The Andes
Colombia: will paras fill post-FARC power vacuum?
Rights groups see an urgent threat that criminal gangs and paramilitary groups will fill the power vacuum in remote areas of Colombia as the FARC is demobilized.
Tag: autonomy
Planet Watch
Canada high court to hear prior consultation case
Canada's Supreme Court announced that it will review two decisions of the National Energy Board related to oil development and aboriginal consultation.
Greater Middle East
Syrian Kurds declare autonomy —at what price?
Kurds officially declared their own "Federation of Northern Syria"—to be swiftly denounced by the Assad regime, the opposition and regional powers alike.
Central America
Belize: villagers on trial for protecting Maya site
Thirteen Maya villagers are to stand trial in Belize over their expulsion of a settler they said had illegally encroached upon the grounds of an archeological site.
Planet Watch
Mohawks threaten to block Energy East pipeline
The Mohawk nation is threatening to do everything legally in its power to block TransCanada's Energy East pipeline project, calling it a threat to their way of life.
Greater Middle East
Obama-Putin deal for partition of Syria?
The announced Russian military withdrawal from Syria has raised suspicions of a quiet deal between Putin and Obama for the partitiion of country into "spheres of influence."
Greater Middle East
Syrian opposition groups to attend UN talks
The High Negotiations Committee of Syrian opposition groups will attend UN-brokered talks with the Damascus regime—but Kurdish leaders will have no seat at the table.
North Africa
UN pressed on North Africa’s colonized peoples
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, on a tour of North Africa, met with Sahrawi leaders seeking independence from Morocco—but not Berbers seeking independence from Algeria.
The Andes
Colombia: ‘consulta’ on mineral project approved
The city council of Ibagué, capital of Colombia's Tolima department, voted to a approve a popular "consulta" on a proposed mineral project for the municipality.
Greater Middle East
Invisible war escalates in eastern Turkey
Overshadowed by the greater carnage across the border in Syria, Turkey's east is exploding into full-scale war—with Kurdish districts under siege from military forces.
Greater Middle East
Are Rojava Kurds collaborating with Assad?
Amid confused fighting in northern Syria, accusations are mounting that the Rojava Kurds are collaborating with Russia—and, by extension, the genocidal Bashar Assad regime.
The Andes
Colombia: peasants sue over mining contamination
Indigenous and Black communities in Colombia’s Chocó department filed a lawsuit, claiming 37 of their children died after drinking water contaminated by nearby mining operations.