The land of one of the Bedouin communities slated to be evicted under a proposed Israeli government plan will be used for the construction of a new Jewish community, according to documents obtained by Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in the Jewish state. In the coming weeks, the Israeli cabinet is expected to approve the forcible relocation of some 30,000 Bedouin to designated existing Bedouin towns. Residents of the community in question did not squat on the land, but were transferred there in 1956 by the direct order of the military administration then in place on Arab lands within Israel. Their lands now lie within the master plan of the Beersheba metropolitan area.

Seven people were killed May 16 at Barrick Gold's North Mara mine in Tanzania after more than 1,000 people, desperate to find leftover scraps of gold, invaded the mine site. Following the the fatal confrontation, police reportedly stormed a local mortuary and seized the bodies of four of the dead. They also arrested and charged two members of Parliament, a legal adviser, and journalists for "instigating people to cause violence." The deadly clash is the latest in an ongoing battle between the giant Canadian miner and locals who scavenge for gold-laced rocks on the lucrative property, which Barrick acquired in 2006. Many of the "criminal intruders," as Barrick called them, were displaced artisanal miners, armed with pick-axes and machetes. Since the confrontation, tensions have been high in the Tarime district, which has been flooded with security forces.

José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria Do Espirito Santo da Silva, were ambushed and killed on May 24, while riding their motorbikes on a road close to their home in the village of Nova Ipixuna, in Brazil's Para state. The couple had spent years campaigning against illegal logging in the area, including setting up roadblocks to stop timber vehicles. An ear was removed from each of the corpses, in what authorities call a clear sign that someone was trying to send a message. Police admit they suspect the hit was ordered by "loggers in the region." Eremilton Pereira dos Santos, a young local man who went missing last week, was also later found dead. His relatives say he may have been killed because he'd witnessed the da Silvas'’ murderers fleeing the scene of the crime. Ribeiro told a Manaus conference entitled TEDx Amazônia last November that he was in danger of his life. "I denounce the loggers and the charcoal makers, and because of this they think that I should not exist," he told the audience. "I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment... As long as I have the strength to walk I will denounce all of those who damage the forest."

A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron denied there are any British combat troops on the ground in Libya folloing press reports claiming SAS forces have been spotted in Misrata. The spokesman said: "Any military activity we undertake will be in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1973. I am not making any statement about people who have been photographed." The Daily Mirror ran photographs on its front page purporting to show 11 former SAS and Parachute Regiment men aiding the rebel forces in Misrata. The Guardian said it had learned from its own sources that ex-SAS soldiers were helping NATO to identify targets in Misrata. But the prime minister's office insisted that the only British personnel in Libya were a joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defence team in Benghazi. The spokesman said: "I don't think it would be right for me to go into details about the security arrangements for the team. But clearly we take their security very seriously and have arrangements in place. We have been very clear about what the MOD/FCO team is there to do. They provide various forms of support for the Transitional National Council, to help them in the organisation of their internal structures, helping them with communications." (BBC News, June 1)

A new bill in the Knesset would change Jerusalem neighborhoods with Arabic names to Hebrew ones—Mamilla, Talbiya or Holyland becoming the Hagoshrim, Komemiyut and Eretz HaTzvi. MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) introduced the bill, and it has received endorsements by many other Knesset members from both the Likud-led ruling coalition and the opposition. "The purpose is to strengthen the bond to Jerusalem by enforcing the use of Hebrew names for the capital's neighborhoods where Jews reside," said Hotovely. The bill would apply to any neighborhood with Jewish residents. Old names would remain unchanged, but have a secondary status to the new Hebrew ones. The Jerusalem city government would have to complete the Hebraization of all city neighborhoods, replace the signposts and not use the previous names in any official matter. Several Arab-majority districts would be affected. The Palestinian town of Abu Dis (dissected by a security barrier with the western part under the Jerusalem government) will become Kidmat Zion. (YNet, May 30)

An editorial from the New York Daily News, May 31:

Noncommercial, counterculture icon WBAI radio spirals into self-destructive 9/11-conspiracy madness

Lefty radio station WBAI-FM sure ain't what it used to be. No, it has gone off the dial as a peddler of vile 9/11 conspiracy theories.

At least two people were killed and six wounded by three explosions within an hour on May 26 at government office buildings in Fuzhou, in southern China's Jiangxi province. The targets were the Fuzhou Procurator's Office, the Linzhuan District government building and the Linzhuan Food and Drug Administration office. The attacker was said to ben unemployed man named Qian Mingqi, 52, who was himself among those killed in the blasts. Reports indicated Qian was a farmer angry over the handling of a court case. Feeds he posted on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, protested that his home was demolished in 2002 to make way for a new highway, without adequate compensation: "My newly built home was demolished illegally so that I incurred a great loss. After ten years of futile petitioning, I am forced to take a path I don't want to take. I want to seek justice but there's no justice; jackals and wolves are everywhere in Linchuan district in Fuzhou." During his fight to keep his home, Qian's wife was hung upside down by a demolition team, and died a few days later. His land seized for the new Beijing-Fujian expressway was never built on, and remains vacant. (Spero News, May 28; NYT, May 26)

Some 1,600 Jewish worshipers escorted by Israeli soldiers visited the the West Bank holy site of Joseph's Tomb for late night prayers May 30—and some 50 then refused to leave when the allotted time for the visit was over, and had to be forcibly removed by the troops.Three were arrested. After the confrontation, villagers south of nearby Nablus reported seeing dozens of settlers set fire to agricultural lands. A settlement monitoring official with Fatah, Ghassan Doughlus, told Ma'an News Agency that residents of Madama village, whose lands were torched, believed the settlers were from the illegal residential community of Yitzhar, known for its militancy. Village official Ihab Al-Qett said local Palestinian fire crews were able to put out fires before significant damage was done.