Four from Truthout:

Sunday 13 March 2011

Assault on Collective Bargaining Illegal, Says International Labor Rights Group
Jeanne Mirer and Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: "The International Commission for Labor Rights (ICLR) sent a notice to the Wisconsin Legislature, explaining that its attempt to strip collective bargaining rights from public workers is illegal. Anyone who has watched the events unfolding in Wisconsin and other states that are trying to remove collective bargaining rights from public workers has heard people protesting the loss of their 'rights.' The ICLR explained to the legislature exactly what these rights are and why trying to take them away is illegal."
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Japan Nuclear Crisis Spreads to Third Plant
Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times News Service: "Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were facing serious cooling problems at three more. The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort."
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Religious Leaders Hold Out Against Qaddafi
Mike Elkin, Inter Press Service: "Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi claims Al-Qaeda and other Muslim extremists are behind the recent rebellion to oust him from power. Salem Geber, the most well-known cleric in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, says this explanation is not only wrong, but a vintage Qaddafi tactic to inspire fear. 'Qaddafi's latest speeches are nothing new,' the imam said from his office, which manages Benghazi's mosques and other Islamic heritage sites. 'Qaddafi liked to warn us of the Americans and the Europeans who craved our oil, and also of Al-Qaeda.'"
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Madison Rally Bigger Than Biggest Tea Party Rally
Alex Seitz-Wald, ThinkProgress: "Police estimated up to 100,000 people turned out in Madison, WI yesterday to protest Gov. Scott Walker's (R) assault on unions, making it bigger than any protests the city has witnessed, even those during the Vietnam War. The Madison rally is part of a much larger Main Street Movement of average Americans demanding fairness in labor laws, social spending, and taxation that has emerged in Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, and elsewhere. But yesterday's rally in Madison is noteworthy because at 85,000-100,000, it was bigger than the biggest tea party protest, the September 12, 2009 rally in Washington, D.C., which turned out only an estimated 60,000-70,000."
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