Speaking with journalists in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer emphasized the alliance’s relationship with Pakistan—espeically in terms of the mission in Afghanistan under the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Scheffer said NATO contacts with Islamabad were growing… Read moreNATO sees greater Pakistan role for Afghan war
In a surprising shift of strategy, Nepal's Maoist guerillas have reached a 12-point common agenda with the top parliamentary parties, subsequently endorsed by UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. The new pact between the armed rebels and political opposition does not seek… Read moreNepal: Maoists in accord with democratic opposition
Here's some good news that might appease the Sardinian separatists. But where will the base be relocating to, and will it similarly piss off the surly natives? From AFP via Turkish Press, Nov. 24 (emphasis added): ROME – The United… Read moreUS to close nuclear sub base on Sardinia
Well, it certainly is comforting to know that global warming is just a myth. Rise in Gases Unmatched By Andrew C. Revkin New York Times Service Shafts of ancient ice pulled from Antarctica’s frozen depths show that for at least… Read moreScientists: greenhouse gases at 600,000-year high
The class struggle for the future of New Orleans is made clear by this Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) report in Newsday that the volunteers who have established soup kitchens and work brigades to help the poor survive and resist being… Read moreNew Orleans elite kicks out citizen volunteers
A highly critical report on Israeli actions in East Jerusalem by East Jerusalem and Ramallah-based British diplomats was leaked to the press by “someone who wanted to publicize it,” according to the New York Times. The report was prepared for… Read moreItaly blocks release of EU report on East Jerusalem
David Irving, the self-trained British “historian” currently cooling his heels in an Austrian jail cell, appears to have recanted his denial of the Nazi Judeocide. The Nov.5 UK Guardian reports that a “repented” Irving plans to plead guilty to charges… Read moreIs David Irving recanting his Holocaust denial?
The Bush administration decided to charge designated “enemy combatant” Jose Padilla, a US citizen who was initially said to have been preparing a radioactive “dirty bomb” attack on US soil, with less serious crimes because it was unwilling to allow… Read morePadilla case raises torture concerns
The BBC reports Nov. 24 on the struggle of a woman known as Amna to resist village authorities in Pakistan who married her to a man from a rival clan at the age of 10 to settle a family dispute…. Read morePakistan: woman defies child marriage
Two days ago, we noted, coordinated twin suicide attacks left some 70 Shi’ite worshippers dead in Khanaqin, a town within Iraq’s normally more tranquil Kurdish autonomous zone. Nov. 23 has seen a suicide attack—this time targetting a police convoy, and… Read moreIraq: will regime call Bush’s bluff?
The front-page synopsis below the headline of the New York Times‘s coverage of Bush’s Nov. 20 meeting with President Hu Jintao in Beijing said it all: Hu Jintao Cedes Nothing on Political Freedoms —Will Act on Trade Economic “liberalization” without… Read moreBush betrays Tiananmen martyrs —but not Microsoft
From the British site Labour Friends of Iraq, Nov. 22: Grassroots members of George Galloway’s left-wing Respect party have condemned as “unacceptable” the decision of the party leadership to exclude lesbian and gay rights from their manifesto for the general… Read moreGalloway party in gay rights row
