"The way my son died ... [He] didn't die no accidental cause. I don't believe in that. What did cause his death? The way that they were on him. They were six policemen, smashing his head on the cement"

According to Labor Minister Maria Cristina Iglesias and journalist Martin Pacheco, heavily armed men broke into Comando Maisanta headquarters in Indio Mara, Maracaibo, yesterday, attacking people and vehicles. Approximately 45 community media journalists were there for a meeting with pro-Chavez political leaders.

Four people were injured and taken to medical centers. Seven vehicles were destroyed by gunshots and heavy blows, including Minister Iglesias' vehicle.

It is now ten years since the UN held its International

Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. Its

Programme of Action was the first and most comprehensive

international policy document to promote the concepts of

reproductive rights and reproductive health...One decade later, however, some 600,000 women die each year...while 18

million are left disabled or chronically ill because of largely preventable complications during pregnancy or childbirth.

("Terrorism Experts")....use a common language to describe their subjects and their environment; they are extremely ideological under a thin veneer of scientific jargon; they possess a keen sense of selective observation; they always pretend to possess a psychological understanding though few if any have dealt close up with their subjects in any clinical sense except perhaps under conditions of incarceration and interrogation....Their style is self-righteous, highly moralistic, vitriolic, hyperventilating and yet slippery with euphemisms when it comes to dealing with the violence of their partisan states.

CBC ; 06 Aug 2004 ; Written by CBC News Online staff

VANCOUVER - Advocacy groups are welcoming the announcement of an investigation into the use of Taser guns by police in Vancouver, but they still have concerns about the scope and impartiality of the inquiry.

August 7, 2004 ; Richard Gott ; The Guardian

To the dismay of opposition groups in Venezuela, and to the surprise of international observers gathering in Caracas, President Hugo Ch�ez is about to secure a stunning victory on August 15, in a referendum designed to lead to his overthrow.

The American hostility against Cuba is very distinctive, and indeed unique. No other foreign policy toward a country has ever seen such an arsenal of coercive measures which, for the most part, violate most international conventions. The American hatred for the Cuban revolution goes much further than the historical Cold War framework, completely inopportune if even minimal attention is paid to the relations between the two countries since the end of the eighteenth century.

UNPRECEDENTEDLY FIERCE BATTLES RAGE IN AL-FALLUJAH SUNDAY NIGHT AS RESISTANCE BURNS THE GROUND UNDER THE AGGRESSORS' FEET.

Resistance battles US invaders in and around al-Fallujah once again after nightfall Sunday.

Iraqi Resistance fighters late on Sunday launched a series of varied attacks on the US aggressors in and around al-Fallujah.

Elitsa, a 20-year-old Bulgarian anarchist, has become the latest victim in the Bulgarian government's attempts to criminalize dissent and label protesters as threats to "national security".

Canada
and the United States have expanded military co-operation in a possible
precursor to Ottawa joining the U.S. missile-defence program, though
Defence Minister Bill Graham insisted yesterday that the Liberal
government remains "a long way" from deciding whether to take that
major step.

Sun Peaks resort and Delta Hotels are built on Secwepemc territories that have never been ceded or surrendered. Land and Water BC disregarded the Secwepemc, who said NO to expansion in stakeholder meetings and in June 2001 obtained a court injunction to forcibly remove the Secwepemc from their homelands. The Skwekwelk'welt Protection Center, at the resort's entrance, claims aboriginal title and rights. For this exercise of rights, 54 arrests with charges ranging from criminal contempt and intimidation by blocking a road to resisting arrest have been made.

In honour of the front-line struggles of this land that have been in total resistance for centuries, a convergence is being organized on Secwepemc territories on August 28-29. Hundreds will travel from Vancouver and surrounding areas to escalate the fight against state and corporate occupation.

By Macdonald Stainsby

A recent ruling on the "Kennewick man" bones has deep implications as yet another in a long line of scientific attacks on indigenous sovereignty. The recent court decision that the local Indians do not control the bones despite the non-ambiguous nature of laws passed on agreements between the nation and the American state is one more salt-grinding demonstration that sovereignty of First Nations is not something that a North American government is bound to respect.

by Justin Podur and C.P. Pandya; August 04, 2004

If Venezuela provides a new, albeit fragile, model of social and economic progress for the region, then its Andean neighbor Colombia, can be seen providing a less-favored, more dangerous alternative - one of neoliberal repression and privatization.  Venezuelans will decide which model to pursue in the referendum of August 15.  But the clash of the two models has taken some unexpected turns recently.

Counterpunch ;
July 17 / 18, 2004 ;

By FRED GARDNER

The directors of the University of California's Center for Medical Cannabis Research--Igor Grant, MD, and Drew Mattison, PhD--organized a "workshop" in Paestum, Italy last month that seemed to violate their basic mandate.

The event, entitled "Future Directions in Cannabinoid Therapeutics II: From the Bench to the Clinic," was held on Sunday, June 27, following the International Cannabinoid Research Society's annual meeting. Participants included many prestigious scientists... The guests had no idea, presumably, that the session was unauthorized by the people of California.