IRAQ

Iraqi Counterterrorism Capabilities Expanding - William Selby, AFPS

An Iraqi organization tasked with consolidating and coordinating that country’s counterterrorism effort is now capable of conducting unilateral missions, a US military official said yesterday. “[The Iraqi National Counterterrorism Force’s] primary mission is to synchronize and focus all elements of Iraqi national power to defeat terrorism here in Iraq,” US Army Brig. Gen. Simeon Trombitas, director of the Iraqi National Counterterrorism Force Transition Team, told online journalist and bloggers. The Iraqi unit was formed in 2003 and has since been trained by US Special Forces soldiers, Trombitas said. While US forces still train with the specialized Iraqi force and conduct missions with the Iraqis, they’re now capable of running their own missions with limited US help, he said. “They’re comfortable, at this point in time, doing unilateral operations, even without some of our enablers,” Trombitas explained. “I think that they’re well on the road to conducting the majority of their operations.” Trombitas attributed the Iraqis’ capability to the high level of training they receive from US Special Forces soldiers.

Oil Exports From Northern Iraq Rise Sharply - Sabrina Tavernese, New York Times

An American agency monitoring reconstruction in Iraq said Friday that oil exports through Iraq’s northern pipeline rose more than tenfold over the past year, citing a sharp drop in attacks on the pipeline and new infrastructure built to protect it. The agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said in a report for release on Saturday that there had been no insurgent attacks on the pipeline, which exports crude oil from northern Iraq to Turkey, since the American infrastructure project began last July.

Let the Oil Deals Flow - Raad Alkadiri, Washington Post opinion

Reports that a number of international oil companies are on the brink of signing contracts with Iraq have prompted a furious reaction in certain parts of the media and on Capitol Hill. The deals have been widely characterized as no-bid contracts, implying that Big Oil has somehow used its political clout to muscle in on Iraq and renewing suspicion that the whole US intervention in Iraq was primarily a grab for natural resources. In the Senate, senior Democrats have argued that the contracts would heighten Iraq's sectarian tensions, and those lawmakers are threatening to cut financing for some nonmilitary programs in Iraq if the deals go ahead without prior passage of new hydrocarbons legislation. These are gross mischaracterizations of the Iraqi contracts.

Maliki Wants Christians to Return - Parker and Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki asked Pope Benedict XVI in a meeting Friday in Italy to encourage Iraqi Christians who have fled their country to return, citing the improved security situation. He also invited the pontiff to visit Iraq. "I... appealed to his holiness to encourage Christians who left the country to go back and be part of the social structure of Iraq again," Maliki told reporters after his session with the pope at the pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

Banished From Beijing - Washington Post editorial

When Iraq's Olympic team paraded at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, the head of the country's Olympic Committee was Uday Hussein, the notoriously sadistic son of dictator Saddam Hussein. Uday made Baghdad's Olympic facilities the headquarters for his own epic feats of rape, torture and murder; among those he brutalized were athletes on the national team who failed to live up to his expectations. His may have been the foulest abuse of a national Olympic movement in history. Yet the International Olympic Committee found a way to live with Uday, just as it has tolerated the manipulations of sports teams by totalitarian governments around the world -- including this year's host, China. Funny, then, that the IOC would have decided to ban Iraq's seven-member Olympic team from this year's Games -- a punishment that in recent decades has been imposed only on apartheid South Africa and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The reason cited by the Lausanne-based agency: "political interference in the Olympic movement," an offense that the IOC did not detect in Iraq when Saddam Hussein's son was in charge.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

US Marines Take On the Taliban - Anna Mulrine, US News and World Report

At this spartan combat outpost in the heart of Helmand province, US Marines are preparing for what may be their toughest fight yet. Under the cover of darkness, they will push out to take up positions for a battle that they hope will break up a key Taliban stronghold in what is currently one of the most dangerous regions in the country. For the moment, though, their job is to rest up and dodge the 124-degree heat, waiting for the go-ahead while they attend to the rituals of war in the windy high desert. Marines sleep outside on the ground or on the hoods of humvees parked in the middle of opium poppy fields. Sand penetrates everything, so Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Justin Carter cleans his bullets with baby wipes to make sure they are free from grit that could cause his rifle to jam. Cpl. Brandon Karana, a forward scout and former logger, pulls his rifle apart and scrubs it with a toothbrush. He holds it up to inspect his handiwork. "I hope I don't have to fire this thing," he says.

