Following 13 self-immolations by Tibetan monks since 2009, principally in Sichuan province, one was reported for the first from within the Tibet Autonomous Region itself. The monk is said to have survived and is hospitalized.
Waves of wildcat strikes continue to spread across China’s industrial heartland, with factories paralyzed in Guangdong province and job actions spreading to Zhejiang and Shanghai. Management has been forced to negotiate with workers’ councils.
Strikes and protest occupations were reported across Europe this week, as thousands of workers walked off the job in Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Teachers in the Czech Republic have also called a strike.
In a move initiated by the Obama administration, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to waive Bush-era human rights restrictions on military aid to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan.
Hillary Clinton makes an historic visit to Burma as the junta’s army chief signs a new military cooperation pact in Beijing—and the regime is accused of war crimes against ethnic minorities in remote Kachin state.
Iranian labor activist Reza Shahabi has begun a prison hunger strike in protest of his undetermined judicial status. The Vahed Company Union Workers website reports that Shahabi has been detained for more than 15 months without charge.
Customs employees at Adabiya Seaport in the Suez Canal Zone refused to allow a seven-ton shipment of tear gas to pass, and were detained for questioning by security officials. Two more such shipments are en route from Wilmington, Del.
Some 400 protesters clashed with police as they attempted to occupy the site of the planned Conga gold mine in Peru’s highland region of Cajamarca. Protesters say they will keep up their regional strike until the project is cancelled.
Mexican human rights activists filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court calling for an investigation into possible crimes against humanity by the security forces under President Felipe CalderĂłn’s campaign against the drug cartels.
Monica Chuji, Ecuador’s former communications minister under President Rafael Correa and a leading indigenous activist, was sentenced to a year in prison for “defamation”—stemming from her resignation over repression of protests.
One man was killed by an arrow shot by an “isolated” or “uncontacted” indigenous band in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, according to the indigenous alliance FENAMAD—which has long refuted claims that the isolated bands don’t exist.
Venezuela announced the first air shipment of overseas gold holdings as part of a move to repatriate the country’s foreign reserves from Europe and North America. Hugo Chávez said the gold “should have never left” government coffers.
