On June 18 the European Union (EU) Parliament passed guidelines that would allow member countries to hold immigrants in special detention centers for up to 18 months before being deported. The guidelines are meant to standardize the way EU members treat undocumented immigrants; currently France limits detention to 32 days, while seven countries, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, allow indefinite detention.

A group of undocumented Cuban immigrants who were supposedly "snatched" from Mexican immigration authorities by an armed commando on June 11 in the southeastern state of Chiapas have been located in Hidalgo, Tex., Mexican authorities said on June 18. The Mexican Attorney General's Office (PRG) will investigate nine employees of the National Migration Institute (INM) in connection with the incident, according to officials.

Workers at the Mexmode garment factory in Atlixco municipality in the central Mexican state of Puebla report that the state and local governments are maneuvering to destroy the Independent Union of Mexmode Company Workers (SITEMEX), one of the few independent unions in Mexico's maquiladoras (tax-exempt assembly plants producing for export). The workers say Antorcha Campesina ("Campesino Torch")—an organization linked to the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governs the state—has taken hold in the factory and is threatening and intimidating the union leadership. Atlixco director of culture Maritona Espejel has been photographed distributing fliers outside the plant; she reportedly called on workers to lynch a group of observers during a work stoppage.

On June 12 Haiti's Chamber of Deputies voted 57-22 with six abstentions to reject President Rene Garcia Preval's latest nominee for prime minister, Robert Manuel. A commission assigned to study Manuel's qualifications found that he failed to meet two requirements in the 1987 Constitution: he didn't own property in Haiti and he hadn't lived in the country for the last five years consecutively. Manuel is a longtime friend of Preval and was the security chief during Preval's first term as president (1996-2001). The Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide pushed for Manuel's removal in 1999, and he left the country, returning near the end of 2005.

Iran has announced it is reviewing the launch of a joint development bank with Venezuela. "Iran and Venezuela have positive cooperation and are currently reviewing the launch of a joint bank after five meetings held on this issue so far," Venezuelan Planning and Development Minister Haiman El Troudi told Iran's Mehr News in Isfahan on the sidelines of a meeting of the OPEC Fund for International Development.

Lt. Col. Héctor Herrera, president of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Civil-Military Front, decried a "new, unfounded accusation" by the US Treasury Department that a Venezuelan diplomat and Venezuelan travel agent, both of Lebanese decent, are financial supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah. Herrera, whose Civil-Military organization recently held military maneuvers with Venezuelan reservists to defend against a simulated foreign invasion, said the accusations "are more of the same," comparing them to those made about Venezuelan support for the FARC.

At least four Somali government soldiers were killed and four civilians wounded when a roadside bomb hit a military vehicle in Mogadishu June 22. (Xinhua, June 22) Fighting has killed at least 38 since the "peace deal" was concluded in Djibouti June 10. (Reuters, June 20) However, Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein insisted Ethiopian occupation troops would be withdrawn within 120 days of the signing in Djibouti. "The agreement between us and the opposition is a historic one and the Somali government would implement it," Hussein said. (Xinhua, June 22)

A week after border skirmishes were reported, Djibouti has accused neighboring Eritrea of illegally intruding into its territory. Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssef told AlJazeera June 20 that Eritrean troops crossed the border on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait. "Eritrean troops entered Djiboutian territory and took more land," he said. "Right now, Eritrean troops are stationed inside Djiboutian territories."