The Mexican Catholic bishops' conference issued a statement criticizing federal police for bursting into a Mass to apprehend an alleged cartel lieutenant Aug. 3. "We make an energetic protest against the lack of respect and the violence exercised on the part of the forces responsible for guaranteeing the security of all persons in our nation...by interrupting a religious act...at the moment in which holy Mass is celebrated," the bishops said in a statement signed by Auxiliary Bishop Jose Gonzalez Gonzalez of Guadalajara, conference secretary-general. "Nothing explains this kind of action inside a religious place and much less in these moments where Mexico is noted internationally as an insecure and violent country." (Catholic News Service, Aug. 4)

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, intervened to block release of a favorable report on Mexico's human rights situation. Leahy's action delays the release of $100 million in US anti-drug assistance. The Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion, three-year package, requires Congress to withhold 15% of the funding unless the State Department finds that Mexico is respecting human rights.

A Roma woman, Maria Balogh, was shot dead and her 13-year-old daughter gravely injured when their house in the village of Kisleta, Hungary, was attacked early Aug. 3—the latest in a series of attacks on Roma. She was the sixth victim of what police believe is an armed gang targeting members of Hungary's large Roma community. The other victims killed over the past year were similarly slain in night attacks on their homes, apparently without any provocation. (BBC News, Aug. 7; NYT, Aug. 3)

Chinese authorities released a letter Aug. 3 purportedly written by relatives of the exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer blaming her for last month's deadly unrest in Xinjiang. "Because of you, so many innocent people lost their lives in Urumqi on July 5," the letter says, the Xinhua news agency says. A friend and associate of Kadeer based in Germany said the letter was a forgery. China has blamed Kadeer for the violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese in which the government says nearly 200 people were killed. Kadeer denies the charges. (NYT, Aug. 3)

Pakistan's Supreme Court adjourned a hearing Aug. 3 on whether to re-arrest Hafiz Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group said to have been behind last year's Mumbai attacks. Detained after the attacks, Saeed was released in June because of lack of evidence. The government appealed the release, but the hearing on the appeal was adjourned because the attorney general was not prepared for the case. No new date was set. (Reuters, Aug. 4) Meanwhile, two men and a woman convicted of the 2003 Mumbai attacks will be executed by hanging, an Indian court ruled Aug. 6. Indian investigators linked those attacks as well to Lashkar-e-Taiba. (NYT, Aug. 6)

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) again raided the West Bank village of Bil'in in the wee hours of Aug. 3, arresting seven Palestinians and one US solidarity activist. The force wearing combat paint and masks invaded several homes. Two Palestinian youths were among those arrested, as was Mohammad Khatib of the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. The home of another member of the Popular Committee was raided, but soldiers could not arrest him because he was not present. The raid is the latest of several that Israeli forces have carried out in Bil'in since June.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) last week announced they are conducting criminal investigations into charges of intentional misconduct by their soldiers during December and January's fighting in the Gaza Strip. In a report seeking "to place the Gaza Operation in its proper factual and legal context," the IDF said that they are currently investigating 13 allegations against IDF personnel, including pillaging Palestinian homes, mistreating detainees, and using civilians as human shields.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered embassies to use a photo of Adolf Hitler's 1941 meeting with the Mufti of Jerusalem to counter international criticism over a Jerusalem settlement project, a senior official told AFP July 22. "The foreign minister ordered the distribution of the photo to all embassies abroad as a response to the Shepherd Hotel incident in order to prove a well-known point that the mufti collaborated with Hitler," the official said on condition of anonymity. Foreign Ministry staff apparently opposed the move.