I. JPOST - Hizbullah on US-Mexico border
A Hizbullah terror cell may be operating among drugs cartels around the US-Mexican border, announced US Republican National Committee Representative Sue Myrick, according to a Fox News report. Myrick requested US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano create a special team to further investigate the potential problem and threat. The Republican representative referenced several incidents that show evidence of Hizbullah's efforts to infiltrate the US region with the aid of Mexican drug cartel gangs. Myrick cited the warming relationship between Iran and Venzuela as proof that Hizbullah members may be collaborating with Latin American drug cartels, who may be utilizing Hizbullah's ability to dig underground tunnels for drug smuggling and in turn, providing funding, document forging and false identities. The Fox News report referenced Anthony Placido, assistant administrator for intelligence at the Drug Enforcement Administration, testifying at a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee in March this year, that some drug smugglers in the US-Mexico region have had relationships with Hizbullah between the 1980s and 1990s. "There are numerous reports of cocaine proceeds entering the coffers of Islamic Radical Groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas," Fox News quoted Placido when he testified to the subcommittee. Placido labeled the proceeds as "easy revenue" that could potentially be used to fund terrorism. Fox News also cited a 2006 House Homeland Security Committee report which details incidents of Hizbullah operatives who were apprehended when trying to access the US through Mexico. The report mentions Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, a Hizbullah member who pleaded guilty in 2005 for supplying information to the terror organization after he was smuggled in the US through Mexico, and lived in Dearborne, Michigan.
II. FOXNEWS - U.S. Justice Department Suit Against Arizona Imminent
The Justice Department could file a lawsuit challenging Arizona's immigration law as early as Tuesday, an official tells Fox News. The potential court action comes just days after President Obama delivered a speech calling on Congress to tackle a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration system. In the speech, he criticized Arizona's law and warned that national legislation is needed to prevent other states from following suit. The Arizona law, passed in April and set to go into effect at the end of July, makes illegal immigration a state crime and requires local law enforcement to question anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant on their residency status. Obama and other top officials have criticized the law as misguided, while Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has slammed the administration for pursuing a lawsuit. She claims the administration has not done enough to secure the border -- a charge the administration denies. Brewer told Fox News in June that Arizona would not back down from its law. "We'll meet them in court ... and we will win," she said, calling the administration's actions a "disappointment." The Arizona law has touched off an intense national debate over immigration. The results of any court challenge would have wide-ranging implications, as a number of other states and jurisdictions have taken up tough immigration policies similar to Arizona's. The Obama administration has meanwhile tried to use the law as the impetus to prod Congress into tackling an immigration bill. While Arizona lawmakers defend their law as necessary to patrol the border, Obama described it last week as "unenforceable" and a vehicle for civil rights abuse. He said a "national standard" is needed and that he won't "kick the can down the road" any longer. Republicans bristled at the speech, though, and continued to urge the administration to better secure the border before tackling a comprehensive bill -- which would likely include a pathway to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants.
III. RIANOVOSTI - Russia, U.S. to prepare arms cuts treaty for ratification by late July
The Russian and U.S. parliaments are planning to prepare a new strategic arms cuts treaty for ratification by late July, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday. Russia and the United States signed the new treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons in Prague on April 8. The document will replace the START 1 treaty, which expired in December 2009. The new pact stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads is to be reduced to 1,550 on each side, while the number of deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles must not exceed 800 on each side. U.S. President Barack Obama submitted the document to the U.S. Senate for ratification on May 13. His Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev handed over the treaty to the Russian parliament's lower house, the State Duma, on May 28. Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the international affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said Russian and U.S. lawmakers were continuing consultations on the issue. Medvedev and Obama have agreed that the ratification processes should be simultaneous.
