A deputy editor for the major establishment newspaper, the Washington Post, has written a column that belatedly marks the tenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq while at the same time claiming he has learned a “lesson” that leads him to conclude there is a need for US intervention in Syria.

Jackson Diehl concedes he is like other Iraq War supporters, who now push for more US involvement in Syria, but he sociopathically argues:

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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said that he will release all political detainees, as tensions ease following recent agreements with South Sudan.

“Today, we announce a decision to free all the political prisoners and renew our commitment to all political powers about dialogue,” Bashir said in a speech opening a new session of parliament on Monday.

“We confirm we will continue our communication with all political and social powers without excluding anyone, including those who are armed, …

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Activists and relatives of around 90 Yemeni detainees held in Guantanamo Bay have protested outside the US embassy in the capital in Sanaa to demand the prisoners’ release after more than a decade in detention.

Rights activist and protester Abdel-Rahman Barman said during Monday’s demonstration that conditions at the prison were “very poor” and that at least two of the men there were on hunger strike.

Yemenis make up the largest contingent of the 166 detainees held …

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The Keystone XL decision is still underway. While pipeline routes are being adjusted for this project, a similar Exxon pipeline carrying the same oil type has had a major spill in Arkansas. The “Pegasus” pipeline is now releasing thousands of barrels of oil. This example is a regular occurrence. Oil pipelines leak. What would happen if the Keystone XL pipeline sprung a similar leak on it’s original route?

By comparing the scale of the Keystone XL …

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A new piece of legislation, if passed, will penalize low-income families in Tennessee by reducing their welfare benefits if their child performs poorly in school.

Sponsored by Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) and Rep. Vance Dennis (R-Savannah), the bill “requires the reduction of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) payments for parents or caretakers of TANF recipients whose children fail to maintain satisfactory progress in school.”

The bill (Senate Bill 132, House Bill 261) applies to low-income families, …

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Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These rates reflect a marked rise over the last decade and could fuel growing concern among many doctors that the A.D.H.D. diagnosis and its medication are overused in American children.

The figures showed …

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Saudi Arabia may try to end anonymity for Twitter users in the country by limiting access to the site to people who register their identification documents, the Arab News daily reported on Saturday.

Last week, local media reported the government had asked telecom companies to look at ways they could monitor, or block, free internet phone services such as Skype.

Twitter is highly popular with Saudis and has stirred broad debate on subjects ranging from religion to …

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NEW YORK — When Juana Alvarez’s 14-year-old daughter contracted a blood infection five years ago, Alvarez took her daughter to the hospital, leaving her newborn baby at home with her husband, Abel. Abel took two days off from his pizzeria job to stay home with the baby, a decision that ended up costing him his job: His employer was one of many around the country that deny sick days to their employees.

Abel now works at …

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WASHINGTON — The nation’s top business and labor groups are nearing agreement on a guest worker program for low-skilled immigrants, a final sticking point that had stalled negotiations late last week on a broad immigration overhaul, and are closing in on a deal that could come as early as Friday, according to officials involved in the talks.

An agreement between the labor and business communities would clear one of the last hurdles for an overall …

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It’s a great story: the virtually unknown, 15th seeded Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), has made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. But there’s something you might not know about FGCU: its economics department is, as a consequence of grants from Randian businessman John Allison and the Charles G. Koch Foundation, a haven for Ayn-Rand Style thinking:

At Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, every student who majors …

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