The fighting against the Taliban has been concentrated in the Garmsir region in Helmand province, a major opium poppy growing area whose crop has helped finance the insurgency. (Source: UPI)

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A group of villagers in northwestern Afghanistan used a machine gun, sticks and stones to kill two Taliban militants and chase 10 others away, a provincial police chief said Thursday. The militants had tried to abduct local aid workers who were building a well in the Qayar district of Faryab province on Wednesday, said the police chief, Khalil Andarabi. The villagers confronted the militants, and after a brief altercation, shot at them, killing two and forcing the rest to flee. The bodies of the dead militants, which included the Taliban-appointed shadow governor for the province, were still with the villagers. Separately, NATO-led forces said troops in central Logar province killed a Taliban militant involved with suicide bombing networks. The alliance accused the militant, Mohammed Daud Rahimi, of identifying targets for suicide bombers in Kabul and helping the bombers into the city. A woman and a man were wounded during the Wednesday raid, NATO said. The woman was released after being treated. Two men were also detained for questioning. (Source: AP)

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Deploring the growing violence in Afghanistan, the Red Cross says at least 250 civilians have died or been injured since last Friday in various attacks. "Civilians continue to be killed and wounded in the ongoing hostilities. We call on all parties to the conflict, in the conduct of their military operations, to distinguish at all times between civilians and fighters and to take constant care to spare civilians," said Franz Rauchenstein, the agency's head in Afghanistan. In the latest such incident, an attack Monday near the Indian Embassy in Kabul killed 41 people. (Source: UPI)

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Somali insurgents killed at least two people in an overnight attack on an army base 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of the government headquarters in Baidoa, a village chairman said Thursday. The Islamist Al-Shabab militia claimed responsibility for the latest in a string of hit-and-run attacks on government targets and said its fighters beheaded several soldiers. The claims could not immediately be verified. Village chairman Mohamed Isaq said one of the dead was a soldier, and two civilians were wounded. (Source: AP)

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Iraq

The U.S. military says it has detained 30 suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq militants during three days of operations in Baghdad and north of the capital. The military says in a statement the Al Qaeda in Iraq bombing network. The military said Thursday that others were picked up in the Baghdad area, and in the cities of Fallujah and Mosul. (Source: AP)

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Kurdish rebels said they would not release three German tourists kidnapped in eastern Turkey until Germany halted its policies against the militant group, a news agency close to the guerrillas said on Thursday. Firat news agency reported the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants as saying the three Germans, who were part of a climbing expedition in Agri province, were in good health. (Source: Reuters)

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United States

With only six months left in office, the Bush administration has won a rare legislative victory on a contentious issue: secret government eavesdropping. The Senate on July 9 passed a final bill overhauling eavesdropping rules. The move marked the effective end of nearly a year of ferocious legislative argument over the extent of government electronic surveillance and the nature of surveillance oversight in the electronic age. The result is a measure that gives the White House much of what it wants. In particular, it shields from civil lawsuits telecommunications firms that, without court permission, helped the government listen in on the communications of Americans in the months following September 11. The administration characterizes the measure as fair treatment of patriotic companies.

Critics call it a cover up. "Congress should let the courts do their job instead of helping the administration and the phone companies avoid accountability for a half decade of illegal domestic spying," said Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, earlier this month. About 40 such lawsuits are currently pending in a federal district court. The White House had said it would veto any eavesdropping bill that did not contain the immunization provision, and Democratic leaders in Congress, worried about being portrayed as soft on national security, eventually included it. (Source: CSM)

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Shiite militiamen have begun using powerful rocket-propelled bombs to attack U.S. military outposts in recent months. U.S. military officials call the devices Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions, or IRAMs. They are propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and powered by 107mm rockets, often fired by remote control from the backs of trucks, sometimes in close succession. U.S. military officials say IRAM attacks have the potential to kill scores of soldiers at once. A June report on the Web site Long War Journal called the explosives-filled propane tanks "flying IEDs." (Source: Washington Post)

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A federal judge said Tuesday that those Guantanamo detainees who have been held the longest likely will be the first to have their cases heard in U.S. District Court, depending on security concerns and their health. "It's logical to me to go on a first in, first out basis," Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan said during a hearing Tuesday. Still unresolved is whether any of roughly 200 detainees will be brought in person to the District of Columbia for the hearings to determine whether the military can continue to imprison them at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Judge Hogan said he plans to decide by Thursday or Friday how quickly the Bush administration must submit evidence against the detainees to defense attorneys. The evidence would determine when their cases are heard.

