Israel is preparing to deploy fully autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) along the border with the Gaza Strip—mounted with machine-guns that can be remotely fired.
Algeria announced that it will join Tunisia in building a separation barrier along its border with Libya, in an effort to bar infiltration by ISIS militants and arms traffickers.
Pakistan and Afghanistan saw deadly border clashes and a tense stand-off over Islamabad's plan to build a barbed-wire separation barrier at its Torkham crossing.
Security forces opened fire on protesters storming Baghdad's Green Zone, killing three and wounding some 20—the second such breach of the security wall in recent weeks.
Far-right anti-immigration protesters in Berlin were confronted by anti-fascist counter-protesters, as Italian anarchists clashed with police at the Austrian border.
One day after storming parliament, Iraqi protesters began camping out May Day within the confines of Baghdad's International Zone, also referred to as the "Green Zone."
In a surprise dawn raid, ISIS forces attacked Ben Guerdane, the first Tunisian city west of the border with Libya, in an apparent attempt to establish an "emirate" there.
Unidentified warplanes carried out air-strikes on Libya's Islamist-controlled eastern city of Derna—reportedly claiming civilian lives when a hospital was struck.
The UN warned that the flow of refugees into Europe shows no signs of easing or stopping, as approximately 8,000 refugees a day seek to enter the Continent.
A 16-state coalition filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, requesting the court to issue a judicial determination that Trump's national emergency declaration over the southern border wall is unconstitutional. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the lawsuit, stating: "Unlawful southern border entries are at their lowest point in 20 years, immigrants are less likely than native-born citizens to commit crimes, and illegal drugs are more likely to come through official ports of entry. There is no credible evidence to suggest that a border wall would decrease crime rates." (Photo via Jurist)
Following the announcement of a US withdrawal of its troops embedded with Kurdish forces in Syria, the Kurds are again making overtures for a separate peace with the Assad regime. Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) are reported to have turned over the flashpoint town of Manbij to regime forces—marking the first time that the Assad regime's flag has flown over the northern town for more than six years. "The aim is to ward off a Turkish offensive," said Ilham Ahmed, an official of the Kurdish autonomous administration. "If the Turks' excuse is the [YPG], they will leave their posts to the government." However, a Kurdish deal with Assad could cement the split between the Syrian rebels and the YPG, and holds risk of opening an Arab-Kurdish ethnic war in northern Syria. (Photo via Kurdistan24)
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador—known by his initials AMLO—will be Mexico's next president, following his victory in the July 1 election. This marks the first time a Mexican presidential candidate of the left has had his victory honored. An obvious question is how AMLO will deal with Donald Trump—who attained office by demonizing Mexicans and pledging to build a wall on the border (and make Mexico pay for it). Last year, AMLO actually filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against Trump's proposed wall. But he also hired Trump's current crony Rudolph Giuliani as anti-crime czar when he was mayor of Mexico City in 2002. As populists and opponents of free-trade economics, there may be unlikely common ground between the two men. (Photo: El Txoro)
