Osama bin Laden’s latest audiotape release is almost funny. Along with the usual swipes at the “Crusader-Zionist” war on Islam, he accuses the UN Security Council of being controlled by the “Crusader movement along with pagan Buddhists”–an apparent reference to… Read moreZarqawi, Osama wow media
On April 18, three Uruguayan military officers–one retired–arrived in Chile after being extradited there to face charges relating to the 1991 abduction in Chile and subsequent murder in Uruguay of Chilean chemist Eugenio Berrios. Berrios worked for the National Intelligence… Read moreUruguay: officers extradited to Chile
Mapuche rights activists Juan Patricio Marileo Saravia, Florencio Jaime Marileo Saravia, Juan Carlos Huenulao Lienmil and Patricia Troncoso Robles (known as “La Chepa”) have been on hunger strike since March 13 in prison in Angol, Chile’s Region IX, demanding a… Read moreChile: Mapuche prisoners strike
On April 17, members of Brazil’s Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) commemorated the 10th anniversary of the day in 1996 when Military Police (PM) agents fired at some 1,500 MST members who were marching on the PA-150 highway in… Read moreBrazil: landless mark massacre
A violent confrontation between 800 federal and state police agents and more than 500 striking steelworkers left two workers dead and dozens of workers and police agents injured on April 20 at the Siderurgica Lazaro Cardenas-Las Truchas, SA (Sicartsa) steel… Read moreMexico: workers killed in steel strike
From the AP, April 22: CALEDONIA, Ontario — As an uneasy calm settled amid the barricades, fresh tensions erupted Friday as protesters shut down a vital Ontario rail corridor in solidarity with those occupying a disputed tract of southwestern Ontario… Read moreOntario: Mohawk uprising spreads
This may not be linked to the recent ascendence of reactionary elements in the Vatican—but it does point to an intersection of clerical reaction and organized crime in Sicily, at least. From The Guardian, April 21: Italian police codebreakers are… Read moreBible scholars to crack Mafia code?
Here are the first vaguely credible claims that Darfur refugees are being recruited for the Chad insurgency. But numerous questions are left unanswered. Its a little ironic that Chad’s President Déby is using these claims to imply that Sudan is… Read moreDarfur refugees caught in Chad civil war
From Newsday, April 23: LAGOS – A militant group that has been attacking Nigeria’s oil pipelines and helping to drive up world oil prices added a new tactic last week by detonating a car bomb in a major oil city… Read moreNiger Delta insurgents escalate tactics
On April 19, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 1,187 immigrant workers employed by IFCO Systems North America, Inc., which manufactures and recycles pallets and crates. ICE also arrested seven current and former IFCO Systems managers on criminal… Read moreMassive raid reflects new ICE strategy?
From Reuters, April 20: TORONTO – Native protesters used a mound of burning tires and parked vehicles to blockade a road in a southern Ontario town on Thursday after provincial police evicted a group occupying a local construction site. The… Read moreOntario: Mohawks clash with provincial police
Anti-mining protests have made some international news from Mongolia and Indonesia. The latest entry is from the French colonial holding of New Caledonia. Note that protests causing “millions of dollars” in damages to the mine took place weeks ago with… Read moreAnti-mining protests rock New Caledonia
