Mexican soldiers raided the home of casino magnate and centrist politician Jorge Hank Rhon and claimed to find a large arsenal, possibly intended for the drug cartels.
Peruvian voters elected the fiery populist Ollanta Humala to the presidency, dealing a defeat to neoliberal candidate Keiko Fujimori—and precipitating a plunge in the Lima stock market.
Thousands of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv in support of a return to the 1967 borders—as the IDF fired on protesters attempting to cross the Golan Heights ceasefire line from Syria, leaving several dead.
A federal court in Florida issued a ruling in the case in re Chiquita Brands, allowing lawsuits brought by some 4,000 Colombians seeking compensation for violence by armed groups the company backed to move ahead.
Two undocumented migrants being held at a jail in the border town of Tapachula in Mexico’s southern Chiapas state were hospitalized after 21 days on hunger strike—despite a new law that supposedly protects migrants’ rights.
Talks on a Mexico-Central America free trade zone wrapped up as long-standing regional political disputes were officially resolved. But increased integration comes with stepped-up “anti-crime” military efforts.
Hugo Chávez and the US State Department alike denied claims touted by neocon think-tanks that Iran is establishing missile bases in Venezuela. But the State Department sanctioned Venezuela’s state oil company for aiding Iran’s energy sector.
Refugees fleeing the violence in North Africa continue to die at sea, prompting an investigation by the Council of Europe—and a move by Italy and France to rewrite the EU’s policy that permits internal passport-free travel.
Beltway neocons are clearly heartened by the bloodshed, and see it as an opportunity to augment it with US bombardment, as in Libya. The Assad dictatorship meanwhile exploits the Israeli-occupied Golan Druze as a base of support.
After days of fierce fighting in Sanaa, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has reportedly fled the country for Saudi Arabia. Amid the chaos, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninusla seized control of the southern town of Zinjibar.
Thousands of families have been displaced in weeks of fighting between the Ahlu Sunna sufi militia and fundamentalist Shabab insurgents in central Somalia. Drought conditions in the countryside have worsened the plight of the displaced.
Chinese authorities have tightened security across Inner Mongolia province after days of unrest, which began when a Mongol herdsman was killed by a coal truck as a group of traditional herders sought to block a convoy from crossing their lands.
