The Fatah and Hamas factions met at the official Muqata compound in the Palestinian capital Ramallah today, with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh attempting to calm the situation after armed clashes between their supporters claimed at least ten lives over the past two weeks. (YNet, May 24)

Meanwhile, some 25 armored vehicles, accompanied by helicopters of the Israeli occupation forces, invaded Ramallah. Laying siege to one building in the city center, the occupation forces opened fire throughout the city, killing four Palestinians and injuring at least 40. The assault lasted two hours and was met by local Palestinian youths with stone-throwing.

Just as a resolution was in sight in the Mohawk stand-off in Ontario, a re-escalation—due to an angry backlash from Caledonia's white residents. From the Toronto Globe & Mail, May 23:

Caledonia, Ont. — Violence erupted at the site of an aboriginal land-claim protest Monday as non-aboriginal area residents, frustrated by a roadblock that has divided the community, lashed out.

The aboriginal protesters had briefly dismantled their barricade early in the day, a sign of goodwill after the province pledged last week to indefinitely halt development on a plot of disputed land.

From the New York Daily News, May 24:

Call for justice in SUV rage
Dad whose family was mowed down rails at suspect brothers

"They came here like animals," seethed Michael Celentano.

Standing yesterday on the front yard of his North Bellmore home, just steps from where his family was mowed down by an SUV allegedly driven by Joseph Cassidy, the brother of his son's best friend, Celentano demanded justice.

From the New York Times news service, May 23:

LONDON Amnesty International assailed the United States' use of military contractors in Iraq on Tuesday as "war outsourcing" that may be fueling human rights abuses.

"War outsourcing is creating the corporate equivalent of Guantánamo Bay - a virtual rules-free zone in which perpetrators are not likely to be held accountable for breaking the law," Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in Washington as the human rights group presented its annual report in London.

How do they keep a straight face when they tell us we're fighting for freedom in Iraq? From Reuters, May 24:

LONDON: Police yesterday dismantled a long-running anti-war protest opposite the Houses of Parliament, carting away placards showing graphic images of dead and mutilated people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a pre-dawn raid, officers invaded the makeshift camp of protester Brian Haw, who had been living on the lawn in Parliament Square for more than five years.

How interesting. In an implicit acknowledgement that their hardcore Islamophobe policies are backfiring in Chechya, the Russian authorities are embracing the indigenous peace-loving Sufi tradition as an alternative to the violently intransigent Wahhabism imported from the Arab world. But this could also backfire—as the Sufis themselves also seek independence from Russia, even if they aren't willing to blow up civilians to acheive it. The implications are "unclear" indeed. And while it is good to see the Kunta-Haji Sufis on page 4 of the New York Times, we're not sure they would appreciate the writer's depiction of their chanting as "grunts."

A heartwarming addendum to a horribly tragic story. Newsday's May 24 coverage of the funeral notes that the late Amber Sadiq was the product of mixed Pakistani-Dominican (and Muslim-Catholic) marriage. Repudiating New York's usual tabloid-enflamed culture of law-enforcement-as-personal-vengeance, Amber's father is calling for clemency for the little boy who (unintentionally, we presume) killed his daughter. From AP, May 24:

NEW YORK - The father of a second-grade girl killed when an empty school bus rolled forward and crushed her is asking for mercy for the eight-year-old boy accused of setting the vehicle in motion.

Top officials from Mexico's official National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) say that 23 cases of sexual abuse and rape have been documented following the violent clash between protesters and police in San Salvador Atenco. At a press conference, CNDH inspector Susana Thalia Pedroza said that experts had gathered medical opinions, videos and photographs so that "no one can say that these women are lying." Pedroza, along with CNDH head Jose Luis Soberanes, said there were 16 cases of women being molested by police, and seven cases of rape. Four of the women were foreigners who were deported shortly after being arrested. The women were among more than 200 people detained on May 3 and 4 in the protests outside Mexico City. The CNDH has received 211 complaints regarding the incident, including sexual abuse, cruel and degrading treatment, property damage, illegal seizures, robbery, and threats. (El Universal, May 23)