Bolivia and South Korea have agreed to a joint venture to exploit the lithium battery business sector, the state-run Korea Resources Corp (KORES) announced July 31. KORES has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bolivia's state-owned mining corporation COMIBOL to form a consortium that will also include the private Korean firms POSCO, SK Innovation Co. and LG Chem, Ltd. The signing took place in La Paz.

Gen. Francisco Contreras, chief of staff of Peru's armed forces until his retirement earlier this year, told the Jerusalem Post July 25 that he believes Iran's growing presence in Latin America poses a threat to regional stability. "It appears that Iranian organizations provide support to other terrorist organizations," he said. "We definitely need to be concerned with the growing presence of Iran in South America. It appears that Iranian organizations provide support to other terrorist organizations, and that there is cooperation between them."

The newly negotiated free trade agreement (FTA) between Colombia and Mexico formally went into effect Aug. 1, President Juan Manuel Santos announced in Mexico. The Colombian head of state was welcomed with top military honors by Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City, where Santos made a pubic statement about the FTA. "This new treaty enters into effect today, a very significant day in trade," Santos said. "It has great significance for further progress in strengthening our trade relations." The former agreement, a G-3 between Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, had to be modified to account for the withdrawal of Venezuela and for the changing economic climate.

The US Coast Guard announced the interception of a so-called "narco submarine," while in a joint patrol of Caribbean waters with the Honduran armed forces. On July 13, the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Seneca interdicted the craft, called a self-propelled semi-submersible or SPSS, off the coast of Honduras near the Nicaraguan border. The Coast Guard says the vessel sank during the interdiction, but that nearly 7.5 tons of cocaine was later recovered. Four crew members—three Colombians and a Honduran—were detained and brought by the Coast Guard to Miami to face federal charges. (La Tribuna, El Heraldo, Tegucigalpa, Aug. 2; CBS Miami, Aug. 1; Notimex, July 30)

Mexican government and university researchers are warning about threats posed to the survival of 195 plant and animal species in the northern border state of Chihuahua. Studies by the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) have identified a broad gamut of species at risk, including birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians, as well as scores of cactus and other plant varieties.

As promised, Egypt's self-declared "Salafists" marched en masse on Tahrir Square, where secular opposition groups were holding a thousands-strong rally on Friday July 29. No violence was reported, but the Salafists were clearly vying with the secularists for control of the square—and the message. While the secularists chanted "The people want to topple the regime," the Salafists responded, "The people want to implement Sharia." As the secularists chanted "Peaceful, peaceful," the Salafists responded, "Islamic, Islamic." The Salafists also chanted "There is no God but Allah" and "Islamiya, Islamiya"; they also waved banners reading "Islamic Egypt," and Saudi flags. Plans for a new constitution is the new point of conflict. "Islamic law above the Constitution" was another popular Salafists chant. While the Muslim Brotherhood has continued to stay away from the Tahrir Square protests, the more radical Salafists have apparently opted for a strategy of confrontation with the protesters. Over the course of the evening, more and more of the secularists were intimidated into leaving the square, which was increasingly given over to the Salafists. (Radio Australia's AM, July 30; Egyptian Gazette, July 29)

The latest round of unofficial UN-brokered Western Sahara negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front ended without agreement last week, US Africa Command's Magharebia news site reports July 25. The eighth round of informal talks wrapped up July 21 in Manhasset, Long Island. "By the end of the meeting, each party continued to reject the proposal of the other as the sole basis for future negotiations, while reiterating their willingness to work together to reach a political solution in conformity with the pertinent resolutions of the United Nations Security Council," said UN Western Sahara envoy Christopher Ross. The UN News Centre on July 22 took a more optimistic spin, emphasizing plans to resume the dialogue after the autumn session of the UN General Assembly. “In order to find a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara […] the parties continued to deepen their discussions on the two proposals, including the issue of the electoral corps, mechanisms for self-determination, and the forms of guarantees,” said a statement issued by the office of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross.

Twice as many US citizens as previously reported by law enforcement have traveled overseas to join Somalia's supposedly al-Qaeda-linked Shabab insurgents, an investigation by Republican staff on the House Homeland Security Committee determined this week, asserting that more than 40 Americans have traveled to Horn of Africa country to join the rebel group (which is on the State Department list of "Foreign Terrorist Organizations." Publicly, authorities have reported at least 21 men left the Minneapolis area for Somalia since late 2007 and are believed to have joined the Shabab.