Afghanistan
Pakistan: Taliban shoot 14-year-old blogger
Young blogger and rights activist Malala Yousafzai is fighting for her life in a Peshawar hospital after she was attacked on her school bus by Taliban militants.
Mexico
Mexico: did cartel organize attack on CIA agents?
US officials suspect that organized crime was behind an attack by Mexican federal police on a US embassy car on a road south of Mexico City. The police say it was just a mistake.
The Caribbean
Cuba: blogger detained as trial starts in dissident’s death
A right-wing Spanish politician with a history of speeding went on trial for allegedly causing a car accident in which the well-known Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá was killed.
Southern Cone
Chile: five more join Mapuche prisoners’ fast
Five Mapuche prisoners began a hunger strike on Oct. 1 in Temuco, joining four Mapuche prisoners who have been on hunger strike in Angol since Aug. 27.
Central America
Honduras: Supreme Court blocks ‘model cities’ —for now
The Honduran Supreme Court ruled that legislation creating autonomous regions known as “Model Cities” is unconstitutional. President Lobo expects to go ahead with the project anyway.
The Andes
Third-party candidates marginalized …in Venezuela
In Venezuela as in the US, third-party candidates were roundly ignored by the media—including a veteran labor leader who challenged Hugo Chávez from the left.
Peruvians stand up to Newmont Mining
Members of a ronda campesina (peasant self-defense patrol) at March 22 rally at the site of US-based Newmont Mining’s proposed Conga gold mine in Peru’s northern region of Cajamarca. Peasant protesters occupied the concession bloc to mark World Water Day, in defiance… Read morePeruvians stand up to Newmont Mining
Palestine
Israel shoots down Hezbollah drone?
Israeli warplanes swooped low over Lebanese villages in a show of force apparently aimed at Hezbollah the day after a mysterious incursion by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Iran
UN rights office condemns Iran crackdown on dissidents
Representatives for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced their concern over Iran’s recent crackdown on activists speaking out within the nation.
The Andes
US to revise defense pact with Peru
Leon Panetta in Lima secured an agreement to revise Washington’s 60-year-old defense cooperation pact with Peru—as Sendero guerillas attacked pipeline infrastructure.
The Andes
Peru warned on repression of peasant protests
Human Rights Watch urged Peru’s President Ollanta Humala to take steps to prevent the unlawful killing of peasant protesters, noting growing incidents of deadly force.
Central America
Guatemala: peasant massacre under investigation
Seven were killed and some 40 wounded when security forces attacked a protest road blockade by Maya indigenous campesinos in the Guatemalan highlands.