Brazilian police are questioning a man accused of driving his car at high speed through a crowd of cyclists Feb. 26, injuring at least 12. Video of the incident in Porto Alegre shows bikes and riders flying through the air as other cyclists scream in terror. The driver said he accelerated because cyclists were banging on his car and he feared he would be attacked. The cyclists, who were holding a regular Critical Mass event to promote the use of bikes, deny this claim. The driver, Ricardo Neis, 47, fled the scene of the incident but was brought in for questioning after his abandoned car was found. He may face charges of attempted homicide. (BBC News, Feb. 28)

In Ciudad Juárez and other parts of Mexico, the killings of children and young people are now routine headlines. In particular, the last weeks have been a rough time for many families in the border city. On Feb. 23, a half-dozen young people between the ages of 8 and 16 were sprayed with bullets while playing in the border city's Granjas de Chapultepec neighborhood. Sisters Briseida and Karen Barraza Carrasco, aged 15 and 14, respectively, were slain together their 12-year-old friend Esmeralda Lozoya Enríquez.

Peru's government has secretly admitted that 70-90% of its mahogany exports were illegally felled, according to a US embassy cable revealed by Wikileaks. Furthermore, Peru's government is aware that the illegal timber is being "laundered’" using "document falsification, timber extraction outside the concession boundaries and links to bribes." The revelation will embarrass several US DIY stores, who have all admitted to Survival International that they continue to import Amazonian hardwoods. Home Depot, Lowe's and Lumber Liquidators have all confirmed they use the timber in their products.

On March 1, National Police opened fire on a roadblock being maintained by small-scale independent miners on the Interoceanic Highway being built through Peru's Amazon region of Madre de Dios. The roadblock, between the regional capital Puerto Maldonado and the town of Mazuco, had been launched the previous day by some 2,000 miners and indigenous supporters to protest a campaign by military troops against unlicensed gold-mining operations in the region. The local Miners Federation (FEDEMIN) said the police fired without provocation, and that four miners were killed and 15 gravely wounded. The National Police said officers were "forced" to open fire when the protesters began ransacking trucks backed up at the roadblock, that only two were killed, and that several police officers were among the wounded.

President Hugo Chávez has spoken to Moammar Qaddafi about creating a bloc of friendly nations—tentatively dubbed the Committee of Peace—to mediate a resolution to Libya's crisis, Venezuela's Information Minister Andres Izarra said through Twitter March 2. "We can confirm Libya's interest in accepting this proposal, as well as the Arab League's," Izarra said. "Today Venezuela presses ahead with its agenda in the Arab world and the world at large to seek peace in Libya."

Libyan rebel forces launched a successful offensive to drive Moammar Qaddafi's troops from the key eastern oil port of Brega on March 2. "Brega is liberated. We have forced them to 30 kilometers west," said rebel fighter Khalid al-Aqoly. At dawn, Qaddafi's forces, backed by tanks and heavy weaponry, had seized the airport and oil terminal in Brega, the westernmost town held by the comparatively poorly armed opposition. As the battle for Brega raged in a day of fierce fighting, Qaddafi went on television to deny there is any opposition to his 41-year rule. (Middle East Online, March 2)

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)