From the Afghan Women's Mission, Oct. 10:

‘Afghanistan Like a Ticking Bomb,’ Says Women's Rights Activist on 5th Anniversary of US Bombing

“Today Afghanistan is still chained and burning in the fires of both the Taliban and the criminal ‘Northern Alliance’ fundamentalists and the future of Afghanistan is in serious jeopardy,” warned Zoya, a member of RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) five years after the start of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Federal legislators from the ruling National Action Party (PAN) say they are determined to revive plans to build a mega-airport for Mexico City in Texcoco, despite the militant opposition of the farmers at the conflicted village of San Salvador Atenco, whose lands would be seized for the project.

From the US Labor Against the War via the Iraq Freedom Congress:

Dear Ambassador Khalizad, and Secretaries Rice and Rumsfeld:

On September 7 and 8, 2006, members of the U.S. military participated in an aggressive armed raid on the offices of the Iraq Freedom Congress in Baghdad. During that raid, U.S. military personnel and others operating with them or at their direction ransacked the office, destroyed furniture and equipment, and confiscated records and documents.

Houzan Mahmoud, UK-based overseas chair of the Iraq Freedom Congress, writes for The Guardian's Comment is Free blog, Oct. 7:

It's not a matter of choice
More than ever, women are claiming that wearing the veil, burqa or niqab is their own decision. I totally reject this view.

The veil is not merely a piece of "cloth", but a sign of the oppression of women, control over their sexuality, submissiveness to the will of God or a man. The veil is a banner of political Islam used, to segregate women born by historical accident in the so-called "Islamic World" from other women in the rest of the world.

We have noted the decidedly mixed signals in the question of whether Iran is really seeking the nuclear bomb. Another piece of the puzzle now emerges. From Reuters, Oct. 5:

TEHRAN - An old letter by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini which said the military had asked for atomic bombs to continue Iran's 1980s war with Iraq has become a focus for factional sparring as elections approach.

This man's treatment, and the defense's arguments, constitute another step in the legitimization of torture, and the dumbing-down of the word's definition. But at least the judiciary is showing a semblance of backbone here. From the New York Times, Oct. 5 (links, interjections and emphasis added):

From the Iraq Freedom Congress Weekly Update, Sept. 27:

Formation of IFC Doctors
Iraq Freedom Congress announces the formation of IFC Doctors, an organization of doctors and nurses who will provide free health services from the IFC headquarters in Baghdad. IFC Doctors is also forming traveling squads of health care teams to provide treatment off-site for people who cannot reach the office. Read more.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Sept. 17:

Al-Sanna Satellite TV Channel
Invites passionate volunteers to join its production team

Al-Sanna will start broadcasting its programmes in autumn 2006 to amplify the voice of freedom, peace and the equal rights of all people in Iraq and the Middle East.