Latin American leftists expressed satisfaction at the release of 15 people held captive by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)—including French-Colombian ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors—in a Colombian military operation July 2. “Out of a… Read moreLatin American left reacts to release of FARC captives
On June 26, Palestinian professor Sami Al-Arian was charged in US District Court in Alexandria, Va., with two counts of criminal contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury which is investigating whether Islamic charities in northern Virginia were… Read moreUS indicts Palestinian detainee Al-Arian
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested or helped arrest 489 people in “Operation Community Shield” raids announced between June 2 and July 2, targeting foreign-born alleged gang members in Kansas, Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Georgia and Texas. On… Read moreNearly 500 arrested in ICE anti-gang raids
On July 3, ICE arrested supervisors Juan Carlos Guerrero Espinoza and Martin De la Rosa Loera at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant owned by Aaron Rubashkin in Postville, Iowa. Federal prosecutors said they had also issued an arrest warrant for… Read moreICE arrests supervisors at Iowa meat plant
Heavily-policed demonstrations were held in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo July 5 as world leaders began arriving on the island of Hokkaido for the G8 summit that opens Monday at Toyako mountain resort. A march of some 5,000 was… Read moreProtests and repression in Japan on eve of G8 summit
Speaking to the Caracas-based Union Radio, Archbishop Roberto Luckert Leon of Coro, vice president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, charged that the newly established Reform Catholic Venezuelan Church is a ploy by the government of President Hugo Chávez to divide… Read moreVenezuela: bishops bash Bolivarian Catholics
The government of Peru issued a statement saying it formally “rejects” recent comments by Bolivia’s President Evo Morales about the supposed installation of US bases on Peruvian territory. Lima has called its ambassador in Bolivia, Fernando Rojas, to discuss the… Read moreEvo charges: US plans bases in Peru
Panama’s Supreme Court has overturned a 2004 pardon of anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles and three other right-wing Cubans—Pedro Crispin Remon Hernandez, Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, and Guillermo Novo Sampoll—charged with plotting to kill Fidel Castro at the 2000 Ibero-American summit…. Read morePanama expunges Posada pardon
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has released declassified portions of a June 20 decision that a Combatant Status Review Tribunal had improperly designated a Chinese Uighur detained at Guantanamo Bay as an… Read moreUighur detainees faced Chinese torture methods at Gitmo
While the world media have moved on, Tibetans continue to defy authorities by launching protests in their homeland. According to “confirmed information” received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), several local Tibetans have been severely beaten… Read moreTibet: protests, repression continue —outside media spotlight
Mongolia imposed a four-day state of emergency in the capital, Ulan Bator, after the opposition Democratic Party claimed fraud in last weekend’s elections and violent protests broke out. Military vehicles patrolled the streets, five people were killed, and the headquarters… Read moreMongolia: mineral struggle behind unrest?
