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.

The French-flagged Dignite, which slipped past the Greek coast guard bound for Gaza earlier this week, was detained by the coast guard while refueling in Crete July 7. A Greek official told CNN that the ship would not be allowed to continue on to Gaza. Meanwhile, Leslie Cagan, coordinator of the US Boat to Gaza, announced that the team of activists from the United States called off its activities and is returning home. “The Greek government’s willingness to serve as the enforcer of Israeli’s naval blockade of Gaza made it impossible for this journey to happen,” Cagan wrote. The US-flagged Audacity of Hope remains in the hands of the Greek authorities, and it is not known when it will be released. (JTA, July 7)

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)

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens filed a notice of appeal in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on July 5, stating that he plans to appeal the recent injunction of the state's controversial immigration bill. Judge Thomas Thrash issued a preliminary injunction for the plaintiffs—the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and other rights groups—last week. Thrash granted the injunction request for sections 7 and 8 of HB 87, saying that the plaintiffs would face irreparable harm should the law take effect and that the public interest weighed in favor of issuing the injunction. The bill, which was scheduled to take effect on July 1, allows law enforcement officers to ask about immigration status when questioning suspects in criminal investigations. The law also imposes fines and prison sentences of up to one year for anyone who knowingly transports illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime, and requires businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration status of potential employees, providing that workers convicted of using fake identification to gain employment could face up to 15 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Georgia's appeal will be filed within the week in the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.