Brazil’s indigenous agency FUNAI has launched an emergency investigation after a guard post at a reserve for isolated indigenous peoples in the rainforest of Acre state was overrun by heavily armed men thought to be drug traffickers.
The Tripoli regime accused NATO of killing 85 of civilians, including children, in an air attack on a village in western Libya. NATO responds that the regime was using farm buildings for military purposes, and said the casualties were likely “mercenaries.”
Lebanese singer Zeid Hamdan of the band Zeid and the Wings was briefly jailed on charges of defaming President Michel Suleiman in his single “General Suleiman.” He was released following a Facebook campaign.
Israeli officials responded harshly and immediately when Honduran president Pepe Lobo announced that his country plans to support statehood for Palestine during the UN General Assembly meeting in September.
Workers at Chile’s Escondida copper mine voted to end a 15-day-old strike despite failing to win their demand for a bonus of 5 million pesos ($10,562). Union officials admitted the members were worn out after two weeks without pay.
Street-fighting erupted in Santiago, with tear-gas and mass arrests, after the government of rightwing president Sebastián Piñera refused to issue permits for student marches, using a decree from the Pinochet era.
Acting on a court order, police destroyed homes that 500 squatters had improvised out of canvas, cardboard and sheet metal when they occupied land near the provincial capital, San Miguel de Tucumán.
More than 200,000 marched in Tel Aviv, under a banner with the word “Go!” in Arabic—a key symbol of the protest movement that brought down Hosni Mubarak, and a clear reference to Bibi Netanyahu. Below, in Hebrew, were the words: “Egypt is here!”
A visit to Israel by PLA chief of staff Gen. Chen Bingde to meet with IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen.Benny Gantz signals an effort by China and Israel to rebuild commercial military ties that have been weakened by US pressure on Tel Aviv.
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos says he will meet with Hugo Chávez to discuss accusations from his armed forces chief Adm. Edgar Cely that Venezuela is continuing to harbor FARC guerillas, even after the Andean neighbors had rebooted relations.
California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office released a status report concluding that California is unlikely to meet the US Supreme Court’s two-year deadline to reduce the state’s prison population by 34,000 inmates.
Convicted Abu Ghraib torture ringleader Spc. Charles Graner was released early from Fort Leavenworth, as the Justice Department has opened an investigation into the apparent torture-death of an Abu Ghraib detainee at the hands of the CIA.
