Update: Six Syrian human rights groups, including the Syrian National Organisation for Human Rights, the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights and the Defence Committee for Democratic Freedom and Human Rights., released a joint statement saying twenty-six people were killed in Dara'a yesterday at the funerals of protesters killed the day before, and two more were shot dead in Homs yesterday. There are also many reports of people detained and missing. Probably the best collection of youtube videos of the protests, organized by city, here.

WikiLeaks is more accountable than democratically elected governments because it accepts donations from members of the public, Julian Assange has claimed, in his first formal public appearance since being arrested in December following accusations of rape and sexual assault. Questioned at a public debate about the whistleblowing organisation's own transparency, Assange told an audience of 700 people, many of them supporters: "We are directly supported on a week-to-week basis by you. You vote with your wallets every week if you believe that our work is worthwhile or not. If you believe we have erred, you do not support us. If you believe we need to be protected in our work, you keep us strong. "That dynamic feedback, I say, is more responsive than a government that is elected after sourcing money from big business every four years."

The Arab spring of 2011 has already changed the region and the world. Ordinary people have lost their fear and shattered the perception that their rulers are invincible. Whatever happens next, the changes across the region in the first few months of 2011 will prove historic. In Tunisia, the now famous “jasmine revolution” began with protests in December, triggered by the self-immolation of a 26-year-old vegetable seller, Mohammed Bouazizi. Bouazizi, remembered by his younger sister Basma as “funny and generous,” could finally take no more of the official harassment and humiliation meted out to him. Four weeks of protests, fueled by Facebook and other social media networks, concluded with the unthinkable: Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, president for the past 23 years, fled the country. Even after the collapse of Ben Ali’s dictatorship, it seemed that Egypt would surely be a different matter. The 30-year-old, U.S.-backed rule of Hosni Mubarek was reckoned by many to be too ruthless for protests to succeed in creating real change. But millions in Tahrir Square and across Egypt were determined that they should be allowed to make the choices that others around the world had made for themselves. After 18 days of protests, Hosni Mubarek was gone. All across the country, crowds erupted in celebration.

Following a remarkable display of civil disobedience, seventeen protesters were arrested Thursday outside Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire’s office. In the footage below, you can see the troopers physically carry one of the activists out of the gallery. About 400 citizens were in the building, and the overall protest was reportedly orderly and civil, but these arrests highlight the growing desperation in the anti-cut movements, and in the population at large. As Glenda Faatoafe, a home care provider protesting healthcare cuts puts it, austerity measures are truly a matter of life and death. “They are killing our clients,” says Faatoafe, “I have a client that has to be turned every hour. He’s going to die. Do you want that on your conscience? Apparently, [lawmakers] do.” House lawmakers will vote this week on Washington’s version of austerity, a $4.4 billion slashing frenzy for the 2011–13 budget cycle.

Voters in Iceland have rejected--for the second time-- a plan to repay debts to Britain and the Netherlands from a bank crash, partial referendum results showed. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Iceland's prime minister, said economic and political chaos could follow, after near-complete results were quoted on Sunday by RUV public radio. "The worst option was chosen. The vote has split the nation in two," the premier told state television, saying it was fairly clear the "no" side had won.

Icelanders say citizens should not bail out irresponsible bankers who were blamed for the collapse of the Icesave bank and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. With around 85,000 votes in the referendum counted, official figures showed 58 per cent had voted against the plan compared with 42 per cent in favour, the television said. Iceland has 230,000 voters but the turnout was not immediately available. The dispute over repayment has soured relations between the small North Atlantic island nation and the two other countries. It may now be solved in a European court rather than in bilateral talks, a solution that may take several years and that some economists say that it would be much costlier.

BBC: Iceland rejects Icesave repayment deal
Bloomberg: Icelanders Reject British, Dutch Depositor Bill a 2nd Time
BullFax: Icesave 'no' vote wins in Iceland referendum

PARIS – Police on Saturday arrested 61 people — including 19 women — for attempting to hold an outlawed Paris protest against France's pending ban on face-covering Islamic veils, a top police official said. Fifty-nine people were detained while trying to demonstrate at Place de la Nation in eastern Paris, as were two others while traveling there from Britain and Belgium, said Nicolas Lerner, chief of staff for the Paris police chief. The arrests come amid in a rising, if small, groundswell of controversy over Monday's start of an official ban of garments that hide the face, which includes Muslim veils such as the slit-eyed niqab and the full face-covering burqa. Women who disobey the law risk a fine, special classes and a police record. The demonstrators rallied in defiance of a ban of the protest ordered Friday by Paris police on the ground that a Muslim group's call for the rally was "clearly an incitement to violence and racial hatred," said Lerner.

The Raptor Resource Project brings you the Decorah Eagles from atop their tree at the fish hatchery in Decorah, Iowa. The live video feed is streamed online 24/7. At night an infrared light provides night vision to viewers through the cam. Infrared light is not visible to eagles, they do not see it or know it is there.

First hatch 4/2/11.
24-hour collage of first egg pip and hatch
Second hatch 4/3/11.
First glimpse of second hatchling
Third hatch 4/6/11.
Close-ups of the third hatch

Having endorsed the Obama administration’s war in Libya on the pretext of “protecting civilians,” the editors of the New York Times are now demanding a sharp escalation in the killing through the reintroduction of the US military’s flying gunships. “Wars are messy business,” the laptop generals of Eighth Avenue inform their readers in an editorial published in the newspaper’s Friday edition. They note that “the international effort to keep Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s forces from slaughtering Libyan rebels and civilians is proving no exception.”

I receive emails daily from a broad spectrum of Left and Progressive organisations. I always found it odd however when I receive such mails from a group or individual describing themselves as ‘Progressive zionist’. I find that term to be an oxymoron. Michael Lerner, of Tikkun Magazine is one such individual. His views on Israel can be seen in THIS report. The ‘Jewtopia’ he dreams of is just that, a dream. His organisation claims to stand for ‘healing, repairing and transforming the world’, in actuality it seems to do just the opposite. An email I received from his group this morning was quite disturbing, instead of attacking Richard Goldstone for his ‘about face’, he attacks Uri Avnery for telling it as it is.