Laredo police, acting on a tip, made their largest weapons seizure in 10 years after pulling over a truck laden with 147 brand new assault rifles, 200 high-capacity magazines, 53 bayonets and 10,000 rounds of ammunition that they believe was headed to Mexico on May 29. One of the two men in the vehicle tried to flee, but was apprehended. "Two Joe Blows aren't going to buy a bunch of weapons and it stops there," said Laredo Police Investigator Joe Baeza. "We're pretty positive it was headed to Mexico." ICE and the ATF are investigating. (AP, Laredo Sun, June 2)

Nicaragua cut off diplomatic ties with Israel on June 1 in protest of Israel's deadly raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla. "Nicaragua suspends from today its diplomatic relations with the government of Israel," said first lady Rosario Murillo who also serves as communications chief for President Daniel Ortega. She added that Managua "underscored the illegal nature of the attack on a humanitarian mission in clear violation of international and humanitarian law."

At least five protesters, including two women, were injured May 15 as thousands of Tibetan villagers in Markham County, Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), marched in protest of planned mining operations on a mountain they consider sacred. The People's Armed Police Force used tear gas and charged the protesters, who attempted to block mining company personnel from entering the region. Authorities have since initiated talks on the project with local village leaders.

Two peasant protesters were injured in a police charge while blocking the entry of survey teams for an industrial project into Nuagaon village in Jagatsinghpur district of India's Orissa state on June 2. The violence came five days after talks opened between the state government and local residents opposed to a proposed steel plant to be built by South Korean major Posco. Hundreds of villagers blocking a road at Balitutha were similarly charged by police on May 15, leaving several injured. (The Telegraph, Calcutta, Kalinga Times, Odisha, June 2; Sanhati, May 19)

Nicaragua's National Assembly last week ratified the only international law for indigenous peoples' rights, International Labor Organization Convention 169, making it the twenty-second country to do so. ILO 169 sets legally binding standards for the territorial and self-determination rights of indigenous and tribal peoples everywhere. By signing the Convention, Nicaragua has committed to respecting and upholding these rights.

On May 29, two days after Enbridge Inc. filed its application for the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, over 500 northern British Columbia residents gathered in Kitamaat Village to oppose the controversial plan, which would bring oil supertankers to the BC coast. "Every day more and more people, from all walks of life, are coming together to stop this dangerous project. They are sending a very clear message: Enbridge oil spills will not be allowed to destroy our territory," said Gerald Amos, a Haisla councillor and an organizer of the event.

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid AKA Saeed al-Masri, operational leader for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was apparently killed in a US drone strike at the village of Boya near Miranshah, North Waziristan, in Pakistan's tribal areas. A Qaeda statement, viewed as accurate by US officials, says the death was within the last two weeks. Al-Yazid, an Egyptian, was a founder of al-Qaeda and considered by US intelligence to be the organization's No. 3 leader, behind Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Yazid is thought to have inherited the number three post after his predecessor, Abu Ubaidah al-Masri, died of hepatitis in Pakistan. "His death will only be a severe curse...upon the infidels," al-Qaeda supposedly said in a statement issued to jihadist websites and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. (The Independent, June 1; NYT, May 31)

In a 5-4 decision in the Michigan murder case Berghuis v. Thompkins, the Supreme Court's conservative majority further eroded Miranda rights for criminal suspects June 1. Justice Anthony Kennedy in the majority opinion said that when Miranda warnings are properly given, a person wishing to invoke the right to remain silent must do so explicitly. The court overturned a ruling by the Sixth Circuit appeals court, which held that the defendant's nearly three-hour silence in response to questioning constituted a desire not to waive his rights. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent, said the decision "turns Miranda upside down."