New footage has emerged showing US-led warplanes dropping cluster bombs in war-torn Afghanistan, Press TVreports. - The US-led forces have used cluster munitions since their invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The bombings have caused huge loss of life and property damage. Apart from the civilians who fall victim to such bombs during the raids, other people continue to be killed by bomblets that do not detonate upon impact. International rights groups have often called for a global moratorium on the use of cluster bombs, citing the large number of civilian casualties. They argue that unexploded bomblets also remain a deadly hazard. The US and Israel are the world's top producers of cluster bombs. Washington and Tel Aviv have refused to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions which has been in force since 2010.

The Israeli regime has carried out the recent attacks against the staff of its embassies in India and Georgia in an attempt to spearhead a psychological war against Iran, a senior Iranian lawmaker says. - Over the past years, Israelis have vigorously sought to antagonize the global community and spark a wave of intimidation against Iran, and following the failure of such schemes, they have resorted to a blame game against the Islamic Republic, even at the expense of harming themselves, said Javad Jahangirzadeh, a member of Iran's Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, in a Monday interview.

As the United States turns increasingly to Special Operations forces to confront developing "threats" scattered around the world, the nation’s top Special Operations officer, a member of the Navy Seals who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, is seeking new authority to move his forces faster and outside of normal Pentagon deployment channels. - As the United States turns increasingly to Special Operations forces to confront developing "threats" scattered around the world, the nation’s top Special Operations officer, a member of the Navy Seals who oversaw the raid that [allegedly] killed Osama bin Laden, is seeking new authority to move his forces faster and outside of normal Pentagon deployment channels.

Bill Van Auken: US secret armies gear up for global war - The “tide of war is receding” is a phrase President Barack Obama has employed ad nauseam—once in his State of the Union address, twice in the course of remarks last month at the unveiling of the Pentagon's new military strategy document, once again during his speech at the United Nations, also in his announcement of troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, and in a Veteran's Day address. The constant repetition of this hackneyed metaphor is aimed at obscuring the obvious—that US militarism has escalated dramatically under the Democratic president and its tide threatens to engulf the entire planet.

On Sunday, the Greek parliament approved a new round of austerity measures that will further deepen the 5-year depression and sever the last fraying threads of social cohesion.

In order to secure a 130 billion euro loan, Greek political leaders agreed to comply with a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) that will not only intensify the sacrifices of ordinary working people, but also effectively hand the control of the nation’s economy over to foreign banks and corporations. The Memorandum is as calculating and mercenary as anything ever written. And while most of the attention has been focused on the deep cuts to supplementary pensions, the minimum wage, and private sector wages; there’s much more to this onerous warrant than meets the eye. The 43 page paper should be read in its entirety to fully appreciate the moral vacuity of the people who dictate policy in the EZ. Greece will have to prove that it’s reached various benchmarks before it receives any of the money allotted in the bailout. The Memorandum outlines, in great detail, what those benchmarks are— everything from reduced spending on life-saving drugs to “lift(ing) constraints for retailers to sell restricted product categories such as baby food.” That’s right; according to the author’s of this fuliginous memo, the only way Greece is going to be able to lift itself out of the doldrums is by poisoning its kids with banned baby food.

Stephen Lendman: Financial Oligarch Power Raping Greece

The online protests follow mass popular protests that began when the country announced severe austerity measures demanded by the European financial cabal. The group is attacking the country's government under its Antisec banner and is posting up successful hits with regularity.

"Looks like http://astynomia.gr TANGO DOWN #Anonymous via @AnonymousPress #Greece is on fire after yes vote on banker bailout. #Athens" says one message from the anarchic hacker collective.

People protested in response to the austerity cuts, riots happened, the riot police came out, and Anonymous reacted. A number of web sites have already fallen at its hands and the attacks show no sign of abating. So far the hackers have taken down police and government web sites as well as the Greek prime minister's web site, and more are likely to follow.

Residents turn to old money they'd held on to in case the euro folds.

A desperate Spanish village has turned back time and reintroduced the peseta in a bid to kick-start its ailing local economy. Residents in Villamayor de Santiago, 80 miles south-east of Madrid, initially held onto the old money for fear the euro would fold. In recent months their prediction, made when their national currency was phased out ten years ago, has inched closer to coming true. They have been hit with spiralling unemployment - one third of the village's 2,500 residents are out of work - and a nationwide dwindling of confidence in the single currency. The price of basic foodstuffs has also risen by a staggering 43 per cent since 2002 and there are fears Spain may have to be bailed out by the eurozone. Shopkeepers in the village took the drastic step of going back to the peseta in the hope that some residents would still have old coins and notes left lying around their homes. And their gamble seems to have worked - with 6,000 euros worth of pesetas being spent since 30 businesses started accepting it in January.

