Here is the Friday, July 18th, 2008 edition of news and events from the around the world.

Belgian Crisis
The King of Belgium has refused to accept the resignation of his prime minister, but has put the immediate political future of the country in the hands of three other people. More including a video report from Euro News. And Fistful of Euros offers some commentary on Belgie versus Belgique. Flanders Today offers a Flemish perspective.

Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia Worsen
A Cambodian general said a border standoff between his soldiers and Thai troops came close to a shoot-out overnight as the confrontation over disputed territory surrounding an ancient temple entered its fourth day Friday. Reports from Radio Australia and the BBC.

ASEAN Ministers to Meet to Discuss Oil Prices on the Region
Ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to hammer out possible solutions to rising oil and food prices amid warnings inflation could threaten political stability, officials said. The problem, if left unchecked, could pose a challenge to the region’s long-term aim of evolving into a European Union-style community where goods and services are freely traded across the region by 2015, they said. At meetings to begin Sunday night, the ministers were to discuss “the growing challenge posed by rising oil and food prices, which pose a serious challenge to our people’s welfare as well as our countries’ continued economic development,” according to a draft joint communique obtained by Agence France Presse.

Guinea-Bissau and the Cashew Nut
It’s not even native to Africa (it is from the Amazon), but the Cashew Nut is the mainstay of the economy of the small West African country of Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest countries in the world. In one survey by the United Nations, Guinea-Bissau ranks as the third poorest. World News Net looks at Guinea-Bissau and the cocktail nut.

Bali Bombers Lose Their Final Appeal
Three men convicted over the 2002 Bali bombing have no more legal avenues to appeal against their executions, the Denpasar District Court confirmed today. More from the Courier Mail of Australia.

After the Swap
After swap, Israel fears Hezbollah will escalate tensions in north. Haaretz looks at how Israel now views Hezbollah.

Has The US Stopped Arms Sales to Taiwan?
If so, it is a huge mistake. The top US military commander in Asia acknowledged Wednesday that US arms sales to Taiwan had been frozen, amid warming ties between Beijing and Taipei and concerns expressed by China.

“There have been no significant arms sales from the United States to Taiwan in relatively recent times,” said Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of the Hawaii-based US Pacific Command.

Keating told a forum of the Washington-based Heritage Foundation he was aware of a freeze on US arms sales to Taiwan, saying it was “administration policy.”

The report from Agence France Presse.

UK Natural Gas Prices Could Rise 70%
The UK Guardian reports that natural gas prices are set to soar in the UK and then remain high for the foreseeable future, a report has revealed. The independent report commissioned by Centrica, which owns British Gas, warns that prices could increase by 70%. Jake Ulrich, managing director of Centrica Energy, admitted that gas price rises were likely to lead to a “potentially significant” rise in the number of people in fuel poverty. He also predicted that people would have to change their habits to deal with higher prices.

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Here is the Thursday, July 17th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

Bush Claims Executive Privilege in Plame Case
President George W. Bush invoked executive privilege to avoid turning over records of an FBI interview of Vice President Dick Cheney and other documents subpoenaed by Congress in the CIA leak investigation. So much for that bravado that he would spare no effort in determing the source of the leak. More from the Washington Post.

Petrodollars and Geo-Politics
The Los Angeles Times examines how nations with vast oil wealth are gaining clout. It is actually the largest transfer of wealth in human history. Here’s the LA Times synopsis:

Some autocratic governments are challenging U.S. policies and silencing domestic dissent. But their increased spending raises the risk of inflation, which could erode popular support.

UK Unemployment Rate Rises Sharply
Unemployment last month rose at its fastest rate since the depths of the early 1990s recession, as the turmoil in the housing and financial markets continued to take its toll on the UK economy. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose for the fifth month in a row, the Office for National Statistics said. The rise - of 15,500 to 840,100 - is the biggest since December 1992. The jobless rate remained at a low 2.6%. The broader labour force survey measure rose 12,000 between March and May to 1.62 million. That was the third rise in a row although the unemployment rate stayed at 5.2%. Complete details from the UK Guardian.

