This is an email I've sent to rachel@msnbc.com: Bonjour, I live in France -- I have both French and American citizenship -- so I watch Rachel via podcast, always a bit late...

In an extraordinary article in the Washington Post, Richard Goldstone has now admitted that his infamous report was wrong.

In September 2009, it hit the diplomatic world like a tornado: Richard Goldstone, the respected South African jurist, issued a U.N.-sponsored report condemning Israel for "war crimes" of intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza.

Last night for a few brief shining television moments (captured here), Wafa Sultan, courageous author of the indispensable jeremiad "A G-d Who Hates," strove gamely to educate Bill O'Reilly -- often seemingly impenetrable by facts regarding Sharia -- about how Islamic Law, patte …

A distraught Libyan woman stormed into a Tripoli hotel Saturday to tell foreign reporters that government troops raped her, setting off a brawl when hotel staff and government minders tried to detained her.

Egypt's ruling junta has approved a constitutional amendment which prevents the establishment of political parties based on religion and discrimination between citizens on grounds of origin, language or gender.

Police from around the world say they have broken up the largest internet paedophile ring yet discovered. Rob Wainwright, head of Europol, the European Police Agency, said the abuse network had 70,000 members and links to 30 countries.

The operation has identified 670 suspects and 230 abused children.

Only when women participate fully in policy-making and institution-building will their perspective be truly integrated.

Libyan helicopter gunships fired on a rebel force advancing west toward the capital Tripoli along the country's Mediterranean coastline Sunday and forces loyal to leader Moammar Gaddafi fought intense ground battles with the rival fighters.

Fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi set up checkpoints in Tripoli, searching cars, ahead of planned anti-government protests Friday, raising fears of new bloodshed in the Libyan capital where a heavy crackdown the past week has spread fear among residents.

CAIRO — Hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out in cities across the Middle East on Friday to protest the unaccountability of their leaders and express solidarity with the uprising in Libya that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is trying to suppress with force.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch says witnesses in Tripoli have described Libyan forces firing "randomly" at protesters in the capital on February 22 and 21, 2011.

Human Rights Watch says while some of these reports are difficult to verify, sources from two hospitals in Tripoli said at least 62 bodies, victims of clashes, had been brought into their morgues since February 20.

The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is preparing to find out whether Sweden has been successful in its attempt to extradite him in relation to allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Assange has consistently denied the accusations, made by two women in August last year, and has been fighting extradition since he was arrested and bailed in December. The decision will be handed down on Thursday.

As with many others, I found myself a bit curious about the new "Google" of China, created by the Xinhua news agency and China Mobile, both arms of the Chinese government. So I decided to break this puppy in, and see just how far I could get with it...

MARMARIS, Turkey - Two ferries braved rough seas Thursday to evacuate 4,500 Chinese workers from Libya's eastern port of Benghazi, but high winds to the west left hundreds of Americans stranded on a docked ferry in Tripoli.

Meanwhile Libya's deputy foreign minister told E.U. ambassadors in Tripoli al-Qaeda has set up an Islamic emirate in Derna, in eastern Libya, headed by a former U.S. prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.

A copy of the draft law says that any woman trying to entering a shelter would first need the approval of a committee from eight government offices. She would be subject to a medical exam that might include a virginity test and essentially be confined to the shelter.

The son of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi warned in a nationally televised address that continued anti-government protests that have wracked Libya for six days might lead to a civil war that could send the country's oil wells up in flames.

Appearing on Libyan state television after midnight Sunday, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi said the army still backed his father, who was leading the fight, although he added that some military bases, tanks and weapons had been seized.

Anti-government protests in Libya have spread to the capitol of Tripoli, amidst rumors that the country's dictator Moammar Gaddafi has fled into exile in Venezuela.

In case you're not aware of this the people of Libya are revolting against their leader Qaddafi . Click the link for a live twitter feed of the those events . You don't need a twitter account to follow this .

I am a strong supporter of International Women's Day (March 8th, which will be the 100th anniversary of IWD).

