“Together it is possible” was the theme for the World Cancer Day 2012 – however, cancer kills millions of people every year and up to a third of cases can be prevented by a healthy lifestyle, according to statistics released by the World Health Organization. Let us then, together, declare war on this scourge.

How many families are there in the world who have experienced at least one death through cancer; how many people have been silenced by the mention of the C word in the hushed ambience of the doctor’s consulting rooms, how many have not broken down in tears shortly afterwards?

While it is true that Cancer need no longer be a death sentence, and while it is true that the number of cures are growing yearly as new therapies are found, this disease continues to kill 7.6 million people a year (figures refer to 2008), around 70% of these in low- and middle-income countries. Thirty per cent of these cases could be prevented.

February 4 is the day chosen by the WHO to celebrate World Cancer Day. The theme for this year was “Together it is possible” and together, the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer support the International Union Against Cancer to find ways to combat this disease. Prevention is the keyword and in 2012, the focus will be on screening and vaccination, effective against the Human Papilloma Virus which causes cervical cancer and the Hepatitis B Virus which can cause liver cancer.

According to the WHO, cervical cancer is the second most common form of this disease among women worldwide, with 500,000 new cases being diagnosed yearly. 70% of cases are caused by types 16 and 18 and these can largely be prevented by vaccinating girls aged between 9 and 13. Hepatitis B and C are responsible for 78% of liver cancer cases, which caused 700,000 deaths in 2008. A vaccine for Hepatitis B has been available since 1982.

Early diagnosis can reduce cancer mortality

Early diagnosis can reduce mortality rates and the WHO relies on public awareness programmes, educating populations about the first symptoms and also screening programmes testing people to detest early signs of cancer, which caused 7.6 million deaths in 2008 – thirteen per cent of all deaths worldwide and the number is predicted to escalate to 13.1 million by 2030. The following breakdown is provided by the WHO:

lung (1.37 million deaths)

stomach (736 000 deaths)

liver (695 000 deaths)

colorectal (608 000 deaths)

breast (458 000 deaths)

cervical cancer (275 000 deaths)

Cancer occurs when a cell undergoes changes into a pre-cancerous lesion which develops into malignant tumours, due to an interaction between the genetic factors a person’s body possesses with physical, chemical or biological carcinogens.

Up to 30% of cancers are caused by the use of tobacco and excessive use of alcohol, an unhealthy diet (low fruit and vegetable intake), a lack of physical exercise, being overweight or obese, urban air pollution, inhalation of smoke on an ongoing basis (tobacco or fumes from fuels), sexually transmitted HPV.

Key facts*

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths) in 2008.

Lung, stomach, liver, colon and breast cancer cause the most cancer deaths each year.

The most frequent types of cancer differ between men and women.

About 30% of cancer deaths are due to the five leading behavioral and dietary risks: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol use.

Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer causing 22% of global cancer deaths and 71% of global lung cancer deaths.

Cancer causing viral infections such as HBV/HCV and HPV are responsible for up to 20% of cancer deaths in low- and middle-income countries.

About 70% of all cancer deaths in 2008 occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to continue rising, with an estimated 13.1 million deaths in 2030.

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In the fourth part of his pre-election manifesto published in Kommersant daily on Monday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin touts the internet as an electronic means for making democracy more responsive to the people.

The premier is running for president in next month’s election.

Expressing the importance of “indispensable” democratic principles, Putin stresses at the same time that democracy-building is not just a matter of “copying and pasting” Western values into Russia.

“Genuine democracy cannot be produced overnight,” Putin states in the article. “You cannot just copy it by reproducing somebody else’s model; society has to be ready for democratic mechanisms.”

The Prime Minister recalls what transpired in the turbulent 1990s, when “democracy” was hastily introduced following the collapse of the Soviet Union.“What we got in the 1990s with the supposed coming of democracy was not a modern state,” writes Putin.

“What we got was turf wars between various clans and…semi-feudal fiefdoms.” By comparison, Russia’s political landscape today – with its more politically informed electorate – faces new challenges that demand new solutions.

“Today, the quality of the state does not match civil society’s readiness to participate in it,” Putin admits, in a nod to the opposition. “Our civil society has become much more mature, active and responsible – they should have the capacity to match increased public activism.”

­Spin doctors and image makers need not apply

In an apparent swipe at Western-style democracy, where, he suggests, substance has taken a back seat to sensationalism, Putin warns of the threat of democracy becoming just another form of cheap entertainment.