China Economic News
China’s economy grew at a slower pace in the second quarter under the weight of slower exports and a drive by the central bank to tighten credit, but inflationary pressures remained uncomfortably high, the government said Thursday. Annual gross domestic product growth slowed to 10.1 percent in the second quarter from 10.6 percent in the first three months of the year and 11.9 percent in all of 2007, the National Bureau of Statistics said. While consumer inflation slowed to 7.1 percent in June from 7.7 percent in May, pipeline price pressures grew. More from the International Herald Tribune.

The Impact of High Energy Prices on Asia
The Asia Times looks at how Asian economies and Asian consumers are coping with the rise in energy prices.

When it comes to energy conservation, Japan provides a glaring counterpoint to the United States. Consider what has happened in both countries since the first oil shock of the mid-1970s when prices quadrupled.

That price hike initially led to a drive for fuel efficiency in the US, Western Europe and Japan. It also gave a boost to the idea of developing renewable sources of energy. Ever since, Japan has followed a consistent, long-range policy of reduction in petroleum usage, while the US first wavered and then fell back dramatically.

Under the presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, the US modestly improved the fuel efficiency of its vehicles, as stipulated by a federal law. Carter also announced a $100 million federal research and development program focused on solar power and symbolically had a solar water heater installed on the White House roof.

During the subsequent presidency of Ronald Reagan, when oil prices fell sharply, energy efficiency and conservation policies went with them, as did the idea of developing renewable sources of energy. This was dramatized when Reagan ordered the removal of that solar panel from the White House.

In the private sector, utilities promptly slashed by half their investments in energy efficiency. President George H W Bush, an oil man, followed Reagan’s lead. And his son, George W (along with Vice President Dick Cheney, former chief executive of energy services giant Halliburton) has done absolutely nothing to wean Americans away from their much talked about “addiction to oil”.

Even now, instead of urging Americans to cut oil usage (and putting a little legislative heft behind those urgings), politicians of both parties are blaming soaring gas and diesel prices on “speculators”, conveniently ignoring how thin a line divides “speculators” from “investors”.

In Japan, on the other hand, the government and private companies have stayed on course since the first oil shock. Despite the doubling of Japan’s gross domestic product during the 1970s and 1980s, its annual overall levels of energy consumption have remained unchanged. Today, Japan uses only half as much energy for every dollar’s worth of economic activity as the European Union or the United States. In addition, national and local authorities have continually enforced strict energy-conservation standards for new buildings.

It is, again, Japan that has made significant progress when it comes to renewable sources of energy. By 2006, for instance, it was responsible for producing almost half of total global solar power, well ahead of the US, even though it was an American, Russell Ohl, who invented the silicon solar cell, the building block of solar photovoltaic panels, which convert sunshine into electricity.

Belgium: The World’s Most Successful Failed State
Leave it to Der Spiegel to come up with the clever headline. In this report, the German news magazine ponders:

Chaos has returned to Belgium’s capital: The government has collapsed, the prime minister has offered his resignation. German newspapers on Wednesday wonder if the linguistically divided country will ever get its act together.

I adore Belgium and I have one very good Belgian friend from Oostende. No doubt, Belgian beer and chocolates are the world’s best. Most European countries have a linguistic divide, the problem in Belgium is that the divide is also a significant cultural and economic one. I have been briefly to Wallonie but I am always more drawn to Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and, above all, Brugge. It will be interesting to see how the Belgians resolve this divide.

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Here is the Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

ICC Warrant for Omar al-Bashir
Egypt, China and Algeria voiced concerns over the warrant for the arrest for the Sudanese President on charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. “China expresses grave concern and misgivings about the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s indictment of the Sudanese leader,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regularly scheduled news conference in Beijing. The Washington Post covers the Chinese response while Xinhua Net covers Algeria’s. Lastly, an op-ed from the Wall Street Journal.

Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim Arrested
Police arrested Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday, less than an hour before a deadline for him to appear at police headquarters to answer allegations that he sodomized a male aide. Details from Al Jazeera.

Chávez-Correa-Ortega Summit in Manta, Ecuador
The Presidents of Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua are meeting in Manta, Ecuador (home to a US military base slated to close in 2010) this week. Their gathering is to celebrate the beginning of construction of the Refinería del Pacífico, the largest oil refinery on the west coast of South America. Chávez has made clear that he wants to increase Venezuela oil sales to Asia and diminish sales to the United States. More (in Spanish) from Noticias 24.

Egypt After Mubarak
The Los Angeles Times has a feature on Omar Suleiman, the head of Egypt’s foreign intelligence service. The article ponders whether Suleiman may be the next in line for Egypt’s Presidency. Not that Mubarak is going anywhere. Elections, such as they are in Egypt, are not due until 2011 on the one hand and on the other, we may yet see a Mubarak dynasty rise in the land of the Pharoahs. Gamal Mubarak is also being groomed for the Presidency.

Japan-Korea Squabble over Islets
Korea’s Ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-hyun temporarily returned to Seoul yesterday in protest over Tokyo’s claim that the Dokdo islets in the East Sea belong to Japan. The Korea Herald covers the story from Seoul while the Japan Times takes up the story from Tokyo. The story has great importance in Korea than in Japan. However, there are plans for demonstrations later this week in Seoul and South Koreas has cancelled a cultural exchanged slated for August.

Fishermen Strike in Tokyo
The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations and 16 other fishing industry bodies launched a strike involving some 200,000 fishing boats Tuesday to protest against the fuel price increases. Japanese fishermen’s one-day strike cut Wednesday’s fish supplies on the Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market in Tokyo’s Tsukiji by 20 percent from the previous day to 401 tons, prompting wholesalers to warn further strikes would induce a serious supply disruption, market officials said. “Prices of some fish underwent increases of some 10 percent” due to supply decreases, a market source said after morning auctions. Such fish included flatfish and sea bream from Japan’s home waters. They are often used by up-scale sushi shops.

Indian No Confidence Vote Scheduled for July 21
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s UPA government will introduce a measure of confidence on July 21, 2008 over the US-India Nuclear deal according to The Hindu. This article from The Hindu lays out the government’s case why the pact should be approved. Opposition to the deal is coming largely from leftist parties, including the Indian Communist Party, that feel that the deal impinges on India’s sovereignty.

Drug Gangs Blamed in Guatemalan Lawyer’s Killing
President Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador blamed drug gangs for the killing of a Guatemalan state prosecutor who was investigating the murder of three Salvadoran deputies to the Central American Parliament. Juan Carlos Martinez was shot Monday while driving near his home southeast of Guatemala City. The three Salvadoran deputies were killed in February 2007. Eduardo D’Aubuisson, William Pichinte and Jose Ramon Gonzalez were deputies in the Guatemala-based regional Central American parliament from El Salvador’s conservative ruling ARENA party. The remains of a fourth man were found with them. Villagers discovered their bodies in a blazing car up a dirt track an hour’s drive east of Guatemala City. The suspected murderers are members of Guatemala’s police force but they are being protected by Guatemala’s military establishment. None have been charged.

Russia’s Medvedev Criticizes the West
President Dmitri A. Medvedev chided the West for paternalism in a foreign policy speech in which he criticized the United States and Western Europe for creating a missile defense shield and for recognizing Kosovo’s independence. More from the New York Times.

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Here is the Monday, July 14th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

A Deadly Day in Afghanistan
Nine US soldiers and several militants were killed after rebels stormed a remote outpost in Afghanistan in one of the deadliest attacks on international forces in years. Another 15 US soldiers were wounded. It was the deadliest day for US troops in Afghanistan in over three years. A video report from the Associated Press:

Fighting in Sri Lanka Intensifies
Fighting along the front lines in northern Sri Lanka killed 31 Tamil Tigers on Sunday as the civil war between the rebels and government forces continued to escalate. Over the weekend, at least 60 rebel were killed. Reports from the International Herald Tribune and Reuters India.

