From UPI, Oct. 17: Hit-and-run deaths at 10-year high WASHINGTON, DC — Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington show that hit-and-run pedestrian deaths have risen 20 percent since 2000. A total of 974 pedestrians were killed… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
From the Center for Constitutional Rights, Oct. 17: Bush Signs the Military Commissions Act: CCR Calls it a Blow to Democracy and the Constitution New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) denounced President Bush’s signing into… Read moreBush signs Military Commissions Act
From the New York Times, Oct. 17: BAGHDAD — The blackened shells of five cars still sit in front of the Church of the Virgin Mary here, stark reminders of a bomb blast that killed two people after a recent… Read moreIraq: Christians face sectarian cleansing
After a much-publicized cancellation, “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” based on the activist’s writings, has opened in NYC. The following commentary ran Oct. 16 in Newsweek: A Controversial Death Provokes a Controversial Play by Cathleen McGuigan Do you remember the… Read moreNYC: Rachel Corrie play opens
This seems like a worthy cause, but how much is the American Jewish Committee actually hurting Choudhury’s chances of acquittal or clemency by campaigning on his behalf? Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, a Bangladeshi journalist and the editor of Blitz, the… Read moreBangladesh: journalist could face death sentence
Note the rather ironic last line of this account. Perhaps the real lesson US war-makers failed to glean from Pontecorvo’s film was, “Stay out—its hopeless.” From Italy’s AKI news agency, Oct. 13: Gillo Pontecorvo, one of Italy’s leading filmmakers renowned… Read more“Battle of Algiers” director passes, lessons unheeded
A suicide bomber crashed a truck full of explosives into a convoy of buses carrying unarmed navy personnel going on leave in Sri Lanka Oct. 16, killing at least 94 and wounding 150. The explosion, at Habarana about 100 miles… Read moreTerror and retaliation take bloody toll in Sri Lanka
From the New York Law Journal, Oct. 17: Veteran defense attorney Lynne Stewart cried tears of relief yesterday as a federal judge ordered her to serve a dramatically lower sentence than prosecutors had requested for her conviction on providing material… Read moreLynne Stewart gets 28 months, remains free pending appeal
Once again–which is more appalling? This isn’t the first time that clueless or insensitive art geeks have staged bogus bombings on New York’s subways, only to face criminal charges from an NYPD which is equally clueless about the first amendment…. Read moreArt stunt pseudo-terrorizes NY subways
Freedom’s on the march in the USA’s closest South Asian ally. From the New York Times, Oct. 14: KABIRWALA, Pakistan — Pursuing justice is not easy for a woman in Pakistan, not if the crime is rape. Ghazala Shaheen knows…. Read moreVendetta rapes persist in Pakistan
Portions of an article on torture in Chechnya written by murdered reporter Anna Politkovskaya before her death were published Oct. 12 by the Novaya Gazeta. The report detailed allegations of abuse, including an account by one man who said he… Read moreRussia closes Chechnya rights watchdog amid new torture claims
Georgia officially charged four Russian servicemen with espionage last month, spurring new tensions between the two countries over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. (RIA-Novosti, Sept. 29) In a counterintuitive development, Russia is backing the predominantly Muslim Abkhaz… Read moreCaucasus headed for further Balkanization?
