Marking his first year in office, Mexican President Felipe Calder贸n said Dec. 1 that fighting the war on drugs and organized crime remain his highest priority. The speech came as the death toll in 2007 narco violence topped 2,000鈥攎aking it… Read moreMexico: Calder贸n sends more troops to US border
Three popular Mexican musicians met violent deaths in six days this week. Jos茅 Luis Aquino Lavariega, 33, trumpet-player with the band Los Conde, was found Dec. 5 under a bridge in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, bound with a plastic bag over… Read moreMexico: narcos declare open season on musicians
Faiz Mohammed Baluch and Nawabzada Herbiyar Marri, two exiled human rights activists from Baluchistan, were arrested Dec. 4 by London Metropolitan Police in a supposed anti-terrorist operation code-named “Super-Sweep.” Fellow rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: “I know one of the… Read morePakistani Baluch activists arrested in London
Ashish Khetan, the journalist who secretly taped Hindu rightists boasting of their role in the mass murder of Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat pogroms, says he now fears for his life and is frustrated by the lack of response. Khetan’s… Read moreIndia: reporter who uncovered Gujarat conspiracy faces threats
However ugly the Taliban may be, there is a truly perverse sense of deja vu in watching British troops battle Pashtun insurgents. This would actually be “fourth time as farce,” given that there were three Anglo-Afghan Wars in the “Great… Read moreAfghanistan: Brits kill children 鈥攁gain
More than 100 of Mexico’s elite Federal Preventative Police attacked student protesters from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero state, Nov. 30. Fifty-six were detained, and two gravely injured. The students were staging a protest occupation of a toll booth at La Venta, outside… Read moreMexico: police attack student highway occupation in Guerrero
Federal judicial authorities in the State of Mexico have granted an amparo, or order of protection, to 27 residents of San Salvador Atenco village, giving immunity from arrest until charges against them are reviewed. The Ninth District court in Nezahualc贸yotl… Read moreMexico: steps towards justice in Atenco case
Diego Arcos Meneses, arrested over a year ago in the massacre at the rainforest settlement of Viejo Velasco on what Amnesty International called “fabricated and deficient” evidence, was freed Dec. 4 by order of state authorities in Chiapas, Mexico. Amnesty… Read moreChiapas: scapegoat freed in Viejo Velasco massacre
Land conflicts between communities loyal to the Zapatista rebel movement and the state’s traditional political machine continue to generate violence in Chiapas, Mexico. The Zapatista Good Government Junta (JBG) Coraz贸n del Arcoiris de la Esperanza announced that on Nov. 24,… Read moreChiapas: paramilitary violence continues
Antonio V谩zquez Secum, named by Mexico’s Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR) as the author of the December 1997 Acteal massacre, died Nov. 17 at his home in the village of Quextic, Chiapas. Secum, who was over 70 years old,… Read moreChiapas: accused mastermind in Acteal massacre dies
A fire erupted Dec. 7 on the pipeline carrying oil from the Kirkuk fields to the Baiji refinery north of Baghdad. The state-run Northern Oil Company said the reason was unclear. In September, the pipeline burst in a suspected bomb… Read moreAttacks continue on Iraq oil lines amid scramble for control
However naive she may be about Western intentions, Ayaan Hirsi Ali deserves creds for asking the tough questions about the Muslim establishment. Why鈥攚ith rare exception鈥攁re no voices on the anti-imperialist left asking these questions? From the New York Times op-ed… Read moreAyaan Hirsi Ali calls out “moderate” Islam
