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TORONTO — Iran’s judiciary has shut down three pro-reform newspapers, opposition Web sites reported Tuesday, in what appears to be a new effort to prevent protests against President The closures came several days after the appointment of two hard-line military veterans to security-related positions. Together, analysts said, the moves reflected the government’s continued determination to suppress the dissent that has risen in the wake of the disputed June 12 presidential election.Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appointed Mohammad Reza Naqdi to lead the Basij militia force. The volunteer militia played a central role, along with the Revolutionary Guards, in the crackdown against protesters after the election. The former commander of the Basij militia, Hussein Taeb, was moved to a position in the intelligence section of the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran has shut down three daily newspapers critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, according to reports by state-run news agencies.While no reason was given, the newspapers had been considered sympathetic towards those protesting over Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June.The papers closed on Tuesday were Tahlil Rooz (Day's Analysis) in the southern city of Shiraz, and two of the most influential reformist newspapers Farhang Ashdi (Culture of Reconciliation) and Arman (Ideals) published in the capital, Tehran.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Diplomats pushed the two sides of the Honduran political conflict into direct talks for the first time in nearly three months, but left the country Thursday with no commitment from the coup-installed government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.Members of the delegation sponsored by the Organization of American States characterized the result of their one-day visit — the establishment of a "table of dialogue" and an agenda — as a positive step even though the rivals appear as far apart as ever.Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said representatives of Zelaya and the interim government of interim President Roberto Micheletti had agreed to discuss the main international proposal for resolving the crisis and will have "logistical" support from OAS staff left behind.

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- AfriForum, a South African civil rights organization, called for a worldwide boycott of Nestle SA products after the Swiss company said it buys milk from a farm belonging to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s family. Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, said on Sept. 28 that it purchases milk from the Mugabe family’s Gushungo Holdings Ltd. that account for as much as 15 percent of the company’s intake in the southern African country. Gushungo owns a property formerly known as Foyle Farm that was seized by the government as part of a program to transfer land from white commercial farmers to black citizens of the country.

CONAKRY, Guinea — Guinea's leader, who seized power in a coup nine months ago, said Friday that elections will continue as planned even as his military junta prepared to bury 57 people who died when troops fired live ammunition into a pro-democracy rally.Wearing a crisp military uniform, Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara laid a wreath in memory of the victims of Monday's massacre. Camara previously said he had no control over the troops — including his own presidential guard force — who committed the massacre in which 157 people were reportedly killed.On Friday, he took the offensive, saying opposition leaders were to blame for the protesters' deaths because they had defied a ban and organized the pro-democracy rally. He said the election would proceed as scheduled on Jan. 31. But, refusing to address the issue that sparked Monday's protest, he did not say whether he would run.

WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (OneWorld.net) - Human rights groups and the UN chief are condemning Tuesday's brutal military attacks on a pro-democracy rally in the West African nation of Guinea. Over 100 people were killed and countless women raped and sexually assaulted. While debate and divisions between political parties are welcome, we are now receiving word of abductions, torture, and rape in the capitol area," said Gerald LeMelle, executive director of the Washington, DC-based advocacy group Africa Action, in a statement today. LeMelle was responding to events yesterday in the Guinean capital Conakry, where security forces responded to a largely peaceful political rally by shooting into the crowd and beating and sexually assaulting women.

Gabon's opposition said on Tuesday it would boycott a vote recount from last month's presidential election won by longtime leader Omar Bongo Ondimba's son after negotiations over it broke down. The Constitutional Court's recount, scheduled to occur on Tuesday, was postponed to Wednesday after talks with the opposition caused a delay.Opposition candidates had argued that each should be able to send both a court bailiff and another representative to witness the recount, while the court said only bailiffs would be allowed."This recount has no value for us, nor for the truth that we are looking for," said ex-interior minister Andre Mba Obame, who finished second in the vote.

TEGUCIGALPA/MANAGUA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 500 supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Thursday protested the martial law imposed by the post-coup government in this Honduran capital. The demonstration, gathering members of the union and peasants' groups, was staged outside the U.S. embassy, also calling for Zelaya's reinstatement. Participants told local media that the protest would continue until the martial law and curfew was lifted. There were also demonstrations outside the capital city.

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In a sign of rising tension, the government issued a decree Sunday that banned unauthorized gatherings and allowed the authorities to shut down broadcasters and arrest anyone deemed to pose a threat to their lives and that of others.The diplomats were members of an advance team planning a visit of foreign ministers from member countries to try to negotiate an end to the political crisis here. The organization had been invited by the de facto government to hold talks here, then disinvited, and invited again before being turned back at the airport on Sunday. Carlos López Contreras, the foreign minister of the de facto government, said Sunday that the group had arrived before the government said it could. “They fell on us by surprise,” he said.

In the past week, sixteen students from Isfehan Industrial University have been summoned to appear before the Disciplinary Committee in the Ministry of Education. The students stood before the Committee and, in their own defense, presented supporting documents.  The Committee has not issued any ruling on the students’ cases and has postponed its decision to next week. Readers are reminded that, in the meantime, these students have not been allowed to register for courses during the current school year, and are not even allowed to enter the university’s campus.

