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Under the Article 2, UDHR: Article 6, UDHR: Article 9, UDHR: Article 10, UDHR: Article 19, UDHR:
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EUROPE'S TOP ELECTION MONITORING BODY HAS REFUSED TO OBSERVE SUNDAY'S ELECTIONS SAYING PROCESS HAS BEEN UNFAIR 1 December 2007 Reports from across Russia indicate that by various means, state authorities are pressuring organizations and institutions of all kinds to force mass voter turnout for Pres. Putin's United Russia party. The Kremlin denies the allegations, but at least one high ranking election official has said he was given orders to ensure that United Russia receive 'double' the number of votes forecast by current opinion polling. [Full Story] REBEL SENATOR LEADS COUP ATTEMPT BY MILITARY MUTINY AGAINST ARROYO IN MANILA After a tense 7 hours, Philippines government forces, having surrounded the Peninsula Hotel in Makati, Manila's financial district, fired tear gas into the luxury hotel and were able to detain all the participants in the attempted coup d'état. Rebel senator Antonio Trillanes, Brigadier General Danilo Lim, and former vice president Teofisto Guingona are alleged to be the master-minds behind the conspiracy to overthrow Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government. [Full Story] PAKISTAN TO SEE 'CARETAKER' GOV'T & PM OVERSEE JANUARY ELECTIONS, UNDER EMERGENCY RULE Key opposition leader Imran Khan has been detained under counter-terrorism laws under the new martial law decree by Gen. Musharraf. But the beleaguered military leader says he will appoint a 'caretaker' government that will oversee a smooth transition to the next phase of Pakistan democracy, which should presumably see a legitimately elected parliament and prime minister, and Pres. Musharraf resigning as military chief and serving strictly as a civilian president. With thousands of their supporters, as well as political and judicial officers in prison, opponents are justifiably skeptical. [Full Story] BHUTTO, AGAIN UNDER HOUSE ARREST, CALLS FOR MUSHARRAF TO RESIGN OFFICE Former prime minister and current opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been placed under house arrest for the second time in one week, this time to prevent her from leading a protest march from Lahore to Islamabad. Musharraf claims new crackdown is aimed at protecting Ms. Bhutto's life, as evidence exists of a suicide campaign. Over 4,000 police are reported to be surrounding Bhutto home. [Full Story] LIBERTY & SECURITY WRESTLE IN PAKISTAN, AS ELSEWHEREWHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE 21st CENTURY? 13 November 2007 In many parts of the world, people are presently facing the question, on a societal scale, of whether or not free and open democracy can coexist with measures taken to protect against extremism. The question is an old one and goes to the root of whether it is possible, as a matter of natural law, to vote away one's rights or to vote against democracy. [Full Story] MUSHARRAF ARRESTS OVER 3,500 LAWYERS, DISSIDENTS, ACTIVISTS IN NATIONWIDE MIILITARY ACTION Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has signaled his willingness to resort to force to put a stop to protests against his exercise of power, suspending the constitution, rounding up opposition leaders, judiciary officials, human rights activists, and saying democracy will be restored upon his decree. Several days into a martial law decree, protests are mounting and police violence against demonstrators shows no signs of abating. [Full Story] WHY MUSHARRAF'S USE OF FORCE AGAINST CIVIL REFORMERS IS DANGEROUS FOR PAKISTAN, THE REGION When Pervez Musharraf came to power in a military coup d'état in 1999, he promised to restore democracy fully within 3 years' time. Symbolic elections were held under a temporary constitution, beginning his first 5-year reign. Now, under a civilian constitution, Musharraf has been re-elected to a 2nd 5-year term, though the Supreme Court was about to issue a ruling on the legitimacy of his re-election, as he had not relinquished control of the military. [Full Story] MUSHARRAF DECLARES MARTIAL LAW, SUSPENDS CONSTITUTION Pakistan pres. Pervez Musharraf, a general who came to power by 'bloodless' military coup in 1999, has been facing opposition from a national lawyers organization that says he has delayed too long in restoring the democratic process, and was facing a Supreme Court ruling that might invalidate his recent re-election. Musharraf claims he had no choice but to suspend the constitution, because Pakistan's "sovereignty" was under threat from "paralysis of government by judicial interference". [Full Story] DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN & OF THE CITIZEN The representatives of the French people, constituted into a "National Assembly," considering that ignorance, forgetting or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments, are resolved to expose [i.e., expound], in a solemn declaration, the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man, so that that