The World
By Alex Altman, Gilbert Cruz, Adam Goodman, Kate Pickert, Tiffany Sharples, M.J. Stephey, Claire Suddath
1 | Colombia Worry for Those Left Behind A week after the daring July 2 operation that freed former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 14 others, some have expressed concern that the high-profile rescue did nothing to aid the nearly 700 others still held by Colombia's FARC rebels; one captive's mother referred to Betancourt as a "trophy hostage." Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whose revolution inspired the group's creation in the 1960s, called for an unconditional release of all FARC captives, while stopping short of asking the group to surrender. Meanwhile, two rebels detained in the rescue face extradition to the U.S. for their role in the kidnapping of three American defense contractors.
2 | Washington Climate Censorship? A three-page letter by a former Environmental Protection Agency official charges that Vice President Dick Cheney's office excised six pages on the adverse health effects of global warming from expert testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2007. The White House said the pages were cut because they didn't match the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the environment committee, has called that statement a "lie," saying the cuts amounted to censorship.
3 | United Arab Emirates That's What Friends Are For The United Arab Emirates has written off all the money owed to it by Iraq--$7 billion, including interest--as the U.S. encourages Iraq's creditors to forgive some $70 billion remaining in foreign debt that the country accrued under former dictator Saddam Hussein. With Jordan appointing an ambassador to Iraq last week and Kuwait and Bahrain saying they are soon to follow, the U.A.E.'s announcement is being seen in Baghdad and Washington as evidence of warming relations between Shi'ite Iraq and its Sunni neighbors.
Estimated Iraqi debt, in billions of dollars [This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine.] U.N. COMPENSATION COMMISSION $28 SAUDI ARABIA 15 KUWAIT 15 THE PARIS CLUB* 8 QATAR 4
*AN INFORMAL 19-NATION GROUP OF CREDITORS SOURCE: THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
4 | Baghdad Iraq Wants a Withdrawal Date Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki implied on July 7 that he wants a new agreement with the U.S. to spell out when foreign troops will leave--the sort of timeline the Bush Administration has long opposed. Iraq's national security adviser chimed in the next day, saying Baghdad was "impatiently" waiting for the U.S. to pull out troops. "We're unambiguously talking about their departure," he said.
5 | France New Rules on Immigration On July 7, the European Union's 27 member states unanimously backed an effort to standardize and tighten their immigration and asylum policies. The pact (slated to be finalized at an October summit) was drafted by France, which has made immigration reform a centerpiece of the six-month E.U. presidency it assumed on July 1. Officials rejected criticism that the accord--which calls for stiffer border controls and expulsion policies and an alignment of asylum rules--was intended to crack down on immigration. The proposal reached consensus only after certain elements, including an "integration contract" dictating immigrants' behavior, were removed. An estimated 8 million illegal immigrants reside in the E.U.
6 | Beijing To Go or Not to Go During the July 7-9 G-8 summit, Nicolas Sarkozy and Yasuo Fukuda became the latest heads of state to agree to attend the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremonies, disappointing Tibet advocates who had called for a boycott. Notable RSVPS so far:
U.S. President George W. Bush ATTENDING "Not going ... would be an affront to the Chinese people."
GERMANY Chancellor Angela Merkel NOT ATTENDING "I never planned to participate in the opening."
FRANCE President Nicolas Sarkozy ATTENDING Says he will attend in dual capacity as head of the European Union.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon NOT ATTENDING Spokeswoman says he cannot attend because of scheduling issues.
JAPAN Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda ATTENDING "I would not like the Chinese to become unhappy. We are neighbors, after all."
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown NOT ATTENDING Spokespeople say Brown will attend the closing ceremonies instead.
7 | Kabul VIOLENCE RETURNS Afghan authorities implied that Pakistan's intelligence agency was behind a July 7 suicide bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul, above, that killed 41 people--the capital's deadliest since 2001. Pakistan denied involvement, while dealing with its own carnage: a July 6 bombing in Islamabad killed at least 18 on the one-year anniversary of a deadly government raid on the city's Red Mosque, and a series of small explosions rocked Karachi on July 7.
8 | Iran Saber-Rattling, Via TV Iran launched nine medium- and long-range missiles in a July 9 broadcast intended to prove that it could respond to an attack from the U.S. or Israel over its controversial nuclear program. The test, which officials said included a new version of Iran's Shahab-3 missile that can reach Israel and U.S. Gulf bases, came less than a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised that "there won't be any war" with either nation.
9 | Maryland Stalking Salmonella's Source U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are now looking at serrano peppers, cilantro and jalapenos, as well as tomatoes, as possible sources of the salmonella outbreak that has infected more than 1,000 people since April. These items are commonly found in salsa, which many victims said they had consumed before they fell ill. Tomato growers say hasty finger-pointing by the FDA cost them millions in lost revenue.
10 | Jerusalem Resurrection Foretold? Jews were familiar with the tale of a messiah rising from the dead after three days years before Jesus' birth, according to a new interpretation of a 1st century B.C. stone tablet. A controversial translation by Hebrew University scholar Israel Knohl contains the phrase "In three days you shall live"--setting a possible precedent for Christ's resurrection story.
What They're Watching in England Apparently the spanking wasn't painful enough. Formula One boss Max Mosley is waging a bruising court battle with Britain's News of the World over its report on his allegedly Nazi-themed sadomasochistic orgy with five prostitutes. A video clip of the tryst, which has mesmerized the British tabloids and broadsheets alike, has drawn 3.5 million hits online.