Wants to reimpose the ban on assault weapons, The Secretary of State has pledged the United States into giving Mexico more help in its anti-drugs campaign. Clinton said that the use of military-style assault weapons was of particular concern, and she would discuss the reimposition of a ban on their sale. The previous decision to lift the ban was a mistake, she said. She has admitted that it is America's appetite for drugs that has helped fuel the violence. Some eight thousand people have died in Mexico's drug-related violence in the last two years.

Activists have rallied in Los Angeles to protest against plans to criminalize undocumented workers. The organisers say that demonstrators want an immigration system that was humane and not racist. The House of Representatives has passed a bill that will be making it a felony for immigrants to be in the the country illegally, and President Bush has proposed a guest- worker plan. Protests against the immigration reform bill, H.R. 4437, are being held in several US cities, with 500,000 people marching in Los Angeles, 50,000 in Denver, and 20,000 in Phoenix. They are also protesting at the proposed construction of a security wall along the United States-Mexican border.