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."

At the recent African Union summit in Accra, Senegalese music star Youssou N'Dour—recently selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential personalities in the world—voiced support for the idea of a United States of Africa, and said he would run for the united continent's first president. "Apart from all demagogy, I solemnly announce my candidacy for leading the future African government," he said to thunderous applause. "I'm aware of the enormous stakes connected to this issue, and I have the required capacities." (Echorouk Online, Algeria, June 28)

From Reporters Without Borders (RSF), via the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), July 6:

RSF deplores President Rafael Correa's verbal attacks on the press and above all his decision not to give any more news conferences. The aggressivity of some of the news media towards him is undeniable, but he should try to defuse the tension between the press and the government, RSF said.

Boy does this sum up everything which is wrong with the USA. Apart from the charming touch of cops brutalizing a woman old enough to be their grandma, is the absurdity of mandatory water-profligance in the middle of a desert. From the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, July 5:

Woman, 70, shackled for dry lawn
OREM, Utah — A 70-year-old woman who said she couldn’t afford to water her brown, sickly lawn was briefly jailed Friday after refusing to accept a ticket for violating a city ordinance.

On June 14, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization approved by consensus a resolution calling on the US government "to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that will allow the Puerto Rican people fully to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence," and requesting that the UN General Assembly "consider the question of Puerto Rico comprehensively in all its aspects." The resolution, presented by Cuba and co-sponsored by Venezuela, "[r]eiterates that the Puerto Rican people constitute a Latin American and Caribbean nation that has its own unequivocal national identity." (El Nuevo Dia, San Juan, June 14; Text of Draft Resolution, June 11; UN Department of Public Information News and Media Division, June 14)

More than 100,000 people filled the giant Zocalo plaza in downtown Mexico City on July 1 for the third National Democratic Convention (CND) called by former mayor and center-left 2006 presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Current president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa was officially declared the winner in the July 2, 2006 elections by a narrow margin in a victory not accepted by Lopez Obrador or his followers. In the July 1 gathering Lopez Obrador called on his followers not to compromise with Calderon, not to accept his program for "fiscal reform" and not to accept "reform" of the Law of State Workers Social Security and Services Institute (ISSSTE). (La Jornada, July 2)

Jorge Noguera, former chief of Colombia's secret police, was arrested on charges of colluding with illegal paramilitaries July 7. Noguera, freed from prison three months ago because of procedural errors, was ordered detained again by Colombia's chief prosecutor, Mario Iguaran on charges of colluding with the paras—including providing them with information that led to several slayings. Noguera, who ran Colombia's Administrative Security Department (DAS) from 2002 to 2005, is the closest ally to President Alvaro Uribe to be imprisoned in connection with the scandal linking Colombia's political class to paramilitary forces responsible for some of the nation's worst atrocities. (LAT, BBC, July 7)

Millions marched in cities across Colombia July 5 to demand the release of all the estimated 300 captives in the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and other armed groups, and that the remains be turned over of 11 lawmakers recently killed while in the FARC's hands. At midday, nearly the entire country came to a halt for five minutes as bells, sirens and cries sounded in unison. The protests were led by President Alvaro Uribe.