The high-tech industry hopes the new rare earth refinery in Malaysia’s Pahang state will break China’s “stranglehold” on the essential precious metals. But local residents concerned about radioactive contamination have launched a protest campaign.
Some 60,000 Azeris gathered in Baku to mark the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly massacre in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian forces that control the enclave have opened it to copper, lead and barite exploration.
With Khader Adnan still recovering after his 66-day hunger strike against his “administrative detention” by Israel, a Palestinian woman, Hana Yahya al-Shalabi, began her own hunger strike against her detention without charge or trial.
Hamas turned against its long-time ally President Bashar Assad of Syria, throwing its support behind the rebellion aimed at overturning his rule. Meanwhile in Tunis, Hillary Clinton bashed Russia and China for opposing UN action against Assad.
In the worst clash in the recent protests at Jerusalem's Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, Israeli police used tear gas and stun grenade at the entrance of al-Aqsa Mosque. Protests began after right-wing politicians called for closing the site to Muslims.
The International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI) released a statement condemning the threats of war and economic sanctions against Iran, as well as opposing the Islamic Republic’s internal repression of workers’ struggles.
Riot police in La Paz clashed with disabled protesters in wheelchairs and on crutches. The “Wheelchair Caravan for Integration” traveled 100 days cross country to demand rights and government aid for Bolivia’s disabled.
Mexican federal police announced the arrest of two leading Sinaloa Cartel figures, Jaime Herrera Herrera AKA "El Viejito" and osé Antonio Torres Marrufo AKA "El Marrufo"—but maximum boss Joaquín Guzmán AKA "El Chapo" (Shorty) remains at large.
As Ethiopian forces press their offensive in Somalia, Shabaab rebels relinquished control of Baidoa, a key southern city that had been under their control for three years. The rebels still control the largest swath of Somalia’s south.
The next round of deployments to Afghanistan was announced amid a wave of anti-US protests. Five brigades and one army command will train and support the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), an unprecedentedly large training mission.
Yemeni officials hailed a 60% turnout in elections that officially ended President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule, despite boycott calls by separatists in the south where violence marred polling. Shi’ite rebels in the north also boycotted the polls.
Hundreds of relatives of inmates who burned or suffocated to death at the Comayagua prison fire in Honduras pushed past security guards to force their way into a morgue to demand the remains of loved ones. Police cleared the morgue with tear gas.
