With much of his army defecting to the opposition that now holds Libya's east, Moammar Qaddafi is notoriously making use of mercenaries from countries to the south in Africa. Recent reports indicate that these prominently include Tuareg fighters from Mali and Niger who flocked to Libya in the 1970s and '80s, recruited into an "Islamic Legion" modeled on the French Foreign Legion. A Tuareg leader in Mali, Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assaleh, said some 16,000 Tuaregs remain in the Libyan security forces. "We've been getting updates from some of them by phone," Assaleh said by telephone. "They say their orders are to protect Qaddafi and they will defend him to the end." (CP, March 1)

Iranian opposition websites say more than 200 people were arrested March 1 while attempting to protest in Tehran, with another 40 detained in Isfahan. Opposition groups had called for rallies over the reported imprisonment of their leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The two men had been placed under house arrest several weeks ago as authorities cracked down on protests staged in solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. Their families say that on Feb. 28 they were taken to prison, although the government denies this. (BBC News, March 2)

UN Special Representative to Iraq Ad Melkert issued a statement March 1 expressing concern about reports of human rights violations in the nationwide protest campaign now shaking the country. Melkert said reported violations included "disproportionate" use of force by security forces against protesters. "Fundamental changes are needed for creating stability and trust," said Melkert, who is the head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). (AP, UN News Centre, March 2)

Although the regime has effectively suppressed press accounts, dissident websites in Syria say security forces have dispersed three demonstrations in the past weeks. The last, on Feb. 29, reportedly involved hundreds of women protesting against price hikes. Authorities also arrested a number of people for supposedly organizing demonstrations, while others were beaten while protesting outside the Libyan embassy. The government has imposed a curfew to prevent protesters from gathering, and ordered closed the websites that have reported on them. (YNet, March 1)

Peru's security forces cracked down on illegal gold mining operations in the Amazon region of Madre de Dios in late February, with army troops putting several dredges on the region's rivers to the torch. According to the Environment Ministry, some 20,000 hectares of rainforest are destroyed and 45 tons of mercury dumped into local rivers each year due to the dredging operations. (Reuters, Feb. 20)

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the Peruvian former secretary general of the United Nations, publicly lamented Feb. 28 that the hundreds of US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have become an issue the presidential campaign underway in his country. "It is embarrassing that information from WikiLeaks has become part of the campaign, because it contains foreign opinions, not from Peruvians," he said. "Candidates should debate with ideas and not verbal attacks. We hope that candidates will calm themselves during this month." (Living in Peru, Feb. 28)

On Feb. 25, Bolivia was partially paralyzed in a national strike by independent bus and taxi operators to demand the government permit a fare hike to keep up with the cost of living. Confederación de Chóferes leaders noted that fares have been frozen for five years, and that concerns over the cost of living had sparked the recent "gasolinazo"—a protest wave that led to the cancellaiton of government plans to lift fuel subsidies. Some 40% of inter-city bus service was shut by the strike, with near total compliance in the twin cities of La Paz and El Alto. (EFE, Feb. 25)

A Brazilian judge ruled in favor of local indigenous groups Feb. 28, blocking President Dilma Rousseff's plans to move ahead with construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam in the Amazon rainforest. Federal Judge Ronaldo Desterro in Para state also ordered the national development bank, BNDES, not to fund the project. In his ruling, Judge Desterro found that the project had received insufficient review from IBAMA, Brazil's environmental agency, with many potential impacts ignored.