Planet Watch
Pipeline explosions rock Texas
Two natural gas pipeline explosions in as many days—one in the Texas Panhandle, and one just outside Dallas-Ft. Worth—have left four dead and several more injured.
Planet Watch
World oil consumption, production on the decline: BP
World oil consumption dropped by 1.2 million barrels a day last year, the biggest decline since 1982, according to BP, while the Energy Department predicts falling prices next year.
Mexico
Mexico protests “disproportionate” use of force in Border Patrol killing
Mexican and US authorities are investigating the death of a 14-year-old boy who was shot near the Juárez-El Paso crossing, apparently by a US Border Patrol agent.
Mexico
Mexico: police attack striking workers at Cananea mine
As many as 2,000 Mexican police, supported by helicopters, invaded the Cananea copper mine in Sonora, firing tear gas and attacking and beating workers who were defending the mine.
The Amazon
Peru passes “prior consultation” law on indigenous peoples
After 16 years, Peru’s congress finally passed into law the rights enshrined in International Labor Organization Convention 169, which commits nations to protecting indigenous and tribal peoples.
Mexico
Pemex suit charges US firms in gas smuggling
Pemex has accused BASF, Murphy Energy and other US companies of buying stolen natural gas condensate from Mexican bandits, according to a lawsuit filed in Houston federal court.
Watching the Shadows
Rights groups claim evidence of “human experiments” in CIA’s secret prisons
Physicians for Human Rights is presenting evidence that doctors and officials performed human experimentation and research on individuals in CIA detention, in violation of the Nuremberg Code.
Iran
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Iran's government has unleashed a wave of arrests in western Khuzestan province since the Sept. 22 deadly attack on a military parade in the city of Ahwaz, with sweeps targetting dissidents, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists and members of the Ahwazi Arab minority generally. Some 1,000 Ahwazis have been detained in the weeks since the attack, with at least 600 still being detained. Many of the detained have been taken to unknown destinations, with their families denied any contact or even information on their whereabouts. Local rights groups report that security forces have raided activists' homes, and the detained include women and the elderly. Karim Dahimi, an Ahwazi human rights worker based in London, said that the Iranian government has been systematically detaining Ahwazi activists in clandestine torture facilities known as "black sites." Ahwazi Arabs in the international diaspora have been holding demonstrations at Iranian consulates demanding an end to the regime's anti-Arab racism and repression (Image: The Herald Report)
Greater Middle East
Amnesty claims evidence of US missile attack on Yemen
Amnesty International released images of a US-manufactured cruise missile apparently taken following an attack on an alleged al-Qaeda training camp in Yemen that killed 41 local residents.
Palestine
Gaza: four Palestinians killed in new naval incident
The Israeli Navy opened fire on an armed squad of Palestinians wearing diving suits and supposedly on their way to attack Israeli targets, killing four alleged al-Aqsa Brigade members.
Africa
Niger Delta: an Exxon Valdez every year for 50 years
Experts estimate that some 13 million barrels of oil have been spilt in the Niger Delta since exploration began in 1958—the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez every year for 50 years.
Palestine
Israelis march against “43 years of occupation”
Marking the anniversary of the 1967 seizure of the West Bank and Gaza, some 15,000 Israeli leftists and peace activists marched in Tel Aviv to mark "43 years of occupation."