In a surprising shift of strategy, Nepal's Maoist guerillas have reached a 12-point common agenda with the top parliamentary parties, subsequently endorsed by UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. The new pact between the armed rebels and political opposition does not seek… Read moreNepal: Maoists in accord with democratic opposition
Here's some good news that might appease the Sardinian separatists. But where will the base be relocating to, and will it similarly piss off the surly natives? From AFP via Turkish Press, Nov. 24 (emphasis added): ROME – The United… Read moreUS to close nuclear sub base on Sardinia
Well, it certainly is comforting to know that global warming is just a myth. Rise in Gases Unmatched By Andrew C. Revkin New York Times Service Shafts of ancient ice pulled from Antarctica’s frozen depths show that for at least… Read moreScientists: greenhouse gases at 600,000-year high
The class struggle for the future of New Orleans is made clear by this Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) report in Newsday that the volunteers who have established soup kitchens and work brigades to help the poor survive and resist being… Read moreNew Orleans elite kicks out citizen volunteers
The BBC reports Nov. 24 on the struggle of a woman known as Amna to resist village authorities in Pakistan who married her to a man from a rival clan at the age of 10 to settle a family dispute…. Read morePakistan: woman defies child marriage
Two days ago, we noted, coordinated twin suicide attacks left some 70 Shi’ite worshippers dead in Khanaqin, a town within Iraq’s normally more tranquil Kurdish autonomous zone. Nov. 23 has seen a suicide attack—this time targetting a police convoy, and… Read moreIraq: will regime call Bush’s bluff?
The front-page synopsis below the headline of the New York Times‘s coverage of Bush’s Nov. 20 meeting with President Hu Jintao in Beijing said it all: Hu Jintao Cedes Nothing on Political Freedoms —Will Act on Trade Economic “liberalization” without… Read moreBush betrays Tiananmen martyrs —but not Microsoft
From the British site Labour Friends of Iraq, Nov. 22: Grassroots members of George Galloway’s left-wing Respect party have condemned as “unacceptable” the decision of the party leadership to exclude lesbian and gay rights from their manifesto for the general… Read moreGalloway party in gay rights row
Well, after three years in Pentagon custody, JosĂ© Padilla has finally been indicted. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, announcing the indictment, tried to be as lurid as possible, charging that Padilla was part of a “North American support cell” to send… Read morePadilla indicted: was “dirty bomb” a dirty lie?
Sen. Joseph Biden’s Nov. 21 speech before the Council on Foreign Relations calling for a phased withdrawal of US troops from Iraq over the next two years is clearly intended as a response to Dick Cheney’s bellicose tirade before the… Read moreCheney v. Biden: some choice!
Spain’s largest ever trial began Nov. 21, as 56 people accused of links with the Basque armed separatist group ETA appeared in court in Madrid. It is the culmination of an investigation begun in 1997 by Baltasar GarzĂłn, Spain’s leading… Read moreSpain: Basque supporters face political trial
On Nov. 16 Rosemond Pradel, general secretary of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), announced that presidential, legislative and local elections, already postponed twice, are being rescheduled to Dec. 27. Runoffs, if required, will be held on Jan. 31. Haiti’s Constitution… Read moreHaiti: vote postponed again
