Planet Watch
US imperialism to outsource lunar invasion
Seeking ways to trim the federal budget, the Obama administration has decided to outsource the planned invasion of the Moon to the private sector. Cue Blackwater.
Central America
Honduras meets the new boss; struggle continues
As Porfirio Lobo began his term with police raids across Tegucigalpa, the resistance movement pledged to carry on the struggle to “refound” the country with a new constitution.
Mexico
Ciudad Juárez prepares monument to femicide victims
Ciudad Juárez Mayor José Reyes Ferriz announced that the city is calling on artists across Mexico to submit proposals for a monument to memorialize the city’s murdered women.
Mexico
Ciudad Juárez: massacre targets high school kids
Gunmen burst into a party and killed 14 high school students in Juárez. The 24 hours before the massacre had been one of the most violent on record in the conflicted border city.
North Africa
Morocco orders closure of opposition newspaper
Moroccan authorities ordered closed the independent news magazine Le Journal Hebdomadaire following what editors and press freedom advocates call a long campaign of harassment.
Greater Middle East
Aminatou Haidar
Saudi Arabia's attorney general confirmed that prominent journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi died in the country's Istanbul consulate. A statement said that Khashoggi was killed after a fight inside the consulate, and that 18 Saudis are detained pending an investigation. Turkish officials believe Saudi agents killed and dismembered Khashoggi. His body has not been found. "Now the same government that lied to the world, claiming for weeks that it had no knowledge of Khashoggi's fate, expects us to believe he died in a fight," said the Committee to Protect Journalists. "This ridiculous assertion is further evidence of a cover-up. We need an international investigation and relentless pressure on Saudi Arabia from the Trump administration, if we ever hope to get to the truth." (Photo: CPJ)
Africa
Terror wave targets independent Somaliland
A wave of bombings in Somaliland raises fears that the Shabab insurgents in neighboring Somalia are trying to destabilize the de facto independent republic.
The Caribbean
Violence in Haiti —from police and “peacekeepers”
As the media sensationalize reports of looting and violence in Port-au-Prince, police and UN peacekeepers have opened fire on hungry crowds demanding food.
Watching the Shadows
Canada: high court rules government not required to seek Khadr repatriation
Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that the treatment of Canadian Gitmo detainee Omar Khadr violated his rights, but the government does not have to press for his return to Canada.
Planet Watch
UN climate panel admits error; glaciers keep melting
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change admitted an error in claiming Himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2035—but this doesn’t mean the glaciers aren’t melting.
Planet Watch
Obama orders government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020
President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 28% by 2020, pursuant to Executive Order 13514, signed in October.
Palestine
Jewish Agency says world anti-Semitism surges: truth or propaganda?
Just because Israel’s Jewish Agency says anti-Semitic incidents have reached a record high not seen since World War II doesn’t mean that it isn’t true.