The Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios in Ecuador upheld a multi-billion dollar fine against Chevron for polluting large areas of the Amazon rainforest in the 1980s. Chevron protested the ruling as illegitimate and unenforceable.
The headlong rush by so-called “leftists” and “progressives” to abandon principle by jumping on the racist, xenophobic, anti-woman, laissez-faire capitalist Ron Paul bandwagon is dealt another disgraceful advance by MondoWeiss.
Puerto Rico will hold a plebiscite on the island’s status in November—but the questions put before voters appear to benefit Gov. Luis Fortuño’s pro-statehood New Progressive Party.
Center-right Honduran president Pepe Lobo intends to have the country return to Petrocaribe, a program through which Venezuela provides oil to other Caribbean countries at favorable terms.
Alfredo Landaverde, a former adviser to the Honduran government on security and drug trafficking, was shot dead by unknown gunmen on a motorcycle as he was driving in Tegucigalpa.
The government of the southwestern Mexican state of Guerrero has arrested a police commander in connection with the Dec. 7 kidnapping of two campesino environmental activists.
Despite expressing “reservations” in a signing statement, President Obama approved the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, with controversial provisions that codify into law the indefinite detention of terror suspects.
Canadian opposition parties are crying foul after an investigation into the corruption scandal rocking the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was shut down by a parliamentary committee dominated by his ruling Liberals. The affair concerns Quebec-based construction giant SNC-Lavalin's apparent attempts to secure leniency from the Trudeau government in various criminal investigations it faces. Obstruction of justice charges were stayed earlier this year against Lavalin executive Sami Bebawi, on the ostensible basis that too much time had elapsed since the offense under investigation—which involved alleged bribes to the Moammar Qaddafi regime to secure construction contracts in Libya in 2011. The company is best known within Canada for controversial mega-projects under contruction from British Columbia to Labrador. (Photo: BC Hydro via Journal of Commerice)
Glenn Greenwald and Robert Scheer join the ranks of supposed progressives to sing the praises of Ron Paul—minimizing his radical deregulationist, xenophobic, Christian-conservative and generally anti-freedom agenda.
Deadly ethnic clashes in Nigeria and a state of emergency in response to Boko Haram attacks come amid a massive oil spill in the Delta region—and government plans to drop fuel subsidies, leading to calls for a general strike.
Shortly before the ball dropped in Times Square, hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters swarmed over police barricades at downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, retaking the plaza before being evicted in a police charge.
Mexican authorities announced the arrest this month of two more leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel—but the notorious top kingpin Joaquin Guzmán AKA “El Chapo” remains at large, fueling speculation that he is protected by the government and DEA.