“We do not need the circus of various candidates competing with each other to give more and more unrealistic promises,” he says. “We don’t need a situation where all that is left of democracy is the facade, where democracy is understood as a one-time entertaining political show…where substance is forgotten for the sake of shocking statements and mutual accusations.”

Putin goes on to chastise the “spin doctors” and “image makers” who are attempting to “control politicians.”

What modern Russia needs, Putin says, is a “clear, quick and transparent mechanism for preparing, making and implementing both short-term and long-term decisions,” which will promote “constructive dialogue and mutual trust between society and the government.”

Putin advocates the active use of Internet technologies for building the foundation of responsible democratic institutions.

­Downloading Democracy

Russia, with its millions of regular internet users, has the means to overhaul its political system, right at its fingertips.

“Democracy should have mechanisms for direct and constant action… and efficient channels for dialogue, public oversight, communication and feedback,” Putin advises, offering examples as to how to use the available technology.

“It is important to create user-friendly, interactive interfaces for public authorities’ web portals, so that their plans and programs can be fully available, publicly discussed, and their implementation monitored,” he writes.

The top contender in next month’s presidential election says he will “ask web designers to assist the state” with implementing this proposal.

Putin then discusses how the internet can give voters direct participation in the democratic process, while also breaking down the mountain of red tape.

“I suggest introducing a rule for a mandatory review in Parliament of initiatives that collect one hundred thousand or more signatures on the internet,” Putin writes, citing a similar law in the UK. “Certainly the anonymous internet cannot serve this purpose, even though in a number of instances it helps reveal the mood of society… [Therefore] a procedure should be developed for the official registration of those who want to participate in this system”.

Putin believes that a widely available “internet democracy” would give citizens at the city and municipal levels “the opportunity to vote and introduce topical problems at local referendums or Internet polls.”

By way of example, Putin says residents of a given locale “should be given an opportunity to express their opinion on the performance of the head of the district police…after his first year on the job.”

The PM’s plans for promoting “internet democracy” are part of his Electronic Government project, scheduled to be completed by July.

“At present, our citizens have access to all information on political debates in Parliament, on world markets, and on the marriages and divorces of Hollywood celebrities,” Putin muses. “What they can’t do over the internet, however, is retrieve data on their utility bills, review their medical files, or find the name of their district police officer…

“Many state services are now available online… But most people need information that’s relevant for them: on their homes, nearby areas, neighboring parks, schools, and their municipalities.”

“The Electronic Government project should be aimed more precisely at the needs and requirements of the people,” Putin says, summing up his plans. “By means of information technology, state mechanisms should be made comprehensive and accessible to the public.”

­Corruption: the new cool

Addressing Russia’s perennial problem of corruption, Putin cited a conversation between Tsar Nicholas I and his chief of secret police Alexander von Benckendorff, when the former announced he wanted to stamp out graft, and got the following question in return, “Do you think there will be anyone left around you?”

The Prime Minister then quotes a recent poll on the aspirations of Russian children.

“In the turbulent 1990s teenagers dreamed of becoming oligarchs,” Putin said. “But now they want to be state officials; many view public service as a source of fast and easy cash.”

When discussing ways of dealing with individuals in high places fattening their wallets, Putin talks tough.

“The fight against corruption must become a national course, not a matter for political speculation… political exploitation,” he cautions. “We offer real, systemic solutions that will ensure a far more effective rehabilitation of state institutions and the use of new principles in our staff policy – eventually, our goal is to make reputational, financial and material losses so great, that corruption would no longer pay.”

“We will act consistently, reasonably and with determination. We will remove the fundamental causes for corruption and punish particular officials. We will boost motivation for those who want to serve Russia in good faith. We have always had plenty of such people, and they will be given a chance.”

“We have defeated oligarchy, and we will defeat corruption.”

In conclusion, Putin says that his solutions will help to make the power of the people – democracy – a genuine one.

“It’s these solutions that make public service function in the interests of people,” Putin writes. “And together, they ensure that Russia and its people enjoy sustainable and successful growth.”

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Syria could get another chance at a diplomatic escape route from its continuing political crisis as the Russian delegation has arrived on Tuesday to hold talks with President Assad.

