Axisoflogic.com - World News

Canadian government attacks wages and unemployment benefits

Mon, 28 May 2012 07:49:24 PST

28 May 2012 Last week, Diane Finley, human resources minister in the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, announced draconian changes to Canada’s unemployment insurance system. The measures, originally indicated in the Conservatives’ massive omnibus budget legislation, which gives the government unilateral powers to change Employment Insurance (EI)...

Quebec police mount mass arrests in bid to break student strike

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:04:00 PST

After Tuesday’s 150,000-strong demonstration supporting Québec’s striking students and opposing the provincial Liberal government’s draconian Bill 78, the state has intensified its campaign of repression. Police arrested almost 700 protesters in Montréal and Québec City Wednesday evening. Québec City Police arrested 176 people for demonstrating in violation of the sweeping...

UN to Control World’s Information and Communications From Internet Hub in Africa

Tue, 22 May 2012 06:37:05 PST

In a report from the World Bank, Africa’s economic development was outlined as a “golden opportunity for a green future”. At the 4th Africa Carbon Forum (ACF) “The vast potential represented by African countries in the fight against climate change cannot be underestimated,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of United...

New poll is bad news for Charest in his battle with students...

Tue, 22 May 2012 03:28:39 PST

Axis of Logic salutes the students and their fellow protestors in Quebec for their insight, valor and sacrifice as they defy the new law enacted to suppress freedom of expression in Canada. Just in time for the 100th day of Quebec's student strike comes a birthday present of epic proportions...

Chicago police frame antiwar activists on “terrorism” charges

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:16:19 PST

21 May 2012 A total of five men have been arrested in Chicago and charged with planning to make bombs or Molotov cocktails to use during the NATO summit, Chicago police officials have announced. The bogus character of the charges is demonstrated by the fact that the five men are...

Chicago anti-NATO march: Upbeat, massive, conscious, determined

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:11:12 PST

Our informal guess was over 10,000. I thought it had quite a radical vibe. There were common themes of opposing empire, war, and the oppressions of capitalism. Anyone watching would have seem many diverse voices and creative expressions — but many common thoughts and values. Including socialism. Source: Kasama Project...

Quebec: Students mobilise against draconian law aimed at breaking four-month strike

Mon, 21 May 2012 04:41:19 PST

The strike of post-secondary students in Quebec has taken a dramatic turn with the May 18 approval by the provincial government of a special law to cancel the school year at strike-bound institutions and outlaw protest activity deemed disruptive of institutions not participating in the strike. Details of Bill 78...

Latino Organizations Call on U.S. Government to Recognize and Respect Venezuela’s Presidential Elections

Sun, 20 May 2012 19:39:34 PST

The 6th National Latino Congreso held in Chicago approved on Friday a resolution congratulating Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) for its “exemplary efforts” at voter empowerment and civic engagement in the country’s electoral processes, and called on the U.S. government to recognize and respect the outcome of the upcoming Venezuelan...

Hundreds arrested in massive crackdown on #Blockupy

Sat, 19 May 2012 14:31:08 PST

German and international media not reporting Frankfurt on lock-down as over 5.000 police are deployed in an unprecedented operation to keep protesters out of the city and away from the banks. The atmosphere here in Frankfurt is tense. The police is omnipresent. The sound of sirens permeates the city streets....

Cops Vs. Cameras: The Killing of Kelly Thomas & The Power of New Media

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:08:57 PST

On July 5 last year Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old schizophrenic homeless man, was so badly beaten and stun-gunned by Fullerton California police officers that he was left unrecognizable. He died 5 days later from blunt force trauma to the head. Up to 5 police officers assault him with batons, tasers...

UN official sparks debate over Canadian food security

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:40:39 PST

UN special rapporteur for food Olivier De Schutter said he was in Canada to launch a conversation over a national food strategy, and he certainly started a debate. Discussion centred on whether Canadians have trouble affording to feed themselves, with the government arguing De Schutter was wasting his time and...

Romney rejects gay marriage - well, maybe ...

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:09:11 PST

Editorial comment: The article below, reproduced from BBC News, notes that Willard Mitt Romney opposes gay marriage. [Note to those who want to know: Mitt is his full middle name; it is not short for Mittens.] He does suggest they should have some limited rights, however. And here's where the...

JP Morgan Chase hit by $2 billion derivatives loss

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:37:40 PST

12 May 2012 Speculation by a derivatives trader in London has produced a $2 billion trading loss for the US financial services giant JP Morgan Chase, the bank acknowledged late Thursday. The loss is one of the largest since the financial collapse of 2008, when two major Wall Street institutions,...

EPA Grossly Misrepresents The Toxicity Of Corexit Used In Gulf Of Mexico

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:18:19 PST

Quite incredibly, the EPA issued a positive report on May 1, 2012 regarding the safety and toxicity of various dispersants used in the BP Gulf Oil Spill. Included in this assessment was the use of Corexit. This report “indicated that all eight dispersants had roughly the same toxicity," and all...

U.S. Dept. of Social Security grabs money from jobless grandmother for old college debt.

Sat, 12 May 2012 22:12:19 PST

Editor's Note: Steve Rhode who runs the blog, Get Out of Debt shares the story of an aging, jobless grandmother, Janis. The story shows just how brutally the US government treats its citizens today with their new "austerity measures." - LMB I’m a Grandmother and Getting my Social Security Check...

Over 200,000 to lose unemployment benefits in US this weekend

Sat, 12 May 2012 13:08:16 PST

12 May 2012 This weekend, more than 200,000 unemployed workers in eight US states will be abruptly cut off from extended federal unemployment benefits, the result of an agreement between President Barack Obama and the Republican Party earlier this year. Many of these workers will be thrown directly into poverty,...

Over 2,000 Visitors to Venezuelan Embassy for ‘Passport DC’

Thu, 10 May 2012 22:14:05 PST

Women wearing the traditional dresses of the Venezuelan plains region – a skirt with stripes of yellow, blue and red like the national flag and a white off-the-shoulder blouse – greeted the more than 2,000 visitors to the Residence of the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington,...

Venezuelan Embassy Presents Lecture on Indigenous Participation in Media

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:05:34 PST

Tomorrow, May 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Bolivarian Hall in Washington, DC, the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela hosts a lecture by the Wayuu activist and filmmaker David Hernández Palmar entitled, “Indigenous participation in the exercise of the right to communication, information and freedom of...

Unmasked: Meet The FBI's Bridge Bomb Plot Snitch

Mon, 07 May 2012 08:00:00 PST

The paid informant who helped orchestrate the FBI sting that resulted in the arrest of five anarchists for allegedly plotting to blow up an Ohio bridge is a convicted felon who was arrested on bad check and theft charges in the midst of his cooperation with federal investigators, The Smoking...

Financial markets reeling after France and Greece elections

Mon, 07 May 2012 03:57:39 PST

Election of anti-austerity François Hollande in France and hung parliament in Greece create uncertainty about eurozone debt crisis Asian stock markets have been pummelled by election results in France and Greece that have heightened uncertainty about Europe's ability to solve its debt crisis. The results threaten the fragile political consensus...