Pat Dollard

Los Angeles Times: As the sun came up Monday morning, many Occupy L.A. protesters were in a good mood, pleased simply to still be camped in front of City Hall hours after it became officially illegal to do so. Mark Lipman, 43, took to higher ground, securing himself with rope to a magnolia tree to [...]

Los Angeles Times: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday praised both Occupy L.A. protesters and the Los Angeles police for a largely peaceful confrontation overnight but said it’s still the city’s plan to move out the camp on the lawn of City Hall. Speaking on MSNBC, the mayor would not say exactly when the camp would [...]

New York Post: In the months following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, a charity run by hip-hop star Wyclef Jean spent a pittance of the money it took in on disaster relief and doled out millions in questionable contracts. Yele Haiti’s coffers swelled to $16 million in 2010, the most the charity had ever received. [...]

Turmoil and Tensions erupt on first day of elections. WaPost: Shaking off years of political apathy, Egyptians turned out in long lines at voting stations Monday in their nation’s first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, a giant step toward what they hope will be a democracy after decades of dictatorship. Some voters brought their [...]

The Hill: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will announce Monday that he is not seeking re-election, ending a 32-year career in the House. Frank, 71, is the top Democrat on the Financial Services Committee and the architect, with former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), of the sweeping Wall Street regulatory reform law enacted in 2010. He is [...]

Reuters: CAIRO (Reuters) – Saboteurs blew up Egypt’s gas pipeline to Jordan and Israel on Monday, witnesses and security sources said, a few hours before the country holds its first free election since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February. The explosion was set off west of al-Arish in Sinai, witnesses said. Security forces and [...]

Los Angeles Times: Police in helmets and face shields with batons drawn blocked a downtown intersection near City Hall early Monday morning, blocking a group of Occupy L.A. protesters who had swarmed onto the street and vowed to stand their ground. Some in the group began chanting “Back to the park!” an imperative many of [...]

The Guardian: Concerns the ISI intelligence agency could use its suspected influence over insurgent groups to launch reprisal attacks Nato forces in Afghanistan were braced on Sunday for possible reprisals from Pakistani-backed insurgents following the coalition air strike along the border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Senior officers from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force [...]

The Telegraph: A Christian worker has launched a landmark legal action after she lost her job when she blew the whistle on what she says was a campaign of “race hate” by fundmentalist Muslims. Nohad Halawi, who worked at Heathrow Airport, is suing her former employers for unfair dismissal, claiming that she and other Christian [...]

Los Angeles Times: As the midnight deadline approaches for the closing of the City Hall encampment, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued a statement saying Occupy LA protesters will have “ample time” to leave before police begin clearing their tent village. “Though the park will officially close tonight at 12:01 a.m., the department will allow campers ample [...]

h/t @palewire:

(Sydney Morning Herald) — THE Pakistani government has responded to NATO air strikes that killed at least 25 soldiers by ordering the CIA to vacate the drone operations it runs from Shamsi Air Base in northern Pakistan and closing the two main NATO supply routes into Afghanistan. Pakistani officials said that NATO aircraft hit two [...]

Activists of Pakistan Mslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) burn an effigy of the US President Barack Obama during a protest in Karachi on November 27, 2011, against a NATO strike on Pakistan troops. NATO expressed regret over air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers as the United States sought to repair relations with Islamabad that plunged into [...]