Colombia’s ruling-party presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos has won the first round—amid complaints about vote-buying, fraud, violence and other irregularities.
Up to 16 people have been killed as Israeli naval commandos boarded aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip. The six-ship aid convoy led by a Turkish vessel has 600 people on board.
Reports in the London Times and Israeli press say Israel is to deploy three submarines armed with nuclear-equipped cruise missiles in the Persian Gulf.
Violence is rising in eastern Turkey since imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan decided to abandon peace efforts and leave local commanders in charge of the conflict.
A worst case scenario for the Gulf of Mexico disaster is a greater eruption—possibly due to a nuclear detonation to contain the leak—releasing trillions of barrels of oil, and killing the oceans.
The government of Bolivia announced a preliminary study for a program of uranium exploration in Potosí department, and broached the possibility of uranium exports to Venezuela.
Four lion cubs freed under Bolivia’s circus-animal ban arrived in San Francisco, heading to a new life in a northern California refuge run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society.
Bolivian President Evo Morales says he will negotiate with the “Ayllus Guerreros” that have declared a “red zone” in Potosí department after the killing of four national police officers.
The Senate approved a $60 billion spending bill to support a “surge” in troops in Afghanistan. The vote comes as the number of US casualties in Afghanistan surpassed 1,000.
Yemen now faces multiple converging crises—with al-Qaeda and allied tribal militants in the Hadramout, with Shi’ite Houthi rebels in the north, and with armed separatists in the south.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights called for the release of nine adherents of the Ahmadiyya sect detained under a controversial emergency law just extended by parliament.
Teams of gunmen and suicide bombers simultaneously attacked two mosques packed with hundreds of worshippers, killing some 80 and wounding dozens in the worst attack ever against the Ahmadi sect.
