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World Crises | Reuters.co.uk The statistics showed the 177.8 attacks per day in June were above the 157.5 in March, the lowest daily average for any month in 2007. Total monthly attack figures have also climbed to well over 5,000 from a low in February of 4,561. Attacks last month were up 46 percent from a year earlier, with the statistics showing 3,642 attacks or 121.4 per day on average in June 2006. The June 2007 statistics confirmed a significant decline in the targeting of Iraqi civilians, with such attacks falling 18 percent to 763 from a 2007 high of 932 in May.

We have sad news to report this week. Poet, musician and historian Sekou Sundiata, featured in our series "The Language of Life" passed away on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 5:47am. We remember him and the music of his words here:

July 20, 2007 "We have to deal with this paradox that there are 40 million Latinos in this country and, yet, we're invisible." Whether as an award-winning poet or as a tenant lawyer for Boston's Latino community, Martín Espada's aim has remained the same: "to speak on behalf of those without an opportunity to be heard." "Not that they couldn't speak for themselves given the chance," he explains in his interview with Bill Moyers. "They just don't get the chance." Watch the Video Selected Poems by Martín Espada July 20, 2007 The following poems by Martin Espada have been reprinted with the poet's permission. THE REPUBLIC OF POETRY For Chile In the republic of poetry, a train full of poets rolls south in the rain as plum trees rock and horses kick the air, and village bands parade down the aisle with trumpets, with bowler hats, followed by the president of the republic, shaking every hand. In the republic of poetry, monks p...

Does abortion cause long-term emotional and psychological problems for women? This week NOW introduces viewers to a new front in the effort to end abortions in the United States: claims of extreme negative effects on a woman's mental health. Once focusing primarily on the unborn child, anti-abortion advocates see new hope in an argument that focuses on the women who've made or are about to make a fateful decision. All sides of the debate have been listening and weighing in, including the Supreme Court. WATCH THE VIDEO

Three Pakistan suicide bombs kill 52 in one day - Yahoo! News ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Three suicide bomb attacks killed at least 52 people in Pakistan on Thursday, as a militant backlash intensified following the army's storming of a radical mosque in Islamabad. A wave of bomb attacks has swept across Pakistan, killing more than 160, since the assault nine days ago on the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque complex, a militant stronghold. At least 30 people were killed on Thursday when a car bomber, apparently targeting a vehicle carrying Chinese workers involved in mining activities, rammed into a police van escorting them in the southern town of Hub. The Chinese were unhurt but all seven policemen in the van and 23 bystanders were killed. Twenty-eight people were wounded. Another seven people, including policemen, were killed by a car bomb in the far northwestern city of Hangu on Thursday. The third attack killed at least 15, including two children, at a mosque in an army training centre at a...

FT.com / Home UK / UK - Training local forces is no way to secure Iraq : "All sides to the debate about Iraq agree that we should continue training and equipping Iraqi security forces. Both the bipartisan Iraq StudyGroup and President George W. Bush, through his surge strategy, support this policy because they believethat these forces will prevent theoutbreak of a genocidal conflict aswell as a regional conflict when we withdraw. But continued training and equipping of the security forces will have the opposite effect. In effect we are arming different sides in a civil war. It is no accident that as the number of trained Iraqi security forces has grown, so have attacks on coalition forces, Iraqi civilians and the Iraqi security forces themselves."

Senior administration officials declined to say what interrogation techniques would be allowed under the new order, arguing that the disclosure would enable al Qaeda and other militant groups to train members to resist the techniques. The order prohibits acts including murder, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, mutilation or maiming, intentional serious bodily injury, rape, sexual assault or abuse, biological experiments and the taking of hostages. I BELIEVE, AMERICA HAS TO COMPLY WITH GENEVA CONVENTION WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS! EITHER BUSH CONTINUE TO FOLLOW HIS CRIMINAL INSTINCT OR HE WILL DROP TORTURE ALL TOGETHER WITHOUT REFERENCE TO ALQAIDA! I DON'T BELIEVE HE CAME CLEAN YET.

Pakistan objects to US strikes | Herald Sun : "PAKISTAN said it could not accept 'indiscriminate action' on its territory by US forces without first being informed that there was an al-Qaeda or terrorist target there. “We remain determined not to allow al-Qaeda or any other terrorist entity to establish a safe haven on our territory,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said. “Whatever counter-terrorism action is to be taken inside Pakistan, it will be taken by our own security forces.” White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Thursday that the US never ruled out any options when it came to striking against al-Qaeda or the Taliban."

Ethiopian leaders and journalists are out of jail - Ethiopian Review Today around 3 PM local time, 38 of the 71 Kinijit leaders and journalists who have been in jail since Nov 2005 wakled out of the disease-infested Qaliti prison. As three minibuses carrying them exited the prison ground, they were greeted with cheers from hundreds of supporters who were waiting them outside. The Kinijit leaders responded by flashing "V" signed as the minibuses followed by several cars sped toward Addis Ababa. Earlier today, Meles Zenawi, the butcher of Addis Ababa and Mogadishu, told reporters at a press conference: "The pardon is total. They are being freed with their constitutional rights restored. They have committed themselves to adhere to and respect the rule of law as well as the constitution of the country." A few moments after his release, Kinijit chairman Hailu Shawel told reporters that he had no apology to make for protesting 2005 election results because, "for us i...

