Peru has given the green light to an Anglo-French company to drill for oil in the Amazon—in the immediate wake of a wave of unrest over government develop plans in the region, in which at least 30 were killed. The Ministry of Energy and Mines announced late last month it has approved the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by Perenco for the construction of seven platforms and drilling of 14 wells in Block 67. Perenco estimates that Block 67 reserve potential is 300 million barrels of heavy crude—believed to be Peru's biggest oil discovery in 30 years. Block 67 covers the "vacated" community of Buena Vista, in the district of Napo, Maynas province, Loreto region. While protests against the company were taking place last month, Perenco's chairman, Francois Perrodo, met Peru's President Alan García in Lima and pledged to invest $2 billion in the project.

Some 4,000 US Marines moved into villages in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province July 3—a remote area that is at the center of the country's opium cultivation, which helps finance the insurgency. One Marine has been killed and several others injured in the operation. A roadside bomb in Helmand also killed the UK's Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe, the most senior British officer to have died in combat in Afghanistan. A Canadian soldier was killed in Kandahar when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. And in Paktia province, a roadside bomb killed three Afghans and a foreigner working on a road construction project. (Daily Times, Pakistan, July 4)

In a joint press conference in Miami, several big-city police chiefs urged Congress July 2 to draft a new immigration policy that improves public safety by bringing the undocumented out of the shadows. Miami Police Chief John Timoney, Austin Chief Art Acevedo and former Sacramento Chief Art Venegas said local law enforcement has been undermined by the blurred line between crimes and civil violations of immigration law. Those who call undocumented immigrants "criminals" are misreading the law and hurting their own communities, they said. "When you remove the emotion from the debate," Chief Acevedo said, "no one can argue that it is in the best interest of public safety to keep these people living in the shadows." (NYT, July 1)

The Israeli Supreme Court on July 1 ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to refile indictments on more serious charges against a soldier and an officer accused of shooting a blindfolded prisoner with a rubber bullet. Human rights groups B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and Yesh Din filed suit against the IDF, saying that a charge of conduct unbecoming a soldier, the least serious military criminal sanction, did not reflect the severity of the crime.

At least 10 militants were killed in another presumed US drone strike on Pakistan's tribal areas July 3. The missiles reportedly hit the hideout of Taliban commander Noor Wali in Mochikhel, South Waziristan—a district controlled by Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud. Noor Wali is part of Baitullah Mehsud's Tehrik-e-Taliban organisation. Mochikhel is near the key Servakai route, currently the scene of fighting between Pakistani security forces and Mehsud's militants. There have been an estimated 35 US strikes since last August, killing over 340 people. (BBC, July 3)

Bolivian President Evo Morales lashed out at Barack Obama July 1, a day after the US ended trade benefits in a move that could cost thousands of jobs in Bolivia's export industries. "President Obama lied to Latin America when he told us in Trinidad and Tobago that there are not senior and junior partners," Morales said, refering to Obama's outreach to regional governments at the April Summit of the Americas. A day earlier, officials in Washington said they had ended import duty waivers because Bolivia is not doing enough to combat coca cultivation. (NYT, July 1)

José Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), gave a grim assessment July 2 of diplomatic efforts to restore the ousted president of Honduras, warning that it would be "very hard" to head off a more severe break with the nation and that he is prepared to call for sanctions. At a news conference in Panama, the ousted Manuel Zelaya insisted that he remains the legitimate president of Honduras, and called on his supporters to keep up their protests. "We may not have the institutions, but the street is ours," he said. "That's the people's place." He added that a "dictatorship has been established" in Honduras.

The Iranian government on July 1 prevented the publishing of the opposition Etemad-e-Melli newspaper in its latest move to quash anti-government reporting in the country. International journalists in the country have also been ordered to stay indoors. The newspaper is linked to opposition candidate Mehdi Karroubi. Both he and candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have continued to criticize the government for both alleged election fraud and its harsh treatment of protesters and the press following the announcement that incumbent candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the highly-disputed election. In reaction to Mousavi's increasing criticism of the government, some in the government and its Basij security forces have called for his arrest, calling him a threat to national security. (Jurist, July 2)