Bahrain 1st-Hand: "48 Hours in Sanabis" (Al Jazeera English)

A message to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa

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We left the house into the streets. Some stone-carrying shabab were starting to return to the main crossings in central Sanabis, standing over broken glass and spent tear gas cartridges --- all clearly marked "made in USA" --- waiting for the police to return.
 
We passed through the narrow alleyways, some barely wide enough for a car to pass through. Some parts were well lit with the bright orange glow of the street lights, others pitch black. Some areas were tight giving a sense of protection, while others were more open, leaving us completely exposed for a number of seconds when anything could happen. We could only hope as we approached the next street corner that there wouldn't be any police waiting around it, while we kept looking backwards to make sure there were none there either. Too fast and we would come upon them with no place to run, too slow and we'd get caught from behind.

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Haiti Video: 20 Months after the Earthquake, A People Abandoned (Al Jazeera English)

Twenty months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, Sebastian Walker of Al Jazeera English finds that "millions of Haitians are still living in makeshift camps, cholera has become an epidemic and the aid money has run out":

Afghanistan: Taliban Attack NATO HQ, US Embassy, Afghan Intelligence Agency

Video of the building from where the Taliban launched rocket attacks

Later Report: The Latest on the Taliban Attacks in Kabul

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From Al Jazeera English:

Taliban gunmen armed with suicide vests and heavy weaponry have launched co-ordinated attacks in Kabul, targeting NATO's headquarters, the US embassy, and the Afghan intelligence agency.

Heavy gunfire continued to be heard on Tuesday as Afghan forces battled to clear a building in the city's diplomatic quarter which had been taken over by heavily armed fighters. Rockets have reportedly been fired at the US and other embassies in the area. 

At least four policemen and two civilians have been killed and 22 others injured, according to AFP.

Police have surrounded the occupied building, calling in air support to end a siege carried out by gunmen resisting inside the building.

Sediq Seddiqi, spokesman to the Afghan Ministry of Interior, said three of the Taliban fighters in the building had been killed and two were continuing to resist.

NATO has confirmed that they are providing Afghan forces ground and air support in the operation.

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Reflecting on 9-11: A US Response More Costly than the Attacks (Stiglitz)

Even if Bush could be forgiven for taking the United States, and much of the rest of the world, to war on false pretenses, and for misrepresenting the cost of the venture, there is no excuse for how he chose to finance it. His was the first war in history paid for entirely on credit. As the US went into battle, with deficits already soaring from his 2001 tax cut, Bush decided to plunge ahead with yet another round of tax “relief” for the wealthy.

Today, the US is focused on unemployment and the deficit. Both threats to America’s future can, in no small measure, be traced to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Increased defense spending, together with the Bush tax cuts, is a key reason why the US went from a fiscal surplus of 2 per cent of GDP when Bush was elected to its parlous deficit and debt position today. Direct government spending on those wars so far amounts to roughly $2tn - $17,000 for every US household - with bills yet to be received increasing this amount by more than 50 per cent.

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Tunisia Feature: What is the Future for Women's Rights? (Ryan)

For 55 years, Tunisia celebrated Women's Day every August 13, representing the push for gender equality that has been one of the hallmarks of the North African nation's post-colonial era. 

Women were active players in the uprising that ended the rule of Zine Abidine Ben Ali, and many hope that event will translate into a more visible role in the country’s soon-to-be democratic political life.

Yet some are worried that the rights women have enjoyed for the past five decades might soon be swept away by the tide of social conservatism that has emerged in the wake of the uprising.

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Bahrain Documentary: "Shouting in the Dark" --- Story of an Uprising Suppressed (Al Jazeera English)

Al Jazeera English presents a documentary on the rise and fall of this spring's uprising in Bahrain: "This is the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world."

Media Feature: Al Jazeera English Makes It to the US...Well, New York City (Stelter)

Every cable news channel has its moment.

CNN had the gulf war. Fox News had the war on terror. And Al Jazeera English had the Arab Spring.

But six months after widespread protests erupted in the Middle East, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera has not gained distribution on any major cable or satellite systems in the United States. The channel’s supporters say they feel it has been blacklisted; the distributors say they have to contend with limited channel space.

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Norway Latest: Breivik to Appear in Court Over Oslo Attacks (Al Jazeera English)

UPDATE 1845 GMT: Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in Oslo and other cities to show sorrow and unity over the Oslo/Utoeya attacks.

UPDATE 1600 GMT: Appearing in court today, Anders Behring Breivik said "calmly" that he expects to spend the rest of his life in prison for the Oslo bomb and Utoeya shootings on Friday.

Breivik entered a not guilty plea, even as he said that he wanted to save Europe from Muslim immigration and warned that there are two other cells in his "network".

Police have revised the death toll from the shootings at the youth camp on Utoeya downward from 86 to 68, claiming difficulties in gathering information. Eight people were slain in the Oslo bomb outside the Prime Minister's office building in Oslo.

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The Real Net Effect: An Interview with Sami Ben Gharbia about New Media, Tunisia, and the Arab Spring

During the revolution we noticed that there were limitations on the Facebook platform. We know Facebook, we know the tools –-- it’s not about the tools, it’s about the context in which the tools are being used, it’s about the strategy, implementation and approach to the using the tools.

That consciousness of the tools is really important in understanding the impact that the Internet had on the Tunisian revolution --- Facebook is a closed platform --- it has been used hugely by the Tunisian activists that were on the ground, take pictures and videos and posting that on Facebook. That was great.

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South Sudan: A Nation Declares Independence (Carlstrom)

After decades of conflict and millions of deaths, South Sudan formally marked its independence on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people turned out for the ceremony at the mausoleum of John Garang, the longtime leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). The area started to fill shortly after daybreak, when crowds of people raced into the dusty venue to secure a space near the stage.

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