Watching the Shadows

Guards fire on Gitmo hunger-strikers

Military guards at Guantanámo Bay fired “non-lethal” rounds at hunger-striking detainees as a federal judge turned down a petition for emergency relief.

curvarad

Curvarado Humanitarian Zone

Afro-Colombians displaced from their lands by a “paramilitary-business alliance” have in recent years returned, building new communities known as “Humanitarian Zones,” which are now legally recognized as neutral zones where all armed actors, legal and illegal are prohibited from entering…. Read moreCurvarado Humanitarian Zone

East Asia

Fukushima: the cover-up continues

As a lawsuit over the government’s failure to evacuate Fukushima prefecture’s children is on appeal, Japan’s government attempts to downplay reports of elevated thyroid abnormalities.

The Andes

Peru: clash at Conga mine site

Campesino protesters at the site of the Conga mining project in Peru’s Cajamarca region stormed police lines, putting pipes and other equipment to the torch. 

North Africa

Mali: Tuaregs face continued attacks, torture

One year after Tuareg rebels briefly seized power in Mali’s desert north, they face hunger, ethnic attacks and rights abuses at the hands of French-backed government forces.

Mexico

Mexico: Michoacán tipping into war

Several were killed in confrontations across Mexico’s violence-torn Michoacán state—including when gunmen fired on crowds commemorating  the death of Emiliano Zapata.

East Asia

Meanwhile: Seoul-Tokyo tensions mount…

The crisis between North and South Korea has overshadowed growing tensions between both Koreas and Japan, which has seen an ugly wave of anti-Korean protests.

Iraq

Syria: Nusra Front merge with Iraq Qaeda wing

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “emir” of al-Qaeda in Iraq, announced a merger with Syria’s Nusra Front to form a new organization, the “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.”