Concordia University, the site of violent clashes two years ago that scuttled a speech by former Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has turned down a request by a Jewish students group to have Mr. Barak deliver a lecture this month.

Montreal Muslim News | October 3, 2004
|
By Matthew Behrens

Toronto -- On the day after the 135th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, a group of
100 Toronto-area Muslims took a page out of the nonviolent apostle's book
with a videotaping trip to the CN Tower, the world's tallest free-standing
structure.

At first glance, such an event should hardly be newsworthy. But because we
live in an age where Islam is daily demonized and Muslims are designated a
suspect class who are jailed in Canada on secret evidence without charge or
bail, this gathering comes with a fair bit of tension.

October 4, 2004 | Time

Shishmaref is melting into the ocean. Over the past 30 years, the Inupiaq
Eskimo village, perched on a slender barrier island 625 miles north of
Anchorage, has lost 100 ft. to 300 ft. of coastline -- half of it since 1997.
As Alaska's climate warms, the permafrost beneath the beaches is thawing and
the sea ice is thinning, leaving its 600 residents increasingly vulnerable to
violent storms. One house has collapsed, and 18 others had to be moved to
higher ground, along with the town's bulk-fuel tanks.

Port-au-Prince -- Machete-wielding supporters of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide are turning their wrath on Haiti's demoralized police force, beheading some of their victims in a campaign imitative of the insurgency in Iraq.

Inter Press Service News Agency | October 4, 2004
|
By Ritt Goldstein

Vast numbers of dead, the compromising of key elements within the medical
community and its regulatory structures, the blind pursuit of billions of
dollars in corporate profits -- all have surfaced in a detonating
pharmaceutical industry scandal of global dimension.

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 5
(Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday prepared to veto an
Arab-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution demanding Israel stop a
major offensive in the Gaza Strip unless the measure were changed.

"I predict it will not go forward," U.S. Ambassador John Danforth told reporters.

"I will bet either my left or my right arm that this resolution will
not pass," he said, calling the measure one-sided and unbalanced.

October 2, 2004 | CounterPunch

by Phillip Cryan

No one can ignore tens of thousands of people marching, disciplined and
peaceful, along 60 miles of highway in the middle of a country at war. When
large numbers of people are organized enough to pull off such a mobilization,
not even media outlets skilled in the arts of pro-government distortion and
omission can help but pay attention. And the government listens up too.

From September 14-16 about 60,000 people marched along the Panamerican Highway
in southwestern Colombia demanding respect for their autonomy and protesting
President Alvaro Uribe Velez's economic and security policies. Led by regional
and national indigenous organizations, the march also included peasant
farmers, Afro-Colombians, union members and students.

The Globe and Mail | October 4, 2004

Ottawa --- Prime Minister Paul Martin's government will propose in tomorrow's
Speech from the Throne a new Northern strategy aimed at protecting sovereignty
over the Canadian Arctic through sustainable development initiatives coupled
with efforts to build "circumpolar" co-operation with other northern nations,
sources say.

The Throne Speech, to be read by Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson, will tout
this development program for the North as a key facet of a more vigorous
federal government presence at home and abroad, including steps to build on
the Smart Border initiative negotiated with the Bush administration after the
9/11 attacks. That 30-point plan was aimed at facilitating cross-border
commerce in tandem with both countries' stepped-up efforts to combat the
threat of terrorism.

Amnesty International | 4 October 2004

Canadian officials have too long ignored the threat to Indigenous women in Canadian towns and cities. Many are missing, some have been murdered and Canadian authorities are not doing enough to stop the violence, says Amnesty International...

WSWS | By Ann Talbot |
4 October 2004

The Nigerian armed forces have launched a brutal assault on civilians in the
oil-rich Niger Delta region.

Military "Special Forces" such as the U.S. Army "Green Berets," Navy SEALS, and Britain's SAS (Special Air Services) are the stuff of legends and Hollywood movies. Aside from the mythologies, however, such forces play a crucial role in counter-insurgency and the repression of resistance to imperialism. For example, SAS members parachuted into Afghanistan shortly after 9-11 to carry out operations against Taliban/Al-Qaeda forces, as well as work with "Northern Alliance" guerillas fighting against the Taliban government. Likewise, U.S. Navy SEALS are working on the ground in Iraq against the popular insurgency there.

As the article below makes clear, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry's plan to increase the use of military Special Forces in the "war on terror" has nothing to do with ending the war & occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and everything to do with "increase(ing) the capacity the U.S. has to violently defend its economic and political interests while decreasing our troop deployments, our financial investment, and our legal exposure."

Canadian Press |
October 1, 2004

NATUASHISH -- The former Innu chief whose nephew was among four young
men to kill themselves in recent months says he's had it with the hypocrisy
of the federal and provincial governments.

Frustrated and still shocked over the suicide of his 21-year-old nephew,
Simeon Tshakapesh said Friday that if mental-health workers are not sent in
to the relocated Labrador community of Natuashish, he wants the band to
target the Voisey's Bay mine with protests.

30.09.2004 | Ecuador | anncol.org

For the second time in a few days the territorial integrity of Ecuador has been violated. According to the locals of the northern border zone, Colombian government troops clearly violate Ecuadorean sovereignty by entering Ecuador in order to operate against Colombian guerrilla forces.

Inter Press Service |
October 2, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Thursday's decision by the Russian government to endorse
ratification of the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse gas emissions has
thrown a particularly stark spotlight on the degree to which President
George W Bush has isolated the United States on the issue of global warming,
as well as other transnational problems.

Vancouver Sun | October 2, 2004
|
By David Pugliese

Ottawa -- The U.S. air force has for the first time developed a formal plan
to fight a war in space, putting together a list of targets that range from
weather and communications satellites to spacecraft-launch facilities of
other nations.