AllAfrica.com runs a story from Nigeria's Abuja Daily Trust on the insistence of Niger's President Mamadou Tandja, has dismissed reports that his country is experiencing a famine. "The people of Niger look well-fed as you can see," he told the BBC. He acknowledged there are food shortages in some areas following poor rains and locust invasions, but said this was not unusual for his country. (How comforting.) Tandja said the idea of a famine was being exploited for political and economic gains by opposition parties and the United Nations. The World Food Programme denied that the scale of the problem had been exaggerated.

In a London Times opinion piece Aug. 11, "Muslims unite! A new Reformation will bring your faith into the modern era," author Salman Rushdie begins by applauding Sir Iqbal Sacranie, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, for admitting that "our own children" had perpetrated the 7-7 London bombings. Rushdie writes "it was the first time in my memory that a British Muslim had accepted his community's responsibility for outrages committed by its members. Instead of blaming US foreign policy or 'Islamophobia', Sacranie described the bombings as a 'profound challenge' for the Muslim community." But Rushdie notes that this is the same Sacranie who, in 1989, said that "Death is perhaps too easy" for the author of The Satanic Verses (i.e. Rushdie, then facing a fatwa ordering his assassination by Iranian mullahs). Rushdie protests Tony Blair's decision to knight Sacranie and treat him as the acceptable face of "moderate" Islam, calling the move "either a sign of his Government's penchant for religious appeasement or a demonstration of how limited Mr Blair's options really are."

A Taliban spokesman called Hakimi said guerillas destroyed a US military vehicle Aug. 9 in Ghazni Province. "The Americans suffered loss of life in the attack," Hakimi said. US military sources acknowledged that a vehicle was destroyed by an improvised explosive device in Ghani, injuring two servicemen. Meanwhile in northern Faryab Province, leaflets have been distributed warning female candidates against running in the September parliamentary elections, the Mazar-i-Sharif daily Sahar reported.

Kosovo's Albanian-led interim regime has issued a "Plan B" for administrative decentralization following the recent rejection of the original pilot project by local Serb leaders. Kosovo's minister for local self-government, Lutfi Haziri, said Serb objections had been taken into account, compromising on the boundaries of internal districts. The government gave Serb political leaders until Aug. 10 to say whether they will accept the revised plan. If they reject it, the government will revert to its original pilot project. But Oliver Ivanovic, a leader of the Serbian Lists for Kosovo and Metohija, said that Serb representatives do not recognize any deadline for reaching their decision. (RFE/RL Newsline, Aug. 10) Kosovo's government is under international pressure to do more for minority rights and democracy before a decision on whether "final status" talks can start this year. A major issue is decentralising power to Serbs, who live in enclaves guarded by NATO-led peacekeepers. (Reuters, Aug. 10)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline reports Aug. 10 that three opposition parties—the Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, and a wing of the Socialist Party—issued a statement protesting limitations on freedom of the press in Tajikistan. The statement said that "political pluralism and freedom of speech, guaranteed by the constitution, have been subjected to pressure and risk over the past few years," noting the closure of the independent newspapers Ruzi Nav and Nerui Sukhan in the run-up to February 2005 parliamentary elections. On the day the statement was released, police arrested Nurali Mirzoev, an employee at an Internet cafe in Dushanbe, the capital, and charged him with membership in the outlawed Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir. Police also confiscated Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets and discovered the texts of the leaflets stored on computers at the cafe.

The Washington Post reports Aug. 8 that the Pentagon "has devised its first-ever war plans for guarding against and responding to terrorist attacks in the United States, envisioning 15 potential crisis scenarios and anticipating several simultaneous strikes around the country, according to officers who drafted the plans."

The Cuban government welcomed a decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to retry five Cubans convicted of spying. The five were sentenced four years ago to at least 15 years in prison on charges of spying on US military installations and exiles. However, the appeals court found that the original trial was unfair, citing a biased atmosphere against the Cuban regime in the Miami area. Cuba has campaigned intensively for the men's release, calling them the "Five Heroes." Last month, a United Nations panel also questioned the impartiality of the verdict and called the sentences unduly harsh.

Cindy Sheehan of California, mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan, killed in action in Baghdad, April 4, 2004, has written an open letter to George Bush, and is currently maintaining a vigil at the gates of Bush's ranch in Crawford, TX, where he is vacationing. Cindy is demanding that he explain to her, face-to-face, why her son had to die. Casey has been outside the ranch for fours days now, and Bush is refusing to come out. Cindy says she's staying until Bush talks to her or leaves Texas.