Honduras's interim leaders suspended key civil liberties last night in response to "calls for insurrection" by ousted president Manuel Zelaya, empowering police and soldiers to break up "unauthorised" public meetings, arrest people without warrants and restrict the news media.The announcement came just hours after Zelaya called on supporters to stage mass marches today to mark the three-month anniversary of the 28 June coup that ousted him. Zelaya described the marches as "the final offensive" against the interim government.Zelaya, who surprised the world when he sneaked back into the country last Monday and holed up in the Brazilian embassy, is demanding he be reinstated to office, and has said that the government of interim president Roberto Micheletti "has to fall".

Students in Iran have demonstrated against the government at Tehran University on the first day of the new academic year.Footage posted on websites showed several hundred people chanting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Eyewitnesses said students were not allowed into an official ceremony attended by a government minister to mark the start of term.

Earlier this year, I was shown around Jayyous by Mohammad Othman, Youth Coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, a nonviolent grassroots movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. His community, like many others, has been hit hard by Israel’s Separation Wall, their very livelihoods threatened by Israel’s drive to carry out a land grab under the claim of security.Yesterday, Othman was detained and arrested by Israeli soldiers as he attempted to cross back into the West Bank from Jordan, returning from a trip to Norway. He will apparently meet with his lawyer tomorrow, and there is a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday next week.

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MINSK, BELARUS — Three male actors enter a stark, white room in a ramshackle house on the outskirts of this former Soviet city and place a large suitcase on the black, lacquered floor.Two actors of the Belarus Free Theater performing "Discover Love" in Washington D.C. on September 16. Each picks up an instrument, and they launch into a lively Belarussian folk tune. From the suitcase springs a woman in a traditional costume, a flowered garland on her head. Yipping and chirping, she kicks into a sprightly dance. On the wall a message in Belarussian is projected: “About 20,000 young women in Belarus need employment.”

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The US embassy in Rangoon has officially protested against the alleged  maltreatment of detained American citizen, Kyaw Zaw Lwin (alias) Nyi Nyi Aung, as the Burmese junta on Thursday publicly announced his arrest. Drake Weisert, Assistant Public Affairs Officer, at the US embassy in Rangoon told Mizzima that Kyaw Zaw Lwin made claims that he had been mistreated when the US consular officer visited him in Insein prison in Rangoon on Sunday. “The U.S. Embassy has submitted an official message to the Government of Burma protesting the alleged mistreatment of an imprisoned American citizen,” Weisert said.

NEW YORK—Lawyers and Chinese civil rights activists are planning to lodge formal complaints with the United Nations and the Hong Kong government over the detention of former 1989 student democracy activist Zhou Yongjun on charges of “economic fraud” after he tried to visit his ailing father in 2008.A number of lawyers and civil rights activists said they were planning to lodge formal complaints over Zhou’s detention, especially as it took place in Hong Kong, where freedom of speech and the rule of law were promised protection by Beijing.“If the Hong Kong authorities can just hand him over to China, then where are Hong Kong’s freedoms?” New York-based lawyer Li Jinjin said.

BANGKOK, Sep 23 (IPS) - Having released more than 7,000 prisoners in the last few days as part of the preparations for next year's planned polls, Burma's military rulers are up to their old tricks, according to Burmese activists and human rights groups. Most of those released are petty criminals, although around 200 political prisoners are among the freed. Many analysts believe these releases are intended to increase the credibility of next year's multi-party elections – the first in 20 years. But activists accuse the junta of releasing political prisoners to deflect international pressure, especially at the United Nations, where the annual General Assembly got underway this week. Burma usually comes under intense scrutiny during this meeting.

Dharamsala, September 23 – The Dag Hammerskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations building in New York was filled with angry protesters yesterday as Chinese president Hu Jintao arrived to deliver his first address at the United Nations on climate change. Tibetans, Chinese, Taiwanese, Burmese, and Falun Dafa followers voiced their angst in unison against the Chinese president who they accused of oppressing thousands of innocent peoples. Meanwhile, the Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest pro-independence group of the Tibetan diaspora, condemned the United Nations for kowtowing to China by inviting Hu, who it accused of carrying out “gross violation of human rights in Tibet, East Turkestan and China”. Hu Jintao’s previous commitments of promoting and safeguarding world peace and seeking a harmonious society are no more than blatant lies, it said. While reiterating its demand for complete independence for Tibet the Tibetan Youth Congress appealed to the UN and the world leaders to raise the issue of Tibet through these UN Summits with the leaders of People’s Republic of China.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, in a rare interview Thursday, depicted himself as an African hero battling imperialism and foreign attempts to oust him rather than the widespread perception of a dictator clinging to power at the expense of the welfare of his people and country. The 85-year-old Mugabe, the only leader of Zimbabwe since it became independent from Britain in 1980, rejected repeated assertions by CNN's Christiane Amanpour that his policies have driven the nation once known as Africa's breadbasket to virtual economic collapse.Instead, Mugabe accused Britain and the United States of seeking to oust him by imposing economic sanctions, the effects of which he said were worsened by years of drought.

Activists have launched a campaign to have the headquarters of a top African human rights body moved from the Gambia after the country's president reportedly threatened to kill human rights defenders.The online Gambian news service, Freedom Newspaper, reported this week that President Yahya Jammeh had said in a television broadcast that he would kill "anyone who wants to destablise this country."The newspaper said Jammeh's "exact words" in a television broadcast had been: "If you think that you can collaborate with so-called human rights defenders, and get away with it, you must be living in a dream world. I will kill you, and nothing will come out of it.