Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has told the nation that Guatemala must stand up to drug-related violence.

He made the remark in a televised address late Monday after visiting the site of a mass murder in Guatemala's Peten province. Officials have blamed the killing of nearly 30 field workers, including two women and at least two children, on the Zetas drug cartel.

Colom said drug-related violence affects not just Guatemala, but the whole region. He announced a state of emergency that gives security forces increased authority.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has convicted two former military chiefs for their role in the country's 1994 genocide.

The court in Arusha, Tanzania on Tuesday found former army chief Augustin Bizimungu guilty of genocide charges and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

Judges ruled the former army chief conspired to exterminate Rwanda's Tutsi population and had complete control over soldiers and militia who were involved in the killings.

According to court documents, Bizimungu instructed his men to begin killing Tutsis and to start in their own neighborhoods.

The work of Afghan National Security Forces and their International Security Assistance Forces partner’s, Combined Team Uruzgan, continue to enhance security, governance and reconstruction in their province.

An Afghan and International Security Assistance Force captured a Taliban facilitator along with several other suspected insurgents in Panjwa’i district, Kandahar province yesterday.

The Taliban facilitator was involved in building improvised explosive devices for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING SITE MAREZ, Iraq -- With weapons raised at the door and eyes scanning the surrounding area for threats, Iraqi Army soldiers maneuvered toward an "enemy" building at the Ghuzlani Warrior Training Center, here.

Iraqi Army, or IA, Soldiers of 3rd Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Army Division cordoned the area and stormed through the neighboring buildings during the urban operations exercise, May 12, 2011.

U.S. and Afghan forces completed an operation to increase security and disrupt insurgents’ activities in and around Sahak Village, Afghanistan, May 16.

The operation, called “El Dorado,” was a combined mission between 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Lethal, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, TF Red Bulls, and the 1st Kandak, 2nd Brigade, 203rd Corps of the Afghan National Army.

ANA Col. Mahmoud Zazai, commander of the 1st Kandak lead Afghan forces during the combined operations.

RIGHT-TO-CARRY LAWSUITS IN ILLINOIS
Lawsuits from the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation may be forcing Illinois to re-consider its refusal to enact Right-to-Carry legislation.
http://www.sofmag.com/two-lawsuits-are-better-one

Video by 2nd Marine Logistics Group

UPDATE: Have SAF, NRA lawsuits pushed IL lawmakers to reconsider concealed carry?

The double-whammy federal lawsuits in Illinois – one filed by Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and the other by the National Rifle Association and Illinois State Rifle Association – may be responsible for this morning’s possible “attitude adjustment” in the Prairie State capitol for adoption of a concealed carry statute.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/update-have-saf-nra-lawsui...

Article by Dave Workman