Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters demanding the ouster of Moammar Qaddafi in Tripoli, while rebels clashed with Qaddafi-loyalist forces for control of Raslanuf oil compound.
An Israeli company is said to be recruiting mercenaries to support Moammar Qaddafi, while Zimbabwe’s defense minister was grilled by opposition MPs over similar charges.
Following the success of coca eradication efforts, the FARC and right-wing paramilitaries are in a deadly struggle for control of outlaw gold-mining operations in Colombia’s jungles.
The foreign ministers of Colombia and Venezuela met in Caracas to improve bilateral relations—as the militarized and oil-rich border zone was shut down by indigenous protests.
Colombian “neo-pramilitary” groups containing former armed forces personnel were able to infiltrate the state by exploiting past military connections, according to a WikiLeaks cable.
Brazilian police are questioning a man accused of driving his car at high speed through a crowd of Critical Mass cyclists in Porto Alegre, injuring at least 12.
Activists have identified 10 “zones of extermination” in Ciudad Juárez, where “youthcide” is carried out with impunity—despite warnings from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Peru’s government secretly admitted that 70-90% of its mahogany exports are illegally felled, according to a WikiLeaks cable—amid concerns of illegal loggers encroaching on indigenous lands.
National Police opened fire on a roadblock by small-scale unlicensed miners in Peru’s Amazon region of Madre de Dios, launched to protest a crackdown that included aerial bombardment.
Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez has spoken to Moammar Qaddafi about creating a bloc of friendly nations—tentatively dubbed the Committee of Peace—to mediate a resolution to Libya’s crisis.
Libyan rebels drove Qaddafi’s forces from the key eastern oil port of Brega, as two US warships entered the Mediterranean, bound for Libya on an officially “humanitarian” mission.
Veteran Tuareg guerilla fighters who Qaddafi backed in Mali and Niger are now said to be serving as mercenaries for his regime—while indigenous Tuareg tribes in Libya have joined the revolution.
