Florentin Melendez, president of the Interamerican Human Rights Commission (CIDH), in Mexico on an official visit, registered protest on the Mexican government’s policy for indigenous peoples. He said the pre-NAFTA reform of the Mexican constitution’s Article 27, allowing privatization of… Read moreOAS rights chief blasts Mexico indigenous policy
The US Justice Deparment April 12 obtained an emergency order from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans barring the imminent release of Cuban right-wing militant Luis Posada Carriles. The move came after Posada’s family in Miami posted the… Read moreJustice Department blocks Posada Carriles release
The problem is a lot bigger than a dangerous intersection in Brooklyn, folks. From Newsday, April 12: DOT under fire about its pedestrian safety plans The Brooklyn intersection where 3-year-old James Jacaricce was struck and killed by a car last… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
From The Guardian, April 9: Five Turkish punk rockers and their agent face up to 18 months in jail for insult after a bureaucrat took offence at their song criticising the country’s unpopular university entrance exam. The head of Turkey’s… Read moreTurkish punks jailed for social satire
India successfully tested an Agni III missile April 12, capable of launching a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead across 3,000 kilometers—a dramatic increase on prior missile systems principally designed to strike at Pakistan. The missile was launched from Wheeler Island in the… Read moreIndia test-fires nuclear-capable Agni III missile
One of Iraq’s main insurgent groups has confirmed a split with al-Qaeda, according to a spokesman for the dissenting organization. Ibrahim al-Shammari told AlJazeera TV that the Islamic Army in Iraq decided to break from al-Qaeda in Iraq after its… Read moreIraq: Islamic Army breaks from al-Qaeda
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
