The Amazon

Peru clamps down on indigenous organizations

Senior figures in Peru are threatening a clamp-down on both Peruvian and foreign NGOs in the wake of the violent protests which have erupted in the country’s Amazon region.

North Africa

Mali: army clashes with al-Qaeda militia?

Malian security forces clashed with a group of suspected al-Qaeda militants in the northern Tessalit region, killing several people, a senior military source told Reuters.

Iran

Iran: violence spreads to Tabriz

With a harsh media crackdown in place, word has been slow to get out of protests outside Tehran—but at least two are reported dead in Tabriz, capital of Azerbaijan province.

Palestine

Hamas to accept Israeli state?

Meeting with ex-President Jimmy Carter in Gaza City, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said his organization would be “prepared to accept a state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.”

North America

Supreme Court kills border wall lawsuit

The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the County of El Paso, Texas, in a case that challenged construction of the US-Mexico border wall on environmental grounds.

Planet Watch

Big powers to boycott UN econo-confab

Many developed nations will boycott a UN conference on the financial crisis, objecting to efforts by General Assembly president Miguel d’Escoto to discuss reforming the World Bank and IMF.

The Caribbean

US Supreme Court turns down Cuban Five case

The Supreme Court declined to review the case of the “Cuban Five,” despite appeals by Günter Grass, Rigoberta Menchú and eight other Nobel Prize winners.

The Amazon

Brazil: bill on Amazon land transfers advances

Brazil’s Senate approved a bill regulating government transfers of land in the Amazon region that environmental groups say will enable companies and individuals to keep lands they seized illegally.