On June 14, Jose Luis Soberanes Fernandez, president of Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), confirmed that soldiers had raped at least two underage girls and possibly two others during an anti-drug operation in Caracuaro, Michoacan, from May 2 to May 4. Soberanes was unable to say whether the military would punish the soldiers. But he added that the "Secretariat of National Defense [SEDENA] can't be the judge and a party [in the case] at the same time." President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's campaign to use the military across the country to control organized crime has led to several abuses, including the June 1 shooting deaths of five members of an extended family—three of them children—by soldiers in Sinaloa state. "[W]hat happened in Sinaloa tells us that the army isn't prepared to take on the functions of the police," Soberanes told the press on June 14. (La Jornada, June 15)

The Chamber of Representatives of the Colombian Congress voted 62-43 the night of June 14 to approve a law recognizing civil unions. The law would allow same-sex couples to register if they have lived together for two years and are not in other marriages or civil unions. If one partner dies, the survivor would automatically inherit and would receive social security payments and other work-related benefits. The Senate is expected to approve the law and send it to rightwing president Alvaro Uribe for approval on June 19; supporters expect no obstacles from Uribe. Although some Latin American cities have recognized same-sex unions--including Mexico City last November--no country in the region has passed a national law for civil unions. (El Diario-La Prensa, NY, June 16 from AP)

On June 12, more than 150 ICE agents executed search and arrest warrants at three sites in Portland, Oregon, connected with the Fresh Del Monte company and its Portland fruit and vegetable processing facility, arresting about 165 workers and three managers. Searches were carried out at two offices of American Staffing Resources Inc, a US recruitment company responsible for staffing at the Portland Fresh Del Monte plant. A search warrant was also executed at the Fresh Del Monte office within the plant. As part of the criminal investigation, a federal grand jury in Portland has returned indictments against three individuals alleging immigration, document fraud, and identity theft offenses.

At least 35 have been killed in a suicide attack on a police bus in Kabul June 17—the deadliest attack since the Taliban regime fell. Most of the dead were instructors going to work at the city's police academy, but an undetermined number of by-standers were also among the dead. In a separate attack, a roadside bomb tore through a military vehicle in Kandahar province, killing three soldiers with the US-led coalition and an Afghan interpreter. The nationalities of the soliders were not disclosed, but the attack brings to 84 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year. (AP, AFP, June 18) On June 16, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of DynCorp contract workers in Kabul, killing at least four civilians. A US soldier opened fire on the crowd that gathered afterward, killing one more civilian and sparking an angry protest. (AP, June 16) On June 15, a suicide attack on a NATO convoy in Uruzgan province killed 10, including five children, four other civilians and a Dutch soldier. Later, a second suicide attack targeted another NATO convoy in Kandahar, wounding five civilians. (VOA, ANC, June 15)

Ehud Barak is to be approved as Israel's new Defense Minister June 17, following the resignation two days earlier of Amir Peretz in the wake of the routing of Fatah forces from the Gaza Strip and the seizure of control by Hamas there. Israeli and international media are reporting today that Barak's first order of business will be an IDF invasion of Gaza to crush Hamas' military infrastructure, and presumably remove it from power. The UK's Sunday Times quoted senior IDF sources saying the planned Gaza assault will require 20,000 troops to destroy the bulk of Hamas's military capability in a few days. The invasion is to be triggered by Hamas rocket attacks or a resumption of suicide bombings, said the newspaper, claiming Barak has already demanded detailed plans to deploy two armored divisions and an infantry division in Gaza, accompanied by assault drones and F-16 jets. The IDF expects to confront some 12,000 Hamas fighters with arms captured from Fatah in last week's clashes. (Israel Hasbara Committee, Jerusalem Post, June 17)

Work crews and police arrived early June 15 to demolish twelve more homes at the village in Karasai district outside Almaty, Kazakhstan, where an embattled Hare Krishna commune is based. "The houses were literally crushed into dust," Hare Krishna spokesperson Maksim Varfolomeyev said. "By ten o'clock it was all over." The temple remains standing, but the devotees have been ordered to destroy it. Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis said the local administration chief "doesn't care about the political damage to Kazakhstan's reputation—or to its desire to chair the OSCE." Asked to explain the latest demolitions, one local official told the Norway-based rights watchdog Forum 18: "Here in Kazakhstan the Hare Krishnas are considered to be non-traditional." (Forum 18, June 15) Ironically, the raid comes days after senior Kazakh officials arrived in Romania for an OSCE conference on combating discrimination. (Forum 18, June 6)

The government of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca apologized for the first time June 15 for a police raid on striking teachers in the central plaza of the state capital one year ago that led to Mexico's worst political unrest in years. Oaxaca Government Secretary Manuel Garcia Corpus issued the statement on behalf of Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whose refusal to negotiate with the strikers sparked the crisis. "The government of Ulises Ruiz gives the people of Oaxaca a public apology for the events that arose after the 14th," Garcia Corpus told the government news agency Notimex, refering to the police raid of June 14, 2006. (AP, June 15)

Calling a nuclear or radiological strike against New York "the ultimate nightmare scenario," New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, speaking at a DC conference on nuclear terrorism June 13, called upon Congress to pay the full $40 million price tag for a ring of radiation detectors on major arteries leading into the city. Calling the "Securing the Cities" Homeland Security pilot program "our best, last defense to keep a nuclear or dirty bomb from being detonated in New York City," Kelly asserted: "Indeed, the worldwide proliferation of the materials needed to make such weapons leads many to believe that such a scenario is a matter of when, not if."