Planet Watch

California rejects oil industry’s Proposition 23

California voters defeated Proposition 23, voting 61.3% in favor of keeping the state’s 2006 greenhouse gas reduction law, the Global Warming Solutions Act, considered the strongest in the nation.

Iraq

Iraq: local governments oppose Baghdad gas deals

The Iraqi oil ministry’s auction of three natural gas fields is angrily opposed by all the governorates in which they are located, with provincial officials warning that they will refuse to cooperate.

South Asia

India: villagers mobilize against nuclear plant

Up to 3,000 villagers are facing arrest after taking part in a “silent protest” against the planned Jaitapur nuclear power project, occupying the construction site in India’s Maharashtra state.

Greater Middle East

Terror rocks Istanbul —again

A suicide attack on Istanbul’s Taksim Square, injuring at least 32, came on the last day of a unilateral ceasefire declared by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Europe

HRW protests deportation of Roma to Kosova

Roma and related minority groups deported from Western Europe to Kosova face discrimination and severe deprivation amounting to human rights abuse, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.

North Africa

Sahel states respond to AQIM threat

The governments of Mauritania and Mali pledge a hard line against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)—while acknowledging that a visible role for Western powers could win the group sympathy.

Mexico

Mexico: narco-massacre in Nayarit

In Mexico’s third mass shooting in less than a week, gunmen opened fire at a carwash in Tepic, capital of the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, killing at least 15—including 13 workers and two bystanders.

North Africa

Protests turn deadly in Western Sahara

A 14-year-old boy was killed when Moroccan security forces intervened in a protest encampment established by indigenous Sahrawi residents outside Laayoune, capital of occupied Western Sahara.