Sarkozy’s Club Med
President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday sought to shift Europe’s strategic focus towards the Middle East, north Africa and the Balkans, hosting 42 heads of state and government at a summit in Paris to launch a new Mediterranean Union. Initially concentrated on infrastructure and energy projects such as making north Africa a hub for solar power, Sarkozy’s grand initiative is acutely political, claiming a pole position for France in European foreign policy-making after years of drift and seeking to redirect policy from the east of Europe to the south. From the UK Guardian. I am often perplexed by Sarkozy and I am cautious on this initiative but the Financial Times does note that Sarkozy managed to get Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Syrian President Assad to sit down in the same room, though Assad did leave the room for Olmert’s speech. And then there is this:

After meeting Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, on the sidelines of the Paris summit, Mr Olmert declared: “It seems to me that we have never been as close to the possibility of reaching an accord as we are today.”

In concrete terms, however, the most striking outcome of the weekend’s diplomatic activity appeared to be the announcement that Syria would open an embassy in Beirut and Lebanon an embassy in Damascus for the first time since Lebanese independence in 1943.

Such a step would imply Syrian acceptance of the sovereignty of Lebanon, a state where Damascus has always sought to exert influence and where Syrian troops were stationed for almost 30 years after 1976.

“We can say that Lebanon has moved from being a zone of turbulence, a war zone, to a more pacified zone where the Lebanese, and only the Lebanese, have the right to determine their own future,” Mr Assad said after talks on Saturday with Michel Suleiman, Lebanon’s president.

Since taking power in 2000, Mr Assad has on several occasions dangled the prospect of diplomatic recognition of Lebanon. If there is a difference this time, it may rest in Mr Sarkozy’s statement on Saturday that he intends to visit Syria in September – a gesture that the French leader could withdraw, if by then Mr Assad has not fulfilled his promise to open an embassy in Lebanon.

I still don’t fully trust Sarkozy but this is an achievement that is worth underscoring and I congratulate him on his success.

Seoul Demands Investigation of Shooting Death of Tourist in the DPRK
Last week’s shooting death of a female South Korean tourist who wandered off a resort and into a military installation is raising question. Apparently, tourists have wandered off before and none had been shot. The government yesterday urged North Korea to allow in South Korean investigators to learn the details of the killing of a South Korean tourist at the Mount Geumgang resort. The Unification Ministry also demanded the North take “responsible measures” to prevent a recurrence of the shooting death, which it said “cannot be justified under any circumstances.” More details from the Korea Herald.

An Update on Malaysia
The Asia Sentinel looks at Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s decision to step down in 2010 in favour of his deputy Najib Tun Razak, who is scandal-riddled. All in all, it has been a topsy turvy year in Kuala Lumpur.

Thailand’s Temple Row
A dispute Khmer temple along the Thai-Cambodian border has become a major issue in Thai politics. More from the Straits Times.

Iran Executes Six In Public
Reuters reports that Iran has executed six people in public in the northeastern city of Sabzevar, state radio said on Monday, the second report of a public execution in the Islamic Republic in less than a week. Iranian radio reported the execution but did not offer details. Execution is by hanging in Iran. In Saudi Arabia, beheadings still occur. Amnesty International in April listed Iran as the world’s second most prolific executioner last year, with at least 317 people put to death, trailing only China which carried out 470 death sentences.

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Here is the Friday, July 11th, 2008 edition of events and news from around the world.

UK Housing Prices Tumble
Negative equity is when you owe more on an asset than what it is worth. In the UK, negative equity fears grow as house prices take record tumble. Negative equity is one of the reasons for increased foreclosures or defaults on loans. More on the situation in Britain from the UK Guardian.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to Face War Crime Charges
The UK Guardian is reporting that the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is likely to face war crime charges at the International Crime Court.