Rebels Could Win Pakistan's Nuke Haven - Bruce Loudon, The Australian

A crisis meeting of Pakistan's new coalition Government has been warned that it could lose control of the North West Frontier Province, which is believed to hold most of its nuclear arsenal. The warning came yesterday from the coalition leader, who, although he is part of the new Government, is regarded as having the closest links to al-Qa'ida and Taliban militants sweeping through the region. Maulana Fazlur Rehman bluntly told his colleagues: "The North West Frontier province is breaking away from Pakistan. That is what is happening. That is the reality." This came just days before new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's scheduled meeting with US President George W. Bush to discuss al-Qa'ida and Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan. Reports last night said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, regarded as having unparalleled insight into the mood of the three million tribesmen in the NWFP, and leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, was backed in his assessment by members of the coalition Government from the Awami National Party, which rules in the province's capital, Peshawar.

Taliban Besiege Pakistani Shiites - Perlez and Shah, New York Times

It was once known as the Parrot’s Beak, a strategic jut of Pakistan that the American-backed mujahedeen used to carry out raids on the Russians just over the border into Afghanistan. That was during the cold war. Now the area, around the town of Parachinar, is near the center of the new kind of struggle. The Taliban have inflamed and exploited a long-running sectarian conflict that has left the town under siege. The Taliban, which have solidified control across Pakistan’s tribal zone and are seeking new staging grounds to attack American soldiers in Afghanistan, have sided with fellow Sunni Muslims against an enclave of Shiites settled in Parachinar for centuries. The population of about 55,000 is short of food. The fruit crop is rotting, residents say, and the cost of a 66-pound bag of flour has skyrocketed to $100.

Rice Urges Pakistan to Clamp Down on Militants Along Border - Voice of America

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is calling on Pakistan to intensify efforts to combat Taliban militants who use its border areas to launch attacks against Afghanistan. Speaking to reporters in the western Australian city of Perth Friday, Rice said the militants cannot be allowed to organize and plan their attacks from the northwest frontier area, despite its difficult terrain. Rice has suggested that a surge in violence by the Taliban in Afghanistan had its roots in the lawless tribal areas along the border with Pakistan. The authorities in Islamabad were urged to do more to bring the region under its control. Rice insists that despite the hostile terrain, the Pakistanis must do more.

Rice: Pakistan Should do More to End Violence - Associated Press

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory. Speaking Friday in Australia, Rice suggested to reporters that a surge in Taliban-related violence in Afghanistan had its source in the restive semiautonomous tribal areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

"War on Terror Is Pakistan’s Own" - Reuters

Pakistan is fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban for its own interests, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday as he embarked on his first official visit to the United States. Gilani, in office since March, is due to meet US President George W. Bush in which militant sanctuaries along the Pakistani border with Afghanistan is expected to figure prominently. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in Australia on Friday, set the tone for the visit by stressing Pakistan had to do more to curb the flow of militants fuelling the Afghan insurgency.

NATO Reports 4 Civilians Killed in Afghanistan - Associated Press

NATO forces on Saturday fired on a vehicle that wouldn't stop at a checkpoint in Afghanistan's volatile south, killing four civilians and wounding three others, the alliance said. Civilian casualties has been a sore point between Afghanistan's government and international forces that operate here. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has implored NATO and US-led coalition troops to avoid killing civilians, whose deaths undermine support for his already weak central government.

IRAN

Iranian Cleric Rejects Deadline - Voice of America

Senior Iranian cleric and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says a deadline will not help in nuclear talks with Iran, and urged the West to give negotiations a chance. Mr. Rafsanjani spoke during a Friday prayers sermon broadcast live on state radio. His comments come as the United States warns Iran that time is running out to respond to proposals by the European Union and the United Nations Security Council to resolve the nuclear standoff. Germany and the five permanent members of the Security Council (Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States) gave Iran two weeks to respond to an incentives package discussed last Saturday at talks in Geneva or risk another round of sanctions.

