Did anyone catch this one? What a shame the EU wimped out...

On April 21 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights voted 22-8 with 23 abstentions against a resolution proposed by Cuba for the organization to investigate charges of human rights abuses against some 500 Muslim and Mideastern prisoners the US is holding at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The commission then unanimously passed a resolution to designate a special rapporteur to monitor human rights violations carried out in the name of the "war against terrorism"; this resolution was introduced by Mexico, which had also backed the Cuban resolution. The votes occurred on the next-to-last day of the commission's annual meeting in Geneva.

Hey, anyone remember Haiti?

At least five Haitians were killed on April 27 in an exchange of fire between police and demonstrators during a march in Port-au-Prince. Police agents, many wearing black cloth masks over their faces, were seen firing at demonstrators, and five bodies lay on the street afterward, some with wounds in the back; several others were injured. Both sides accused the other of shooting first. Gunfire broke out just after the demonstrators passed a headquarters building for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The protesters were calling for the return of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the release of imprisoned members of his administration and an end to political persecution by the interim government. (Haiti Support Group News Briefs, April 27 from Reuters)

The "peak oil" phenomenon, which has so far received more serious treatment in the foreign press than here in the USA, is starting to break through to the mainstream--at least among the business media. On May 4, Bloomberg.com opinion columnist Matthew Lynn asks "Are You Ready to Sign Up for the $100 Oil Club?" He writes:

CNN reports May 5:

New York - Two "improvised explosive devices" made from "novelty-type grenades" have exploded in front of the building that houses the British Consulate in New York City, police and officials said. The early Thursday morning blasts shattered windows but did not cause significant damage or any injuries, the New York Police Department said. The devices, which contained black gunpowder and a fuse, blew out a chunk of concrete in the flower box where they were planted outside the building. The explosions occurred as voters in Britain were casting ballots in a general election in which Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking a historic third term for his Labour Party. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said police had no indication who was responsible for the blasts. "It is true the British Consulate is in that building, but I don't think anybody should jump to conclusions," Bloomberg told reporters at the scene in midtown Manhattan.

Its back to the drawing board yet again for the fractious fraternity of moguls and bureaucrats charged with overseeing redevelopment of Lower Manhattan's Ground Zero, site of the 9-11 disaster, which still sits empty (but for a new trans-Hudson rail line station) three-and-a-half years after the day the World Trade Center collapsed.

Sent to us by New York's Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants is this action alert in the case of two Muslim immigrant girls detained following spurious suspicion of plotting suicide attacks:

Vigil to Release Detained Youth!

Get on the Bus to York, PA on WED 5/11 for 16-year old girl's hearing

Demand the Release of Bangladeshi & Guinean 16 Yr Old Young Women Detained by Department of Homeland Security!

GET ON THE BUS from NYC to York Courthouse in Pennsylvania:
Wednesday, May 11th, for a VIGIL at the BOND HEARING of the Bangladeshi Young Woman from Queens

From VOA, May 4:

At least 14 people are now dead following an explosion that rocked a soccer stadium in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as the prime minister addressed his supporters. The cause of Tuesday's blast is still unknown. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who was not harmed, has insisted the explosion was accidental. But other unnamed Somali officials and diplomatic sources have told various news agencies the blast was an attempt to assassinate Mr. Gedi... This is his first visit to the Somali capital since he was appointed to the nation's first central government in 13 years. Mr. Gedi's tour was designed to boost support for his adminstration and end a dispute among lawmakers about where and when the Somali government, now based in Kenya, should relocate.

WHY US? (On the academic boycott)
Tanya Reinhart

Yediot Aharonot, May 4, 2005. Translated from Hebrew by Mark Marshall.

A boycott decision, like that passed by Britain’s Association of University Teachers to boycott two Israeli universities, naturally raises a hue and cry among Israelis. Why us? And why now, “just when negotiations with the Palestinians might be renewed