The "Awakening in Anbar" movement, which was started in the conflicted province by local tribes and Sunni insurgents opposed to al-Qaeda's attempts to impose its leadership, has now spread to all of the provinces bordering Baghdad and been officially renamed the "Awakening in Iraq." Over the past month, Awakening movements formed in Diyala and Salahadin, and, this week, the Babil Awakening was formed. Al-Qaeda in Iraq immediately targeted the leader of the Babil Awakening, Sheikh Obeid Al-Masoud, seriously wounding him and his wife in an attack in the city of Iskandaria. (The Weekly Standard, NPR, May 31)

Teachers from the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) clashed with capital police and elite Federal Preventative Police at blockades of the federal Government Ministry and the central offices of the national TV network Televisa in Mexico City May 31. The blockades were called to protest the reform now pending in Mexico's Congress of the State Workers Social Services and Security Institute (ISSSTE). Televisa was chosen as a target because the CNTE says its reportage has mis-represented their cause, and to demand that their statements be given air time. The protesters also demanded the nationalization of Televisa as well a halt to the proposed semi-privatization of the ISSSTE.

A prisoner has died in an apparent suicide at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the US military announced May 30. A statement by the US Southern Command said the inmate, a Saudi Arabian national, was found unresponsive and not breathing by guards, and attempts to revive him failed. Two Saudis and a Yemeni prisoner were found hanged in an apparent suicide at the camp in June last year. There were no details as to how the prisoner died. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has opened an inquiry into the incident. There are about 380 prisoners at the camp, some held for five years.

Fifteen residents were killed and 35 wounded as the Yemeni army bombarded the village of Souq al-Lail in the northern province of Saada on the night of May 30, setting a gasoline station ablaze. The region is the heart of Yemen's Shi'ite insurgency. An army official told AlJazeera: "The Yemeni authorities received information about an attack led by supporters of the rebellion against shops in Souq al-Lail in a bid to take over the petrol station and stock up on fuel. Security forces sought to strike the service station to prevent the rebels from seizing it." (AlJazeera, May 30)

Ethiopian troops opened fire and killed five civilian bystanders May 30 after a land mine exploded as their convoy passed through the center of a western Somali town of Belet Weyne. (AP, May 30) As the transition government backed by Ethiopian and African Union troops struggle too impose authority on the country, NATO is said to be studying a request from the AU to provide air transport for its forces in Somalia. At present the AU force is made up of just 1,600 Ugandan troops. (Reuters, May 30)

The US will face worse attacks than 9-11 if it does not heed al-Qaeda demands, according to a new statement from Adam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam and the first US citizen to be charged with treason since the World War II era. The Internet statement directly addresses George Bush: "Your failure to meet our demands...means that you and your people will, Allah willing, experience things which will make you forget about the horrors of Sept. 11, Afghanistan and Iraq, and Virginia Tech."

The US military said coalition and Afghan troops killed six Taliban fighters and arrested four in eastern Afghanistan May 30, but a provincial official and residents said the casualties were villagers. The coalition statement did not mention the location in Nangarhar province, but Dadak Zalmai, the chief of Khogiani district, said there was a pre-dawn raid on a house in his district. "The troops killed three civilians and took four with them," Zalmai said. Several residents said seven civilians, including women and children, were killed and eight wounded in the raid. (Reuters, May 30) NATO forces also acknowledged that a Chinook transport helicopter went down in southern Afghanistan May 30. (Reuters, May 30)

Spain announced May 28 it has arrested 16 suspected of recruiting Islamist fighters for Iraq and North Africa. The 14 Moroccans and two Algerians were alleged to have indoctrinated others with radical Islamic teachings and about "jihad." Thirteen were arrested in Barcelona and nearby towns; two in Aranjuez, 50 kilometers south of Madrid, and one in the resort city of Malaga. Police have now arrested more than 100 Islamist suspects since deadly train bombings in Madrid in 2004, including some in an alleged plot to blow up Madrid's high court. Spain is home to some 570,000 Moroccans—the country's largest immigrant group. (Reuters, May 28)