declaration, constantly present to all members of the social body, points out to them without cease their rights and their duties; so that the acts of the legislative power and those of the executive power, being at every instant able to be compared with the goal of any political institution, are very respectful of it; so that the complaints of the citizens, founded from now on on simple and incontestible principles, turn always to the maintenance of the Constitution and to the happiness of all. [Full Transcript] CHILEAN TOURIST HELD HOSTAGE BY ARBITRARY PROSECUTION IN RUSSIA Russian law prohibits transporting anything deemed a "cultural treasure" out of the country. Roxana Contreras, a Chilean-born tourist from St. Louis, Missouri, traveling in the Russian countryside, understands little Russian and was unaware of this law "when a street vendor persuaded her to buy some unexceptional Red Army medals and old ruble notes", as reported by the International Herald Tribune. [Full Story] CHINA DETAINING, INTIMIDATING JOURNALISTS IN EFFORT TO CONTROL PUBLIC IMAGE ABROAD As China officially began the countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games, various groups report foreign journalists have been intimidated, harassed and even detained, while trying to do their work in China. There is an apparent campaign from the highest levels to limit the ability of Chinese citizens to speak out about corruption, state violence, ecological crisis and authoritarianism; the state is apparently not embarrassed by being seen as a closed totalitarian system. [Full Story] BEIJING SECURITY CAMERAS TREAT KISSES AS MUGGINGS A system of security cameras set up throughout the Chinese capital is overseen by computers that cannot distinguish between affectionate embraces and muggings. The government is seeking to ensure that violence is not a problem in the intensely crowded city, in order to step up commerce, tourism and public image, ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, to be hosted there. [Full Story] HRW CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT INQUIRY INTO MILITARY, CIVILIAN ASSAULT THAT KILLED 2 PALESTINIANS IN LEBANON The New York based group Human Rights Watch has called on the Lebanese government to launch an independent inquiry into the violence that killed 2 and injured 28 Palestinian demonstrators in late June. Those killed are reported to have been civilians who were marching, unarmed, in a demonstration aimed at raising awareness of their situation and forcing a solution that might allow them to return to their homes in the Baddawi refugee camp. [Full Story] CIA RELEASES CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SHOWING ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES The CIA has released hundreds of pages of classified top-secret documents, related to criminal activities contemplated or carried out decades ago. The files are a partial release of an archive compiled at the time of the Watergate hearings, in an effort to gather and control documents related to activities that could break out into scandal if publicly disclosed. [Full Story] ZIMBABWE OPPOSITION LEADER TSVANGIRAI KIDNAPPED, TORTURED, SKULL CRACKED This week, Zimbabwe's supreme court ordered the government to provide the detained opposition leader with legal counsel, access to family and aid groups, and immediate medical treatment. His wife described his condition as being unable to walk or see. The government denied him treatment for several days, and he is now in hospital with a cracked skull. [Full Story] FIRST JUDGES, NOW LAWYERS ON STRIKE AGAINST GOV'T AGGRESSION IN UGANDA On 1 March 2007, Ugandan security forces under the control of President Yoweni Museveni stormed the offices of the High Court, assaulted civilians, lawyers and judges, and re-arrested 6 suspects that had only just been granted bail. The action showed not only disrespect for the peaceful process of adjudication, but also for the legal independence of the judiciary in making its rulings. [Full Story] THE PRESIDENCY OF FERDINAND MARCOS Demand for land reforms by poor farmers led to another Huk uprising, and political turmoil continued to wreak havoc on Philippine society. Social unrest eventually led the Marcos administration to tighten security measures and increase military campaigns to quash dissenters in 1969. Marcos won re-election that year, and his new term began under great duress, as allegations of corruption began to surface. [Full Story] HEZBOLLAH LEADS OPPOSITION COALITION IN BID TO OUST LEBANON GOVERNMENT Demonstrations in Beirut are threatening to topple the moderate government of PM Fouad Siniora. The militant group, Hezbollah, comprised of political, religious and militia factions, has called for the replacement of the sitting government and brought as many as 1 million supporters into the streets of downtown Beirut to show the strength of its political coalition. [Full Story] RUSSIAN STATE-OWNED MEDIA LAUNCH SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST LITVINENKO After Russia launched an official