Feature Archives

In Lebanon families still struggle to rebuild homes, schools, and communities destroyed by Israeli agression during the month long war. Clusterbombs and undetonated ordinates injure and kill families returning home on a daily basis. Lebanon struggles to put the pieces back together. Audio, photos, writing, interviews.

Cuban President Fidel Castro handed over power for the first time in his nearly 50 years at the head of the Caribbean island nation on July 31st. A recent trip to Argentina, as well as the July 26th celebration of the anniversary of the assault on the Moncada barracks, have taken a toll on the 79 year-old man's health. Castro was forced to undergo emergency surgery to correct intestinal bleeding and was reportedly recovering on Tuesday night. Castro "provisionally" delegated his presidential duties to his brother, for what Fidel predicted would be a period of several weeks.

After more than two years in prison and a fifteen month hunger-strike, former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune was freed in order to seek medical treatment on Thursday, July 27th. Neptune is one of the most high profile political prisoners who have been detained by the U.S.-backed interim government in Haiti. He was jailed shortly after the 2004 coup that ousted Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide. The intermittent hunger strike has taken a heavy toll on the 59 year-old former Prime Minister's health.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's popularity in the UK was already low due to the war in Iraq, but his latest stand with Bush against a ceasefire in Lebanon has caused him to come under more fire than ever before from within his own Labour Party. After meeting with Bush in DC on July 28th, Blair is vacationing in California. He arrived in San Francisco on Friday July 29th, and attended a party with George Shultz Saturday night. He toured the Delancey Street Foundation Sunday morning with Mayor Newsom before heading down to Monterey to attend a party hosted by Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch at the Pebble Beach resort. Blair was again in South San Francisco Monday meeting with biotech CEOs at Genentech before he headed to LA for a meeting with Schwarzenegger.

On July 27th, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee held a protest against the war in Lebanon in front of Senator Feinstein’s Office in San Francisco. After a spirited rally, hundreds marched to the SF Chronicle building, where 8 activists were arrested
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | Fact sheet and flier

An international conference in Rome held Wednesday July 26th ended without a call for a ceasefire. Condoleezza Rice stood virtually alone in opposing any language suggesting that the Israeli onslaught, which has already caused close to 500 civilian deaths and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure, should be ended any time soon. Also on Wednesday, the US blocked theU.N. Security Council from issuing a statement that would have condemned the Israeli bombing of a UN compound in Southern Lebanon.

On Tuesday July 25th, Israel bombed a UN compound in South Lebanon killing Canadian, Finnish, Austrian and Chinese nationals. The UN warned Israel with at least 10 separate telephone that repeated aerial and artillery attacks had already landed at or dangerously close to their post in Khiam and an internal UN report on the incident says there were more than 20 aerial and artillery attacks on the post on Tuesday, including four artillery rounds that directly hit the UN position an hour before the fatal guided bomb attack. The report also said that, each time the UN called to complain, the Israeli officer they talked to promised that the attacks would stop but the strikes continued.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, condemned Israel, saying he was shocked by the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the post, and called for it to investigate the incident.
On Wednesday, the US blocked the U.N. Security Council from issuing a statement that would have condemned the bombing as much of the right-wing Israeli media used Annan's condemnation as an excuse to lash out at the UN.

Israel under fire for killing UN monitors | Israelis Kill UN Peacekeepers - Halutz Commits to War Crimes

It was announced today that the Doha Development Agenda negotiations of the World Trade Organization will be suspended. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy told heads of delegations in the informal July 24th meeting that he will recommend a “time out” to the General Council on July 27th. He did not suggest how long the talks will be suspended, but he said that countries need time to review the situation, and that if the political will to continue exists, the WTO will come back together to discuss all subjects in the Doha round.