Barack Obama just can't win with some people. Either he's too Muslim, or not Muslim enough. In a bizarre op-ed in the New York Times May 12, "President Apostate," Edward Luttwak warns :

As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is "irtidad" or "ridda," usually translated from the Arabic as "apostasy," but with connotations of rebellion and treason...

South Sudanese former SPLA rebel fighters engaged government forces May 14 in the disputed oil-rich Abyei region, leaving up to four dead and sending hundreds fleeing. Heavy exchanges of machine gun and mortar fire could be heard from a UN base just outside the town in the north-south border zone. Fighting reportedly spilled into the town's marketplace. Abyei, often called the "Kashmir" of Sudan's north-south conflict and coveted by both sides, is cited as a potential flashpoint to reignite civil war. (Reuters, May 14)

Mali is sending army reinforcements to the desert North after attacks by Tuareg guerillas on several army posts left one dead May 6. A military base in Diabaly was attacked by rebels who made off with army supplies. (AFP, May 6) The new attacks began May 3 when Mali's army said it killed four Tuareg rebels after they attacked a military convoy. Authorities called it the first clash since an April 3 ceasefire brokered in Libya. (Reuters, May 3) In late April, Niger's parliament passed a tough new anti-terrorism law in response to the insurgency. (Reuters Africa, April 20)

A little-known organization called the Indian Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for serial terror blasts in Jaipur (Rajasthan state), which killed 63 and wounded more than 150 on May 13. Indian Mujahideen is the same group that had sent an e-mail to some TV channels minutes before the serial blasts in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi in last November. (NDTV, May 15) Leaders of the opposition BJP, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani, took the opportunity to lash out at the government's "soft on terror policy." (Times of India, May 15)

Colombia extradited 14 top commanders of the right-wing paramilitaries to the US May 13 on drug trafficking and other charges. Security forces rousted the warlords from their prison cells in a surprise pre-dawn operation and took them to Bogotá's military airport. Several arrived in tanks under heavy guard. They were then shackled to the seats of a Drug Enforcement Administration jet bound for the US.

Thousands of Argentine farmers blocked highways on May 8 to protest increased taxes on soy, a major export crop. The farmers had struck in March, halting shipments of grain throughout the country and presenting the center-left government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner with its biggest challenge since she took office in December. The new protests come after a 30-day truce failed to produce an agreement. Farmers said they planned eight days of protests; if these produce no results, they may continue the actions past May 15. Argentina is one of the world's major soy exporters, and the Chicago commodity exchange responded to the renewed strike with a rise in soy prices. (La Jornada, May 9 from Reuters)

The Jesuit Service for Refugees and Migrants reports that at least 1,693 Haitians were deported from the Dominican Republic in the first four months of 2008. The mass repatriations are "almost always marked by violations of the migrants' human rights," the group said, noting that some immigrants reported that soldiers released the Haitians who could afford to pay bribes. (Adital, May 9)

Foreign troops and not Haitian demonstrators killed Spanish journalist Ricardo Ortega in Port-au-Prince during a protest on March 7, 2004, according to the reporter's family. Haitian judge Bernard Saint-Vil has dismissed charges against the Haitian suspects in the killing, Ortega's parents, Jose Luis and Charo Ortega, told the media in Madrid on May 9; Saint-Vil reportedly blamed the foreign soldiers deployed in the country during the three months after then-president Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from office on Feb. 29, 2004.