Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) has arrived back in the Chiapas rainforest after concluding his tour of Mexico's northern states in the second phase of the "Other Campaign." Arriving first in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Marcos' caravan then proceeded to the jungle settlement of La Garrucha. Fifteen other Zapatista commanders who had also been on tour arrived back in Chiapas days ahead of the Subcommander. They will now start preparing for an "Intergalactic Encuentro," a meeting of their international supporters, to be hosted on their territory in a little over a month. (La Jornada, June 24) A highlight of Marcos' tour came in Guadalajara, where he unveiled his new erotic novel Noches de Fuego y Desvelo (Nights of Fire and Sleeplessnes), illustrated with drawings by the author. Proceeds are to go towards programs for Chiapas' autonomous indigenous communities. (La Jornada, June 15)

President Felipe Calderon has initiated a sweeping purge of Mexico's federal police forces, replacing nearly 284 senior and middle-level commanders. The move was announced June 25 by Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. "We are conscious that Mexicans demand honest, clean and trustworthy police," Garcia Luna told a press conference. "We have strategies and directions in the struggle against crime. One of the keys to that strategy is the professionalization and cleansing of the police forces." He said the commanders will be replaced by officers who have undergone months of rigorous vetting, including background checks, psychological exams and drug tests. The replaced commanders will be relocated inside the federal police forces, which number at least 12,000 agents. (Houston Chronicle, June 26)

Welcome to the promised land, Gonpo. From the New York Times, June 23 (emphasis added):

From Tibet to New York, a Youth Now Faces a Long Journey to Recovery
Gonpo Dorjee, 16, arrived in America on May 26. But he has seen little of his new home, New York City. The sights he sees most often are a small swath of the East River and part of the industrial skyline of Greenpoint, Brooklyn — the view from the window of his room at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan.

"Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid has been convicted of genocide and sentenced to death by hanging for his role in the 1988 "Anfal" counter-insurgency campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan, in which up to 180,000 Kurds were killed—some in poisonous gas attacks, some gunned down en masse at detainment camps. Majid is to be the seventh associate of Saddam Hussein to face the gallows. The location of the trial and identity of the prosecutors were secret.

A number of Sunni tribal leaders from the Anbar Salvation Council are among 12 people killed in a suicide bombing at the Mansour Hotel in central Baghdad June 25. Although the hotel is also home of the Chinese embassy and several political parties, the meeting of the Anbar sheikhs is believed to have been the target of the attack. The hotel bombing was one of five such attacks in Iraq today that killed more than 40 and injured scores. In the deadliest incident, suicide car bombers detonated outside the Baiji police station, killing 22, some 12 of them police officers. Eight people were killed in a blast in the southern city of Hilla. None of the bombings appeared to cause any US deaths. But the US military reported that one of its soldiers was killed in a small-arms attack. (BBC, WP, June 25)

From Long Island Newsday, June 23:

Boy on a bike is killed
An 11-year-old Wyandanch boy was killed Friday when he biked into the path of a tractor-trailer, which then struck an oncoming minivan, critically injuring two children, police said.

Ten civilians were killed June 23 inside the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan in a mortar attack from Afghan territory—fired by foreign forces, a local authorities say. "Ten innocent people were reported killed when some mortars hit civilians in Mangroti village in the Shawal region," said military spokesman Maj-Gen. Waheed Arshad. Thirteen others were injured, he said. Some locals put the death toll at 20, and a home was destroyed. Residents said the dead included a child, a woman and seven men, all from the same family. "Pakistan has lodged a strong protest with coalition forces seeking an explanation," Gen. Arshad said.

An internal debt crisis has prompted Zoroastrians in Mumbai to allow advertising billboards into an ancient funeral ground—sparking a split in the community. Zoroastrian dissdients say the signs—exhorting motorists to "Rev up your night life" by buying a popular model car—desecrate the sanctity of the grounds. Trustees who approved the billboards say they are needed to raise cash to maintain the Tower of Silence where the Parsi Zoroastrians have wrapped their dead in white muslin and left them to be devoured by vultures since 1673. "I have told people who are objecting, bring me three million rupees a year and I will stop the advertisements," said Burjor Antia, trustee with the Bombay Parsi Panchayat, local Zoroastrian council. (The Scotsman, May 30)