Iran Nans Newspaper Reporting Leadership Rift - Daivd Blair, Daily Telegraph

"Hamshahri", a daily owned by Tehran's municipality, angered the president by reporting an argument between his ministers and the central bank governor, Tahmasb Mazaheri. Faced with inflation of about 30 per cent, Mr Mazaheri wants to raise interest rates but "Hamshahri" reports that Mr Ahmadinejad's cabinet allies have opposed this move. The story struck a nerve because it highlighted the reasons behind the president's acute political vulnerability. One year before he faces re-election, Iran's economy is stagnant, living standards are falling and unemployment remains at crushing levels. This is in spite of the windfall gains brought by record oil prices. Of the newspaper's two editions, one has been shut down. "By a decision of the press supervisory board, 'Hamshahri' evening edition has been banned. The reason for banning this publication was the propagation of untruthful news with the aim of creating disruption in the country's economic condition," reported the official news agency, IRNA.

Iran's Stars, Erased From the Billboards - Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post

Iranian weightlifter Hossein Rezazadeh might be the strongest man in the world, but forces more powerful than his mighty arms prevent the two-time Olympic champion from exploiting his strength on billboards and in TV commercials. Like many international sports stars, Rezazadeh, the "Iranian Hercules," earns extra income by doing commercials. Some years ago, he appeared in an advertisement on Iranian state TV promoting engine oil. But when he starred in a commercial for a Dubai real estate agency on a satellite channel that is banned in Iran, the weightlifter stumbled up against Iranian authorities.

THE LONG WAR

Prosecutors State Case in Guantánamo Trial - William Glaberson, New York Times

For years, as his case went from Guantánamo to the Supreme Court and back again, Salim Hamdan has been little more than “Osama bin Laden’s driver,” a Yemeni with a couple of daughters, caught in the netherworld of Guantánamo. But this week, as Mr. Hamdan’s war crimes trial opened to inaugurate the military commission system at the United States naval base here, the prosecution had its chance to explain what driving Mr. bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, meant. Prosecution witnesses said it meant driving in armed caravans with tinted windows to secret destinations. It meant the man in the back seat did not have many secrets from the man at the wheel. After the Sept. 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, an FBI agent testified, it meant that Mr. Hamdan heard Mr. bin Laden’s assessment: “He only thought about 1,000 to 1,500 people would perish, but he was happy with the results.”

Anti-Terror Funds Questioned - Spencer Hsu, Washington Post

The Department of Homeland Security announced $1.8 billion in anti-terrorism grants yesterday, stirring a growing debate among state and local officials nationwide over whether such funds are coming at the expense of other law enforcement priorities that some say are more urgent, such as fighting drugs, gangs and violent crime. In a sign of shifting political winds seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the nation's police chiefs and the heads of its 57 biggest police departments objected this year to the Bush administration's focus on domestic security, saying it has come as the White House proposes slashing traditional police-assistance programs by $2.7 billion as part of its annual budget tussle with Congress.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

$1.2 Billion to Bolster War Surveillance - Thom Shanker, New York Times

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has asked Congress for the authority to shift more than $1 billion in Pentagon spending to rapidly increase the ability to provide surveillance to battlefield troops, officials said Friday. The request to reprogram $1.2 billion is the most significant step since Mr. Gates ordered the creation of a task force in May to press all of the armed services to urgently expand and improve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in the war zones. If approved, the money would pay for more than 50 new airplanes that would be designed to watch and listen over the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, providing the ability to bring full-motion video and electronic eavesdropping to the troops.

US FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

League of Their Own - Jennifer Harper, Washington Times

Maybe it's in the eyes - a certain gaze that is both shrewd and resolute, the look of a lawman who most likely has seen it all. And then some. Stanley Finch, the first director, was tasked with defeating "white slave traffic." He had the woman's suffrage movement to thank, in part, for his appointment. Those who have led the FBI are a special breed; that goes without saying. Saturday marks the 100th anniversary of the bureau. That's 10 decades of visceral history, not to mention variety. The FBI has had 17 directors in the past century, some manning the post for a matter of weeks, some for years, one for decades.

Celebrating the G-Men - Ronald Kessler, Washington Post opinion

When it created the FBI 100 years ago today, Congress worried that the new agency would become a secret police force, trampling civil rights and carrying out the whims of successive presidents. After a century of bumpy history, that concern hasn't gone away. But the idea that the FBI doesn't mind -- and may even like -- running roughshod over rights is misguided. In fact, the bureau has demonstrated remarkable restraint over most of the course of its history, at the same time that it has established an impressive record of success in investigating and pursuing threats.

