India successfully tested an Agni III missile April 12, capable of launching a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead across 3,000 kilometers—a dramatic increase on prior missile systems principally designed to strike at Pakistan. The missile was launched from Wheeler Island in the… Read moreIndia test-fires nuclear-capable Agni III missile
One of Iraq’s main insurgent groups has confirmed a split with al-Qaeda, according to a spokesman for the dissenting organization. Ibrahim al-Shammari told AlJazeera TV that the Islamic Army in Iraq decided to break from al-Qaeda in Iraq after its… Read moreIraq: Islamic Army breaks from al-Qaeda
An explosion has hit the lunchtime cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament building, located in the “Green Zone” stronghold of Baghdad [April 12]. It is thought to have injured several members of parliament and employees. The al-Sarafiya bridge in Baghdad, connecting… Read moreIraq: bomb blast at parliament; GIs’ tours extended
Army harassment is reported at both of the ecological reserves recently declared by the Zapatista rebels at opposite ends of Mexico—one at Cerro Huitepec in the southern Chiapas Highlands; the other at El Mayor, Baja California, just south of the… Read moreMexican army harasses Zapatista peace camps
Representantives of dozens of ejidos (agricultural collectives) in the northern zone of Mexico’s Chiapas state issued a statement denouncing the approval of illegal sales of collective lands. The protesters, mostly Chol Maya from the municipalities of Tila and Salto de… Read moreChiapas: campesinos protest illegal land sales
Human Rights Watch April 5 denounced the ongoing impunity for perpetrators of rights violations during the “dirty war” against leftists in Mexico of the 1960s and ’70s. HRW said the results obtained by the special prosecutor’s office on the repression,… Read moreHRW protests impunity in Mexican “dirty war”
The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), Florentín Menéndez, was in Mexico April 11 to meet with officials from the federal Government Secretariat. Menéndez urged officials to seek a solution to the ongoing teachers’ strike in the… Read moreAPPO: Oaxaca struggle not over
Mexico, Colombia and seven Central American nations held a 24-hour summit April 10 in Campeche, issuing a nine-point plan for revitalizing the regional development alliance known as the Puebla-Panama Plan (PPP). Joining Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon were the presidents of… Read moreMexico: Campeche PPP summit draws protests
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte leaves April 11 for Sudan, where the State Department says the Khartoum government can expect new sanctions if there is no movement on a long-delayed expansion of international peacekeeping in Darfur. But State… Read moreNegroponte to Sudan: no ultimatum on Darfur
Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement have both turned proposals for the future status of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara over to the UN. The Moroccan proposal calls for regional autonomy for the territory under Morocco’s sovereignty. The Polisario proposal calls… Read moreWestern Sahara: dueling proposals on territory’s future
A fierce battle in the Sunni-dominated Fadhil and Sheikh Omar neighborhoods of central Baghdad April 10 left four Iraqi soldiers dead, 16 US soldiers wounded and a US helicopter damaged by ground fire. In the midst of the battle, a… Read moreIraq: mosque raid sparks Baghdad battle
A proposal to make Buddhism the national religion of Thailand in the country’s new constitution has sparked huge debate. Though overwhelmingly Buddhist (95% of the country), Thailand is in the grips of escalating strife in the southern, predominantly Muslim parts… Read moreThailand debates religion —as terror escalates
