Brazilian prosecutors plan to file criminal charges against Chevron officials for November's oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. Brazilian officials charge that Chevron acted irresponsibly at the Frade oil field in the Campos Basin formation. Up to 12 Chevron officials are expected to be indicted. The filing in federal court in Campos, Brazil, will likely include a request for criminal indictment of George Buck, chief executive of Chevron's Brazil unit, as well as other staff, officials told Reuters. Chevron also faces a $11 billion civil suit over the spill.

The Sudanese military said Jan. 30 that it had "liberated" 14 of the 29 Chinese road workers abducted by guerillas in in an attack on an encampment in the oil-rich border state of South Kordofan. But Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted embassy officials in Khartoum as saying all the workers were still missing. There is also dispute as to the nature of the attack in which the workers were taken. A spokesman from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebels told the AFP news agency that the workers were captured together with nine Sudanese soldiers when fighters attacked a military convoy. Wang Zhiping, a senior executive of the Power Construction Corporation that employed the workers, told Xinhua the rebels had attacked the workers at their camp. Together, more than 70 road workers, Chinese and Sudanese, were taken. The Chinese firm is building a road into a remote area of the state, despite charges by human rights groups that the Sudanese government is using such infrastructure to rush in troops to crush a growing insurrection.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay charged Jan. 27 that Libya's transitional government must take control of all makeshift prisons to prevent further atrocities against detainees. Pillay says various brigades are holding as many as 8,000 prisoners in 60 detention centers around the country. Pillay added that she is particularly concerned about Black African detainees who are apparently assumed automatically to be Qaddafi-loyalist fighters. She said detainees have been subject to "torture, extrajudicial executions, rape of both men and women." Pillay's statement follows a statement by Amnesty International that "several detainees have died after being subjected to torture in Libya in recent weeks and months... The torture is being carried out by officially recognized military and security entities as well by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework." Detainees told Amnesty they had been beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains, bars, wooden sticks and given electric shocks.

South Sudan, at an impasse in talks with Khartoum over terms for use of the pipeline linking the two countries, has ordered oil companies to shut down oil production within two weeks. Landlocked South Sudan's President Salva Kiir accuses Sudan of having stolen $815 million worth of the south’s oil. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir can no longer tolerate South Sudan exporting its oil for free while the two governments are at odds. Sudan has publicly proposed $36 per barrel, while South Sudan has listed figures under $1 per barrel. Efforts to mediate by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, current chair of the African Union, have been fruitless. When South Sudan seceded last year, it took with it about 75% of Khartoum's 500,000 barrels per day of oil production. The shutdown could lead to a tightening of the world’s oil supply and cause prices to rise. (Sudan Tribune via AllAfrica, Jan. 27; AP, Jan. 23)

Riot police cordoned off streets in Dakar on Jan. 28 after a night of violent protests that erupted after the Constitutional Council cleared octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade to seek a third term and opposition leaders vowed to force him from power. As the decision was announced, youths set fire to tires and threw stones at riot police, who responded with tear gas. At least one police officer was reported killed. Reports from the central town of Kaolack said the local headquarters of Wade's Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) was burned down. Riots were also reported in Thies and Mbour, outside Dakar. "Abdoulaye Wade has declared war on the people," said Amath Dansakho, leader of the leftist Party of Independence and Labor (PIT) and a member of the M23 opposition coalition. "The decision that we have just made will prove to Wade that this is a country of free people. We will render the country ungovernable." Wade responded by telling his opponents to stop their "displays of petulance" and "temper tantrums."

Japan's last nuclear power plant will close in April as reactors are shut for safety checks. Chugoku Electric Power Co. (CEPCO) shut the No. 2 reactor at its Shimane nuclear station Jan. 25, leaving only 6.4% of Japan’s 48,960 megawatts of nuclear capacity on-line. The No. 5 unit at Kashiwazaki Kariwa station, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) was idled on Jan. 25. The remaining three reactors there are due to go off-line for regular checks during the next three months. The No. 5 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata prefecture was also suspended for scheduled checkups, leaving only one out of a total of 17 reactors run by TEPCO in service. All 17 reactors will go offline by the end of March. Among Japan's 54 commercial reactors, only two others are currently in operation—the No. 3 reactor at the Tomari plant in Hokkaido, the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama plant in Fukui prefecture (Chūbu region).

This Australia Day—Jan. 26, marking the 1788 establishment of the British colony of New South Wales, and derided by Aborigines as "Invasion Day"—saw the establishment of a "Tent Embassy" encampment outside the Old Parliament House (also known as the Museum of Democracy) in Canberra, with hundreds of indigenous protesters and their supporters converging from around the country. The encampment marks the 40th anniversary of the historic first Tent Embassy, established to protest the refusal of then-Prime Minister Billy McMahon to recognize Aboriginal land rights. The new campaign is being led by Michael Anderson, 60, the only survivor among the four Aboriginal leaders who launched the 1971 Tent Embassy. The new protesters vow to wage an international campaign against Australia's bid for a seat on the UN Security Council if the government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard (Labor) does not meet their demands for indigenous sovereignty.

Although details and even the death toll are disputed by Chinese authorities and Tibetan exile and support groups, a wave of protest and repression has left several dead in the Tibetan ethnic areas of Sichuan province this week. Three Tibetans were reported killed and several injured when police opened fire on protesters as they gathered in Draggo county, Kardze (Chinese: Garze) prefecture (the Tibetan area of Kham), on Jan. 23, the first day of Chinese New Year. The violence followed the circulation of leaflets in the area saying that Tibetans should not celebrate the New Year because of the recent self-immolations, and declaring an intention by the leaflets' unnamed authors to set themselves on fire at the Tibetan New Year (Losar, Feb. 22). A clash was also reported that day in nearby Luhuo county, with officials confirming one dead after protesters stormed local shops and a bank, and attacked police vehicles. Two days later, another two were killed in an incident in neighboring Seda county. China's official Xinhua news agency quoted authorities as saying rioters attacked a police station with stones, knives and petrol bombs, with 14 police injured. Disturbances were also reported Jan. 24 in Pema (Baima) town, seat of Golog prefecture, with several Tibetans detained, including one monk. The town is reportedly under curfew, as security forces have been rushed in.