Malalai Joya, author of A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, discusses her US speaking tour that was initially denied by the State Department because she “lived underground” and was “unemployed;” the bogus reasons for war in Afghanistan, including enforcing women’s rights with a military occupation that regularly kills civilians; and why NATO needs to withdraw, stop supporting the warlords, and let the Afghan people work out their own problems. Malalai Joya is a (suspended) Member of the Afghan Parliament. She was elected to the 249-seat National Assembly, or Wolesi Jirga in September 2005, as a representative of Farah Province. Malalai won the second highest number of votes in the province. MP3 here. (9:32)

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts joins The Corbett Report to discuss recent military intervention in Lybia, possible military intervention in Syria, and the long-term Western goal of encirclement of China in a future engagement that will lead to a (nuclear) third world war.

Two Bahraini Shia activists who were detained after weeks of anti-government protests have died in police custody. The interior ministry said Ali Issa Saqer, 31, had died when guards tried to restrain him for "causing chaos". Another detainee, Zakaraya Rashed Hassan, 40, had died of sickle cell disease, the ministry added. It was the second such death in a week. Several Shia activists have complained of being tortured while in custody. The government denies the allegations.

BBC: Police brutality turns Bahrain into 'island of fear'

A man convicted of plotting terrorism has appealed a judge's decision to throw out his lawsuit, which [correctly] claimed he was tortured at a Navy brig in South Carolina. Court documents show Jose Padilla appealed his case April 5 to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A federal judge threw out Padilla's lawsuit in February, ruling he had no right to sue for constitutional violations.

Padilla [correctly] claimed he was illegally detained as an enemy combatant and then held in a brig near Charleston and tortured. Defendants named in the lawsuit included Defense Secretary Robert Gates and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Padilla was arrested in 2002 on [alleged] suspicion of plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb." He is appealing a 17-year sentence for [allegedly] sending support to Islamic extremist groups.

The harsh restrictions have been denounced by a raft of human rights groups, including Amnesty International, and are being investigated by the United Nations' rapporteur on torture.

The intervention of Tribe and hundreds of other legal scholars is a huge embarrassment to Obama, who was a professor of constitutional law in Chicago. Obama made respect for the rule of law a cornerstone of his administration, promising when he first entered the White House in 2009 to end the excesses of the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

Stephen Soldz: Lawrence Tribe, Obama Constitutional law teacher, joins critics of Manning’s treatment

The ridiculous inaccuracy of the US drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan has taken another turn for the worse. Reports are now emerging that a US drone strike in Helmand Province actually killed two US soldiers. The official explanation is that they were mistaken for Taliban. US air strikes mistaking Afghan police or soldiers for Taliban are fairly common, and sometimes US aircraft will see a bunch of children gathering firewood and think “Taliban.” Having US drones firing US missiles at US soldiers leaves one wondering how little confirmation is actually needed before missiles are fired.

The Pentagon has yet to confirm the story, but says the killings are under investigation. They confirmed the deaths in Helmand but never explained how they happened. According to the reports US Marines on the ground had come under fire called for backup and, when the backup troops approached them, called in the strike.

Air strikes have dramatically escalated in Afghanistan over the past several months, since Gen. David Petraeus took over the command of the war and removed a number of restrictions put in place by Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Since then the number of high profile civilian killing incidents has also soared.

Today marks exactly a month since the nuclear power disaster in Japan began. Along with the ongoing discharges of radioactivity from the Fukushima nuclear plant complex, there has been a largely outrageous flow of media coverage. Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News on April 6th asked a good question: “And what about all that water, the many million gallons of it, highly radioactive, dumped in the Pacific Ocean for days on end—and we’ve all been told it will dissipate. But how can this not be harmful?” he queried correspondent Miguel Almaguer.

