Democracy Now!

Labor and progressive groups are preparing for a national slate of protests on Tuesday in what’s expected to be one of the largest May Day turnouts since the immigrant rights marches of 2006 and 2007. Occupy Wall Street is seeking a turnout of tens of thousands under the slogan of “General Strike. No Work. No Shopping. Occupy Everywhere.”

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a Russia-European resolution that authorizes an initial deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria for three months to help bolster a fragile week-old ceasefire. The deployment depends on an assessment about compliance with a six-point peace deal mediated by envoy Kofi Annan.

In his last State of the Union speech before the November election, President Barack Obama defended his record addressing the financial crisis and called for greater economic fairness. He warned that Wall Street would no longer be allowed to play by its own set of rules. But the bulk of the speech dealt with the economy.

Responding to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader says President Obama’s criticism of income inequality and Wall Street excess fail to live up to his record in office. “[Barack Obama] says one thing and does another,” Nader says.

Members of the hacking group Anonymous have claimed credit for hacking into the website of the global intelligence company Stratfor and then making donations to charities using credit card information found unsecured on the Stratfor website. The hacking group also released the information on 4,000 credit cards owned by subscribers of Stratfor’s products.

Thousands of defiant OWS protesters streamed into Zuccotti Park late Tuesday, less than 24 hours after police forcibly removed them from their camp. Police arrested more than 200 people, including about 12 who had chained themselves to each other and to trees. As protesters returned, a judge upheld the city’s ban preventing them from bringing backpacks and tents into the park

The European financial crisis continues to worsen as fears grow that Italy may become the latest nation in need of a massive bailout. The European Commission admitted that the entire eurozone could be plunged into a recession in 2012. While Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already received international bailouts, the debt situation in Italy is considered far more dangerous.

In news from Japan, the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant revealed today it had found radioactive particles in a reactor which could be a result of recent nuclear fission. Utility officials said gas from inside the Fukushima plant’s No. 2 reactor indicated the presence of radioactive xenon.

Heavy clashes have erupted in the Somali capital of Mogadishu after African Union troops launched operations against the militant group, al-Shabab. The AU says it is trying to protect famine relief efforts from al-Shabab, which has reportedly tried to block the delivery of aid after initially denying that a famine is taking place. At least 6 people were killed in the violence

The head of the Libyan rebels’ military operations against Col. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed in a targeted assassination. Abdel Fattah Younes was shot dead on Thursday as he headed to appear before a rebel-organized judicial committee.

According to United Nations, there have been no progress in Libya talks until now.