• Sunday, May 27 – Venezuela’s oldest and most popular TV network, Radio Caracas TV, went off the air after President Hugo Chavez refused to renew its license. Throughout the week, thousands of Venezuelan citizens and rights groups have taken to the streets, protesting the shutdown of RCTV, as thousands of Chavez supporters celebrated. Opponents of the decision argue Chavez is limiting freedom of expression, however, the socialist president’s followers assert the critical channel was a threat to the country and to Chavez’s aims for a socialist revolution. 

• Monday, May 28 – Iranian and American ambassadors met in the first formal conference since 1979 to discuss their roles in the future of Iraq. The U.S. ambassador urged Iran to stop selling arms to Shiite militias in Iraq, although Tehran has denied these claims, and Iran insisted troops should be withdrawn from Iraq immediately. While there were no major breakthroughs, more talks have been planned and analysts say these meetings suggest a needed change in U.S. foreign policy.

• Tuesday, May 29 – President George W. Bush reinforced sanctions against Darfur, denying Sudanese companies and government agencies banking and trading rights with the U.S. He also promised to put more pressure on the UN Security Council to take action in the region and the ongoing violence there that has killed at least 200,000 and displaced millions more. The U.S. is currently the only country to officially condemn the bloodshed in Darfur as genocide. 

• Wednesday, May 30 – Andrew Speaker, 31, of Atlanta was quarantined after finishing various air travels while being infected with a dangerous form of tuberculosis. The Center for Disease Control has recommended that airlines contact their passengers throughout the world, with whom Speaker may have flown and the Department of Homeland Security is beginning an investigation into how Speaker was let into the country with an extremely drug resistant disease.