On April 11, Palestinian professor Sami Al-Arian was transferred into ICE custody after completing a sentence on civil contempt citations for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. On April 15, ICE agents transported Al-Arian from the Northern Neck… Read morePalestinian professor transfered to ICE custody
Peru's top public prosecutor Luis Landa Burgos ordered that new charges be brought against ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori over the forcible sterilization of thousands of indigenous and peasant women during his time in power in the 1990s. Three of his former ministers are also to face charges, as well as his ex-health director. Landa said he has an archive of testimony from survivors including Inés Condori, an indigenous woman from Cuzco region who was the first to speak out about the forced sterilization she underwent in 1995. Fujimori, already convicted on other rights abuses and corruption charges, was released from prison following a presidential pardon in December. Landa is now evaluating the legality of the pardon in light of new criminal charges that have been brought. (Photo of sterilization survivors in community meeting from La República via CNDH)
West Bank farmer Jamil Khader, 87, became very ill when he discovered that nearly all of the 1,400 olive trees his extended family planted in February had suddenly gone missing. Photo: Shabtai Gold/IRIN Back to story.
On a visit to Mexico City April 29, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Congress to approve the pending $500 million anti-drug program for Mexico, telling reporters, “Failure to do so would be a real slap at Mexico and would… Read moreGates presses Congress on Plan Mexico
On April 25, Mexican federal legislators of the three political parties that make up the Broad Progressive Front (FAP) ended their 16-day occupation of the congressional chambers after a deal was worked out with representatives of the ruling National Action… Read moreOccupation of Mexico’s Congress chambers ends —for now
A series of early-morning gun battles between presumed narco-gangsters in the busy streets of Tijuana—including one outside a hospital—left 15 dead and seven wounded April 26. Authorities are not releasing any of the names of the dead, but the local… Read moreMexican media speculate on Tijuana bloodbath
Just two days after Beijing’s surprise announcement that it would shortly meet with aides to the Dalai Lama, the Chinese Communist party’s official mouthpiece hurled fresh invective at the exiled Tibetan leader. The April 27 People’s Daily commentary stated: “The… Read moreChinese police gird for repression
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai strongly criticized the US and British conduct of the war April 25, insisting in an interview that his government be given the lead in policy decisions. He reiterated claims that Afghan villagers were bearing the brunt… Read moreKarzai disses US, almost gets assassinated
In the last six months, food riots in virtually every continent have made headlines, with angry protests reported in India, Mexico, Egypt, Indonesia, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, and the Philippines. Now impacts are being felt in… Read moreFood panic hits the First World
Our April issue featured the story “The Audacity of Vagueness: Barack Obama and Latin America,” by Nikolas Kozloff of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Wrote Kozloff: “Barack Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, has not been very eager to comprehensively address… Read moreOur readers write: Barack Obama or “October Surprise”?
Talk about chutzpah. The right-wing blogosphere is ballistic over Barack Obama‘s rather tenuous ties to a former member of the Weather Underground. It was Hillary Clinton who first made an issue of the fact that Obama once served on the… Read moreMilitia-linked extremoids bait Obama on (tenuous) Weatherman tie
We’ve always maintained that anti-Semitism and anti-Arab racism are genetically linked phenomena. A lovely illustration is provided by Joseph E. DiGenova, the prosecutor in the Jonathan Pollard case, following the latest bust in the endless Israeli spy scandal—of octogenarian former… Read moreJewish “sleeper cells” threaten America: Pollard prosecutor