A last-ditch delegation to Damascus bearing a personal message for Bashar al-Assad from President Medvedev has been welcomed by thousands of people lining the streets of the Syrian capital.

Russian FM is holding talks with Assad in what many see as the Syrian president’s last opportunity to establish an internationally recognized diplomatic mechanism for resolving the violence that is tearing the country apart.

“It is in Russia’s interest that the Arab nations live in peace and accord,” remarked Lavrov opening talks with Assad. “Every leader in every country must realize his share of responsibility. You do realize yours.”

Amid speculation that the message Lavrov carries may include a suggestion that Assad resign, FM Sergey Lavrov stressed asking a president of a sovereign country to step down is not a Russian profession.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did not exclude the possibility that his letter may include a mechanism for President Assad to relinquish power, in case the violence from both sides does not stop.

The visit comes amid international anger over Russia & China’s veto of what they saw as a “premature” UN Security Council vote. The UK and US simultaneously withdrew their ambassadors to Damascus Monday, with the UK Foreign Secretary calling Assad’s regime “murderous and doomed.” Italy’s Foreign Ministry has allegedly recalled its ambassador from Syria on Tuesday, reports Al Arabia.

The Russian FM dubbed the resolution draft text “one-sided” and international reaction to the veto “hysterical”.

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It took researches 30 years of drilling through a four-kilometer-thick ice to reach the renowned subglacial lake. Most importantly, million years-old secrets will be unveiled without causing harm to the lake’s ecosystem.

­“Yesterday [on Sunday] our scientists at the Vostok polar station in the Antarctic completed drilling at depths of 3,768 meters and reached surface of the subglacial lake,” RIA Novosti quoted unnamed Russian scientist.

Lake Vostok is a unique aquatic ecosystem hidden under some four kilometers of ice. Its water has been isolated from the atmosphere – and therefore from the outer biosphere – for millions of years. Scientists believe that surveys of the lake can provide invaluable details on past and future climate changes.

It is not yet known whether the lake’s waters are inhabited – certain bacteria and, perhaps, more complex creatures, could potentially live – but scientists have everything now to find this out. The importance of such potential discovery is difficult to overestimate.

Drilling works around Vostok Station in the Antarctic began in the 1970s, at a time when scientists still had no idea that a lake lay under the four-kilometer-thick ice shield. It was only in 1996 that Russian specialists, supported by their British counterparts, discovered what later proved to be one of the world’s largest freshwater reservoirs.

However, in 1998 drilling was halted only 130 meters from the lake’s surface when the international community voiced concerns that its ancient waters risked being polluted if special precautions and technologies were not employed.

The relevant technology was developed in 2003 in St. Petersburg, and the international working group conceded that it was now safe to continue drilling.

Work resumed in 2005.

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Gendarme forces move toward protesters in Piata Universitatii square, Bucharest January 19, 2012.

Romania’s Prime Minster Emil Boc has resigned following weeks of public protest against IMF-backed austerity measures amid the debt crisis sweeping the European Union.

Announcing his resignation on Television on Monday, Boc said that he wanted to “defuse political and social tension” and to protect the stability of the country.

“We made this decision in order to alleviate the social and political situation in the country, but to not lose what Romanians have won with so much suffering, the country’s economic stability,” Boc said.

The resignation comes after three weeks of public demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Traian Basescu and the Boc government for imposing harsh austerity measures including a 25 percent cut in public sector wages, 24 percent increase in sales tax and a freeze on pensions.

Romania needed to implement the measures to qualify for the next installment of a 20bn euro bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Boc’s resignation makes Romania the sixth European country to see a prime minister fall to the debt crisis.

Basescu has nominated former Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu as interim Prime Minister on Monday.

The European debt crisis has forced EU governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms, triggering incidents of social unrest and massive protests in many European countries.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.

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Brazilian police officers block an area during a demo.

Nineteen people have died on the third day of clashes between Brazilian government forces and striking police officers in the northeastern city of Salvador, Press TV reports.

Large shops and supermarkets were looted during the clashes and riots on Friday.

Meanwhile, the authorities have dispatched around 2,000 army soldiers and a group of elite federal police officers to contain the demonstrations in the country’s third largest city. In addition, protesters have been warned that they will receive a fine of up to $46,000 if caught demonstrating.

Another 13 people were killed during a demonstration on Thursday, while seven deaths were recorded on Wednesday.

The protesting police officers are holding demonstrations to demand salary increases and better working conditions.

