Drug-related violence in Mexico increasingly has the hallmarks of an insurgency, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

The drug gangs are making Mexico look more like a war zone. (Photo by BBC.)

“It’s looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago, when the narco-traffickers controlled certain parts of the country,” she said.

Her comments were made following a major speech to US foreign policy experts in Washington.

A Mexican government spokesman rejected Mrs Clinton’s analogy.

Speaking in Mexico City, Alejandro Poire said the only aspect that the Mexican and Colombian conflicts share is their root cause – a high demand for drugs in the US.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11234058

JAKARTA, Indonesia, September 8 (CDN) — The Bogor city government in West Java re-sealed the Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI) Yasmin Church on Aug. 28, one day after security police had removed the seal and lock.

Under cover of darkness, Bogor security police were ordered to secretly re-seal the church building at 11 p.m. the night before it was to be used for worship services.

Jayadi Damanik, a member of the GKI Yasmin legal team, said security police had removed the lock and seal after church talks with the district officer, the Bogor police chief, the head of the security police and citizens who live near the church. In those talks all parties agreed that there was no reason to question the construction and presence of the GKI Yasmin Church, he said.

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http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/indonesia/25340/

(AP) A sharply divided federal appeals court threw out a lawsuit that challenged Boeing Co.’s role flying terrorism suspects to secret prisons and raised questions about the government’s ability to quash lawsuits when state secrets are involved.

The complaint was filed by five terrorism suspects who were arrested shortly after 9/11 and say they were flown to prisons around the world where they were tortured. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited national security risks when it dismissed the men’s case in a 6-5 ruling Wednesday.

The case could have broad repercussions on the national security debate as it makes its way toward the Supreme Court, and it casts a spotlight on the controversial “extraordinary rendition” program the Bush administration used after 9/11.

The Obama administration subsequently said it would continue to send foreign detainees to other countries for questioning, but rarely – and only if U.S. officials are confident the prisoners will not be tortured.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/08/politics/main6846307.shtml

An “emergency meeting” of Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders met in Washington Tuesday to denounce what they see as anti-Muslim bigotry. The event was put together by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in conjunction with organizations who included the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding founded by Rabbi Marc Schneier; the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and the National Council of Churches. David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, were also among those participating.

The religious leaders said they came together “to denounce categorically the derision, misinformation and outright bigotry being directed against America’s Muslim community.”

“We believe the best way to uphold America’s democratic values is to ensure that Muslims can exercise the same religious freedom enjoyed by everyone in America,” the group statement added.

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http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2010/09/isna-convenes-emergency-interfaith-meeting-on

BRUSSELS – European Union nations and the continent’s biggest human rights organisation slammed Iran on Wednesday for its plan to stone a woman convicted of adultery, while Iran’s ambassador to the Vatican said there is “hope” the punishment could be eased upon review by Iranian authorities.

The plight of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, has cast a harsh light on Iran’s version of Islamic justice and caused a global outcry. Iran says it has put the stoning on hold for now but has also indicated Ashtiani could be hanged for her conviction of playing a role in her husband’s 2005 murder.

In an interview broadcast on Italian state TV on Wednesday, Tehran’s envoy to the Holy See gave the strongest indication yet that Iran may set aside the death penalty – or at least the stoning – in Ashtiani’s case.

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10672166&ref=rss

An analysis and interview with textbook author and historian Viktor Mysan published in Ukrayinska Pravda reveals the ideological orientation of the Ukrainian authorities who came to power in February. During the preceding five years, Viktor Yanukovych had never accepted the legitimacy of the Orange Revolution or his defeat in 2004, ignoring a Supreme Court ruling and parliamentary resolution, and, worse still, adhered to the Russian view that the mass protests were nothing more than ‘political technology.’ This is post-Soviet speak for a black ops conspiracy that was undertaken by the US through the rhetoric of democracy promotion pursued by the Bush administration.

It was always, therefore, a mistake to view Yanukovych in the 2010 elections, despite five years of ‘grooming’ by U.S. consultants Manafort and Davis, as a ‘re-born democrat.’ In order for this to be true, Yanukovych would have had to condemn the mass fraud committed in the 2004 elections, embrace the authenticity and domestic origins of the Orange Revolution and accept his own defeat.

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http://www.jamestown.org/blog

(Reuters) – Bosnian police have uncovered a large cache of weapons and detained a new suspect in the course of their inquiry into a June bomb attack that killed one policeman and injured six others, the prosecutor’s office said.

The attack, outside a police station in the town of Bugojno, was one of the most serious security incidents in the Balkan country since an ethnic war ended in 1995.

Shortly after the blast, police arrested the suspected mastermind and his helper — both believed to be followers of the radical Sunni Muslim Wahhabi sect.

In a statement on Monday, the prosecutor’s office gave an update on the state of the investigation.

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http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51314220100906

The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Monday that a Florida church’s plan to burn Qurans on Sept. 11 could be detrimental to American troops overseas.

“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan,” said Gen. David Petraeus in a statement. “It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”

There are about 140,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan.

A small, non-denominational church in Florida called Dove World Outreach Center announced several months ago its plan to burn copies of Islam’s holy book on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100907/gen-petraeuschurch-burning-quran-could-endanger-troops/index.html

NAIROBI, Kenya, September 7 (CDN) — Another member of an underground Christian movement in Somalia has been murdered by Muslim insurgents in a continuing campaign to eliminate converts from Islam.

Area sources said al Shabaab militants entered the house of Osman Abdullah Fataho in Afgoi, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Mogadishu in Shibis district, at 10:30 the night of July 21 and shot him dead in front of his wife and children.

Fataho was a long-time Christian deeply involved in the activities of the small, secret Christian community, sources said. Area Christians said they suspected someone had informed the insurgents of Fataho’s faith.

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http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/somalia/25272/