■PERU
Insurgency call recinded
Indigenous groups protesting laws opening the Amazon to oil and natural resource development withdrew their call for an insurgency against the government on Saturday, but vowed to press ahead with their protests. Indian leader Alberto Pizango said the government misinterpreted the use of the term insurgency in the declaration by his group — the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of Peru’s Jungle — on Friday, and “for that reason we are withdrawing it … But the mobilization of the Amazon people will continue within the rule of law.” The government had warned that anyone participating in an uprising could be charged with sedition. On Saturday, it authorized the armed forces to support police in quelling protests and guaranteeing services in five Amazon provinces.
■UNITED STATES
Hospital mulls windowpane
A Catholic hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts, is trying to figure out what to do with a window in which some Catholics claim to see an image of the Virgin Mary. Hundreds of people gathered to view the second-story office window at Mercy Medical Center last October. They wept and prayed. The hospital removed the window after the crush of visitors caused traffic problems. It’s storing the window at a secret location. Hospital spokesman Mark Fulco told the Republican newspaper he’s waiting for a report from experts to determine if the window is worthy of veneration. Engineers say the image appeared when a failed rubber seal allowed mineral deposits between panes of glass.
■UNITED STATES
Boy’s death still a mystery
A preliminary autopsy failed to determine the cause of death of a young boy whose body was found buried in sand in a public playground in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “There were no obvious signs or cause of death,” police spokesman John Walsh said on Saturday after receiving the autopsy result. Blood and toxicology tests were still pending, as were other advanced techniques that could yield clues as to how the unidentified boy died. It wasn’t clear when they would be complete. The body of the three-to-five-year-old boy was discovered on Friday by a woman who had taken her children to the city’s Alvarado Park and spotted a shoe sticking out of the sand.
■MEXICO
Two more flu deaths cited
The government says tests have confirmed two more deaths from swine flu, bringing the nation’s toll to 68. The Health Department says one person died on Tuesday in Baja California state and the other died in Mexico City on May 2. The department says tests confirmed 207 more cases for a total of 3,102, including the deaths. The numbers jumped because officials were able to process more backlogged cases.
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