Afghanistan
Suicide blasts rock Kabul —again
At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded when multiple suicide bombers attacked a hotel popular with foreigners and the surrounding area in the center of Kabul.
Greater Middle East
Axis of Evil summit convenes in Damascus
Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syria’s Bashar Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah met in Damascus for an unprecedented three-way summit on unity against Israel.
Watching the Shadows
Spain’s Judge Garzón faces suspension —after opening Bush-era war crimes probe
Authorities in Spain have moved to suspend investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón—just as he has opened a probe of John “torture memo” Yoo and other Bush administration figures.
North America
Anti-Semitic incidents reach record high in Canada: report
B’nai Brith Canada’s 2009 “Audit of Antisemitic Incidents” reports over 1,200 incidents last year, an 11% increase over 2008 and a five-fold increase over the last decade.
Palestine
Israelis, Palestinians woo China; Kaifeng crypto-Jews caught in the middle?
As Israel and Fatah both launch new diplomatic initiatives in China, a group of "lost Jews" from Kaifeng have for the first time made aliyah. Are they serving as pawns of political strategy?
Watching the Shadows
Supreme Court hears arguments on terrorism support law
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, on whether the law prohibiting material support to terrorism violates the First Amendment.
Afghanistan
Sweep of Afghan Taliban leadership in Pakistan?
Pakistani authorities are reported to have arrested nearly half of the Afghan Taliban’s top leadership, in what is being portrayed as a crucial blow to the insurgent movement.
Watching the Shadows
Rights groups confirm CIA rendition planes landed in Poland
Two human rights groups released documents confirming that planes associated with the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program landed in Poland on six occasions in 2003.
Mexico
Mexico: activist accused in Brad Will murder free at last
Juan Manuel Martínez, accused of killing New York independent journalist Brad Will, was released from prison in Oaxaca after a judge found there was no evidence against him.
Mexico
Mexico: massacre in Oaxaca village
Hooded gunmen stormed the pueblo of San Vicente Camalote in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state and killed 13 people in attacks on a ranch and a police checkpoint.
Palestine
Israeli “national heritage” list “blurs border” with Palestinian territories
Israel’s inclusion of two West Bank locations—the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb—on a list of “national heritage sites” has drawn widespread protests.
Africa
“Free trade” deepens African hunger: study
The push to privatize government functions and instate “free trade” policies has sparked a hunger crisis for millions of people in African nations, researchers conclude in a new study.