*Colombia’s government must hold genuine dialogue with civil society and ensure punishment for [state thugs] who have committed abuses,* according to the OAS human rights commission. They committed these crimes against against protesters in the recent protests, and bystanders.

*Kuwait arrests poet activist for 'insulting' emir.*

Greece has put restrictions on bars and restaurants once again, demonstrating how foolish it was to eliminate them completely.

I have the impression most governments are manic-repressive about Covid. They get intoxicated with hope, and throw caution to the winds. After the predictable results of that, they are compelled to start pulling on the reins. The repetition of this cycle builds up a feeling of unwillingness to obey restrictions.

The new mayor of Boston has cancelled a regional plan to fill the whole metropolitan area with connected surveillance cameras.

The reason they did not know how many cameras Cambridge would contribute is, I believe, that Cambridge has an ordinance requiring city council approval for all surveillance technology.

It is a good thing to defeat an initiative for massive surveillance, but there are already many surveillance systems here. We need to get rid of them and establish laws to prohibit replacing them.

Afghan women have taken up arms to fight the Taliban. Now they need military training.

These women provide exactly what has been missing from the fight against the Taliban: people as strongly committed as the Taliban themselves. If they had got started 10 years ago, if they now numbered tens of thousands, they could win the war.

It's sad to see them only now when there is little chance left.