Mexico
Michoacán mayor murdered by Knights Templar?
Mexico is shocked by the murder of Mayor Ygnacio López Mendoza of Santa Ana Maya, Michoacán, who was found dead after a public hunger strike to protest cartel extortion.
Author: CounterVortex
Planet Watch
Native resistance to North American pipeline plans
The Keystone XL pipeline from Canada's oilfields to Texas is now matched by alternate routes to British Columbia and the Maritimes—all meeting opposition from Native peoples.
Inner Asia
Tibetan monk imprisoned for ‘splittism’: report
A Tibetan monk in China’s Sichuan province was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after he led a public prayer session for self-immolation martyrs.
The Andes
Bolivia: repression against dictatorship survivors
Bolivia’s elite anti-riot force used tear-gas against survivors of the country’s military dictatorship who protested in La Paz to demand indemnification for torture they suffered.
Africa
Congo: Katanga next for mineral boom —and war?
Following defeat of the M23 rebels in the war-torn east, the DRC is touting an imminent mineral boom in southern Katanga—despite a spreading separatist insurgency.
The Andes
Colombia: Cauca campesino leader assassinated
Sergio Úlcue Perdomo, a campesino leader who brought a case to the OAS human rights body over paramilitary terror in Cauca, was killed at his home by unknown gunmen.
Inner Asia
Han-Uighur solidarity amid Xinjiang violence
As another deadly clash is reported from Xinjiang, Shanghai journalist Yang Haipeng has started donning a Uighur skullcap at security checkpoints as a gesture of solidarity.
South Asia
Pakistan: sectarian strife mars Ashura
Celebrations of Muharram, the Shi’ite holy month highlighted by the Ashura festival, saw sectarian violence that left several dead across Pakistan.
The Andes
Peru: ‘narco-terrorist’ busted; narco-politician exposed
Peru's National Police said they apprehended an accused Shining Path commander—as a campaign contributor to Keiko Fujimori was blacklisted by the US as a narco-trafficker.
The Andes
Sendero Luminoso in Bolivia?
Peru’s jungle border with Bolivia is militarized after Bolivian authorities said a coca-eradication was team was ambushed by a Sendero Luminoso cell in the Yungas region.
Iraq
Charges dropped against Iraq oil union leader
Following an international campaign, all charges were dropped against Iraq oil union leader Hassan Juma’a Awad in a case related to strikes and worker protests.
North America
Urban Shield police confab protested in Oakland
Anti-war and Occupy activists teamed up with survivors of police violence to protest the Urban Shield police and military expo at downtown Oakland's convention center.