criminal investigation into the radiation poisoning of ex-spy Alexandr Litvinenko, it also announced it would no longer be permitting foreign agents to interview suspects on Russian soil, and there would be no extradition to Britain for Russian suspects. Now, state-run media are reportedly feeding stories into the international media to make accusations against Litvinenko and against the credibility of those who would support him. [Full Story] LITVINENKO POISONING NOW MARRED BY ALLEGATIONS CONVENIENT TO SOME SUSPECTS In the wake of the poisoning of former KGB spy Alexandr Litvinenko, by exposure to intensely radioactive polonium-210, allegations have turned from state terrorism to corrupt oligarchs, to questions of a blackmailing scheme. What now looks to be a major issue is whether there is an effort to discern the credibility of hearsay allegations being spread by powerful figures involved in the case. [Full Story] UK AUTHORITIES FIND SIGNIFICANT QUANTITY OF POLONIUM-210 IN CLOSE CONTACT OF MURDERED SPY, LITVINENKO Investigators in the UK have said they found a "significant quantity" of Polonium-210, the intensely radioactive isotope that killed former Russian spy Alexandr Litvinenko, in the body of a close associate of the victim. The discovery raises fears about wider contamination and the possibility that others may have been targetted. [Full Story] SCIENTISTS SAY LITVINENKO POLONIUM POISONING BEARS HALLMARKS OF SOPHISTICATED STATE OPERATION When former Soviet spy, Alexandr Litvinenko accused the Russian state, under Vladimir Putin, of organizing his murder, the diplomatic community was faced with a possibly explosive situation. Now scientists in the United Kingdom are saying the polonium-210 isotope found in Litvinenko's system suggests a level of sophistication that would require not only state sponsorship, but likely military cooperation. [Full Story] FMR RUSSIAN SPY LITVINENKO DIES IN LONDON, AFTER APPARENT RADIATION POISONING Alexandr Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, who defected after working witht the Soviet KGB, and who appears to have been poisoned, died yesterday in a London hospital. Litvinenko was reportedly investigating the contract killing of investigative journalist and fellow Kremlin critic, Anna Politkovskaya. [Full Story] RISK OF RETURN TO CIVIL WAR IN D.R. CONGO Reports suggest there is a new risk of civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the opposition party leader announced he rejects the election results that returned the presidency to Joseph Kabila. The Roman Catholic archibishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Frédéric Etsou, also denounced the election result as a rigged vote designed to deliver Congo's mineral wealth to western powers, telling Radio France International "results that are coming out are not the results that are being published". [Full Story] BIOMETRIC DEVICES MAY UNDERMINE INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY In the wake of major terrorist attacks against densely populated civilian centers in several countries across Europe, Asia and America, governments and private industry are looking at ways of using biometric scanning technology to determine who should or should not have access to certain locations and services. The technology is complicated and highly advanced, but unproven, and potentially highly flawed. [Full Story] TANKS SEEN MOVING INTO BANGKOK, THAILAND, COUP FEARED Tanks are reported as "heading for central Bangkok", reports confirmed by journalists on the ground, as of 11:41am EDT. There is suspicion the military action is an attempted coup, either to restore democracy after elections earlier this year were annulled, or to overthrow the existing government, in an effort to establish a system the nature of which is not yet known. [Full Story] ALL VOTES MUST BE COUNTED, ALWAYS It is no secret that Mexico's electoral system is undergoing a period of extreme strain and an important test of resilience. While the ruling PAN party's candidate Felipe Calderón enjoys a narrow but contested lead, challenger López Obrador seeks to effect at least a full hand-count of all ballots cast, or a reversal of the election results on the grounds of fraud. The stickiest part of the controversy is what justifies examining only a small percentage of the contested ballots. [Full Story] RALLIES IN MEXICO CITY CALL FOR VOTE-BY-VOTE RECOUNT The uncertified result of Mexico's presidential election of 2 July is leading to wider calls for a national hand recount. The liberal leader of the Partido por el Bien de Todos has said the election was frought with ballot fraud and official acts of sabotage and intimidation and that the count is illegitimate and incomplete. [Full Story] CATALUNYA VOTES FOR NEW ESTATUT, GAINS MORE AUTONOMY FROM MADRID Catalunya —commonly written 'Catalonia' in English—, a region of northeastern Spain, along the Mediterranean and the French border, has approved a new regional charter by popular referendum. The 'Estatut' gives the culturally distinct and historically complicated region