Greater Middle East

PKK score hits against Turkish military

Violence is rising in eastern Turkey since imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan decided to abandon peace efforts and leave local commanders in charge of the conflict.

The Andes

Bolivia scores points with animal-lovers

Four lion cubs freed under Bolivia’s circus-animal ban arrived in San Francisco, heading to a new life in a northern California refuge run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society.

The Andes

Bolivia: Evo to negotiate with “Warrior Clans”

Bolivian President Evo Morales says he will negotiate with the “Ayllus Guerreros” that have declared a “red zone” in Potosí department after the killing of four national police officers.

Greater Middle East

Yemen: tribal militants, southern separatists attack

Yemen now faces multiple converging crises—with al-Qaeda and allied tribal militants in the Hadramout, with Shi’ite Houthi rebels in the north, and with armed separatists in the south.

Greater Middle East

Egypt: Ahmadis detained under emergency law

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights called for the release of nine adherents of the Ahmadiyya sect detained under a controversial emergency law just extended by parliament.

South Asia

Pakistan: Ahmadiyya again targeted for terror

Teams of gunmen and suicide bombers simultaneously attacked two mosques packed with hundreds of worshippers, killing some 80 and wounding dozens in the worst attack ever against the Ahmadi sect.

Planet Watch

New oil disaster looms in North Sea

Ninety oil workers have been evacuated from a North Sea rig as engineers fight to control a huge build-up of pressure in a well that may have the potential to blow up the platform.