Ethiopia Releases 38 Opposition Leaders - washingtonpost.com By Stephanie McCrummen Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, July 20, 2007; 9:10 AM NAIROBI, July 20 -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced Friday that 38 of his country's top opposition leaders were being released from prison after being convicted on sedition charges in a trial that critics labeled a sham and that sparked an international outcry. At a news conference, Meles said the prisoners would be pardoned. He said their letter to the government requesting a pardon was equivalent to them taking some responsibility for violent protests that followed the country's 2005 elections. "I hope this conveys the message that people are given a second chance as long as they seek it," the prime minister said. Moments later, three minibuses left Kaliti Prison with the newly freed on board, the Associated Press reported. Dozens of family members and supporters outside the facility shouted in joy and whi...

No jail for US soldier found guilty of Iraq murder - Middle East : "Los Angeles - A US Marine found guilty in the murder of a handicapped Iraqi was discharged for bad contact by a military jury on Friday, but the court said he need serve no more jail time than the 520 days he had already spent behind bars, a military spokesman confirmed."

C.I.A. Allowed to Resume Interrogations - New York Times : "WASHINGTON, July 20 — After months of behind the scenes wrangling, the White House said Friday that it had given the Central Intelligence Agency approval to resume its use of some harsh interrogation methods in questioning terrorism suspects in secret prisons overseas. "

Feature Stories: Iraq, Iraqi refugee voices: Stories of desperation and need, Press Releases: Iraq, Iraqi refugee voices: Stories of desperation and need : " Alia is 77 years old and lives by herself in Amman. Originally from Baghdad, in 2005 she was threatened and robbed in her home; fearful of increasing violence, she fled from Baghdad to Jordan with her niece. Her daughters had already escaped Iraq with their husbands – one daughter went to Australia, but Alia doesn't know where her other daughter is. Shortly after arriving, her niece abandoned her, unable to support both of them. Now Alia spends her days in her apartment, emotionally despondent, and wishing to be reunited with her daughter in Australia. 'I don't know many other Iraqis here in Jordan, and I have no one to support me or keep me company. My daughter has tried three times to bring me to live with her, but we've been denied every time,' Alia lamented. Her daughter is trying to support Alia, and ...

ei: Overcoming the conspiracy against Palestine : "'Be certain that Yasser Arafat's final days are numbered, but allow us to finish him off our way, not yours. And be sure as well that ... the promises I made in front of President Bush, I will give my life to keep.' Those words were written by the Fatah warlord Mohammed Dahlan, whose US- and Israeli-backed forces were routed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip last month, in a 13 July 2003 letter to then Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz and published on Hamas' website on 4 July this year.'Be certain that Yasser Arafat's final days are numbered, but allow us to finish him off our way, not yours. And be sure as well that ... the promises I made in front of President Bush, I will give my life to keep.' Those words were written by the Fatah warlord Mohammed Dahlan, whose US- and Israeli-backed forces were routed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip last month, in a 13 July 2003 letter to then Israeli defense minister Shau...

Free Press : Public Access Television Is the Original YouTube : "Ever since the 1984 cable franchise act, cable companies have been required to fund local municipalities so they are able to provide training and access to media technology. The reason behind the law was the growth of the cable television industry. As cities and towns began contracting for cable TV service, municipalities were concerned that the cable companies were using public by-ways (such as roads and sidewalks to run cable wires) to make a profit. Many local leaders believed some form of “rent” should be paid for their use. U.S. cable companies were then required to provide a percentage of revenue from the cable TV subscription fees to provide public access to the cable systems."

EurasiaNet Civil Society - Turkey: Religious Minorities Watch Closely as Election Day Approaches : "The Princes’ Islands, a small archipelago about an hour’s ferry ride from Istanbul, are perhaps the last remnant of the city’s cosmopolitan past. The summer home of a large part of Istanbul’s Armenian, Greek and Jewish communities, the islands are one of the few places in Turkey where you can still hear Ladino and Greek spoken on the street."

EurasiaNet Civil Society - Domestic Debate Marks Karabakh Presidential Vote Unless you care, you wouldn’t have known a nation of THE NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC unrecognized by the United Nations declared its independent from Azerbaijan in 1991 . unlike in Azerbaijan, they have lively debate and election.

Al Jazeera English - News - Baghdad For Sale Al Jazeera spoke to a Baghdad estate agent, who would identify himself only as Abu Ali for security reasons. He said: "Ninety-nine per cent of those who want to sell their houses in Baghdad are afraid to live here. Some of them are professionals who had their colleagues killed and are afraid to meet the same fate.