In a piece titled “U.S. drone strike kills ‘six militants’ in Pakistan,” AFP is reporting: “Pakistan has seen a sharp spike in U.S. drone strikes in its rugged northwestern tribal region in recent days, amid a surge in suicide attacks and bombings across the country. “The Pakistani Taliban said Tuesday they would continue to target…

The New York Times reported Sunday — in “A G.O.P. Leader Tightly Bound to Lobbyists” — about “Mr. Boehner, the House minority leader and would-be speaker if Republicans win the House in November.” Wrote the Times: “He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest…

COLLEEN KELLY TERRY ROCKEFELLER Available for a limited number of interviews, Kelly lost her brother, William, and Rockefeller lost her sister, Laura, in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. They are members of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. On Sept. 11, the group will launch the web page “911 Stories: Our Voices,…

Protests in Europe against austerity measures are expected throughout September. STEVEN HILL Hill (who travels to Europe on Monday for an extensive speaking tour and research trip) is author of the new book “Europe’s Promise: Why The European Way Is The Best Hope In An Insecure Age” (http://www.EuropesPromise.org). In observing the rash of labor actions…

ROBERT SCHEER Editor of TruthDig.com, Scheer is author of the new book The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street. Scheer recently wrote the piece “They Go or Obama Goes,” which states: “When homes are foreclosed in a neighborhood, the equity of those in the area…

ERIC LeCOMPTE, MELINDA ST. LOUIS LeCompte is executive director and St. Louis is deputy director of the Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of more than 75 religious denominations, human rights groups and development agencies. The network just released a statement: “Jubilee USA joins global advocacy groups in an outcry against the new debt that Pakistan…

RICHARD WOLFF Recently back from Europe, Wolff is author of the book Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He said today: “Today’s general strike across France represents a major escalation of mass opposition to governments seeking to make the mass of people pay for the economic crisis…

Monday is Labor Day. Today the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent. The U6 rate, which includes those accepting part-time work instead of full-time work and those who have stopped looking for work, rose to 16.7 percent. SARAH ANDERSON, via Tamar Abrams Anderson is global economy project director at the Institute for Policy Studies and…

Amb. EDWARD L. PECK Available for a limited number of interviews, Peck was chief of mission in Iraq and Mauritania and deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan administration. On May 31, he sailed from Athens aboard the M/S Sfendoni as part of the flotilla taking humanitarian supplies to…

NIR ROSEN Available for a limited number of interviews, Rosen is author of In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq and a fellow at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. RAED JARRAR Jarrar is an Iraqi-born political analyst and Iraq consultant with the American Friends Service…