Archeologists warn that if the Sivand Dam in Iran’s southern Fars Province is completed, precious relics from antiquity will be lost. The dam is projected to flood a gorge and an archaeological area called the Tangeh Balaghi. By increasing humidity… Read moreIran: ecologists, archaeologists protest dam project
Iran’s successful launch of its first space rocket Feb. 25 made global headlines. Iran’s Space Research Center said the rocket returned to earth by parachute, and did from where in Iran it had been launched or where it landed. The… Read moreRocket launches reveal Iran-Israel arms race
US military officials displayed another cache of “explosively formed penetrators” (EFPs) to reporters at a base outside Baghdad Feb. 26, saying the weaponry was clearly made in Iran. They admitted, however, there was no way to know if the Iranian… Read moreIran, al-Qaeda roles disputed in confused Iraq conflict
Religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq are facing unprecedented levels of violence, and in some cases risk being eradicated entirely, according to a new report from the London-based Minority Rights Group International. In a major survey of the plight of… Read moreReport: Iraq minorities face extinction
The International Federation of Journalists has condemned as “outrageous and inexcusable” an armed raid by US troops on the Baghdad offices of the Iraq Syndicate of Journalists. The soldiers ransacked the offices of the Syndicate—a member of the IFJ’s global… Read moreIraq: US troops raid journalists’ union
On Nov. 9, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) sent an “Open Letter to the People of the United States.” It was specially addressed to Hollywood figures Michael Moore, Denzel Washington and Oliver Stone; leftist academics Noam Chomsky, Angela… Read moreJames Petras replies to FARC appeal
As Umberto Eco said about Salman Rushdie, “A death sentence is a rather harsh review.” From AP via the San Diego Union-Tibune, Feb. 19: MEXICO CITY – Gunmen shot to death four men identified as members of a musical group… Read moreMexico: narco gangs kill musicians
Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon visited a small village outside the Rosario monarch butterly reserve in Michoacan state to announce a “zero tolerance” policy against illegal logging, and pledged to mobilize army troops to protected areas. (Scientific American, Feb. 26) The… Read moreMexico: Calderon sends army against illegal logging
Women from the National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS) blocked roads at various locations across Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, in protest of the "anti-national and pro-imperialist" government of President Felipe Calderon. They also demanded lower electricity rates. Traffic… Read moreWomen block roads in Chiapas
A Feb. 22 press release from Narco News, via New Zealand’s Scoop: Zapatistas to Raise Two Peace Encampments on Indigenous Territory Subcomandante Marcos, spokesman of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), recently announced that the Sixth Commission and the… Read moreMexico: Zapatistas call for “peace camp” in Baja California
In recognition of International Mother Language Day, lawmakers in southern Mexico’s Chiapas state proposed Feb. 21 a reform to the state constitution recognizing the existence of the indigenous tongues of Jacalteco, Chuj and Kanjobal, which are threatened with extinction. Articel… Read moreMexico: call to save threatened indigenous languages
Nancy Flores writes for Mexico’s El Universal, Feb. 24 (links added): NAIROBI – Native Maya seeds from Zapatista cornfields reached the hands of small farmers in Africa last month as a symbol of solidarity and hope. Mexican labor advocates delivered… Read moreAfrican peasants receive Zapatista maize at Nairobi WSF
