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
From Witness Against Torture, May 20: Guantánamo Detainess To Get Their Day in Court Witness Against Torture Activists to “Represent” Detainees in Trial, May 27 WASHINGTON, DC – Detainees at the U.S. Military Prison in Guantánamo will finally get their… Read moreWitness Against Torture defendants “represent” Gitmo detainees
A masked group of some 20 men armed with sticks went on the rampage in Rome’s multi-ethnic Pigneto district May 24, smashing the windows of shops owned by Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants while hurling verbal abuse. The mob disappeared before… Read moreRacist attacks shake Italy
In late 2006, when Mengistu Haile Mariam was found guilty of genocide by an Ethiopian court, we noted the irony that the verdict came as charges of mass killings of ethnic minorities were mounting against the current Ethiopian regime. Mengistu… Read moreEthiopia: Mengistu sentenced to death in absentia
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement May 26 its fighters had sabotaged Shell Oil’s “major trunk pipeline” at Awoba flow station, and killed 11 soldiers in an ensuing gun battle. Sagir Musa,… Read moreNiger Delta militants hit Shell pipeline
A Czech activist, Jan Bednar, has been on hunger strike for two weeks to protest the “military occupation of the Czech Republic by the United States”—by which he means the plans to build a radar base for the new “missile… Read moreCzech hunger strike against US radar base
The US Marine Corps announced it will not bring criminal charges against two officers in command of a unit involved in the shooting deaths of up to 19 civilians near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, last year after a car bomb struck the… Read moreUncertain justice (or none) in Afghanistan, Iraq atrocities
Japanese media report that Tokyo may end its supply support mission for US-led forces in Iraq next year, under pressure from the powerful opposition. Japan has some 210 Air Self-Defense Force personnel in Kuwait, from where they airlift supplies to… Read moreJapan to end Iraq mission in 2009?
From the Iraq Freedom Congress and the Opening for Peace, Equality and Nexus (OPEN), Japan, May 19: Joint Statement to Stop ‘Gender Cleansing’ in Iraq under the name of ‘honor killing’ and other gender-based violence against women, and to Demand… Read moreStop “gender cleansing” in Iraq
The founder and chief commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Manuel “Tirofijo” (Sureshot) Marulanda, has died, the Colombian government announced May 24.”Through military intelligence, we learned Pedro Antonio Marin, alias Manuel Marulanda or Sureshot, the principal chief… Read moreFARC commander Mario Marulanda dead: Colombia
We recently asked if the folks at the Council on Foreign Relations who want to remake US policy on Latin America have Barack Obama’s ear. Here’s a sign that they do. After a too-long period of annoying vagueness, he finally… Read moreObama pledges new direction on Latin America
From Reuters, May 22: Tito Santana, one of the last tribal kings in the Americas, has been driven into exile from his lands deep in the Panamanian jungle by a fight over a hydroelectric project that has divided his tiny… Read moreHydro development exiles indigenous king in Panama