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

McCain Questions Obama's Fitness as CINC - Jim Malone, Voice of America

Republican presidential contender John McCain questioned Democratic candidate Barack Obama's fitness to be commander in chief Friday. McCain made the remarks to a veteran's group in Colorado not long after Obama met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris as part of his trip to Europe and the Middle East. Senator McCain has found it difficult this week to gain much media attention given the avalanche of coverage for Senator Obama's overseas trip. On Friday, McCain continued to hammer away at Obama on the Iraq war, noting that Obama opposed the Bush administration's surge strategy of increased troop strengths in Iraq, a strategy that was initially championed by McCain and only a handful of others in Congress.

Foreign Tour Loses Obama Ground Back Home - Tim Reid, The Times

Barack Obama denied yesterday that he was ignoring the concerns of ordinary Americans while he tours the world, amid signs that the adulation he is receiving abroad has alienated some US voters. After the Democratic presidential candidate holds meetings with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron in London today, the last leg of his nine-day international tour, he returns home to a general election campaign with new polls showing him in a tightening race against John McCain, the Republican candidate.

Milking Failures - David Limbaugh, Washington Times opinion

Isn't it enormously ironic that Sen. Barack Obama now finds himself the unintended beneficiary of the Iraq surge he so vocally - and wrongly - opposed? It seems that Mr. Obama's untimely calls for a withdrawal timetable have lingered long enough to have some merit in the eyes of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Mr. al-Maliki told Der Spiegel, a German magazine, that US troops should withdraw from Iraq "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned. US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes." Assuming Mr. al-Maliki said it, and there has been some dispute, it doesn't make Mr. Obama right - even now. But it's hard to imagine Mr. al-Maliki would be saying anything helpful to Mr. Obama's campaign today if the United States had followed Mr. Obama's disgraceful surrender policy instead of implementing the surge in 2007 - over his strenuous objections.

Obama's on a Different Planet - John Bolton, Los Angeles Times opinion

Sen. Barack Obama said in an interview the day after his Berlin speech that it "allowed me to send a message to the American people that the judgments I have made and the judgments I will make are ones that are going to result in them being safer." If that is what the senator thought he was doing, he still has a lot to learn about both foreign policy and the views of the American people. Although well received in the Tiergarten, the Obama speech actually reveals an even more naive view of the world than we had previously been treated to in the United States. In addition, although most of the speech was substantively as content-free as his other campaign pronouncements, when substance did slip in, it was truly radical, from an American perspective. These troubling comments were not widely reported in the generally adulatory media coverage given the speech, but they nonetheless deserve intense scrutiny.

AFRICA

Sudanese Leader's 'Phoney Peace Mission' - Rob Crilly, The Times

Government planes were bombing Darfur even as the Sudanese President toured the war-torn desert region on a mission of peace, sources in a former rebel movement said yesterday. A commander with a government-allied faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement said that three people died when a village was attacked in North Darfur on Wednesday. At about the same time, President al-Bashir was playing the role of peacemaker, addressing 10,000 people in El Fasher, the regional capital. He promised understanding and investment. Mr al-Bashir faces an arrest warrant after the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor in The Hague outlined the case against him last week over charges of genocide, murder and crimes against humanity.

UN Debates Court Efforts to Prosecute Bashir - Elissa Gootman, New York Times

Members of the United Nations Security Council have begun debating a proposal to suspend the international prosecution of Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, diplomats said Friday. It is the first salvo in what is expected to be a long dispute at the Security Council over Mr. Bashir’s case. On July 14, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested a warrant for his arrest on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the conflict-riddled region of Darfur. But the move immediately caused a stir at the United Nations, with some countries voicing concerns that prosecuting Mr. Bashir could endanger peacekeepers and more broadly hamper efforts to achieve peace in the region through diplomacy.

