The Enawene Nawe, a remote Amazonian tribe in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, are blockading a highway in protest at a series of hydroelectric dams that will destroy their vital fishing grounds. Companies led by the world·s largest soya producers, the Maggi family, are pushing for the vast complex of dams to be built along the Juruena river which flows through the tribe's land. "The dams will bring our death, as they will raise the uncontrollable anger of the spirits," said tribe members.

The Guatemalan Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by activists to block the candidacy of former dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt in congressional elections this Sept. 9. However, Supreme Court Spokesman Guillermo Melgar said that that the ruling can be appealed for reconsideration. The legal status of "candidate," according to Guatemalan legislation, grants judicial immunity to Ríos Montt, which would make ineffective the charges initiated against him in Spain in 1999 for crimes of genocide, torture and state terrorism. During his rule, tens of thousands mostly indigenous Guatemalans were killed by government military actions.

A roadside bomb killed 10 government-hired paramilitary troops in southern Thailand's Bannang Sata district, Yala province, as they returned from negotiations with Muslim protesters May 31. Almost immediately after the bombing, gunmen opened fire on a group of Muslim villagers leaving a mosque after evening prayers in nearby Sabayoi district of Songkhla province, killing seven. (Xinhua, AP, June 1)

David Phinney writes for Iraq Slogger, May 31:

Rumors of labor trafficking and abuse have plagued building contractor now completing the $592 million Baghdad embassy building project, but a State Department Inspector General investigation reported finding nothing untoward. Now an IraqSlogger exclusive reveals previously unreported instances of appalling living conditions, abuse, and coerced labor, making clear that the allegations against the contractor managing the embassy project remain unresolved.

Artillery shelling against the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon resumed on Friday, as fighting broke out between the army and Fatah al-Islam fighters. As tanks surrounded the camp, artillery struck the north and north-west entrances of the camp, gearing-up for a potential ground offensive to draw the 13-day standoff to a close. At least 12 people have been killed within the camp, along with two Lebanese soldiers. [AlJazeera, June 1]

Turkish authorities have announed the seizure of weapons hidden on a Syria-bound train from Iran after Kurdish PKK guerillas derailed it with a bomb near the town of Genc in Bingol province. News reports said the weapons included 300 rockets and a rocket launch pad. Turkish authorities suspect Iran is using Turkey as a transit route to send arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Syria.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, in a recent visit to Mogadishu, refused to give a date for Ethiopian troops to withdraw from Somalia, saying Somalia's transition government and civil society leaders had asked Ethiopia not to abandon the Somali people. (Shabeelle Media Network, May 29) Now reports are mounting that Somali troops are actually headed for Ethiopia. The pro-Islamist Somali website Somaaljecel reports that Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, his Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, and Ethiopian Foreign Minister Mesfin agreed in talks at Mogadishu "that it is the interim Somali government's turn to help the Ethiopian government, which is planning to go into war with Eritrea soon." (Somaaljecel, May 26)

Mexico's National Tourism Development Fund (Fonatur) has announced a new mega-complex to be built in the conflicted southern state of Chiapas. Centering around the Classic Maya ruins of Palenque, the complex will include an 8,000-room hotel, theme park and golf course. It will cover 58,490 hectares in the municipalities of Palenque, Catazajá, Chilón, Ocosingo, Salto del Agua and Tumbalá. Slated for completion in 2012, authorites say it will require the relocation of several local communities. (La Jornada, May 27) Meanwhile, the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI) and Chiapas state police carried out raids of several houses and ranches in Palenque May 28. The raids came following an ambush of a patrol from the Chiapas State Agency of Investigation (AEI) just one block from Palenque's town plaza. The presumed sicarios (hired assassins) opened fire on the agents with AR-15 rifles from two cars, leaving one dead and two wounded. (APRO, May 29)