The Andes

Colombia: will government answer FARC ceasefire?

With peace talks set to resume, Colombia’s FARC rebels charge that the military is continuing “offensive operations” despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by the guerillas.

Europe

Europe: destroying freedom to save it

At thier meeting in Paris to condemn the attack on Charlie Hebdo, European Union government ministers issued a statement calling for further restrictions on the Internet.

Africa

Boko Haram massacres 2,000: Amnesty

Up to 2,000 are feared dead in an ongoing massacre after Boko Haram seized Baga, a town on Nigeria's border with Chad in Borno state. The town was reportedly "razed to the ground."

Planet Watch

UN: world refugees break record

War across large swaths of the Middle East and Africa in the first six months of 2014 forcibly displaced some 5.5 million people, signalling yet another record, the UN reports.

Greater Middle East

Saudi blogger to be flogged for blasphemy

Blogger Raif Badawi, convicted of "offenses to Islamic precepts" in Saudi Arabia, is to receieve 1,000 lashes at the start of his 15-year prison term.

North Africa

Mauritania: death sentence for blasphemy

Blogger Cheikh Ould Mohamed of Mauritania was sentenced to death for apostasy after a court convicted him of "speaking lightly of the Prophet Mohammed" on websites.

Greater Middle East

Egypt: secularism and dictatorship?

A sweeping "anti-terrorism" decree and expanded crackdown on opposition come as Egypt's President al-Sisi is making overtures to the Copts and invoking pluralism.

Planet Watch

Behind oil slump: shale boom or geopolitics?

Experts tell us the North American shale oil boom is responsible for low prices despite Middle East unrest. But the price slump serves Western aims of weakening Russia and Iran.

Iraq

Kurdish forces press gains against ISIS

Kurdish forces made further gains against ISIS at Kobani in the final days of 2014, while the Peshmerga are preparing an offensive to drive the jihadis from Kurdish lands in Iraq.