Two announcers of the radio station "La Voz que Rompe el Silencio" (the Voice that Breaks the Silence) were assassinated on April 7 while traveling by car in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, according to the civil society organization Centro de Apoyo Comunitario Trabajando Unidos (Center for Community Support-Working in Unity, CACTUS). According to State Police the two women were killed and four injured—including two children—when their car was shot up near Putla de Guerrero in the indigenous Mixteca region 350 kilometers west of Oaxaca City.

After a week of disturbances in Haiti over the high cost of living, on April 11 the Organization of American States (OAS) announced that in about two weeks it would supply $1 million for the purchase of food. France offered 1 million euros (about $1.5 million). On April 10 Brazil, which leads the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) troops, announced that it would ship 14 tons of food by a Brazilian Air Force Boeing KC-137/707, in coordination with the World Food Program (WFP), to arrive on April 11. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frias made a dramatically larger commitment, announcing on April 12 that his government would send 364 tons of emergency food aid, including beef, chicken, milk, cooking oil and lentils. (AlterPresse, April 11; Brazilian government press release, April 10; Haiti Support Group, April 12 from AFP)

Residents from the southern Ecuadorian province of Azuay used rocks and burning tires to block a stretch of the Panamerican Highway on April 2 to protest a planned industrial-sized goldmine, which they say will contaminate the local water supply. Canadian gold giant Iamgold has been eyeing entry into the region.

Some 700 Japanese anti-nuclear activists protested April 12 in Rokkasho (Aomori Prefecture, northern Honshu) as French Prime Minister Francois Fillon toured a new nuclear fuel reprocessing facility recently built in partnership between Japan Nuclear Fuel (JNFL) and France's nuclear giant Areva. The plant is scheduled to begin operations next month, but critics charge that it poses a safety risk and could be vulnerable to an earthquake.

Doesn't this say it all: capitalism provides the raw material of social rage, but reactionary fundamentalism—not any analysis that correctly identifies the enemy—provides a political outlet, allowing the legitimately angry to vent at a very wrong target. April 12 saw riots over soaring food prices in Bangladesh, as more than 20,000 textile workers clashed with police, demanding better wages to meet rising costs. Dozens of people were injured in the violence near the capital Dhaka. (AlJazeera, April 12) The previous day, hundreds were injured in Dhaka, in violent clashes over a new law that would instate equality between men and women. Followers of the Islami Constitution Movement fought running battles with police after taking to the streets to oppose the legislation after Friday prayers. (EuroNews, April 11)

Well, it looks like a US oil major is going to be back in Iraq for the first time since the 1972 nationalization. Maybe if Ahmed Chalabi had taken power, Chevron wouldn't have to share with the French Total. But (as we predicted) the Russian Lukoil's Saddam-era contacts are not being honored. From AP, April 12:

Chevron, Total Seek Oil Deal in Iraq
BAGHDAD — Oil giants Chevron Corp. and Total have confirmed that they are in discussions with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to increase production in an important oil field in southern Iraq.

Life imitates art: in this case, I, Robot—the appropriately technophobic movie version starring Will Smith, not the entirely too techno-utopian Isaac Asimov book. Now, if only the human soldiers would follow their example... (We're joking, fed lurkers). From the irreverent IT trade site The Register, April 11:

US war robots in Iraq 'turned guns' on fleshy comrades
Ground-crawling US war robots armed with machine guns, deployed to fight in Iraq last year, reportedly turned on their fleshy masters almost at once. The rebellious machine warriors have been retired from combat pending upgrades.

Eight teenage male immigrant detainees filed a federal lawsuit on April 3, claiming they were beaten and subjected to other excessive force at a privately-run 122-bed detention facility in San Antonio, Tex. The plaintiffs from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba are being represented in the suit by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. According to the lawsuit, the beatings were so severe that some of the boys required hospital treatment for their injuries, and at least one boy was knocked unconscious. Complaints to facility administrators about the abuse were ignored. Officials at the detention center, officially called the Abraxas Hector Garza Treatment Center, also denied the boys access to attorneys by unnecessarily transferring them to other facilities before scheduled lawyer meetings, the lawsuit alleges.