“An Israeli minister warned today that the army may unleash a “holocaust” on the Gaza Strip”

Also see: Israel warns of Gaza invasion | Al Jazeera English

“At least 31 Palestinians, nine of them children, have died in two days of Israeli shelling, with at least 60 others injured.”

On Tuesday, February 12, two prominent members of the Communist Party of Canada and Anti Racist Action were the target of an attack by suspected Neo-Nazis in Calgary. Fightback unreservedly condemns these cowardly acts and calls for working class unity against such attacks.

“Israeli forces have kept up attacks on the Gaza Strip, where they have killed at least 32 Palestinians since Wednesday morning.”

“Thursday’s violence raised the death toll in two days of fighting to 29 Palestinians … The latest wave of violence began on Wednesday when an Israeli airstrike killed five [Palestinians] traveling in a van”

“The Israeli army has decided not to order a disciplinary probe into the killing of 21 Palestinian civilians in November 2006 … Israeli rights groups yesterday claimed there was a “culture of impunity” in the Israeli security forces, after the decision was announced.”

“In all, 21 Palestinians have died in Israeli military action in the last two days, including a six-month-old baby.”

Here is another Israeli strike that is assured to escape scrutiny.

Seems as though Turkey is following the American example.

BMW, the German luxury carmaker, announced Wednesday that it was eliminating 8,100 jobs, as the rising euro pushed the company into the kind of tough cost-cutting it had long resisted.

Germany is home to roughly 80,000 of BMW’s 108,000 employees, an unusual constellation for a company that earns 80 percent of its sales outside its home country. That has created a problem because costs are largely denominated in euros but revenues are heavily dollar-based, owing to sales in the United States. That makes the company acutely sensitive to currency fluctuations.

“The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are planning to “intervene” for Wikileaks at the continuation hearing.”

“A security official said he believed the missile was fired by US forces, who are operating in Afghanistan … The US military have fired missiles on the Pakistani side of the border several times in recent years … However, neither US nor Pakistani authorities officially confirm US missile attacks on Pakistani territory”

Harper sells us out a little bit more.

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other’s borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.

“In 2007, insurgency-related violence killed more than 6,500 people, including 222 foreign troops. Last year was the deadliest yet since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.”

High-tech equipment maker Nortel Networks said Wednesday it is cutting 2,100 jobs and will transfer 1,000 other jobs to lower-cost countries.

Nortel did not provide a breakdown of the job cuts, but the majority of them will be in North America.

Nortel had previously slashed its workforce — by about 60,000 jobs in six years — after the dot-com bubble burst and it went through an accounting scandal.

Shares of Nortel — which were consolidated 10-for-one in December 2006 — fell more than 13 per cent in the wake of the report. The stock closed down $1.53 at $9.68 on the TSX.

“The four ex-members of Colombia’s congress are among some 40 high-profile hostages held for years by the Farc.”

“Israel’s blockade ha[s] delayed essential supplies, including chlorine, and there [i]s now a risk of water being contaminated.”

Collective punishment is against international law.

–This article applies even more now, after the changes the Conservatives have made. This continues a trend that the Liberals started when Martin was finance minister. The people suffer paying for services for the rich.

“They have to be mindful of Iraqi sovereignty …”

Ha!

A leading index of home prices in 20 U.S. cities fell 9.1 percent in December from a year earlier. Using a three-month moving average, the index, the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller, is falling at an annual pace of more than 20 percent. The index tracks repeat sales of single-family homes; it does not include condominiums. It fell 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2007, the steepest drop in its 20-year history.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that wholesale prices, which exclude taxes and distribution costs, rose 1 percent in January, compared with a drop of 0.3 percent in December. Prices were up 7.4 percent from a year earlier, the fastest rise in 26 years. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the index increased 2.3 percent from a year earlier, up from a 2 percent gain in December.

Not surprisingly, a measure of consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in nearly five years.

–Overall outline of what the budget does. This is put out by the Canadian Labour Congress.

–An alternative federal budget. One the Conservatives could have implemented that would not have left so many working people out in the cold.

–Labour reacts to the Conservative federal budget.

CUPE: Budget meets lower than low expectations

Federal budget a medley of misguided priorities

“Budget leaves out rural Canada”: Forestry union

CAUT: Federal budget: little on offer for post-secondary education

United Steelworkers : 2008 Federal Budget Reaction - Government misses golden opportunity to right economic wrongs

Canadian Federation of Students: Victory for Canadian Federation of Students’ Grants Campaign

CCPA: Small budget misses big picture

PIPSC, 2008 Federal Budget: An Insignificant Shell Game!

Like a bully on the playground Stephen Harper and his Conservative cronies have set an ultimatum to the people of Canada. Prior to the NATO conference set to be held in April, Harper’s minority government plans to hold a vote to extend the combat mission in Afghanistan until the end of 2011.

“The Iraqi government demanded for the first time that Turkey immediately withdraw from northern Iraq, warning Tuesday it feared the ongoing incursion could lead to clashes with the official forces of the semiautonomous Kurdish region.”

Alternative treatments for depression, such as counselling or physical exercise , should be tried first, Professor Kirsch said. The pharmaceutical companies had withheld data that was available to the licensing authorities so that doctors and patients did not understand the true efficacy, or lack of it, of the drugs.

One of the many problems associated with a profit oriented drug industry.

–HRW continues to have a liberal bias when it comes to socialist uprisings. Human rights and social rights, one is meaningless without the other.

There has been a lot of media hype about the big rally in Belgrade last week after the announcement that Kosovo had declared its “independence”. But the real mood in Serbia, especially among the working class, is very different. There are indications that the workers are tired of the nationalism and chauvinism being pumped out by the Serbian bourgeoisie and in particular are fed up with all the bourgeois parties. What is missing is a political expression of the working class.

–More money is needed for education and other public services.

“Six years after the US and Britain “freed” Afghan women from the oppressive Taliban regime, a new report proves that life is just as bad for most, and worse in some cases.”

“The Iraqi government has said it fears that a prolonged military operation could lead to clashes with its own Kurdish security forces.”

“A look at the makeup of Cuba’s governing Council of State before [the 614 member] parliament elects a new set of 31 members Sunday [including the President].”

This article by the International Marxist Tendency outlines Democrat Barack Obama’s programme and why he can do nothing for the real needs of working people in the United States.

“If you are a victim who happens to share a common geography with US interests, international law is on your side as long as it is convenient. If not, well, tough. The UN is just a debate club anyway. Just ask the tens of thousands of Kurds who were slaughtered by Turkey with weapons sold to them by the Clinton administration during the 1990s. Or the Palestinians who live under the brutality of Israel’s occupation.”

Also see: The Law of Unintended Consequences | ZNet

“Many Iraqi Kurdish leaders are convinced that a hidden aim of the Turkish attack is to undermine the Kurdish region, which enjoys autonomous rights close to statehood. Ankara has always seen the semi-independence of Iraqi Kurdistan, and the Kurds’ claim to the oil city of Kirkuk, as providing a dangerous example for Kurds in Turkey who are also demanding autonomy.”

Also see ‘Dozens dead’ in Turkish assault | BBC

This is the original report.

If you think the boss is getting the big bucks, here is evidence: hourly earnings of managers grew faster in the past 10 years than those of any other private-sector occupational group, a new study says.

The study, issued Friday by Statistics Canada, says that managers pay, adjusted for inflation, grew 20.3 per cent to an average of $27.41 an hour between 1997-1998 and 2006-2007.