Canadian legislation will require internet service providers to log internet activity of all customers and provide information to government and police. The government says anyone who is against the bill is siding with child pronographers. - Canada’s privacy commissioners will be surprised to hear it, but the Conservatives are accusing anyone who opposes their bill to give police new powers to monitor the Internet of supporting child pornography. A similar comment might have cost Stephen Harper the 2004 election. But with the next election years away, it’s hard to know whether or when Public Safety Minister Vic Toews will change his tune. Mr. Toews will introduce Lawful Access legislation, as it is commonly called, into the House of Commons Tuesday. Previous versions of the bill failed to make it through minority parliaments, but now that the Conservatives have a majority it is almost certain to pass. The bill will require Internet service providers to store and to make available to the government and police forces information on the Internet activity of their customers.

CBC News: Online surveillance critics accused of supporting child porn
Techdirt: Canadian Politician: You're Either In Favor Of Letting The Gov't Spy On Your Internet Usage... Or You're For Child Pornography

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the US Charge d’Affairs today to express “serious concern” over last week’s House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight hearing on Balochistan, warning that they amount to a unacceptable level of US meddling in internal Pakistani affairs. The hearing, headed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R – CA) focused on questions of human rights abuses in Pakistan’s largest province, but also brought renewed attention to calls by Rep. Rohrabacher and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R – TX) for the US to impose independence on Balochistan.

PressTV: Pakistan raps US Congress for 'meddling' in Balochistan

Officer: Suspect had 13 bullets in his luggage 14 Feb 2012 A police officer says an American citizen has been detained at an airport in northwestern Pakistan after bullets were found in his luggage. Dost Mohammad Khan says the man was claiming to be an American diplomat. Khan says the man was detained Tuesday in Peshawar city, where the U.S. has a large consulate.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has announced his country is committed to preventing war and chaos in the crisis-hit Syria. - "On the issue of Syria, what is most urgent and pressing now is to prevent war and chaos," Wen said on Tuesday. "To achieve this objective, China supports efforts consistent with the UN charter and principles and we are ready to strengthen communication with all parties in Syria and the international community and continue to play a constructive role," he added. The Chinese premier made the comment after a meeting with the European Council and the European Commission presidents at the start of an EU-China summit in Beijing. Last week, China and Russia blocked a draft UN Security Council resolution urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit.

PressTV: ‘Turkey will never endorse attack on Iran’

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners has warned that detained Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Khader Adnan was in danger of death after he reportedly went into a coma.

Ismail Al-Thawbta, the director of the center, said in a press release on Tuesday that news reports from inside the Israeli jails indicated that Adnan was in a coma after his health condition greatly deteriorated after 59 days of hunger strike.

Thawabta held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for the life of Adnan, adding that the policy of administrative detention, to which Adnan was protesting, was in blatant violation of the international and humanitarian laws. He urged the Palestinian people to revolt against the Israeli repression of prisoners in general and in solidarity with Adnan in particular.

The director called on all human rights groups to intervene and pressure Israel into releasing Adnan, who is held without any charge, and asked the media to shed light on his case.

PIC: Israeli court refuses to release hunger striker
Stephen Lendman: Khader Adnan's Heroic Struggle for Justice

A website for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) appeared down again on Monday, just days after it was taken offline by a distributed denial-of-service attack allegedly launched by unknown members of the hacker group “Anonymous.” - The site was down last Friday and remained offline all day before returning over the weekend. It was down again on Monday, and Twitter accounts associated with the hacker group openly mocked the intelligence agency’s tech problems, saying: “Guys, fix your shit please.”

Gays threaten the continuation of the human race, Libya’s delegate told a planning meeting of the UN Human Rights Council today, reported the Geneva-based UN Watch monitoring group. It was the first appearance in the 47-nation body by the post-Gaddafi government, whose membership was restored in November following Libya’s suspension in March. Protesting the council’s first panel discussion on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, scheduled for March 7th, Libya’s representative told the gathering of ambassadors today that LGBT topics “affect religion and the continuation and reproduction of the human race.” He added that, were it not for their suspension, Libya would have opposed the council’s June 2011 resolution on the topic.

“We were happy to see the Gaddafi regime finally suspended last year,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, which in 2010 led a campaign of 70 human rights groups to expel the Libyan dictator. “Yet today’s shocking homophobic outburst by the new Libyan government, together with the routine abuse of prisoners, underscores the serious questions we have about whether the new regime is genuinely committed to improving on the dark record of its predecessor, or to pandering to some of the hardline Islamists amidst its ranks,” said Neuer.