On Sept. 15, at least 12,000 Colombian sugar cane cutters went on strike to protest the systematic violation of their labor rights and human rights. The workers cut sugar cane for 16 sugar mills in the Cauca river valley, primarily in the department of Valle del Cauca but also in the neighboring departments of Cauca, to the south, and Risaralda, to the northeast. The same day the strike began, hundreds of agents from the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) of the Colombian National Police, together with army soldiers and private sugar company guards, attacked a group of striking cane cutters from the Incauca and Providencia sugar mills, injuring more than 100 workers, at least five of them seriously.

On Sept. 5 the Haitian Senate voted 16-0 with one abstention to approve a cabinet proposed by incoming prime minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis. This ended a five-month period in which the country was governed by a caretaker cabinet. (AlterPresse, Sept. 5; Haiti Support Group News Briefs, Sept. 5 from Reuters) The new cabinet faces devastation left by four tropical storms that hit the country from Aug. 16 to Sept. 7.

Royal Dutch Shell formally signed a joint venture with an Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company to recapture gas that now goes to waste during oil extraction in the Basra fields. The deal is estimated to be worth $4 billion. Under the agreement, Iraq will control 51% while Shell will hold the remaining 49% of the venture. The gas, estimated at 5 billion cubic feet per day (up from 1 bcfd), will be both for for domestic use and export, said Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani.

Palestinian medics in the Gaza Strip Sept. 23 recovered the bodies of four Strip residents who were killed in an explosion in a tunnel at the Egyptian border. At least one was wounded and hospitalized in Rafah. The explosion took place in a tunnel in a-Brazil area in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center, Egyptian security forces detonated the tunnel while five residents were in it. The forces likely did not know there was anyone in the tunnel, the report said. (IMEMC, Sept. 23)

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sept. 23 the Pentagon could send thousands more combat troops to Afghanistan starting next spring—but also warned: "I think we need to think about how heavy a military footprint the United States ought to have in Afghanistan. Are we better off channeling resources into building and expanding the size of the Afghan national army as quickly as possible, as opposed to a much larger Western footprint in a country that has never been notoriously hospitable to foreigners?" There are now some 31,000 US troops in Afghanistan and roughly an equal number of coalition troops. (AP, Sept. 23)

Oil prices posted the biggest one-day dollar gain ever Monday Sept. 22 as the dollar fell in response to Washington's $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan. October oil contracts surged in afternoon trading, reaching $130—a more than $25 gain. It dropped back down to settle at $120.92 a barrel, up $16.37 from Friday's close. The gain eclipsed the $10.75 spike in oil on June 6. (CNNMoney.com, Sept. 22)

At least 30 people were killed in fierce fighting between Islamist rebels and Somali government forces in capital Mogadishu's main market Sept. 23. Rebels reportedly attacked two African Union peacekeeping bases in Mogadishu and shelled the city's main airport as well as hitting government buildings in the bustling Bakara market area.

The US Defense Department has denied that its helicopters flew into Pakistan's airspace above from across the border with Afghanistan Sept. 22. Pakistani intelligence officials say US two helicopters flew into North Waziristan, but returned to Afghanistan after troops and tribesmen opened fire. "There was no such incursion, there was no such event," said Pentagon spokesman Col. Gary Keck. Anonymous Pakistani sources said the incursion took place near Lwara Mundi village late on Sept. 21. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari told NBC that the US was forbidden from allowing any operations without permission. "If the American troops are coming in without letting us know, without the Pakistani permission, they are violating the United Nations charter." (AlJazeera, Sept. 23)