MEDIA ROOTS- Abby Martin from Media Roots reports the news for Project Censored’s KPFA morning show about the Verizon worker strikes and the role that multinational corporations have in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

The segment features an interview with Dalit Baum, founder of “Who Profits from the Occupation”, an activist research initiative of the Coalition of Women for Peace in Israel that provides information about corporate complicity in the occupation of Palestine. She also directs Economic Activism for Palestine, which aims to support existing corporate accountability campaigns in the US.

Listen here or click to download below.

For more information about companies involved in the occupation visit http://www.whoprofits.org/

MEDIA ROOTS- Media Roots interviews Darfur refugee and human rights activist Adeeb Yousif from the Darfur Reconciliation and Development Organization (DRDO) about his organization, his work documenting human rights abuses, his experience being targeted by the Sudanese government and what he thinks could bring peace to the region.

For more information about the Darfur Reconciliation and Development Organization visit http://www.drdoafrica.org

Photo by flickr user UN Photo

IWATCH– Interpol’s primary purpose is to help police hunt down murderers and war criminals, child sex offenders and wildlife poachers.  But a five-month investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shows a little-known side to Interpol’s work:  In cases from countries such as Iran, Russia, Venezuela and Tunisia, Interpol Red Notices are not only being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes, but to round up political opponents of notorious regimes.

For countries that want to abuse Interpol, “it’s a way to extend their arm to harass opponents – political or economic,” said Kyle Parker , policy director of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, a human rights body of the U.S. Congress.

ICIJ analyzed a snapshot of Interpol’s Red Notices, published on December 10, 2010. It includes 7,622 Red Notices issued at the request of 145 countries. About a quarter of those were from countries with severe restrictions on political rights and civil liberties. About half were from nations deemed corrupt by international transparency observers.

The Islamic regime of Iran’s use of Interpol stands out not just because of the Mazrae episode, but also because of people like Shahram Homayoun.

He fled Iran in 1992 after the mullahs took over. After he settled in Los Angeles, Homayoun started a satellite TV station to beam a message of civil resistance into the homes of Iranians.

His audience has scribbled his slogan in Farsi, Ma Hastim – “We Exist” – on walls and bridges around the country. In 2009, he called on Iranians to gather at the tomb of the ancient Persian ruler Cyrus the Great. That’s all. Just show up at his tomb, like a flash mob. That fall, he prompted Iranians to show up at their local bakery every Thursday and ask for bread.

He’s definitely a troublemaker.

 “Apparently, the Interpol thinks so too,” Homayoun said, laughing at a reporter’s quip.

In December 2009, Iran charged him with inciting “terrorism against the Islamic regime such as writing slogans [on walls] and resisting the security forces,” and, at Iran’s request, Interpol issued a Red Notice and put Homayoun on its global most-wanted list.

Now officially an Interpol fugitive because of the Red Notice, Homayoun can’t leave the United States. He’ll probably never again see his parents in Iran. Fortunately for Homayoun, the U.S. won’t arrest him, let alone send him to Iran.

Read more about Interpol’s Red Notices Used By Some To Pursue Political Dissenters, Opponents

© 2011 Center for Public Integrity

Photo by Flickr user billigwein

BBC– Human Rights Watch says activists in the Philippines are still being killed with impunity, despite the president’s campaign pledge to end such violence.

In a new report, the campaign group says it has evidence that the military was involved in seven killings and three enforced disappearances.

Each of these occurred since President Benigno Aquino took office last year, the group says.

When President Aquino came to power, he promised a change from the old regime.

The administration of his predecessor, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, had been accused of turning a blind eye to the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of people.

But according to Human Rights Watch, these abuses are still continuing.

Most of the victims – now as before – are left-wing activists and outspoken journalists.

Their families often blame the military or police of involvement.

The security forces deny the claims or say those who died were communist rebels.

Read more about Philippines Extrajudicial Killings Continue

© 2011 BBC

Photo by Flickr user The Philippine Online Chronicles

THE NATION– Nestled in a back corner of Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport is a sprawling walled compound run by the Central Intelligence Agency. Set on the coast of the Indian Ocean, the facility looks like a small gated community, with more than a dozen buildings behind large protective walls and secured by guard towers at each of its four corners. Adjacent to the compound are eight large metal hangars, and the CIA has its own aircraft at the airport. The site, which airport officials and Somali intelligence sources say was completed four months ago, is guarded by Somali soldiers, but the Americans control access. At the facility, the CIA runs a counterterrorism training program for Somali intelligence agents and operatives aimed at building an indigenous strike force capable of snatch operations and targeted “combat” operations against members of Al Shabab, an Islamic militant group with close ties to Al Qaeda.

As part of its expanding counterterrorism program in Somalia, the CIA also uses a secret prison buried in the basement of Somalia’s National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters, where prisoners suspected of being Shabab members or of having links to the group are held. Some of the prisoners have been snatched off the streets of Kenya and rendered by plane to Mogadishu. While the underground prison is officially run by the Somali NSA, US intelligence personnel pay the salaries of intelligence agents and also directly interrogate prisoners. The existence of both facilities and the CIA role was uncovered by The Nation during an extensive on-the-ground investigation in Mogadishu. Among the sources who provided information for this story are senior Somali intelligence officials; senior members of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG); former prisoners held at the underground prison; and several well-connected Somali analysts and militia leaders, some of whom have worked with US agents, including those from the CIA. A US official, who confirmed the existence of both sites, told The Nation, “It makes complete sense to have a strong counterterrorism partnership” with the Somali government.

In the battle against the Shabab, the United States does not, in fact, appear to have cast its lot with the Somali government. The emerging US strategy on Somalia—borne out in stated policy, expanded covert presence and funding plans—is two-pronged: On the one hand, the CIA is training, paying and at times directing Somali intelligence agents who are not firmly under the control of the Somali government, while JSOC conducts unilateral strikes without the prior knowledge of the government; on the other, the Pentagon is increasing its support for and arming of the counterterrorism operations of non-Somali African military forces.

Read more about The CIA’s Secret Sites in Somalia.

Written by Jeremy Scahill

© 2011 The Nation

Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now discussing Somalia’s secret CIA sites (part 1/2).

Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now discussing Somalia’s secret CIA sites (part 2/2).

Photo by Flickr user Micael Carlsson