As 2010 draws to a close, I want to thank you for watching Democracy Now! and for choosing a news source that’s committed to the truth. Five days a week, Democracy Now! delivers headlines directly to your Facebook page for free, keeping you and your friends up-to-date with the latest news from around the world. But, producing Democracy Now! isn’t free. Your tax-deductable year-end donation will allow us to maintain our editorial independence and to expand our use of social media.

President Barack Obama signed a slew of bills into law during the lame-duck session of Congress and was dubbed the “Comeback Kid” amid a flurry of fawning press reports. In the hail of this surprise bipartisanship, though, the one issue over which Democrats and Republicans always agree, war, was completely ignored. The war in Afghanistan is now the longest war in U.S. history, and 2010 has seen the highest number of U.S. and NATO soldiers killed.

More

Democracy Now!’s award-winning host Amy Goodman discusses the East Coast snowstorm, the war in Afghanistan, and more on CNN’s John King USA on Tuesday, December 28.

Democracy Now!’s award-winning host Amy Goodman will appear on CNN’s John King USA on Tuesday, December 28 at 7pm EST.

Dr. Binayak Sen is known as the "physician of the poor." He spent many years working as a doctor in the rural-tribal areas of Chhattisgarh in central India and reported on unlawful killings of indigenous people by the police and private militias. [includes rush transcript]

Former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla has been sentenced to life in prison. We speak with Hebe de Bonafini, one of the founders of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an organization of Argentine mothers whose children were "disappeared" during the "dirty wars" of the ’70s and ’80s. [includes rush transcript]

One of President Barack Obama’s signature campaign promises was to protect the freedom of the Internet. He said, in November 2007, “I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality, because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose.”

More

Jaclyn Friedman argues the sexual-assault allegations shouldn’t be dismissed just because they’re politically motivated while Naomi Wolf says, by going after Assange, the state is not embracing feminism, it’s "pimping" it.
Watch Part I of this conversation HERE.

Despite being granted bail, WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange remains imprisoned in London, awaiting extradition proceedings to answer a prosecutor’s questions in Sweden.

Democracy Now! videotaped U.N. security guards Friday beating a Reuters photographer who was arrested while covering a protest at the U.N. climate conference in Cancún. Guards seized Jorge Silva’s press credentials and then beat him while he was detained on a bus. The incident sparked a protest by other Mexican photographers. Watch video

As the Global Climate Talks in Mexico enter their final day, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is interviewed on al-Jazeera English to give a report on the progress of negotiations.

This year’s UN climate change conference has attracted many children from around the world. In Cancún, Mexico, Democracy Now! had the chance to speak with two children from the youth-led group Plant-for-the-Planet.

Among the countries most affected by climate change are small island states. Rising sea levels from global warming threaten their very existence. [includes rush transcript]

Youth climate activists from around the world are gathered in Cancún this week to push for a binding climate deal. Democracy Now! spoke to several of them on Monday at Cancunmesse, the main hub of NGO activity here at the U.N. climate talks. [includes rush transcript]

CANCUN, Mexico—Critical negotiations are under way here in Cancun, under the auspices of the United Nations, to reverse human-induced global warming.

A large protest march is being planned today in Cancún organized by La Via Campesina and other groups. Alfredo Acedo, a spokesperson for UNORCA, described what is being planned. [includes rush transcript]

Protesters took to the streets of Cancún on Monday night to demonstrate against the U.N. COP16 talks. More than 150 demonstrators with the anti-capitalist bloc marched from the Via Campesina camp, where they are staying, through the streets and main thoroughfares in Cancún. [includes rush transcript]

Maude Barlow is an author, activist, and the former senior adviser on water to the United Nations. She is in Cancún to speak with other civil society organizations about the relationship between water and climate change and the need for climate justice. [includes rush transcript]

McKibben is the founder of 350.org and the winner of the 2010 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. Democracy Now! caught up with him at the Cancún Climate Conference over the weekend. [includes rush transcript]

WikiLeaks is again publishing a trove of documents, in this case classified U.S. State Department diplomatic cables. The whistle-blower website will gradually be releasing more than 250,000 of these documents in the coming months so that they can be analyzed and gain the attention they deserve.