A group of Mexican writers, intellectuals and artists have issued an open letter to Gov. Patricio Patrón Laviada of Yucatan state demanding the release of 22 people still being held in Mérida after being arrested at the March 13 protests… Read moreYucatan: demand release of anti-Bush protesters
Aunty Maiduguri, a Nigerian lesbian who married four other women last weekend in Kano State, has gone into hiding from the Islamic police, along with her partners. Under Sharia law, adopted in the state seven years ago, homosexuality and same-sex… Read moreNigeria: polygamous lesbians flee Islamic police
Authorities arrested several hundred Iranian women and issued a warning to thousands of other over their poor Islamic dress this week in the most harsh crackdown on what’s known as “bad hijab” for more than a decade. Police cars are… Read moreIran: hundreds of women arrested in “bad hijab” crackdown
From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), April 27: Safety Force Rescues Innocent People in Baghdad On April 11, 2007, the Safety Force was deployed to Alatba’a suburb of Baghdad after a fierce fighting erupted between the US troops and unknown… Read moreIraq: IFC Safety Force protects civilians
The Iraqi government has refused to provide the UN with civilian casualty figures for its 10th report on the human rights situation in the occupied country since August 2005, but numbers from various ministries indicate more than 5,500 people were… Read moreIraq: regime withholds civilian death count
From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), April 27: The Discriminatory Wall of Adamya Must be Abolished Immediately In an unprecedented action in the history of Iraq, the U.S.-led occupying troops have begun the building of a wall made of concrete… Read moreIraq: civil resistance rejects Baghdad wall
Security forces in Saudi Arabia have arrested 172 national and foreign “terror suspects.” Those arrested are alleged to have been training as pilots in order to launch suicide attacks in the country, an interior ministry spokesperson has reported. Large quantities… Read moreSaudi Arabia: 172 “terror suspects” arrested
Interim Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi insists that government and Ethiopian forces have successfully “won” their fight against the Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu. Fierce combat has been raging in the city for nine days, in an effort… Read moreSomali PM claims victory in Mogadishu
A Russian Mi-8 transport helicopter has been shot down by Chechen fighters during an army operation near the town of Shatoi, southern Chechnya. Its four crew members and 13 passengers are all suspected killed. Violence is said to have erupted… Read moreChechens down Russian helicopter
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed concern that construction of a US missile shield in Eastern Europe would heighten the “threat of causing mutual damage and even destruction.” The proposed scheme “is not just a defense system,” he exclaimed, “this is… Read morePutin: US missile shield threatens stability
Ecuador has expelled World Bank representative to Quito, Eduardo Somensatto, on the order of President Rafael Correa. Though Ecuador did not give an official reason for the expulsion, but Correa had protested the Work Bank’s withholding of a $100 million… Read moreEcuador: World Bank booted, legislators flee, Chevron upbraided
Tierramérica reports [April 21] that grassroots organizations in the department of Olancho, Honduras, are fighting both for the enforcement of a partial ban decreed to stop illegal logging, as well as justice punishment of the assassins of two Honduran environmentalists… Read moreHonduras: campesino ecologists under threat
