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Those killed included at least 22 tribesmen and nine policemen. The violence took place as security forces tried to end a road blockade.

There have been fuel and transport blockades in Peru’s Amazon region for almost two months.

Local people say new laws will make it easier for foreign companies to exploit their land for natural resources.

Most serious

The fighting took place at a jungle highway near the town of Bagua, more than 1,000km (600 miles) north of the capital, Lima.

They are the most serious to have broken out since indigenous groups began a protest campaign in April.

They are opposed to plans by the government of President Alan Garcia to open up communal jungle lands for oil exploration, logging, mining and large-scale farming.

Indigenous leaders say police using helicopters opened fire on demonstrators in the latest incident.

One indigenous leader, Alberto Pizango, told reporters that he held the government responsible for the killings, which he said had taken place during a peaceful demonstration.

The authorities say the police were fired on first, and Mr Garcia accused the Indians of “falling to a criminal level.”

Earlier this month, Peru’s military was authorised to give support to police in the escalating dispute.

President Garcia has said all Peruvians should benefit from the country’s natural resources not just the people who happened to live in the areas concerned.

John Lipsky, IMF first deputy managing director, confirmed the Chinese proposal, which follows one by Russia to buy $10bn (€7.1bn, £6.2bn) in IMF bonds.

Friday’s statement by China said any investment would be made according to its usual criteria of “safety and reasonable returns”, but made no mention of Beijing’s wish for more power in IMF decision-making, in return for financial support.

Safe, which controls almost $2,000bn of China’s foreign exchange reserves, added it was ready to help the IMF explore more ways to raise finance.

Mr Lipsky said the Chinese and Russian proposals were part of a commitment made during the London G20 summit in April to augment IMF resources by $500bn, and that the IMF “absolutely welcomes” the commitments.

The IMF expects to submit a proposal in the next few weeks that would allow it to raise money through issuing notes or bonds.

For the past three decades, Popovich has been one of a secret tribe of big game hunters who specialize in stealing jets from the jungle hideouts of corrupt landowners in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil and swiping go-fast boats from Wall Street titans in Miami and East Hampton. Super repos have been known to hire swat teams, hijack supertankers and fly off with eastern bloc military helicopters. For a cut of the overall value, they’ll repossess anything.

But Popovich is the most renowned of them all — the Ernest Hemingway of super repo men. “Nick is the best of the best,” says Doug Lipke, head of the bankruptcy group for the law firm Vedder Price, who has called Popovich on numerous occasions to retrieve jumbo jets from fat cats with thinning balance sheets. One time, Lipke needed a plane repo-ed from Michigan and flown to Chicago. “All the electrical went out on the plane and Nick was flying at night,” he says. “He flew that plane back with zero electricity — no lights, nothing. There aren’t many guys that would be able to do that.”

Daniel James Murray has been charged with making threats against Obama, after telling a bank teller he was part of a “mission” to kill the president. The Secret Service says Murray has at least eight registered firearms. His whereabouts are unknown.

Murray entered Zion’s First National Bank in St. George, Utah, May 19, to open a savings account with an $85,000 check, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Salt Lake City today.

Murray allegedly asked if the bank was solvent and then stated, according to the complaint, “With all this mess going on under President Obama with banks and the economy, I’m sure if citizens happen to lose their money, they will rise up and we could see killing and deaths.”

On May 27, the complaint states, Murray came back to withdraw $12,698 from his savings account. He did not have proper identification and was told he needed it to complete the transaction. He allegedly said, “Not to be disrespectful, but if I don’t get this money, someone is going to die.”

The bank manager allowed the transaction, and Murray allegedly demanded bills smaller than $50 in nonsequential order.

Murray then said, “We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States,” according to the complaint.

Murray told the teller during that visit, the complaint added, “We are 94 million miles from the sun, and are in-between the sun and moon, and the eagle that flies between them, and it’s a giant step for mankind. … I have traveled thousands of miles to be here and know things that are going to happen. … The banking system will fail and people will die. … There will be chaos in the world.”

The next day, according to the complaint, Murray withdrew the remaining $72,000 and closed his account.

Murray’s location is unknown, the complaint said. He is believed to be driving a blue 2001 Buick LeSabre with New York plates that read “ERL 1445,” and are registered in his name. Murray originally is from New York, but he has recently been in California, Utah, Georgia, Oklahoma and possibly Texas.

“There are at least eight firearms registered to Murray, ranging from semi-automatic pistols to revolvers, some capable of carrying 15 rounds of ammunition and easy to conceal,” the complaint said.

A Secret Service spokesman said there will be no further comment on the case because it involves protective intelligence.

The much smaller-than-expected reduction in payroll jobs, reported by the Labor Department on Friday, adds to evidence that the recession is loosening its hold on the country. It marked the fourth straight month that the pace of layoffs slowed.

Still, the increase in the nation’s unemployment rate from 8.9 percent in April underscores the difficulties that America’s 14.5 million unemployed are having in finding new jobs. Economists had expected the rate to hit 9.2 percent last month.

If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4 percent in May, the highest on records dating to 1994.

Even with layoffs slowing, companies will be reluctant to hire until they feel certain that economic conditions are improving and that any recovery will last.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 6 million jobs.

As the recession — which is now the longest since World War II — bites into sales and profits, companies have turned to layoffs and other cost-cutting measures to survive the fallout. Those include holding down workers’ hours and freezing or cutting pay.

The average work week in May fell to 33.1 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.

Following two acquisitions in the past six months for an aggregate USD 163m, Korean, Japanese and Western players may find themselves locked out of the sector, McIllree told mergermarket. Speculation is rife as to what this may mean for the high tech and green industries that rely on rare earth metal resources. With over 90% of the global rare earth resource held by Chinese companies, the country’s monopoly looks unchallenged. The recent Australian acquisitions have brought China control of the majority of the rare earth deposits outside China.

Rare Earth metals are a collection of 17 different metals that occur within the same ore deposits. While China currently produces 95% of the worlds rare earth supply, the metals are also found in the US, Indonesia, Australia and South Africa. Rare earth metals are needed for the manufacturing of wind turbines, plasma televisions, mobile phones, hybrid car batteries meaning the Chinese monopoly could shift the high-tech manufacturing industry bases from Japan and Korea to China.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s case also accuses Mozilo of illegal insider trading, an agency spokesman said Thursday.

Countrywide was a major player in the subprime mortgage market, the collapse of which in 2007 touched off the financial crisis that has gripped the U.S. and global economies.

Mozilo is the most high-profile individual to face formal charges from the federal government in the aftermath of the crisis.