Workers taking part in a wildcat strike at Botswana's largest diamond mining firm are being evicted from company-owned homes, unions have said. About 444 workers have been dismissed for taking part in the nine-day dispute over pay and bonuses, it said. The company, Debswana, said 2,300 workers were on strike, but the union said the true figure was nearer 3,000.

Police arrested more than 125 people yesterday as protesters opposed to the Bush administration's policies marched near the World Trade Centre site and blocked streets in the city's financial district on the second day of the Republican convention. For more information also see: NYC Indymedia

The World Bank launched an unprecedented exercise in public consultation yesterday on whether it should back a project to build a dam in Laos on a tributary of the Mekong river. More than 200 officials from the Lao and Thai governments, businessmen, environmentalists and academics began debating whether the bank should underwrite a £675m project to build the dam, being developed by a consortium of Lao, Thai, French and Italian investors. Set against the potential benefit from the dam is the disruption to one of east Asia's most important waterways and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. 6,000 people will be have to be moved. Fields belonging to a further 40,000 villagers will be flooded. Fish stocks will be affected and the ecosystem of the Mekong delta downstream will be damaged. Several groups opposing the dam had made a persuasive argument that Thailand's power needs would not be as great as the consortium and bank had estimated, and that the resulting energy surplus would discourage conservation and the use of renewable resources. Premrudee Daonroung of the Thailand-based Project for Ecological Recovery was disappointed by the World Bank's perceived bias towards the project. "It was clear from the atmosphere that the decision has already been taken," she told the Guardian. "The bank 100% supports the project."

Protesters have clashed with police in Buenos Aires as Rodrigo Rato, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, talked with government leaders. But Mr Kirchner told the IMF head that it was highly unlikely Argentina would be setting aside more money to pay towards its defaulted debt. Many in Argentina blame the IMF for their country's economic collapse in 2001 and 2002.