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, issued a statement yesterday announcing that he would be submitting evidence “on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years”. The statement said he would then publicly “summarise the evidence, the crimes and name individual(s) charged”.

Moreno-Ocampo told the security council last month that he intended to go after top Sudanese officials, saying the “entire state apparatus” was involved in systematic attacks on civilians.

Long over due and we will see where it goes. Another report on this development from the New York Times.

China and the US Presidential Election
The Asia Sentinel looks at the US Presidential contest and how each candidate might handle US ties with the People’s Republic of China.

Radical Islam in Indonesia
Under Suharto, the radical fringes of Islam were kept under tight wraps but with Indonesia’s nascent political liberalization, there has been a proliferation of Islamic groups across the political spectrum. The Asia Sentinel looks at some of the more radical groups.

India Debates Its Nuclear Agreement with the US
India’s politics is not for the feign of heart. It’s not easy running a nation of nearly a billion people who speak some 700 different languages to boot. It is amazing to watch to India’s political scene. First of all, Prime Minister Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will seek a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha next week. The Indian Communist Party will vote against the agreement. The four Left parties formally withdrew their support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, they sharpened their offensive and vowed to make it “politically impossible” for the Manmohan Singh government to go ahead and clinch the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal. The General Secretary of Indian Communist Party called the agreement a “shocking betrayal”. Meanwhile the opposition Hindu Nationalist Party BJP seems amused by the whole debate. Its leader and likely the next Prime Minister of India should Singh’s government falter said he had “never seen so many people in despair” over an issue. Indian politics. All stories are from the Hindu Times.

Pyongyang Remembers Kim Il-Sung
In case you have ever wondered what a news release from North Korea looks like, here is your chance. Today’s feed from the Korean Central News Agency of the DPRK. Some tidbits:

A delegation of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League headed by Kil Chol Hyok, secretary of its Central Committee, left here today by air to attend the meeting of the Coordinating Council of the World Federation of Democratic Youth to be held in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the State Academy Beryozka Dancing Troupe of Russia Named after N.S. Nadezhdina headed by Mira Koltsova arrived here today.

Big news I suppose but not a word on the six party talks under way in Beijing on the North Korean nuclear talks. For news on this subject, coverage from Reuters.

Chinese Polar Exploration Sets off from Shanghai
The race for polar resources is on. With hundreds waving goodbye on the dock, an ultra-modern icebreaker left the eastern Shanghai port on Friday morning, marking the start of China’s third scientific expedition to the North Pole. The full story from Xinhua Net.

Sarkozy Lectures The Irish
Ever the diplomat, Nicholas Sarkozy yesterday told “our Irish friends” to get going and not to wait to long to make a decision about how to get out of the mess created by the No vote. Le Monde reports that he, as rotating president of the EU, wants to propose a solution either at the October or the December EU summit. More from Euro Intelligence.

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Here is the Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

Iraq Calls For US Pullout Timetable
Iraq’s prime minister has for the first time publicly called for a US troop withdrawal timetable. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that a military agreement the two countries are negotiating should include provisions for the withdrawal of American troops. More from Al Jazeera. It should be interesting to see how this plays in the US Presidential election.

G-8 Agrees Climate Change Deal to Halve Emissions
Leaders of G-8 agree to adopt goal of at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 2050? And they are calling this a breakthrough. I shudder to think what their definition of failure is. The UK Guardian has all the bloody details.
Meanwhile, African leaders have pressed the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations to control oil and food prices. This story from Al Jazeera. And a video report on the summit from the Associated Press:

India Won’t Accept Carbon Emissions Targets
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said emphatically that India would not accept any targets that may be set by international bodies reducing its carbon emissions. Full details in The Hindu. Prime Minister Singh is to meet with US President Bush and other G-8 leaders tomorrow. On the table for US-India talks is the US-India Nuclear Agreement. More this story also from The Hindu.

