Belarussian dissidents are calling for sanctions against the regime, with 200 of the protesters arrested last month still being held—some 30 in special KGB political prisons.
The defense chiefs of South Korea and Japan met in Seoul to pledge unprecedented military relations after Pentagon calls for “trilateral cooperation” against the DPRK.
The Tunisian government says 14 were killed in unrest over the weekend in the western towns of Kasserine, Regueb and Thala, while opposition leaders put the figure at 25.
A Homeland Security memo states that Jared Loughner—primary suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords—is “possibly linked” to the white supremacist American Renaissance.
From exile in Warsaw, Belarussian opposition activists demanded release of all dissidents arrested in last month’s wave of terror, and sanctions against the Lukashenko regime.
The NY Times reports that the US is warning foreign dissidents named in the WikiLeaks cables of possible repression—but fails to note that this is already happening in Belarus.
Jewish organizations are protesting the 27-year sentence handed down to Sholom Rubashkin, the kosher slaughterhouse CEO whose plant was raided for undocumented workers.
The US Department of Defense announced that Guantánamo Bay detainee Farhi Saeed Bin Mohammed was transfered to his native Algeria pursuant to a court order.
Rising food prices led to an outbreak of riots in Algeria, with unrest continuing today in several cities. Youth also clashed with police in towns around neighboring Tunisia.
Moroccan security services broke up a 27-member terrorist network, authorities announced, saying the cell aimed to set up an al-Qaeda base in the kingdom.
The powerful Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ended his self-imposed exile in Iran and returned to his stronghold hometown of Najaf in central Iraq this week.
More than 1,000 protesters took to the streets in Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdish regional capital, to condemn a new law requiring all public demonstrations to have government permits.