Officials of the Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) have arrested two Saudi Arabian citizens for spying on Milorad Dodik. Banja Luka's Nezavisne Novine daily writes that the two suspected spies were arrested on June 28. During interrogation, the two admitted to being members of the “sharia police” from Saudi Arabia, the daily reports. According to this, in Lukavac, near Sarajevo, they were monitoring the arrival of three helicopters carrying Dodik, the Republic of Srpska prime minister, as well as RS president, finance and interior ministers. The Saudi citizens were noticed by locals, who reported that "suspicious Arab persons driving a new, black Fiat 500". According to the newspaper, citizens called to report the suspicious car that was parked next to the police station where the helicopters were landing. The Eastern Sarajevo Center for Public Security acted on the tip, and after the two suspects were taken into custody, it was uncovered that they had arrived at the invitation of a man identified as Hilmija Kadrić, "who is in constant contact with the director of a Saudi Arabian humanitarian organization". It was also uncovered that the two suspects arrived in Bosnia on June 27, and when asked what they were video taping, they said that they were recording a “sour cherry tree, because they like the way it looked”. SIPA spokesperson Željka Kujundžija confirmed the arrest, but stated that the pair were released once their identities were confirmed, and that all the information in the case was given to the Bosnia-Herzegovina prosecution in order to confirm whether criminal acts were committed.
V. TELEGRAPH - Jennifer Lopez urged to cancel Cyprus concert
American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has sparked a diplomatic row after agreeing to perform at a concert in Cyprus. The celebrity had been invited to celebrate her 41st birthday on the island, in return for taking part in a one-off concert. But the arrangement has upset the Greek Cypriot community, which has launched an online campaign to persuade her to cancel the concert, according to the Guardian. Thousands of people have signed a petition asking the singer to reconsider her decision to perform in the territory, which is not officially recognised by the United Nations. Cyprus was invaded in 1974 by Turkish troops and has been divided between Greeks in the south and Turks in the north ever since. "It is with dismay and shock that the people of Cyprus and especially the Greek Cypriot women in the Republic of Cyprus and elsewhere in the world heard the news that you intend to attend the inauguration of a hotel in the occupied by Turkey [sic] part of our native country," said a letter compiled by campaign organisers. The message, carried on the Cyprus Action Network of America, argues that nearly four decades after the island was "barbarically invaded" it would be morally unconscionable for the artist to visit.
VI. AFP - UN studies options for N.Korea censure
South Korea and UN Security Council members are studying several proposals on how to censure North Korea, a report said on Tuesday. China has come up with its own draft for the UN statement over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, Yonhap news agency said. It quoted an unnamed government official as saying prospects for an early compromise were not good. "There are various proposals... They are sometimes combined and sometimes separated," the official was quoted as saying. The South's foreign ministry declined to confirm the report. On Monday, Seoul urged the council to send a "clear and firm" message to Pyongyang but declined comment on media reports that China was blocking such a move. South Korea, pointing to the findings of a multinational investigation, has accused its communist neighbour of torpedoing the 1,200-tonne corvette with the loss of 46 sailors near the disputed Yellow Sea border on March 26. The South announced its own reprisals, including cutting off most trade, with strong US support. It has asked the 15-member council to condemn its neighbour but is facing resistance from China, the North's ally. The North has denied any involvement in the sinking and threatened a military response to a UN censure.
VII. SPEROFORUM - Iraq: Another Christian killed in Mosul
The agony continues for the Christian community of Mosul, the most dangerous city in Iraq. Yesterday July 5, in a targeted attack yet another Christian was killed. 54 year old Syrian Orthodox, Behnam Sabti worked as a nurse at the Jumhuriya state hospital of Mosul. A bomb fixed under his car exploded while the man was driving, killing him instantly. Local sources, anonymous for security reasons, tell AsiaNews, they are convinced that the motive of the murder was the man’s "religious identity". Married with three children, he will be buried in Bashiqa Kemal, his native village in the north. According to the latest data, released in late June by the Iraqi ministries for Defence, Health and the Interior, violence has declined on a national scale. Nevertheless, people are still despondent and living in fear. The number of Iraqis killed violently, in June, fell to 284 compared with 437 the same month in 2009. If Iraq is experiencing a political stalemate due to protracted negotiations on forming a new government after March 7 elections, Mosul faces "a real security vacuum", sources tell AsiaNews. In what is now the “Al Qaeda stronghold in Mesopotamia ", two types of violence take place, terrorism directed against the locals - mostly Shia - and minorities, and jihadist violence targeting American troops and their allies of the Iraqi security forces. The streets of Mosul are patrolled by the U.S. military, about 18 Iraqi army battalions are deployed throughout the city, along with hundreds of police and checkpoints. Nevertheless, the situation remains highly uncertain, as revealed by the same American officials. And the problems "will increase when the U.S. completes the withdrawal," says Didar Abdulla al-Zibari, a member of the local provincial council.