The US Army's 4th Stryker Brigade crossed into Kuwait Aug. 19—supposedly the last "combat brigade" to leave Iraq. Their departure leaves about 56,000 US troops in the country. By the end of the month, only a "residual force" of some 50,000 US troops will remain. President Obama said that more than 90,000 US troops have left Iraq in the past 18 months. "And, consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of next year," he said.

From the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Aug. 19:

CAIR: Park51 Opponents Linked to Admirer of Terror Group Founder
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today that leaders of the main hate group opposing the planned Park51 Islamic community center in Manhattan are partners with an individual who says he is an admirer of the founder of two terrorist organizations.

Colombian congressman Iván Cepeda Aug. 17 presented a case against former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for slander to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The complaint regards comments made by Uribe in 2002 in which he accused the inhabitants of the San José de Apartadó peace community, along with Jesuit Priest Javier Giraldo, of colluding with left-wing guerrillas. Following the accusations, 20 members of the peace community were murdered.

In what were surely welcome words in Rabat, the top police official of the rebel Polisario Front broached the possibility of autonomy rather than independence for Morocco-occupied Western Sahara last week. Speaking at a press conference in the occupied territory's town of Smara, Polisario Police Inspector-General Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud said the proposed autonomy initiative is the best possible solution to the Western Sahara conflict: "In the past, we had two conflicting options: either to integrate into Morocco or become independent. Today we have a third option that helps us achieve our main objective, which is the Sahrawi distinction." Today, the Polisario Front only has power in Tindouf, a desert town and refugee camp under their control across the Algerian border. (Magharebia, Aug. 11)

A man and a woman who allegedly had an adulterous affair were stoned to death in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz Aug. 15, according to the local governor, Mohammad Omar. The stoning was carried out in a crowded bazaar in the Taliban-controlled village of Mullah Quli, Tal Dasht-e Archi district. The Taliban have not commented on the incident. The punishment was reportedly carried out by hundreds of the victims' neighbors and even their family members.

Moroccan protesters blockaded the border with the Spanish enclave of Melilla Aug. 13, effectively shutting it down. Since mid-July, Morocco's government has issued five statements accusing Spanish police of abusing Moroccans in the enclave, as well as charging that a Spanish civil guard sea patrol abandoned a boat filled with eight ill African migrants in the Mediterranean after intercepting them trying to enter Spain. "The Kingdom of Morocco is astonished that no official answer was offered by Spanish authorities until now over the cases of racist drift by the Spanish police," said the Foreign Ministry in a statement. The two countries' kings spoke by telephone this week to try to ease tensions. (AP, Aug. 13; Reuters, Expatica, Aug. 11)

Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir, two men charged with plotting to blow up targets at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, were found guilty of conspiracy charges Aug. 3 by a federal jury in Brooklyn. Defreitas, 67, a naturalized US citizen and former cargo handler at the airport, was found guilty of all six charges against him. Kadir, 58, a citizen of Guyana who once served as a parliament member there, was found guilty on five of the six charges, acquitted of surveillance of a mass-transportation facility. The men could face life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for December. Prosecutors said the men sought aid from al-Qaeda operative Adnan Shukrijumah, recently indicted in federal court in a supposed plot to launch suicide attacks on the New York City subway system. (WSJ, Aug. 3)

While assistance is being provided to hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis affected by the country's worst flooding within memory, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a new report Aug. 12 that relief supplies are reaching only a fraction of the millions who need help. The report says that more than 14 million—nearly one in every 10 Pakistanis—are affected by the flooding, which began in late July due to heavy monsoon rains. The official death toll has risen to 1,343, with 1,588 people now reported injured. At least two million have been left homeless.