The Amazon
Brazil: indigenous protesters blast land proposal
Indigenous groups feel threatened by plans in Congress that could limit the program for returning territory they claim.
Africa
Obama, Mandela and Castro: absurd hypocrisy
While Republicans wax outraged over Obama’s handshake with Raúl Castro at the Mandela memorial, US client state Israel offers a far better analogy to apartheid South Africa.
Iraq
Iraq called to task over missing Iranian dissidents
UN human rights officials called on Baghdad to provide information on seven Mujahedeen Khalq followers who were allegedly abducted in an armed attack on their camp.
Afghanistan
Pakistan military produces disappeared prisoners
Pakistan’s military partially complied with a Supreme Court ruling by producing before the court several prisoners out of hundreds secretly held without charges.
The Amazon
Ecuador: ecology group shut down by government
Ecuador’s government ordered closed the environmentalist Fundación Pachamama following protests over opening vast areas of the Amazon to oil development.
North Africa
Beyond Benghazi: Libya faces converging crises
The death of a US national in Benghazi thrust Libya briefly into the news—as lawless militias, ethnic conflicts and labor strife daily claim lives across the country.
Palestine
Israeli forces attack Mandela commemorations
Dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces opened fire to disperse protests against the Israeli occupation and commemorating Nelson Mandela.
Africa
Nelson Mandela: forgotten history
Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962 thanks to CIA intelligence, and only removed from the US "terrorist watch list" in 2008—15 years after his Nobel Peace Prize.
Greater Middle East
Yemen: war comes to capital
A suicide attack on the defense ministry thrust Yemen briefly into the news—as an invisible sectarian war rages across much of the countryside.
Greater Middle East
Lebanon: army seizes strife-torn Tripoli
Lebanon's government has ordered the coastal city of Tripoli placed under army control amid growing sectarian clashes pitting Sunni residents against Alawites.
Watching the Shadows
Gitmo detainees accuse Poland in CIA rendition
Lawyers for two Guantánamo detainees, arguing before the European Court of Human Rights, accused Poland of providing a secret torture site for the CIA's "rendition" program.
Mexico
Mexico: new massacre strikes terror in Juárez
A new massacre is reported from Ciudad Juárez, again raising fears of a return to the wave of deadly violence that convulsed the Mexican border city for much of the past decade.