US Broadens Sanctions to Pressure Mugabe - Dan Eggen, Washington Post

President Bush yesterday signed an executive order expanding sanctions against companies and individuals linked with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, part of an effort by Western nations to ratchet up the pressure on a government accused of killing and terrorizing political opponents in order to remain in power. The move by Bush, which followed a similar maneuver earlier in the week by the European Union, freezes any US assets and forbids US financial transactions with a list of companies controlled by or affiliated with the government, particularly in the mining and minerals industry, a key sector of Zimbabwe's ailing economy.

US Strengthens Zimbabwe Sanctions - Steven Lee Meyers, New York Times

President Bush expanded sanctions against Zimbabwe on Friday even as he held out the possibility of a reversal in American policy if negotiations now under way result “in a new government that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people.” Calling Zimbabwe’s government illegitimate, Mr. Bush ordered the new sanctions to intensify pressure on President Robert Mugabe, his political supporters and government-connected businesses after elections marred by violence and intimidation and widely denounced as fraudulent. “No regime should ignore the will of its own people and calls from the international community without consequences,” Mr. Bush said in a statement that accompanied an executive order expanding American sanctions.

AMERICAS

Chavez, King Laugh over 'Shut Up' Remark - Associated Press

Hugo Chavez laughed and smiled his way through a hug-and-make-up visit to Spain on Friday, his first since a now-infamous exchange in which Spain's normally reserved monarch told the voluble Venezuelan president to "shut up" at a summit in Chile last year. Mr. Chavez arrived an hour late for an appointment at the king's summer residence on Mallorca, where he was greeted by King Juan Carlos and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos - and watched by a mass of photographers and TV crews.

ASIA PACIFIC

China Creates Fortress Beijing - Rowan Callick, The Australian

The Chinese Government is unleashing the equivalent of Mao Zedong's "people's warfare" against potential troublemakers who may spoil the Beijing Olympic Games as its great showcase. Its pre-Olympic focus on security was underlined by Thursday night's announcement by Shanghai Public Security deputy director Chen Jiulong that authorities had foiled a terrorist cell plotting attacks on Olympic football matches in the city - where Australia is scheduled to play Serbia on August 7. Mr Chen gave no details of the identity of members of the cell, what they had planned or when the authorities had acted. But, he said, "the threat of terrorist attacks is still present". Public Security Vice Minister Meng Hongwei said earlier this month that along with vague "international terrorists" and "criminals", the chief potential Olympic danger comes from the outlawed East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which seeks independence for the Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic people who comprise about 10 million in Xinjiang region in China's northwest. When the People's Republic was founded in 1949, Uighurs comprised 90 per cent of Xinjiang; now they are just under half.

Cambodians Rally Around Leader Ahead of Vote - Seth Mydans, New York Times

A surge of patriotism has swept through Cambodia, bolstering the popularity of Prime Minister Hun Sen as the nation heads into a parliamentary election on Sunday. The country has rallied around its leader as its troops face off for a second week against Thai soldiers at a disputed 900-year-old temple on the Thai-Cambodian border. Mr. Hun Sen is expected to win overwhelmingly on Sunday, extending a 23-year rule that is already the longest of any elected leader in Southeast Asia, although that victory will owe as much to other factors, reflecting the country’s move beyond the traumatized past of its Khmer Rouge years to something approaching normalcy.

EUROPE

Time Running Out for Serb Fugitives - Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

Having put notorious war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic behind bars, Serbia is now under pressure to arrest the former Bosnian Serb leader's army commander and close the final chapter on the devastating 1990s ethnic war. Arresting Ratko Mladic, like Karadzic a fugitive for more than a decade, would clear the way for Serbia to gain access to the European Union's lucrative markets, diplomats say. Many experts believe Mladic's capture is now all but inevitable. Such a move, however, carries substantially greater risks for the Western-leaning government of President Boris Tadic. Where Karadzic was widely seen as a corrupt, opportunist figure - a buffoon, even, in some circles - Mladic is regarded as a genuine hero by many Serbian nationalists. He is thought to enjoy protection and logistical support at high levels of the Serbian state security apparatus and the military, and dislodging him could trigger a violent backlash.

Karadzic Sure He'd Never Be Found - The Australian

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was sure he would never be found and remains convinced he was not given away by an informer, a Belgrade newspaper reported yesterday. As Serbian authorities tried to track down those responsible for providing Karadzic with forged identity papers, Blic newspaper reported the war crimes suspect was refusing food in his cell in Belgrade, from where he is fighting extradition to The Hague war crimes tribunal. "Hiding was not difficult for me except for the fact that I was separated from my family," Karadzic reportedly told his lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, in the first substantial remarks attributed to him since his arrest a week ago.

