Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) denied government charges it has become a drug trafficking organization, saying the accusations jeopardize preliminary peace talks set to resume this month. Peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo told Reuters the previous day that cocaine smuggling… Read moreColombia: ELN denies narco charge
Violence has forced up to 7,000 people in the southern Colombian department of Nariño from their homes over the past two weeks as soldiers battle to retake land from FARC guerillas producing cocaine in the area, officials said. The displacement,… Read moreColombia: 7,000 displaced in Nariño
Colombia April 3 denied a request from jailed paramilitary leaders to campaign for candidates in local elections. Fourteen of about 60 para bosses jailed near Medellin sought permission to campaign in their cental and northern hometowns on behalf of gubernatorial… Read moreColombia: jailed para leaders barred from politics
Oil prices fell from $68.38 to $66.93 hours after Iran decided to free 15 UK naval personnel it holds captive, easing fears that the international dispute could escalate and disrupt crude supplies. (Forbes, April 4) Meanwhile, it was revealed that… Read moreIran to release UK sailors; oil prices drop
According to investigative reports by ABC, the CIA has carefully maintained ties and links with the Pakistan-based insurgent group Jundallah, a band of Baloch separatists fighting for an independent Balochestan, a region which straddles southeast Iran and southwest Pakistan. Iranian… Read moreIran: US backing Baluch rebels?
Cao Gangchuan, China’s defence minister, pledged to maintain military ties with Sudan during the visit of Sudanese officials to Beijing. China has blocked efforts in the UN Security Council to dispatch peacekeepers to the violence-plagued western Sudanese region of Darfur,… Read moreChina and Sudan reaffirm military ties
Eleven electricity plant workers were killed in an ambush as they drove to work in northern Iraq April 4. Police said gunmen stopped a vehicle carrying the workers near Hawija, about 70 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk, then sprayed it with… Read moreKirkuk: insurgents kill workers
Interpol issued an international arrest warrant April 3 for three Israelis accused of training illegal paramilitary groups in Colombia. Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham are being sought on charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in terrorism, facing nearly… Read moreColombia seeks Israelis in paramilitary scandal
Haaretz, citing Israeli military sources, reported April 2 that the Israeli Defense Forces are preparing for the possibility of a Syrian attack on the Golan Heights that will start as a result of a “miscalculation” on the part of the… Read moreIsrael planning Syria attack?
As Somali insurgents square off against Ethiopian and government troops in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, bands of pirates have been making life increasingly difficult for ships coming in and out of the city’s harbour. An Indian cargo vessel was… Read moreSomalia: Mogadishu evacuated; pirates besiege harbor
From the Center for Constitutional Rights, April 3: Descendants of Japanese American Internees File Amicus Brief in Support of Muslim Immigrants Today, descendants of Japanese Americans interned during World War II filed the first of three amicus briefs in support… Read moreJapanese-American WWII interns’ kin support Muslim immigration detainees
From the Center for Constitutional Rights, April 2: Supreme Court Denies Immediate Review of Guantanamo Cases Clients May Wait Another Year in Detention Without Meaningful Way to Challenge Imprisonment The Supreme Court announced today that it would not be hearing… Read moreSupreme court puts off review of Gitmo cases
