Southeast Asia

Burmese opium farmers protest eradication

As ethnic insurgencies continue, opium-growers in Burma's northern mountains issued a statement demanding a halt to eradication programs as essential to any peace deal.

The Andes

Protests mount in Peru ahead of run-off

Lima was treated to the spectacle of topless women being tear-gassed by police at a protest outside the Congress building against a new law to toughen strictures on abortion.

Greater Middle East

Syria: Kurdish-FSA conflict cleaves resistance

Fierce fighting between Kurdish-led YPG forces and Arab factions aligned with the Free Syrian Army is deepening a split within the Syrian resistance to both ISIS and Assad.

The Andes

Colombia: thousands displaced in new fighting

More than 3,000 members of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities have been displaced as Colombia's Chocó department is convulsed by conflict with the ELN guerillas.

Greater Middle East

Palmyra: not a ‘liberation’

The taking of Palmyra from ISIS by Assad regime forces backed by Russian air-strikes means the city's transfer from one genocidal entity to another, say activists on the ground.