Ethiopia's Federal High Court will hand down sentences to 38 imprisoned opposition leaders and journalists on July 9, the body has announced. Following reports that members of the opposition facing charges of "genocide" and attempted coup d'etat signed a document confessing to the crimes in return for their release, it was expected that the court would speed up the date of the ruling. The announcement dashed the hopes of friends and relatives of the accused.

The Paris-based media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) castigated the international community June 27 for "indifference" to a media crackdown in Eritrea. "Because of the world's indifference, we are reduced to just watching, appalled and powerless, as the authorities continue to pick off journalists who have been unable to flee the reign of terror in Asmara," RSF said. The statement said Fathia Khaled, a presenter on state-owned Eri-TV's Arabic service, was arrested earlier this month and taken to a military camp in the northwest. Asked RSF: "How much longer will we have to continue adding names to the list of people imprisoned by President Isaias Afwerki's government?"

From Reuters, June 25:

Man, 80, killed after round-Japan bike tour
An 80-year-old man on the verge of completing a round-Japan cycling tour was struck and killed by a truck only a few hours ride from his home, police say.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have opted to abandon their heavy crude oil projects in eastern Venezuela's Orinoco Belt rather than cede majority ownership and operating control to the state-owned oil company PDVSA, Venezuelan officials announced June 26. President Hugo Chavez had set that day as the deadline for the six foreign owners of four projects in the region to agree to new terms, a part of his program to "re-nationalize" the energy sector, along with banks and telecommunications.

The Special Investigator (Fiscalía Especial) for the Acteal massacre in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas has announced the discovery in a cave of two AK-47 rifles which are believed to be those used in the Dec. 22, 1997 slaying of 45 Tzotzil Maya peasants. The rifles were found May 22 by police near the community of Los Chorros, Chenalhó municipality, where the attack was said to have been planned. The cave was searched based on information provided by one of the men serving time for the massacre at El Amate prison. His name was not revealed, but authorities said he would be transfered to another prison in Cintalapa for his protection.

Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) has arrived back in the Chiapas rainforest after concluding his tour of Mexico's northern states in the second phase of the "Other Campaign." Arriving first in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Marcos' caravan then proceeded to the jungle settlement of La Garrucha. Fifteen other Zapatista commanders who had also been on tour arrived back in Chiapas days ahead of the Subcommander. They will now start preparing for an "Intergalactic Encuentro," a meeting of their international supporters, to be hosted on their territory in a little over a month. (La Jornada, June 24) A highlight of Marcos' tour came in Guadalajara, where he unveiled his new erotic novel Noches de Fuego y Desvelo (Nights of Fire and Sleeplessnes), illustrated with drawings by the author. Proceeds are to go towards programs for Chiapas' autonomous indigenous communities. (La Jornada, June 15)

President Felipe Calderon has initiated a sweeping purge of Mexico's federal police forces, replacing nearly 284 senior and middle-level commanders. The move was announced June 25 by Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. "We are conscious that Mexicans demand honest, clean and trustworthy police," Garcia Luna told a press conference. "We have strategies and directions in the struggle against crime. One of the keys to that strategy is the professionalization and cleansing of the police forces." He said the commanders will be replaced by officers who have undergone months of rigorous vetting, including background checks, psychological exams and drug tests. The replaced commanders will be relocated inside the federal police forces, which number at least 12,000 agents. (Houston Chronicle, June 26)

Eritrean state radio reports that fifty-three weyane (Ethiopian) soldiers, including officers, have defected to Eritrea over the last few months. The soldiers are said to include three lieutenants, a second lieutenant, a sergeant, four corporals and 14 lance-corporals, who all object to Ethiopia's Somalia intervention and the regime's ethnic favoritism. Eighteen of the defectors are said to be ethnic Oromo, 15 Tigrayans, 15 Amhara and the remainder from the Gurage and southern Ethiopian peoples. The Ethiopian regime is dominated by members of the Tigray ethnic group. (Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, in Tigrinya, via BBC Monitoring, June 11) Ethiopian state television, in turn, reports that a small guerilla group in the pay of sha'biyyah (Eritrea's ruling party) operating in Teru District in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar Region has surrendered peacefully to government forces. (Ethiopian TV, Addis Ababa, in Amharic, via BBC Monitoring, June 21)