Central Asia
Aral Sea almost gone: NASA
Satellite photos released by NASA reveal that the eastern basin of the Aral Sea has completely dried up. Water levels are less than 10% of what they were 50 years ago.
Tag: control of water
The Andes
Peru: Newmont behind water authority shake-up?
Activists charge that a regional director of Peru's Water Authority was sacked for refusing to approve "relocation" of a mountain lake in preparation for the Conga mega-mine.
The Andes
Peru: rural mayor killed in jungle unrest
The mayor of a jungle pueblo was among three killed in clashes during a general strike related to the Camisea gas pipeline in Peru's Convención Valley.
Mexico
Mexico: Cananea toxic spills continue
Long favored by the Mexican government, Grupo México is becoming a major embarrassment as its biggest mine persists in polluting the Sonora River.
Mexico
Mexico: unionists protest Cananea toxic spill
In addition to breaking strikes and killing miners, the mammoth Grupo México mining company has now managed to contaminate two rivers near the US border.
Iraq
Iraq: ISIS sells Yazidi women; Iran intervenes?
Kurdish parliament leaders charged that ISIS is selling abducted Yazidi women in Mosul, and that an Iranian Quds force has intervened against ISIS—with US connivance.
Iraq
Control of water at issue in Iraq conflict
The taking of the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River from ISIS by Peshmerga forces backed by US air power highlights the strategic nature of water in the multi-sided Iraq conflict.
Iraq
Iraq: Yazidis stand and fight; Baghdad worries
A Yazidi militia group has entered the fight against ISIS, clashing with militants near Sinjar—while Baghdad's army command objected to foreign military aid to Kurdish forces.
Iraq
New massacres in Iraq; Hezbollah joins the fray
ISIS fighters carried out a massacre of Yazidis at an occupied village, while Hezbollah militiamen are accused in a massacre of Sunni Arab residents in central Iraq.
Mexico
Sonora: mining threatens disappearing waters
Water was cut off to the capital of Mexico's Sonora state after a toxic spill at a mine turned a river orange—as Yaqui Indians protest theft of their waters by a new aqueduct.
Central America
Nicaragua: inter-oceanic canal route approved
Nicaragua approved a route for its proposed inter-oceanic canal—sparking demands both by the Rama indigenous people and neighboring Costa Rica to be consulted in the project.
The Amazon
Brazil: Canadian gold mine loses license
More problems for Latin America's "Gold Rush": while controversy continues over the Belo Monte dam, a nearby gold mine is blocked by a judge.