Central America
Will OAS summit broach drug decrim?
The OAS summit in Guatemala opens in the wake of a ground-breaking report dissenting from the US-led “drug war” and broaching decrim and legalization strategies.
Tag: marijuana
Greater Middle East
Lebanon’s hashish valley drawn into Syrian war
Lebanon’s hashish heartland of the Bekaa Valley is increasingly embroiled in the civil war raging across the border in Syria, with a wave of sectarian clashes and abductions.
Mexico
Mexican media mum on murderous mayhem
Gangland street shoot-outs in Tamaulipas left scores dead this past week just south of the Texas border—without a word of coverage in Mexico’s media, due to cartel threats.
Afghanistan
US, Afghan forces accuse each other in abuses
Hamid Karzai barred US Special Forces from two strategic provinces following reports of atrocities, as US Marines level similar charges against Afghan police they are training.
Southeast Asia
Borneo stand-off: whither Sulu sultanate?
Security forces in Malaysian Borneo are in a stand-off with some 100 men they say are insurgents from the Philippine island of Sulu raising an ancestral claim to the territory.
Greater Middle East
Kurdish wild card in Syria conflict
Kurdish militias in Syria—some linked to the PKK—are battling jihadist rebels, but it is uncertain if they necessarily back the Damascus regime.
South Asia
India: Naxalite hand in opium trade?
Authorities in India say that the Naxalite guerillas, following a series of reversals, have taken refuge in the northeast, where they are trading opium for guns from Burma.
Mexico
Mexico: peasant ecologist killed in Guerrero
Juventina Villa Mojica, an environmental activist in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero, was killed along with her 10-year-old son in a mountaintop attack by 30 gunmen.
Mexico
Mexico: pressure mounts for drug legalization
Mexican think-tanks say that state measures for cannabis legalization in the US will undercut cartel profits, and note that personal users bear the brunt of enforcement.
North America
Montana voters: corporations are not people
In a landslide victory, Montana voters approved an initiative stating “that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights because they are not human beings.”
The Amazon
Colombia apologizes for Amazon genocide
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Día de La Raza issued an official apology to indigenous communities in the Amazon for devastation caused by the rubber boom.
The Andes
Colombia: no ceasefire during peace talks
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos rejected a proposal by the FARC for a ceasefire during talks set to begin in Oslo next mont to end to the country's long civil war.