Jane's Country Risk News reports Feb. 1 that renewed US attempts to woo Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to open his country's vast natural gas reserves may be "too little, too late." Russia already accounts for 97% of Turkmenistan's gas exports. Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan signed an agreement in December to build a gas pipeline along the edge of the Caspian Sea, through the Russian network. The plan could undermine US plans for a trans-Caspian pipeline to the Caucasus. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited Turkmenistan in November, and Berdymukhammedov reiterated plans to export gas to China through a pipeline due to come online in 2009. Berdymukhammedov has also refused to rule out the possibility of a trans-Caspian pipeline, however.

A Feb. 1 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania and two other high-profile attacks since December have thrown into question the African republic's democratic opening. In the latest attack, the façade of the Israeli Embassy in Nouakchott, that capital, was sprayed with machine-gun fire in the early hours of the morning. Guards returned fire and three people leaving a nearby nightclub were wounded. In December, four French tourists and three Mauritanian soldiers were shot dead by men accused of belonging to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Many in Mauritania say the attacks indicate a radicalization of society since a reformist coup in a 2005 ended harsh military rule. "Religious sentiment in Mauritania has become much stronger [since the coup], similar now to many Arab countries," said Professor Yahya Ould Al-Bara, an anthropologist at the University of Nouakchott. (IRIN, Feb. 1)

A coalition of Native Alaskans and environmental groups filed suit in federal court Jan. 31 to halt oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea, which lies above the Arctic Circle between Alaska and Russia. Thirty million acres of polar bear, walrus, and whale habitat in the Chukchi Sea are scheduled to be opened to oil and gas companies Feb. 6, when the US Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) will hear bids for drilling leases. The suit claims that MMS did not adequately weigh the impacts on wildlife and Native villages along Alaska's North Slope.

China, which relies on imports for 50% of its oil needs, has established a system of national oil reserve centers, modeled on the US Strategic Reserves. Approved by the State Council in 2004, the four strategic reserve centers in the coastal areas of Zhenhai, Zhoushan, Huangdao and Dalian came on line in December. Together they hold reserves equivalent to 10 days of the nation's oil consumption. (Asia Online, Jan. 7) India announced this month it will begin construction on strategic storage centers this year as well, with the first site to be at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. (Times of India, Jan. 14)

From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Feb. 1:

On January 7, employees of Radio Cadena Mi Gente, a progressive radio station based in San Salvador, received death threats via telephone calls made to the station. Despite the assurance of Rodrigo Ávila, then-Director of the National Civilian Police (PNC), that he had “all intentions” of investigating the threats, no investigation has yet moved forward. Ávila made a similar commitment last year in response to the murder of Radio Cadena Mi Gente employee Salvador Sánchez. However, Sánchez’s murder remains unresolved.

In a "megamarcha" against the dropping of trade barriers under the terms of NAFTA, thousands of small farmers filled the streets of Mexico City's historic district Jan. 31. A caravan of 100 tractors that traveled 2,000 kilometers from Ciudad Juarez was joined by caravans from Querétaro, Pachuca, Toluca and Cuernavaca, organized by the National Association of Campesino Enterprises (ANEC). Marchers demanded the renegotiation of NAFTA, under the slogan "Without corn there is no country, and not without beans either" (Sin maíz no hay país y sin frijol tampoco). (El Financiero, Feb. 1; Cronica de Hoy, Jan. 30)

The Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a reported assault on two officers at the disputed Culbertson Land Tract quarry near Deseronto, which is under occupation by Mohawk protesters. Sgt. Kristine Rae, spokesperson for Eastern Region OPP headquarters, said the assault occurred during a visit to the occupied site by members of the OPP's Major Event Liaison Team.

A Brazilian judge banned Rio de Janeiro's Unidos do Viradouro samba school from parading in the upcoming carnival with a float depicting victims of the Holocaust and a Hitler figure. "Carnival should not be used as an instrument of hatred, any kind of racism and clear trivialization of barbaric and unjustified acts against minorities," Judge Juliana Kalichszteim said as she issued her injunction. The injunction came after a lawsuit by the Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FIERJ).