Turkey's military has waged a cross-border incursion into Iraq, bombarding northern areas of the country with artillery and warplanes, the Iraqi government charged July 19. The claim comes amid mounting Turkish threats to strike bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been launching attacks against targets in Turkey from sanctuaries in Iraq.

Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Gulerhas announced his government will invest $3.5 billion in Iran's South Pars gas field starting from 2008, a week after signing a deal to use Iran as a transit route for gas from Turkmenistan to European markets. Ankara also made clear that it sees Iran as a potential partner for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, conceived as a means of diversifying gas supplies to Europe. Washington has voiced its opposition to the memorandum of understanding between Turkey and Iran. In an interview with NTV news this week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the deal, adding that "Turkey thinks of its own interests and the US will eventually understand this." (Press TV, July 19)

Remember when this kind of thing was science fiction? From AP, July 16:

Pilotless Robot Bomber Squadron Heads for Afghanistan, Iraq
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq — The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It's outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.

Police fired tear gas to prevent hundreds of protesters from reaching the venue of an international Guelaguetza folk festival in Oaxaca July 16, in the worst outbreak of violence in the conflicted southern Mexican city since November. Protesters hurled rocks and burned vehicles as they marched towards the stadium where the festival is slated to open July 23.

From the US Labor Against the War (USLAW) and Oil Change International, July 16:

Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions Draws Line in the Sand
Basra, Iraq – Today hundreds of Iraqis, led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), took to the streets of Basra to demand that the Iraqi Parliament reject the proposed Oil Law. Simultaneous demonstrations took place in Amara and Nassiryya. Local governate officials made statements in support of the demonstration and, along with the governor of Basra, have committed to sending letters to the Minister of Oil supporting the Union's demands.

Decades of negotiations between Ottawa and the Cree First Nation of northern Quebec ended July 16 with the unveiling of a $1.4-billion agreement to settle outstanding lawsuits and finally enact a 1975 treaty that stalled shortly after it was signed. The agreement, running through 2027, will give the Cree control over millions of dollars to improve local services. It will also open a new set of negotiations to finalize the structure of the Cree Nation's local government. The agreement is subject to ratification on both sides, including a vote by the 16,500 Cree that is expected to be complete by the fall.

International inspectors July 15 confirmed that North Korea had shut down the nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon research facility, the fruit of a painstaking diplomatic effort in which the DPRK will immediately start receiving oil aid from South Korea. (WP, Reuters, July 12) The following day, a 6.8 earthquake in Niigata prefecture, Japan, caused a fire and leak of radioactive water into the sea at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, run by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), is the world's largest commercial nuclear plant. Japan has a fast-growing nuclear industry, with 55 plants operating and another 11 planned. Nuclear power currently provides a third of the country's energy, but Tokyo plans to boost this to 40%. The plans are opposed by environmentalists and local residents who say the government is inviting disaster by building so many reactors in a seismically unstable country. (The Independent, Reuters, July 17)

Some 5,000 Israelis participated in a march around Jerusalem's Temple Mount July 15, in a monthly event led by Orthodox Jewish groups dedicated to the rebuilding of a Jewish temple on the site. The march usually draws far smaller numbers, but this one was held just one week before the Ninth of Av, the Hebrew calendar date when the First and Second Temples were destroyed by the Babylonians and Romans, respectively, a day of national mourning and fasting in Israel. (Israel Today, July 16) Meanwhile, in a bizarre reversal of recent controversies surrounding the Temple Mount, Jews protested an archaeological dig at the site approved by the Islamic overseers of the Haram al-Sharif. From the Jerusalem Post, July 15: