The United Nations has announced the launch this afternoon of “the Secretary-General’s Initiative for the Elimination of Cholera in Haiti.”

The New York Times reports this morning: “State and federal authorities decided against indicting HSBC in a money-laundering case over concerns that criminal charges could jeopardize one of the world’s largest banks and ultimately destabilize the global financial system. … While the settlement with HSBC is a major victory for the government, the case raises…

Senior research associate at the Center for Economic Policy Research, Fremstad just wrote the piece “Nicholas Kristof Bravely Urges Congress to Cut Supplemental Security for Children with Severe Disabilities,” which states: “In Sunday’s New York Times, Nicholas Kristof tells us that he hopes ‘budget negotiations in Washington may offer us a chance to take money…

Reuters reports today: “Around a thousand members of left-wing and human rights groups marched in Oslo on Sunday to protest against the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. … Past prize winners Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Mairead Maguire have also said the EU does not deserve the award.”

Megan Buskirk is with the Canadian Youth Delegation. She said today: “The fossil fuel industry has a plan to burn over five times the amount of carbon our atmosphere has room for, and with projects like the tar sands, the Bakken oil shale and other extreme extraction technologies, they want to go beyond that. Simply…

Marcy Wheeler — who blogs at EmptyWheel.net — just wrote the piece “Walmart Takes Advantage of Health ‘Reform’ It Championed,” which states: “What HuffPo doesn’t mention in its piece on this, though, is that this is all presumably by design. Walmart, after all, was one of the partners behind the push for Obamacare. In fact,…

Gary Brechin is founder and project scholar of the Living New Deal Project. Brechin has written a series of articles, including “Selling off the Post Office: Berkeley calls out Richard Blum” and “Congress to Postal Service: ‘Drop Dead!'”– which states: “The fire sale of our post offices is accelerating while the media remain largely asleep…

Greg LeRoy is executive director and Philip Mattera is research director for Good Jobs First, a group “promoting accountability in economic development and smart growth for working families.” They have focused on exposing subsidies to companies from state and local governments since 1998. LeRoy said today: “Shining a light on the huge costs of job…

Co-author of Truth & Consequences: The U.S. vs. Bradley Manning, Kevin Gosztola is covering the Manning trial at Firedoglake.com. He said today: “Bradley Manning has been in pretrial confinement for over 900 days and, in this current hearing, his defense is arguing he was ‘unlawfully punished’ while imprisoned at the Quantico Marine Brig for nine…