The international price of copper is soaring as strikes halt operations at two of the world’s largest mines, Cerro Verde in Peru and Grasberg in Indonesia—both owned by the multinational Freeport McMoRan.
Tuaregs in Mali and Niger report that their compatriots in Libya are being “hunted in the streets” and tortured. Black African residents of the town of Tawergha were forced from their homes by anti-Qaddafi forces, and have set up refugee camps near Tripoli.
US diplomatic cables from Bolivia and Peru, released by WikiLeaks, warn of an “anti-system movement” in the Andean region, with indigenous peoples moving towards “self-governance and control over land and resources.”
Protests over pollution and lack of local investment shut down the operations of Petrominerales, Colombia’s fourth largest oil producer, with residents and workers erecting roadblocks around the Corcel and Guatiquia oilfields in Meta department.
Colombia’s Supreme Court of Justice condemned Jorge Noguera, ex-director of the Administrative Security Department, to 25 years for allowing paramilitary groups access to intelligence, leading to at least three assassinations of dissidents.
World War 4 Report editor Bill Weinberg, in the second Internet edition of the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade, discusses the emerging struggle for post-Qaddafi Libya and the potential for ethnic war as Arabs are pitted against Tuaregs and Berbers.
Egyptian authorities declared a state of emergency after protesters broke into the Israeli embassy in Cairo and dumped hundreds of documents out of the windows. The embassy’s Israeli flag was torn down, and a Palestinian one raised.
Thousands of teachers and students took to the streets of several Colombian cities to protest President Juan Manuel Santos’ proposal to “reform” higher education, weakening job security and increasing tuition.
The Peruvian NGO Cusichaca Andina won a grant from the World Bank to promote the revival of ancient Andean crops and agricultural methods in peasant communities to help them adapt to the ravages of climate change.
Workers at the Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru’s Arequipa region began a 48-hour strike, demanding higher pay and threatening to launch an indefinite strike in one week if an agreement isn’t reached with multinational Freeport-McMoRan.
Standard & Poor’s raised its outlook on Bolivia, citing new investment in the mining sector—as unprecedented forest fires ravage the country’s Amazon basin, and violence is feared as peasant colonists bar the progress of an indigenous march on La Paz.
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) claimed responsibility for the terror blast at the court building in Delhi. HUJI leader Ilyas Kashmiri, allegedly killed in a drone strike earlier this year, was protected by Pakistani intelligence, according to court testimony.