Some of the detainees have been held since 2002 without trial. Their only legal proceedings have been military tribunals that, their attorneys say, might have included evidence coerced through aggressive interrogation techniques. (Source: Washington Times)

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The biggest U.S. outbreak of measles since 1997 has sickened 127 people in 15 states, most of whom were not vaccinated against the highly contagious viral illness, federal health officials said on Wednesday. The outbreak was driven by travelers who became infected overseas, 10 countries are implicated, then returned to the United States ill and infected others, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thanks to a vaccination program dating to 1963, measles is no longer endemic in the United States, with ongoing transmission of the virus declared eliminated in 2000. (Source: Ottawa Citizen)

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Africa

The main militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta said on Thursday it was abandoning a ceasefire, in protest at a British offer to help tackle lawlessness in the region. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday that Britain was ready to help the world's eighth biggest oil exporter deal with unrest in the delta, which has cut Nigeria's output by a fifth and contributed to a rise in global oil prices. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which first launched attacks on the oil industry in early 2006, said Britain was backing an "illegal government" and that it would end a ceasefire at midnight (2300 GMT) on Saturday. "MEND wishes to sound a stern warning to the British Prime Minister over his recent statement offering to provide military support to the illegal government of (President) Umaru Yar'Adua," the group said in an e-mailed statement. (Source: Reuters)

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The European Parliament on Friday called for tighter economic sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe and urged the international community, including African nations, not to recognize his re-election. The E.U. assembly voted overwhelmingly, 591 to 8, demanding E.U. nations draft and implement new sanctions against Mugabe's government and take additional measures to dissuade European companies from doing business in Zimbabwe. Mugabe won a presidential election run-off last month in which he ran unopposed after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out because of attacks on his followers. Mugabe's victory has been widely scorned. The parliament said the 27-nation E.U. should also push for U.N. sanctions, including an arms embargo.
(Source: Reuters)

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Asia

The six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearization, resuming in Beijing, will seek ways to verify the communist country's declaration of its nuclear assets. The talks, set to open Thursday afternoon in the Chinese capital after an absence of nine months, come in the wake of North Korea's submission of its long-awaited disclosure of its nuclear programs in exchange for substantial aid from the other parties at the talks, the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. The verification will include the amount of weapons-grade plutonium North Korea has produced, Kyodo News reported. "We're going to focus very much on a verification regime," chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters Thursday. "Everyone understands what the verification regime is."

Details of the North Korean report, submitted last month, have not been made public but it already has resulted in the United States agreeing to remove North Korea from its list of terrorism sponsoring countries and other steps. The talks, set to last three days, also will deal with the next step in the process calling for North Korea to abandon its nuclear facilities and materials, the Japanese news agency said. Separately, Yonhap reported South Korea will against ask Japan to join others in providing energy aid to North Korea. (Source: UPI)

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Europe

Russia can defend its national security against potential threats posed by the planned U.S. defense missile shield in Europe, a Russian minister said Thursday. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said, "You can rest assured that our security will be provided under any circumstances," reported RIA Novosti, the Russian news agency.

Russia opposes the possible deployment of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic, saying the shield threatens the country's national security. The United States said the defense shield is needed to help deter strikes by rogue countries. Kisyak wouldn't reveal what options Russia would use, saying, "Military specialists always have many options." Russia earlier said it would retaliate against the plan, even warning it could point nuclear missiles at countries accepting U.S. missile defense components, RIA Novosti said. Some analysts suggested Russia could impose trade restrictions on those countries and suspend military cooperation with NATO.

However, Kislyak said talks with the United States about the missile shield would continue, RIA Novosti reported. (Source: UPI)

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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called here Thursday for a halt to violence in two separatist provinces of Georgia and said the United States would work to help stabilise the area. "The violence needs to stop," Rice said at a joint news conference with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a key US ally in the turbulent Caucasus region. Rice, who on Tuesday openly blamed Russia as a source of the continuing unrest in ex-Soviet Georgia, said it was "very important that all parties reject violence as an option" for resolving the status of the breakaway areas. Referring specifically to a separatist province in western Georgia where a trio of bomb attacks last week left several people dead and more than a dozen wounded, Rice demanded an end to the violence there. "There must be a peaceful solution to this situation in Abkhazia and that is what we will work for," she said. Rice's visit to Georgia came amid increasingly open diplomatic confrontation between the United States and Russia over the status of Abkhazia and the other separatist province, South Ossetia, and over Georgia's desire to join NATO. (Source: Reuters)

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Middle East

Two Palestinians were killed Thursday in the collapse of a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border. (Source: AP/Ynet News)

