Campesinos and farmers started an open-ended strike in eight Peruvian departments on Feb. 18, holding marches and blocking highways to demand government measures to ease the impact of a free trade agreement (FTA, or TLC in Spanish) with the US…. Read morePeru: five killed in trade protests
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez hosted a meeting in Buenos Aires on Feb. 23 with Bolivian president Evo Morales and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about a possible energy crisis in the countries and to consolidate plans for regional… Read moreSouth American leaders meet on energy crisis threat
In a communique made public on Feb. 21, Mexico’s rebel Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) denied any connection to the Jan. 30 shooting death of police director Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, a bodyguard and two civilians in the southern state of Oaxaca…. Read moreMexico: EPR guerillas deny Oaxaca attack
Reading between the lines in the Kosova coverage can sure be depressing, especially for those of us who have been following the conflict there over the past 20 years. While 20 years ago, Albanian protesters were throwing rocks at Serbian… Read moreAlbanian authorities have power to brutalize Serbs —but not control Kosova’s borders
The Sudanese military renewed its aerial bombing campaign in West Darfur region Feb. 25, with the joint UN-AU mission in Sudan, UNAMID, saying it had received reports of air-strikes in the Jebel Moun region. UNAMID said there is grave concern… Read moreSudan resumes Darfur air-strikes; China denies fueling war
Four more Shi’ite pilgrims headed for Karbala for Arbaeen celebrations were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad Feb. 25—one day after a suicide bomber killed 48 pilgrims, detonating a vest filled with explosives at a rest stop in Iskandiriyah…. Read moreIraq: bloody Arbaeen —again
Hundreds of angry youth clashed with anti-riot forces in Tehran Feb. 23 after trying to liberate a young girl who had been arrested by the Islamic Guidance police. The confrontation began in a main square of Tehran after the morality… Read moreIran: uprising against morality police
More than 120 international academics and human rights activists have signed a statement protesting the banning of Zanan Magazine—meaning “women’s magazine”—by the Iranian government this month, after 16 years in print. Iranian authorities have canceled the licenses of many publications… Read moreIran: protest banning of women’s magazine
From Newsday, Feb. 23: New MTBE spills found to threaten drinking water A study of Long Island groundwater pollution caused by the fuel additive MTBE uncovered 32 petroleum spills that had not been previously detected, including one in Ronkonkoma that… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Oops, he did it again. While it has gone largely unnoticed in US media coverage, press outlets on the subcontinent are noting (with trepidation or glee) alarmingly bellicose comments by Barack Obama at the Austin Democratic presidential debate Feb. 21… Read moreObama rattles saber at Pakistan —again
Divided over whether to boycott the polls, Islamist parties were among the biggest losers in Pakistan’s general elections. Islamists participated in the 2002 elections under the banner of the six-party Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), and secured 66 seats in the National… Read morePakistan elections: Islamists lose —despite intimidation
Turkish troops destroyed five bridges on the Avashin or Blue River in an incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan to hunt PKK rebel fighters, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Feb. 22. “We don’t expect that a large incursion is taking place,… Read moreTurkey destroys bridges in Iraqi Kurdistan incursion
