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Uprising’s guest expert Rahul Mahajan, sociologist and news analyst and author of Full Spectrum Dominance: US Power in Iraq and Beyond, analyzes today’s news headlines:

Days after one of the strongest storms in recorded history hit the Philippines; survivors of Typhoon Haiyan are still waiting for delivery of food and other supplies. Although relief supplies are now in the country, getting them to the hardest hit areas such as the city of Tacloban in Leyte Province, is a challenge because of destroyed roads and airports. AP is reporting that the situation is so desperate people are taking what they can, and armed security forces are firing their weapons to try to keep the peace. Eight people reportedly died when the wall of a rice warehouse collapsed on them. Click here for an AP article about the story.

US-brokered peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have come to a stand-still in the wake of Israel’s announced plan to build 20,000 new settler homes in the West Bank. The Palestinian negotiating team has reportedly resigned but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is hopeful of resuming talks in a week. Click here for a Reuters article about the story.

A new report released by the ACLU today reveals how thousands of US prisoners are serving life sentences for non-violent crimes. A majority of those prisoners are people of color. One of the most egregious examples of over-sentencing is a case profiled in the Guardian this morning of a Black man named Timothy Jackson who is serving a life sentence in Angola prison in Louisiana for shoplifting a jacket worth $159. Meanwhile a white man named Ryan Ferguson has made headlines for being exonerated for a murder he says he did not commit, after serving 10 years in prison. Click here for a Guardian newspaper article about the story.