In three days, the Tokyo stock market lost almost $400 billion in value. (ABC, Jan. 20) The crash comes at a moment of converging multiple crises for the Japanese state. On Jan. 19, some 800 protesters, mostly connected to Shinto shrines, gathered in Tokyo to protest government plans to move toward allowing women to assume the imperial throne. The ruling Emperor Akihito has two sons, Crown Prince Naruhito and Prince Akishino. The elder has only one daughter, Princess Aiko, born in 2001. The younger has two daughters. (UPI, Jan. 20)

From the public health watchdog website Newsinferno, Jan. 16:

Many Believe Toxic Ground Zero Site Responsible for Growing Number of Deaths among Cleanup Workers
Last week we reported on the death of James Zadroga, a 34-year-old homicide detective who was believed to be the first New York City police officer to die from a respiratory disease caused by exposure to dust and toxic debris during his hundreds of hours of rescue and cleanup efforts at ground zero.

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.

Subcomandante Marcos said Jan. 14 that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation will not accept the invitation by Bolivian president-elect Evo Morales to attend his Jan. 22 inauguration. During a meeting with supporters on the Zapatistas' "Other Campaign" in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Marcos—known as "Delegate Zero" for the duration of the national tour—responded to a question about Morales' request: "They invited us and we received the invitation but we're not going to go, because we are in the Other Campaign... We don't have relations with governments, whether they are good or bad. We have relations with the people. And we have a lot of respect for the Bolivian people." (NarcoNews, Jan. 15)

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.