The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions announced in Geneva that it will review the arrests of followers of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) in Mexico. On the eve of leaving for the Working Group's session in Geneva, president of the Center for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples (CEDHAPI), Maurilio Santiago Reyes, told a press conference in Oaxaca City, "The UN will come to realize...that activists were detained arbitrarily, beaten and tortured physically and psychologically." (La Jornada, Sept. 10) The state of Oaxaca has agreed to create a special fund to indemnify victims of torture and illegal arrest. The move was taken in response to Recommendation 15/2007 issued by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). (La Jornada, Sept. 12)

From CBS News, Sept. 15:

Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown Washington on Saturday, clashing with police at the foot of the Capitol steps where more than 190 protesters were arrested...

This gives new meaning to the phrase "Where you stand depends on where you sit." No "global warming skeptics" in Tuvalu! From Reuters, Sept. 13:

SEOUL — The tiny Pacific island state of Tuvalu on Thursday urged the rest of the world to do more to combat global warming before it sinks beneath the ocean.

Talk about a vicious cycle. Global warming opens the long-sought Northwest Passage, which will mean easier access to the Arctic and its resources (including oil), thereby exacerbating...global warming. It should also exacerbate the geopolitical struggle over the far north. Russian authorities have already announced they will open new ports on the Arctic Sea as major petroleum hubs for the 21st century. (Barents Observer, Sept. 11) From Science Daily, Sept. 14:

In a blow to the auto industry, US Judge William K. Sessions III ruled Sept. 12 that the state of Vermont can set limits on car emissions that contribute to global warming, rejecting arguments that only the federal government can regulate the industry. The EPA has so far refused to demand a curb in emissions linked to global warming. In 2002, California passed a law requiring automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 22% by 2012, and 30% by 2016. Vermont followed suit with its own such law in 2005, as have a handful of other states. Automakers took the individual states to court, arguing that the laws usurpsed federal authority. But Sessions wrote: "The regulation does not impermissibly intrude upon the foreign affairs prerogatives of the president and Congress of the United States."

Rebel commanders in Darfur are urging Abdel Wahid el-Nur, founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), to agree to go to peace talks with the Sudanese government slated to open at the end of October in Libya under the auspices of the UN and the African Union. "We want him to come and state his demands at the negotiating table," Jar el Neby, an SLA commander, told Reuters. "His refusal to participate in the negotiations does not serve our cause." Abu Bakr Kadu, a commander with the SLA Unity faction, told Reuters: "We do not agree with Abdel Wahid's position on the negotiations." Last week the vice president of the government of semi-autonomous southern Sudan, Riek Machar, visited Nur in Paris in an attempt to persuade him to join the peace process.

Tuareg guerillas opened fire with AK-47s on a US Hercules military aircraft flying in supplies for Malian troops pinned down at Tin-Zawatine near the border with Algeria Sept. 12. There were no casualties and the plane managed to return to base at Mali's capital, Bamako. But this represents the first time that the US military force in Mali, ostensibly introduced to counter Islamist militants, has become embroiled in the Tuareg conflict. "It was not a normal event. We do not do this day to day," said Major John Dorrian, spokesman for the US European Command that also covers Africa. But he would not rule out the prospect of providing similar support in future. "Any such request would be handled on a case-by-case basis," he said.

First, the basic facts from the New York Times, Sept. 14:

Sunni Sheik Who Backed U.S. in Iraq Is Killed
BAGHDAD, Sept. 13 — A high-profile Sunni Arab sheik who collaborated with the American military in the fight against jihadist militants in western Iraq was killed in a bomb attack on Thursday near his desert compound. The attack appeared to be a precisely planned assassination meant to undermine one of the Bush administration’s trumpeted achievements in the war.