Army harassment is reported at both of the ecological reserves recently declared by the Zapatista rebels at opposite ends of Mexico—one at Cerro Huitepec in the southern Chiapas Highlands; the other at El Mayor, Baja California, just south of the… Read moreMexican army harasses Zapatista peace camps
Human Rights Watch April 5 denounced the ongoing impunity for perpetrators of rights violations during the “dirty war” against leftists in Mexico of the 1960s and ’70s. HRW said the results obtained by the special prosecutor’s office on the repression,… Read moreHRW protests impunity in Mexican “dirty war”
A fierce battle in the Sunni-dominated Fadhil and Sheikh Omar neighborhoods of central Baghdad April 10 left four Iraqi soldiers dead, 16 US soldiers wounded and a US helicopter damaged by ground fire. In the midst of the battle, a… Read moreIraq: mosque raid sparks Baghdad battle
Here’s a glimmer of hope from Eritrea—and how does it square the widespread reports that the Eritrean regime is backing the Islamist insurgents in Somalia? An April 8 report on SomaliNet states: “The Eritrean government has with immediate effect banned… Read moreEritrea bans female genital mutilation
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a report, “Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,” finding that warmer global temperatures are causing profound changes in many of the earth’s natural systems and warning of mass extinctions,… Read moreBig power pressure censors UN climate report
The Geeska Africa Online news service, reporting from Nairobi April 10, quoted Jendayi Frazer, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, accusing Eritrea of backing the Islamist insurgents in Somalia. “No insurgency group can survive without support from neighboring… Read moreUS: Eritrea backs Somali insurgents
From iWire, April 10: Google has joined forces with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to create a visual record of the attrocities that began in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2003. The Crisis in Darfur project has assembled photographs,… Read moreOnline documentation of Darfur holocaust
Halliburton announced April 9 all of the commitments of its subsidiary working in Iran have been completed and it no longer has operations in the country. In January 2005, the company announced it would not accept new contracts in Iran… Read moreHalliburton quits Iran
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is meeting in Doha, Qatar, to discuss the possibility of forming a body that would represent gas producers and exporters in the global market, with some leaders calling for a cartel that would function… Read moreNext: global gas cartel?
Ethiopia admitted for the first time April 10 that it detained 41 suspected terrorists from 17 countries. The statement comes a week after the Associated Press reported that terror suspects had been transferred from Kenya to Somalia and then to… Read moreSomalia “renditions”: Ethiopia admits it
Chad’s government reports a rebel convoy of “more than 200 vehicles with armed elements” attacked from Sudanese territory April 9, resulting in heavy fighting that has left “many” dead. (AlJazeera, April 9) Recent violence in eastern Chad has killed hundreds… Read moreChad: displacement crisis escalates
From Newsday, April 8: Two hit-and-runs in two different boroughs A pedestrian in Manhattan and a motorcyclist in Brooklyn were each critically hurt after hit-and-run drivers struck them Saturday, police said. The Manhattan incident happened after a 24-year-old man had… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
