A criminal complaint has been filed in the Mexican border city of Matamoros against Luz María González Armenta, leader of Defense and Promotion of Human Rights-Emiliano Zapata (DEPRODHEZAC), weeks after she was detained at a political protest. González was arrested… Read moreCriminal complaint filed against Matamoros rights defender
Mark Kurlansky writes for the Los Angeles Times, April 26: Seventy years ago, on April 26, 1937, at 4:40 in the afternoon when the stone-walled, medieval Basque town of Guernica was packed with peasants, shoppers and refugees for its Monday… Read moreFrom Guernica to Baghdad: 70 years of “shock and awe”
Afghanistan’s parliament is poised to pass a new media law considerably reducing freedom of the press. The controversial package—proposed by the religious and cultural affairs commission of the parliament, chaired by former warlord Haji Mohammed Mohaqeq and supported by the… Read moreAfghanistan to limit press freedom
Journalists in Iraq’s Kurdistan face arrest and harassment for reporting on government corruption and poor public services, the UN says in a new report on the autonomous region. The report also criticises Kurdish officials for failing to respond to growing… Read moreIraq: Kurds limit women’s rights, press freedom
Defying President Bush’s veto threat, the House of Representatives April 25 narrowly approved a war funds bill that sets a timeline for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008. “Tonight, the House of Representatives… Read moreUS House wants US out; al-Sadr wants US in?
The following account makes it sound like the the litigants were whining and frivolous, just looking for a cynical buck. But a photo caption accompanying the story in the Denver Post read: “Protesters display a photo of a sick child… Read moreIndonesia: Newmont Mining cleared in pollution trial
April 24 marks the 92nd anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide, and Armenians worldwide commemorated the “First Genocide of the 20th Century” with solemn religious and civil ceremonies. However, little more than a week before the anniversary, the… Read moreArmenians commemorate 1915 genocide —despite Turkish censorship
Ogaden National Liberation Front guerillas stormed a Chinese-run oil field at dawn April 24 in eastern Ethiopia, killing 74 workers, abducting seven others and destroying the facility, the guerrilla group and government officials said. The rebel group claimed responsibility for… Read moreEthiopia: Ogaden rebels attack Chinese oil field
Two prominent Somali clan leaders, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Hussein Aideed, have issued an ultimatum to the Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia now or prepare to fight to the death. The two leaders of the Hawiye clan that dominates… Read moreSomali sub-clans unite against Ethiopian occupation
The Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) has joined with members of the Union of Mexican Jurists in a “Popular Court” to judge the repression and rights violations in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state over the last year of social conflict…. Read more“Popular Court” judges Oaxaca repression
You don’t have to support either Michael Bloomberg or gun control to understand why this is sinister. We hope. From AP via amNY, April 18, links added: NEW YORK — A magazine cover by the National Rifle Association protesting Mayor… Read moreNRA adopts Nazi imagery
US troops are building a three-mile wall to separate one of Baghdad’s Sunni enclaves from surrounding Shi’ite districts, as part of a contentious security plan that has fueled fears of the Iraqi capital’s “Balkanization.” When the barrier is finished, the… Read moreBaghdad gets Sunni-Shi’ite separation wall
