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Summary: U.S./Top News Hundreds of residents of Baghdad's Sadr City demonstrated on Sunday against what they called the siege of their district by US forces. Traffic into and out of the area has been delayed by searches. A local cleric complained that for several days the city has been under siege. "When we want to get someone sick or injured to the hospital we can't get out," he said.
The federal government in Mexico sent troops into Oaxaca Saturday, ending a protest demonstration that had occupied the main square for months, a day after gunfire killed a U.S. activist and two residents.
President Lula of Brazil won re-election in a runoff vote Sunday with 61 percent of the vote. Analysts attributed the strong victory to his anti-poverty programs.
The new Military Commissions law could violate international treaties protecting detainees, with some provisions denying suspects the right to a fair trial, a U.N. rights expert said Friday. Martin Scheinin, the UN's expert on protecting human rights in the fight against terrorism, said the Military Commissions Act contains provisions "incompatible" with U.S. obligations to adhere to treaties on human rights and humanitarian law.
Alabama's condom production has survived Asian competition, thanks to the patronage of its congressmen, the New York Times reports. The politicians have ensured that companies in Alabama won federal contracts to make billions of condoms over the years for AIDS prevention and family planning programs overseas, though Asian factories could do the job at less than half the cost.
Iran Four weeks ago, Congress enacted and President Bush signed the Iran Freedom Support Act, a resolution very much in the spirit of the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, Jon Sawyer wrote in the Los Angeles Times. The Act, which got little press coverage, mandates sanctions against any country aiding Iran's nuclear programs, even those to which that country is legally entitled under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But if the confrontation over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program ends in war, this law will be cited as proof Congress was onboard all along.
A naval training exercise led by the U.S. and aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weapons began Sunday in the Persian Gulf. Iran called the two-day maneuvers "adventurist."
President Ahmadinejad said Iran would make an "appropriate and firm response" to any sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council, as Council members deliberated a draft European resolution that would impose sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. Russia has indicated that the measure is too tough, while the US says it's not tough enough.
Iranians hailed the recent voyage of the first woman to go into space as a private explorer, an Iranian-American. Nazila Fathi writes in the New York Times that fascination with the woman's odyssey has gripped Iran, particularly the country's young women.
Iraq The U.S. military announced the death of the 100th servicemember in Iraq this month, making October the fourth deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began.
The US military has not tracked hundreds of thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces, a federal report has concluded. The US military did not even record the serial numbers of half a million weapons making it impossible to identify any that might be in the wrong hands.
Tony Blair is facing parliamentary defeat unless he agrees to set up a high-level inquiry into the Iraq war and the failure to plan for the aftermath of the invasion, the Independent reports.
Israel The UN Environment Program is investigating allegations that Israel may have used uranium-based weapons during this summer's war in Lebanon, the Independent reports.
Israel's summer war with Hezbollah has revived the contest over the Golan Heights, the Washington Post reports. Settler leaders have launched a $250,000 advertising campaign to attract Israeli yuppies to settle in the Israeli-occupied Syrian territory with the lure of free land.
Bolivia President Morales clinched a major victory as foreign energy companies agreed to remain in the country and operate under state control, ceding a larger share of their profits to the Bolivian state, Reuters reports.
Forced Labor A New York Times article highlights the issue of forced child labor. The ILO estimates that 1.2 million children are sold into servitude every year.
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-- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
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