The Amazon
Brazil: victory for indigenous land struggle
Brazil's Congress concluded work for the year, having failed to approve a constitutional amendment aimed at gutting the process of indigenous land demarcation.
Author: CounterVortex
Palestine
Israel high court orders settlement demolished
Israel's Supreme Court issued a rare ruling to demolish a Jewish settlement at Amona in the West Bank. The settlers pledge resistance as a deadline for eviction looms.
Greater Middle East
Turkey: clashes between PKK, Islamists
Three were killed in southeastern Turkish town of Cizre in clashes between Islamist militants of the Huda-Par and followers of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Palestine
Fatah under attack over statehood proposal
A Hamas leader said that the draft resolution for Palestinian statehood presented to the UN Security Council is "disastrous," and has "no future in the land of Palestine."
Greater Middle East
Syria: new rebel alliance in besieged Aleppo
With regime bombardment intensifying, Syrian rebel factions in Aleppo announced a new "Shamiyya Front"—a further consolidation of "moderate" Islamist forces.
South Asia
India: Bodo militants massacre tribal people
National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants shot dead at least 50 adivasis, or tribal people, in a wave of coordinated attacks across India's northeast state of Assam.
Mexico
Sentencing in Sinaloa Cartel’s Chicago connection
A case related to the Sinaloa Cartel's Chicago connection provided further fodder for the increasingly plausible theory that the DEA protected Mexico's biggest crime machine.
Palestine
UN: Israel must pay in 2006 Lebanon oil slick
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Israel to pay Lebanon over $850 million for an oil spill caused by air-strikes on a power station during the 2006 war.
The Andes
Peru: campesino family scores win against mine
In a reversal for Peru's Yanacocha Mining, a campesino family convicted of "land usurpation" against the company had their sentence overturned on appeal.
The Andes
Ecuador: Correa acts against CONAIE
Ecuador's government announced that indigenous organization CONAIE is to be evicted from its longtime Quito offices—and the organization has pledged to resist.
The Andes
Colombia: FARC declare ceasefire —amid fighting
Fighting continued up to the minute a unilateral FARC ceasefire took effect, with Colombia's government refusing rebel demands for foreign observers to monitor the truce.
The Andes
Colombia: corrupt cops caught in crackdown
Over 50 agents of Colombia's National Police force have been arrested in an ongoing sweep of corrupt officers dubbed the "Transparency Plan."