India Suspends Maize Exports Until October 15, 2008
The Indian Government has already banned exports of wheat, non-basmati rice, edible oil and pulses. This just further puts pressure on global food markets but India is thinking of its own food security. To me, this reads as a repeat of the 1930s when countries acted to protect their own interests and thereby exacerbated the Stock Market Crash of October 1929 and turned it into a world-wide depression that lasted over a decade. India is the sixth largest supplier of corn in the world so its retreat from the global markets is not insignificant. Couple this with the mess in Argentina and we have a real crisis on our hands. This follows a very worrisome report out of China earlier this week that China faces a grain shortage. All About Feed has the details on this story.

China faces serious challenges in ensuring it will have enough grain to feed its population in the decades to come, according to Premier Wen Jiabao.

Industrialisation, urbanisation and a growing population are boosting grain demand while “shrinking arable land, water shortage and climate change is an increasing constraint on output,” Wen told a cabinet meeting.

“The long-term demand and supply will be balanced but tight and ensuring grain security faces serious challenges,” he said.

The meeting approved a mid- and long-term grain security plan that aims to keep the nation’s annual grain output above 500 million tonnes by 2010 and increase production to more than 540 million tonnes a year by 2020.

Litvinenko Murder Intrigue Resurfaces
The murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko was carried out with the backing of the Russian state, Whitehall sources have told the BBC.

Sondhi Limthongkul’s Corporatist Vision for Thailand
With Thailand now of its second month of intense political protests, opposition leader Sondhi Limthongkul is proposing reforms that to me sound rather corporatist. Sondhi Limthongkul, the core leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, has called for a “New Politics.”

The New Politics turns out to be a startlingly reactionary proposal to move Thailand’s parliamentary system towards a form of appointed corporatism, or what might be called a selectoral democracy. Thirty percent of MPs would come from elections, perhaps one per province, and the rest of MPS would derive from various occupations and associations. Sondhi says the proportion is not fixed, it’s up for debate.

The rationale for wanting to dismantle Thailand’s electoral system is evident: pro-Thaksin forces keep winning elections. And as Thaksin is said to represent everything bad about Thai politics, he can not be allowed to wield power directly or indirectly. Thus, for Sondhi, and it would seem the PAD leadership as whole, there is now a need to bring about a revolution in political representation.

The full story in the Asia Sentinel.

Taiwan Exports Rise to Record Levels
Taiwan’s exports in June rose 21.3% from a year earlier to a record high of US$24.35 billion on rising demand from parts of Asia and Europe, the government said July 7. The June figure compared with a 20.5% rise to $23.60 billion recorded in May. More from Industry Week.

11 Bodies Found in Tijuana Over 3 Days
As a Colombian, I have seen this all before and it is worrisome that it is happening now in Mexico. What we have endured in Colombia is not something that I would wish on anyone. It is thus that I say with alarm that Mexico’s drug wars require serious attention. We will see bombings. Drug mafias will stop at nothing and only a strong response from the state and civil society can stop them. They will infiltrate politics. They can buy anything and anyone. Act now.

Police discovered the tortured and burned bodies of six men in an empty lot Monday morning, ending a period of relative calm in this border city beset by drug war violence.

Eleven bodies have been discovered since Saturday in violence believed to be drug-related, including the corpse of a woman found in a barrel, state and federal authorities said.

The weekend tally pushed the city’s death toll this year to more than 260, compared with about 152 homicides at this time last year, and underscored authorities’ difficulties curbing organized crime.

The full story from the Los Angeles Times. A 71% rise in drug-related homocides in Tijuana is not something to be taken lightly.

Syria To Restore Diplomatic Ties with France
Syria’s top diplomat in London says Damascus will soon send a new ambassador to Paris and end a freeze on diplomatic ties. Sami Khiyami says a new representative will likely be sent to France in the very near future. Syria has not had an ambassador in Paris since 2006. The report is from Haaretz.