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Team El-Ahly football players get away from the field during a football match riot at a stadium in Port Said of Egypt on Feb. 1, 2012. The death toll from a football riot in Egypt's Port Said rose to 79, state TV reported on Wednesday night.

A riot in the Egyptian city of Port Said has left 79 dead and hundreds wounded after football fans stormed the pitch before engaging in running battles inside the stadium. The government has announced three days of mourning in the country.

The majority of the victims died from suffocation and head injuries, health ministry officials said. Doctors are calling on the local population to donate blood for the injured because the violence has drained hospital reserves.

Some of the more seriously injured were evacuated by transport helicopter from the northern city of Port Said to be treated in military hospitals. The army also dispatched troops to the city to prevent further violence from flaring.

Stadium mayhem

­The deadly fight broke out on Wednesday night following a match between the local Al-Masry and the visiting Al-Ahly football teams, which have a long history of rivalry.

The home players scored a rare victory against one of Egypt’s strongest clubs, and the team’s fans rushed onto the pitch.

Some of the Al-Masry fans were said to be offended by an insulting sign held up by Al-Ahly supporters held during the game. In a bid to take revenge, they cornered rival fans, players and coaches.

“The players’ room has turned into a morgue,” said Ahmed Nagy, Al-Ahly’s goalkeeper and coach.

Speaking to the club’s television channel, player Mohamed Abo Treika described the violence as a war.

“This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us. There is no movement and no security and no ambulances… This is a horrible situation and today can never be forgotten,” he said, as cited by Al Arabiya.

As the ensuing clash erupted, thousands of people tried to flee the violence. Dozens were crushed in the resulting stampede.

Although what triggered the violence remains unclear, Bel Trew, a freelance journalist talking live to RT from Cairo described eye witness reports of security forces who “stepped aside and actually opened the gates which allowed the two fan clubs to come onto the pitch and fight each other,” raising doubts over the security in place at the match.

The journalist spoke of exits to the stadium being blocked, preventing the Al-Ahly fans targeted by the violence from escaping, and causing a fatal crush. She also referred to eyewitness accounts of knife wounds, saying, “we believe the Port Said fans may have been carrying knives.”

While shedding light on the possible contributing factors that led to the Port Said violence Bel Trew signaled the “vacuum of security” that followed the January anniversary of the uprisings that overthrew former leader President Mubarak. She called the lack of a security presence “unprecedented” and linked it to the sharp escalation of crime in the Egypt during recent months.

Mourning and conspiracy

The Egyptian government has called an emergency parliamentary meeting to discuss the deadly football row at Port Said, amid claims that the ruling military council allowed the violence to happen – and even had a hand in causing it.

In response to the violence, Egyptian Prime Minister has accepted the resignation of the governor of Port Said and dissolved the board of the Egyptian Football Association. In addition to this, a full investigation will be launched into why the match went ahead given early signs that fan violence was likely.

FIFA, the international governing body of the game, has appealed to Egypt to release the exact details of the tragedy, while the EU has called for an independent probe to be carried out.

The Egyptian state football federation has postponed all national league matches indefinitely. A match which was underway when the violence in Port Said started was halted.

Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets overnight to honor the victims of the riot, as the country announced three days of mourning. In Suez the commemoration was marred when some radical Al-Ahly fans clashed with police. The attack on a security post was cut short with tear gas.

The tragedy, coming on the heels of the first anniversary of Egypt’s revolution, may have political reverberations. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Isam Al Aryan accused allies of ousted President Hosni Mubarak of orchestrating the bloody clashes.

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A large number of US-based organizations plan to hold a national day of action to demand "No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations against Iran."

A large number of US-based anti-war organizations have planned a nation-wide demonstration to demand Washington stop its warmongerings against Iran.

According to the StopWarOnIran website, “No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations against Iran” will be the demand of the coordinated demonstrations which will be held across the US on February 4, 2012.

The ad hoc group organizing the demonstrations has agreed “on the need to stop US imperialism and/or Israel from launching a military attack on Iran.”

They all believed that the new sanctions imposed against Iran by the United States “were themselves an act of war aimed at the Iranian people.”

On December 31, 2011, President Barack Obama signed into law fresh economic sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in an apparent bid to punish foreign companies and banks that do business with the Iranian financial institution.

The bill requires foreign financial firms to make a choice between doing business with the CBI and oil sector or with the US financial sector.

