Region

The Georgetown protest near the Malaysian island of Penang was a peaceful yet heady affair while the Kuala Lumpur (KL) protests ended with police spraying teargas and chemical-laced watercannon over the protesters. With around 7,000 turnout on the Malaysian west coast the capital KL fermented with at least 100,000 protesters.

The United Nations (UN) urged the eight countries that remain outside the Chemical Weapons Convention to adhere to this instrument and advance in the destruction of such artefacts.
The call was made by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon in a message marking the Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Weapons, which anniversary is next Sunday.

by Ter Garcia

The 15M movement in Spain has faced repression from the very beginning: 24 young people were arrested and beaten by police in the demonstrations organized by Democracia Real Ya on May 15 last year, which is a large part of why several dozen people decided to camp that night in Sol square, turning the demonstration into an encampment.

International humanist organisation World without Wars and Violence will be present at the upcoming NPT Preparatory Committee that will take place from 30 April to 11 May 2012 in Vienna, Austria. The PrepCom and related civil society events will be attended by members of World without Wars and Violence from the Czech Republic.

The “Mayors for a Nuclear Power Free Japan” network will be officially launched in Tokyo on April 28, 2012.
This network was initiated by mayors and local municipal leaders attending the Global Conference for a
Nuclear Power Free World held in Yokohama in January 2012.
66 mayors from 34 prefectures throughout Japan have declared their participation in this
network.

Quoting similarities between the anti-Posco (South Korea’s Pohang Iron & Steel Co. Ltd) industrialisation causing land loss scheme and the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) struggles, Mr Abaya Sahoo, chairman of Posco Pratirodh Sangrm Samiti Dhinkia (PPSSD), spoke out to a large local crowd expressing especial thanks to the women.

Cairo, 23 April – Tens of thousands of protesters returned to Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a massive demonstration Friday [April 20] demanding that the ruling military generals immediately hand over power to a civilian government. The protesters also called for former regime members to be barred from running in next month’s presidential elections.

Farmers demand World Bank – Wall Street stop grabbing their lands… at opening of the Bank’s annual conference. “Land governance in a rapidly changing environment” was the theme of the 2012 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, held April 23-26 in Washington DC. Corporate investors, governments and International Financial Institutions met at the World Bank headquarters.

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a Russia-European resolution that authorizes an initial deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria for three months to help bolster a fragile week-old ceasefire. The deployment depends on an assessment about compliance with a six-point peace deal mediated by envoy Kofi Annan.

**By Leo Dobbs, Choucha Transit Centre, Tunisia (UNHCR)** – Mohammed Karem wants to become a roving art teacher for refugees around the world. “I would like to travel with UNHCR or any other organization,” he says.