The carcinogen asbestos has been found in dust and debris hurled into midtown Manhattan by an evening rush-hour Con Edison steam pipe explosion July 18. The blast at 41st Street and Lexington Ave. opened a 25-foot car-swallowing crater in the asphalt and sent a column of steam hundreds of feet into the air—initially sparking fears of a terrorist attack. Said witness Debbie Tontodonato to Newsday: "We panicked. I think everyone thought the worst. Thank God it wasn't." But this statement just demonstrates how much horror New Yorkers have come to view as acceptable in this uneasy age. Forty-four were injured in the blast, and Lois Baumerich, of Hawthorne, NJ, died of cardiac arrest.

Turkey's military has waged a cross-border incursion into Iraq, bombarding northern areas of the country with artillery and warplanes, the Iraqi government charged July 19. The claim comes amid mounting Turkish threats to strike bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been launching attacks against targets in Turkey from sanctuaries in Iraq.

Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Gulerhas announced his government will invest $3.5 billion in Iran's South Pars gas field starting from 2008, a week after signing a deal to use Iran as a transit route for gas from Turkmenistan to European markets. Ankara also made clear that it sees Iran as a potential partner for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, conceived as a means of diversifying gas supplies to Europe. Washington has voiced its opposition to the memorandum of understanding between Turkey and Iran. In an interview with NTV news this week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the deal, adding that "Turkey thinks of its own interests and the US will eventually understand this." (Press TV, July 19)

From the US Labor Against the War (USLAW) and Oil Change International, July 16:

Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions Draws Line in the Sand
Basra, Iraq – Today hundreds of Iraqis, led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), took to the streets of Basra to demand that the Iraqi Parliament reject the proposed Oil Law. Simultaneous demonstrations took place in Amara and Nassiryya. Local governate officials made statements in support of the demonstration and, along with the governor of Basra, have committed to sending letters to the Minister of Oil supporting the Union's demands.

Decades of negotiations between Ottawa and the Cree First Nation of northern Quebec ended July 16 with the unveiling of a $1.4-billion agreement to settle outstanding lawsuits and finally enact a 1975 treaty that stalled shortly after it was signed. The agreement, running through 2027, will give the Cree control over millions of dollars to improve local services. It will also open a new set of negotiations to finalize the structure of the Cree Nation's local government. The agreement is subject to ratification on both sides, including a vote by the 16,500 Cree that is expected to be complete by the fall.

Peruvian unionists, campesinos, leftists and nationalists came together to stage a massive one-day general strike on July 11 to protest the economic policies of President Alan Garcia of the social democratic Aprista party. The July 11 Day of National Struggle, called by the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP), Peru's largest labor group, and backed by former nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, shut down much of the country.

On July 11 Panama's National Assembly voted 58-3 with one abstention to ratify a "free trade" accord (TLC, the initials in Spanish) which the government signed with the US in Washington, DC, just two weeks earlier, on June 28. The administration of Republican president George W. Bush is expected to have little trouble getting approval from the US Congress, which is controlled by the opposition Democratic Party. The administration and congressional leaders announced a deal on May 10 which gave Democratic support to accords the government had negotiated with Peru and Panama.

One demonstrator was killed and three injured on July 9 when a coalition of Dominican unions held a 24-hour national general strike to protest government economic policies. A spokesperson for the Alternative Social Forum (FSA), which organized the action, estimated that 90% of Dominican workers had observed the strike nationwide. The Associated Press wire service reported that in Santo Domingo stores were closed and the streets were nearly empty.