The organizations that called for the demonstration or endorsed the action include the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC), the International Action Center (IAC), SI! Solidarity with Iran, Refugee Apostolic Catholic Church, Workers World Party, World Can’t Wait, American Iranian Friendship Committee, ANSWER Coalition, Antiwar.com, Peace of the Action, ComeHomeAmerica.us, St. Pete for Peace, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality-Virginia, WESPAC Foundation, Peace Action Maine, Occupy Myrtle Beach, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Bail Out the People Movement (BOPM).

The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to sway the UN Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran.

Iran has refuted the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

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As a warrior for Internet freedom, you helped defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA by supporting Web black outs by sites like Wikipedia and by contacting your lawmaker to voice your displeasure. So loud was your voice that even the president of the United States sided with you in opposing it.

But don’t take a deep sigh of relief because, after all, we’re talking about a merger of Washington, D.C., and Hollywood here, as well as global interests. After the motion picture industry, its subsidiaries and all “interested parties” have spent nearly $150 million lobbying for some sort of Internet-centric “anti-piracy” bill, you should have known the powers that be would return.

And they have, only this time they are pushing something far more onerous: ACTA, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

“Although the proposed treaty’s title might suggest that the agreement deals only with counterfeit physical goods (such as medicines) what little information has been made available publicly by negotiating governments about the content of the treaty makes it clear that it will have a far broader scope and in particular will deal with new tools targeting ‘Internet distribution and information technology’”, says an assessment of ACTA by the watchdogs at the Electronic Freedom Foundation.

“ACTA has several features that raise significant potential concerns for consumers’ privacy and civil liberties for innovation and the free flow of information on the Internet [regarding] legitimate commerce and for developing countries’ ability to choose policy options that best suit their domestic priorities and level of economic development,” says EFF’s assessment.

As is usually the case with dubious, rights-stripping legislation, ACTA – which Forbes.com reports was signed by the U.S. in 2011 and has already been sanctioned as well by Japan, Switzerland and many European Union nations – has largely been negotiated in the shadows and, thus, has largely been devoid of scrutiny… until now.

While the Obama administration was shying away from SOPA, it has been aggressively pursuing ACTA (full disclosure: the process was started under the Bush administration). Critics say it is much more far-reaching than SOPA, bypassing “the sovereign laws of participating nations” and “forcing ISP’s across the globe to act as internet police,” Forbes said.

But ACTA isn’t limited just to the Internet. In fact, the agreement would crack down things like generic drugs and would make food patents more difficult to obtain “by enforcing a global standard on seed patents that threatens local farmers and food independence across the developed world,” Forbes says.

The good thing is, there is not universal acceptance of ACTA and its onerous, liberty-stealing provisions. Emerging nations like Brazil and India are adamantly opposed to it for rightfully fearing its provisions would harm their economies.

But Internet freedom is also under attack from other quarters as well. The EFF also notes that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which is a separate measure, would “rewrite the global rules on IP enforcement”.

“All signatory countries will be required to conform their domestic laws and policies to the provisions of the Agreement,” said the EFF assessment. “In the U.S. this is likely to further entrench controversial aspects of U.S. copyright law. The recently leaked U.S. IP chapter also includes provisions that appear to go beyond current U.S. law. This raises significant concerns for citizens’ due process, privacy and freedom of expression rights.”

SOPA may be history but that doesn’t mean Internet freedom does not remain under assault. Tyrants never stop trying to enforce tyranny.

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Police in Oakland, California, have used tear-gas and flash-grenades as a 2,000-strong Occupy Oakland march turned violent, with some protesters claiming that rubber bullets were also fired into the crowd. At least 400 people were arrested.

Initially, authorities had said 200-300 people were detained. But later the figure was revised to over 400 arrests, reports Reuters citing the Oakland emergency operations center.

The demonstrators had attempted to take over vacant buildings to use as their headquarters, they also broke into City Hall and tried to occupy a YMCA. Police spokesman Jeff Thomason told media most of the arrests came around 8 pm local time. Police took many protesters into custody as they marched through the city’s downtown area, with some entering a YMCA building.

Officials say, at one point protesters began tearing down perimeter fences around the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, as some attacked police officers, throwing rocks, bottles and other objects. Police declared an unlawful assembly and used force, according to the Oakland Tribune newspaper.

