At least one million people—more than two million, according to some sources—marched in El Alto, Bolivia, on July 20 to call for national unity and to oppose proposals to move the executive and legislative branches of government from La Paz,… Read moreBolivia: massive march for national unity
Global warming is drying up mountain lakes and wetlands in the Andes and threatening water supplies to such major cities as La Paz, Quito and Bogota, World Bank research reveals. The risk is especially great to the high-Andes wetlands known… Read moreClimate change threatens Andes water supplies: World Bank
In a strange case of role-reversal, BBC July 20 takes the more Bush-friendly tack in reporting a new executive order on treatment of detained “terror suspects,” writing in the lead that it bans “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” while the… Read moreBush executive order bans torture —or approves it?
Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante—known as “Rasguño,” or “Scratch”—alleged head of Colombia’s Norte del Valle cocaine cartel, has been extradited to the US to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. He was flown by helicopter July 19 from the… Read moreColombia extradites kingpin “Rasguño” —thanks to Cuba!
The carcinogen asbestos has been found in dust and debris hurled into midtown Manhattan by an evening rush-hour Con Edison steam pipe explosion July 18. The blast at 41st Street and Lexington Ave. opened a 25-foot car-swallowing crater in the… Read moreCon Ed brings terror to NYC —again
Turkey’s military has waged a cross-border incursion into Iraq, bombarding northern areas of the country with artillery and warplanes, the Iraqi government charged July 19. The claim comes amid mounting Turkish threats to strike bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party… Read moreTurkey bombards northern Iraq?
Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Gulerhas announced his government will invest $3.5 billion in Iran’s South Pars gas field starting from 2008, a week after signing a deal to use Iran as a transit route for gas from Turkmenistan to European… Read moreTurkey signs pipeline deal with Iran
From the US Labor Against the War (USLAW) and Oil Change International, July 16: Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions Draws Line in the Sand Basra, Iraq – Today hundreds of Iraqis, led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU),… Read moreIraq: protests mount against oil law
Decades of negotiations between Ottawa and the Cree First Nation of northern Quebec ended July 16 with the unveiling of a $1.4-billion agreement to settle outstanding lawsuits and finally enact a 1975 treaty that stalled shortly after it was signed…. Read moreCanada reaches sovereignty deal with Cree nation
Peruvian unionists, campesinos, leftists and nationalists came together to stage a massive one-day general strike on July 11 to protest the economic policies of President Alan Garcia of the social democratic Aprista party. The July 11 Day of National Struggle,… Read morePeru: protests against US trade accord rock country
On July 11 Panama’s National Assembly voted 58-3 with one abstention to ratify a “free trade” accord (TLC, the initials in Spanish) which the government signed with the US in Washington, DC, just two weeks earlier, on June 28. The… Read morePanama: National Assembly passes trade accord
One demonstrator was killed and three injured on July 9 when a coalition of Dominican unions held a 24-hour national general strike to protest government economic policies. A spokesperson for the Alternative Social Forum (FSA), which organized the action, estimated… Read moreDominican Republic: strike shuts down cities