I CAN predict when SA's "Tunisia Day" will arrive. Tunisia Day is when the masses rise against the powers that be, as happened recently in Tunisia. The year will be 2020, give or take a couple of years. The year 2020 is when China estimates that its current minerals-intensive industrialisation phase will be concluded.

For SA, this will mean the African National Congress (ANC) government will have to cut back on social grants, which it uses to placate the black poor and to get their votes. China's current industrialisation phase has forced up the prices of SA's minerals, which has enabled the government to finance social welfare programmes.

Visual evidence of what is going on with the Arab resistance. It is a brutal situation and those behind it all may shock you.

Berlusconi is going on trial April 6 in Milan on charges that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl and then tried to cover it up.

I have been following Dennis McCann's article on the protests swelling the streets of cities in Iran, originally held in support of Egypt and Tunisia, that has developed into a revival of the Green Movement, originally focused on toppling the allegedly improperly elected presdie …

CNN Video Discussion of the current events in Iran (Anderson Cooper 360)

Hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets across Italy on Sunday to demand better treatment for women, days after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi came under investigation for engaging in prostitution with a minor.

Security forces cut phone lines and blockaded the home of an Iranian opposition leader Monday in attempts to stop him attending a planned rally in support of Egypt's uprising, a reformist website reported.

Iranian authorities have blocked reformist websites and detained several opposition supporters and activists, opposition website Saham News reported Thursday.

Thousands of protesters marched in more than 60 towns and cities nationwide. Some women carried banners reading "Italy is not a brothel", and said Mr Berlusconi had demeaned women with his recent sex scandals.

Stunning, Over two hundred photos.

The notion that any society has survived the onslaught of plugged-in, media-saturated globalization without making contact with industrial civilization is tantalizing -- it's why the story of the 'uncontacted' tribe colliding with modern society has been an enduring popular narra …

Torture by the Military? Who is ruling the military? Many Egyptians protesting in the streets of Tahir Square do not realize the implications of not having a leader representing them ready to take a place in representing them during discussions with the military who is the real …

A search to find a pistol owned by Nelson Mandela said to be the first weapon of the African National Congress' armed resistance to apartheid rule has ended under the house of a South African pop star.

The gun was given to Mr Mandela by an Ethiopian Colonel who gave him military training while he was on the run from South Africa's white government seeking to prosecute him for his political activities.

When he returned to South Africa, just weeks before he was arrested and jailed for 27 years, he buried it in the grounds of the farm where he was staying.

Chad's armed forces and Chadian and Sudanese rebel groups are recruiting children as young as 13 to become soldiers, Amnesty International said in a report released Thursday.

In FT today, Gideon Rachman asks ‎'Which revolution will Egypt choose?'

There are competing visions on offer of what has been happening in Egypt, as this extraordinary political stalemate drags on.

Fascinating debate about the MSM's power or lack thereof over the outcome of the revolution on the streets of Cairo....

An interesting little tidbit of on-the-ground coverage by my dear friend Medea Benjamin - of CODEPINK & Global Exchange helped me remember that I forgot to include the most obvious & important in the ranks of the counterrevolutionaries: the police!

If you were fascinated by the treatment of Couric & Anderson, you should be mesmerized by the way the rest of the foreign press is being handled by the Mukhabarat - though not surprised as they have been trained & funded by the CIA for decades!

Typical dictatorial tactics on display here in Cairo & Alexandria: import the poor, migrant workers and combine them with the corrupt bureaucratic officials who have become the nouveau riche through the dispensation of the regime & employ them at critical junctures to counter the …

We've compiled a list of all the journalist who have been in some way threatened, attacked or detained while reporting in Egypt. When you put it all into one list, it is a rather large number in such a short period of time. (UPDATED - send us more stories if you get them)

An immigration officer tried to rid himself of his wife by adding her name to a list of terrorist suspects.

Perhaps we should listen to more of what the "real socialists" have to say.... What do you think?

A rather unbiased piece (though tipped off in the end) by a "real socialist" (not your animus Obamacreation that you keep dreaming up around every left-leaning corner in DC today) about the facts on the ground & what you should know about the Egyptian revolution: that it's "a mas …

CNN is reporting that President Obama will address the nation--indeed the world--about the situation in Egypt. No further info available. CNN says they are standing by. Check your TV and radio stations.

CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak announced that he would not run for another term in elections scheduled for the fall, appearing on state television to promise an orderly transition but saying he would serve out his term.

Various news agencies are reporting that Eyptian President Hosni Mubarak will address the nation Wednesday night and will announce he will not run again for president. Elections in Egypt are scheduled for September.

As the world struggles to understand the events and implications of civil unrest in Egypt, one person has emerged as a major authority in Western media: Mona Eltahawy.

China has limited coverage of the Egypt protest to its Xinhua news service and warned last week that websites that did not censor comments about Egypt would be 'shut down by force.'

TPM: "Ann Coulter appeared in good spirits on last night's Hannity- "Obamacare," to her the cornerstone of the Obama administration's achievements, was deemed unconstitutional.

Following days of increasing unrest in Egypt, President Barack Obama Friday called on President Hosni Mubarak to take "concrete steps" to enact political, social and economic reforms and urged demonstrators and the government to reject the violence that has marked the protests.

Guardian reporter Jack Shenker. He was arrested and beaten by plainclothes police on Tuesday night and shoved into a truck with dozens of other people.

Shocking and disturbing video has surfaced of a Taliban-controlled village in Afghanistan stoning a man and woman for allegedly eloping while the man was still married.

David Kato knew he was a marked man.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT Horrific video footage has emerged of Taliban insurgents stoning a couple to death for alleged adultery in northern Afghanistan. Hundreds of villagers can be seen on the video standing around as the woman, Siddqa, is buried up to her waist in a four foot …

Like any benevolent disaster capitalist corporation, Monsanto extended a hand in a time of crisis to the 65 percent of the population that survives off of subsistence agriculture. But not just any hand was extended in this time of great need, rather: a fistful of seeds.

"A senior U.S. military officer who oversaw the training of Palestinian security forces in the West Bank was aware that some engaged in the torture of detainees, according to a confidential document published Tuesday.

Gawker: On Tuesday, tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in Cairo and Suez, protesting the administration of President Hosni Mubarak late into the night. The protestors were gassed and beaten.

"The US-based Human Rights Watch accused Egypt of "widespread discrimination" against its Christian and other religious minorities in its annual report for 2010 released Monday, which also highlights repression of political dissent.

Why does the United Nations' Human Rights Council turn a blind eye to systematic repression in countries such as Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe? Here's one reason: Its Advisory Committee, meeting this week in Geneva, is dominated by apologists for the world's worst dictators.

'The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip plans to raze another 180 Palestinian houses, on top of the 20 it recently demolished in the southern town of Rafah, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights charged on Thursday.

"Palestinian Authority security officials have detained a meat dealer on suspicion of selling land to Jews, Palestinian media outlets reported Friday.

A reporter tagged in a Facebook image that mocked the Palestinian president said Saturday he faces trial for insulting a public figure, raising concerns about freedom of speech in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

"The Palestinian Authority refused to grant permission for a rally to celebrate the overthrow of Tunisia's authoritarian president on Wednesday in Ramallah, the administrative capital of the West Bank.

"Since the brutal repression of nationwide dissent following the 2009 elections, authorities are now increasing their crackdown on Kurds.

"Can Richard Goldstone's tarnished reputation be rehabilitated without him acknowledging that the evidence, including new information, proves he was wrong? There is a politically motivated effort underway to rehabilitate the tarnished reputation of Richard Goldstone.

"Nearly one-third of Zimbabwe's registered voters are dead, and others appear to be babies or up to 120 years old, researchers said Friday,

French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was attacked by a mob in Gaza on Friday morning. Her attackers were enraged over statements she had allegedly made the day before supporting human rights for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

A look at recent major attacks in Iraq:

"Beginning in December of last year, a series of ongoing protests in the streets of Tunisia escalated to the point where President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali - who had ruled the country for 23 years - at first declared he would not seek re-election, then fled the country on January  …

'Christians have been living in the Middle East seven decades prior to the arrival of Islam, and for 14 other decades as part of, or under, the law of Islam. Never has the situation of Christians reached such a difficult, unstable situation as it has in the last two years.

