Yemeni authorities announced Aug. 23 that a former Guantánamo Bay detainee who apparently rejoined al-Qaeda has turned himself in. Ali Hussein al Taiss was a wanted "al-Qaeda element," according to Saba News Agency, the official Yemeni news service. But al-Taiss surrendered to authorities and "expressed his remorse for the period he has spent in joining al Qaeda ranks and showed his readiness to cooperate in serving the country's security and stability." Al-Taiss was transferred to Yemen on Dec. 15, 2006. He is one of several former Gitmo detainees who are believed to have joined al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). (The Long War Journal, Aug. 23)

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance on Aug. 24 joined critics of French mass deportations of Roma who overstay their visas and summary demolition of their encampments. The commission accused the French government of "stigmatizing Roma migrants" and holding them "collectively responsible for criminal offenses." On Aug. 22, Pope Benedict XVI urged French pilgrims "to accept human diversity," and Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, was promised a meeting with the interior minister to discuss the Roma policy after he denounced it as a "circus." (AP, AFP, NYT, Aug. 26)

The UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) is on the defensive since the NGO International Medical Corps revealed this week that rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and members of a local Mai Mai militia, raped at least 154 women in North Kivu—a few kilometers from a MONUSCO base. The new head of MONUSCO, Roger Meece, addressing reporters in New York via video conference from Goma on Aug. 25, said that two patrols of peacekeepers were never told by the population that the rapes were being committed—even though these attacks are said to have lasted over three days.

US Army Private First Class Nasser Abdo, 20, is seeking a discharge on the ground that his religious belief as a Muslim forbids him from fighting in any war as a member of the US military. He applied for conscientious objector status on June 7, and if granted would be discharged from the military under the provisions of AR 600-43. Despite PFC Abdo's efforts to seek CO status, his unit has decided to deploy him from Fort Campbell, KY, to Afghanistan—possibly as soon as late August or early September.

From the War Resisters League (WRL), Aug. 25:

Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime!
Bradley Manning, a 22-year-old intelligence analyst stationed in Iraq, stands accused of disclosing a classified video, published by WikiLeaks on April 5, 2010, depicting American troops shooting civilians from an Apache helicopter in 2007.

European Union's top diplomat criticized Israel on Aug. 25 over the conviction of a leader of Palestinian protests against the West Bank separation barrier. Catherine Ashton said she was deeply concerned by the guilty verdict against Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, one of the organizers of weekly marches from he Palestinian village of Bil'in to the co-called "apartheid wall" nearby.

Indigenous community leaders on Aug. 23 staged a take-over of Santiago-based Radio Bío-Bío to protest the station's failure to report on the hunger strike of 32 Mapuche activists. The protesters demanded that Radio Bío-Bío air an interview with a spokesperson for the prisoners, who began their hunger strike on July 12. Dressed in traditional garb and carrying musical instruments, the Mapuches gathered outside the studio's main entrance at 9:30 AM and put a padlock on the door.

At least six militants were killed in a presumed US drone strike in Miranshah, in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region. The missiles hit a small convoy of vehicles minutes before the scheduled iftar time, when the Ramadan fast is broken. After the attack, Taliban militants barricaded the site and shifted the bodies to an undisclosed location. At least four drones continued to hover over the region for an hour after the attack. Over 900 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in more than 200 drone strikes in Pakistan's northwest tribal areas since 2008. (ANI, Aug. 22)