Lebanese singer Zeid Hamdan of the band Zeid and the Wings was briefly jailed July 27 on charges of defaming President Michel Suleiman, who is a former commander of the armed forces, in his single "General Suleiman." From his cell, he managed to get out the following Facebook message: "Dear friends, I am now in the prison of the police station of the Palace of Justice in Beirut because of my song 'General Soleiman'. They are prosecuting me for defammation of President Soleiman. I dont know, until when I am staying in prison. Please mobilize!" There was an immediate outcry, and Hamdan was released after a few hours—and the charge seemingly dropped. The song's lyrics go, to a catchy reggae beat: "General Suleiman, Peace be upon you, General Suleimen. Put your weapons down, put your weapons down, now it's time to leave your warlords behind." The song ends: "General Suleiman, go home." (The National, UAE, Aug. 8; LA Times; Babylon & Beyond blog, July 28)

On Aug. 2 Honduran president Porfirio ("Pepe") Lobo Sosa announced that Honduras plans to support an effort by the Palestinian Authority to win recognition for Palestine as a state during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. Israeli officials reacted immediately. On Aug. 3 the ambassador to Honduras, Eliahu López, called the statement "a dagger wound in the heart of Israel." In Jerusalem the Foreign Ministry called in Honduran ambassador José Isaías Barahona to express "surprise" and "disappointment." According to the Jerusalem Post, Deputy Director General for Latin America Dorit Shavit "reminded the ambassador that Israel stood by Honduras two years ago when it went through a constitutional crisis that led to widespread worldwide condemnation"—apparently a reference to the June 2009 military coup that overthrew former president José Manuel ("Mel") Zelaya Rosales (2006-2009). [Israel was apparently one of the few countries to recognize the de facto regime after the coup.]

Workers at Chile's Escondida copper mine voted on Aug. 5 to end a 15-day-old strike despite failing to win their demand for a bonus of 5 million pesos ($10,562). By a 65.5% majority they agreed to settle for a 2.6 million peso bonus ($5,492)—less than management's earlier offer of 2.8 million pesos ($5,916)—but the company,the Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton corporation, is to pay the workers for the days they were on strike. Union officials admitted the members were worn out after two weeks without pay.

Aug. 4 brought the most violent day yet in more than two months of protests by Chilean students determined to end a system of heavily privatized and decentralized education instituted during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. According to official figures, there were 874 arrests nationwide by the end of the day, and 90 militarized police agents had been injured.

Provincial police forcibly removed some 200 families on Aug. 5 from land they had occupied a month earlier in Villa 9 de Julio in the northwestern Argentine province of Tucumán. Acting on a court order from Judge Nora Wrexler, the agents destroyed homes that the 500 squatters had improvised out of canvas, cardboard and sheet metal when they moved in from different neighborhoods in the north of the nearby provincial capital, San Miguel de Tucumán.

An estimated 300,000 marched in cities and towns across Israel Aug. 6—the biggest mobilization yet in a growing movement for economic justice. More than 200,000 marched in Tel Aviv alone—one of the largest demonstrations in the history of the Jewish state. Even after the march ended, a hardcore of several hundred protesters blocked the intersection of Rehov Kaplan and Ibn Gvirol, two of the city's main arteries, singing Jewish songs late into the night and and chanting the movement's token slogan: "The people demand social justice!" (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 7) Israel's progressive 972Mag shows a photo of a giant banner from the rally with the word "Go!" in Arabic—a key symbol of the protest movement that brought down Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and a clear reference to Benjamin Netanyahu. Below, in Hebrew, are the words: "Egypt is here!"

In what the Jerusalem Post calls a "signal of growing Sino-Israeli ties," Gen. Chen Bingde, chief of General Staff of China's People’s Liberation Army, will visit Israel next week as a guest of Israeli Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen.Benny Gantz. Bingde’s visit follows Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s visit to China in June, the first by an Israeli defense minister to the Asian superpower in a decade. The visits come as Israel Aerospace Industries is bidding to set up a factory in China to build executive jets with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China. Although this would be a deal to build civilian aircraft, it is portrayed as a step towards rebuilding commercial military ties, which have stagnated in recent years due to US pressure on Tel Aviv.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos will speak with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez about the presence of the Colombian guerilla groups FARC and ELN in Venezuela, reported Caracol Radio Aug. 3. The move follows Colombian armed forces commander Adm. Edgar Cely's July 31 remarks that the FARC and ELN are still using Venezuela as a staging ground—a charge that was repeatedly made by former president Alvaro Uribe. Cely's comments were quickly disavowed by Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera. Chávez nonetheless said, "We are awaiting clarification regarding strange statements that came from Colombia's senior military chief." (Colombia Reports, Aug. 3)