Extradition Is Challenged Over Arrest Details - Associated Press

A Serbian prosecutor interviewed Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, on Friday about details of his arrest, Mr. Karadzic’s lawyer said. The interview was in response to a legal challenge to extraditing Mr. Karadzic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide, the lawyer said. Mr. Karadzic was a fugitive for more than a decade before he was arrested. Though the government says that he was arrested Monday, Mr. Karadzic’s lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, maintains that he was apprehended last week and held incommunicado by unknown kidnappers for three days.

Labor Defeat in Scotland Is Blow to Brown - John Burns, New York Times

In one of its worst electoral setbacks in years, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labor Party suffered a huge defeat in a Scottish by-election whose result was announced Friday, raising new questions about Mr. Brown’s ability to hold on to the job he has had for barely 12 months. More unsettling yet for politicians in London, the defeat came at the hands of the separatist Scottish National Party, which supports independence for Scotland. Mr. Brown is a Scot, and the Labor Party has long regarded Scotland as its fief, relying on Scottish seats to cement its majority in general elections.

MIDDLE EAST

Boy Among 6 Dead in Sunni-Shi'ite Clashes - Associated Press

Sectarian clashes broke out Friday in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing six people, including a 10-year-old boy and a policeman, and wounding at least 15, officials said. The clashes between Sunni Muslim gunmen and Alawites, an offshoot Shi'ite sect, broke out at dawn after a hand grenade was thrown toward a Sunni area, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanese Factions Clash in North for Second Day - Reuters

Rival sectarian factions clashed in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Saturday for a second consecutive day and medical sources said the death toll from the fighting rose to eight. Gunmen exchanged heavy machinegun and grenade fire from Sunni and Alawite districts until dawn in the city where at least 21 people have been killed in the past two months by sectarian fighting linked to Lebanon's political turbulence. The latest round of fighting in the predominantly Sunni city had wounded at least 65 people, the medical sources said. Residents have fled, many taking refuge in schools.

4 Killed in Explosion Near Gaza City - Voice of America

Palestinian medical officials and the militant group Hamas say four Palestinians have been killed in an explosion near a beach outside Gaza City. Officials say the casualties included at least two Hamas militants and a girl. At least 15 other people were wounded. Friday's attack occurred near a car being used by Hamas members, but the cause of the explosion was not immediately known. It was the third blast of the day in Gaza, after a relatively calm period that followed a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Fatah Supporters Arrested in Beachside Blast - Associated Press

Hamas security arrested dozens of supporters of the rival Fatah group early Saturday, Fatah said, a day after a mysterious beachside blast killed five Hamas members and a 6-year-old girl. The explosion went off in a car parked near a crowded Gaza City beach. Hamas said a group of Hamas activists was picnicking on the beach. Three Hamas members, including a field commander, and the girl were killed immediately. Hospital officials said two more Hamas activists died of injuries Saturday and 15 people were wounded.

Israeli Leaders Find Generous Donors in US - Griff Witte, Washington Post

American businessman Morris Talansky has riveted Israel with tales of bankrolling the plush lifestyle of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: the expensive cigars and five-star suites, a fine watch and an Italian vacation. While most Israelis have been galled at the extent of the alleged corruption, no one has been surprised by the source of the funds. Politicians in Israel have long known that if they want to raise large amounts of money, for whatever reason, they'll find it in the United States. Foreign donations are banned for general elections, but Israeli leaders routinely get half or more of their campaign contributions for party primaries from overseas, and mostly from American donors.

SOUTH ASIA

Fighting Kills 70 Combatants in Sri Lanka - Associated Press

Heavy fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels along the front lines of their civil war killed 62 rebels and eight soldiers, the military said Saturday. The fighting occurred throughout Friday in the Vavuniya, Jaffna, Welioya and Mullaitivu districts bordering the rebels' de facto state in the north, said Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman. In the worst clashes, soldiers repulsed a pre-dawn rebel attack in the Mullaitivu district that occurred hours after government forces captured rebel-held territory near a key supply route, Nanayakkara said.

