Nepalese PM Girija Prasad Koirala has vowed to amend the country’s constitution to meet the key demands of Madheshi protesters from the country’s southern plains, BBC News reported on Feb. 8. He pledged to introduce a federal system of governance… Read moreNepal: Madheshi people reject marginalization
We’re glad the hijacking was thwarted, but we don’t quite get the politics behind this incident. The hijacker was supposedly seeking asylum from Mauritania (which remains a pretty oppressive place despite the democratic transition supposedly underway there), but Mauritania said… Read moreMysterious Mauritanian hijacking thwarted
From the Japanese American Nichi Bei Times, Feb. 16: On Feb. 7, the court martial of Ehren Watada, the Sansei army lieutenant from Hawai’i who refused deployment to Iraq to participate in what he considers an illegal war of aggression,… Read moreIraq war resister gets mistrial
We hope. From Reuters, Feb. 16: BOGOTA – A scandal over suspected Colombian government links to illegal right-wing militias could hamper President Alvaro Uribe’s bid to clinch a free-trade deal with the United States. Sen. Alvaro Araujo, the brother of… Read moreColombia: para scandal threatens trade deal
From the Regina Leader-Post, Feb. 16: A new chapter began this week in Canada’s relationship with the United States with new American regulations that require passports for air passengers entering the U.S. All non-Americans need a passport to enter the… Read moreNative nations protest US-Canada border restrictions
From Human Rights Watch via Reuters, Feb. 16: Dakar — The Guinean government has failed to control security forces responsible for rapes, robberies and more than 110 killings since mid-January, Human Rights Watch said today. After the imposition of martial… Read moreGuinea: rights abuses under martial law
Five members of a Palestinian family jailed by immigration authorities in Texas since November were released on Feb. 3, a day after the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accepted to reopen their asylum case. Salaheddin Ibrahim, his wife Hanan Ibrahim,… Read moreICE releases Palestinian family
In a decision received on Jan. 30, Los Angeles immigration judge Bruce J. Einhorn terminated deportation proceedings against Khader Musa Hamide and Michel Ibrahim Shehadeh, the last two members of the “Los Angeles Eight” (LA 8) group of Palestinian rights… Read moreJudge throws out LA 8 case
From the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, Feb. 14: An Ahwazi Arab teacher, Reisan Sawari, died while on hunger strike on Tuesday. Sawari had been held in solitary confinement for a year and was protesting against his conditions. He was a… Read moreIran: teacher dies on hunger strike
Italian police claim to have averted a major terrorist incident after the arrest of 15 men and women in northern Italy, who they said were members of the Red Brigades. The alleged leader of the plot, Alfredo Davanzo, 50, imprisoned… Read moreItaly: armed left re-emerges?
Eighteen people were killed when a bomb exploded next to a bus owned by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the southeast city of Zahedan, the official IRNA news agency reports. “In this act 18 Zahedan citizens have been martyred,” said Qassim… Read moreTerror strikes Iran: Baluchistan blowback?
The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said in a statement issued Jan. 30 that it is adding 350 Nepalese soldiers to its force in order to fight crime in Port-au-Prince. The light infantry battalion of Nepalese soldiers began… Read moreHaiti: UN to increase force by 350