US giant Walmart is expanding its operations in Africa by bidding for a controlling stake in South Africa's Massmart, the continent's third-largest retailer with 288 stores in 14 countries.

But South Africa's trade unions are not happy. Despite Walmart's promise to create jobs and its assurances that it will honour existing labour agreements and rules, the union are threatening to boycott its operations because of its reputation as a company that engages in unfair labour practices.

He lives under round-the-clock protection and travels in an armored SUV. Bodyguards are posted in a shack outside his home, which is equipped with a panic room that saved him from an ax-wielding intruder.

"'Freedom in the World 2011' was accompanied by a press release, overview essay and regional maps, all of which highlighted the lack of democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, currently a hot topic in the British media in light of events in Tunisia.

In this Muslim-majority country, it's OK to be Christian, Buddhist or Hindu. But not Shiite.

"Thirteen more demonstrators were shot dead in Tunisia's capital Tunis on Thursday night, despite President Zine el- Abidine Ben Ali promising an end to the use by police of live bullets on protestors, hospital sources said.

"Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked four non-Muslim villages in central Nigeria on January 10 and 11, killing 18 and burning down a church and over a dozen houses. Soldiers reportedly collaborated in the attack.

"The train shooting was even worse than the New Year's Eve church bombing in Alexandria," said Coptic Bishop Makarios, who was present at the scene. "The church attack was organized, while the train shooting simply reflected the chaotic situation on the Egyptian street."

"Just moments after the new year began, a bomb outside a church in Alexandria killed 21 Coptic Christians. A week later, a Pakistani governor was murdered for standing by a Christian convict. The two cases dramatically illustrate the worsening plight of Christians in the Orient.

"Jerusalem--African migrants en route to Israel are subject to torture, rape and assault by traffickers in Egypt's Sinai desert, Israeli Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said, citing interviews it conducted with victims.

How hard is it to recognize that if we're going to send so much money to Mexico, that we ought to make sure that at least some of the money goes to fund development projects rather than flooding corrupt police & government officials' offices with more grease for their wheels?

The photograph is not easy to look at, and it's not clear at first glance if Millicent Gaika, the woman in the photo, is dead or alive. Huge purple bruises surround both of her swollen eyes, and her neck is crisscrossed by a number of open gashes and scars.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called on the international community Thursday to forgive Sudan's $39 billion debt burden so that dividing it between the north and south won't become another issue to resolve after Southern Sudan likely votes to become its own nation.

World eagerly awaits for S. Sudan to separate from 'Arab Islamic Racist Apartheid' in the north

Now this is what an adult conversation looks like!

Close Guantanamo: it's a no-brainer!

"The massacre of 21 Copts at a New Year's Eve mass has been called 'a watershed moment'.

Friends of Israel have long fumed over what they felt was the human rights community's disproportionate and unfair criticism of the Jewish state: Major rights organizations typically portray Israel as among the cruelest of nations, while this planet's actual dictatorships and …

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed Tuesday to step up his site's release of secret documents while he fights extradition to Sweden, as his lawyers argued that sending him to Stockholm could land him in Guantanamo Bay or even on U.S. death row.

After said that it took her three days to realise she was married to a madman.

There are very few nations around the world that have not been almost entirely plundered by the global elite. When the elite speak of "investing" in poor countries, what they really mean is taking control of the land, water, oil and other natural resources.

"The Obama administration is expressing alarm over reports that thousands of political separatists and captured Taliban insurgents have disappeared into the hands of Pakistan's police and security forces, and that some may have been tortured or killed.

"If you thought the Harry Potter series was an innocent children's fantasy story, you're wrong, an Iranian movie producer says: In reality, the Harry Potter books and movies are part of a "Zionist plot" to "spread their poison."

"Nine alleged terrorists plotted a Christmas bombing campaign targeting sites that included the London Stock Exchange and Big Ben, a court heard.

"In January, the Western world will welcome a new nation, South Sudan. The Islamic world will not. The coming independence of South Sudan, which holds most of the oil in the country now called Sudan, marks a loss of territory and of wealth for the Islamic world.