The amount of radioactive material being emitted from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has fallen to one-fifth that of a month ago and one-10 millionth the levels in mid-March, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said Aug. 17. Maximum radiation levels near the plant measured since the beginning of August were put at 200 million becquerels per hour—but Goshi Hosono, the cabinet minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, cautioned the 200 million becquerel reading is an estimate, and promised to seek ways of making precise measurements. TEPCO and the government said there is no major change in their timetable for bringing the plant under control. Containment efforts include building a wall of steel plates in front of the existing sea walls for units 1 through 4 to keep contaminated groundwater from entering the ocean. (ENS, Aug. 17)

US Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is promoting a bill to suspend Washington's assistance to three elite Israel Defense Forces units, alleging they are involved in human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Leahy wants aid withheld from the Israeli navy's Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover Duvdevan unit and the Israel Air Force's Shaldag unit. Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a long-time friend of Leahy, met with him in Washington two weeks ago to try to persuade him to withdraw the initiative. Leahy began promoting the legislation after protesters staged a rally outside office, demanding that he denounce the killing by Shayetet 13 commandos of nine Turkish activists who were part of the flotilla to Gaza in May 2011. Leahy, who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee's sub-committee on foreign operations, was the principle sponsor of a 1997 bill prohibiting the US from providing military assistance to foreign military units suspected of human rights abuses or war crimes.

From Amnesty International, Aug. 15:

The Egyptian authorities must immediately drop charges against a woman blogger and activist accused of defaming the military on Twitter, Amnesty International said today. Asmaa Mahfouz, 26, was summoned by military prosecutors on Sunday and later released on bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,356) after posting messages on the social media network expressing concerns about the Egyptian justice system and the actions of the military government, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).

On Aug. 7, nine former Salvadoran military officials accused in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, including ex-defense minister Rafael Humberto Larios and air force Gen. Rafael Bustillo, were handed over to a criminal court in El Salvador after a Spanish court issued international arrest warrants. The Salvadoran government said in a statement that the men, among 20 ex-soldiers indicted by a Spanish judge in May, were in the custody of a civilian court that handles extradition cases. The suspects turned themselves in at a military installation, as Salvadoran police were preparing to arrest them on an extradition order from Interpol. A tenth suspect, former army chief of staff Rene Emilio Ponce, died in May, before the indictments were issued.

A new report from a team of British and Pakistani journalists released by the UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds one US drone strike occurs every four days in Pakistan, and that the attacks have killed as many as 775 civilians, including 168 children, since 2004. The report also challenges a recent claim by President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, that no civilians have been killed in the drone attacks for nearly a year. According to the Bureau’s researchers, at least 45 civilians were killed in 10 drone attacks during the last year.

Tunisian police fired tear-gas on Aug. 15 as a rally called by the General Workers' Union (UGTT) was joined by some 2,000 protesting the lack of political reform since the overthrow of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January. The UGTT, which was the only legal trade union federation during Ben Ali's 23-year rule, sought a demonstration "faithful to the souls of the martyrs [of January] and for the achievement of the aims of the revolution." The legal rally demanded a "purge of corrupt judges and lawyers," under the slogan "Free Tunisia, throw out the thieves." But a hundreds-strong breakaway demonstration attempted to march on the interior ministry, and clashed with riot police who blocked the way. The breakaway marchers shouted "new revolution" and "the people want the system to fall," while accusing the interior ministry of "terrorism." (Middle East Online, July 15)

Some 5,000 Palestinian refugees have been forced to flee a camp in the Syrian port of Latakia amid shelling by government forces, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The agency says more than half of the Ramel camp's 10,000 residents are on the move, and at least four have died, among some 30 reportedly killed in repression against a popular uprising Latakia over the past three days. "We have no idea where these people are, we have no idea how many of them are wounded, are dying, are elderly, are women, are children," said UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness. The government's offensive has included tank assaults and the shelling of the port from gunboats. The Palestinian authorities called on the Syrian government to safeguard the lives of refugees in its territory. Palestine Liberation Organization secretary general Yasser Abed Rabbo said the attack on the Ramel camp is "part of the crimes against humanity" targeting Palestinians and Syrians alike.

Last month, Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla AKA "El Mayito"—the son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael Zambada AKA "El Mayo"—filed pleadings in a Chicago federal court accusing the US Justice Department of giving the cartel "carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States." Zambada's pleadings claim that protection included promises to be kept apprised of US and Mexican government investigations close to the "home territories" of cartel leaders so they "could take appropriate actions to evade investigators"—even as the US had indictments, extradition requests, and rewards for the apprehension of the top Sinaloa Cartel leadership.