At the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, US President Barack Obama announced approval of Colombia's supposed progress in protecting labor rights, allowing the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to take effect next month. US trade representative Ron Kirk said at a Cartagena press conference that the agreement provides "an opportunity to help stand up for the rights of workers... This is a significant milestone." Kirk said Colombia has taken a number of important steps to implement the "labor action plan" that was a prerequisite for putting the trade deal into place. The plan included enforcing laws recognizing the rights of workers to organize and prosecuting past cases of violence against labor leaders. "We believe this is an historic step in the development of our relationship with Colombia," Kirk said.

Colombia is topping news headlines in the United States for a change following accusations that members of President Obama's security detail at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena this week brought local sex workers back to their hotel rooms. Security clearance for 11 Secret Service agents has been revoked, and investigators believe that up to 20 Secret Service and military personnel were involved. Cartagena Mayor Campo Elias Teran said local authorities are investigating whether some of the sex workers involved in the scandal were minors. (Colombia Reports, April 17)

The Canadian government released details April 17 of a plan to dramatically "streamline" (as press accounts put it) public oversight for big energy and mining projects, capping the timeline for federal reviews and ceding more regulatory oversight to the provinces. The "Responsible [sic] Resource Development" plan would impose a 45-day limit to decide whether federal environmental review is necessary after a new project is announced, and then limit such reviews to two years. The number of agencies allowed to participate in such reviews—now numbering 40—would be limited to three: the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the National Energy Board and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. It would also allow the provinces to conduct such reviews in place of these agencies, if they meet the standards of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Resources Minister Joe Oliver made clear that an intended beneficiary of the reform is Enbridge Inc's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would ship oil from Alberta's tar sands fields to Canada's West Coast—and has been meeting stiff opposition from environmentalists and First Nations in British Columbia. (Dow Jones, CTV, April 17)

The Taliban launched coordinated attacks in the Afghan capital and three other provinces on April 15. In Kabul, the Taliban targeted seven different locations in the Wazir Akbar Khan diplomatic enclave, seizing control of several buildings under construction and opening fire on the US, German, Russian, and British embassies, the Afghan parliament, the Kabul Military Training Center, and other sites. Gunfire and at least 10 explosions were heard in locations throughout the capital. Two people were reported killed and fighting is said to be ongoing. In Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, a suicide assault on the airstrip left several wounded. Attacks were also reported in the provincial capitals of Paktia and Logar. (Long War Journal, AFP, April 15) Hours earlier, Pakistani Taliban militants launched a nighttime assault on the prison at Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, freeing nearly 400—including what the Taliban Movement of Pakistan called "special members" in a statement. (Long War Journal, April 15)

Six days after they were abducted by apparent Shining Path guerillas, hostage Camisea Consortium workers were freed in the rainforest of Peru's Cuzco region April 14, allowing President Ollanta Humala to boast of a "flawless victory" upon his arrival that day at the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia—but accounts were typically sketchy and contradictory on exactly how the captives were released. The Defense Ministry said the guerillas let the workers go before dawn after they were encircled by some 1,500 police and army troops, and tried to flee. The Ministry's account said there had been a clash, in which one National Police officer was killed. But press reports said the kidnapped workers walked seven hours through the jungle to the village of Chuanquiri, where they were transferred by bus to Kiteni, another village which was being used as a staging area by security forces. There, some freed hostages disputed the official story, with one telling Peru's Canal N TV: "We were freed voluntarily. Be careful with the press and armed forces saying that we have been rescued."

Much of Peru's northern Andean region of Cajamarca was shut down in a 24-hour civil strike or paro April 11, the latest action in the campaign against the US-owned Conga gold-mining project. Organizers claimed participation in all 13 of Cajamarca's provinces. Public transport and most commercial activity came to a halt in Cajamarca city as protesters held a mass meeting in the Plaza de Armas, or central square. Hundreds of campesinos from the outlying provinces of Celendín and Bambamarca marched on the city, and students occupied the campus of the National University of Cajamarca. Campesinos in Jaén province, organized by a local ronda (peasant self-defense patrol), erected barricades of rocks and tree-trunks on the road through their territory, blocking traffic for hours. No violence was reported, despite a huge presence of National Police and army troops in the region, and threats from authorities in Lima. "What we aren’t going to allow are acts of violence that threaten the freedom of transit for other Peruvians who are not participating in the demonstration," cabinet chief Oscar Valdés told RPP radio network on the eve of the strike.

A group of 40 women of the Innu indigenous nation in northern Quebec have launched a 900-kilometer cross-country march on Montreal to protest the provincial government's Plan Nord, a multibillion-dollar mega-project that would open the north to mining and energy companies. The group, originally made up 14 women, left Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam near Sept-Îles nearly two weeks ago. They plan to reach Montreal on April 22, Earth Day, to join planned protests against the Plan Nord. The march was launched after a protest blockade of a road running through the Uashaunnuat Innu reserve was broken up after five days by provincial police on March 9.

A civilian transition president—Dioncounda Traore, leader of the national assembly—was sworn in April 13 in Mali, under a deal brokered by West African powers with leaders of the last month's coup d'etat. At his inauguration, he told cheering crowds he he would "never negotiate about the partition of Mali." Refering to the rebels that have seized power in the north, he said: "We won't hesitate to wage a total, relentless war to regain our territorial integrity and also to kick out of our country all these invaders who bring despair and misery." (AP, April 13) Ironically, his accusations of an "invasion" came just as a foreign military intervention is being organized to beat back the northern rebels. In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy talked as if France were in charge of the operation: "We have to work with the Tuaregs to see how they can have a minimum of autonomy and we must do everything to prevent the establishment of a terrorist or Islamic state in the heart of the Sahel," he said on TV. Asked if France will be involved in the intervention, he said: "I don't think it’s up to France to do it. France is ready to help, but we cannot be the leader..." (Reuters, April 14)