Thousands of Afghans protested outside the Pakistani embassy in Kabul May 16, chanting "Death to Pakistan, Death to Musharraf!" The rally comes days after the bloodiest clash in decades on the disputed border between the two countries. Pakistani forces crossed into Afghan territory and killed 13 people, including children and police, in two days of clashes over the weekend, according to the Afghan Foreign Ministry. Many of the protesters come from Paktia, the southeastern province where the clashes took place.

When Adm. William Fallon was named to replace Gen. John Abizaid as chief of Central Command in January, we recognized it as part of a tilt to the "pragmatists" and away from the hubristic neocons in Washington. Now comes word (via InterPress Service, May 15) that Fallon essentially "vetoed" an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three in February, and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CentCom. The story by Gareth Porter relies on anonymous sources, but seems plausible enough. An excerpt:

A new blue-and-green-throated hummingbird species, dubbed the gorgeted puffleg, has been discovered in a threatened cloud forest of southwest Colombia. The name comes from the iridescent emerald green and electric blue patch on the throat—or gorge—of the males, and from tufts of white feathers at the top of the legs, a characteristic of puffleg hummers. The new species is easily twice as big as the thumb-sized hummingbirds found in the eastern United States.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer threw his support behind a proposal to curtail the president's recently expanded powers to take charge of the National Guard in domestic crises. "Given the Guard's growing importance in local emergencies, we are concerned about having the president assume more control over the Guard," said the governor's spokeswoman, Christine Anderson. Spitzer was reacting to a change in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007 that expanded the president's ability to "federalize" the Guard during terrorist attacks, natural disasters, pandemics and other emergencies, without consulting the governors. (Newsday, May 15)

The "Islamic State of Iraq," having claimed responsibility for an ambush on a US patrol south of Baghdad May 12, has warned the US military to stop searching for three soldiers missing after the incident, if they want them to remain safe. (The Guardian, May 15) In a Web statement, a rival coalition of Sunni insurgent groups—the "Jihad and Reform Front"—accused al-Qaeda of killing 12 of its senior members in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood. The coalition claimed to represent the "Islamic Army of Iraq," the "1920 Revolution Brigade" and the "Mujahedeen Army." (Newsday, May 15)

Excerpts from an April 22 editorial in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

A community debate over religious freedom surfaced in Western Pennsylvania last week when Dutch feminist author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who has lived under the threat of death for denouncing her Muslim upbringing, made an appearance at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

The First Summit of Latin Americans Migrant Communities concluded May 14 with a "Declaration of Morelia," named for the city where the meeting was held in Michoacan, Mexico. The declaration called for modifying national and international laws on immigration, calling them obsolete and unjust. (Agencia Causar via MiMorelia, May 14) Representatives of NGOs from throughout Latin America, as well as the US, Europe and Africa attended. Michoacan Gov. Lázaro Cárdenas Batel and US Rep. José Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois were also in attendance. (Quadratín via MiMorelia, May 14)

Gunmen fatally shot a high-ranking Mexican intelligence official as he drove to work at the federal Prosecutor General's office in Mexico City May 14. Jose Nemesio Lugo, who investigated drug trafficking and illegal migration, was shot several times. The assailants fled and no arrests were made. US Ambassador Tony Garza expressed his condolences and praised Lugo as "a principled and tireless crime fighter." Lugo last month was named general coordinator of the Prosecutor General's National Center of Planning, Analysis and Information for the Combat of Delinquency. Under former President Vicente Fox, Lugo was director of border operations for the federal Public Security Department. He also served as director of a Federal Preventative Police unit investigating trafficking of drugs, contraband, migrants and minors. (Notimex, AP, May 14)