In another contradictory message on the Libya intervention, the House of Representatives July 8 defeated 199-229 a bipartisan measure sponsored by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Justin Amash (R-MI) to defund all US military operations in the North African country, but passed 225-201 a separate measure sponsored by Tom Cole (R-OK) to deny funding for equipment and training to the Libyan rebels. The second measure, which comes as an amendment to an annual Pentagon spending bill, forbids the Defense Department from providing "military equipment, military training or advice, or other support for military activities, to any group or individual, not part of a country's armed forces, for the purpose of assisting that group or individual in carrying out military activities in or against Libya."

The government of Bolivia formally notified the UN Secretary General of its withdrawal from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs on June 30. The withdrawal will enter into effect on 1 January 2012. At that time, Bolivia will re-accede to the Convention with a reservation on the coca leaf and its traditional uses. Bolivia's step—the first of its kind in the history of the UN drug control treaties—comes after the rejection earlier this year of its proposal to delete the Single Convention's Article 49 obligation that "coca leaf chewing must be abolished." A number of countries, including the United States, objected.

July 3 elections in Mexico's key central state of México returned to power the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the former ruling machine of the entire country, in what commentators are calling a signal that the once-discredited party could regain the presidency next year. The state's current PRI governor, Enrique Peña Nieto, is considered the party's early presidential front-runner. He is to be succeeded as México's governor by PRI candidate Eruviel Avila. The PRI also took the two other states where gubernatorial races were held, Nayarit and Coahuila, further tilting the national balance of power to the party.

Activists in Nairobi say police used tear-gas against several hundred protesters marching on the offices of Kenya's president and prime minister to demand action over a growing hunger crisis in the East African nation on July 7. Dinah Awuor Agar, the president of a group of low-wage workers known as the People's Parliament, said the demonstrators were holding a peaceful procession when riot police charged them. Agar said police chased down protesters, beat them with batons and arrested them, despite the fact Kenya's new constitution allows peaceful demonstrations. Charles Owino, a police spokesman, said police dispersed the protesters because the demonstration was illegal. East Africa has been hard hit by drought a rising food prices. (AP, July 7)

Mauritanian security forces repelled a militant attack on an army base located in the southeastern town of Bassiknou near the border with Mali, authorities said July 6. The attack was reportedly carried out by militants of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Mauritanian military claimed the militants were pushed across the border into Mali, and that its troops had killed at least 10 of the attackers and captured several other.

A new report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon into the violence along the Israeli-Lebanon border on Nakba Day harshly criticizes the Israeli army for using unnecessary force in firing on protesters. The report was released this week to the 15 members of the Security Council, with a copy also passed on to Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper. The study focuses on the events of May 15 when thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon marched on the Israeli border. As the protesters tried to scale the fence, Israeli troops opened fire, killing seven and injuring 111, the report finds. The report states that Israeli troops "used direct live fire against unarmed demonstrators" and urged the army to avoid doing so in situations where there was no immediate threat to life.

A roadside bomb killed two US soldiers July 7 at a checkpoint outside Victory Base Camp in Baghdad. The attack follows the deadliest month for US troops in Iraq in two years. June saw 15 US soldiers killed in Iraq, nearly all in attacks by Shi'ite militias. The 46,000 US troops currently stationed in Iraq are to leave by year’s end under a 2008 withdrawal agreement. However, the White House is "offering" to keep up to 10,000 soldiers in the country beyond that deadline, if asked by Iraq's government. (AP, July 7)

For weeks all eyes have been on the Libyan rebels who have seized the coastal city of Benghazi in the east of the country from which they have repeatedly advanced on Tripoli—and repeatedly been driven back. Now a new advance has been launched on Tripoli from the interior Nafusa Mountains to the southwest, and reached the Gualish plains that flank the capital on the south. The army of Berber rebels has received air-drops of arms from France, and is apparently coordinating its advance with NATO air-strikes. "We waited before launching this assault and finally got the green light from NATO this morning and the offensive began," an unnamed rebel leader from the hilltown of Zintan told AFP. The rebels have gained strength and legitimacy from the recent defection to their ranks of Gen. Mohammed Ali Dhech, a key figure from Qaddafi's army. (Middle East Online, July 7; FT, July 1)