Syria Feature: The Spectre of Civil War in Homs (Shadid)

An anti-regime demonstration in the Qosour section of Homs last night

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A harrowing sectarian war has spread across the Syrian city of Homs this month, with supporters and opponents of the government blamed for beheadings, rival gangs carrying out tit-for-tat kidnappings, minorities fleeing for their native villages, and taxi drivers too fearful of drive-by shootings to ply the streets.

As it descends into sectarian hatred, Homs has emerged as a chilling window on what civil war in Syria could look like, just as some of Syria’s closest allies say the country appears to be heading in that direction.

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Occupy Wall Street Follow-Up: 1000s March, New York Times Shrugs Shoulders

A journalist for Agence France Presse films her own arrest by New York police

See also Occupy Wall Street LiveStream: The March on the Stock Exchange

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Thursday brought new life to the Occupy movement, at least for activists and many protesters, as thousands of people marched on Wall Street in the morning and later gathered at Union Square and Foley Square. Two days after the eviction from Zuccotti/Liberty Square, and amidst police clearances of protest sites in other cities, the marches --- which took up many New York avenues and intersections --- were a sign of persistence, even if aims and outcomes are far from clear.

You would be hard-pressed to know this from the website of The New York Times, however.

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Iran Analysis: The Week in "Objective" US Journalism --- War, War, Secret War, Future War, War

We are watching an international media which is captivated by the chatter about an Israeli attack on Tehran and about a supposedly doom-laden report on Iran's nuclear programme. Indeed, some in that media are on the point of irresponsibility stoking confrontation, even armed confrontation.

The number one culprit is David Sanger of The New York Times, who uses the exalted podium of a "Week in Review" piece to declare that War may be the only option, "The big hitch in...containment strategies is that they are completely useless if Iran ever slips a bomb, or even some of its newly minted uranium fuel, to a proxy — Hezbollah, Hamas or some other terrorist group — raising the problem of ascertaining a bomb’s return address."

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Occupy Oakland March Through City and Port (Wollan)

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

LiveStream from Occupy Oakland

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UPDATE 0945 GMT: It appears that the situation is now a stand-off as police do not show an inclination to move --- at this time --- on the protesters' central location in the plaza in Oakland.

UPDATE 0815 GMT: Gary Aronsen of Mother Jones: "Loud bangs. People retreat from the plaza as some break windows of City Hall. Vandalism all over. People are pissed about it but can't stop it."

Joshua Holland of AlterNet: "At least five loud explosions."

It appears police have advanced about two blocks, pushing back demonstrators.

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Occupy Wall Street (& Beyond): From Oakland to Atlanta, City Officials Crack Down on Protests (McKinley/Goodnough)

Streaming live video by Ustream

LiveStream from Occupy San Francisco in California

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UPDATE 0730 GMT: Developments in Oakland and San Francisco in California: in Oakland, demonstrators have returned to the square which was cleared out by police on Tuesday night, although they have prevented --- through the closing of roads from marching on San Francisco.

In San Francisco, protesters are rallying on Market Street, despite rumours that police will move on the area.

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Yemen 1st-Hand: The Field Hospital Inside the Mosque

The calm inside the mosque quickly turned to mayhem as the first victim of a deadly attack on a protest march was brought in on a stretcher. The young man grasped at his abdomen with bloodied hands.

Soon there were dozens of gunshot victims, clutching wounds as they were rushed into the room designed for prayer and reflection, but now functioning as a field hospital for protesters gunned down by their government.

“What are the reasons to kill people? You can’t justify this,” said Ghada Qassim, a doctor, overwhelmed by the scene before her. “They have no weapons. It is a disaster.”

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Libya Feature: The Last Days of Muammar Qaddafi (Fahim)

After 42 years of absolute power in Libya, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi spent his last days hovering between defiance and delusion, surviving on rice and pasta his guards scrounged from the emptied civilian houses he moved between every few days, according to a senior security official captured with him.

Under siege by the former rebels for weeks, Colonel Qaddafi grew impatient with life on the run in the city of Surt, said the official, Mansour Dhao Ibrahim, the leader of the feared People’s Guard, a network of loyalists, volunteers and informants. “He would say: ‘Why is there no electricity? Why is there no water?’ ”

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Protests All Around the World (Buckley/Donadio)

Protesters sing "This Land is Your Land" and are then asked to leave --- with some arrested --- Washington Square in New York City. Near the end, Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones, filming the events, barely escapes detention.

Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): 1st-Hand Reports from Occupy London March
A Unifying Statement from Occupy Wall Street? 

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Buoyed by the longevity of the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Manhattan, a wave of protests swept across Asia, the Americas and Europe on Saturday, with hundreds and in some cases thousands of people expressing discontent with the economic tides in marches, rallies and occasional clashes with the police.

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Yemen Feature: Locals "We Have Bigger Problems Than Al Qa'eda" (Kasinof)

Ali Abdullah Saleh“Awlaki’s life or death doesn’t matter for Yemenis,” said Nadwa al-Dawsari, who works for a nonprofit organization in Sana. “It is not a priority for us. Not many Yemenis know who Awlaki was anyway. It doesn’t matter how many Al Qaeda members are killed as long as the underlying causes that makes extremism thrive exist.”

But a major concern for some, especially among Yemenis in the opposition, is that the Saleh family provided information to the United States on Mr. Awlaki’s whereabouts to gain political favor.

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US Feature: So What is "Occupy Wall Street"? (Kilkenny)

“My home has been seized, I’m unemployed, there’s no job prospects on the horizon. I have two children and I don’t see a future for them. This is the only way I see to effect change. This isn’t a progressive issue. This is an American issue. We’re here to take our country back from the corporations,” he said, adding he fears for the future of the United States where corporations can now spend unlimited, anonymous dollars to elect the candidates of their choices. After the protest ended for the day, Matthew couldn’t occupy the park because he had to go care for his two children.

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