The White House said July 1 that between 64 and 116 civilians have been killed by drone and other US strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya since Barack Obama took office in 2009. But this first public assessment by the administration put the civilian death toll significantly lower than estimates by various human rights groups, which range as high as 1,000 killed. Obama also signed an executive order outlining US policies to limit civilian casualties, and ostensibly making protection of civilians a central element in US military operations planning. The order requires an annual release of casualty estimates, and says the government should include "credible reporting" by non-government groups when it reviews strikes to determine if civilians were killed.

Iraqi and coalition air-strikes are carrying out air-strikes on convoys of ISIS vehicles fleeing Fallujah, as the city has finally fallen after a five-week siege. Hundreds of vehicles have reportedly been destroyed. (Rudaw, June 30) Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers were killed and more than 3,000 wounded in the battle Fallujah, which was taken by ISIS almost exactly two years ago. (MEE, July 1) Iraqi forces are said to be "screening" some 20,000 people—mostly young men and boys—detained while trying to flee the city. (MEE, June 25) Aid workers say the displacement of almost the entire city—between 60,000 and over 80,000 people depending on who is counting—has been disorganised, at best. "The entire humanitarian community has failed Iraq—from donors, to governments, to the implementing agencies on the ground," Karl Schembri of the Norwegian Refugee Council told IRIN news service. "Fallujah has exposed all of our shortcomings with massive consequences for the tens of thousands of civilians displaced." He added: "When Mosul happens, God help us." (IRIN, June 28)

Amnesty International is demanding the international community take action to address "horrifying" abuses of refugees and migrants in Libya. The June 30 statement warns that EU cooperation on immigration with the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (actually one of three rival governments in Libya) should not go ahead until guarantees for human rights are provided. Testimony gathered from some 90 migrants and refugees who made it to the safety of three camps in the Sicily and Puglia regions of Italy describes how Black Africans are imprisoned and exploited until they could earn their payment to traffickers or have more money sent by relatives back home. "From being abducted, incarcerated underground for months and sexually abused by members of armed groups, to being beaten, exploited or shot at by people smugglers, traffickers or criminal gangs—refugees and migrants have described in harrowing detail the horrors they were forced to endure in Libya," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty's interim deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

At least nine were injured, including four police, and some 30 detained when security forces clashed with unionists of the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) blocking a highway through Cochabamba department June 30. The action was part of a 72-hour strike called to oppose the government closing of the state textile firm Enatex. National Police troops used tear-gas to break up the roadblock, and protesters responded with rocks and clubs. The COB has repeatedly called general strikes in recent weeks to demand the government annul the decree liquidating the firm and dismissing 850 workers. The COB supported President Evo Morales when he too office in 2006, but now accuses him a "neoliberal" economic policy. Morales has declared the strike "illegal," saying that only 180 of the dismissed workers are refusing to accept severance pay, and "for this number, they cannot paralyze the country." (InfoBae, Bolivia Prensa, June 30)

Canada's Federal Court of Appeal overturned approval of Enbridge energy company's controversial Northern Gateway pipeline that would link Alberta's oil sands to British Columbia's north coast. In the 2-1 ruling June 30, the three-judge panel found that Ottawa failed to properly consult the First Nations affected by the project. That the federal government's consultation efforts "fell well short of the mark," the ruling stated. "We find that Canada offered only a brief, hurried and inadequate opportunity...to exchange and discuss information and to dialogue." President of British Columbia's Haida Nation, Peter Lantin, said: "It's a great day for Haida Gwaii and the coast of BC. We're all celebrating a victory for the oceans and our way of life."

The mayor of Xiantao in central China's Hubei province announced suspension of a waste incinerator project after a wave of protests—but residents continue to take to the streets in defiance of authorities. Mayor Zhou Wenxia in a rare public address announcing the suspension June 26 urged residents not to attend "illegal gatherings" or engage in "irrational actions." Some 10,000 people nonetheless filled the streets. Protests have conintued since then, with several injured in clashes with riot police. Authorities have flooded Xiantao with riot troops and placed restrictions on use of instant messaging and the Internet to organize "illegal gatherings" and demonstrations.

A six-person jury for the US Middle District of Florida in Orlando found Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez liable for the 1973 detention, torture and execution of Chilean folksinger Víctor Jara. The court ordered Barrientos to pay $28 million in damages, $8 million in compensatory damages, and $20 million in punitive damages. The jury found that Barrientos, 67, who now lives in Deltona, Fla., shot Jara, 40, in September 1973 after three days of beatings and torture. The singer was among thousands of leftists detained in Santiago's football stadium after Augusto Pinochet's coup d'etat against Chile's democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende. Barrientos was then serving as a lieutenant in Chile's armed forces. He fled Chile in 1989 and became a US citizen through marriage. He was one of nine retired army officers indicted for the murder in Chile four years ago, but the US Department of Justice has not responded to a request for his extradition.

Peru's northern trans-Andean oil pipeline suffered its third serious rupture of the year June 24, spilling over 1,000 barrels of crude into an expanse of the Amazon rainforest. An area of 16,000 square meters is said to be contaminated in Barranca district, Datem del Marañón province, Loreto region. PetroPerú, the parastatal that runs the pipeline, has instated an emergency "contingency plan" and says it has contained the spill. But a preliminary report by the Dátem del Marañón Health Network, part of the Loreto Regional Health Office (DIRESA) warns that contract workers and local residents involved in the clean-up effort lacked special equipment.. Health risks could include "poisoning and burns" from direct exposure to the oil. (EFE, June 27; La República, RPP, Peru21, Mongabay, June 25; El Comercio, June 24)