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US drone strikes continue in Yemen - World Socialist Web Site
►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/03/yeme-j03.html

US drone strikes continue in Yemen
By Will Morrow
3 January 2013

Two US drone strikes in Yemen on December 24 killed six people and wounded at least three others, according to an Associated Press report. A missile struck a vehicle travelling in the central Bayda province carrying two men—one Yemeni and one Jordanian. The same day, three missiles killed four men travelling on motorbikes in Hadhramaut province.

While unnamed Yemeni officials claimed that all six victims were members of the local Al Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), only one has been identified. Yemeni and US officials, along with the international media, routinely label civilians and government opponents killed in drone strikes as AQAP “militants.”

New US drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen - World Socialist Web Site
►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/04/dron-j04.html

New US drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen
By Patrick O’Connor
4 January 2013

Marking the first US drone attacks of 2013, the Obama administration ordered two separate missile bombardments in Pakistan and Yemen on Wednesday and Thursday.

The latest attacks demonstrate that the drawdown of US-led occupying forces in Afghanistan will be accompanied by an expansion of illegal drone operations across the Middle East. At least 16 people were reported killed, all alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, though details of each incident are still emerging and Washington routinely covers up the killing of civilians in drone strikes.

#drones #afghanistan #pakistan #etats-unis

Growing poverty in Germany “politically desired” - World Socialist Web Site

Est-ce que le gouvernement allemand fait réellement le projet d’accepter la paupérisation d’une partie de la population pour maintenir ses objectifs économiques ?

►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/03/germ-j03.html

Growing poverty in Germany “politically desired”
By Dietmar Henning
3 January 2013

Austerity measures dictated by the German government are plunging the peoples of Europe into a social catastrophe. Before Christmas, the National Conference on Poverty (NAK), an amalgamation of charities, churches and the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), presented its “Shadow Report”, which concludes that the growth and consolidation of poverty is “politically desired”.

The report, entitled “Those in the shadows are not seen”, is a response to the fourth official government report on poverty and wealth, which will probably be released by the cabinet in January 2013. A first draft of the government report was presented by the Labour Ministry in September 2012, and excerpts were published in the media. Under pressure from the Free Democratic Party (FDP)-led economics ministry, the final report has been delayed and redrafted several times.

Texas judge approves ban on Planned Parenthood funding - World Socialist Web Site

Des restrictions financières drastiques sur le planning familial au Texas qui mettent en dangers les femmes (et les enfants) des milieux les plus pauvres

►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/03/plan-j03.html

Texas judge approves ban on Planned Parenthood funding
By Kate Randall
3 January 2013

A state judge ruled Monday that Texas can cut off funding to Planned Parenthood’s family planning programs, forcing thousands of women to seek alternative state-approved doctors for their annual exams, cancer screenings and contraceptives. The move comes under conditions where primary care providers for poor women are already in short supply.

Judge Gary Harger said Texas can exclude qualified doctors and clinics from receiving funding through the state’s Women’s Health Program (WHP) if clinics “advocate” for abortion rights—the so-called affiliate rule. The WHP currently provides preventive care to 110,000 poor women, including 48,000 served by Planned Parenthood.

#etats-unis #santé #planning-familial #texas

French Constitutional Council strikes down Hollande’s 75 percent tax on the rich | Le WSWS démonte bien la fausse taxe à 75%
►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/03/fran-j03.html

The tax increase applied only to yearly wage income, not to income from capital gains—which constitute the overwhelming majority of the income of the super-rich. Hollande’s tax increase was expected to affect only 1,500 people, in particular athletes and artists, raising only €500 million in 2013.
For instance, a corporate executive with a €900,000 salary and €5 million in interest income from his fortune would pay nothing more under Hollande’s tax increase. When one considers that the top 10 percent of the French population owns over €5.6 trillion, fully 62 percent of the national wealth—and the top 1 percent by itself monopolizes one quarter of the national wealth—the token character of Hollande’s proposed tax increase is clear.
The sum Hollande’s proposed tax increase would have raised was quite small, even only in comparison to the €10 billion cuts in social spending and €10 billion in tax increases on households announced by his government in its 2013 budget.
On this basis, nonetheless, petty-bourgeois “left” parties such as the New Anti-capitalist Party and the French Communist Party called for a Hollande vote, arguing that the PS could be pressured to the left.
The PS government could have raised a far larger sum of money and avoided the objections of the Constitutional Council by simply imposing a 75 percent tax on all household income over €1 million. Precisely because the PS did not want to significantly tax the wealth of the rich, however, it designed a complicated law that was therefore struck down.