The Andes
We are not drug traffickers: FARC
FARC commander Rodrigo Granda, speaking to reporters in Havana where the peace talks are underway, denied that the guerilla army is a drug-trafficking organization.
The Andes
Colombia: impunity in Palace of Justice massacre?
The Colombian government has denied the disappearances of 11 people during the 1985 Palace of Justice siege, and called for the release of a retired colonel convicted in the case.
Watching the Shadows
Catholic sex scandal Jewish plot: papal hopeful
Alan Dershowitz calls out papal hopeful Cardinal Maradiaga of Honduras as floating conspiracy theories about how the Vatican sex scandal was instrumented by the Jews.
North Africa
Al-Qaeda ‘moderates’ seek breakaway state in Mali
A supposed AQIM document found in Timbuktu criticizes jihadists for destroying Sufi shrines and alienating the local populace, calling for a more pragmatic Islamist state.
Iraq
Exxon begins explorations in Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government announced that ExxonMobil has begun exploring for oil in the region—in a deal rejected by the Baghdad central government as illegal.
The Andes
Colombia: rebels attack coal mine amid strike
Colombia’s largest coal miner, Cerrejon, under force majeure due to a work stoppage, was targted in a guerilla attack that left four of the company’s trucks destroyed by fire.
Afghanistan
US, Afghan forces accuse each other in abuses
Hamid Karzai barred US Special Forces from two strategic provinces following reports of atrocities, as US Marines level similar charges against Afghan police they are training.
Palestine
Dozens injured in West Bank protests
Hundreds took to the streets in the West Bank and Gaza in a second day of protests following the death of a Palestinian prisoner who PA officials say died as a result of torture.
The Andes
Colombia: campesino strike in oil zone
The feared riot squad of the Colombian National Police has been mobilized to Arauca to break up peasant blockades of roads leading to Occidental Petroleum’s oilfields.
Vigilante justice in Mexico
With law and order stretched thin in Mexico, citizen posses have stepped up, rounding up accused drug dealers and other criminals. Frequently armed with household rifles and shotguns, the civilian police militia of Ayutla, Guerrero, is trying to maintain the peace… Read moreVigilante justice in Mexico
The Amazon
‘Lost tribe’ confirmed in Colombian Amazon
Details are revealed of an anthropologist’s overflight that confirmed the existence of “uncontaced” indigenous groups in a remote area of Colombia’s Amazon basin.
The Andes
Colombia: tribunal rules for Peace Community
A Colombian court ordered the army to hold a public ceremony officially apologizing for the massacre at San José de Apartadó Peace Community, eight years after it was carried out.