A Polisario Front official broached autonomy rather than independence for Morocco-occupied Western Sahara—even as new repression mounts against a general strike in the territory.
A couple were stoned to death for adultery in a Taliban-controlled village in northern Afghanistan, just as the Taliban is demanding a joint investigation with NATO and the UN into civilian casualties.
New York City buses will be running ads from the jingoistic American Freedom Defense Initiative attacking the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”—part of a nationwide propaganda campaign.
Moroccan protesters blockaded the border with the Spanish enclave of Melilla, effectively shutting it down. Morocco accuses Spanish police of abusing its citizens and African migrants in the territory.
Indonesian authorities charged well-known radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir with aiding al-Qaeda-linked terrorist cell Jemaah Islamiyah. Bashir denies any connection to the group.
Two men charged with plotting to blow up New York’s John F. Kennedy airport were found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn, as Trinidad announced plans to probe the 1990 Islamist coup attempt.
While assistance is being provided to hundreds of thousands of flood-stricken Pakistanis, the UN says relief supplies are reaching only a fraction of the millions who need help.
Thousands of protesters again filled the streets in Indian-controlled Kashmir after security forces killed four people and injured at least eight others for defying a curfew.
Israeli soldiers used force to shut down weekly non-violent anti-wall protests in villages across the West Bank, with clashes and tear gas reported in Nil’in and al-Ma’sara.
Fuel for generators is running out as the power crisis in Gaza continues, despite Israel’s supposed easing of the siege. Gaza officials warn that power plants will have to shut down again this weekend.
The Israel Government Tourist Office (IGTO) lost an appeal of a ban by the the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority on a vacation advertisement that described the Western Wall as part of Israel.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced it will conduct an investigation into the May flotilla incident. The investigatory commission will report to the UN panel established to probe the incident.
