by Amy Goodman

NEW ORLEANS—The anger is palpable across the Mississippi Delta. As the Deepwater Horizon oil geyser, almost a mile underwater, continues unabated, the brunt of this, the largest environmental catastrophe in United States history, is rolling onto the coast, impacting the ecology, the economy and entire ways of life.

I traveled across the bayous and towns of coastal Louisiana for four days, meeting the people on the front lines of the onrush of BP’s oil slick. They are angry, out of work and read the papers about people getting sick.

One person, whose job remains intact—at least so far—is BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward. Hayward, who was paid more than $4.5 million in 2009, lamented Sunday: “There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do. You know, I’d like my life back.” Hayward becomes more vilified with almost each of his utterances, which are clearly aimed at minimizing the perceived impact of the BP disaster. He will probably be increasingly guarded in his remarks, as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder just toured the area and, in a public statement, said: “We must also ensure that anyone found responsible for this spill is held accountable. That means enforcing the appropriate civil—and if warranted, criminal—authorities to the full extent of the law.”

by Francesca Fiorentin, Upside Down World, Canada- Despite a flurry of festivities that rang in Argentina’s third century, beyond the exhibitions, concerts, and flag-waving, the bicentenary has also been an opportunity to reflect on the country’s past, present and future. What exactly has the country been capable of and what are the challenges that it faces?

by Tosin Sulaiman, Next, Nigeria - When the American playwright Lynn Nottage travelled to Uganda in 2004 to interview Congolese women fleeing the conflict in their country, they literally formed queues to speak to her. She wanted to write a play about how the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo had affected women. Frustrated by the lack of media coverage of a conflict that has killed an estimated 5 million people since 1998, she decided to embark on her own fact-finding mission.

by Felicity Carus, Guardian, UK - Rising affluence is triggering a shift in diets towards meat and dairy products - livestock now consumes much of the world's crops and by inference a great deal of freshwater, fertilisers and pesticides.

by Lynn Harris, Salon, USA - What we can learn from the American Academy of Pediatrics' hasty reversal on "clitoral nicking."

by Barbara Slavin, Asia Times, Hong Kong - Israel's lethal confrontation with pro-Palestinian activists in the Mediterranean is complicating United States strategy toward Iran and undermining the likelihood of a solid sanctions victory at the United Nations.

by Catherine Sasman, New Era, Namibia - Bus loads of women and men with their mouths gagged with sellotape, marched from Katutura to the head office of the Ministry of Health and Social Services to hand over a petition to end forced sterilisations.

by Rosemary Righter, Times Online, UK - Seoul has abandoned hope of taming its neighbour. Its rhetoric and defences are hardening

by Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - Human rights activists and supporters of the opposition Green Movement in Iran are increasing their calls on the United States and other countries to help Iranians access an unfiltered Internet by lifting sanctions and sharing key software and technology.

by Janet Otieno, Africa Review, Kenya - The battle between governments and the media over what the public should know has been raging for decades globally.

by Lynn Harris, The Nation, USA - Two new studies have quantified what advocates for young women’s health have observed for years: the striking frequency with which it is in fact young men who try to force their partners to get pregnant. Their goal: not to settle down as family men but rather to exert what is perhaps the most intimate, and lasting, form of control.

by Rachel Shields , The Independent, UK - As the global spotlight turns on the World Cup host, charities demand action as 200,000 children are assaulted a year

by Dawn Gable, Havana Times, Cuba - While operational level talks have begun that might be helpful in the current crisis, what is needed, in the view of all the panelists, is a far-reaching collaborative plan that involves Mexico, Cuba and the United States.

by Mary McAuley, openDemocracy Russia, UK - A colony, both because of its organization and by definition cannot exercise an educational function. Time spent in a colony leads only to one outcome: it operates as a mechanism for reproducing juvenile crime.

By Rudo Kwaramba, The New Vision, Uganda - Globally, millions of the 1.5 billion children in conflict areas are victims of violent crimes that do not only destroy their well being but also severely injure their physical and psychological state, sometimes ending their lives. The nature of armed conflict across the world has changed, targeting children as victims and weapons of war.

by Michelle Faul, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - More than a decade and billions of dollars after United Nations peacekeepers deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a civil war, President Joseph Kabila wants them out.

by Stefania Milan, IPS, Italy - Pescomaggiore village, destroyed by the earthquake that hit the mountain region of L’Aquila in central Italy on Apr. 6, 2009, is now being rebuilt by its 40-odd inhabitants with straw and wood.

by Cynthia McKinney, Counter Currents, India - I mourn with my fellow Free Gaza travelers, the lives that have been lost by Israel's needless, senseless act against unarmed humanitarian activists.

by Sarah Wambui, Capital News, Kenya - Fifty six percent of Kenyan women deliver with the aid of unskilled birth attendants while only ten percent of those who deliver in the presence of a trained health worker attend post natal care.

by Huma Yusuf, Dawn, Pakistan - Attacks of escalating horror and violence, growing in their scope, against the Ahmadi community are the most terrible articulations of a widespread social sentiment — that members of this community are, because of their religious beliefs, lesser people.

by Laura Spinney, The Independent, UK - Virtual cadavers, needle-wielding robots – and not a scalpel in sight. Meet the research team behind the 'virtopsy', a radical new approach to forensic pathology

by Catherine Riungu, East African, Kenya - In the middle of high levels of unemployment and a difficult business environment, Kenya is scoring high as a professional services centre, a development that could catapult the country into a major global business hub in the coming years.