From The Scotsman, Jan. 12: A man armed with a knife wounded several people, including a rabbi, at a synagogue in Moscow yesterday. One Jewish official said the man called out as he burst into the building: “I will kill… Read moreMoscow: slasher attack at synagogue
Naga separatist guerillas in India’s remote northeast are once again being hunted down by the authorities in neighboring Burma (Myanmar), where they had previously been granted refuge. This appears to be leading to a two-front insurgency in which the Naga… Read moreBurma resumes crackdown on Naga guerillas
From AP, via the New York Times, Jan. 10: President-elect Evo Morales of Bolivia met with President Hu Jintao of China in Beijing and called China an “ideological ally,” a day after he invited it to develop Bolivia’s vast gas… Read moreBolivia: Evo woos China on gas investment
From Arab Monitor, Jan. 8: US occupation troops burst into the Umm al-Qura Mosque compound in western Baghdad and ransacked the offices of the headquarter of the Association of Muslim Scholars. The troops arrested a member of the Association, two… Read moreIraq: US troops raid Muslim Scholars Association
Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar, the Brazilian head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), was found dead in his room at Port-au-Prince’s Montana Hotel on Jan. 7 after apparently shooting himself in the head, according… Read moreHaiti: UN mission head found dead
On Dec. 30, a Border Patrol agent shot 20-year old Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, a native of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, as he and his brother, Agustin Martinez Rodriguez, were fleeing back into Mexico. The brothers had sought to enter the US… Read moreUS-Mexico tension over border death
The Zapatista rebels' "Other Campaign"—thusly named in reference to the presidential campaigns now underway in Mexico—has held rallies at various locations around the state of Chiapas since it took off from the jungle village of La Garrucha on New Years… Read moreZapatista “Other Campaign” on the road
From AP via Newsday, Jan. 5: Taliban militants beheaded a teacher in a central Afghan town while his wife and eight children watched, officials said Wednesday, describing the latest in a string of attacks targeting educators at schools where girls… Read moreAfghan beheaded for teaching girls
Days after Russia sparked a brief crisis in Europe by cutting off gas to Ukraine (and therefore points west), comes another sign of Moscow using petro-politics in a bid to restore its lost Great Power status. Under the five-year deal… Read moreGazprom eyes stake in Iran pipeline
Following a meeting with representatives of Haitian political parties on Dec. 30, Max Mathurin, president of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), announced the postponement of the presidential and legislative elections previously scheduled for Jan. 8. “Following our work schedule, some… Read moreHaiti: vote postponed a fifth time
On Dec. 24 a hired killer shot to death Kaiowa Guarani indigenous leader Dorvalino Rocha at his community’s makeshift roadside encampment in Antonio Joao municipality, in Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul state. The killer shot Rocha in the chest after… Read moreBrazil: Guarani leader murdered
On Dec. 21, police agents from Chile’s militarized Carabineros Special Forces attacked the Mapuche community of Juan Paillalef in Cunco commune in the 9th region (Araucania). The attack came as community members were protesting a decision by the Ministry of… Read moreChile: Mapuche community attacked
