Mexico

Mexico cracks down on narco-oil

In an open acknowledgement that it cannot secure its pipeline system from plunder by criminal gangs, Mexico will no longer pump refined gasoline and diesel through the network.

Southern Cone

Argentina and Iran in oil-for-terror deal?

Did Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner strike a secret deal with Tehran to cover up Iran's role in a terror attack in exchange for guarantees of oil imports?

Africa

China sends combat troops to South Sudan

A 700-strong Chinese battalion is headed for South Sudan as part of a UN "peacekeeping" mission—but the deployment follows China's massive investment in the country's oil sector.

Planet Watch

Behind oil slump: shale boom or geopolitics?

Experts tell us the North American shale oil boom is responsible for low prices despite Middle East unrest. But the price slump serves Western aims of weakening Russia and Iran.

The Amazon

Andes: repression ahead of Lima climate summit

The slaying of an indigenous leader who planned to travel from Ecuador to denounce a mining project before the Lima climate summit is the latest attack on regional ecological defenders.