Europe
Poland: thousands march against surveillance law
Thousands marched in Warsaw to protest the government's planned changes to the legal code that would increase surveillance over Polish citizens.
The Caribbean
UN expresses concern over delayed Haiti election
With Haiti's presidential elections repeatedly postponed amid widespread protests, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged political actors to reject all forms of violence.
The Andes
Signs mount of grave Andean climate crisis
Water shortages and wildfires are reported across Colombia, while Bolivia's second largest lake has completely evaporated amid this year's devastating El Niño phenomenon.
The Andes
Colombia: convictions in ‘false positive’ killings
Two former Colombian army colonels received long prison terms for extrajudicial executions of peasants and workers falsely reported as guerilla battlefield deaths.
The Andes
Colombia: paramilitary threat to peace seen
As the war between the Colombian state and the FARC guerillas winds down, conflict is escalating with right-wing paramilitaries in the north, leaving hundreds displaced.
Mexico
Was Chapo’s overture to Hollywood fatal?
Chapo Guzmán was apparently tracked down and apprehended after Mexican authorities intercepted his communications with Sean Penn and other show-biz heavies.
Mexico
Mexico: Zapatistas host Ayotzinapa families
The Zapatista rebels in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas marked the anniversary of their 1994 New Years Day uprising by hosting a national activist gathering in their territory.
Watching the Shadows
Two Gitmo detainees released, third refuses transfer
Two Guantánamo detainees scheduled for release boarded a plane for transfer to third countries—while a third refused, demanding repatriation to his native Yemen.
Greater Middle East
‘Divide and Conquer’ in Israel
Druze elders from the Golan Heights (officially Syrian territory, but "annexed" by Israel). A plan approved by Israel's cabinet to provide half a billion dollars worth of assistance to Israel's Druze and Circassian minorities has been denounced by leaders of Israel's… Read more‘Divide and Conquer’ in Israel
Greater Middle East
Saudi executions for 2015 set 20-year record
Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in 20 years—overwhelmingly for non-lethal offenses.
Palestine
Israel to confiscate vast tract of land in Jericho
Israel is set to declare 1,500 dunams (370 acres) in the West Bank district of Jericho as "state land"—the largest such grab in two years, decried as a step towards annexation.
Afghanistan
Pakistani Taliban in university massacre
Taliban militants attacked a student poetry recital in honor of Pashtun independence hero Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan at a university that bears his name, leaving 20 dead.