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Hamas has been training on a range of new Russian-origin weapons meant to incur heavy civilian casualties in any war with Israel. A leading Israeli analyst said Hamas has been preparing its forces for an expected Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Jonathan Spyer, a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, said Hamas was adopting Hizbullah's strategy of asymmetrical warfare meant to significantly improve its combat abilities. "Hamas believes Israel's will can be broken through attrition and a steady toll of unexpectedly high numbers of both military and civilian casualties," Spyer said. Spyer said Hamas would deploy anti-tank missiles and improvised explosive devices in a bid to maintain an Israeli casualty rate of up to 10 soldiers and civilians a day in any military invasion of the Gaza Strip. He said such a casualty rate could force Israel to agree to a ceasefire. As a result, Hamas has procured and trained on a range of missiles. Spyer cited the Russian-origin AT-3 Sagger, AT-4 Spigot, AT-5 Spandrel and AT-14 Spriggan. Hamas was also said to have smuggled a large number of advanced RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade systems. The RPG-29 Vampir, with a range of 500 meters, could penetrate reactive armor on Israel's Merkava Mk-4 main battle tank. The Vampir is regarded as far superior to the legacy RPG-7. [Officials said a Hamas training camp was rocked by an explosion in the central Gaza Strip. They said at least two people were killed and two others were injured in the bombing on Tuesday. (Source: World Tribune)

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There are 2,500 non-uniformed Hizbullah fighters in southern Lebanon, Israeli government sources said Wednesday following a security cabinet meeting. Hizbullah today has 40,000 short- and medium-range missiles inside Lebanon, and UNIFIL has been completely ineffective in stopping arms from pouring in to Hizbullah from Syria. The vast majority of the missiles are north of the Litani River, but can still "blanket" the northern part of Israel, the sources said. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

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The Lebanese army boosted its forces in the northern city of Tripoli on Thursday where sectarian gunfights were continuing despite a ceasefire called after four people were killed. Dozens of army vehicles moved into the restive districts of Bab al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the northeast of the port city where gunbattles between rival factions erupted late on Tuesday. Fighting intensified overnight despite a ceasefire that was meant to come into effect at 1700 GMT Wednesday, but eased early Thursday as armed militants moved off the streets. Four people were killed and 58 wounded in street battles between militants armed with rockets, sniper rifles and grenades on Wednesday, causing panicked residents to flee and shops and schools to close. (Source: AFP)

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Iran test-fired more long-range missiles overnight in a second round of exercises meant to show that the country can defend itself against any attack by the U.S. or Israel, Iranian state television reported Thursday. The weapons have "special capabilities" and included missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, along with torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles, the broadcast said. It did not elaborate. A brief video clip showed two missiles being fired simultaneously in the darkness. The report came hours after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran that Washington will not back down in the face of threats against Israel. "We are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies," Rice said Thursday in Georgia at the close of a three-day Eastern European trip. Among the missiles Iran said it tested Wednesday was a new version of the Shahab-3, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead. That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan all within striking distance.

Wednesday's missile tests were conducted at the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which up to 40 percent of the world's oil passes. Iran has threatened to shut down traffic in the strait if attacked. Another Iranian state channel, Press TV, quoted a senior Republican Guard commander Thursday as saying Iran would maintain security in the Strait of Hormuz and the larger Gulf. General Mohammad Hejazi, chief of the Guards' joint staff, called the missile tests a "defensive measure against invasions," according to the channel's Web site. (Source: AP)

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The long-range missile launched as part of a large-scale military exercise in Iran on Wednesday is not a more capable version of the Shahab-3 ballistic missile as Iran claimed, according to Israeli experts. "From what I saw, this is an old version of the Shahab-3 and, contrary to their claims, it is not capable of reaching 2,000 kilometers, only 1,300 kilometers," said Uzi Rubin, who was program director for Israel's Arrow anti-missile system. "The Iranians have a tendency to exaggerate to a certain extent the capabilities of their missiles," he said. Intelligence analysts estimate that Iran has several hundred Shahab-3s in its arsenal, as well as a much larger stockpile of several thousand shorter range missiles (up to 400 km.) capable of targeting U.S. forces in Iraq or their allies in the Persian Gulf. (Source: Ha'aretz)

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Last week, the U.S. Navy conducted anti-missile training as two Aegis warships (one off the coast of Israel, and the other in the Persian Gulf) practiced defeating a combined missile attack from Syria, Lebanon, and Iran against Israel. So far, the Aegis system has knocked down nearly 90% of the missiles fired towards it. The Aegis system has a range of over 500 kilometer and a maximum altitude of over 160 kilometers. By the end of the year, the U.S. Navy will have 18 ships equipped with the Aegis anti-missile system. (Source: Strategy Page)

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Joe Varner is Assistant Professor and Program Manager for Homeland Security at American Military University