A new outbreak of ethnic violence in Sri Lanka’s restive east is hindering tsunami relief efforts, a group of nearly 100 aid agencies said June 3. Shootings and grenade attacks have become commonplace in the east in recent months, blamed… Read moreSri Lanka “Moors” protest tsunami aid deal
The June 2 car bomb explosion in the Christian Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafieh that killed prominent anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir comes as an international team is investigating the February assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Anti-Syrian leaders were quick… Read moreReport from Lebanon
Turf wars among imprisoned drug gang leaders are responsible for a wave of violence in northern Mexico, the country’s new attorney general Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said May 27. Ironically, Mexico’s success in putting drug lords behind bars has prompted… Read moreViolence surges on Mexican border
As we have noted, all US soldiers accused of killings in Iraq have thus far been acquitted. This particularly grisly case will really put Pentagon justice to the test. But we again note that, in any case, higher-ranking officers–who the… Read moreGIs face charges in torture-death
The Russia-based Iraqi Resistance Report website cites a story from the Iraqi newspaper Mafkarat al-Islam June 1 that US forces beseiging the central town of al-Ramadi are using restoration of water and other basic services as a bargaining chip to… Read moreIraq: US using water as bargaining chip?
Amnesty International is defending its description of Guantánamo prison as a “gulag,” and urges the US to allow independent investigations of allegations of torture at its detention centers for terrorism suspects. A verbal feud between Amnesty and Washington has escalated… Read moreAmnesty: Gitmo a “Gulag”
Emulating recent jihadi tactics in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Iraqi resistance has targetted a gathering of Sufis for a suicide attack, as well as escalating attacks against Shi’ites. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a gathering of Sufi Muslims… Read moreIraq “resistance” blows up Sufis
President for life Saparmurat Niyazov, the self-styled Turkmenbashi, or “leader of all the Turkmen,” has made good on a pledge to order all hospitals outside the Turkmen capital Ashbagat shut. This comes on the heels of his decision to close… Read moreTurkmenbashi decides the people don’t need doctors, books
A dozen men armed with assault rifles killed two children of a man who belongs to a peasant ecologist group in Mexico’s Pacific coast state of Guerrero May 19, and soldiers arrested three members of the same group on weapons… Read moreMexico: children of campesino ecologist murdered
The Independent Task Force on the Future of North America, a New York-based body coordinated by the Council on Foreign Relations, has released a detailed set of proposals that build on the recommendations adopted by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin,… Read moreNAFTA militarized
A suicide bomb tore through a mosque in Kandahar June 1 at the funeral of Mullah Abdul Fayaz, a Muslim cleric who spoke out against the Taliban, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens. Hundreds of mourners were crowded… Read moreAfghanistan: 20 dead in mosque blast
More chilling revelations in the ongoing scandal over abuse at Guantanamo Bay and other US military detention centers… Gitmo Detainees Say Muslims Were Sold By Michelle Faul The Associated Press Tuesday 31 May 2005 San Juan, Puerto Rico — They… Read moreGitmo detainees: We were “sold”
