Colombian bounty hunters shot and killed one of three hippopotami which escaped from a private zoo owned by the late Medellín Cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. The hippos broke out of the zoo, on the drug lord's Hacienda Napoles in Antioquia department, in 2006 and thrived in the nearby Magdalena River. Officials say the animals are a threat to people and crops, and that all three have to be destroyed. Colombian TV broadcast images of the carcass of the fully grown male hippo, surrounded by hunters and soldiers. Animal rights groups reacted angrily to the killing. "They could have been captured and kept in a safe place until a permanent refuge was found for them," said Marcela Ramírez of the local Animal Protection Network.

Heavily armed gunmen tossed grenades and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles on Mexican federal police bases and checkpoints in the state capital of Morelia and in five other towns in Michoacán in the wee hours of July 11, immediately after the arrest of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, an alleged high-ranking member of La Familia drug cartel. Attacks were reported in Zitácuaro, Lázaro Cárdenas, Pátzcuaro, Taretan, Huetamo and Apatzingan—where assailants shot up a hotel where federal agents were staying. Five federal police agents and two soldiers were killed, with several more injured.

Followers of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and Section 22 teachers' union marched in Oaxaca City earlier this month to protest the imprisonment of local activist Juan Manuel Martìnez Moreno in the 2006 slaying of New York video journalist Brad Will. Judge Salvador Cordero Colmenares issued an order June 20, condemning Martìnez Moreno to prison while the case against him is pending. An appeals court judge, Rosa Ilena Noriega Pèrez, on July 2 refused to issue an amparo, or judicial order protecting Martìnez Moreno pending further investigation—despite a history of serious irregularities in the case.

CIA director Leon Panetta met Philippine President Gloria Arroyo July 12 for a closed-door security meeting—days after the UN World Food Program suspended aid work in Mindanao in response to a wave of deadly bombings. Panetta's visit came just hours after Islamist militants in conflicted region freed an Italian Red Cross worker they had held for six months.

In an extraordinary session at Irbil, the parliament of Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) voted July 9 to postpone a referendum scheduled later this month on the autonomous region's controversial constitution. The referendum was to be held on July 25 simultaneously with the region's parliamentary elections. Parliament speaker Adnan Mufti admitted the decision not to hold the referendum simultaneously with the parliamentary elections "has been influenced by the bad publicity the constitution has received in Baghdad." Shi'ite and Sunni Arab politicians in Baghdad have criticized the draft Kurdish constitution— which has been approved by the Kurdish legislature—as having "secessionist" tendencies.

A blogger on Daily Kos a few days ago promoted a petition to make July 11 "Peak Oil Day," a crusade apparently launched by peakster Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute. Why July 11? Heinberg, quoted at length in the post, explains:

On July 11, 2008, the price of a barrel of oil hit a record $147.27 in daily trading. That same month, world crude oil production achieved a record 74.8 million barrels per day.

The remains of 534 identified victims of the July 11, 1995 Srebrenica massacre were buried in a ceremony attended by tens of thousands of relatives and survivors at the Potocari Memorial Park outside the town in eastern Bosnia on the 14th anniversary of Europe's worst atrocity since World War II. The bodies, which had been unearthed from mass graves, were buried alongside nearly 3,300 others at the memorial site. The victims were aged between 14 and 72 at the time of their deaths. Forensic experts have now identified more than 6,000 of the estimated 8,000 victims of the massacre through DNA analysis. The memorial opened in 2003 as a final resting place for remains uncovered from some 70 mass graves.

Some 4,000 supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya blocked the main road linking Tegucigalpa with San Pedro Sula and the north of Honduras for two hours July 10. Juan Barahona, leader of the Popular Bloc that organized the action, pledged to keep up the protests until Zelaya is returned to power. Campesino leader Rafael Alegría said "we will maintain these actions as long as the dialogue in San José continues." Pro-Zelaya protests were also held in San Pedro Sula, Choluteca and Puerto Cortés. A teachers' strike in protest of the coup has closed pubic schools and universities. Supporters of de facto President Roberto Micheletti in the Civil Democratic Union also announced rallies the be held over the weekend against the return of Zelaya. (AFP, July 10)