Argentine federal authorities arrested three pilots and a retired naval official on charges of having participated in “death flights,” in which disappeared dissidents were dropped alive into the sea during the military dictatorship.
Protesters clashed with police in Chile’s southern Patagonia region after the government approved construction of the HidroAysén multi-dam hydroelectric mega-project that will flood 5,700 hectares of farmland and forest.
Two oil line ruptures in as many weeks—one in North Dakota, one in Canada’s remote boreal forests—may jeopardize a planned Alberta-to-Texas tar-sand pipeline that Calgary-based TransCanada is seeking US approval for.
The US approved a Royal Dutch Shell plan to drill for oil in five location under the Gulf of Mexico, in the company’s second exploration plan to win approval since the moratorium was lifted in October.
Thousands walked off the job in Athens and other Greek cities to protest a package of proposed “reforms” and austerity measures. Police used tear gas and pepper spray in running street battles with black-clad youth.
The US took a step closer to providing financial assistance to the Libyan rebels, as Sen. John Kerry announced he is drafting legislation to free up some of the $34 billion in the Tripoli regime’s assets frozen by the White House.
Aid groups fear a power vacuum that will make their work in the country untenable after Afghan police and army troops replace foreign forces, a process slated to begin this summer and be complete in December 2014.
Japan will abandon plans to expand its nuclear power industry and instead focus on renewable energy, Prime Minister, Naoto Kan announced—following weeks of the country’s biggest public protests in 40 years.
Security forces fired on protesters across both Syria and Yemen, leaving several dead, while in Bahrain the government is bulldozing dozens of mosques in Shi’ite villages as part of a crackdown on Shi’ite-led protests.
Israel has used a covert procedure to cancel the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994, the Justice Ministry admits in a new document obtained by Haaretz newspaper.
Amnesty International called on Israel to release or charge a Palestinian writer and academic held for almost three weeks in the occupied West Bank. Ahmad Qatamesh was detained on suspicion of involvement with the PFLP.
Indigenous bands living in voluntary isolation in remote regions of the Peruvian Amazon again fired arrows at intruders—as the national government announced new oil exploration blocs in the disputed territory.
