North Africa

ANSWER thugs bar Libyans from Cynthia McKinney event: report

The website of the Libyan Youth Movement reports that members of the Libyan community in Los Angeles were barred entry to an ANSWER event on Libya featuring Cynthia McKinney, on grounds that they “seemed like they may cause trouble.”

Afghanistan

Gates admits: US in talks with Taliban

Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged for the first time that the US had opened preliminary talks with members of the Taliban as part of an effort to end the war in Afghanistan.

New York City

WHY WE FIGHT

From the NY Daily News, June 17: 91-year-old Brooklyn man Milton Levine killed in hit-and-run A callous driver struck a 91-year-old man on a Brooklyn street Thursday – and sped away after he saw the victim hit the ground, sources… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT

North Africa

Morocco: king announces constitutional reforms

Following months of civil protests, King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced changes to the constitution which would transfer some of the political power held by the king to elected officials.

The Andes

Peru: nuclear plant to replace Inambari hydro project?

Rolando Páucar of the Lima-based Institute for the Investigation of Energy and Development (IEDES) hailed Peru’s cancellation of the mega-scale Inambari hydro-electric plant, but called for development of nuclear power as an alternative.

The Amazon

Peru: is Inambari hydro-dam project really cancelled?

Skeptical community activists in Peru’s conflicted Puno region charge that the government’s official cancellation of the giant Inambari hydro-electric dam is a “trick” to defuse protests and buy time to move ahead with the project.

Greater Middle East

IAEA challenges Syria on nukes amid internal repression

As bloody repression continues in Syria and the US considers sanctions, the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the Damascus regime to the Security Council for maintaining a secret nuclear facility.