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)

Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante—known as "Rasguño," or "Scratch"—alleged head of Colombia's Norte del Valle cocaine cartel, has been extradited to the US to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. He was flown by helicopter July 19 from the Combita maximum security prison to an air base near Bogota, where he was turned over to DEA agents. Norte del Valle rose to become Colombia's most powerful narco mafia after the dismantling of the Medellin and Cali cartels in the 1990s. Colonel Cesar Pinzon, head of Colombia's Judicial Police (DIJIN), called Gomez the "capo of capos." The DEA says he was the source up to 60% of all cocaine consumed in the US. Gomez got his nickname when he laughed off a bullet wound to his cheek as "just a scratch." He was first arrested in Cuba in July 2004 after entering on a false passport, and returned to Colombia six months ago. (BBC, 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.

The carcinogen asbestos has been found in dust and debris hurled into midtown Manhattan by an evening rush-hour Con Edison steam pipe explosion July 18. The blast at 41st Street and Lexington Ave. opened a 25-foot car-swallowing crater in the asphalt and sent a column of steam hundreds of feet into the air—initially sparking fears of a terrorist attack. Said witness Debbie Tontodonato to Newsday: "We panicked. I think everyone thought the worst. Thank God it wasn't." But this statement just demonstrates how much horror New Yorkers have come to view as acceptable in this uneasy age. Forty-four were injured in the blast, and Lois Baumerich, of Hawthorne, NJ, died of cardiac arrest.

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).

Turkey's military has waged a cross-border incursion into Iraq, bombarding northern areas of the country with artillery and warplanes, the Iraqi government charged July 19. The claim comes amid mounting Turkish threats to strike bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been launching attacks against targets in Turkey from sanctuaries in Iraq.