Two NATO air-strikes in Afghanistan May 29 again killed civilian villagers, outraged residents ad local officials said. One strike on Nawzad in Helmand province, apparently launched in response to an attack by the Taliban on US Marine forces, killed 14. Officials said that all of the dead were women and children, and that of the six injured, only two were men, both unarmed civilians. President Hamid Karzai’s office issued a formal statement condemning the attack. The other strike took place in the Doab district of remote northeastern province of Nuristan, and killed 38 civilians, 20 of whom were part of the local police force, local officials said. The police officers were apparently engaged in ground fighting with the Taliban insurgents. Afghan TV showed images of the Nawzad casualties being taken into hospitals and bereaved relatives cradling the bodies of several young children wrapped in bloody sheets. A NATO spokesman said that an investigation was under way. (The Guardian, Gamut, May 29)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has maintained for months that he'll stand by his agreement for the withdrawal of all US troops from the country by the end of this year, has in recent weeks done a turnaround—now saying he'd support keeping some troops in Iraq after the deadline. Maliki outlined his position at a press conference, saying he's willing to meet Iraq's elected officials and consider whether some US troops should stay beyond this December. "We won't get unanimous agreement on this issue," Maliki said. "But if we get 70 or 80 percent, isn't that the will of the people? Isn't this the democracy we have worked so hard for?" (NPR, May 29).

Thousands of Aymara indigenous protesters took over the city center of Puno in southeastern Peru May 26, and the city remains shut down. The main roads into the city are blocked by barricades erected by local campesinos demanding that the government revoke concessions recently granted to the Canadian Bear Creek mining company. Looters taking advantage of the unrest ransacked shops and offices as the police retreated, and numerous cars and government buildings were torched. Aymara from the Bolivian side of the border have joined in the roadblocks. With police confined to barracks, the city and environs are effectively in the hands of the protesters.

Mining projects in Colombia face an uncertain future following a May 11 ruling of the country's Constitutional Court that struck down a mineral code passed last year—although the regulations will remain in effect for two years to give Congress time to draft and approve a replacement bill. In its 7-1 ruling, the court found that the mineral code was unconstitutional because indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities on potentially impacted lands weren't consulted. Under the international convention known as ILO 69, approved by Colombia in 1991, indigenous inhabitants have the right to prior consultation on any decisions affecting their territories. However, the ruling is controversial because the code—known as Law 1382—included new environmental restrictions, including a ban on mining in the fragile highland ecosystems known as páramos (alpine grasslands).

The Colombian Senate on May 25 passed the Victims and Land Restitution Law, to provide financial compensation and the return of usurped lands to victims of internal "armed conflicts." President Juan Manuel Santos called the approval of the law "historic." But his predecessor Alvaro Uribe bitterly fought the law's wording, arguing that it equated the state's actions with those of the illegal armed groups. In compromise wording, the law describes illegal armed groups as "terrorists." Claimants who have been victimized by armed conflicts since January 1985 are eligible for financial compensation. Those who have had their land seized, or were forced to abandoned their lands, are entitled to restitution of their property. The government estimates that 4 million hectares of land were abandoned and 2 million were seized during the conflicts. Senator Juan Fernando Cristo (Liberal Party) stated that the law ushers in "part two of the history of this country." The restitution process is expected to take 10 years to complete.

Israeli military forces shut down Friday anti-wall protests in villages across the West Bank on May 27, saying the unarmed weekly demonstrations in Palestinian villages have been declared illegal. An army spokesman said the areas between Israel's separation wall and villages Ni'lin and Bil'in, near Ramallah, have been designated "closed military zones" every Friday between 8 AM and 8 PM. In Nil'in, where the wall cuts off around one third of the village, protesters on last Friday marked the third anniversary of their peaceful protest campaign against the barrier—over the course of which Israeli forces have killed five Palestinians and injured hundreds more. This Friday, for the first time the army installed a checkpoint at the entrance to Ni'lin, stopping residents from joining the protest. Troops fired tear-gas grenades into fields when protesters tried to evade the checkpoint, and residents said over 100 olive trees were set on fire.

Protesters took to the streets of Egyptian cities on May 27 for nationwide Friday protests, again filling Cairo's Tahrir Square with tens of thousands. Demonstrations were also held in Alexandria, the canal cities of Ismailiya and Suez, and in the Sinai peninsula. Hundreds protested outside the hospital where ousted president Hosni Mubarak is being held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, demanding his transfer to prison. Protesters called on the military to hand over power to a civilian council, draw up a new constitution, and postpone September’s parliamentary election until new political parties can organize. The mass action, dubbed the “second day of rage,” was the largest since the rallies that toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11.

Reporter Colin Moynihan writes for the New York Times' City Room blog, May 26:

At On-Air Haven for Dissent, a Dissenting Voice Is Silenced
For nearly 20 years, an East Village journalist named Bill Weinberg has been a familiar late-night voice on the left-leaning radio station WBAI-FM (99.5), ruminating about radical politics, global turmoil and life in New York City.