In an effort to soften the impacts of the auto industry crisis, Mexican officials are offering financial assistance to foreign-owned companies with plants in Mexico. In the northern border state of Coahuila, the administration of Gov. Humberto Moreira announced it will give $1.5 million to General Motors in a bid to stave off more lay-offs. The aid package, which is meant to cover worker salaries, was unveiled after General Motors dismissed 600 workers at its Ramón Arizpe industrial complex in Coahuila last week.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) charges that Mexico's investigation into the shooting death of US video-journalist Brad Will presents a scientifically flawed theory that ignores PHR's conclusive findings, including the discovery that one of the bullets was a ricochet. Will died of gunshot wounds while covering protests in Oaxaca in October 2006. According to public statements made last December by Mexico's Attorney General (PGR), the PGR rejected PHR's forensic expert findings that one of the bullets that struck Will in the chest had ricocheted off a red-colored object prior to hitting him.

Retired army Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñones, a civilian and another soldier, found dead near the Caribbean resort of Cancún, were tortured before being shot, Mexican authorities say. "We have to determine where the execution took place, where the torture occurred, surely in some safe house that the criminal groups must have," said Bello Melchor Rodríguez y Carrillo, the state attorney general of Quintano Roo.

Indonesian authorities, facing international pressure, said they will allow the United Nations refugee agency access to about 400 Burmese Muslims who landed on the country's shores over the past month to help verify their claims of persecution. The decision announced Feb. 6 comes days after a boat carrying nearly 200 men belonging to Burma's Rohingya minority was discovered off Sumatra. Another boat, also with about 200 Rohingya aboard, was discovered in early January.

Australia has claimed a blow against a home-grown terrorist cell, with the conviction and sentencing of Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, of the Melbourne suburb of Dallas, and a group of five followers. Benbrika received a maximum term of 15 years, but two of his followers will be eligible for parole in 15 months. Justice Bernard Bongiorno said Benbrika formed the group, known as "Jemaa" for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad "The jemaah would achieve this by acts of terrible violence in this country, or perhaps elsewhere," Justice Bongiorno said.

As fighting continues unabated in Sri Lanka, Amnesty International has called upon the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to immediately declare a temporary truce and create humanitarian corridors to allow more than a quarter million trapped civilians to escape the war zone and also let food, water and medical assistance reach those civilians who cannot leave.

Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the new president of Somalia's transition government, responded Feb. 5 to the formation of a new alliance of rebel factions, asking the opposition leaders to lay down their arms and join the government. "We are requesting our brothers to work with us in restoring peace and unity," he said, adding that he is willing to open a dialogue with all opponents and would welcome their participation in government.

The US Treasury Department Feb. 4 branded the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), which is waging a low-level guerilla insurgency in the Kurdish regions of Iran, as a terrorist organization. The group is a front for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting the Turkish government for 25 years, said Stuart Levey, US Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Levey said PJAK's armed wing, the East Kurdistan Defense Forces, had recently been recalled to Iraqi territory on the orders of the PKK, in apparent move to bring them under greater control. (Reuters, Feb. 4)