The Amazon
Ecuador: ecology group shut down by government
Ecuador’s government ordered closed the environmentalist FundaciĆ³n Pachamama following protests over opening vast areas of the Amazon to oil development.
Author: CounterVortex
North Africa
Beyond Benghazi: Libya faces converging crises
The death of a US national in Benghazi thrust Libya briefly into the news—as lawless militias, ethnic conflicts and labor strife daily claim lives across the country.
Greater Middle East
Yemen: war comes to capital
A suicide attack on the defense ministry thrust Yemen briefly into the news—as an invisible sectarian war rages across much of the countryside.
Greater Middle East
Lebanon: army seizes strife-torn Tripoli
āLebanon's government has ordered the coastal city of Tripoli placed under army control amid growing sectarian clashes pitting Sunni residents against Alawites.
Mexico
Mexico: new massacre strikes terror in JuƔrez
A new massacre is reported from Ciudad Juárez, again raising fears of a return to the wave of deadly violence that convulsed the Mexican border city for much of the past decade.
Africa
French troops to Central African Republic
France is escalating its military mission in the Central African Republic, airlifting troops and equipment to the capital Bangui ahead of an anticipated UN-backed intervention.
Mexico
Mexico: protesters pledge to resist energy ‘reform’
In a 40,000-strong Mexico City demonstration, union members and opposition activists pledged civil disobedience to halt President Enrique PeƱa Nieto’s energy sector reform.
Afghanistan
Afghan opium production hits new record high
The UN’s latest Afghanistan Opium Survey finds that the country produced record levels of poppy in 2013ādespite $7 billion in US eradication efforts.
The Andes
Colombia: violent eviction at CĆŗcuta squatter camp
The feared Colombian National Police anti-riot force was mobilized to evict an encampment of campesinos who had been displaced from their homes by political violence.
The Andes
Colombia: threatened indigenous group leader slain
Two gunmen assassinated Juan Ćlvaro Pai, traditional governor of the endangered AwĆ” indigenous people, in an incursion into their reserve in Colombia’s NariƱo department.
The Amazon
Ecuador: deadly clash in anti-mining operation
Indigenous leaders in Ecuador's rainforest accuse the army of forging evidence in the death of a Shuar man during an operation against outlaw gold-miners.
North Africa
Mali: Tuareg rebels declare end to ceasefire
Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) announced that they are ending their ceasefire with the Malian government following new clashes.