Region

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says Syrian military and security forces have killed at least 2,700 people; but activists and human rights groups put that number as high as 5,300.

Around 4 PM, people started to gather at Foley Square, just a few blocks from City Hall. Their goal: to march to Liberty Plaza (Zuccotti Park). The Unions took the initiative to organize the rally in support of Occupy Wall Street, after last week’s police brutality. They had arrested over 800 people, had violently tackled many, and used pepper spray on the protesters.

There are people who claim that humanity, since its origins, can only be interpreted in terms of war: we have always killed each other. We kill each other to steal; we kill each other to occupy a particular space, a cave or a piece of fertile land. We also kill each other to be the leader, out of envy, due to jealousy or sadism.

Reporters Without Borders urges the Chilean congress to reject a government
bill which, in response to a ninth-month-old wave of protests by students
and others,
would violate basic rights by criminalizing the expression of opinions in
public. It also contains disastrous provisions for journalists covering
protests.

In the Week of Nonviolence in Mar del Plata, there was a debate on “Violence and Media. Contributions for a more inclusive communication”. Pressenza’s experience and contribution in the construction of an agenda relating to nonviolence was displayed, in contrast to the constant violent look emitted by the major media in Argentina.

Facing clear headed new generations of Chileans and secondary school and university students showing strong political wit after negotiations which were supposed to let the government ignore the strikers’ demands broke down yesterday, today Chile’s militarized carabineros (police) anticipated the protests by carrying out the most brutal repression.

While global spending on weapons is set up to further increase in spite of the economic recession, four major UN agencies and their aid partners have just appealed for $18.3 million to help tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing into western Ethiopia to escape violence in Sudan’s Blue Nile state.

Over the past year, the world has watched with great interest as the Arab Spring has dissolved decades of repression. Citizens weary of injustice have stood up and demanded control of their destinies. I wish that oppressed people everywhere in Africa could benefit from the dramatic changes we are witnessing in North Africa.

The United Nations committee entrusted with helping countries tackle terrorism has voiced concern at the close connection between terrorists and transnational organized crime, including the illegal movement of nuclear, chemical, biological and other potentially deadly materials.

In Hong Kong the High Court has ruled that a domestic helper from the Philippines should be allowed to apply for permanent residency in the city. The case was brought by Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a resident of Hong Kong since 1986. The ruling follows a landmark judicial review of what has been the long term practice ever since the British ruled Hong Kong.