Feed: Common Dreams | News & Views - AggScore: 78.1

The government today asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that allowed the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge the constitutionality of a law that gives the government unprecedented authority to monitor international emails and phone calls by Americans, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Today, Internet activist group Anonymous once again took down several US government websites, including the US Federal Trade Commission, replacing their content with a message demanding that major countries kill the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

RT reports:

Willie Nelson joins a plaintiff group of over 300,000 members in a lawsuit against big-ag giant Monsanto challenging the company's patents on genetically modified seed.

Democracy Now! reports today:

UPDATE: (5:25 PM EST) Iran Nuclear Coverage Echoes Iraq War Media Frenzy

"Military strikes expected! Weapons inspectors called in! A murky al Qaeda connection! And Cheney says time's up for Ira...

"Wait. Haven't we seen this movie before?"

Today, several thousand Palestinians have rallied in Gaza and the West Bank in support of Khader Adnan, who was detained by Israeli forces two months ago and has been held without trial or charge. Adnan is on his 62nd day of a hunger strike protesting what Israeli forces call 'administrative detention'.

Despite the Fukushima nuclear disaster, potentially flawed plant design and worlwide protests, the world is moving towards building more nuclear power plants.

UPDATE: Reports in the Financial Times and elsewhere say that US taxpayers may be on the hook to bail out big banks -- again.

"Anthony Shadid was a journalist without peer, the best of our generation. Courage. Kindness. Compassion. This loss is immeasurable." --author, journalist Naomi Klein (@naomiaklein)

"The flag of international journalism flies at half-mast for the great Anthony Shadid." --journalist Jeremy Scahill (@jeremyscahill)

"RIP Anthony Shadid. The world has lost one of its greatest journalists. An intrepid poet who reported on the Middle East like no other." --journalist Sharif Kouddous (@sharifkouddous)

WikiLeaks has lodged a strong protest with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for “banning’’ it from an international conference it is hosting at its headquarters in Paris on the impact of the whistleblower website’s activities.

A sustainable energy program in 'Area C' of rural West Bank is being threatened by Israeli authorities. The program, which recently installed solar panels and wind turbines in 16 communities, is providing 1,500 Palestinians with electricity -- who were formerly without reliable energy.(Photo: AFP/Menahem Kahana)