The Occupy Wall Street movement is refreshingly independent from the usual sectarian factions that control left-wing protests in New York—but was called by Adbusters magazine, which activists have let off the hook for egregious anti-Semitism.
As Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant went online last week, the government announced that $50 million has been allocated to resettle the 4,000 residents of the nearby villages of Heleylah and Bandargah—despite assurances that the plant is safe.
Five days of armed clashes in the Yemeni capital Sanaa have left dozens dead and hundreds injured. Rebel tribesmen and defected army units battle Republican Guard troops, while student protesters occupying “Change Square” are under mortar and sniper fire.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay suggested a need for UN intervention in Belarus and demanded the regime free non-violent political prisoners. The regime responded that Belarus disagrees on what constitutes a peaceful demonstration.
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on four Colombian nationals and 12 companies said to be linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. The move comes amid charges that US law enforcement is favoring the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico’s bloody narco wars.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan lifted an injunction on damages levied against US oil giant Chevron, making the company potentially liable for $8.6 billion in compensation to Ecuadoran citizens for an Amazon oil spill in the 1990s.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi took credit for the massacre of 25 Shi’ite pilgrims, members of the Hazara minority, headed from Pakistan to holy cities in Iran. Sunni militants are escalating attacks on the Hazara, who were targeted for genocide in Taliban Afghanistan.
Barack Obama mourned the death of the war criminal Burhanuddin Rabbani as a “tragic loss.” The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) decried Rabbani as leader of the “Northern Alliance mafia” made up of “millionaire rapists.”
A Buenos Aires court declared former Argentine president Carlos Menem (1989-1999) innocent of involvement in the government’s clandestine sales of arms to Ecuador and Croatia from 1991 to 1995.
Honduras armed forces chief Gen. René Osorio Canales claims police and soldiers were ambushed by “people with high-caliber weapons, people who have dedicated themselves to guerrilla activities” in the conflicted Lower Aguán Valley.
The Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) agreed to end a sit-in the unionists had been holding in Mexico City’s main plaza since March; the government has agreed to find jobs for laid-off workers.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 17-year term was not enough for Jose Padilla, convicted on terrorism charges, ordering a new sentence. Padilla himself is suing the US, saying he was illegally detained for over three years on a military base.
