Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, head of Turkey’s army, has advocated a military operation into Northern Iraq, in an effort to tackle the “freedom of movement” which the region affords the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). A US State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack,… Read moreTurkey threatens Iraq intervention —again
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), refugee flows from Iraq are placing a considerable strain on neighboring countries, such as Syria and Jordan. Syria, for instance, has received roughly 1.2 million Iraqis fleeing the instability in their… Read moreUN: Iraq refugee crisis spreads instability
Exiled Russian multi-millionaire Boris Berezovsky has disclosed that he intends to instigate a coup in the Kremlin to oust President Putin. Based in Britain, he is said to have forged close ties with, as well as have bankrolled, Russian political… Read moreBerezovsky: “I am plotting a new Russian revolution”
Canada’s Canoro Resources has signed an agreement with India’s parastatal Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) to explore for crude in the jungles of Nagaland, a state in the country’s remote northeast, where large swaths of territory have been controlled… Read moreOil cartel eyes Nagaland; factional strife in guerilla struggle
Iran’s Fars News Agency reported April 10 that the US nuclear submarine Newport News polluted the Persian Gulf waters with radioactive and chemical materials after it collided with a Japanese super-tanker, and was forced to leave the Gulf following strong… Read morePersian Gulf nuclear sub accident: US denies it
A bomb blast tore through a busy market in the town of Yala in southern Thailand April 12, injuring 11 people. The attack happened amid a protest held by mourners after the funeral of Buddhist woman, Patcharapom Busamad, who was… Read moreThailand: bomb blast in Yala market
An explosion has hit the lunchtime cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament building, located in the “Green Zone” stronghold of Baghdad [April 12]. It is thought to have injured several members of parliament and employees. The al-Sarafiya bridge in Baghdad, connecting… Read moreIraq: bomb blast at parliament; GIs’ tours extended
Representantives of dozens of ejidos (agricultural collectives) in the northern zone of Mexico’s Chiapas state issued a statement denouncing the approval of illegal sales of collective lands. The protesters, mostly Chol Maya from the municipalities of Tila and Salto de… Read moreChiapas: campesinos protest illegal land sales
The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), Florentín Menéndez, was in Mexico April 11 to meet with officials from the federal Government Secretariat. Menéndez urged officials to seek a solution to the ongoing teachers’ strike in the… Read moreAPPO: Oaxaca struggle not over
Mexico, Colombia and seven Central American nations held a 24-hour summit April 10 in Campeche, issuing a nine-point plan for revitalizing the regional development alliance known as the Puebla-Panama Plan (PPP). Joining Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon were the presidents of… Read moreMexico: Campeche PPP summit draws protests
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte leaves April 11 for Sudan, where the State Department says the Khartoum government can expect new sanctions if there is no movement on a long-delayed expansion of international peacekeeping in Darfur. But State… Read moreNegroponte to Sudan: no ultimatum on Darfur
Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement have both turned proposals for the future status of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara over to the UN. The Moroccan proposal calls for regional autonomy for the territory under Morocco’s sovereignty. The Polisario proposal calls… Read moreWestern Sahara: dueling proposals on territory’s future
