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By VOA News 12 July 2009 Logo of Reporters Without Borders The press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders says it is concerned by what it calls the growing repression of journalists and cyber-dissidents in Iran. In a report issued Sunday, the RSF (Reporters Sans Frontieres) announced the detention of five more journalists. RSF says 41 journalists are currently imprisoned in Iran a month after the country's contested election. RSF says Iran is currently the world's biggest prison for journalists, and is becoming the world's most dangerous place for them to operate. RSF says the recently-detained journalists include photographers Majid Saidi and Tohid Bighi, blogger Henghameh Shahidi, and journalists Somaieh Nosrati and Said Matinpour. According to RSF, four of the five are being held in secret locations with no information about their condition being released to their families or legal representatives.

By Edward Yeranian Cairo 12 July 2009 An image grab taken from Iran's official Press TV station five Iranians upon their arrival at Tehran, 12 Jul 2009 Five Iranians released from U.S. custody three days ago in Iraq, received a warm welcome Sunday at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport. The United States insists the five were not released as part of a political gesture to Iran. The five Iranians released Thursday in Iraq, were given a hero's welcome at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, as a crowd of well-wishers and family members greeted them on the tarmac. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Muttaqi embraced the men, as friends and relatives carried them on their shoulders into the airport. Muttaqi later gave a press conference, surrounded by the five, complaining that the United States had detained them "illegally." He also insisted that Iran does not intend to let the matter drop. "Iran,&quo

By VOA News 12 July 2009 Mexican federal authorities say they killed one gunman Sunday as they continued to fight off a series of attacks on federal forces in western Michoacan state. Police escort Arnoldo Rueda, an alleged coordinator for the Mexican drug cartel, during a presentation in Mexico City, 11 Jul 2009 Police say the attacks on their forces began Saturday, when gunmen killed three federal agents and two soldiers, and wounded 18 others. Police said the attacks were retribution for the arrest of drug cartel leader Arnoldo Rueda. Rueda, an alleged key member of the La Familia Michoacan drug cartel, was captured Saturday morning in Morelia. Shortly after his arrest, some two dozen armed men threw grenades into the federal offices where Rueda was being held and opened fire. The attackers failed to secure Rueda's release, and the violence then spread across the Pacific coast state. President Felipe Calderon

By VOA News 12 July 2009 A bomb exploded Sunday in Iraq near a convoy of vehicles transporting U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill. No one was injured in the attack. The bombing occurred in Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq. The newspaper, "USA Today" quoted Hill as saying he heard a bang and drove through a cloud of smoke. Iraqi security forces stand guard outside one of several Christian churches that were bombed in Baghdad, 12 Jul 2009 Earlier in the day, a series of bombings at Christian churches in Baghdad killed four people and wounded at least 18. The bombs went off near churches in central and eastern Baghdad. The fatal attack took place near a church on Palestine Street in the eastern part of the city. Islamist militants have staged sporadic attacks on Iraq's small Christian minority in recent years. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled their homes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last year followin

By VOA News 12 July 2009 US Marines dismount from their vehicles during battle against Taliban fighters near Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province, 20 Jun 2009 The U.S. military says a roadside bomb killed two U.S. Marines Saturday in Afghanistan's volatile south, where U.S. and British troops continue their offensive to oust Taliban insurgents from the region. Military officials initially reported four U.S. Marines had died in the attack in Helmand province, but they later corrected the figure, saying the same incident had been reported twice by mistake. A third U.S. soldier serving with NATO-led forces in the south died Friday from wounds received in combat last month. The U.S. deaths came a day after eight British soldiers were killed in Helmand in a 24-hour period. More than 190 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan this year, which is on pace to be the deadliest since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliba

By VOA News 13 July 2009 This screen grab from North Korean television shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il attending a session of the parliament in Pyongyang, 09 Apr 2009 A South Korean television station is reporting Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has pancreatic cancer, and that his illness is life-threatening. YTN television says its report is based on information obtained by South Korean and Chinese intelligence officials. No other details are immediately available. Mr. Kim's health has been a focus of speculation for the past year after he reportedly suffered a stroke. He disappeared from public last August for several months. North Korean media outlets have vehemently denied the reports of Mr. Kim's ill health, and published undated photos and video footage of him. Mr. Kim looked gaunt during a rare public appearance Wednesday, July 8, at a memorial in honor of the 15th a

By Robert Berger Jerusalem 12 July 2009 Israel is calling for a resumption of stalled Middle East peace talks. But the Palestinians are skeptical. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu attends his weekly cabinet meeting in Be’er Sheva, Israel, 12 Jul 2009 Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him for the first time. Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting, Mr. Netanyahu urged the Palestinian Authority to cooperate with Israel on economic projects to promote the peace process. He said many investors want to help boost the Palestinian economy and Israel is doing its part by easing travel and trade restrictions. He said there is no reason not to meet. But the Palestinians have refused to resume peace talks since the right-wing Israeli government assumed power three months ago. Palestinian spokesman Yasser Abed Rabbo described Mr. Netanyahu'

tengah atas By VOA News 12 July 2009 Authorities in Mali say al-Qaida's North Africa branch has freed a Swiss hostage abducted in January. Officials announced the release Sunday, but gave no further details. Werner Greiner was abducted in late January with three other Westerners near the Mali-Niger border. The al-Qaida group earlier freed two of the women in the group, but killed British national Edwin Dyer. Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

By Michael Bowman Washington 12 July 2009 Vice President Dick Cheney Senate Democrats are denouncing the former Bush administration's handling of a secret U.S. counter-terrorism program and its failure to inform Congress about the project for nearly eight years, allegedly on orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein says she learned of the Central Intelligence Agency program last month from CIA Director Leon Panetta. "Congress should have been told," said Dianne Feinstein. "We should have been briefed before the commencement of this kind of sensitive program. Director Panetta did brief us two weeks ago, [and] said he had just learned about the program, described it to us and indicated he had canceled it. And, as had been reported [he] did tell us that he was told that the [former] vice president had ordered that the program not

By VOA News 12 July 2009 " title="Uighur women grieve for men who they claim were taken away by Chinese authorities after Sunday's protest in Urumqi, 7 Jul 2009 " src="http://www.voanews.com/english/images/AP-China-Uighur-women-grieve-8Jul09-210.jpg" vspace="2" width="210" border="0" height="196" hspace="2"> Uighur women grieve for men who they claim were taken away by Chinese authorities after Sunday's protest in Urumqi, 7 Jul 2009 China's Xinjiang province was calm Sunday as relatives and friends of those killed in last week's ethnic clashes mourned their deaths. Chinese media reported that Xinjiang is on "the road to recovery," with most shops in the provincial capital Urumqi reopening and public transportation returning to regular schedules. Security troops are still patrolling the city. The official Xinhua news a