Pakistan announced the arrest of top al-Qaeda leader Younis al-Mauritani along with two other operatives. The arrests, in the city of Quetta, were hailed as the fruit of cooperation between Pakistan’s ISI and the CIA—despite recent friction over drone strikes.
Tuareg fighters are said to be accompanying a convoy of Qaddafi-loyalist forces that has crossed from Libya into Niger, raising speculation that the Tuareg leaders may have brokered a deal for Qaddafi’s exile in Burkina Faso.
Cars and buses were taken off the streets of Bolivia as the country held its first “National Day of the Pedestrian.” All motor vehicles were banned for the day in cities across the country, as the streets were given over to youth festivals and sporting events.
Two Shipibo indigenous communites in the Peruvian Amazon have broken off negotiations with Maple Gas Corporation over the health and environmental impacts of six oil spills on their territory over the past three years.
The International Federation of Human Rights released a report condemning Colombia’s human rights record since the Sept. 11 attacks, accusing the government of carrying out widespread abuses under the banner of combating terrorism.
Residents of Kington’s poor district of Tivoli Gardens reacted with shock and disbelief to the news that extradited kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke arranged a plea bargain at US District Court in Manhattan—after the manhunt for him cost scores of lives.
The de facto authorities in Tripoli should stop the arbitrary arrests of African migrant workers assumed to be mercenaries, Human Rights Watch said, calling for the NTC to “release those detained as mercenaries solely due to their dark skin color.”
The indigenous Telengit people in Russia’s Altai Republic are turning to the international community to help stop a new gas pipeline to China that would cut through their sacred lands and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hundreds of activists from throughout South Korea have gathered in force on Jeju Island to hold a “peace event” aimed at halting construction of a naval base slated to be used by US forces—in defiance of a court injunctions against protests.
The UN issued its its report on the deadly May 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, criticizing Israel for using “excessive and unreasonable” force but finding that the blockade of the Gaza Strip itself is lawful. Turkey responded by recalling its ambassador from Israel.
Over the past days, more than 500 Tuaregs, including women and children, have crossed from Libya to Algeria, claiming they were forced to flee their homes by anti-Qaddafi fighters, who took reprisals after occupying their towns.
Libya’s Transitional National Council denied charges made by Morocco’s official news service that some 550 Polisario Front fighters from occupied Western Sahara had been arrested for serving as mercenaries for Qaddafi.
