Daily Report
Mexico: guerillas bomb pipelines
Honda, Nissan, Hershey's, Kellogg, Grupo Modelo and other multinational companies temporarily shut their plants in western Mexico after rebels attacked a key natural gas pipeline. The Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) guerrillas claimed responsibility for the explosions. The government ordered an increase in security at "strategic installations" across Mexico. The state monopoly Pemex said an explosion July 10 and two more last week affected different sections of the same pipeline linking Mexico City to Guadalajara. The explosions forced the evacuation of some communities but caused no injuries. In a statement July 10, the EPR said it was waging a "prolonged people's war" against "the anti-popular government."
Afghanistan: the new Iraq?
A suicide bomber targeted a NATO patrol in a marketplace filled with children in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province July 10, killing 13 elementary-school students and at least four other people. Eight Dutch soldiers and at least 35 Afghans were wounded. The Taliban claimed responsibility. (Seattle Times, July 11) Meanwhile, three Afghan police officers and a civilian truck driver were killed when Taliban guerillas attacked the police vehicle with machine-gun fire in Paktia province. (News24, South Africa, July 11)
Iran: execution by stoning for adultery
The Iranian government confirmed July 11 that a man was executed by stoning last week for adultery, and that 20 more men would be executed in the coming days on morality violations. The stoning of Jaffar Kiani, 47, was carried out near the city of Takestan, despite a stay of execution order by the chief of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi. "The verdict was final, and so it was carried out for the man but not for the woman," the ISNA news agency quoted a judiciary spokesman as saying. He said the 20 more executions were for "rape, insulting religious sanctities and laws, and homosexuality." Local newspaper Etemad Melli said: "Villagers said the sentence was carried out by the local judge and authorities." Most executions in Iran are hangings, often in public at the alleged crime scenes. Police arrested some 1,000 in May during a morality crackdown. Fifteen more men are being tried and could receive death sentences. (NYT, July 11)
Srebrenica: 12 years later, still no justice
July 11 marks the twelfth anniversary of the massacre of some 8,000 Muslims at the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, and little has changed for the survivors who continue to wait for a modicum of justice. Up to 30,000 survivors are expected to attend a religious ceremony and funeral at the memorial cemetery outside the town, where the remains of more than 2,400 of those killed are already buried. Another 465—retrieved from mass graves and identified by DNA analysis—will be laid to rest at the ceremony, including the remains of a 75-year-old woman. The other victims were males, aged between 13 and 77. The UN's chief war crimes prosecutor for ex-Yugoslavia Carla Del Ponte is among those expected to attend, while another 2,000 survivors have set off on a four-day symbolic march to the town. Srebrenica is the only episode of the Bosnian war that has been ruled an "act of genocide" by the UN war crimes tribunal and the International Court of Justice, both based at The Hague. However, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, the two men considered most responsible for the massacre, remain at large. (AFP, July 11)
Pakistan: US-approved state terror
Gee, just what Musharraf needs—the State Department weighing in for his repression, augmenting the (accurate) perception that he is Washington's toady. Don't they have enough sense to keep quiet? This brings Pakistan one step closer to an Islamist coup, which has been long in the making... From Pakistan's Daily Times, July 11:
US backs mosque action
The US State Department backed Pakistan’s decision to storm Lal Masjid in Islamabad on Tuesday.
NYC: "surveillance veil" for Lower Manhattan
This reminds us of an old R. Cobb cartoon. From the New York Times, July 9:
New York Plans Surveillance Veil for Downtown
By the end of this year, police officials say, more than 100 cameras will have begun monitoring cars moving through Lower Manhattan, the beginning phase of a London-style surveillance system that would be the first in the United States.
Afghanistan: dissident journalists arrested
From Reporters Without Borders (RSF), via the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), July 6:
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrests of two journalists by intelligence officers in the past six days. Both Mohammad Asif Nang, editor of the government magazine Peace Jirga, and Kamran Mir Hazar, editor of the Kabul Press website, had been critical of the government.
Iraq: foreign minister warns of civil war
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned July 9 against a quick withdrawal of US troops. Zebari said Iraqis "understand the huge pressure that will increase more and more in the United States" ahead of the progress report by the US ambassador and top commanders in Iraq. "We have held discussion with members of Congress and explained to them the dangers of a quick pull out from Iraq and leaving a security vacuum. The dangers could be a civil war, dividing the country, regional wars and the collapse of the state... In our estimations, until Iraqi forces are ready, there is a responsibility on the United States to stand with the government as the forces are being built."
Recent Updates
15 hours 24 min ago
15 hours 43 min ago
16 hours 12 min ago
2 days 16 hours ago
2 days 16 hours ago
2 days 16 hours ago
3 days 23 hours ago
3 days 23 hours ago
3 days 23 hours ago
4 days 18 min ago