Colombia’s Caño-Limon oil pipeline was paralyzed for a third day after it was blown up by FARC guerillas on April 29. Military-escorted engineers are working to repair the pipeline, which carries 100,000 barrels of oil a day from a field… Read moreColombia: FARC blow up oil pipeline
With international eyes on the crisis facing the Rohingya in Burma's Rakhine State, the UN human rights rapporteur for the Southeast Asian country expressed grave concern over a sharp escalation in hostilities in northern Kachin State—where peace talks with ethnic rebels have broken down. Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee said she had received reports that the military had carried out aerial bombings, and used heavy weapons and artillery fire against civilian areas, forcing thousands to flee their homes. "What we are seeing in Kachin State over the past few weeks is wholly unacceptable, and must stop immediately,” Lee said. (Photo of Kachin Independence Army fighters via WikiMedia Commons)
A new report released by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) demonstrates that intensive aerial herbicide spraying of coca crops in Colombia has backfired badly, contributing to the spread of coca cultivation and cocaine production to new areas of… Read moreColombian herbicide spraying grows —so does coca crop!
A group of Cuban anarchists announced "a new phase in the process of self-emancipation," with the opening of ABRA Social Center and Libertarian Library in Havana's Vedado district. This endeavor of the Alfredo López Libertarian Workshop (an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist initiative launched in 2012, which forms part of the Anarchist Federation of the Caribbean and Central America), with the collaboration of allied collectives such as the Cuban Critical Observatory, seeks "to build an autonomous and sustainable space in today's Cuba."
Jesús Caballero is one of the latest trade union leaders to be assassinated in Colombia. A labor unionist with the State Training Institute in the Caribbean town of Sabanalarga, Caballero disappeared on April 16 and his body was found two… Read moreColombian government continues attack on rights defenders
In a pre-dawn attack May 1, US missiles destroyed the home of reputed al-Qaeda leader Aden Hashi Ayro in Dusamareeb, Somalia. The attack killed 24 others in the targeted house and nearby homes. “This will not deter us from prosecuting… Read moreSomalia: Shabab pledge revenge on America
We warned a year ago that Yemen was on the brink of sectarian war. It is starting to look like it is going over the brink. From AP, May 2: Motorcycle bomb explodes outside Yemen mosque, killing 18 SAN’A —… Read moreSectarian terror in Yemen
From Article 19 Global Campaign for Free Expression via IFEX, May 2: Turkey: Article 301 Reforms Pallid—It Should Be Abolished ARTICLE 19 condemns as wholly insufficient recent moves by the Turkish government to amend the infamous Article 301 of the… Read moreTurkish reform of speech law insufficient: watchdog
As last year, May Day saw clashes between workers and police in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannons to prevent workers from marching to Taksim Square where they planned to hold a… Read moreTurkey: police clash with workers on May Day
Turkish warplanes launched bombing raids on PKK Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq’s Qandil Mountains late May 1. “There has been heavy bombing and many Turkish planes were involved. So far, we have no word of any casualties,” PKK spokesman… Read moreTurkey bombs Iraq —yet again!
An AP report portrays President Felipe Calderón’s decision to open talks with Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) as part of his push to open the oil industry to private partnerships—given the guerillas’ attacks on pipelines last year. “The government wanting to… Read moreMexico: dialogue with EPR guerillas?
Power returned slowly to Venezuela April 29, hours after outages blacked out nearly half the country, halting the Caracas subways and forcing hospitals and oil facilities onto emergency generators. An explosion is being investigated at the Guri hydroelectric power station,… Read moreBlackouts in Venezuela
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