While police were taking people into custody near the YMCA, about 100 officers surrounded City Hall, while others swept the inside of the building for protesters who had broken in. Inside the building, protesters burned flags, broke into an electrical box and damaged several art structures, according to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.

“The City of Oakland welcomes peaceful forms of assembly and freedom of speech, but acts of violence, property destruction and overnight lodging will not be tolerated,” the press release by city officials stated. “The Oakland Police Department is also committed to facilitating peaceful forms of expression while protecting personal safety and property through ethical and constitutional policing.”

At the moment, the Occupy crowd in the city’s central square is being monitored by dozens of police officers.

Oakland has seen one of America’s largest and most vocal Occupy protests, with thousands of people attending since the demos started in October. Some 300 people have been arrested since then. The Occupy Wall Street movement started in September in New York and claims to represent the 99 per cent of Americans, who suffer from corporate greed and economic injustice.

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Senegalese demonstrators protest against the decision to allow President Abdoulaye Wade to run for a third term in Dakar on January 27, 2012.

Senegalese police have clashed with demonstrators protesting against a constitutional court ruling that allows President Abdoulaye Wade to run for a third term in the upcoming presidential election.

On Friday, police in Dakar used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters throwing stones at them to show their discontent with the ruling.

The demonstration was held in the streets of the working class district of Colobane.

The five-judge court issued a statement late on Friday, listing 14 eligible candidates for the presidential election, which is scheduled to be held on February 26.

The list includes Wade, three ex-prime ministers, Idrissa Seck, Macky Sall, and Moustapha Niasse, and main opposition leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng.

However, famous singer Youssou N’Dour was excluded from the list.

According to the constitutional court, N’Dour had not introduced the minimum 10,000 signatures of voters supporting his candidacy. The court said N’Dour had produced a list of 12,936 voters, but only 8,911 could be identified and their signatures validated.

A number of Senegalese media outlets often criticize the incumbent president for excessive spending, while the country experiences “poverty and inequality.”

However, the 86-year-old president has also been credited with building roads, an airport, and other key elements of infrastructure.

Wade was first elected president in 2000 and was reelected in 2007 to a five-year term after a constitutional reform shortened the presidential term by two years. The constitution was changed again in 2008 to allow for two seven-year terms from 2012.

Wade says he can “even legally stand again in 2019,” according to state media.

The opposition says the decision to allow Wade to run for a third term is “illegal.”

The June 23 Movement (M23), a coalition of Senegalese activists and political groups, has called for “active resistance” against the approval of Wade’s candidacy.

Wade’s ruling party, the Senegalese Democratic Party, announced that he would run for a third term in the February presidential election on December 23, 2011.

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A massive demonstration has shaken the Damascus suburb of Saqba, that has fallen under the control of the Free Syrian Army. RT’s Sara Firth traveled to the rebel-controlled area to explore how the fighters managed to overcome superior forces.

­Clashes between Assad’s armed forces and the Free Syrian Army continue in many parts of the country including the capital. Some Damascus suburbs have seen nearly two dozen killed in the past two days, with buildings heavily shelled by regime loyalists. At least two people have been killed in the suburb of Saqba on Friday.

RT’s Sara Firth travelled to this area with other members of the press, while the Arab League observers, who initially led the group, decided to circle around the central part of Damascus.

The Free Syrian Army is now in control of the area, Firth says. They took journalists to the center of the suburb, where a massive anti-government demonstration was taking place. A funeral procession was going on at the same time.

Many of the Free Syrian Army members are in fact defectors who joined the opposition. While the government security forces rely mostly on heavy weaponry, the Free Syrian Army tends to use light weaponry and guerilla tactics, which has allowed them to capture Saqba and other areas, Sara Firth said after talking with some of the rebels.

In many parts of the county it is not clear who is actually in control. The situation is certainly very dangerous for civilians, Firth says.

Meanwhile, activists say that at least 30 people have been killed during the last day of mortar and machine-gun attacks in the city of Homs, besieged by the Syrian Army. The report, however, couldn’t be independently verified on the ground.

As the situation is deteriorating, the UN has stopped updating the death toll for the Syrian uprising. According to the UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, it is too hard to get credible information about the situation on the ground.

“Some areas are totally closed such as parts of Homs, so we are unable to update that figure, but in my view 5,000 and more is a huge figure and should really shock the international community into taking action,” Pillay said as cited by AFP.

