From US Labor Against the War (USLAW), May 9:

Leading Iraqi Labor Leaders to Tour U.S.
First woman union leader, head of oil workers union to visit 12 cities
June 4-29, 2007
Atlanta, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two leaders of Iraq's labor movement, Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President of the Electrical Utility Workers Union, and Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary of the Federation of Oil Unions, will tour a dozen U.S. cities between June 4 and June 29, 2007. During their visit, they will address members of Congress, labor audiences and the general public about the impact the U.S. occupation has had on the labor movement and daily lives of working people in Iraq. They will speak about reconstruction and will explain why the labor movement is opposed to the proposed hydrocarbon law favored by the Bush administration and oil corporations which would put foreign oil corporations in effective control of 2/3 of Iraq's undeveloped oil reserves. They will also describe the likely consequences if the occupation continues, what might occur if it abruptly ends and prospects for a stable, democratic, non-sectarian future for Iraq.

"Socialist villages"? Sounds to us more like keeping a restive population under control to faciliate a stable investment climate for tourism and other capitalist development—akin to the "model villages" the right-wing Guatemalan dictatorship imposed on the Maya peasantry in the '80s. Why does the Beijing regime maintain this propaganda charade? Are we the ony ones who grasp the cognitive dissonance? From McClatchy Newspapers, May 6:

The ugly regime in Uzbekistan is certainly giving Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty all the grist they need for their propaganda mill. May 9:

Umida Niyazova fought for democracy and human rights in her native Uzbekistan.

But from a cage in a Tashkent courtroom on May 8, Niyazova made a "confession" that amounted to an apparent repudiation of all she stands for. She even criticized Human Rights Watch, the U.S.-based rights organization for which she had worked as a translator.

Via the Alternative Information Center, May 6:

Joint report of B'Tselem with HaMoked—Center for the Defence of the Individual, Summary
Utterly Forbidden: The Torture And Ill-Treatment Of Palestinian Detainees
In recent years, Israel has openly admitted that ISA (formerly the General Security Service [Shin Bet]) interrogators employ "exceptional" interrogation methods and "physical pressure" against Palestinian detainees in situations labeled "ticking bombs". B'Tselem and HaMoked—Center for the Defence of the Individual have examined these interrogation methods and the frequency with which they are used, as well as other harmful practices. The report's findings are based on the testimonies of 73 Palestinian residents of the West Bank who were arrested between July 2005 and January 2006 and interrogated by the ISA. Although it is not a representative sample, it does provide a valid indication of the frequency of the reported phenomena.

In a surprise decision, US District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, TX, threw out all charges against right-wing Cuban militant and former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles May 8, allowing him to go free days before he was set to be tried for immigration fraud. He is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela, where is accused in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.

Eleven anti-Bush protetsers in the Yucatan city of Merida were released on bail of up to 20,000 pesos ($2,000) May 8. They had been arrested on charges of damaging the Municipal Palace and other violations during protests against George Bush's visit to the city on his Latin America tour March 13. The "altermundalistas" (other-worldists), as they have been dubbed by the Mexican press, signed a document dropping charges that they were tortured and maltreated before the Yucatan State Human Rights Commission as a condition of their release. Eight remain behind bars. (Diario de Yucatan, May 9; La Jornada, May 8)

Letter from Ignacio del Valle, La Palma federal prison, Mexico state, via Narco News, May 7:

Introduction: Brief Synopsis of the Struggles in Atenco
One year after the brutal police attack against the town of San Salvador Atenco in Mexico, sentences of 67 years were handed down to three leaders of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), Ignacio Del Valle, Felipe Alvarez, and Hector Galindo in retaliation for the town’s effective resistance to the expropriation of its lands for the purpose of building a regional airport.

While it is always bad news when journalists are detained or harassed, we are extremely skeptical that there is "slavery" in the Polisario Front's refugee camps—and about this report generally. From South Africa's News24, May 7:

SYDNEY — Two Australian journalists who were making a documentary on slavery in refugee camps in northwest Africa were briefly detained in Algeria by separatists, an official said on Monday.