In an e-mail to local news outlets, an organization calling itself the “Deccan Mujahedeen” claimed responsibility for the coordinated shooting attacks in Mumbai that left at least 100 dead Nov. 26. Fighting continued as the e-mail arrived, with army commandos… Read moreIndia: “Deccan Mujahedeen” claim Mumbai attacks
Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a dissident cleric imprisoned since October 2006 for criticizing the Islamic Republic’s system and advocating separation of religion and state in Iran, was “exiled” from Tehran’s Evin Prison to another facility in the city of Yazd… Read moreIran: dissident cleric “exiled” from Tehran’s central prison
Farzad Kamangar, a teacher, trade unionist and rights activist from Iran’s Kordistan province, sentenced to death on what his attorney calls “absolutely zero evidence,” could be hanged today, his supporters say. Sources report that he has been taken from his… Read moreIranian trade unionist to be hanged today?
From Radio Australia, Nov. 26: 10 arrested over acid attack in Afghanistan Afghan police have arrested 10 men accused of spraying acid in the faces of several schoolgirls and teachers. The attack happened outside a girls’ high school in the… Read moreAcid attacks on Afghan women
From the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), Nov. 3: To the Kurdish Parliament and the Kurdistan Regional Government: We demand the repeal of polygamous marriages and all other discriminatory laws against women in Kurdistan. On October 27, 2008,… Read moreCampaign to stop polygamy in Iraqi Kurdistan
Much has been made of the fact that the bomber was a woman, but note that the victims were overwhelmingly women as well. From The Guardian, Nov. 25: Woman in suicide attack as 19 die in Baghdad bombings A volley… Read moreIraq: insurgent femicide
Defend femicide, get a cabinet position. From The Guardian, Nov. 12: “Anti-women” cabinet riles Pakistan activists Two notorious politicians accused of brutal attitudes towards women have been made cabinet ministers in Pakistan, causing outrage among human rights activists. Mir Hazar… Read morePakistan: femicide rewarded
The Czech Republic‘s Prima TV is claiming evidence that members of the security forces took part in an attempted attack on the Roma ghetto in the town of Litvinov last week. Some 500 black-masked protesters shouting racist slogans marched Nov…. Read moreCzech security forces participated in anti-Roma pogrom?
Bolivian President Evo Morales ended martial law in the northern department of Pando Nov. 23, more than two months after government supporters were killed in the region amid strikes and protests by the opposition. The decision by Morales clears a… Read moreBolivia: martial law lifted in Pando; prefect still imprisoned
President Hugo Chávez‘s Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV) scored a string of victories in key state and municipal elections Nov. 23. “A new stage is beginning. For me, as the leader of the Venezuelan socialist project, the people are telling… Read moreVenezuela: elections mandate or “hard blow” for Chávez?
Despite an intense rain, some 12,000 indigenous marchers from southern Cauca department arrived in the Colombian capital of Bogotá Nov. 21, and established an encampment in the central Plaza de BolĂvar. Leaders declared that they would not return to their… Read moreColombia: indigenous march arrives in Bogotá
The leaders of the 21 nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) met in Lima over the weekend, where George Bush continued to push free-trade prescriptions—prompting demonstrations at the US Embassy, where protesters in black hoods and orange jumpsuits representing… Read moreBush protested at Lima APEC summit
