Indigenous organizations from the tri-border area where Peru's Madre de Dios region, Bolivia's Pando department and Brazil's Acre state come together met in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, Sept. 28, and issued a statement declaring a "state of emergency" throughout the Amazon rainforest due to the "intense promotion, approval and execution of mega-projects by the governments of the three countries." The Fourth Tri-national Encuentro of Indigenous Peoples especially demanded cancellation of the Inambari hydro-electric plant in Madre de Dios and the Cachuela Esperanza hydro-dam in Pando. The meeting was called by the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA). (La Republica, Lima, Servindi, Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources, Sept. 29)

In the village of Ascensión, in northern Mexico's Chihuahua state, some 300 residents beat to death two 17-year-old boys who reportedly had kidnapped a 17-year-old girl on Sept. 21. Federal police were sent to the area to respond to the incident and to calm the angry mob. The incident began when the girl was abducted from a local restaurant. The girl's father alerted the authorities. In a car chase with police and army troops, the vehicle in which the kidnappers and the girl were in rolled over. The girl was released ans the two abductors arrested. But two others apparently involved in the kidnapping were seized and beaten by residents when their vehicle fell into a canal. The mob also blocked paramedics and emergency personnel from the scene. Two other suspects in the kidnapping remain at large. (El Paso Times, Sept. 22)

On Sept. 24 Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), published an article describing policy changes intended to expand Cuba's small private sector. The changes are part of a plan announced on Sept. 13 to lay off some half million public employees, about 10% of the total labor force, over the next six months; the government expects about 465,000 of the laid-off workers to move to the private sector or to form cooperatives, according to unofficial sources.

The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, located in the Urabá region of northwestern Colombian department of Antioquia, wrote in communiqués dated Sept. 22 and 24 that right-wing paramilitaries were continuing to attack and threaten its members. The community, which for 13 years has rejected the presence of all weapons and armed groups in its territory, charged the authorities with "complacency" regarding the paramilitary activity.

Nadia Lochard, coordinator of Haiti's Civil Protection agency, confirmed on Sept. 25 that five people had died and 57 were injured the day before when a violent storm hit Port-au-Prince and areas to the south, including Petit Goâve and Îles Cayimites. Lochard said most of the injuries and damage took place in the camps where some 1.3 million local residents have been living since they were displaced by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and Haitian prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive met in New York on Sept. 20 to discuss international efforts to help Haiti recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated much of the capital and nearby areas. About 1.3 million Haitians continue to live outdoors, mostly in some 1,300 improvised encampments, more than eight months after the quake and almost six months after international donors pledged $9.9 billion in aid.

From Reuters, Sept. 26:

U.S. should be able to shut Internet, former CIA chief says
SAN ANTONIO — Cyberterrorism is such a threat that the U.S. president should have the authority to shut down the Internet in the event of an attack, Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said.

NATO forces in Afghanistan launched two airstrikes against Taliban fighters on the Pakistani side of the border, killing more than 30 people on Sept. 24 and 25, military spokesmen confirmed. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) initially denied that its forces had launched the airstrikes, although they were confirmed by Afghan police officials. On Sept. 27, however, a statement from ISAF confirmed the attacks. Initially, a base close to the border in Khost province, known as Combat Outpost Narizah, came under fire from insurgents. When what ISAF described as an "air weapons team" responded, they came under fire from the insurgents across the border in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, and returned fire. When two ISAF helicopters returned to the area the next day, they were again fired on from the Pakistani side of the border, and again returned fire.