Planet Watch
Japanese robots to colonize Moon
The Japanese space agency is embarking on a mammoth $2.2 billion project to put humanoid robots on the moon and create an unmanned robot lunar base by 2020.
Iran
Iran: another leader of Tehran transport workers union arrested
Saeed Torabian, a board member of the Tehran bus drivers’ union (Vahed Syndicate), was arrested by Iranian security forces and is being held incommunicado, whereabouts unknown.
The Andes
Venezuela scores initial win in Exxon arbitration case
Venezuela’s government praised a ruling by a World Bank arbitration panel that should drastically limit compensation ExxonMobil is seeking for the nationalization of its Orinoco oil projects.
Mexico
Mexico: 39 killed in Chihuahua, Tamaulipas violence
Narco-violence claimed 39 lives in two northern Mexico states, as gunmen executed 19 at a Chihuahua rehab center and left 20 tortured bodies around Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas.
Inner Asia
Ethnic clashes rock Kyrgyzstan —again
At least 23 people have been killed and more than 300 injured in clashes in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second largest city, between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek residents.
Iraq
Iraqi Kurds protest foreign aggression —and internal repression
Schoolchildren marched in Erbil against Iranian shelling of Iraqi Kurdistan, while Kurdish journalists have launched a campaign to demand justice in the torture-slaying of a colleague.
The Andes
Peru inaugurates Hunt Oil LNG plant —amid controversy
A Hunt Oil-led consortium opened a new liquefied natural gas plant on the Peruvian coast, with President Alan García attending the ceremony. But the project has sparked a storm of protest.
The Andes
Peru: peasants block roads to demand water rights
In a 24-hour strike, campesinos blocked roads across Peru’s Cusco region to demand the reconstruction of irrigation infrastructure destroyed in the January floods.
The Andes
Colombia: army colonel gets 30 years for Palace of Justice disappearances
Colombian army colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the forced disappearance of 11 civilians in the 1985 army siege of the Palace of Justice.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan between two poles of terrorism
The groom and 17 of the guests at a Kandahar wedding party attacked by a suicide bomber were members of an anti-Taliban militia organized by US Special Operations forces.
Afghanistan
Pakistan: millions suffer in “human rights free zone”
Millions of Pakistanis in the tribal areas live in a “human rights free zone” under Taliban control, Amnesty International charges in a new report.
East Asia
China: farmer defends land with improvised rockets
A Chinese farmer resorted to the use of improvised rockets to fend off demolition crews sent to evict him from his lands to make way for the construction of commercial buildings.