Shelling and gunfire are rocking Mogadishu as Islamists and Hawiye clan insurgents battle government and Ethiopian troops for control of the Somali capital. The UN says 321,000 people—nearly a third of the city’s population—have fled since February, in the country’s… Read moreSomalia: Mogadishu explodes —again
Authorities say gunmen who stormed a hospital and battled police in Tijuana April 18, leaving three dead, were soliders for the city’s Arellano Felix drug cartel. The clashes began when police tried to stop a truck carrying two alleged Arellano… Read moreTijuana cartel gunmen in hospital siege
The Other Campaign of Jovel—local chapter of the Zapatista civil initiative in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas—has turned over to the agrarian authorities in the state capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, a critical analysis of land conflicts… Read moreChiapas: agrarian authorities accused in land conflicts
The Section 22 teachers union in the conflicted southern Mexican state of Oaxaca has entered into dialogue with the federal Government Secretariat (Gobernación). There are two issues they have agreed to discuss: release of unionists detained in the strike over… Read moreOaxaca: Section 22 teachers in dialogue with Mexican government
From Cuba’s Prensa Latina, April 19: International terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was released by US authorities on Thursday, despite evidence of his involvement in criminal acts. According to one of the terrorist’s lawyers, Felipe Millan, Posada left the New Mexico… Read moreCuba: US releases “international terrorist”
Nicaragua has arrested 17 people in two days in a crackdown on Mexico’s Sinaloa cocaine cartel, which has established a foothold in the Central American country and reportedly issued death threats against the national police chief, Aminta Granera. The Nicaraguan… Read moreNicaragua cracks down on Mexican cartel
Petroleos de Nicaragua (Petronic) has announced construction of an oil refinery in the Central American nation, with aid from Venezuela as part of Hugo Chavez’s proposed Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). Work is to begin on the “Sandino-Bolivar” refinery… Read moreNicaragua tilts to Venezuela —and away from PPP
East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta met with a rebel representative April 19 to discuss an end to a military operations against a fugitive army defector. Leandro Isaac, who abandoned his seat in parliament to join former army major Alfredo… Read moreEast Timor: dialogue with rebels
A Darfur rebel group April 17 warned foreign oil firms against exploring oil and minerals in the western Sudan province. “The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) wishes to make clear to foreign investors and the Sudanese government that so long as… Read moreDarfur: guerillas warn off oil companies
President Bush, speaking at a Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum April 18, pledged to intensify pressure on Sudan, warning of stiff economic sanctions if President Omar Hassan al-Bashir does not bring a quick end to… Read moreSudan burns bridges with White House?
Despite the early pretense of democracy in drawing up the post-9-11 Lower Manhattan development plans, most New Yorkers were not aware that a special “command center” had been created to oversee the multiple construction projects until a change of leadership… Read moreNYC: Ground Zero “Construction Command Center” chief steps down
The US is planning to use meetings with NATO and Russian ambassadors in Brussels April 19 to defend its plans to build an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying the West needs a defense shield against the… Read morePoles protest US missile plan
