From BBC, Jan. 19:

France 'would use nuclear arms'

French President Jacques Chirac has said France would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state which launched a terrorist attack against it.

Speaking at a nuclear submarine base in north-western France, Mr Chirac said a French response "could be conventional. It could also be of another nature."

From the AP, Jan. 19:

Al-Jazeera on Thursday aired an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden, who says al-Qaeda is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a truce "with fair conditions."

The tape's release came days after a US airstrike in Pakistan that was targeting bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaeda figures, including possibly al-Zawahri's son-in-law. There was no mention of the attack on the segments that were broadcast.

Glorify 'em as heroes and martyrs for war propaganda—then screw 'em. It's the American way. From NY1, Jan. 17:

Supreme Court Rules 9/11 Families Cannot Sue Over Faulty Radios
Families of New York City firefighters won't be allowed to sue over the radios the department used during the September 11th terror attacks.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision which dismissed a lawsuit against the city and the radio manufacturer, Motorola. The suit alleged the radios were faulty and prevented responders from hearing evacuation calls while they were rescuing people from the North Tower.

The international community has been attempting to restore peace to West Africa, long torn by multiple inter-related ethnic and civil conflicts. Now, just as Liberia is hailed as a success story—with the country's first post-war president, and Africa's first woman president, taking office Jan. 16—neighboring Ivory Coast is once again descending into war. Behind the new bloodshed is a continuing Anglo-American-versus-French struggle for control of the region and its precious resources—including significant and virtually untapped oil reserves.

Suicide bombers killed 26 people in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province Jan. 16, heightening fears that Taliban militants are copying the tactics of Iraqi insurgents. An attacker riding a motorcycle blew himself up as a crowd left a wrestling match in Spin Boldak, on the Pakistan border, killing 20 and wounding at least 20 more. It was the deadliest suicide attack since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001. Hours earlier, three Afghan soldiers and a civilian died in a suspected Taliban suicide car-bombing in Kandahar city. Another car bomb in Kandahar Jan. 8 claimed the lives of a Canadian diplomat and two Afghans. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike.

Iraq's oft-fractious trade unions issued the following joint statement yesterday at the end of a two-day meeting in Amman, Jordan. The meeting was attended by labor representatives from throughout Iraq.

A Joint Statement Issued by the Iraqi Trade Unions Concerning the Programs of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Iraq

The Iraqi economy has been severely affected by decades of sanctions, wars and occupation. The Iraqi trade unions and federations believe in the capacity of the country with all its oil and mineral resources to provide a decent living standard for Iraqis.

The federations and unions consider that the wars and occupation have caused a dramatic decrease in the living and social standards of Iraqis and especially of workers.

The federations and unions stress the importance of complete sovereignty for Iraq over its petroleum and natural resources so as to develop them in a way that assures a complete reconstruction of the country. We wish to stress the following points in regard to the policies of the IMF and World Bank in Iraq:

An alleged commander of a Mexico's clandestine Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) and two other suspected guerillas were arrested in the state of Veracruz, officials announced Jan. 12. Gustavo Robles Lopez, 29, and two others were arrested when authorities approached their car which had suffered a breakdown along a rural highway, said federal police Capt. Camilo Castané. Two more suspects fled the scene, he said.

Gee, we can hardly wait for this one. From Reuters, Jan. 15:

TEHRAN - Iran is planning a conference to assess the scale of the Holocaust, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects as a myth, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday.