Planet Watch

Peak oil apocalyptoids: eating crow yet?

The US Geological Survey estimates there is seven to eight times more oil in the ground than the human race has yet consumed—and this constitutes the real threat to the planet.

The Andes

Peru: Newmont denies plans to quit Cajamarca

Peru’s Yanacocha mining company, facing an ultimatum from protesters to leave the contested Conga site, denied press reports that it plans to quit gold-rich Cajamarca region.

The Amazon

Peru: Amazon natives broach separatism

Saying justice is no longer possible within Peru, Awajún and Wampis leaders in Amazonas region announced they plan to seek independence or unite their territory with Ecuador.

The Andes

Colombia: ex-lawmaker guilty in Segovia massacre

Colombia’s high court found former Liberal Party regional boss César Pérez García guilty of having ordered the massacre of a village after it voted in the left-wing Unión Patriótica.

Iran

Iran-China pipeline route via restive regions

A new pipeline that would link Iran to China via Pakistan, bypassing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, would pass through the insurgent regions of Baluchistan, Kashmir and Xinjiang.

Iran

Did Iran shelter Sulaiman Abu Ghaith?

Reports that Obama bin Laden’s co-conspirator and brother-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was sheltered in Iran could lubricate the war drive—but how credible are they?

Greater Middle East

Syria war internationalizing fast

The Martyrs of Yarmouk militant group seized UN peacekeepers on Syria's line of control with the Golan Heights, as international Shi'ite militants converge in Damascus.

The Andes

Contradictory legacy of Hugo Chávez

Whether the gains of Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution will survive his passing depends on how genuinely it is based on popular power, not just that of a charismatic leader. 

The Andes

Venezuela: indigenous leader assassinated

Sabino Romero, cacique (traditional chief) of the Yukpa indigenous people, who opposed extractive industries in Venezuela’s Sierra de Perijá, was assassinated in a road ambush.