Archive - Jan 12, 2010

• Israeli troops arrest three organizers in West Bank
• US pledges increased military funds and support to Yemen
• Obama Administration announces inquiry into mortgage lenders
• Teachers union announces support for using test scores in evaluations
• Cities move to enact tax on plastic bags

• Forces open fire at demonstration in Afghanistan
• US military uses drones in Afghansitan
• 3100 more troops get deployment orders
• Iranian physicist assassinated
• 7 Baha’i leaders go on trial in Iran charged with espionage
• Federal Reserve blocks release of AIG documents
• High Court hears question of continued confinement of sexual predators

In the West Bank, the Israeli military has stepped up its ongoing campaign of targeting the organizers and participants of weekly demonstrations against the Israeli-built wall. Today Israeli troops arrested three community organizers in an early morning raid.  For FSRN, Ghassan Bannoura files this report.

In the West Bank, the Israeli military has stepped up its ongoing campaign of targeting the organizers and participants of weekly demonstrations against the Israeli-built wall. Today Israeli troops arrested three community organizers in an early morning raid.  For FSRN, Ghassan Bannoura files this report.

On Monday, Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley said that the US was pleased by statements from the Yemeni government that it would increase efforts to track down Al Qaeda within the country. Crowley also acknowledged that increased US military involvement in Yemen was receiving criticism from the region, but he added that the US was not "running a popularity contest."

“We will continue to act in our national interest. Yemen will continue to act in its national interest. We think the partnership is important to both countries in terms of combating extremist elements inside Yemen that pose a danger to that country, pose a danger to the region, and as we saw, has – poses a danger to the United States.”

Since the failed Christmas Day plot to bomb a Northwest Airline flight to Detroit, attention has focused on the country at the south edge of the Arabian Peninsula. Authorities say the 23-year old Nigerian man who faces charges in the attack got assistance from Al Qaeda members in Yemen. But critics warn that the rush to send military funds and assistance to Yemen without seriously looking at the complexity and history of the country, could end up making things worse.

Here to take a deeper look at Yemen, the history and the current challenges, is Stephen Zunes. He's a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he chairs the program in Middle Eastern Studies.

Read, “Yemen: The Latest U.S. Battleground,” by Stephen Zunes in the Huffington Post.

The Obama administration has announced an inquiry into unusually high home loan default rates with some mortgage lenders. A spike in defaulted loans was a key factor in the crash of the housing market in 2007. As FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports, consumer advocates are praising the move.

School districts around the country are getting their applications ready for a piece of the four billion dollar overhaul of US schools. The Obama Administration's program, called Race to the Top, aims to reform education throughout the country. It also has the second largest teachers union moving toward a policy it has previously been against: using student test scores to evaluate teachers. FSRN’s Karen Miller has more.