Iran
Iran: opposition defy threats as crisis escalates
Security forces used tear gas and water cannons against protesters in Tehran, as a sucide blast at the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum left three dead and eight wounded.
Author: CounterVortex
Africa
Ethiopia re-occupying Somalia?
Ethiopian troops have reportedly crossed into Somalia after the transitional government there made a plea for foreign forces to help battle insurgents.
North Africa
Algeria: insurgent ambush kills 24 police
Gunmen presumably linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ambushed and killed 24 Algerian paramilitary police in the country’s deadliest insurgent attack in nearly a year.
The Amazon
Peru: eyewitness account of Amazon massacre published
The UK-based advocacy group Survival International has published an eyewitness account of the killings in the Peruvian Amazon that caused shockwaves around the world. The report contains dramatic photos by two Belgians, Marijke Deleu and Thomas Quirynen, who were caught… Read morePeru: eyewitness account of Amazon massacre published
Mexico
Mexican village revolts against cellphone antennae
Riot police were called in after local residents in the Mexican village of Xico blocked roads for several days to prevent construction of a cellphone tower.
Planet Watch
Non-motorists bear brunt of traffic fatalities
A WHO study finds that non-motorists disproportionately bear the brunt of traffic fatalities. Car accidents are the world’s 10th leading cause of death, on track to become fifth by 2030.
North America
Minuteman leader arrested in Arizona child murder
Shawna Forde, leader of the Minuteman American Defense group, and two of her associates were arrested in connection with the murder of a 9-year-old girl and her father in Arivaca, Arizona.
The Andes
UN report: Colombian army “killed civilians”
In a new report, a UN investigator accuses the Colombian military of killing hundreds of civilians during the past six years and falsely identifying the dead as guerilla fighters.
The Andes
Colombia’s high court denies extradition of FARC “jailer”
Colombia’s Supreme Court will not allow captured FARC operative Heli Mejia Mendoza AKA “Martin Sombra”—known as the guerilla army’s “jailer”—to be extradited to the United States.
Mexico
Michoacán: narco-terror attack on ambulance
Gunmen in Morelia, Michoacán, tossed a grenade at an ambulance and then opened its doors to kill a patient who had narrowly survived an earlier shooting, as paramedics ran for their lives.
The Amazon
Peru: land decrees overturned in victory for indigenous movement
Indigenous groups in Peru called off protests after the country’s congress voted to overturn controversial laws decreed by President Alan GarcĂa to implement the US free trade agreement.
Iran
Khamenei speech reveals split in Iran’s political elite
Ayatollah Khamenei, in his address on the crisis, made corruption charges against the one man in a position to remove him—Hashemi Rafsanjani, leader of the Council of Experts.