As of Feb. 29 the 41,000-member Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR) was maintaining an open-ended strike at public schools that started on Feb. 21 over wages, classroom size and health issues. Meanwhile, controversy continued over the role of Change… Read moreNew York labor boss denies designs on Puerto Rico teachers union
A man claiming to be Jaber al-Banna (also rendered Elbaneh), a Yemeni-American who is among the FBI’s most wanted terrorism suspects, showed up in a Yemeni court Feb. 23—and was allowed to walk free, surprising the attendees. Al-Banna’s appearance was… Read moreYemen lets jihadi walk free?
The third suicide attack in Pakistan’s northwest in as many days left up to 40 dead and 30 wounded near Darra Adam Khel, North West Frontier Province, March 2. The bomber struck a grand jirga of five tribes in Zarghon… Read moreDefeated at polls, Pakistan’s Islamists strike back with bombs
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vows to continue his campaign in the Gaza Strip despite an international outcry over the ground and air operation that have killed 73 Palestinians over the past two days following the death of one Israeli… Read moreGaza carnage overshadows West Bank escalation
Guatemala’s President Alvaro Colom has ordered the release of military archives from the country’s brutal 1962-1996 civil war. “We are going to make public all military archives…so the truth can be known, and so that once and for all we… Read moreGuatemala to open genocide archives
Angry protests against rising food prices in Burkina Faso spread to the capital, Ouagadougou, Feb. 28, shutting the city down as young people burned tires and clashed with police. “The choice is to demonstrate or to die of hunger,” a… Read moreProtests rock Burkina Faso
Three were killed by security forces in Cameroon Feb. 28 as anti-government protests broke out in the western towns of Bamenda and Bafang. Up to 20 are believed dead in unrest earlier in the week in the western region and… Read moreProtests rock Cameroon
Following approval by both houses of Congress, President Bush Feb. 29 signed a 10-month extension of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), designed to discourage Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia from producing illegal drugs by allowing the four countries to… Read moreWhite House extends Andean trade preferences, threatens Bolivia, Ecuador
Several hundred Guatemalan campesinos took 30 police officers hostage [Feb. 21] in response to the jailing of a local farm leader and to demand that land they had been occupying for the last 10 years be legalized by the Guatemalan… Read moreGuatemalan land dispute ends peacefully —for now
Two Palestinian followers of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades were killed Feb. 28 in clashes at Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus on the West Bank. Sources within the al-Aqsa Brigades told Ma’an News Agency that al-Aqsa fighters responded to the targeted… Read moreClashes rock Nablus refugee camp; bombs fall on Gaza
Mas Selamat Kastari, accused Singapore commander of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah militant network, escaped from a detention center in the Southeast Asian city-state Feb. 27. Kastari allegedly oversaw plans seven years ago to attack Singapore targets including the US Embassy,… Read moreJihadi jailbreak in Singapore
ExxonMobil asked the Supreme Court Feb. 27 to reverse a lower court’s decision awarding $2.5 billion in punitive damages to Alaskan fishermen, cannery workers and others impacted by the disaster. The 3,000-square-mile slick caused by the 11-million spill forced the… Read moreExxon spills crude propaganda on Supreme Court
