The Guatemalan Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by activists to block the candidacy of former dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt in congressional elections this Sept. 9. However, Supreme Court Spokesman Guillermo Melgar said that that the ruling can be… Read moreGuatemala: court accepts, activists reject ex-dictator’s candidacy
A roadside bomb killed 10 government-hired paramilitary troops in southern Thailand’s Bannang Sata district, Yala province, as they returned from negotiations with Muslim protesters May 31. Almost immediately after the bombing, gunmen opened fire on a group of Muslim villagers… Read moreThailand: paramilitary troops, mosque attacked
Five people, including a local militia jawan (infantryman), were killed May 31 in India’s eastern state of Manipur in fighting with the Kuki Revolutionary Army. The so-called “ultra” ethnic guerilla group apparently attacked a patrol of the 7th Manipur Rifles… Read moreIndia: ethnic violence in east, west
David Phinney writes for Iraq Slogger, May 31: Rumors of labor trafficking and abuse have plagued building contractor now completing the $592 million Baghdad embassy building project, but a State Department Inspector General investigation reported finding nothing untoward. Now an… Read moreForced labor building US Baghdad embassy?
The “Awakening in Anbar” movement, which was started in the conflicted province by local tribes and Sunni insurgents opposed to al-Qaeda’s attempts to impose its leadership, has now spread to all of the provinces bordering Baghdad and been officially renamed… Read moreIraq: “Awakening” movement resists al-Qaeda
Artillery shelling against the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon resumed on Friday, as fighting broke out between the army and Fatah al-Islam fighters. As tanks surrounded the camp, artillery struck the north and north-west entrances of the camp,… Read moreLebanese army resumes bombardment
From the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, June 1: Israeli army fire kills two children in northern Gaza GAZA — Israeli soldiers stationed in northern Gaza Strip shot dead on Friday afternoon two Palestinian children, paramedics and eyewitnesses said. The witnesses… Read moreIsraeli forces kill two children in occupied Gaza Strip
Teachers from the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) clashed with capital police and elite Federal Preventative Police at blockades of the federal Government Ministry and the central offices of the national TV network Televisa in Mexico City May 31…. Read moreMexico City: teachers clash with riot police
A prisoner has died in an apparent suicide at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the US military announced May 30. A statement by the US Southern Command said the inmate, a Saudi Arabian national, was found… Read moreApparent suicide at Guantanamo Bay
Turkish authorities have announed the seizure of weapons hidden on a Syria-bound train from Iran after Kurdish PKK guerillas derailed it with a bomb near the town of Genc in Bingol province. News reports said the weapons included 300 rockets… Read moreTurkey recovers Iranian arms from Syria-bound train raided by Kurdish guerillas
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, in a recent visit to Mogadishu, refused to give a date for Ethiopian troops to withdraw from Somalia, saying Somalia’s transition government and civil society leaders had asked Ethiopia not to abandon the Somali people…. Read moreEthiopia grooms Somalia for Eritrea intervention?
Fifteen residents were killed and 35 wounded as the Yemeni army bombarded the village of Souq al-Lail in the northern province of Saada on the night of May 30, setting a gasoline station ablaze. The region is the heart of… Read moreYemen: army bombards village