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Here is the Monday, July 7th, 2008 edition of interesting reads and events from around the world.

The United Arab Emirates Forgives Iraq’s Debt
The United Arab Emirates has cancelled almost $7 billion of debt including interest and arrears payments owed by Baghdad, becoming the first Gulf Arab country to forgive all of Iraq’s debt. It’s a wonderful move and other countries should follow suit. It’s time to rebuild Iraq. The full story in the International Herald Tribune.

Car Bomb in Kabul
Afghan officials say a suicide car bomber has killed at least seven people in an attack outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul. Details in the BBC and the UK Telegraph.

South African Plan for Zimbabwe
South African President Thabo Mbeki has presented a plan to Zimbabwe’s political leaders that would allow Robert Mugabe to remain as a titular head of state. More from Johannesburg’s Mail and Guardian. Under the plan, Mugagbw would be President of Zimbabwe in name only and real power would rest with the opposition MDC. In other news from Zimbabwe, the Los Angeles Times reports that Mugagbe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has some 900 camps for political dissidents where women are treated as “sex slaves.” Mugagbe must go.

The Uptick in Japanese Capital Punishment
Japan’s justice minister, dubbed the “grim reaper” for ordering a record number of executions, has defended the death penalty as “civilised” but said he loses sleep over signing the orders. I oppose the death penalty. Systemic genocide might be my only exception and even then I am not so sure. In Japan, 13 people have been hanged since Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama took office last August, a record high for the period. Japan lifted a de facto moratorium on executions in 1993. More from Agence France Presse.

Correa in Ecuador Commutes the Sentences of 1,200 Drug Couriers
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador has communted the sentences of some 1,200 mulas, or drug couriers. Under the pardon, prisoners (largely young poor women) who have served at least a year of their sentence and were carrying under 2 kilos of drugs (in their stomachs) are eligible for the pardon. It is estimated that approximately 1,200 prisoners in Ecuadorian jails will thus have their sentences commuted. It is a fair plan. The drug trade has many victims especially amongst the poor in Latin America. More in Spanish from Noticias 24. If you have never seen the award-winning Colombian movie, Maria, llena eres de gracia (Mary, Full of Grace), you should rent it. It covers the plight of these women called mulas or mules. The lead actress, Catalina Sandino Moreno, received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of young Colombian mula.

German Finance Minister Opines on Sarkozy’s EU Presidency
The French presidency of the European Union will be an exercise in “crisis management”, according to Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, in particular with rocketing oil prices and the rejection of the Lisbon treaty by Irish voters.

The undiplomatic assessment echoes analysts’ expectations that France’s presidency, which began last week, will be short on new projects and instead have to focus on salvaging Lisbon and seeking answers to the global energy shortage.

“I think the French presidency will be very much influenced by the current challenges. As far as I know they understand themselves that they are sitting in the chair more in terms of crisis management,” Mr Steinbrück told the Financial Times in an interview.

Cristina Fernández de Kitchner Wins Round 1
Argentina’s lower house of congress has approved a controversial package of export taxes on grain which prompted widespread strikes and food shortages earlier in the year. The measures were passed by 129 votes to 122 on Saturday after 18 hours of heated debate. Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kitchner decreed a more than 10%, sliding-scale increase in export taxes on soy, corn and other grains on March 11 setting off a widespread revolt against her government and her popularity level drop to 20%. The measures now go before the Argentine Senate. More from Al Jazeera.

Bertha Becomes First Hurricane of the Atlantic Season
Tropical storm Bertha has strengthened to become the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. As of 5 am EDT Monday, Hurricane Bertha was about 845 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands.

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Here is the Saturday, July 5th, 2008 edition of what is making news around the world.

UK Guardian Exclusive On Fraud in Zimbabwe
The UK Guardian has exclusive report on the fraud committed in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe’s henchmen have long been suspected of stealing civil servant postal ballots. This GuardianFilms exclusive provides the first evidence of how they did it. The clip is on my user page at the Guardian. In addition,