of the “two military stars of the revolution” who “had recently returned from exile in America to lend the rebel ground forces some tactical coherence.” The newspaper did not refer to his CIA connections. McClatchy Newspapers published a profile of Hifter on Sunday. Headlined “New Rebel Leader Spent Much of Past 20 years in Suburban Virginia,” the article notes that he was once a top commander for the Gaddafi regime, until “a disastrous military adventure in Chad in the late 1980s.”

U.S.-led military action in Libya has bolstered rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi's forces, but the international operation could continue for months, the Obama administration says. Ahead of President Barack Obama's national address Monday to explain his decision to act against the Libyan leader, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in appearances on the Sunday talk shows that the intervention had effectively rendered Gadhafi's forces defenseless against air attacks and created the conditions for opposition advances westward.

WSWS: Gates and Clinton hint at open-ended war in Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya: Oil fields in rebel-held territory in Libya are producing between 100,000 and 130,000 barrels a day, and the opposition plans to begin exporting oil "in less than a week", a rebel representative said on Sunday. "We are producing about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels a day, we can easily up that to about 300,000 a day," said Ali Tarhoni, the rebel representative responsible for economy, finance and oil, at a news conference. He said the rebel government had agreed an oil contract with Qatar, which would market the crude, and that he expected exports to begin in "less than a week".

Libya has accused the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of terrorizing and killing its civilians as part of attacks against forces loyal to the embattled 68-year-old Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. "The terror people live in, the fear, the tension is everywhere. And these are civilians who are being terrorized every day," Reuters quoted Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim as saying in the capital Tripoli on Sunday. "We believe the unnecessary continuation of the air strikes is a plan to put the Libyan government in a weak negotiating position. NATO is prepared to kill people, destroy army training camps and army checkpoints and other locations," he added.

How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses – and how their officers failed to stop them. Plus: An exclusive look at the war crime photos censored by the Pentagon.

Early last year, after six hard months soldiering in Afghanistan, a group of American infantrymen reached a momentous decision: It was finally time to kill a haji.

Among the men of Bravo Company, the notion of killing an Afghan civilian had been the subject of countless conversations, during lunchtime chats and late-night bull sessions. For weeks, they had weighed the ethics of bagging "savages" and debated the probability of getting caught. Some of them agonized over the idea; others were gung-ho from the start. But not long after the New Year, as winter descended on the arid plains of Kandahar Province, they agreed to stop talking and actually pull the trigger.

Jerry White: Photos released of atrocities by US “kill team” in Afghanistan
James Petras: Imperialism and Imperial Barbarism
Rory Fanning: The making of a war crime

In one of the strongest criticisms yet, Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the coalition air attacks amounted to intervention in the civil war, which were not authorised by resolution 1973. “There is a clear contradiction here. We believe that interference of the coalition in the internal civil war, has not been sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution,” Lavrov said. The statement by Lavrov follows criticism by Russian premier Vladmir Putin, who also condemned the UN resolution. Despite holding veto power as a permanent UN Security Council member, Russia chose not to block resolution 1973, which allowed for military intervention to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.

More than 10,000 Indonesians have rallied peacefully to support pro-democracy movements in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain.The crowd, organised by an Islamic political party, expressed opposition to the international air strikes that have checked Libya’s military and helped rebels gain control of key towns.

At least 61 people have been killed in 10 days of anti-government protests in the southern city, posing the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Assad has yet to respond to the demonstrations, which have spread to the port city of Latakia and Hama, but Vice President Farouq al-Shara said Assad would announce important decisions in the next 48 hours. The demonstrators in Deraa had converged on a main square chanting: "We want dignity and freedom" and "No to emergency laws", the witness said. He said security forces fired in the air for several minutes, but protesters returned when they stopped. Security forces had in recent days reduced their presence in the poor, mostly Sunni city, but residents said on Monday they had returned in strength.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may have experienced a partial meltdown last week, which would explain the highly radioactive puddles found at the site and radiation levels in the sea. Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said in a news conference today that the radioactive water found at the no. 2 reactor at the plant was due to a temporary partial meltdown of fuel rods, reports Kyodo News. The radioactive water was first noticed when two workers stepped into a contaminated puddle at the no. 2 reactor on Thursday. Since then, the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has been working to remove the radioactive water and pinpoint its source.

NHK: More radioactive substances found in seawater
ChannelNewsAsia: Highly radioactive water spreads at Japan plant

New Shocking Video Of The Japanese Tsunami [The first one] by timbarracuda

A magnitude-6.5 earthquake shook eastern Japan off the quake-ravaged coast on Monday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, prompting Japan to issue a tsunami alert. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, but the Japan Meteorological Agency announced that a tsunami of up to 1.6 feet (a half meter) may wash into Miyagi Prefecture. The tsunami alert was localized to Japan. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no wave was expected in Hawaii or on the U.S. west coast. The alert was prompted by a quake that the U.S. Geological Survey measured at 7:23 a.m. Monday Japan time (2223 GMT Sunday) near the east coast of Honshu. The USGS said the quake was 3.7 miles (5.9 kilometers) deep.

Thousands of Pakistani demonstrators have taken to the streets in the capital Islamabad to condemn unauthorized US drone attacks on the country's tribal regions. Supporters of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami religious party converged in front of the Parliament House on Sunday to demand that the government review its relations with Washington, a Press TV correspondent reported. The protesters maintained that a simple apology or words of condemnation from Obama's administration do not go far enough, otherwise the US drone attacks would have stopped by now.

“There are demands that we should regain our sovereignty, the war has shifted in Pakistan and our soldiers are being killed. The government should step out of the war,” a demonstrator told Press TV on condition of anonymity. Speaking at the rally, the chief of Jammat-e-Islami strongly criticized the Pakistani government for following what he called American policies. “The government must avoid military operations in the North Waziristan. If they carry out any such operations at the American behest it will be disastrous for the country,” Syed Munawar Hassan said.

Being low mouse on the totem pole is tough on murine self-esteem. It turns out it has measurable effects on brain chemistry, too, according to recent experiments at Rockefeller University. Researchers found that mice that were bullied persistently by dominant males grew unusually nervous around new company, and that the change in behavior was accompanied by heightened sensitivity to vasopressin, a hormone involved in a variety of social behaviors. The findings suggest how bullying could contribute to long-term social anxiety at the molecular level.