A dozen men armed with assault rifles killed two children of a man who belongs to a peasant ecologist group in Mexico’s Pacific coast state of Guerrero May 19, and soldiers arrested three members of the same group on weapons… Read moreMexico: children of campesino ecologist murdered
The Independent Task Force on the Future of North America, a New York-based body coordinated by the Council on Foreign Relations, has released a detailed set of proposals that build on the recommendations adopted by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin,… Read moreNAFTA militarized
What ironic timing. An official visit by the US Energy Secretary to Azerbaijan to mark the opening of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline was immediately preceeded by violent repression of pro-democracy protests there. From the May 29 New York Times: Washington –… Read moreAzerbaijan: pipeline opens, political space closes
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado released documents May 18 confirming that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Denver is targeting peaceful political activists for harassment and building files on constitutionally-protected political activities that have nothing to… Read moreJTTF targets protesters
The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is protesting the arrest of a second representative in Sudan. Vincent Hoedt, a Dutch national and regional coordinator for MSF in Darfur, was arrested May 31 in Nyala. A… Read moreDarfur: Doctors Without Borders volunteers arrested
In a detailed analysis of the European Union’s counter-terrorism initiatives in the area of criminal law since 9-11, Amnesty International claims the absence of concrete human rights safeguards in many of these initiatives is likely to undermine efforts to fight… Read moreAmnesty International blasts EU
The New York Police Department is requesting funds to install hundreds more video cameras throughout the city to help fight crime and combat terrorism. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly wants to put up some 400 surveillance cameras on high-crime and high-traffic… Read moreNYC: Big Brother to get bigger
The British oil company Dana Petroleum announced May 26 it has acquired a large interest in the ongoing oil explorations offshore Morocco’s town of Safi. Dana, based in Scottish Aberdeen, produces oil in the British sector of the North Sea… Read moreOil industry eyes disputed African offshore zones
Thirty-seven Islamists have been charged in Mauritania with belonging to an illegal group after being arrested last month on suspicion of links to a organization tied to al-Qaeda. Another 14 were released May 27, and some accused the authorities of… Read moreCrackdown on Islamists in Mauritania
Spain’s foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos began talks May 30 with his Moroccan and Algerian counterparts in the latest attempt to find a solution to the decades-long conflict in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. Mohamed Benaissa of Morocco and Algerian Abdelaziz Belajadem… Read morePolisario Front demands UN action on Western Sahara
Violence against women and girls in Afghanistan is pervasive, says Amnesty International today, releasing its latest report “Afghanistan: Women Under Attack.” “Throughout the country, few women are exempt from violence or safe from the threat of it,” the report finds…. Read moreAfghanistan: women still under attack
In an editorial for the July issue of The Progressive, editor Matthew Rothschild makes a serious case for war crimes charges against Rumsfeld and Bush, as well as other White House and Pentagon figures… Stripping Rumsfeld and Bush of Impunity… Read moreWar crimes charges for Rumsfeld, Bush?
