At a Dec. 9 ceremony hosted by outgoing Argentine president Nestor Kirchner in the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, the heads of six South American countries signed an agreement formally creating the Bank of the South, a development bank to… Read moreSouth American nations unveil Bank of the South
After a 10-year trial, on Dec. 12 Bolivian judge Angel Arias sentenced three former officers to 30 years for their involvement in the 1980 military coup in which Luis Garcia Meza overthrew President Lidia Gueiler. Socialist leader Marcelo Quiroga Santa… Read moreBolivia: sentences for 1980 coup
On Dec. 10, some 150 people marched to the federal building in Hartford, CT, to demand an end to immigration raids. Activists were upset about the arrest of 21 Brazilian immigrants in early November in the city’s Parkville neighborhood in… Read moreHartford: marchers protest ICE raids
A Mexican citizen who is in the US legally has filed the first lawsuit challenging the aggressive immigration-enforcement efforts of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona’s Maricopa County, charging unlawful detainment and racial profiling. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that… Read moreArizona’s anti-immigrant Sheriff Arpaio in racial profiling suit
From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Dec. 12: We Must Stand Together Against the Women-Killing Gangs Unidentified gangs began to commit a series of organized crimes and killing many women in various cities in Iraq, particularly in Basra where more than… Read moreIraq Freedom Congress stands against “woman-killing gangs”
From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Dec. 8: Under the slogan of “No to occupation … No to sectarianism and subservience… No to the Oil & Gas Law,” the clans of southern Iraq held a large conference in the province of… Read moreIraq Freedom Congress wins support among southern tribes
Turkish warplanes attacked PKK guerilla positions across the border in the mountains of northern Iraq early Dec. 17, the military General Staff said in a statement. BBC reports that 10 villages were hit, and at least one person killed. A… Read moreTurkey bombs Iraq —again!
The rival Moro guerrilla groups in the Philippines have agreed to talks after a meeting in Manila with Saiful Islam Qadaffi, eldest son of Libyan President Moammar Qadaffi. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)… Read moreMoro factions pledge peace in Philippines
Eight people were killed in a four-hour gun battle between police and thieves in the Villa Hermosa suburb of Guatemala City. An armed gang had robbed a jeweller in a shopping center, killing a security guard. Hundreds of Special Forces… Read moreCrime wars rock Guatemala
In an unusual ruling, a Danish court acquitted seven leftist activists—who had sent funds to the FARC in Colombia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—of sponsoring terrorism. The panel of judges ruled that though both groups were… Read moreDanish court: FARC, PFLP not terrorists
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hosheyar Zebari met with officials in Damascus Dec. 12, with both governments agreeing to speed reactivation of the oil pipeline from the Kirkuk fields to Syria’s Banias terminal on the Mediterranean. The Syrian government pledged to help… Read moreIraq, Syria pledge pipeline reactivation
The legal advisor to the Convening Authority for Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay testified before members of Congress Dec. 11 that evidence gathered from interrogation techniques such as waterboarding may be admissible during military commission proceedings if it is “reliable… Read moreWaterboarding evidence may be admissible in Gitmo trials: legal advisor
