A suicide bomber struck Kandahar's historic Red Mosque (Sarra Jamai) during a mourning ceremony for Afghan President Hamid Karzai's slain half-brother, regional strongman Ahmed Wali Karzai, on July 14. The explosives were hidden in the turban of an assailant disguised as an imam. Killed in the explosion was Maulavi Hekmatullah Hekmat, head of the provincial clerical council, and at least two others, including a young child. At least 15 were injured. The mosque was filled with tribal leaders and government officials. (Indian Express, The Australian, July 15; Global Post, WP, July 14)

Pirate attacks on the world's seas totalled 266 in the first six months of 2011, up from 196 incidents in the same period last year, a report by the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) stated July 14. More than 60% of the attacks were by Somali pirates, a majority of which were in the Arabian Sea area said the report, "Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships." As of June 30, Somali pirates were holding 20 vessels and 420 crew, and demanding ransoms of millions of dollars for their release.

Gen. David Petraeus, outgoing US commander in Afghanistan, and his soon-to-be successor Lt. Gen. John Allen met with top military leaders in Pakistan July 14 to try to resolve tensions that have escalated since the May 2 slaying of Osama bin Laden. The visit comes after the US put on hold some $800 million in aid and reimbursements to Pakistan's military in response to the cancellation of visas for US military advisors. Pakistan also publicly called a stop to US drone flights from Shamsi airbase near Quetta in Baluchistan province. However, drone strikes have continued, with some 42 killed in strikes July 11-2 in North and South Waziristan. The US is said to fly drones out of two other Pakistani air bases—one near Ghazi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) and another at Jacocobad (Sindh province) known as PAF Base Shahbaz. The CIA also flies drones into Pakistan's tribal areas from Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. In an implicit acknowledgment that drone strikes will continue, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said in response to Islamabad's decision, "In some places such as the tribal regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, we will deliver precise and overwhelming force against al-Qaeda." (AP, July 14; VOA, July 12; NYT, July 9; Wired, July 1; Defense Tech, Miami Herald, June 30; FT, June 29)

Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) is on the brink of bankruptcy, media reports indicate (e.g. . LAT, July 14)—and this despite the fact that it is sitting on a proverbial sea of oil. The NTC has actually been buying fuel in Europe on credit. Last week, an unnamed "European financial company" that had provided $500 million in loans "told the council that it could no longer shoulder the risk and shut down the credit line." About $100 million donated by Qatar has nearly been spent, and $200 million promised by Turkey has yet to arrive. Several tankers loaded with fuel from Europe have left the Benghazi port without unloading after the NTC couldn't pay cash. The sprawling petrochemical complexes at Port Brega and Ras Lanuf, seized from the rebels by Qaddafi forces this spring, have been shut down. Also closed is the natural gas pipeline that normally fuels electricity production in Benghazi and other eastern cities. "That means that rebel leaders in the country that is the world's 17th-largest producer of oil must import all their fuel," the LA TImes states.

Egypt’s ruling military council announced the early retirement of more than 600 senior police officers on July 13, in a bid to appease demonstrators who have for the past six days held a new thousands-strong protest encampment in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The Interior Ministry said 18 police generals and 9 other senior officers were forced into early retirement because they were accused of killing protesters during the 18-day uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February. Additionally, 54 lower-ranking officers implicated in repression during the uprising were shifted to jobs where they would no longer interact with civilians, officials said. Mansour el-Essawy, the interior minister appointed after Mubarak’s ouster, called the moves "the biggest shake-up in the history of the police," citing popular demands "to get rid of all of the leadership that is accused of killing protesters." The new Tahrir Square occupation, led by families that lost loved ones in the repression, has adopted the slogan, "The revolution goes on!"

In a July 13 statement, Human Rights Watch called on the Iraqi government to revise a draft law it said would limit freedom of assembly and expression, in contravention both of international standards and Iraq's own constitution. The bill contains provisions that would curtail the right to protest hold demonstrations that are seen to violate the "public interest" or the "general order or public morals"—without providing any definition of those terms. Those provisions, as well as the proposed criminalization of speech that "insults" a "sacred" symbol or person, clearly violate international law, Human Rights Watch said. “This law will undermine Iraqis’ right to demonstrate and express themselves freely,” the watchdog’s deputy Middle East director, Joe Stork, said. (AFP, HRW, July 13)

Mumbai was hit by three coordinated bomb blasts during the evening rush hour on July 13, killing at least 21 people and injuring over 100, including businessmen from the city's thriving gold and jewellery trade. No organization has claimed responsibility, but authorities say they suspect the Indian Mujahedeen, a terrorist group sworn to avenge the 2002 massacre of hundreds of Muslims in the neighboring state of Gujarat (which has claimed recent attacks in New Delhi, Jaipur and elsewhere). The anniversary of the 2006 Mumbai train blasts that killed more than 180 commuters also fell this week, on July 11.

The US is violating UN laws governing torture investigations by insisting on monitoring conversations with an imprisoned army private, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez said in a press release July 12. Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking a controversial classified video of a 2007 US helicopter strike in Iraq ("Collateral Murder") and classified State Department documents on WikiLeaks last year. Manning was detained in pre-trial solitary confinement at Quantico Confinement Facility, and subsequently transferred to the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.