Distinguished scholar, author, political scientist, people's historian, activist, and son of blue-collar immigrant parents, Zinn was born on August 24, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York and died in Santa Monica, CA of a reported heart attack while swimming on January 27. He's survived by two children, Myla Kabat-Zinn and Jeff Zinn, and five grandchildren.

It’s way past time for the U.S. to get out of Okinawa—and, for that matter, to take its Tokyo good buddies with it. Before Japanese warlords annexed the Ryuku islands in 1879, Okinawans enjoyed more freedom than they do today. Every liberty-loving American ought to be shouting: “Okinawa for the Okinawans!”

Satire

When asked how he thought his first year as 44th President of the United States had proceeded, Barack Obama gave himself a B+. To say other parties have been less enthusiastic is like saying Tiger Woods is unlikely to receive the NOW Husband of the Year Award. Although the Divorce Lawyers of America might be coerced into throwing a testimonial or two.

Now that one of every four Americans gets the news online, a communications authority wonders if the White House is still able to control the news.

Lost Generation

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite when you change direction, but also the meaning is the exact opposite.

Xe, the US-based security firm formerly known as Blackwater, is under investigation by the US justice department, for trying to bribe Iraqi officials.

The US government has said it will resume medical flights for critically injured Haitians to be treated in the US, days after it suspended medical evacuations from the earthquake-devastated country.

The White House press secretary has said he expects the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States to be convicted and executed.

Barack Obama, the US president, has vowed to tackle the aftermath of the financial crisis in his new budget, which projects a record deficit of $1.56tn this year.

The US assistant secretary of state for East Asia is due to arrive in Tokyo on Monday for talks on the future of American military bases in Japan.

The Pakistani Taliban has dismissed reports on state television suggesting that Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the group, had been killed and subsequently buried.

Iran has marked the anniversary of the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to the country 31 years ago - a homecoming which triggered the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Jordanian authorities have arrested several people in connection with a failed bomb attack on Israeli diplomats two weeks ago, Jordanian officials say.

Yemen's national defence council has said the army could stop its offensive against al-Houthi rebels in the north of the country if they end all hostilities.

Two Israeli army officers have been "disciplined", but not demoted, for firing artillery shells towards a densely-populated area near a UN compound during its war on Gaza last year.

At least 41 people have been killed and 106 more injured in an attack by a suspected female suicide bomber in Baghdad, an interior ministry official has said.

The Yemeni government has turned down a truce offer from the country's Houthi fighters.