Following a wave of forest fires in the southern Araucania and Bio-Bio regions that left seven fire-fighters dead this week, Chile’s government suggested that “terrorism” by indigenous Mapuche activists may have been responsible.
Despite the mobilization of some 500 National Police troops, the streets of towns in Colombia’s northern Urabá region have been cleared by threats from Los Urabeños paramilitary network, which has declared an “armed strike.”
The Oromo Support Group reports that authorities in the de facto state of Somaliland are forcibly repatriating asylum-seekers from the oppressed Oromo and Ogadeni ethnic groups to Ethiopia, where they face persecution.
The Pentagon’s new “strategic guidance” document foresees a shift to the Asia-Pacific theater as the primary focus of US global policing. Budget cuts would only bring the US back to 2007 levels—still ahead of the 10 nearest rivals.
Mexican federal officials have mobilized thousands more military troops to violence-torn northeastern Tamaulipas state in an emergency move prompted by escalating violence—punctuated by a prison riot that left over 30 dead.
Hundreds of Libyan soldiers protested in the eastern city of Benghazi, demanding payment of overdue wages and complaining that militia groups have taken over their bases and resist joining a new national army.
Amid growing tensions in the Persian Gulf, the US and Israel are preparing to hold the largest missile defense exercise in the history of the Jewish state. The drill will involve the deployment of thousands of US troops to Israel.
More than 950 relatives of inmates launched a protest occupation of a Venezuelan prison over the New year holiday, saying they will refuse to leave the facility until authorities agree to their demand for faster trials for their loved ones.
Protests in Peru’s north-central region of Cajamarca resumed with a thousand gathering in the city square to protest against the Conga gold mining project. The regional council voted to declare the project “unviable.”
Despite expressing “reservations” in a signing statement, President Obama approved the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, with controversial provisions that codify into law the indefinite detention of terror suspects.
Deadly ethnic clashes in Nigeria and a state of emergency in response to Boko Haram attacks come amid a massive oil spill in the Delta region—and government plans to drop fuel subsidies, leading to calls for a general strike.
Shortly before the ball dropped in Times Square, hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters swarmed over police barricades at downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, retaking the plaza before being evicted in a police charge.