Since the Arab League monitors arrived in Syria, at least 400 people have been killed, according to UN estimates. Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia and its five partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pulled out their 55 representatives from the observer mission, leaving only 110 members to continue their work in Syria.

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov says Moscow will not support a Western-Arab drafted UN Security Council resolution on Syria.

Moscow says the new draft, due to be discussed on Friday, does not take into account the Russian position on Syria.

The draft proposed by the US, its Western allies as well as the Arab League, calls on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down from power.

Gatilov says that the draft fails to exclude the possibility of military intervention in the country.

Earlier, Russia proposed a resolution for Syria, holding the government as well as the opposition responsible for the unrest in the country. However, the resolution was dismissed.

Russia has repeatedly expressed opposition to any United Nation’s resolution that would justify sanctions or the use of force against Syria, describing negotiations as the only way to end months of unrest in the country.

“We support, as a point of principle, an inclusive dialogue among all sides of Syrian society without pre-conditions, on the assumption that all participants in such a dialogue will be guided by the idea of reaching agreement and will show responsibility for the fate of their country and their people,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

In October, Russia and China blocked a European-drafted Security Council resolution against the Syrian government.

Russia has also rejected a recent call by the Arab League for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March. Many people have lost their lives in the country over the past ten months. Damascus says over 2,000 security forces have been killed in the unrest.

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters. Damascus, however, blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

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Ron Paul has long opposed the TSA and has campaigned for its abolishment for years. Following an episode on Monday that left his son, Sen. Rand Paul, stranded in a Nashville airport, the presidential hopeful is asking for help to finally end the TSA.

Early Monday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul triggered a false alarm while passing through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint on his way to Washington DC. As per TSA standards, the government-hired screeners on site asked the senator to submit to a personal pat-down. Rand Paul, however, had other plans. Senator Paul says he asked to be re-scanned. Shortly after 10 a.m., the senator’s Facebook page announced that he had been detained at the Nashville Airport by the TSA.

Hours later, his father, Texas congressman and Republican Party contender for the GOP nomination Ron Paul, addressed the matter on his official campaign website.

“The police state in this country is growing out of control. One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities. The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe,” wrote the congressman. He added that, under his own “Plan to Restore America,” he aimed to save $1 trillion federal spending, a goal that would be reached in part by ending the TSA.

“We must restore the freedom and respect for liberty that once made American the greatest nation in human history. I am deeply committed to doing that as president of the United States,” added Congressman Paul.

On Tuesday, Ron Paul furthered his fight for ending the TSA by asking on his official website for campaign contributions so that he could help bring down the government agency if he can make it to the oval office. Only one day after the incident in Nashville, the older Paul asked his followers to donate towards an “End the TSA Money Bomb.” Within hours, he managed to bring in over $50,000 in donations.

“I’m proud of my son’s stand, but just imagine those who receive this kind of treatment every day in our nation’s airports and can’t fight back?” asked Congressman Paul. “The elderly. The disabled. Little kids,” he said, “All victims of an out-of-control police state that, while doing nothing to make us safer, is working overtime to strip away our freedoms, our rights and our basic dignity.”

Even for those who don’t necessarily subscribe to the strict libertarian leanings that both Pauls share, many see a problem with the current operating procedures of the TSA. In 2011, the Transportation Security Administration’s airport checkpoints were marred by a series of scandalous events. In June, a 95-year-old leukemia patient was subjected to a strip search in Florida; in October, authorities in New York City humiliated a breast cancer victim by refusing a note from her doctor requesting she not be touched; and a month later at the same airport, three separate elderly women reported that they were subjected to invasive searches for seemingly no reason.

In most cases, the TSA has responded apologetically and addressed the issue. For Ron Paul, that’s not enough. While a “sorry” might be soothing for some, it has still victimized many Americans, he says. When the TSA wrote of their track record for 2011 in a blog post published earlier this year, they addressed that, even with an $8 billion budget, their “Top 10 Good Catches” of the year included nothing monumental. Instead, rather, the TSA wrote that their best finds of 2011 included a handful of reptiles and, in one instance, the science project of a college student. By the end of the year, the US Travel Association reported that two-out-of-five travelers during the December holiday season were trying to seek other modes of transportation.

On his own site, Ron Paul quotes Rep. John Mica (R. -Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee and co-creator of the TSA, who himself has grown weary of the government agency.

