Reuters reports: “The U.N. General Assembly is set to implicitly recognize a sovereign state of Palestine on Thursday despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds for the West Bank government.” AFP reports: “Britain threatened Wednesday to abstain from a vote for enhanced Palestinian status at…

James K. Galbraith recently wrote the piece “Six Reasons the Fiscal Cliff is a Scam,” which states: “Stripped to essentials, the fiscal cliff is a device constructed to force a rollback of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as the price of avoiding tax increases and disruptive cuts in federal civilian programs and in the military.…

Kalpona Akter started work in garment factories when she was 12 years old. Now she campaigns for better wages, recognition of the right to organize and higher safety standards. She said today: “I have been a garment worker in Bangladesh and I know the terrible conditions that workers must face every day – dangerous safety…

Associate professor of labor studies at the Murphy Institute at the City University of New York, Stephanie Luce said today: “The fire is a tragedy, but unfortunately not a surprise. Bangladesh has received a lot of attention in its role as a large garment producer, and as such, has been targeted in some high profile…

Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a Democracy Now! correspondent based in Cairo. He reported this morning: “Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi dropped a bombshell with this seven point constitutional declaration. … The only check on Morsi was the judiciary — and now he has placed himself beyond that as well.”

LIZA FEATHERSTONE [email]: “I have been covering Walmart for more than a decade as a labor journalist. This is the most significant rebellion among the company’s workforce in years, possibly ever. It’s long been clear that change can only come to Walmart when employees organize one another, and these folks are doing that.”

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS, [email] [Twitter]  Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a Democracy Now! correspondent based in Cairo, now in Gaza. See his reporting, including about how protesters from Tahrir Square in Cairo got into Gaza. JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN, [email] Loewenstein is faculty associate in Middle East Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has spent extensive time…

HENRY ROSEMONT, hrosemont at smcm.edu Rosemont is distinguished professor emeritus at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and visiting professor of religious studies at Brown University. His books include “A Chinese Mirror: Moral Reflections on Political Economy” and translations of Chinese classics. Rosemont said today: “If President Obama bases U.S. relations with China on principles of…

AP reports that Israeli “missiles also knocked out five electricity transformers, plunging more than 400,000 people in southern Gaza into darkness, according to the Gaza electricity distribution company.

MAIREAD MAGUIRE, [in Ireland] [email] Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire just wrote the piece “Israeli Military Assault on Gaza Not Defence but Murder of Unarmed Civilians.”