A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver upheld an injunction against some points of an Oklahoma anti-immigrant law, but did permit the state to enact a provision whereby businesses would have to check their employment roster against a state list of eligible workers through a pilot program. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 also requires that firing a US citizen or "legal" immigrant, while simultaneously employing an undocumented immigrant, be recognized as an unfair trade practice, giving the fired employee cause for legal action. The panel found that federal law preempted this provision, but split on whether mandatory electronic verification of employee status conflicts with voluntary use of a federal database.

In Mexico's first major demonstration of 2010, on Jan. 29 thousands of unionists and campesinos marched from the Angel of Independence in Mexico City to the city's main plaza, the Zócalo, continuing a tradition of annual protests against the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the federal government's neoliberal economic policies. The demonstration was focused on the high cost of living, and the demands included an emergency pay raise to counter the effects of the world economic crisis. Another goal was to show support for the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), whose 44,000 active members were laid off when President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa's administration suddenly liquidated the government-owned Central Light and Power Company (LFC) the night of Oct. 10.

US federal magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth in Columbus, Ga., surprised observers on Jan. 25 by sentencing three activists to six-month prison terms for trespassing on the US Army's Fort Benning base; the maximum sentence for the offense. Nancy Gwin of Syracuse, NY, Father Louie Vitale of Oakland, Calif., and Ken Hayes of Austin, Tex., were arrested on Nov. 22 as part of an annual protest outside the base against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly the US Army School of the Americas (SOA), which has trained many of the hemisphere's worst human rights violators. A fourth defendant, Michael Walli of Washington, DC, refused to appear for the trial, and Judge Faircloth issued a warrant for his arrest. Walli had told the court during his November arraignment that he would not pay any bail and that he would not voluntarily return for the trial. "I walk out and it's goodbye," he told the judge.

The Nigeria-based Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP) has submitted a letter to International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo requesting an inquiry into the spate of religious violence that erupted in the city of Jos in January. SERAP lawyers argue that the ICC should investigate alleged unlawful killings and other human rights abuses that took place in violation of the ICC's Rome Statute.

Canadian citizen Maher Arar on Feb. 1 asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that he cannot sue the US government for damages based on his detention in the US and his detention, interrogation, and torture in Syria after he was mistakenly "renditioned" as a terrorist. Arar is attempting to challenge the US government's policy of "extraordinary rendition" under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

President Barack Obama is set to boost funding for nuclear weapons programs next year, even as his administration promotes nonproliferation and pledges to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear arms. The new White House budget request seeks more than $7 billion for the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), an increase of $624 million from FY 2010.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Jan. 31 poked fun at Colombia's expulsion of a Venezuelan soldier accused of carrying out an operation in Colombian territory, saying "only people like Rambo or the Terminator undertake solo missions." Sgt. Juan Gómez of the Venezuelan National Guard was expelled from Colombia for "reasons of national security" Jan. 27, the same day that Colombia said that a Venezuelan helicopter violated its airspace.

Plan Colombia, the US financial and military aid program to fight drug trafficking and guerrillas, is not mentioned in the 2011 budget proposal that President Barack Obama sent to Congress. According to JustF.org, Colombia will receive $228 million in military aid, 20% less than it received in 2009. Economic aid will slightly be diminished and is proposed to be set at $239 million. Colombia still remains the largest US aid recipient in South America.