“The whole program has been hijacked by bureaucrats,” says Rep. Mica. “Everything they have done has been reactive.They take shoes off because of [shoe-bomber] Richard Reid, passengers are patted down because of the diaper bomber, and you can’t pack liquids because the British uncovered a plot using liquids. It’s an agency that is always one step out of step,” he adds, but not before calling the agency “a complete fiasco.”

Both Ron Paul and Rand Paul feel the same way, and since his “End The TSA Money Bomb” has raked in an additional three thousand dollars since the last five paragraphs have been penned, many Americans must agree as well.

“As president, I pledge to do everything in my power to strengthen our national security by ending the theatrical sham that is the TSA,” Ron Paul writes today. “I know it’s short notice, but we’ve put together a mini-Money Bomb to bring even more attention to this critical issue tonight and tomorrow.

Will you help me win this race and fight back for our civil liberties by making your most generous contribution right away?” he asks.

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Billionaire investor George Soros has a new prediction for America. While it might be as dire as it gets for the financial wiz, this bet concerns more than just the value of the buck. According to Soros, there’s about to be an all-out class war.

Soros, 81, previously bet against the British pound in the early 90s and made $1 billion off its collapse. In the years since, he’s remained active in investing, but also in advocacy. He’s helped keep Wikipedia afloat thanks to impressive contributions and through donations to the Tides Center, has indirectly funded Adbusters, the Canadian anti-capitalist magazine that put Occupy Wall Street on the map. Speaking to Newsweek recently, Soros neglected to acknowledge his past successes, but instead offered a word of warning: a period of “evil” is coming to the western world.

“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros tells Newsweek. “We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”

Soros goes on to compare the current state of the western world with what the Soviet Union was facing as communism crumbled. Although he would think that history would have taught the globe a thing or two about noticing trends, Soros says that, despite past events providing a perfect example of what is to come, the end of an empire seems imminent.

“The collapse of the Soviet system was a pretty extraordinary event, and we are currently experiencing something similar in the developed world, without fully realizing what’s happening,” adds Soros.

Soros goes on to say that as the crisis in the Eurozone only worsens, the American financial system will continue to be hit hard. On the way to a full-blown collapse, he cautions, Americans should expect society to alter accordingly. Riots will hit the streets, says Soros, and as a result, “It will be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States.”

The recent adoption of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 and the proposed Enemy Expatriation Act, if approved, have already very well paved the way for such a society. Under the NDAA, the US government is allowed to indefinitely detain and torture American citizens suspected of terror crimes without ever bringing them to trial. Should lawmakers Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Charles Dent (R-PA) get their Enemy Expatriation Act through Congress, the US will also be able to simply revoke citizenship without trial, essentially removing constitutional rights from anyone deemed a threat.

Others have cautioned that, as inequality becomes more rampant in America, the country’s citizens are becoming increasingly agitated with those on the other side of the extreme. In a recent survey released by the Pew Research Center, 66 percent of the adults studied believe that either “very strong” or “strong” conflicts exist between America’s elite and the impoverished, a statistic that has skyrocketed in recent years. Between 2009 and 20011, the proportion of those that sense conflicts exist as such between the class groups grew by 19 percentage points. While less than half of Americans fearing a fight brewing at the dawn of the Obama administration, today two-out-of-three Americans feel that there is a strong conflict between both extremes of society.

Addressing the issue of inequality, Soros tells Newsweek that the main issue that will make or break a reelection for US President Barack Obama will be whether or not the rich end up being taxed more. Among the current frontrunners in the Republic Party’s race for the GOP nomination, wealth and taxes have been of the biggest concern of party rivals. The top candidates have made millions off of investments, and at a time of immense inequality, represent what 99 percent of Americans don’t. Taxing the rich to a bigger degree might finally bring a chance, and Soros says, “It shouldn’t be a difficult argument for Obama to make.”

Soros adds that if the US manages to make it through the troubled times to come, it come allow the nation to enter another golden era. “In the crisis period, the impossible becomes possible. The European Union could regain its luster. I’m hopeful that the United States, as a political entity, will pass a very severe test and actually strengthen the institution,” he tells Newsweek.

With almost seven percent of Americans living below half of the poverty line, four unemployed Americans for each job, a shrinking middle class and an increasingly overzealous police state, it could very well be a tough road to get there, though.

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