The United Nations estimated early last month that more than 5400 people had been killed since protests against the dictatorship of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in March last year.
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A vast icy pool of Siberian air, the coldest in 50 years, settled over all Europe in late January. At least 150 people without shelter were killed.
Yet the suffering from this extreme cold snap will be nothing compared with that of the economic ice age now threatening to entomb Europe鈥檚 most vulnerable economies.
Over the past fortnight southern Europe鈥檚 growth prospects have become increasingly wintry:
Early in January, the Sa-Ka-Kha-9 military division based near the ancient Falom village seized about 50 houses and a mosque that had been built at the village's edge. It is one of 36 that are Rohingyan (a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority) in the Kyauktaw township in the western Burmese Arakan state along the Kaladan River.
These lands had been re-bought from the military by Falom villagers. For 17 years, until re-buying the land, the village consisted of 280 houses and some farm lands. The mosque was demolished by the military in 1995.
United States' oil giant ExxonMobil had the largest profits of the 鈥渂ig five鈥 oil companies last year, raking in US$41.1 billion. This is a 35% jump from the year before.
Here are a few more facts about ExxonMobil:
Exxon鈥檚 $41.1 billion in 2011 profit translates into nearly $5 million in profit every hour, or more than $1300 every second.
Exxon pays a lower tax rate than the average US citizen. Between 2008-2010, Exxon Mobil registered an average 17.6% federal effective corporate tax rate, while the average American paid a higher rate of 20.4 percent.
Rupert Murdoch's flagship newspaper, The Australian, has been on a campaign to destroy the Greens because the party represents a big electoral break from the two-parties-for-capitalism system that has dominated politics in this country for more than a century. In the past two weeks, this campaign has been hyped into McCarthyite Cold War hysteria.
State planning minister Brad Hazzard released draft guidelines to regulate NSW wind farms in December. The guidelines allow anyone with a residence within two kilometres to veto a wind power project.
If the guidelines become law, this would put the brakes on the wind industry, as the coal seam gas industry bolts ahead.
Socialist Alliance candidate Liam Flenady, who will run in the March 24 Queensland state election, announced the party's key policy pledge on February 4.
The policy said: 鈥淪et up a new Queensland State Bank: Provide low-interest loans to householders, farmers and small business. Stop the private banks ripping off the community.鈥
Nearly 10 years of a mining boom has made big changes to Australia鈥檚 economy and environment. Resource companies have made record profits.
This has given Australia鈥檚 rich mining billionaires an inflated sense of entitlement. When the Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT) was proposed we saw Gina Rinehart speaking to an anti-tax rally from the back of a truck along with fellow billionaire Andrew Forrest, who wore a high-visibility work shirt as though he was just another struggling worker.
US gangster Al Capone once said: 鈥淐apitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.鈥 19th century US president Thomas Jefferson said: 鈥淏anking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.鈥
Truth and accuracy have never been the highest priorities for the mainstream media. But hysteria and misrepresentation of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy protest in Canberra on January 26 have been taken to an absurd level.
Terms like 鈥渕ob violence鈥, 鈥渢huggery鈥 and 鈥渞iot鈥 have been used by journalists and politicians to describe a protest where no one was injured, no property was damaged and no one was arrested.
In an historic decision, Fair Work Australia (FWA) awarded pay rises of 19-41% to 150,000 mostly female workers in the social and community services sector (SACS) on February 1.
It was the most important equal pay case since equal pay for work of equal value was formally recognised in 1972.
The decision awards an extra 4% rise in loadings, designed to recognise impediments to bargaining in the industry. Workers will also be entitled to any wage review by FWA each year. The pay rises are effective from December 1, to be phased in over eight years.
Activists from Western Australia鈥檚 Refugee Rights Action Network traveled more than 800 kilometres from Perth to the remote Leonora detention centre over January 27-29. The journey sought to draw attention to the 160 unaccompanied minors locked up in the detention centre.
Immigration minister Chris Bowen had previously promised that all children would be moved out of detention centres by June last year.
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