Colombia April 3 denied a request from jailed paramilitary leaders to campaign for candidates in local elections. Fourteen of about 60 para bosses jailed near Medellin sought permission to campaign in their cental and northern hometowns on behalf of gubernatorial… Read moreColombia: jailed para leaders barred from politics
Oil prices fell from $68.38 to $66.93 hours after Iran decided to free 15 UK naval personnel it holds captive, easing fears that the international dispute could escalate and disrupt crude supplies. (Forbes, April 4) Meanwhile, it was revealed that… Read moreIran to release UK sailors; oil prices drop
According to investigative reports by ABC, the CIA has carefully maintained ties and links with the Pakistan-based insurgent group Jundallah, a band of Baloch separatists fighting for an independent Balochestan, a region which straddles southeast Iran and southwest Pakistan. Iranian… Read moreIran: US backing Baluch rebels?
Haaretz, citing Israeli military sources, reported April 2 that the Israeli Defense Forces are preparing for the possibility of a Syrian attack on the Golan Heights that will start as a result of a “miscalculation” on the part of the… Read moreIsrael planning Syria attack?
As Somali insurgents square off against Ethiopian and government troops in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, bands of pirates have been making life increasingly difficult for ships coming in and out of the city’s harbour. An Indian cargo vessel was… Read moreSomalia: Mogadishu evacuated; pirates besiege harbor
Nine children were among 12 people killed when a suicide truck-bomber drove into a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk April 2. A further 192 were injured in the blast, and many of the victims were children… Read moreIraq: more terror in Kirkuk
“As Al Qaeda rebuilds in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a new generation of leaders has emerged under Osama bin Laden to cement control over the network’s operations, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.” Thus begins “New Generation of Qaeda Chiefs… Read moreAl-Qaeda: the next generation …based in US ally Pakistan!
Talli Nauman writes for Mexico’s El Universal, April 2: Environmentalists are rejoicing over the cancellation of a liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal project that the federal government had licensed Chevron Texaco to undertake adjacent to the Coronado Islands proposed protected… Read moreBaja California LNG terminal cancelled
Representatives at the third Continental Summit of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities in Iximche, Guatemala, spoke out against US plans to use corn crops to produce fuel. “We have a long tradition as corn growers, and using corn to produce… Read moreHemispheric indigenous summit bashes bio-fuels
Protests that led the Brazilian state oil company to halt production in the Ecuadoran Amazon have ended, Ecuador’s Energy Ministry announced March 30. The Ministry statement said losses from the strike totaled more than $40 million, or 840,000 barrels of… Read moreEcuador: Amazon oil strike ends
Ecuador‘s highest electoral court fired a judge who tried to return half the country‘s legislators to their posts March 28, as a political crisis deepened over a planned referndum on rewriting the constitution. President Rafeal Correa told 2,000 supporters that… Read moreEcuador: crisis deepens over constutional referendum
Attorney Luz María González Armenta, founder of the local group Defense and Promotion of Human Rights-Emiliano Zapata (DEPRODHEZAC), was arbitrarily arrested March 30 at a protest vigil she was leading outside the municipal presidency office in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According… Read moreHuman rights worker arrested in Matamoros
