FRIENDS OF THE EARTH – Fukushima Daiichi reactor number 3 – one of the reactors in Japan that has suffered a partial meltdown and that remains endangered – is using an unusual, highly volatile form of reactor fuel that is not yet used in the U.S. but that has been proposed for use at the Columbia Generating Station near Richland, Washington.
WikiLeaks Points to a New Kind of Journalism
RACHEL KENNEDY – April has been a momentous month for WikiLeaks. On April 6 Julian Assange was given a date by Britain’s High Court to appeal against extradition to Sweden. Meanwhile, British diplomats have joined many others who are pressuring the U.S. to provide humane treatment of 23-year old Bradley Manning, the U. S. soldier accused of leaking classified data to WikiLeaks and currently held in 24-7 solitary confinement in the stockade at Quantico, often stripped naked.
People’s Budget Reflects Public’s Desires
JEFREY SACHS – Just when it seemed that all of Washington had lost its values and its connection with the American people, a bolt of hope has arrived. It is the People’s Budget put forward by the co-chairs of the 80-member Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Withdrawal Issues: What NATO Countries Say About the Future of Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Europe
SUSI SNYDER and WILBERT VAN DER ZEIJDEN – For decades, the U.S. has deployed nuclear weapons on the territories of NATO allies in Europe. Now, about 200 of these weapons remain – in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. The weapons were originally intended to be used to put up a wall of radiation to block a ground invasion from the Warsaw Pact. Their type and numbers were greatly reduced at the end of the Cold War, but they have not been completely eliminated. Yet.
Analysis of the FY 2011 Federal Budget Agreement
JO COMERFORD – [Today is Tax Day. It seems appropriate for Americans to know what their government is using their money for. Here is a comprehensive summary. – Editor]
Six months after the start of the current fiscal year (FY2011), congressional leaders and President Obama have reached agreement on a budget for the second half of the year. In all the deal provides just over $1 trillion in spending over the last six months of the year, a cut of roughly $40 billion from FY2010 levels.
Action Alerts from Indian Country
POO HA BAH – Anishinabe Kweag, a group of women indigenous to the area now called Ontario, is calling on Bruce Power to halt its plans to ship 16 decommissioned nuclear steam generators through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.