Gunmen killed six young men the night of Oct. 11 at a family party in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez. Most of the victims were shot; one was beaten to death, and one body was found wrapped in… Read moreMexico: narco-killing spree in Ciudad Juárez —and throughout country
Iran’s top diplomat in Bolivia says his country will open two health clinics in the Andean nation as a base for future Red Crescent projects in South America. The agreement was signed by Iranian business attaché Hojjatollah Soltani and the… Read moreIran to open clinics in Bolivia
At least 18 were killed, including 12 soldiers, when Sendero Luminoso guerillas ambushed a Peruvian army convoy late Oct. 9, military sources say. A child was among six civilians killed in the ambush on four trucks transporting troops and civilians… Read morePeru: Sendero resurgent in Apurimac Valley
Calling his corrupt underlings “rats,” Peru’s President Alan García has dismissed his entire cabinet in what the local media have dubbed the “Petrogate” scandal, and appointed a popular left-wing regional governor as prime minister. Allegations of kickbacks in the granting… Read morePeru: cabinet shake-up in “Petrogate” scandal
Under emergency powers announced by President Alvaro Uribe, Colombia’s Supreme Judicial Council has opened an investigation into striking court workers who refuse to return to work. Striking workers could face termination under the state of emergency. The court workers union… Read moreColombia: Uribe decrees emergency powers in judicial strike
Mexico’s powerful drug cartels are buying cocaine directly from Colombia’s main guerilla group, Colombian deputy defense minister Sergio Jaramillo charged Oct. 7 at an OAS anti-crime conference in Mexico City. Jaramillo said that Oliver Solarte, finance chief of the FARC‘s… Read moreColombian guerillas linked to Mexican cartels?
Bernardino Terracciano, the Naples man who played himself in the award-winning film Gomorra about the Neapolitan mob is among seven men arrested Oct. 12 on organized crime charges. Terracciano—the burly, menacing local boss “Zi’ Bernardino” (Uncle Bernardino) in Matteo Garrone’s… Read moreNaples crime war: life imitates art imitating life
Georgia has formally protested the continuing presence of Russian troops in South Ossetia’s Akhalgori district and Abkhazia’s Kodori Gorge, both areas held by Georgian forces until the August war. Under the ceasefire terms, Russia is to withdraw to positions it… Read moreGeorgia accuses Russia of ceasefire term violations
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is calling on India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the ethnic violence that left 55 dead and more than 200,000 displaced in his state over the past week. “The culprits involved in… Read moreIndia: tribal peoples displaced in Assam clashes
Attacks in the Iraqi city of Mosul have forced nearly 1,000 Christians, or some 500 families, to flee their homes over the past week, the governor of the northern Ninawa (Nineveh) province reports. Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula Oct. 11 said most… Read moreIraq: Christians flee sectarian terror in Mosul
Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 9 backed the beatification of World War II-era pontiff Pius XII, defending his controversial legacy and asserting that he “often acted in secret and in silence” to defend Jews during the Holocaust. Celebrating a mass commemorating… Read moreBenedict backs Pius XII beatification, bestirring Judeo-backlash
Around 100 people are believed dead off the coast of Yemen after being forced overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden. Some 47 survivors told the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that a smuggling boat carrying about 150… Read more100 Somalis dead in smuggler atrocity
