Raul Connolly

鈥淧akistan has demanded an apology and explanation from the United States over a drone strike in a tribal region, which officials said killed 35 people,鈥 ABC.net.au said on March 18. It said it was the seventh US drone strike in nine days. The article said it was the most lethal drone strike North Waziristan region since the US military escalated its bombing of Pakistani areas near the Afghan border in 2008. A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said: 鈥淭he government of Pakistan strongly condemns the drone strike which has resulted in a large number of casualties 鈥
Squatters have taken over a mansion in London owned by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, AFP said on March 8. The eight-bedroom house in Hampstead, north London, is owned by Seif al-Islam Gaddafi. The article said: 鈥淢embers of a campaign group called 鈥楾opple the Tyrants鈥 said they had occupied the mansion and wanted it transferred to the people of Libya.鈥 鈥淭he plush home, in a secluded, leafy close surrounded by some of Britain鈥檚 most expensive residential streets, boasts an indoor swimming pool, a sauna room and a cinema room.鈥
A NATO airstrike killed nine children collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan on March 2, Afghan officials have said. A March 2 WashingtonPost.com article said the deaths in Konar province 鈥渂ecame the latest irritant in the tense relationship between President Hamid Karzai and the international force in the country鈥. The top NATO commander, US general David Petraeus, issued an apology for the error, which the occupying forces blamed on 鈥渇aulty communication鈥.
鈥淗aiti鈥檚 infamous dictator 鈥楤aby Doc鈥 Duvalier, returned to his country this week, while the country's first elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is kept out鈥, Mark Weisbrot wrote in the January 20 Huffington Post. 鈥淭hese two facts really say everything about Washington鈥檚 policy toward Haiti, and our government's respect for democracy in that country and in the region.鈥

Twenty-six children in Gaza were shot by Israeli troops near the border during 2010, a Save the Children report found.

Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera (left) with Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera has posted all US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks that pertain to Bolivia on his official website, the Associated Press said on December 8.

The Venezuelan government released a statement accusing the United States of provoking the ongoing conflict between North and South Korea to further US interests in the region, Venezuelanalysis.com said November 26. The statement came amid escalating tensions, as the US and South Korea carried out military exercises in disputed waters North Korea claims as its own.
The Venezuelan government has begun distributing the first of 350,000 portable Canaima laptop computers to be provided to public elementary school children by the end of the year, Venezuelanalysis.com said on November 17. Education minister Jennifer Gil said: 鈥淭he Canaima Plan is a milestone and a technological innovation. It allows us to keep deepening our integral and massive education system that does not involve just students, but the entire family environment, parents, representatives and teachers.鈥
鈥淭he National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) expresses its energetic condemnation of the massacre against the campesino community in El Tumbador, Trujillo, in which our companeros Ignacio Reyes, Teodoro Acosta, Siriaco Munozm Raul Castillo and Jose Luis Sauceda were assassinated鈥, the FNRP said in a November 16 statement. All of those killed were members of the Campesino Movement of Aguan (MCA). The campesino activists were killed by assassins hired by pro-US oligarch Miguel Facusse, who helped fund the coup that overthrew president Manuel Zelaya last year.
Frank Mugisha, chair of the NGO Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMU), is no stranger to receiving threats because of his sexual orientation, a November 5 Amnesty International statement said. 鈥淏ut when a Ugandan tabloid published his personal details in October and called for him and others to be hanged for 鈥榬ecruiting children鈥欌, the statement posted on Amnesty.org continued, 鈥渉e knew there would be a struggle ahead 鈥 on the streets and in the courts鈥.
鈥淚n a daring and audacious move, Matt McCarten, general secretary of the Unite union, announced his candidacy in the November 20, Mana by-election in Wellington鈥, Unite campaigns organiser Joe Carolan said in an October 26 Socialist Aotearoa article. Carolan said McCarten 鈥渉as had a quarter of century experience fighting for New Zealand鈥檚 poorest workers 鈥 standing as a member of the independent left, he would make an excellent champion for the thousands of low-paid and unemployed workers in Mana鈥.

Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) secretary-general S. Arutchelvan called the proposed labour law review by the human resources Ministry was 鈥渄raconian鈥, klick4Malaysia.com said on October 1.