October 16 is an anniversary that should hold considerable interest for American journalists who have written in support of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" - the invasion and occupation of Iraq.....Propaganda crimes: Most jurisdictions have yet to recognize propaganda for war as a crime. However several journalists have recently been convicted of incitement to genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Because there is stiff resistance, especially from the United States, the effort to criminalize war propaganda faces an uphill battle. However in legal terms it seems relatively straightforward: if incitement to genocide is a crime, then incitement to aggression, another Nuremberg crime, could and should be as well. After all, aggression - starting an unprovoked war - is "the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole," in the words of the judgment at Nuremberg.....As matters stand today, with the United States still the world's preeminent military power, the American propagandists who enabled Operation Iraqi Freedom and other wars of aggression have little need not worry about their legal responsibilities under the Nuremberg principles. A strong case can be made, though, that they have blood on their hands.

Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Illinois, boosting to 69 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year amid the pressures of the weak economy and mounting loan defaults. The agency shut down Integrity Bank of Jupiter, Fla., with $119 million in assets and $102 million in deposits, and First BankAmericano, based in Elizabeth, N.J., with $166 million in assets and $157 million in deposits.

A campaign on conservative talk radio, fueled by President Obama's calls to control exorbitant medical bills, has sparked fear among senior citizens that the health-care bill moving through Congress will lead to end-of-life "rationing" and even "euthanasia." The controversy stems from a proposal to pay physicians who counsel elderly or terminally ill patients about what medical interventions they would prefer near the end of life and how to prepare instructions such as living wills. Under the plan, Medicare would reimburse doctors for one session every five years to confer with a patient about his or her wishes and how to ensure those preferences are followed. The counseling sessions would be voluntary.

Bowing to populist anger, the House voted Friday to prohibit pay and bonus packages that encourage bankers and traders to take risks so big they could bring down the entire economy. Passage of the bill on a 237-185 vote followed the disclosure a day earlier that nine of the nation's biggest banks, which are receiving billions of dollars in federal bailout aid, paid individual bonuses of $1 million or more to nearly 5,000 employees.

The Federal Communications Commission late on Friday entered the fray over consumer calling choice on mobile phones, sending letters inquiring into Apple's recent decision to reject Google Voice applications on its iPhone. The FCC's letter asked Apple to detail any influence AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive US carrier, may have had in its decision. Google's applications would have allowed users to make less expensive international calls.

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of the European budget airline Ryanair, was discussing his new scheme to charge passengers to go to the bathroom......Ryanair's fares are only 40 euros, or $56, on average. Mr. O'Leary just announced that he would sell one million seats for 5 euros apiece this fall. The airline offsets this with money from deals with hotels, car-rental services, and other partners, along with fees for everything from airport check-in ($56) to online check-in ($7).

The war in Iraq was truly an American-only effort Saturday after Britain and Australia, the last of its international partners, pulled out. Little attention was paid in Iraq to what effectively ended the so-called coalition of the willing, with the U.S. -- as the leader of Multi-National Force, Iraq -- letting the withdrawals pass without any public demonstration. The quiet end of the coalition was a departure from its creation, which saw then-U.S. President George W. Bush court countries for support before and after the March 2003 invasion....Britain withdrew its remaining 100 to 150 mostly Navy personnel to Kuwait, though was hopeful they might return....The coalition had a troubled history and began to crumble within months of the U.S.-led invasion as many countries faced political and social unrest over an unpopular war.

The Venezuelan government has ordered the closure of 34 radio stations, the head of the national telecommunications regulator, Conatel, has said.Diosdado Cabello, who is also minister of public works in the government of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, said the closures were due to the stations' inability to meet legal operating requirements, and warned that more closures may follow. "They will have to cease transmission once they have received the order", Cabello said on Friday. "This is about legitimate authority of the government to manage the radio spectrum... We are only implementing what the law says." Human Rights Watch has said the proposed law would "reduce the ability of government critics to voice their opinions and will seriously limit freedom of expression in Venezuela."

Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled Friday that the state of emergency former President Pervez Musharraf imposed in 2007 was unconstitutional and declared invalid the judicial appointments he made in that period. The decision could lay the groundwork for treason charges against the ex-army chief, and some fear it could cause political turmoil at a time when Pakistan is battling a Taliban insurgency. But the court said the ruling -- the most severe against a former military leader -- would strengthen democracy in a country plagued by repeated military dictatorships....Musharraf, who is living in London, ignored a summons to appear before the court or send a lawyer to explain his actions