January 30, 2010 - Bad news: historian, writer and activist Howard Zinn died on wednesday (1/27) of a heart attack at the age of eighty-seven. We believed he was immortal, but the evidence is hard to deny: one of the most critical intellectuals of our time disappeared.

There would be so much to say to celebrate his work, specially his books.

A People’s History of the United States, presenting American history through the eyes of working people, changed the way we look at history in America.

December 10, 2009 - Between January 2008 and April 2009, 60 drones strikes in the Pakistan tribal areas have caused the death of 701 civilians: among them, only 14 were suspected Talibans. These so-called "targeted executions" started in 2004 under the Bush administration but have drastically increased with President Barack Obama.

For the whole year 2008, there were 36 Predator strikes, with a death toll of 317. Since the beginning of 2009, the number of attacks has reached one per week, and the death toll for 2009 reached 432 in September and might be "improved" by the end of the year.

As expected, Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, who met yesterday at the White House, proved to have opposite visions on two crucial issues: the U.S. president refused to set a precise deadline for Iran to renounce nuclear weapons and emphasized the need for a Palestinian state, and the Israeli prime minister stongly disagreed on both points. The four hours reunion ended with no more success than the rhetoric of mutual commitment to pursue peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

As the two leaders reminded it, United States and Israel share a long tradition of special relationship in which Washington takes the security of the Jewish state as a responsibility.

Both states have had and still have common enemies and common goals in the most turbulent region of the planet. Their alliance is not in danger because it can not be. But Obama and Netanyahu were unable yesterday to to reach an agreement in order to address the current problems.

Will Obama institute a new kind of preventive detention for terrorist suspects?

The last “enemy combatant” being detained in America is incarcerated at the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina—a tan, low-slung building situated amid acres of grassy swampland.

The prisoner, known internally as EC#2, is an alleged Al Qaeda sleeper agent named Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. He has been held in isolation in the brig for more than five years, although he has never stood trial or been convicted of any crime.

Under rules established by the Bush Administration, suspected terrorists such as Marri were denied the legal protections traditionally afforded by the Constitution. Unless the Obama Administration overhauls the nation’s terrorism policies, Marri—who claims that he is innocent—will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr's Day. Today is Barack Obama's day.

While the swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. local time, a host of official activities are planned for before and after the main event.

The first musical selection is by The United States Marine Band and the San Francisco Boys and Girls' Chorus. The Call to Order and welcoming remarks will then be made by Senator Dianne Feinstien and the invocation by Dr Rick Warren.

After another musical interlude by Aretha Franklin, Vice President-elect, Joseph R Biden Jr, will be sworn in by Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, the Honourable John Paul Stevens.

Another musical selection, featuring John Williams with violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo Yo Ma and pianist Gabriela Montero with Anthony McGill on the clarinet, will follow.