Turkish F-16 fighter planes Feb. 4 struck suspected PKK targets in northern Iraq, carrying out what Turkey's Hurriyet daily counts as the fifth over the border operation in recent months. The Turkish military's General Staff said the air raids, launched from bases in Diyarbakir, lasted 12 hours and hit a total of 77 targets. The PKK's notorious "Hakurk Camp" that was also targeted in the December and January raids was hit again. The villages of Avashin and Basyan were also reportedly hit. No casualties were reported, as residents had abandoned the villages after the previous bombardments. Meanwhile, clashes between Turkish security forces and the PKK left ten guerillas dead outside the southeastern Turkish city Bingol. (Hurriyet, AHN, Feb. 5)

Emulating US strategies on the Mexican border, Israel has approved the construction of a reinforced fence along its border with Egypt to stop Palestinian militants reaching Israel via the Sinai desert. The measure was agreed by a security cabinet meeting in response to the temporary breach of the Gaza-Egypt border, when thousands of Palestinians left the Strip unchecked. Plans for a fence were considered years ago but dropped as too expensive.

On Jan. 14, US Attorney Johnny Sutton filed a lawsuit on behalf of the US Department of Justice against the city of Eagle Pass, Texas, to seek access to land for a planned border fence. It was the first of 102 lawsuits expected to be filed in an escalating battle with local landowners and municipalities as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeks to build 370 miles of new border fencing by the end of the year.

As of Jan. 29 Mexican officials and representatives of the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM) said they had agreed on a "no aggression" pact and were ready to negotiate starting on Jan. 30. The union and the government have had a series of confrontations since February 2006, when the Labor and Social Security Secretariat removed SNTMMRM general secretary Napoleon Gomez Urrutia from his post for alleged corruption. Topics for negotiation were to include the removal of police and soldiers from the giant Cananea copper mine, site of a six-month strike; the disposition of bodies neverrecovered from the Pasta de Conchos coal mine after a February 2006 explosion that killed 65 workers; mine safety issues; strikes likely to break out in the mining industry; and wage and contract issues. Union representatives say they expect Gomez Urrutia to return to Mexico from the US by March at the latest. (La Jornada, Jan. 29)

After 112 days on hunger strike, on Jan. 30 imprisoned Chilean activist Patricia Troncoso Robles ended a protest which started in October around demands for the release of 20 indigenous Mapuche prisoners and an end to the military's presence in Mapuche territories. In an agreement negotiated by Conference of Bishops president Alejandro Goic, Troncoso will be transferred to a prison work and study center; beginning in March she will have weekend releases. Mapuche prisoners Jaime Marileo Saravia and Juan Millalen will have the same benefits; they were part of the hunger strike but resumed eating after 60 days.

Ecuador's government announced [Feb. 1] that it was revoking Ascendant Copper's mining concessions for the controversial Junin Project. Mining and Petroleum Minister Galo Chiriboga told reporters that the government decided to revoke a total of 587 mining concessions for reasons that include companies' failure to pay proper fees on concessions.

Ralph DiGia

Ralph DiGia, lifelong war resister and pacifist, died Feb. 1 in New York City, days after breaking his hip in a fall. Ralph, 93, was a leading figure in the War Resisters League, one of the United States' oldest anti-war groups, for more than two generations. He joined the organization shortly after the end of World War II and his release from federal prison, where he had served a term for refusing military service as a conscientious objector.

Tamils in the UK marked the 60th anniversary of Sri Lankan independence Feb. 5 with a hundreds-strong protest at Downing Street demanding "real freedom" and "real rights" for the Hindu minority on the island. That same day, at least 14 were killed in two roadside bombings in Sri Lanka. In his independence day address to the nation, President Mahinda Rajapakse said the "challenge bestowed upon us by history is the defeat of terrorism," and government forces had cornered the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north. His government recently ended a 2002 cease-fire with the rebels. The protest was called by the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO), while the British Tamils Forum held a photo exhibition near parliament on "the past 60 years of oppression, ethnic cleansing and discrimination that...the Tamil community has faced at the hands of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka." The Sri Lankan government protested the protest, charging it was organized by AC Shanthan and Golden Lambert. Both men have reportedly been arrested in the past under UK anti-terrorist laws and are believed to be out on bail. "Sources" cited by the Times of India said the two are "prominent fund-raisers" for the Tamil Tigers.