Female genital mutilation—or “circumcision,” as its apologists call it—has been banned even in Eritrea, as it faces US accusations of harboring Islamist terrorists. We recently noted the irony that the US has launched criminal prosecutions over the practice, even as… Read moreEgypt: controversy over genital mutilation
No comment. From Reuters, Sept. 17: DUVANNY YAR, Russia — Sergei Zimov bends down, picks up a handful of treacly mud and holds it up to his nose. It smells like a cow pat, but he knows better. “It smells… Read moreMammoth dung may speed global warming
We have predicted again and again that Washington will goad Israel into throwing the first punch at Iran—thereby allowing US elites to shill the blame for the adventure off on the Jews as they jump in with massive air power… Read moreWurmser spills the beans: Israel to bomb Iran first
James Freedman writes for the Fayetteville Free Weekly, via Jewish Journal, Sept. 14: A shul grows in Dixie—Insha’Allah With Wal-Mart attracting a huge number of minority religious groups to Arkansas, it is not surprising that Fayetteville is becoming increasingly diverse…. Read moreJewish-Muslim co-existence —in Arkansas
Spanish high court judge Baltasar Garzón ordered preventive detainment Sept. 11 for Juan Mari Olano, leader of the Askatasuna prisoner support organization who was arrested during an illegal demonstration at San Sebastián in the Basque country two days earlier. Olano… Read moreBasque march for amnesty attacked by police
Colombian authorities have decided to hold a top drug lord and a former paramilitary boss, both wanted by the US, in prisons fashioned on navy warships. But authorities were embarrassed Sept. 14 when they picked up the wrong prisoner in… Read moreColombia holds drug lords on floating prisons —but can’t keep ’em straight
A US court in Washington DC Sept. 17 ordered Chiquita Brands International to pay a $25 million fine to settle charges that it underwrote a terrorist organization in Colombia. Chiquita had agreed to the fine when it pleaded guilty in… Read moreChiquita fined $25 million in Colombia terror case
After 16 months in hiding, three leaders of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), Martha Pérez Pineda, David Pájaro Huertas and Ulises del Valle Ramírez, returned to the central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco to lead… Read moreMexico: Atenco leaders come in from clandestinity
A striking schoolteacher named Wilfredo Lara was killed Aug. 27 while participating in a road blockade at Macuelizo, in Santa Bárbara department of western Honduras. An angered motorist, who apparently opened fire on the blockade with a handgun and hit… Read moreHonduras: teacher killed in protest
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions announced in Geneva that it will review the arrests of followers of the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) in Mexico. On the eve of leaving for the Working Group’s session in Geneva,… Read moreUN to probe Oaxaca arrests
From CBS News, Sept. 15: Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown Washington on Saturday, clashing with police at the foot of the Capitol steps where more than 190 protesters were arrested… [C]ounterprotest groups, including a contingent of… Read more190 arrested at DC anti-war protest
Talk about a vicious cycle. Global warming opens the long-sought Northwest Passage, which will mean easier access to the Arctic and its resources (including oil), thereby exacerbating…global warming. It should also exacerbate the geopolitical struggle over the far north. Russian… Read moreGlobal warming opens Northwest Passage
