A week after the close of the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, officials announced Oct. 19 that new rules have been issued allowing China’s 800 million farmers to “lease their… Read moreChina land reform: great leap backward?
In response to Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a military attack, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is planing to build an inland canal to bring Persian Gulf oil to world markets. “Our oil… Read moreUAE plans Hormuz bypass canal in event of war
A gas pipeline owned by EnCana near Tomslake in northern British Columbia was bombed for a second time in a week Oct. 16. Neither that explosion nor the earlier one on Oct. 11 significantly damaged the pipeline, which carries sour… Read moreCanada: British Columbia gas pipeline bombed again
Since Oct. 12, indigenous and other social organizations in southwestern Colombia have been protesting the militarization of their lands, the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and the failure of the government of President Alvaro Uribe to comply with agreements relating to… Read moreColombia: police attack indigenous protesters
From Human Rights Watch, Oct. 16: The administration of President Álvaro Uribe is jeopardizing efforts to secure justice for crimes committed by paramilitaries and their accomplices in Colombia, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 140-page report,… Read moreColombian government hampers justice efforts: HRW
Venezuelan Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami said Oct. 16 that six, including three army intelligence officials and a police officer, have been detained in the killing of an opposition student leader. El-Aissami said that the presumed murder weapon was also recovered… Read moreVenezuela: army intelligence officials held in student’s death
Thousands of relatives of inmates staged sit-ins Oct. 14 at prisons across Venezuela to protest poor conditions and rights abuses. Hundreds of inmates die each year in prison violence—including 500 last year. This has fueled complaints that President Hugo Chávez… Read moreVenezuela: nationwide protests at prisons
On Oct. 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales voiced defiance in the face of Washington threats to remove Bolivia’s trade preferences as a punitive measure for failing to meet US narcotics enforcement standards. “We can’t kneel down for $63 million,” said… Read moreEvo: Bolivia won’t “kneel down” to US on drug war
Bolivian President Evo Morales Oct. 13 led the opening rally at a cross-country march from the city of Caracollo, Oruro department, to La Paz in support of a referendum on the country’s pending new constitution. “If from here we begin… Read moreBolivia: Evo leads march for new constitution
The International Court of Justice Oct. 15 gave Georgia approval to open a suit charging Russia with a campaign of ethnic cleansing in and around the separatist enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The ruling was hailed by Georgia’s attorneys… Read moreWorld Court to hear Georgian case on ethnic cleansing
Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged rocket and rifle fire for about an hour Oct. 15 in a border skirmish over claims to the 900-year-old mountaintop temple known to Cambodians as Preah Vihear and to Thais as Khao Phra Viharn. At… Read moreTwo dead as Thai-Cambodian border conflict escalates
