A very amusing New York Times profile July 21 of Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, the former firebrand cleric who is now exiled in Lebanon and barred from returning to his former home of Britain. The man who once praised the 9-11 plotters is now attempting to negotiate a truce in the fighting between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam. He says: "I want to support Muslims by saving their blood and their life. My job is to calm the fighting and to open a dialogue." Counterintuitively, he says that it is moderate Muslims who are most at risk of becoming jihadist cannon fodder:

"How come the moderate Muslims, not Omar Bakri, do this?" he demanded. "Because of Sheik Google," he quipped, referring to the use of the Internet to learn Islamic principles.

In a surprise ruling July 20, Pakistan's Supreme Court dealt a harsh blow to President Pervez Musharraf, voting unanimously to restore Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry to his post. The court also voted 10-3 to dismiss charges of misconduct that Musharraf filed against Chaudhry. (AP, July 20) The ruling comes amid a nationwide wave of terror. One day earlier, three suicide attacks left scores dead across Pakistan. In the deadliest attack, 14, many army recruits, died in a blast at a military mosque in the northwest garrison town of Kohat. Seven police officers and 22 bystanders were killed in Hub, near Karachi, in a car bomb attack on a police vehicle protecting a convoy of Chinese mining company workers. Another car bomber detonated his payload when guards prevented him from entering the police academy in Hangu, about 70 kilometers southwest of Peshawar, capital of the North-West Frontier Province. (NYT, National Post, July 20)

At least 12 people were injured and 59 arrested July 17 when Honduran police violently cleared several roadblocks set up by protesters demanding a new mining law. Salvador Zuniga, consultant to the Coordinator of Peasant and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), told AFP, "They came at us wielding clubs; we have several injured and 10 arrested." COPINH led the protest at a roadblock 120 kilometers north of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

Writing for The Guardian July 19, Seumas Milne relates a revealing meeting with Iraqi insurgent leaders in Damascus, who say they are uniting in a new front, to be called the Political Office for the Iraqi Resistance. They say a founding congress is in the works, with the aim of establishing a credible armed resistance and isolating al-Qaeda elements bent on sectarian warfare. They even claim that there has been indirect contact with France about opening a public office there. The constituent groups are named as Iraqi Hamas, the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Ansar al-Sunna, Jaish al-Islami, Jaish al-Mujahideen, Jama' and Jaish al-Rashideen.

From the Washington Post, July 18:

BAGHDAD -- They arrived early yesterday morning in a straight line of official-looking vehicles, about 125 men dressed in Iraqi Army fatigues and carrying standard-issue weapons. Aziza Abdul Jabbar and her relatives ran out of her home, believing the military had arrived to protect their village in Diyala Province.

Lawyers across Pakistan boycotted courts July 18, the day after a bomb attack on an anti-government rally by attorneys in Islamabad killed 15 people. Gen Musharraf strongly condemned the "terrorist attack" and called for calm, but lawyers called the blast an attempt to disrupt their opposition movement. Ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was due to attend the rally. He arrived two hours after the blast, Justice Chaudhry visited the venue of the rally where he led brief prayers for the victims, including many supporters of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Remember when this kind of thing was science fiction? From AP, July 16:

Pilotless Robot Bomber Squadron Heads for Afghanistan, Iraq
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq — The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It's outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.

Police fired tear gas to prevent hundreds of protesters from reaching the venue of an international Guelaguetza folk festival in Oaxaca July 16, in the worst outbreak of violence in the conflicted southern Mexican city since November. Protesters hurled rocks and burned vehicles as they marched towards the stadium where the festival is slated to open July 23.