From the UPI: ZHEJIANG, China, April 12: Rioting by farmers in eastern China has forced the closure of 13 new chemical factories the farmers claim are poisoning their families and crops. The protests began in the rural village of Huaxi… Read moreChinese farmers revolt against industrial expansion
A dispute over offshore oil and gas rights in waters claimed by both countries as part of their "exclusive economic zone" seems to be behind recent tensions between China and Japan—ostensibly sparked by official Japanese revisionism over its role in… Read moreOffshore oil dispute behind Sino-Japanese tensions
Violence continues to escalate in Nepal, with 64 Maoist guerillas reported killed in a gunbattle with security forces in western Rukum district April 14. (Reuters, April 14) A page 3 story in the New York Times April 12 notes that… Read moreNepal: thousands flee vigilante terror
Scores are dead in Yemen, where security forces are battling Islamist forces led by Badruddin Al-Houthi in and around the northwestern town of Saada. A group of opposition parties is calling for the nation’s pariliament to immediately launch an investigation… Read moreCounter-insurgency in Yemen
More attacks are reported in Thailand as the country braces for the first anniversary of the April 28, 2004 massacre of 32 Islamic militants by security forces at Krue Se mosque in the restive south of the country. An all-too-typical… Read moreMore Terror in Thailand
The City of New York has reached an agreement in a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Ya-Ya Network, a youth advocacy group. Ya-Ya activists had been threatened with arrest for handing out… Read moreNYC: Ya-Ya Network in First Amendment victory
More than 400 members of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) staged a rally in Kathmandu March 29 to demand an end to press censorship imposed by King Gyanendra when he seized power last month. Unlike other anti-monarchy demonstrations in… Read moreNepal: journalists protest censorship
From Connecticut’s Shore Publishing group of community newspapers: New London — Drawing parallels to Cold War-era paranoia and fear mongering, a regional group is organizing protests of next month’s TOPOFF3 drill, which will simulate a chemical attack on New London…. Read morePeaceniks protest TOPOFF 3
From the Bond Buyer, April 1: The Bond Market Association will participate in next week’s U.S. TOPOFF 3 test, an exercise in which municipal market participants, government agencies, and trade groups will explore how a simulated terror scenario might affect… Read moreBond market prepares for terror
The Indonesian army and police have killed three people, burned down houses, killed pigs and destroyed crops, in the latest in a series of attacks against tribal villages in the Papuan highlands. One of those killed was a child. The… Read moreIndonesia: army massacre in West Papua
A group of ex-national security officials have sent an open letter calling for weaning America off the oil addiction and asking the Bush administration to spend $1 billion on develeoping more fuel-efficient automobiles. Retail gasoline prices now averaging above $2… Read moreEx-national security bigwigs protest profligance
According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, torture in occupied Iraq has not been confined to Abu Ghraib jail, where abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates caused worldwide outrage last year. The new revelations concern a facility… Read moreU.S. Army documents: Abu Ghraib was tip of iceberg