Organized Blasts Hit Tech Hub Of India - Emily Wax, Washington Post

At least seven small blasts tore through India's high-tech hub of Bangalore on Friday afternoon, killing two people and injuring at least 20 in the second high-profile attack on an Indian city in 10 weeks. No group asserted responsibility for the coordinated bombings, which exploded along highways, outside markets, at a bus stop and on a residential street. While initial reports said seven blasts occurred over a period of 15 minutes, authorities later were quoted as saying there were as many as nine explosions. India has seen a wave of bombings in recent years. Many of them, while blamed on Islamist groups in Pakistan and Bangladesh, remain unsolved.

Infamy or Beautiful Friendship - Greg Sheridan, The Australian opinion

It is a high ambition of the Rudd Government to greatly deepen Australia's engagement with India. Well, it is about to get the opportunity to do just that. This week, the Indian parliament passed a momentously important vote of confidence in the Government of Manmohan Singh. This vote could be a pivot point in modern history. It was all about India's nuclear co-operation deal with the US. That Singh won the vote means that deal proceeds through its next vital stages, during which Australia, specifically the Rudd Government, will face two moments of decision that will be crucial for us. In 2005, Singh agreed the deal with the Bush administration. Singh's Government was a coalition of his Congress Party and a range of parties on the Left. Its main opposition is the Hindu fundamentalist party, the BJP, on the Right. And then there are a range of regional parties of no fixed ideological address.

Window of Opportunity - Barton and von Hippel, Washington Post opinion

After eight years of military rule, Pakistanis desperately want their newly elected civilian government to fulfill their country's promise. Public support will inevitably ebb and flow because of the sudden shift to democratic governance, but the underlying dynamic is positive. The United States should fully encourage the democratic opening during this critical period. On a recent visit to Pakistan, we discussed these changes with more than 200 political party leaders, police chiefs, judges, clerics, journalists and students. They were animated by the return of a constitutional order, even with all the challenges that accompany it.

EVENTS OF INTEREST

11-15 August - Counterinsurgency Leaders Workshop (Official Event - Workshop). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency (COIN) Center is hosting a five-day program for prospective counterinsurgency leaders, 11-15 August 2008, at the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The program is focused on equipping leaders with an understanding of the insurgency and counterinsurgency environments, as well as close consideration of the kinds of persons and organizations that usually emerge from insurgencies in contrast to those of conventional conflicts. This event will be held at the Battle Command Training Center (BCTC) Training Facility on Fort Leavenworth. Seating is limited. However, registration is open to any person who serves in any official capacity with regard to dealing with insurgencies, with priority is given to those applying from invited organizations. Other applicants will be reviewed for eligibility on a space-available, case-by-case basis. The duty is uniform/business casual. Application must completed on-line at the link above. The deadline for application is 1 August 2008. For more information, contact the COIN Center at 913-684-5196.

11-12 September - DNI Open Source Conferece 2008 (Public Event - Conference). Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Office of the DNI is pleased to announce the "DNI Open Source Conference 2008" to be held on Thursday, 11 September and Friday, 12 September, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC. The conference is free; however, all who wish to attend must register online in advance (deadline 31 July). The two-day conference will explore a wide range of open source issues and open source best practices for the Intelligence Community and its partners. We invite participants from the broader open source community of interest including academia, think tanks, private industry, federal, state, local and tribal entities, international partners, and the media to attend. The conference will include speakers from across the broader open source community participating in panel discussions and focus group sessions. Information about the agenda and break-out sessions is now available. The DNI Open Source Conference 2007 was held 16-17 July 2007 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. More than 900 registered participants and speakers attended. Presentations made at the conference break-out sessions are available on the DNI Open Source Conference 2007 website.

16-18 September 2008 - The U.S. Army and the Interagency Process: A Historical Perspective (Public Event - Conference / Call for Papers). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Sponsored by the U.S. Army Combat Studies Institute. The symposium will include a variety of guest speakers, panel sessions, and general discussions. This symposium will explore the partnership between the U.S. Army and government agencies in attaining national goals and objectives in peace and war within a historical context. Separate international topics may be presented. The symposium will also examine current issues, dilemmas, problems, trends, and practices associated with U.S. Army operations requiring close interagency cooperation.