China and Venezuela signed 12 energy agreements in Beijing Sept. 25, calling for the South American country to export half a million barrels of oil a day to the Asian giant starting next year. The deal was signed on the… Read moreChávez in oil deal with China, arms deal with Russia
Latin American currencies rose dramatically on Sept. 19 after the US government proposed an unprecedented $700 billion bailout of US financial companies holding bad debt. The Brazilian real went up 3.5% to 1.8298 to the US dollar, its biggest gain… Read moreLatin America: markets react to financial crisis
On Sept. 15, at least 12,000 Colombian sugar cane cutters went on strike to protest the systematic violation of their labor rights and human rights. The workers cut sugar cane for 16 sugar mills in the Cauca river valley, primarily… Read moreColombia: striking cane-cutters attacked
On Sept. 5 the Haitian Senate voted 16-0 with one abstention to approve a cabinet proposed by incoming prime minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis. This ended a five-month period in which the country was governed by a caretaker cabinet. (AlterPresse, Sept…. Read moreHaiti: new PM faces storm aftermath
Royal Dutch Shell formally signed a joint venture with an Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company to recapture gas that now goes to waste during oil extraction in the Basra fields. The deal is estimated to be worth $4 billion. Under… Read moreShell Oil back in Iraq
Palestinian medics in the Gaza Strip Sept. 23 recovered the bodies of four Strip residents who were killed in an explosion in a tunnel at the Egyptian border. At least one was wounded and hospitalized in Rafah. The explosion took… Read moreFour killed as Egypt blows up Gaza tunnel
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sept. 23 the Pentagon could send thousands more combat troops to Afghanistan starting next spring—but also warned: “I think we need to think about how heavy a… Read moreGates: more troops for Afghanistan —with caveats
Oil prices posted the biggest one-day dollar gain ever Monday Sept. 22 as the dollar fell in response to Washington’s $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan. October oil contracts surged in afternoon trading, reaching $130—a more than $25 gain. It… Read moreOil soars as dollar plunges
At least 30 people were killed in fierce fighting between Islamist rebels and Somali government forces in capital Mogadishu’s main market Sept. 23. Rebels reportedly attacked two African Union peacekeeping bases in Mogadishu and shelled the city’s main airport as… Read moreSomalia: murderous mayhem in Mogadishu market
The US Defense Department has denied that its helicopters flew into Pakistan’s airspace above from across the border with Afghanistan Sept. 22. Pakistani intelligence officials say US two helicopters flew into North Waziristan, but returned to Afghanistan after troops and… Read morePakistan protests purported US incursion
Iraqis protested the deaths of at least seven people during a US air strike in Ad Dawr, in northern Iraq’s Salahuddin province on Sept. 19—the same town where Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003. The US says the raid successfully… Read moreIraq: deadly US air-strike protested
At least six were injured and 15 arrested as far-right protesters clashed with police, threw stones and petrol bombs and damaged shops and cars along Andrassy Boulevard in Budapest Sept. 20. Police fired tear gas and water cannons on the… Read moreNeo-fascists riot in Budapest
