Mexico
Toxic smoke on the border
For the third time in less than a week, an industrial fire scarred the skies of Ciudad Juárez, raising fears of toxic pollution across the borderlands.
The Andes
Bolivia: Evo Morales on hunger strike to press election law
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales is on hunger strike to protest efforts by opposition lawmakers to block an electoral bill that will assign more seats to poor rural areas where he has widespread support.
Southeast Asia
Thailand: protesters shut down ASEAN summit
The ASEAN summit at the Thai resort town of Pattaya was abruptly canceled after hundreds of protesters forced their way past police and army troops into the convention center.
Watching the Shadows
Obama administration to appeal Bagram detainees’ habeas ruling
The Obama administration will appeal a ruling by the DC district court that allowed detainees being held by the US in Afghanistan to proceed with habeas corpus challenges to their detention.
North Africa
Terror as Algeria elects “president for life”
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won 90% of the vote to secure his third mandate, in elections marred by terror attacks despite tight security throughout the country.
Inner Asia
Turkmenistan tilts to West following pipeline blast?
Turkmenistan accused the Russian state energy company Gazprom of causing a pipeline explosion, days after the Ashgabat government broached joining a new pipeline project bypassing Russia.
Watching the Shadows
CIA says no more secret prisons —and rendition?
The CIA announced that the agency will no longer use secret overseas prisons to hold terrorism suspects—but the Obama administration has not officially abandoned the practice of “rendition.”
Inner Asia
International protests follow death sentence for Tibetan protesters
International protests have greeted the sentencing of two Tibetans to the death penalty for their role in last year’s protests in Lhasa. Thirty-five Tiebtan protesters were arrested in Kathmandu.
Iraq
Iraq court reduces sentence of shoe-throwing journalist
An appeals court in Baghdad reduced the sentence for Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist accused of throwing his shoe at former US president George W. Bush, from three years to one year.
Europe
Italy: Berlusconi bid to double migrant detention period defeated
Italian lawmakers rejected a bid to triple the amount of time undocumented immigrants
can be detained, in a rare defeat for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling coalition.
Europe
Amnesty International criticizes Greek police in wake of youth uprising
Amnesty International is calling on Greek authorities to to address long-standing problems in policing in the wake of this year’s youth uprising .
Watching the Shadows
Gitmo defendant Omar Khadr’s lawyer reinstated by military judge
US military judge Colonel Patrick Parrish ruled April 7 that Pentagon officials lacked the authority to dismiss Lieutenant Commander William Kuebler as defense counsel for Canadian Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr. Chief defense counsel Colonel Peter Masciola reassigned Kuebler earlier… Read moreGitmo defendant Omar Khadr’s lawyer reinstated by military judge