High-profile Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic, publisher of the muckraking opposition weekly Nacional, was killed along with his marketing chief Niko Franjic in a bomb blast in central Zagreb Oct. 23. The bomb reportedly exploded under his car and was detonated… Read moreCroatia: terror blast kills journalist
Maria del Pilar Hurtado, director of Colombia’s DAS intelligence agency, resigned Oct. 23 following revelations her secret police had been spying on opposition Sen. Gustavo Petro, as part of a probe of his Polo Democrático party’s supposed links to the… Read moreColombia: secret police chief resigns in spy scandal
On Oct. 15 the Chilean Supreme Court sentenced the 88-year-old retired general Sergio Arellano Stark to six years in prison for the killing of four people shortly after a Sept. 11, 1973 coup that brought the late dictator Gen. Augusto… Read moreChile: Pinochet-era general sentenced
The public trial for the Argentine government’s clandestine sale of arms to Ecuador and Croatia from 1991 to 1995 in violation of international agreements began in Buenos Aires on Oct. 16. There are 18 defendants; the best known, former president… Read moreTrial opens in Argentine arms smuggling scandal
The main route for people trying to leave Cuba for the US is now through Mexico. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, 11,126 Cubans entered the US this way in 2007, while just 1,055 went directly to Florida…. Read moreMexico now main route for Cuban migrants
Twenty-one were killed and 12 injured Oct. 20 in a fight between inmates at a prison in Reynosa, Mexico, across the border from McAllen, Tex. Tamaulipas state and Mexican federal police, supported by army troops, took control of the state… Read moreMexico: 20 dead in Reynosa prison riot; more violence in Tijuana
On Oct. 16 Mexico’s federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) arrested activist Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno for the shooting death of New York-based independent journalist Brad Will during a protest in the southern state of Oaxaca on Oct. 27, 2006. Octavio… Read moreMexico: activists charged in reporter Brad Will’s death
On Oct. 14 the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1840 authorizing the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to remain for another year, until Oct. 15, 2009. The international force, which began its occupation of Haiti in June… Read moreHaiti: UN sends tanks, not tractors
On Sept. 24, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it will extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of El Salvador through Sep. 9, 2010. The extension allows Salvadorans who have already been granted TPS to re-register and maintain… Read moreProtected status renewed for Central Americans, urged for Haitians
On Oct. 12, about 65 people marched more than three miles from the Mills Manufacturing plant in Woodfin, NC, to downtown Asheville to protest an Aug. 12 ICE raid at the parachute manufacturing plant and the impending deportation of the… Read moreImmigrant rights marches in North Carolina and beyond
On Oct. 7, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents executed a federal criminal search warrant at the House of Raeford’s Columbia Farms poultry processing plant in Greenville, SC, arresting 11 workers on criminal charges and 320 workers on… Read moreICE raids South Carolina poultry plant
Pakistan’s parliament held a heated debate Oct. 20 on how to fight the Islamist militants in the northwest, who are now extending their reach to suicide attacks in the capital. Calls for dialogue with the Taliban, punctuated by opposition to… Read morePakistan: cleric offers peace for sharia
