Iligan City, Mindanao, Philippines – The recent election of Rodrigo Duterte as president of The Philip-pines (GRP) is a defeat for the pro-U.S. group of wealthy families that have always run the country. Here in Iligan City, there is an outpouring of the hopes from people about what the election could mean.

Iosbaker is part of a human rights delegation in the Philippines from July 16-25.

Washington DC – China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang condemned President Obama’s June 15 White House meeting with the Dalai Lama, stating “Tibetan affairs fall entirely within China's domestic affairs which brook no foreign interference. The 14th Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure, but a political exile that has long been engaged in anti-China separatist campaigns under the cloak of religion. The so-called ‘middle path’ he peddles boils down to ‘independence of Tibet.’ The meeting between the U.S. leader and the Dalai Lama in whatever form goes against the U.S. commitment of recognizing Tibet as part of China, and not supporting ‘Tibetan independence’ nor activities that attempt to split up China.”

Chicago IL – Multinational mining companies are laying waste to the mountainous regions of the Southern Philippines. These mountaintops have been found to contain some of the world’s largest deposits of gold and precious minerals. The people who live there, the indigenous Lumad on the island of Mindanao, are defending their ancestral lands and have become the target of human rights abuses and massacres.

Hits FBI with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Mamasapano Incident

Minneapolis, MN – “Over 60 Filipinos died and witnesses also saw the body of an American at the covert U.S.-designed Mamasapano operation one year ago, yet the U.S. has still not come clean about the extent of its role in the carnage. We are filing this Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI because the Filipino and American people have the right to know the full truth about this botched mission,” stated BAYAN-USA Chair Bernadette Ellorin.

Washington D.C. – Speaking in Beijing, Oct. 27, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang sharply condemned the U.S. government for sailing a guided missile destroyer, the USS Lassen into China’s territorial waters.

Minneapolis, MN – On Oct. 24, 30 people gathered in Minneapolis to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the Chinese revolution. In an event sponsored by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, they celebrated by watching the movie Founding of a Party, which was followed by a lively discussion about the meaning and importance of the socialist revolution in China.

Spy accusations part of U.S. preparations for war with China

San José, CA – On Sept. 11, the Justice Department dropped its charges against Xi Xiaoxing, who had been chair of the physics department at Temple University, until his arrest in May. Professor Xi’s home was raided and searched by a dozen FBI agents at dawn, some with guns drawn, when he was arrested and led away in handcuffs in front of his wife and two daughters. He was charged with sharing designs for a ‘pocket heater’ used in superconductor research with scientists in China.

_Turkey redoubles war on Syria, Kurds and the left _

Chicago, IL – Chicago-based anti-war leader Joe Iosbaker is speaking out against the latest U.S./Turkey attacks on Syria and the Kurds. “What does it mean that the U.S. and its NATO junior partner, Turkey, are creating a ‘Safe Zone’ along the Turkey-Syria border? The first result is that dozens of Turkish fighter planes are engaging in attacks against the Kurdistan Workers Party in Syria as well as in Iraq. In Turkey, they’re cracking down on Kurds and the left, with hundreds of arrests.”

Washington, DC – In the Philippines, there is a mounting crisis of human rights abuses against indigenous people, labor and community activists at the hands of the armed forces. Victims demand justice and there are even calls for President Benigno Aquino to resign. But mainly the demand is for an end to impunity for the killers and torturers, because over and over they go unpunished.