US production of marijuana now equals that of Colombia, according to the annual report of the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The report finds that the US and Colombia each produced some 4,000 metric tons of cannabis last year. Morocco is the world leader at 44,000 metric tons, followed by Paraguay at 16,500 metric tons and Mexico at 15,800. Production in Mexico is down from 25,800 metric tons in 2007, when it occupied second place after Morocco. The Mexican government boasts of eradicating 18,652 hectares of marijuana in 2008. A much higher proportion of the US crop is indoor—an estimated 430,000 plants, compared to 6.6 million outdoor. (El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, July 17)

Russian human rights group Memorial has suspended operations in Chechnya following the murder of one of its most prominent activists, Natalya Estemirova. The group said its work in Chechnya had become "life-threatening." The office of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has also announced plans to sue Oleg Orlov, the head of Memorial, for defamation. "I have prepared and will file to court a complaint on protecting the honor, worthiness and professional reputation of the president of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov," Kadyrov's lawyer told the Interfax news agency. (Deutsche Welle, July 19)

At least five people were killed and some 36 others injured July 16 as an explosion ripped through Baghdad's Shi'ite district of Sadr City. The improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated at the entrance of a funeral tent that had been set up on the street. The attack came hours after authorities began imposing a strict curfew on Baghdad and set up check posts across the city in preparation for the Sunday martyrdom anniversary of the seventh Shi'ite Imam, Musa al-Kadhim. Another eight people sustained injuries in a bomb blast targeting visitors at Imam Musa's mausoleum at Kadhimiya in northern Baghdad. (Press TV, Iran, July 16)

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said July 18 he agreed with a proposal made by mediator Costa Rica to form a national unity government, and said he would return home from exile in the coming days. "We agree with it, but only as long as all the powers of the state are integrated into it," he told Radio Globo, adding that his return to Honduras could occur as soon as tomorrow. But the de facto government in Tegucigalpa has not relented of its threat to arrest him if he returns to the country. US officials reportedly warned that any attempt by Zelaya to return to Honduras could jeopardize the Costa Rica-mediated dialogue between his representatives and those of de facto leader Roberto Micheletti.

On July 8, DNA tests confirmed that a body found in a well in Cabañas department, El Salvador, on June 30 is that of prominent community activist Gustavo Marcelo Rivera. The body was found by community members who had organized a search for Rivera, missing since June 18. Witnesses reported that the body exhibited signs of torture techniques generally tied to targeted political assassinations. However, initial reports coming from the National Civilian Police (PNC) state that gang members were responsible for the murder.

A videotape that appears to link Colombia's FARC guerillas to President Rafael Correa of Ecuador was broadcast on Colombian TV July 18. The video allegedly shows FARC commander Jorge Briceño AKA "Mono Jojoy" claiming the guerilla organization helped fund Correa's 2006 election. Ecuador's government has strongly denied any ties with the FARC. The two countries severed relations last year after Colombian troops raided a guerilla base across the border.

Venezuela's former defense minister Italo del Valle Alliegro faces charges over his role in violent repression of the protests in Caracas in 1989, an affair today known as the "Caracazo." The protests, sparked by economic restructuring measures that included price rises on fuel and public transport, left hundreds dead in February 1989. The retired general denies all the charges.

Police fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters who gathered for Friday prayers at Tehran University July 17. Presiding over the prayers was Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who took the occasion to call for the release of all those arrested in the recent protests. In his first Friday sermon since the vote, he also said large numbers of Iranians still doubted the election results. (BBC News, LAT, July 17) Meanwhile, Israel has sent two Saar-class missile ships through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, in what Israeli media are calling a "message" to Tehran. (The Telegraph, July 16)