The Andes
Peru’s cabinet in bid to save Conga project
Peru’s government urged opponents of the Conga minig project to return to the dialogue table, as protesters set up an encampment at the Lima offices of Newmont Mining.
The Amazon
Ecuador: indigenous protests as oil blocs sold
Indigenous protesters blocked Quito’s Marriott Hotel, where a major sale of Amazon oil blocs was underway. Riot police and military troops were brought in to clear the blockade.
The Andes
ICJ opens hearings in Chile-Peru maritime dispute
The International Court of Justice at The Hague opened hearings regarding the longtime maritime border dispute between Chile and Peru.
Central America
Canal intrigues behind Nicaragua border disputes
Colombia sends warships into waters newly awarded to Nicaragua by the World Court, as Managua aggressively plugs an inter-oceanic canal plan to foreign investors.
Central America
Colombia: war with Nicaragua ‘last resort’
Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos stated that war with Nicaragua is a "last resort"—while withdrawing official recognition from the World Court over the martime dispute.
Greater Middle East
Egypt: high court suspends work in face of protests
Egypt’s Supreme Court indefinitely halted its operations amid pressure from protestors aiming to block the judges from ruling on the validity of the country’s new constitution.
Southeast Asia
Burma: repression of anti-mine protesters
Aung San Suu Kyi is to lead an investigation after brutal repression of protests by farmers facing forced relocation to make way for expansion of a Chinese-owned copper mine.
Palestine
Israel announces 3,000 more settlement units
Israeli government officials announced plans to build 3,000 settlement units in the critical E-1 area of the occupied West Bank—a day after Palestine was admitted to the UN.
Mexico
Mexico: peasant ecologist killed in Guerrero
Juventina Villa Mojica, an environmental activist in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero, was killed along with her 10-year-old son in a mountaintop attack by 30 gunmen.
The Andes
Colombia: ICC ‘false positive’ probe advances
The International Criminal Court issued an interim report on the Colombian military’s “false positives” extradjudicial killings, finding official complicity up the chain of command.
Europe
War crimes tribunal acquits ex-KLA commander
Ramush Haradinaj, the former KLA commander and Kosova prime minister, was acquitted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Greater Middle East
Syria: endgame or wider war?
With pitched fighting in Damascus, the Internet is down across Syria. Russia meanwhile protests NATO plans to place missiles along Syria's border in Turkey.