'Lumad' families flee military operations in Davao Oriental (tags)
At least 410 "lumad" (indigenous) families or 2,500 people from several towns in Davao Oriental were forced to leave their homes in the past two weeks following intensified government operations against communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, a human rights group said on Sunday. Of those who fled, 330 families came from the hinterland villages of San Victor and Kampawan in Baganga, Karapatan reported. Those living in the outskirts of San Victor sought refuge in the village center while those in Kampawan went to Barangay (Village) Lambajon.
2 Filipino military rebel officers ‘mentally’ tortured, wives claim (tags)
The wives of two Filipino military rebel junior officers have claimed their husbands are being “mentally tortured” by the Army since their capture six months ago. Philippine Army 1st Lt. Sonny Sarmiento and 2nd Lt. Aldrin Baldonado have been kept in “bartolina” (solitary confinement) at the maximum-security compound of the Intelligence Security Group (ISG) at Fort Bonifacio since July 27, their wives said. They said the two officers were not being adequately fed, and deprived of reading materials and personal grooming items like combs.
More women accuse Governor Groper of sexual battery (tags)
Meanwhile, a new accusation surfaced from Escobar, a 41-year-old Los Angeles wife and mother and a waitress at a restaurant in the Fairmont Miramar hotel in Santa Monica. In an interview with The Times, she said Schwarzenegger had threatened to assault her when she was a teenager in the late 1970s.
When ex-Iraqi soldiers demonstrated outside Bremer's office at the former Presidential Palace, US troops shot two of them dead. When Falujah residents staged a protest as long ago as April, the American military shot 16 dead. Another 11 were later gunned down in Mosul. During two demonstrations against the presence of US troops near the shrine of Imam Hussein at Karbala last weekend, US soldiers shot dead another three. "What a wonderful thing it is to speak your own minds," Lt-Gen Sanchez said of the demonstrations in Iraq last week. Maybe he was exhibiting a black sense of humour.