Heavily-policed demonstrations were held in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo July 5 as world leaders began arriving on the island of Hokkaido for the G8 summit that opens Monday at Toyako mountain resort. A march of some 5,000 was… Read moreProtests and repression in Japan on eve of G8 summit
Speaking to the Caracas-based Union Radio, Archbishop Roberto Luckert Leon of Coro, vice president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, charged that the newly established Reform Catholic Venezuelan Church is a ploy by the government of President Hugo Chávez to divide… Read moreVenezuela: bishops bash Bolivarian Catholics
The government of Peru issued a statement saying it formally “rejects” recent comments by Bolivia’s President Evo Morales about the supposed installation of US bases on Peruvian territory. Lima has called its ambassador in Bolivia, Fernando Rojas, to discuss the… Read moreEvo charges: US plans bases in Peru
Panama’s Supreme Court has overturned a 2004 pardon of anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles and three other right-wing Cubans—Pedro Crispin Remon Hernandez, Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, and Guillermo Novo Sampoll—charged with plotting to kill Fidel Castro at the 2000 Ibero-American summit…. Read morePanama expunges Posada pardon
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) told the Biloxi Sun Herald July 2 he witnessed a confrontation between John McCain and a Nicaraguan Sandinista leader—a lieutenant of President Daniel Ortega—during a 1987 diplomatic mission in which the Arizona senator “got mad at… Read moreDid McCain slug Sandinista?
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has released declassified portions of a June 20 decision that a Combatant Status Review Tribunal had improperly designated a Chinese Uighur detained at Guantanamo Bay as an… Read moreUighur detainees faced Chinese torture methods at Gitmo
While the world media have moved on, Tibetans continue to defy authorities by launching protests in their homeland. According to “confirmed information” received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), several local Tibetans have been severely beaten… Read moreTibet: protests, repression continue —outside media spotlight
Mongolia imposed a four-day state of emergency in the capital, Ulan Bator, after the opposition Democratic Party claimed fraud in last weekend’s elections and violent protests broke out. Military vehicles patrolled the streets, five people were killed, and the headquarters… Read moreMongolia: mineral struggle behind unrest?
Since January, some 4,000 Black Mauritanians have returned home from Senegal, as part of an ongoing repatriation process run by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). More than 25,000 Mauritanian refugees still wait in Senegal, having been pushed across… Read moreMauritanian refugees wait in Senegal
The New York Times July 3 alluded to an Israeli role in the dramatic rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC hostages in Colombia: “On Colombian television, Ms. Betancourt wept and smiled as she recounted a chain of events… Read moreIsraeli connection emerges in Betancourt release
Amid generally ebullient news coverage, reports are starting to emerge that the “impeccable” hostage-rescue mission in Colombia was actually a sham to disguise the payment of a ransom. Swiss public radio cited an unidentified source “close to the events, reliable… Read moreRansom charges emerge in Betancourt release
