Despite a warning in a new UN report on Syria saying “there is a human cost to the increased availability of weapons” inside the war torn country, the US is sending more military hardware into the region by stationing Patriot missile batteries and F-16 fighter jets in neighboring Jordan.

Though the Pentagon says the weapons are being sent for military exercises, indications were also made that the weapons could remain for an extended period.

As Al-Jazeera reports:

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WASHINGTON—The White House on Tuesday announced a set of executive actions by President Barack Obama aimed at reining in certain patent-holding firms, known as “patent trolls” to their detractors, amid concerns that the companies are abusing the patent system and disrupting competition.

Mr. Obama’s actions, which include measures he wants Congress to consider, are intended to target firms that have forced technology companies, financial institutions and others into costly litigation to protect their products. These patent-holding …

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(Reuters) – An Egyptian court gave jail terms to 43 Americans, Europeans, Egyptians and other Arabs on Tuesday in a case against democracy promotion groups that plunged U.S.-Egyptian ties into their worst crisis in decades.

Judge Makram Awad gave five-year sentences in absentia to at least 15 U.S. citizens who left Egypt last year. He sentenced an American who stayed behind to two years in prison, and gave the same sentence to a German woman.

Beginning …

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It may be strange to hear for a person outside Turkey that people are protesting a government over a few trees and a park. But that is the diluted story.

The protests in Taksim Square go beyond a few trees in Gezi Park.

It is important to understand what is at stake and what the big deal is at Gezi Park. This brief document provides a short summary of the underlying issues so that you can place …

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On ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Huffington Post Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington confronted former White House Senior Advisor David Plouffe over the Obama administration’s record on deportation. In the midst of the conversations around the IRS scandal and the Department of Justice going after leaks to journalists, Huffington said there is “a lot of scandal” in the debate over immigration:

HUFFINGTON: It’s what the Obama administration is doing with deportation… More people have …

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A fire at a poultry processing plant in China has killed at least 119 people, officials say.

The fire broke out at a slaughterhouse in Dehui in Jilin province early on Monday.

Accounts speak of explosions prior to the fire, which caused panic and a crush of workers trying to escape. Most exits were said to be locked.

A labour activist told the BBC it was the worst factory fire in living memory.

The fire is now said to …

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HONG KONG — They’re like George Carlin’s seven dirty words, except it’s not the FCC who’s banning them, but the Communist Party of China.

In a directive reportedly distributed last month to local party committees, China’s top propaganda officials issued new
restrictions banning discussion of seven topics deemed to be “dangerous Western influences.”

Titled “The Current Situation of the Ideological Front,” the report urges cadres to stop universities and media organizations from talking about a wide range of …

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Apple may be getting all the attention from lawmakers and the news media for its offshore tax practices, but a new report finds that other major companies are using similar tactics to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars in profits.

At least 18 companies, including Nike, Microsoft and Apple, are stashing profits in offshore tax havens likely in a bid to avoid paying taxes, according to a new report from the Citizens for Tax Justice, …

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HOUSTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sent the cases of six Texas death row inmates, including one of the infamous “Texas 7” gang of escapees, back to a lower court for reviews of whether attorneys in earlier stages of appeals let the men down.

The decisions are in line with last week’s ruling in another Texas case where the justices, in a 5-4 vote, said a condemned prisoner had deficient legal help early because …

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Thousands of protesters have controlled Istanbul’s main square once more after two days of violent clashes with rampaging riot police, as Turkey’s prime minister vowed to press on with the controversial redevelopment that provoked the clashes.

Calling the protesters an “extremist fringe”, Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the opposition Republican People’s party for provoking the protests.

“We think that the main opposition party, which is making resistance calls on every street, is provoking these protests,” Erdogan said on …

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