Central America
El Salvador bans metallic mining
El Salvador became the first country on Earth to completely ban the mining of metals—following a long campaign by campesinos and their ecologist allies.
Author: CounterVortex
The Andes
Colombia: popular power defeats mega-mining
Mining multinational AngloGold Ashanti announced it will abandon its planned mega-project at La Colosa, Colombia, following a popular vote by local residents to reject the project.
East Asia
Korea: protests as US begins THAAD installation
Protesters blocked roads and clashed with police in South Korea’s rural Seongju county as US forces began installing the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system.
The Amazon
Indigenous protesters clash with police in Brasilia
Thousands of indigenous protesters clashed with police outside the congress building in Brasilia, during a demonstration over territorial and land rights in the Brazilian Amazon.
East Asia
Global execution stats: good news, bad news
The latest Amnesty International report on global use of the death penalty shows a decline last year—but China's massive statistics are kept secret and therefore not factored in.
Mexico
Mexican prosecutor jailed in US on narco charges
Edgar Veytia, the get-tough attorney general of Mexico's Nayarit state, was ordered jailed by a US federal judge in Brooklyn, facing charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin and meth.
Hawks fear anarchist haven in Syria
An analysis from the ultra-hawkish Henry Jackson Society sports this screenshot from a video announcing the formation of the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF), made up of foreign volunteers who have joined the leftist Kurdish forces in northern Syria…. Read moreHawks fear anarchist haven in Syria
Europe
ETA still wants independent Basque Country
Separatist group ETA said in a communique that it will not abandon its goal of an independent Basque state on the French-Spanish borderlands despite surrendering its arms.
The Andes
Peru: Lima crackdown on ‘land-traffickers’
Police seized large areas of "trafficked" lands in the Lomas de Primavera green belt overlooking Lima, but accounts were vague on the fate of the peasant families settled there.
Southeast Asia
Control of oil, water at issue in Burma peace talks
As Burma's government tries to lure hold-out ethnic rebel armies to the negotiating table, Chinese-backed oil and hydro projects emerge as a last obstacle to peace.
South Asia
Pakistan: ‘blasphemy’ lynching sparks protests
Hundreds have marched in Pakistani cities to denounce the mob slaying of a leftist university student who was accused of "blasphemy" after an argument with fellow students.
Greater Middle East
Egypt: ISIS claims attack at historic monastery
ISIS militants attacked a security checkpoint near the gates of the 6th century St. Catherine's Monastery in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, as draconian emergency measures take effect.