Watching the Shadows
Gitmo detainee requests immediate relief
Human rights lawyers filed an emergency motion alleging that guards at Guantánamo Bay have denied drinking water and sufficient clothing to a Yemeni prisoner.
North Africa
World Social Forum meets Arab Spring
As thousands of activists from around the world converge on Tunisia for the World Social Forum, the country faces austerity measures as the condition of a $1.78 billion IMF loan.
Leak at tar sands plant fouls Athabasca River
Tainted water poured for hours into Canada's Athabasca River before a broken pipe was sealed at one of the Suncor tar-sands plants that it is to supply the Keystone XL pipeline.
Africa
Central African Republic rebels void constitution
Michel Djotodia, leader of rebel forces that took power in the Central African Republic, declared that the constitution is dissolved and he is now the nation’s leader.
Afghanistan
Pakistan: hold Musharraf accountable for abuses
Human Rights Watch said Pakistan should hold former military ruler Pervez Musharraf accountable for alleged human rights abuses upon his return to the country.
Mexico
Mexico: study says arms smuggling keeps US dealers in business
A new study correlating arms sales with dealers’ locations estimates that about a quarter of a million firearms purchased in the US are smuggled into Mexico each year.
The Amazon
Brazil: protesters briefly reoccupy Belo Monte dam
Area residents carried out the fifth occupation in less than a year at a construction site for the $13 billion Belo Monte dam to protest environmental damage.
Southern Cone
Chile: Mapuche leaders demand autonomy
President Sebastián Piñera offered to have “consultations” with the Mapuche. Indigenous leaders responded by calling for self-government.
Central America
Guatemala: Rios Montt goes on trial at last
After 30 years of efforts by victims and advocates, former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt is on trial for genocide—while the current president denies there was genocide in Guatemala.
Greater Middle East
Bahrain rights activists on hunger strike
Two Bahraini human rights activists have intensified their hunger strike and are refusing fluids, according to a report by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).
Afghanistan
US transfers full control of Bagram to Afghanistan
The US turned over full control of Bagram Prison to Afghanistan, after long maintianing a special secretive wing for high-level Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees.
Central America
Honduras: US ‘drug war’ aid linked to death squad
An AP probe refutes US claims that no police aid to Honduras goes to units under the force's overall commander Juan Carlos Bonilla AKA "El Tigre"—an accused death squad leader.