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
On the night of March 23, four young people associated with the anarchist punk fanzine Pensares Y Sentires were arbitrarily attacked, beaten and detained by police on the outskirts of Oaxaca City. The black-clad attackers, who repeatedly fired their pistols… Read moreAnarcho-punks attacked by police in Oaxaca
Speaking to supporters and the press at the opening of the second phase of the Zapatistas’ “Other Campaign” in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Subcommander Marcos said that capitalism is provoking a “fourth world war”… Read moreSubcommander Marcos: capitalism provoking World War 4
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in his first editorial since largely disappearing from public view due to illness last year, charged US demand for biofuels directly hurts the world’s poor. The article, appearing in the official Cuban newspaper Granma, was titled… Read moreFidel bashes bio-fuels
Fighting continues between Pashtun tribesmen and foreign al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas. Both sides used mortars, heavy guns and rocket-propelled grenades in battles overnight in South Waziristan, following the collapse of a week-long ceasefire. Violence first erupted March 19… Read morePakistan: fighting continues in Tribal Areas
More than 12,000 people have fled fighting in Mogadishu in the past week and a humanitarian crisis there is intensifying with aid workers unable to access the needy, the U.N. refugee agency said on March 30. Dozens of civilians have… Read moreSomalia: 12,000 displaced by Mogadishu fighting
Two suicide bombers killed 76 people in a crowded market in Baghdad’s Shi’ite Shaab district March 29, as three suicide car bombs exploded within minutes of each other in Khalis, a Shi’ite town north of the capital, killing 53 and… Read moreIraq: more sectarian massacres
As the US carries out massive military exercise in the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates became the second Gulf state to declare it would not take part in any attack on Iran. Qatar—home to 6,500 US troops and the… Read moreGulf states break ranks with Bush on Iran attack
The Pentagon conducted a test March 28 of a new ultra-powerful 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The MOP, carrying more than 5,300 pounds of explosives, delivers more than 10 times the explosive… Read morePentagon tests new bunker-buster —for Iran?
The government of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, forced to resign last month after a defeat on the issue, narrowly won a Senate vote to keep Rome’s 1,900 troops in Afghanistan March 27. But questions remain over the mission’s future,… Read moreItaly continues Afghan mission —despite protests from all sides
Marijuana is not kosher for Passover, Israel’s pot-friendly Green Leaf Party says, advising Jews who observe the holiday’s special dietary laws to take a break from smoking the weed. The Party, which has made several unsuccessful attempts to win election… Read moreIsraeli pot-heads: cannabis kosher —but not for Passover
