The Andes
Colombia: protests against illegal mining in Cauca
Hundreds of indigenous and Afro-Colombian protesters in Colombia's Cauca region marched cross-country against illegal gold mining—despite paramilitary threats.
Author: CounterVortex
Southern Cone
Argentina: Chinese spaceport plan protested
Protesters marched to a construction site in Argentina's Neuquén province where plans are moving ahead for a spaceport to be overseen by China's space agency.
Africa
Sudan: mass rape by army in Darfur
Sudanese army forces raped more than 200 women and girls in an organized attack on the north Darfur town of Tabit in October, Human Rights Watch charges.
North Africa
Libya: Coptic Christians abducted by ISIS?
Presumed ISIS adherents in Libya have released photos on social media purporting to show some 20 abducted Coptic Christians, saying they await execution.
The Amazon
Peru: protests against PlusPetrol turn deadly
Two have been killed by army troops in militant protests against the operations of PlusPetrol at Pichanaki, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest Peru's Junín region.
Africa
Sahara drug trade funds Boko Haram insurgency
Traffickers have established a dope-for-guns pipeline across the Sahel and Sahara, integrating Boko Haram into drug-smuggling networks that stretch to Asia.
Mexico
Another sentencing in Sinaloa-Chicago connection
Twin brothers were the latest to be sentenced in a series of high-profile cases targeting Sinaloa Cartel operations in Chicago—despite having infiltrated the cartel for the DEA.
North Africa
Mali: Tuareg autonomy at issue in new fighting
UN "peacekeepers" have been drawn into fighting between Tuareg separatist rebels and pro-government paramilitaries as northern Mali remains divided.
Greater Middle East
Kurdish forces drive ISIS back from Kobani
Kurdish forces continue to drive ISIS back from Kobani, and have retaken more than 100 villages from the jihadists since pushing the last of them out of the urban center.
Neither East Nor West
Anarchist contingent at recent anti-Putin demonstration in Moscow. With the war in Ukraine and renewed US-Russian rivalry, the need has emerged for a "neither-nor" position of the kind some anarchists and anti-authoritarians took in the Cold War—building solidarity between anti-war and… Read moreNeither East Nor West
Death of literacy; rise of digital totalitarianism
As penmanship is dropped from grade-school curricula nationwide, we go deeper into a digital dystopia in which people "text" instead write, and "surf" instead of read, degrading the skills of literacy until all communication ultimately becomes impossible. We were lured… Read moreDeath of literacy; rise of digital totalitarianism
Southeast Asia
Harsh abuses seen in Burma opium war
Despite a democratic opening and hopes for peace with ethnic insurgencies, horrific accounts of rights abuses continue to emerge from Burma's opium-producing hinterlands.