A group of tribal elders sent by Libya has offered to serve as mediators in resolving the Tuareg rebellion in Niger. In a meeting with Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja on Wednesday, the association of elders expressed its “will to contribute… Read moreTribal elders to mediate in Niger’s Tuareg revolt
Bashar Assad arrived in Russia to publicly thank Vladimir Putin for his military support in the ongoing re-conquest of Syria—prominently including the deployment of new missile systems. Undoubtedly discussed behind closed doors was the new "energy cooperation framework agreement" between Moscow and Damascus, under which Russia is to have exclusive rights to exploit oil and gas in Syria. (Photo of Vityaz missile launcher via Wikipedia)
Three people were killed and 20 injured when a bomb exploded May 28 at the offices of USAID-supported programs housed at the Philippine military’s Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga, Mindanao. The dead included family members of Philippine military personnel… Read morePhilippines: bomb blast at Zamboanga air base
Israeli forces raided the village of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, early May 29, storming houses and detaining four men. The mayor of Ni’lin, Aiman Nafe, said the incursion and detentions aimed to suppress activities scheduled for that day against construction… Read moreIsrael detains anti-wall protesters at Ni’lin
On May 19 the Cuban government accused Michael Parmly, outgoing head of the US Interests Section in Havana, of supplying opponents of the government with money from Cuban American right-winger Santiago Alvarez Fernandez-Magrinat, who is currently serving a 46-month prison… Read moreCuba: dissidents funded by terrorist?
On May 15 Chilean judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes Belmar found retired army colonel Mario Manriquez Bravo guilty in the Sept. 16, 1973 murder of the internationally renowned singer Victor Jara; the judge then closed the case, despite testimony that other… Read moreChile: conviction in Victor Jara murder
On May 21 Jose Leopoldo Gonzalez, secretary general of the Conference of Mexican Bishops (CEM), said the Catholic bishops had voted unanimously to call for the government to make former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) testify again about the… Read moreMexico: bishops push Posadas probe
Families are desperate a year after five workers and three pensioners from the Mexican state oil company Pemex disappeared, with federal authorities claiming no progress in the case. Mexico’s opposition is pointing at the security forces. “No one seems to… Read more“Disappeared” Mexican oil workers —one year later
More than 1,000 people, mostly peasants, marched through the streets of Savanette, near the Dominican border in Haiti’s Central Plateau region, on May 19 to protest the local government’s failure to issue proper identity papers. The march also commemorated the… Read moreHaiti: 1,000 peasants protest
A statement from Hassan Juma’a Awad, president of Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, via US Labor Against the War (USLAW), May 28: Statement by Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions to 2008 Chevron and ExxonMobil Shareholder meetings On May 28, 2008,… Read moreIraqi oil workers appeal to Exxon shareholders
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that his organization “is siding with the resistance in Iraq” in a speech to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Beirut. “The Iraqis, Shia and Sunni, who took part in the political process wanted… Read moreNasrallah: Hezbollah “siding with” Iraq resistance
