Israeli forces raided the village of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, early May 29, storming houses and detaining four men. The mayor of Ni’lin, Aiman Nafe, said the incursion and detentions aimed to suppress activities scheduled for that day against construction… Read moreIsrael detains anti-wall protesters at Ni’lin
On May 19 the Cuban government accused Michael Parmly, outgoing head of the US Interests Section in Havana, of supplying opponents of the government with money from Cuban American right-winger Santiago Alvarez Fernandez-Magrinat, who is currently serving a 46-month prison… Read moreCuba: dissidents funded by terrorist?
On May 15 Chilean judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes Belmar found retired army colonel Mario Manriquez Bravo guilty in the Sept. 16, 1973 murder of the internationally renowned singer Victor Jara; the judge then closed the case, despite testimony that other… Read moreChile: conviction in Victor Jara murder
On May 21 Jose Leopoldo Gonzalez, secretary general of the Conference of Mexican Bishops (CEM), said the Catholic bishops had voted unanimously to call for the government to make former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) testify again about the… Read moreMexico: bishops push Posadas probe
Families are desperate a year after five workers and three pensioners from the Mexican state oil company Pemex disappeared, with federal authorities claiming no progress in the case. Mexico’s opposition is pointing at the security forces. “No one seems to… Read more“Disappeared” Mexican oil workers —one year later
More than 1,000 people, mostly peasants, marched through the streets of Savanette, near the Dominican border in Haiti’s Central Plateau region, on May 19 to protest the local government’s failure to issue proper identity papers. The march also commemorated the… Read moreHaiti: 1,000 peasants protest
A statement from Hassan Juma’a Awad, president of Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, via US Labor Against the War (USLAW), May 28: Statement by Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions to 2008 Chevron and ExxonMobil Shareholder meetings On May 28, 2008,… Read moreIraqi oil workers appeal to Exxon shareholders
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that his organization “is siding with the resistance in Iraq” in a speech to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Beirut. “The Iraqis, Shia and Sunni, who took part in the political process wanted… Read moreNasrallah: Hezbollah “siding with” Iraq resistance
From Witness Against Torture, May 20: Guantánamo Detainess To Get Their Day in Court Witness Against Torture Activists to “Represent” Detainees in Trial, May 27 WASHINGTON, DC – Detainees at the U.S. Military Prison in Guantánamo will finally get their… Read moreWitness Against Torture defendants “represent” Gitmo detainees
A masked group of some 20 men armed with sticks went on the rampage in Rome’s multi-ethnic Pigneto district May 24, smashing the windows of shops owned by Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants while hurling verbal abuse. The mob disappeared before… Read moreRacist attacks shake Italy
In late 2006, when Mengistu Haile Mariam was found guilty of genocide by an Ethiopian court, we noted the irony that the verdict came as charges of mass killings of ethnic minorities were mounting against the current Ethiopian regime. Mengistu… Read moreEthiopia: Mengistu sentenced to death in absentia
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement May 26 its fighters had sabotaged Shell Oil’s “major trunk pipeline” at Awoba flow station, and killed 11 soldiers in an ensuing gun battle. Sagir Musa,… Read moreNiger Delta militants hit Shell pipeline