The question might have been good but the response to it, Almaguer’s report, was far from that. He presented a talking head expert, Luca Centurioni of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who said: “No, there is no immediate danger.” (Centurioni’s background, according to his resume posted on the Internet, reflects no background in radioactivity.) “The bottom line,” said Almaguer, “experts are in agreement there’s no threat to our water or our food.” He added: “And as you can see Brian, California’s coastline is as beautiful as ever.” Radioactivity, of course, is invisible.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan put its nuclear calamity on a par with the world's worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, on Tuesday after new data showed that more radiation leaked from its earthquake-crippled power plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought. Japanese officials said it had taken time to measure radiation from the plant after it was smashed by March 11's massive quake and tsunami, and the upgrade in its severity rating to the highest level on a globally recognized scale did not mean the situation had suddenly become more critical. "The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is slowly stabilizing, step by step, and the emission of radioactive substances is on a declining trend," Prime Minister Naoto Kan told a press briefing on Tuesday. Kan said he wanted to move from emergency response to long-term rebuilding.

Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president of Ivory Coast, was taken prisoner yesterday and is in the custody of forces loyal to his opponent, Alassaine Ouattara. Protected by French-led UN troops in Abidjan, the hotel has been Ouattara’s base since the disputed presidential election of November 2010. - In fact, the French government moved in decisively to attack and arrest Gbagbo, in flagrant violation of the UN resolutions that justify their presence in France’s former colony. Neither the UN nor France has a mandate to arrest Gbagbo; they have no mandate for regime change in Ivory Coast. Under resolutions 1975 and 1962, they are permitted only to protect civilians and defend themselves from attack.

Laurent Gbagbo, the man who refused to step down from power in the Ivory Coast prompting a conflict which has killed hundreds, has been arrested. He was seized yesterday by soldiers loyal to his successor, Alassane Ouattara, although initial reports said he had been captured by French forces. Gbagbo’s dramatic arrest came after days of heavy fighting during which French and UN helicopters fired rockets at his presidential residence. Forces backing internationally recognised winner Ouattara had begun a rapid offensive to oust Gbagbo late last month. Issard Soumahro, a pro-Ouattara fighter, said the ground offensive to seize Gbagbo came after the French launched airstrikes. ‘We attacked and forced in a part of the bunker,’ he said. ‘He was there with his wife and his son. He wasn’t hurt, but he was tired and his cheek was swollen from where a soldier had slapped him.’ Gbagbo was interrogated and brought to the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara has been trying to run his presidency since the November 28 vote.

In what officials are describing as further fallout from the Raymond Davis fiasco, the Pakistani government has asked the United States to remove some 335 operatives from the nation. They are also demanding that the US put its drone strike program “on hold.” Pakistan’s government has faced increasing domestic unrest over the massive presence of CIA operatives and US special forces in the nation. This was compounded when Davis, who was ostensibly working for the US consulate in Lahore, murdered two Pakistanis on the streets, then demanded diplomatic immunity. He was released after the payment of “blood money” to the families of the victims.

AWIP: Riots in Pakistan after double murder-accused Davis ‘buys’ freedom

An explosion tore through a key subway station in the Belarusian capital of Minsk during evening rush hour today killing 11 people and wounding 126. An official said the blast was a terrorist act.

President Alexander Lukashenko did not say what caused the explosion at the Oktyabrskaya subway station, but suggested outside forces could be behind it.

‘I do not rule out that this gift [sic] could have been brought from outside,’ Lukashenko said.

The authoritarian leader, under strong pressure from the West over his suppression of the opposition, has frequently alleged outside forces seek to destabilize his regime. Deputy prosecutor-general Andrei Shved said the blast was a terrorist act, but did not give further details.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw heavily wounded people being carried out of the station, including one person with missing legs. Several witnesses said that the explosion hit just as passengers were stepping off a train about 6pm (1500 GMT). The Oktyabrskaya station, where Minsk’s two subway lines intersect, was crowded with passengers at the end of the work day. The station is within 100 metres (100 yards) of the presidential administration building and the Palace of the Republic, a concert hall often used for government ceremonies.