greater autonomy over taxes revenues, policy and infrastructure. [Full Story] JOURNALIST HOSPITALIZED AFTER FOUR MONTHS ON HUNGER STRIKE Independent Cuban journalist, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, is now hospitalized in critical condition, after 4 months on hunger strike, which led to his needing emergency surgery. Fariñas has said he would follow through with the hunger strike until the last, facing possibly deadly consequences in hopes of spurring reform that would allow reporters to gather information and to report on and criticize government activities. [Full Story] BACHELET DISMISSES POLICE COMMANDER FOR VIOLENT CRACKDOWN Michelle Bachelet's government has tried to bridge the divide between seizing a unique opportunity to increase spending due to the copper boom and demonstrating the fiscal responsibility she has promised will allow her government to build long-term reforms into Chilean social policy. But her $130 million spending plan does not include a major education-spending increase. High school students have been organizing to call for nationwide increases, saying only with better education is an egalitarian democracy truly possible. [Full Story] HIGH COURT ALLOWS DEMOTION FOR DISSENT The freedom of speech is one of the foundational rights under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, because it affords the common citizen a protection against a basic authoritarian abuse of power. Now, the US Supreme Court has ruled 5 to 4 that public employees do not enjoy First Amendment protections while on duty. [Full Story] THE WALL GOES UP AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION On Monday, George W. Bush announced a "five-point plan" for curbing illegal immigration and recognizing and regularizing the estimated 12 million immigrants living in the United States without proper residence or work permits. Now, as the Senate has voted to 83-16 to include a 370 mile protection barrier in its immigration reform legislation, the White House is enlisting major defense contractors to build the fence. [Full Story] NSA BUILDING DATABASE OF ALL PHONE CALLS MADE IN U.S. The National Security Agency, which has been the center of a major legal controversy over its eavesdropping on law-abiding American citizens without judicial approval, has now been revealed to be collecting phone records of tens of millions of people. The effort is reportedly part of a strategy to amass a record of all phone traffic in the US, no matter its purpose. [Full Story] GOV'T DOCUMENTS SHOW SURVEILLANCE OF FAITH-BASED PEACE GROUP New information acquired by the ACLU by way of the Freedom of Information Act, shows the FBI and the Joint Terrorist Task Force have been monitoring, infiltrating and spying on innocent, law-abiding individuals and both non-religious and faith-based activist groups whose activities are entirely peaceful and are protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. [Full Story] NEPAL PARLIAMENT SWORN IN UNDER NEW PRIME MINISTER After King Gyanendra declared he would reinstate the lower house of parliament, which he disbanded, claiming a state of emergency in his war to put down Maoist insurgents, agreements were reached with the 7-party alliance of mainstream opposition parties which had staged the massive and growing demonstrations. That 7-party alliance reconvened parliament on Friday and today swore in its interim Prime Minister, who will oversee the vote and negotiations to draft a new constitution. [Full Story] NEPAL OPPOSITION STAGES MASSIVE PRO-DEMOCRACY RALLY AGAINST ABSOLUTE MONARCH The opposition movement in Nepal has captured the attention of the world press, in part because of the extremes involved in the situation. Many poor people putting their lives at risk to demonstrate against an absolutist monarch. The highest places in the world, extreme weather, and high stakes, as pro-democracy activists seek to forge a way out of authoritarianism, while Maoist rebels seek a communist regime and the king seeks to hold onto power. [Full Story] US GOV'T POLICY CRIMINALIZES COMMENT ON SCIENTIFIC FACT The global environment is, of course, a global issue, one that touches every life on the planet, and the science about it should be open and available to all. Past government policy and existing federal law mean that such scientific evidence should be readily available to the public. But now, it appears that several agencies are laboring to silence scientists who are researching climate trends and alterations. [Full Story] NEW ROUND OF MASSIVE PRO-IMMIGRANT DEMONSTRATIONS Peaceful rallies in more than 60 US cities took place yesterday, to protest against House Republicans' plans to classify all undocumented immigrants as felons, to build fortified wall between US, Mexico. Tens of thousands gathered in major cities, carrying banners reading "We are America" and waving American flags and flags of their countries of origin. [Full Story] IMMIGRATION REFORM COULD EASE HARDSHIP FOR MILLIONS In recent weeks, the United States has seen the streets of major cities flooded with protesters, demanding more humane immigration reform than that offered by the House of Representatives. The bill currently before the Senate could offer such a solution, and would provide an opportunity for millions more people to become US citizens. [Full Story] LUKASHENKO GOV'T ORDERS MASSIVE ARRESTS OF DEMONSTRATORS The authoritarian regime of Belarus pres. Aleksandr Lukashenko has used mass-arrest as a tool to silence opposition to its dubious recent election win. Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich has gone to the prison where his supporters are being held, demanding international opposition to rule of embattled Lukashenko. [Full Story] BELARUS POLL "SEVERELY FLAWED", GOV'T TO FACE SANCTIONS In the weeks before the election, held yesterday, Belarus pres. Lukashenko imprisoned an estimated one-third of the top campaign staff of his lead rivals. The state openly called any opposition to his reelection a threat to the nation and warned of "bloodshed" if there were protests. The EU says the vote took place in a "climate of intimidation" and opposition leaders say the state-orchestrated results were an illegal "seizure of power". [Full Story] CHINA'S WORST-KEPT SECRET Beijing is nervous about a movement stirring in the remote countryside. The severe hierarchy and stratified economic system dominating the ancient nation are provoking violent demonstrations and calls for economic reforms by poor in rural areas. [Full Story] BELARUS PRES. THREATENS TO "WRING THE NECKS" OF OPPONENTS Belarus president Lukashenko has spent years stamping out opposition through a combination of abuses through the state police (still KGB), jailing of dissidents, press censorship, expropriation and propaganda. Opposition to democratic means is almost total under his rule, and the state mobile phone provider has warned of bloodshed. [Full Story] CITIZEN GOVERNMENT: HAVE YOUR SAY BEFORE CONGRESS VOTES In an effort to prevent "earmarking", whereby language is added to a bill with the specific purpose of directing specific funds to a given project or district, Readthebill.org is calling for the US House to pass a resolution that would require that all legislation be available in full online, in its final form, for at least 72 hours before Congress votes on its passage. [Full Story] REPORTS SUGGEST PHILIPPINE COUP PLOT WIDELY KNOWN According to the Houston Chronicle, media reports throughout the last week had given details of an alleged plot to use mass celebrations of the 1986 ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, to stoke popular sentiment against Arroyo government, sway military officers to join in public demand she resign. [Full Story] PHILIPPINES UNDER MARTIAL LAW AGAINST ALLEGED COUP Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, president of the Philippines, has declared a state of emergency after police clashed with demonstrators at rally in Manila where thousands of Filipino citizens and a former president called for her to step down. Arroyo declared the efforts part of an attempted military coup d'état and a "threat to the nation". [Full Story] CHINA FREES JOURNALIST IMPRISONED SINCE TIANENMAN PROTESTS Journalist Yu Dongyue has been imprisoned by Chinese authorities since the Tianenman Square pro-democracy protests of 1989. He was initially sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly throwing eggs filled with red paint at a portrait of Mao Zedong displayed at the entrance to the Forbidden City. After two reductions in his sentence, he is now being released to his family. [Full Story] OBSERVERS WARN UGANDA ELECTION PROCESS NOT FAIR Uganda is a complex political fabric in a volatile regional patchwork. The nation has been ruled for 20 years by one man at the head of one party (NRM), and now President Yoweri Museveni will face his first multi-party election contest. Recent weeks have seen arrests, allegations of intimidation and use of single-party government structures to impede opposition campaigns. [Full Story] 3 BANKERS LOSE EXTRADITION APPEAL IN ENRON CASE Three former executives for Greenwich NatWest, a subsidiary of NatWest Bank, have lost their appeal for refusal of extradition to the US on charges of fraud in connection to the Enron corruption case. The executives may now face up to two years in a federal prison awaiting trial, classified as "fugitives from justice" solely for fighting extradition. [Full Story] GOOGLE TO COLLABORATE IN CENSORING INFORMATION DELIVERED TO CHINESE USERS The premier internet search engine Google has launched a new Chinese service, under the domain Google.cn, which it will voluntarily censor in keeping with the mandates of Chinese authorities. The announcement came earlier this week, as the Davos trade talks opened and on the same day as China's government announced it was ordering the closing of a weekly newspaper known for publishing articles on topics the Chinese Communist party's propaganda office had banned or which included criticism of government policy. [Full Story] JUDGE QUITS SECRET 'SPY COURT' IN APPARENT PROTEST Judge James