World Notes
Australia: Unions fight gov’t workplace proposals; Haiti: Protest charging of former prime minister; Honduras: Investigate training of U.S. security personnel; Sudan: Crisis escalates
Six-party talks on Korea make progress
The fourth round of six-party talks to resolve the Korean nuclear issue came to an agreement Sept. 19 after weeks of stalemate, mainly because the U.S. budged. Some see this as evidence that a hobbled Bush administration has been weakened internationally.
Puerto Ricans condemn FBI killing
Anger was felt across the island nation of Puerto Rico after the news spread that FBI agents had shot and killed independence leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios. Ojeda, head of the underground Puerto Rican group Ejercito Popular Boricua-Macheteros, was shot Sept. 23 in a raid on his home.
U.S. challenges decision to retry Cuban 5 case
The top federal prosecutor in Miami, R. Alexander Acosta, announced Sept. 29 that the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was being asked to reconsider a recent decision by a three-judge panel of that court reversing the convictions of the “Cuban Five.”
Texas judge rules against Posada extradition
“It’s bad enough when the world knows that we’re rendering suspected Islamic terrorists to countries that routinely use terror,” said an unnamed State Department official to a reporter on Sept. 26. “But here we have someone who we know is a terrorist, and it’s clear that we’re actively protecting him from facing justice. We have zero credibility.”
Tucson unites behind miners
TUCSON, Ariz. — Workers in Mexico are “standing strong” with the 1,500 copper miners on strike against multinational giant ASARCO corporation, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson told a Sept. 29 rally here. Two hundred supporters at the rally included representatives of most local and state unions, elected officials, Jobs with Justice and campus groups from the University of Arizona.
Bloomberg: the education mayor?
NEW YORK — Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg is campaigning for re-election as an “education mayor,” but many say the current state of city schools — overcrowded, in disrepair, with abysmal graduation rates — proves him to be the opposite.
California special election heats up
LOS ANGELES — “If you don’t vote, people like Bush get elected,” proclaimed a protest sign at a recent antiwar rally here. With his poll numbers slipping, people not voting is what California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is banking on.
National Clips
PITTSBURGH: Women’s rights fighter Molly Yard dies; RALEIGH, N.C.: Seeking in-state tuition for undocumented workers; WASHINGTON: Violence Against Women Act threatened by pork; CAMBRIDGE, Mass.: Students protest military recruiters
Chicagoans celebrate founding of new school
CHICAGO — More than eight years of lobbying and community protests, including a 19-day hunger strike in 2001, finally bore fruit Sept. 8 with the dedication of the new, state-of-the-art Little Village-Lawndale High School campus in the heart of the large, multiracial, working-class community on this city’s southwest side.
