Our February issue featured the story “Oil Shock Redux: Is OPEC the Real Cartel —or the Transnationals?,” by Vilosh Vinograd, which argued that the unprecedented $100 a barrel is due less to OPEC production levels than the correct perception that… Read moreOur readers write: $200 a barrel oil?
The Native Alaskan coastal village of Kivalina is suing two dozen oil, coal and power companies that they claim have affected the climate, causing their land and homes to slide into the Chukchi Sea. An Inupiat village numbering nearly 400… Read moreNative Alaskan village sues energy companies over global warming
Lawmakers in Mexico’s lower-house Chamber of Deputies Feb. 26 removed a draconian measure from their plan to reform the country’s judicial system that would have given police the power to enter homes without first obtaining a warrant in emergencies and… Read moreMexico’s “gestapo law” defeated
Dozens of Senegalese gays are reported to have fled to neighboring Gambia and Mali following a wave of arrests and violent anti-gay street protests. The anti-gay campaign began when newspapers reported on a gay wedding that took place on the… Read moreAnti-gay pogroms in Senegal
Patrick Cockburn writes for The Independent, Feb. 27: Iraq is disintegrating faster than ever. The Turkish army invaded the north of the country last week and is still there. Iraqi Kurdistan is becoming like Gaza where Israel can send in… Read moreIraqi Kurdistan: Turkey’s Gaza?
Kinda says it all, doesn’t it? From AP, Feb. 23: BAGHDAD – The Iraqi military on Saturday indefinitely banned all motorcycles, bicycles and hand-pushed and horse-drawn carts from the streets of Baghdad, a military spokesman said. Although the reason for… Read moreBaghdad bans bicycles
After 27 months of negotiations and despite official efforts to decertify their union, tens of thousands of Puerto Rican public school teachers went on strike on Feb. 21. Public employees are barred from striking under Puerto Rican law, and the… Read morePuerto Rico: teachers start walk-out
Campesinos and farmers started an open-ended strike in eight Peruvian departments on Feb. 18, holding marches and blocking highways to demand government measures to ease the impact of a free trade agreement (FTA, or TLC in Spanish) with the US…. Read morePeru: five killed in trade protests
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez hosted a meeting in Buenos Aires on Feb. 23 with Bolivian president Evo Morales and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about a possible energy crisis in the countries and to consolidate plans for regional… Read moreSouth American leaders meet on energy crisis threat
In a communique made public on Feb. 21, Mexico’s rebel Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) denied any connection to the Jan. 30 shooting death of police director Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, a bodyguard and two civilians in the southern state of Oaxaca…. Read moreMexico: EPR guerillas deny Oaxaca attack
The Sudanese military renewed its aerial bombing campaign in West Darfur region Feb. 25, with the joint UN-AU mission in Sudan, UNAMID, saying it had received reports of air-strikes in the Jebel Moun region. UNAMID said there is grave concern… Read moreSudan resumes Darfur air-strikes; China denies fueling war
Hundreds of angry youth clashed with anti-riot forces in Tehran Feb. 23 after trying to liberate a young girl who had been arrested by the Islamic Guidance police. The confrontation began in a main square of Tehran after the morality… Read moreIran: uprising against morality police
