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The National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case annual memorial meeting June 18, commemorating the 56th anniversary of the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, featured calls for the exoneration of the couple, executed in 1953

Tomorrow the U.S. and Iraq will officially mark the pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq’s cities and towns. Coming six years after the massive U.S. invasion, it is the first step in a withdrawal timetable agreed on by the two countries in December, with all U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Only time will tell whether this first pullout phase will turn out to be real, and what kind of Iraqi nation will emerge.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ― Tension is reaching new heights this week in California’s budget drama, with the state set to issue IOUs if the legislature and governor fail to pass a measure within days. The last week has seen Democrats intensify their efforts to identify revenues to help balance proposed cuts, only to have Republicans including the governor reject their proposals.

Armed troops broke into the home of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Sunday June 28th. They beat him and threatened his family, then put them onto an airplane bound for Costa Rica.

A man was sentenced to 18 months in prison in Chongqing municipality in China on Friday, two years after he tried to blackmail police by threatening to plant bombs in public areas.

The Network condemns the coup against the constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, and repudiates any attack against the dignity of the Honduran nation. We are in solidarity with the democratic spirit of our sister Central American country and we reiterate our commitment with the people’s right to freely determine their future and we demand respect for the legitimately constituted institutions of the country.

Confederación Centroamericana de Trabajadores (CCT) — Costa Rica
Condenamos el Golpe Militar perpetrado en Honduras contra el Presidente Zelaya y contra la Institucionalidad Democrática de Honduras

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the New York City-based Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), in an exclusive interview, told Gay City News that his decision in May to openly affirm his gay identity within the American labor movement means, “I am defining myself publicly, and not just defining myself privately. That’s what makes a difference. I wanted to make my public role not just as a labor leader or Jewish labor leader, but as a gay Jewish labor leader.”

As the battle to reform U.S. health care heats up, Cindy Pearson is staying focused.

"This push is our No. 1 priority now," says Pearson, executive director of the Washington-based National Women's Health Network. "It's an important time because Obama is voicing his concerns about health care and because both houses of Congress are developing legislative language on the issue that women's advocates will have a chance to discuss, review--and possibly change--before it comes up for a vote in the fall of 2009."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers that it was time to close the gap in prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine crimes, a disparity in sentencing that has had a large impact on the African-American community.

For years drug reform advocates have pointed to the difference in sentencing for powder and crack cocaine as one glaring example of institutionalized racism in the criminal justice system.