In the Ramadan spirit
The holy month of Ramadan begins across most of the Muslim world today (it began yesterday in Nigeria and Libya) with day-long fasts punctuated by nightly eating and revelry.Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
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In keeping with the spirit of the holy month, US authorities in Iraq have announced that they will begin releasing 50 to 80 detainees per day from facilities within the country in a month-long amnesty.
Thailand yesterday announced that it would suspend its tough curfew restrictions on residents of districts in the south of the country to allow them to better observe Ramadan. Residents in three insurgency-hit districts have been confined to their homes after 8pm since March. Officials also suggested the curfew would be lifted permanently should violence decrease during the course of the month.
Ebraham Murad, leader of the Philippine separatist organisation the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has said that his group would be willing to enter into negotiations over the stalled peace process in the south of the country. Manila is keen to use the calming force of Ramadan to pursue diplomatic options with the insurgent group. At the same time, the Philippines is spending $150 million to upgrade its Vietnam-era fleet of aircraft and helicopters.
Intelligence chief gaffe
Mike McConnell, the US director of national intelligence, has apologised for erroneously suggesting that information used in the prevention of planned terrorist attacks in Germany last week was collected under authorities provided by the controversial Protect America Act, the anti-terrorism bill much maligned by human rights activists and civil libertarians in the United States.
Al-Qaida kill Sunni ally of US
Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, a Sunni potentate who led the US-backed "Anbar Awakening" initiative against al-Qaida forces in the Sunni heartland of Iraq, has been killed by a roadside bomb in the town of Ramadi. His death will come as a blow to attempts to turn local fighters against al-Qaida in Iraq, an effort that is one of the lynchpins of the current counter-insurgency strategy in the country.
Ibrahim al-Shammari, head of the Islamic Army in Iraq, has expressed willingness to negotiate a truce with US and Iraqi forces. His group was formerly allied with al-Qaida but is turning away from the extremists, many of whom are not Iraqis. Both groups have been engaged in a military and propaganda feud in recent months.
The Council on Foreign Relations explains how security statistics are gathered and used by the Bush administration in understanding Iraq.
Oil law collapse
Thanks to feuding between the Iraqi oil ministry and officials in the Kurdish regional government, a laboriously negotiated oil law is on the verge of collapse. Baghdad was angered by the Kurds' implementation of regional laws which the oil ministry claims are illegal.
The tenuous negotiations around the oil law also had important ramifications for the hotly contested city of Kirkuk. Sheth Jerjis and Kani Xulam debate the future of the city on toD.
Genocide in Ogaden?
Rebels in the ethnic Somali region of Ogaden in Ethiopia claim that an "African genocide" is unfolding in the restive province, and that the United Nations fact-finding team dispatched to Ogaden must be allowed unfettered access. Currently, the UN team is only allowed to tour areas selected by the government.
Somalia's transitional government has dismissed a coalition of opposition groups that recently announced plans to militarily and politically challenge Mogadishu as a "terrorist alliance".
Tuareg flak for US plane
Tuareg rebels fired on an American plane flying food supplies to Malian troops fighting the insurgents in the desert. US embassy officials denied that an American serviceman had been injured.
Swiss call their own system "raciste"
An official Swiss government report has called the country's naturalisation laws "racist" and discriminatory towards Muslim immigrants. In particular, the report was critical of the practice of putting citizenship applications up for communal vote - a process rife with the possibility for racist distortion.
Capital crime
An Indian court has upheld the death sentence of a Pakistani man, Mohammad Arif, involved in the attacks on the Red Fort in New Delhi in 2000 that left three people dead.
