From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), March 8: On the 8th of March This Year… “No to Women Killing… No to the Gangs Who Promote Sexual Cleansing… Yes to an Iraq that is Free of Women Haters” The 8th of… Read moreIraq: civil resistance protests “sexual cleansing”
Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani said March 8 he seeks a “strategic” partnership with Turkey as he wrapped up a visit to Ankara aimed at easing tension sparked by the Turkish military’s eight-day incursion into Iraq last month. Speaking to members… Read moreTalabani schmoozes Turks, sells out PKK
A double bombing in a crowded Baghdad shopping district killed at least 53 people and wounded 130 March 6. The blasts took place in the primarily Shi’ite, middle-class Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah. The tactic was to draw in the people… Read moreIraq: more bombs, more mass graves
The leaders of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela formally ended their dispute March 7 with handshakes and embraces at the 20th Rio Group Summit in the Dominican Republic, approving a “Santo Domingo Declaration,” which condemns Colombia’s March 1 cross-border raid in… Read moreFrom war fever to schmoozing: Andean crisis resolved?
In its 2007 Annual Report, released March 5, the International Narcotics Control Board called on the governments of Bolivia and Peru to ban coca chewing, as well as its sale or export. The indigenous people of the Andes have chewed… Read moreBolivia, Peru resist international pressure on coca
Iran plans to open a television station “for all of Latin America,” to be based in the coca-growing Chaparé region of Bolivia, President Evo Morales announced at a gathering of cocaleros after his re-election as president of Bolivia’s coca-growers union…. Read moreIran to launch TV station in Bolivia’s coca country
Bolivia’s National Electoral Court (CNE) issued a ruling March 7 postponing a referendum on the new draft constitution scheduled for May 4, saying there is not enough time to ensure “legal guarantees” and an “adequate electoral environment.” CNE president José… Read moreBolivian electoral court halts referendums; eastern regions voice defiance
Fugitive environmental activist Tre Arrow was extradited from Canada Feb. 29 to stand trial in Oregon on conspiracy and arson charges after nearly four years in a Canadian prison. The 14-count indictment charges him with taking part in the destruction… Read moreCanada extradites eco-militant
Israeli authorities say the previously unknown Galilee Freedom Battalion was behind the March 6 attack on West Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav Jewish seminary, and the gunman was an Arab from Jerusalem. (Ma’an News Agency, March 7) Opening fire with a Kalashnikov… Read more“Galilee Freedom Battalion” claims Jerusalem seminary attack
A small bomb caused minor damage to New York’s Times Square military recruiting station before dawn March 7, and police are searching for a hooded bicyclist observed pedaling away on a surveillance video. The blast left a hole in the… Read moreAdventurist yahoo (or police provocateur?) attacks Times Square recruiting station
Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer accused by both the UN and Amnesty International of flouting embargos, was arrested at a five-star hotel in central Bangkok March 6. Thai authorities issued the warrant based on information from the US… Read moreRussian “death merchant” busted in Thailand linked to FARC?
Ecuadoran authorities are trying to detemrine if five students and professors from Mexico “carrying out investigations in the zone” were killed in Colombia’s March 1 air-strike on a FARC guerilla camp in the Ecuadoran Amazon. At least one Mexican student… Read moreMexican students killed in Colombian strike on Ecuador?
