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
Three people were killed April 18 in an attack on a Turkish publishing house which prints Bibles and Christian literature, according to media reports. CNN Turk television said the victims’ throats were cut and that police had detained six people… Read moreTurkey: deadly attack on Christian publishing house
The massacre of at least 32 students at Virginia Tech university April 16—apparently by a South Korea-born English major, Cho Seung-Hui—is the worst such incident in US history. Many commentators point out, of course, that it came a few days… Read moreThe Virginia Tech massacre and Hitler’s shadow
An investigation that has already exposed links between government officials and illegal paramilitary groups in six of Colombia’s coastal departments has now reached the home department of President Álvaro Uribe, focusing on his administration’s politically powerful allies. Colombia’s Supreme Court,… Read moreColombia: para probe hits Uribe’s home turf
From AP, April 16: Racist German Army Tape Stirs Outrage BERLIN – A German army instructor ordered a soldier to envision himself in New York City facing hostile blacks while firing his machine gun, a video that aired Saturday on… Read moreGermans at it again
From the Daily News, April 16: 2 die as cars plunge from highways Two people were killed early yesterday morning in unrelated accidents that sent their cars plummeting from city highways, cops said. Gretchen Patterson, 48, of Powell St., Brooklyn,… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
On April 15, tens of thousands rallied in Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, to protest demands by a radical religious school which has begun a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the capital, Islamabad. “The people of Islamabad are insecure and under threat… Read morePakistanis march for secularism
