Tehran has expelled tens of thousands of Afghans from Iran since mid-April, with authorities saying they will repatriate 1 million unregistered Afghan refugees over the next years. The UNHCR says it is powerless to intervene as those being forcibly repatriated are not legally registered refugees. But several repatriated Afghans told RFE/RL that Iranian authorities had confiscated and destroyed their registration cards before expelling them from the country. But Afghans affected by the campaign claim that even legally registered refugees are being forced to leave. They say those who remain in Iran face pressure that makes it difficult for them to survive. Kabul's Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said Iran should immediately stop repatriating large numbers of Afghans because Afghanistan does not have sufficient resources to help them resettle. (RFE/RL, May 3)

A White House press release, April 30:

Loyalty Day, 2007
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
America was founded by patriots who risked their lives to bring freedom to our Nation. Today, our citizens are grateful for our Founding Fathers and confident in the principles that lead us forward. On Loyalty Day, we celebrate the blessings of freedom and remember our responsibility to continue our legacy of liberty.

Don't apologize, Gov. Corzine. Americans are dying in Iraq for your right to be an anti-social speedfreak. From Newsday, May 1:

Corzine apologizes upon hospital release
CAMDEN, N.J. - An emotional Gov. Jon S. Corzine was discharged from a hospital yesterday and asked forgiveness for his conduct in a crash in which he was critically injured.

A US-led raid on a suspected militant cell in Bati Kot district, Nangarhar province, killed as many as six Afghans April 30, including a woman and a teenage girl, sparking protests by hundreds of angry Afghans chanting "Death to Bush!" The protest was held on the same highway where a US Marine convoy fired indiscriminately on vehicles and pedestrians in the wake of a suicide bombing, killing 12 people March 4. "Their operation was based on incorrect reports, and they carried out a cruel attack on these houses," said local resident Akhtar Mohammad at the protest. "We are not the enemy; we are not al-Qaida. Why are they attacking us?"

Abd al-Malik al-Houthi, the Shi'ite rebel leader in Yemen, speaking to reporters in the northern city of Saada, accused government forces of "genocide" in their campaign against the insurgents: "Cities and villages are being subjected nowadays to the most dreadful forms of annihilation by the corrupt authorities, and the citizens are the only damaged side because of this fierce bombing." Aid organizations say several Shi'ite villages near Saada have been almost destroyed by heavy fighting, estimating at least 5,000 people in the area have been forced from their homes.

Syria has built a secret fortified complex buried deep underground to manufacture and store ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot quoted "foreign experts" as saying April 30. The complex supposedly includes 30 reinforced concrete bunkers, production facilities, development laboratories and command posts. According to the report, Syria has been buying Scud missiles from North Korea, and Chinese C-802 missiles (the same used by Hezbollah to hit an Israeli warship in last year's war) from Iran, as well as building its own. It has also developed chemical warheads for its missiles, according to the report. The report failed to give the location of the supposed complex. (AFP, April 30)

The April 28 suicide car blast in Karbala occurred at a checkpoint on an approach to the city's golden-domed Al-Abbas shrine, amid crowded shops and restaurants near the Shi'ite holy site. "Once again the dark forces and terrorists have targeted the city of Karbala," Abdulaal al-Yasiry, head of the Karbala Provincial Council, told state Iraqiya television. "Security forces do not have adequate training... The terrorists have started to come up with creative attacks so that it’s impossible for police to uncover them." Karbala is one of Iraq’s best protected cities because of its holy status. Nonetheless, a suicide car bomber killed 40 people at a crowded bus station in the same area on April 14 (prompting the Sadr faction to pull out of Iraq's government). (Gulf Times, April 29) Karbala and Shi'ite pilgrims were also massively targeted during the Ashura celebrations once again this year. In the wake of this latest atrocity, the various factions are once again blaming each other. How long before the government finally collapses—at which point we can start "officially" calling this a "civil war"? From The Star, South Africa, April 30:

We agree that there is something utterly perverse about the fact that the Darfur genocide is now entering its fifth year, as the world stands by and watches. And of course the vast majority of those participating in the Global Day for Darfur actions are well-intentioned. But a part of what makes the situation perverse is the increasingly surreal spectacle of celebrity and "Holocaust Industry" (TM Norman Finkelstein) exploitation of the genocide. That Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocuast memorial, can moralize about Darfur while remaining silent about the oppression of the Palestinians far closer to home only confirms our cynicism. From Haaretz, April 30: