The Transportation Commission of Peru’s Congress approved a new road through remote jungle thought to protect isolated indigenous peoples. Madre de Dios indigenous leaders protested that they were not consulted.
The Pentagon is preparing to deploy a new generation of mini-drones with miniscule warheads that can allegedly be delivered with pinpoint accuracy. On a Pakistan visit, UN rights commissioner Navi Pillay questioned the legality of US drone strikes.
From the Village Voice, June 11: NYPD Slammed With Lawsuit Over Handling of Pedestrian and Cyclist Deaths On July 10, 2011, Clara Heyworth was walking to meet her husband when she was fatally struck by motorist Anthony Webb, who was… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Burma declared a state of emergency in western Rakhine state following an uprising by the Muslim Rohingya people—for generations denied citizenship by both Burma and Bangladesh, each considering them “illegal” immigrants from the other.
Honduras passed a constitutional amendment drawn up by the administration of President Porfirio Lobo that allows the creation of “Special Development Regions” within the country—where the national state would have limited, if any, authority.
With anger still growing in Honduras over the Miskito Coast drug raid that left four dead and villagers terrorized, the White House shows no sign of reconsidering the Central American Regional Security Initiative.
Having dismissed a case brought under CAFTA, a World Bank tribunal granted Pacific Rim Mining jurisdiction under El Salvador’s own investment law to sue the Central American republic for failure to approve a mine opposed by local campesinos.
Three prominent lawmakers publicly resigned from President Ollanta Humala’s ruling Gana Perú coalition over the government’s violent suppression of protests against the Xstrata Tintaya copper mine in Cuzco’s Espinar province.
Twelve children were injured in a police raid on an “illegal” Islamic school at Hotan, in China’s restive Xinjiang province. Authorities say school staff set off an explosive, but rights groups say the casualties were caused when police used tear gas.
Former Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan told the current government to abandon nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, comparing the nuclear industry’s hold on society to that of the Imperial military during World War II.
Tokyo’s notoriously nationalist governor Shintaro Ishihara is pushing a plan for the metropolitan government to purchase and annex the China-claimed Senkaku Islands in the hydrocarbon-rich East China Sea—without consulting local Okinawa officials.
The official US hand-wringing is all for public consumption. On June 4, 1989, China’s rulers proved to the world that they were willing to slaughter their own citizens in the interests of “stability.” They were rewarded with massive investment.
