A worldwide slump in zinc prices threatens Bolivia’ss second-largest export as companies reduce output and close mines, officials said. “We’re worried about zinc not only because of falling prices but because it’s the principal mineral that we mine in Bolivia,”… Read moreZinc slump threatens Bolivian mining sector
Bolivian opposition leaders Dec. 4 accused an international commission of bias toward President Evo Morales in its report on a September jungle “massacre.” The new report by the Union of South American Nations names 19 people confirmed killed in the… Read moreBolivian opposition blasts report on Pando massacre
BPZ Resources of Houston received a permit from Lima’s Energy Ministry to build a gas plant in northern Peru near the border with Ecuador this week. The plant, to be supplied by BPZ’s offshore Bloc Z-1 field, will fuel a… Read moreTexan firm wins deal for Peru gas plant
Peru’s President Alan García declared that his nation’s long dispute with Chile was over Dec. 5 after removing his army chief Gen. Edwin Donayre, who caused outrage with an anti-Chilean tirade that surfaced on YouTube. In the video, Donayre told… Read morePeru removes army chief, ends 125-year dispute with Chile?
The Russian destroyer Admiral Chabanenko passed through the Panama Canal Dec. 5 following joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela. It marked the first Soviet or Russian military ship to traverse the 80-kilometer waterway since World War II. Panamanian Foreign Minister Samuel… Read moreRussian warship enters Panama Canal, first since World War II
Another missile strike by a suspected US drone on Mir Ali village (North Waziristan) killed at least three presumed militants Dec. 5. (AFP, Dec. 5) That same day in Peshawar, a car-bomb attack on a crowded market near a Shi’ite… Read morePakistan between two poles of terrorism
From the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), Dec. 5: ETAN Opposes Adm. Blair as Director of National Intelligence “President-elect Barack Obama’s rumored selection of Admiral Dennis C. Blair for Director of National Intelligence is unacceptable,” the East Timor… Read moreObama pick for National Intelligence director linked to East Timor genocide
A group of Indian-American organizations and individuals have launched a campaign against Sonal Shah, a member of the transition team of the US president-elect Barack Obama, for her alleged links to India’s Hindu fundamentalist ultra-right. Specifically, she is said to… Read moreObama team member linked to Hindutva fascist movement
Thousands of people from an informal settlement 20 kilometers south of Khartoum are now living in makeshift shelters after their homes were razed by Sudan’s government. Local officials said 4,000 homes were destroyed under a plan to reorganize the “Mandela”… Read moreSudan: “Mandela” refugee settlement destroyed by regime
The Assyrian International News Agency reports Kurdish village leaders, in league with local bosses of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), are waging a “lawful means” campaign to confiscate the lands of the Assyrian monastery of St. Gabriel, founded… Read moreAssyrian monastery pawn in Turkey’s sectarian struggles
The Sixth Intergalactic Commission of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) has announced a “First World Festival of Dignified Rage” (Festival Digna Rabia), to be held in January at San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Participants have been confirmed from… Read moreChiapas: Zapatistas to host “Festival of Dignified Rage”
In an escalation of the land conflict at Lomas de Poleo community on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, on Dec. 4 demolition equipment was brought in—backed up by trucks full of henchmen with clubs, chains and rifles—to destroy the home… Read moreMexico: home destroyed at contested Juárez barrio