Robertson —one of eleven members of the secret tribunal that hears cases related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and its sanctioned investigations— has resigned his post in protest. Judge Robertson reportedly told associates he believed Pres. Bush's order to the NSA to spy on Americans may violate federal law. [Full Story] CAN 'SHOOT-TO-KILL' BE LEGALLY JUSTIFIED AS A BLANKET SECURITY TACTIC? Media coverage related to the shooting of an innocent man on the boarding jetway to a Miami American Airlines flight has failed to take into account the most crucial questions. Why is "shoot-to-kill" necessary if agents are properly and adequately trained to use firearms and can "shoot-to-incapacitate"? This is the key question in the case of the American Airlines air marshal shooting, in which Rigoberto Alpízar, apparently suffering from bipolar disorder, was killed, despite being unarmed. [Full Story] BUSH AGREES TO McCAIN'S FULL BAN ON TORTURE, INHUMANE TREATMENT OF TERROR SUSPECTS President Bush has announced his support for Sen. John McCain's proposed ban on cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees in the "war on terror". The White House had opposed the ban, and the vice president had actively lobbied Congress to include an exception for the CIA. Sen. McCain repeatedly refused to weaken the ban, and both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to support it as written. [Full Story] CATALÁN SUPREME COURT RULES GOVERN MUST PROVIDE BILINGUAL INSTRUCTION For the 3rd time over the span of roughly 1 year, the Supreme Court of Catalunya has ruled that the Generalitat must provide bilingual instruction —the option to study in Castilian instead of Catalán— at least until the age of 8 in primary schools. [Full Story] EGYPT ELECTION MARRED BY MASS OPPOSITION ARRESTS Egypt is facing its final round of national elections. The nation's oldest Islamist political organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, says at least 500 of its representatives have been detained in the last 2 days, including many election activists. The BBC reports "the second round of voting on Saturday was marred by violence between rival political groups, voter intimidation and fraud"... [Full Story] THE THREAT OF 'THE SINGLE GATEWAY' TO EVERYDAY LIFE On 1 November, the Financial Times reported Tony Blair's government would push ahead, despite grave civil liberties and identity-theft and black-market fraud concerns. According to the government the biometric features will turn the ID cards into "the single gateway into a whole range of services that people need in their everyday lives". It is not hard to see how such a declaration could indicate indifference to civil liberties. [Full Story] NO BUTTON TO PUSH, THANKFULLY It has been said in recent decades that leaders of nuclear-armed states have a "finger on the button". It is an alarming yet somewhat convenient concept, but it has not generally been all that accurate. It turns out, the push-button solution may be of rhetorical use, but it was never a real option in nuclear confrontation, and it cannot formulate a satisfactory outcome in resolution of difficult conflicts in a world of contingencies. [Full Story] SECRET CIA LANDINGS RAISE CONCERNS IN EUROPE Authorities on the Spanish island of Mallorca began complaining of alleged secret landings by CIA-linked planes, after a prominent local figure charged that, according to an unnamed source, at least 10 such stopovers occurred in early 2004, in the last months of the Aznar government. The flights are said to have been carrying "detainees" whose legal condition is considered a violation of international human rights laws. [Full Story] US STATE DEPT. MANDATES NEW PASSPORTS WILL CONTAIN RFID TRACKING CHIPS The State Department has announced it will introduce new passports with electronic features such as Radio Frequency IDentification chips, intended to match information stored on these chips to the bearer's physical appearance, and to other information. Privacy advocates say the move is a giant leap toward a state of totalitarian interference in citizens' movements and personal information. [Full Story] UK NATIONAL ID CARD SCHEME: FARCE OR BIG BROTHER? The British government's plan to implement a national biometric identification system by 2007 is seen by some as a farcical if dubious exercise in futility. For others, it heralds the final phase in technocracy's closing its grip on the open society. The plan as currently envisioned will use 13 biometric features to match human beings to their ID cards, thus, in theory, proving their identity. [Full Story] CHINA PLANS "SMOKELESS WAR" AGAINST PRESS, DISSIDENTS In a high-level Communist party meeting, China's president Hu Jintao has reportedly called for an intensive crackdown on media liberties. While China's government has sought to project an image of a more market-oriented, open system, it continues to forbid basic press freedoms and still persecutes journalists at an alarming rate. [Full Story]
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