Lukashenko visited the site about two hours after the blast and left without comment. He later ordered the country’s feared police to ‘call in all forces and turn everything inside-out’ to investigate the blast.

Kavkaz Center: Moscow hints at Lukashenko's involvement in metro bombings. - One of the Kremlin's propagandists, who is considered an expert on Belarus, Pavel Sheremet, made an open accusation of Lukashenko's involvement in organization of the bombings in the Minsk metro. He said in a live on Kommersant FM that the explosion in the Minsk metro is likely organized by Lukashenko, "because it is very beneficial to him".

PressTV: Metro blast kills 11 in Belarus capital
Al Jazeera: Deadly blast hits station in Belarus capital

A United Nations diplomat charged with investigating claims of torture said Monday that he is “deeply disappointed and frustrated” that U.S. defense officials have refused his request for an unmonitored visit with Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of passing classified material to WikiLeaks. Juan E. Mendez, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said his request for a private interview with Manning was denied by the Defense Department on Friday. Instead, he has been told that any visit must be supervised. Mendez has been seeking to determine whether Manning’s confinement at a military brig at Quantico amounts to torture, following complaints about his treatment and an incident in which the private was forced to strip in his cell at night and sleep without clothing.

“My request . . . is not onerous: for my part, a monitored conversation would not comply with the practices that my mandate applies in every country and detention center visited,” Mendez said in a statement Monday, noting that at least 18 countries have allowed unmonitored interviews.

Manning, 23, has been held at Quantico since July 29 and is awaiting a possible court-martial on charges that he endangered national security by allegedly leaking classified military and diplomatic information.

With the Libyan rebels rejecting an African Union peace plan, there seems to be no end in sight for the conflict. The opposition is still relying on coalition forces to help its cause, but it seems they could prove more of a hindrance. It has been claimed the allies have used depleted uranium in their attacks – a substance which causes cancer and mutations in those affected. Libyan rebels could be seen climbing on a tank to celebrate one of the coalition’s latest successful strikes, unaware of the silent killer they may have been breathing in. Gulf War veteran and depleted uranium expert Melissa Sterry believes the rebels on the tank would have been getting low-level radiation exposure. Though the western coalition denies using depleted uranium in bombings in the country, others say there is a good chance weapons with the highly poisonous radioactive element have been used.

The White House has expressed grave concerns in case the congressional Republicans fail to raise the $14.29 trillion dollars debt limit by May 16, which would harm the country's crushing economy. “The consequences ... of failure to raise the debt ceiling would be Armageddon-like in terms of the economy," AFP quoted White House spokesman Jay Carney as saying on Monday. Carney added that the US President Barack Obama regrets his vote as a senator against raising the debt limit in 2006, adding that the issue is critical to both the US and the global economy. In case the US's Republican-led congress fails to raise the amount the Treasury is allowed to borrow by May 16, the government would default on its interest payments.

Britain will continue with military attacks on Libya after rebels rejected a deal that would have kept Colonel Gaddafi in power. Downing Street and the Libyan opposition leadership in Benghazi dismissed an attempt by the African Union to bring about a ceasefire. Opposition leaders last night threatened the Gaddafi family, warning them to flee the country or risk execution. And senior British Government officials made clear that air strikes will continue until the dictator withdraws his troops from rebel towns and decides to quit. The Gaddafi clan had agreed a ‘road map’ to a ceasefire with African leaders, including South African president Jacob Zuma.

Official Google Blog: We’ve invested $168 million in an exciting new solar energy power plant being developed by BrightSource Energy in the Mojave Desert in California. Brightsource’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) will generate 392 gross MW of clean, solar energy. That’s the equivalent of taking more than 90,000 cars off the road over the lifetime of the plant, projected to be more than 25 years. The investment makes business sense and will help ensure that one of the world’s largest solar energy projects is completed.