JUNE 2008

Bangladesh

On 28 May police began a major crackdown on crime which they said was "to create a congenial atmosphere" before December elections but which the major political parties said had detained hundreds of their members. As of 7 June almost 17,000 arrests had been made. (CNN.com)

3 JUNE 2008

Diplomatic affairs

The UN Security Council agreed that member states could enter Somalia's territorial waters to pursue pirates. (CNN.com)

Pakistan

A bomb blast outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad killed at least a half-dozen people. (CNN.com)

6 JUNE 2008

Israel, foreign policy

Yediot Ahronot reported Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying, "If Iran continues its program to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack it....The window of opportunity has closed. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear program." (CNN.com)

9 JUNE 2008

Somalia

The government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia signed an agreement calling for an end to "all acts of armed confrontation" within 30 days and the replacement of Ethiopian troops by UN peacekeepers within 120 days. Al-Shabab did not participate in the talks. (AP)

17 JUNE 2008

Iraq

A car bomb attack in the northwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Hurriya killed 63 people and wounded 75. The next day the US military said it believed Haydar Mehdi Khadum al Fawadi, a leader of an Iranian-backed Shiite militant cell, ordered the attack in an effort to incite Shia violence against Sunnis. (CNN.com)

22 JUNE 2008

Iraq

A suicide bombing in Baquba killed 16 people. (CNN.com)

22-27 JUNE 2008

Zimbabwe, politics

On the 26th Morgan Tsvangirai announced he was withdrawing from the presidential election runoff scheduled for the 27th on the grounds that his party could not ask voters to risk their lives "in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process". President Mugabe was therefore unopposed in the runoff. (CNN.com)

23 JUNE 2008

Iraq

The US military, in a report to the US Congress, said indicators in Iraq were moving in a positive direction. Civilian deaths had dropped from about 4,000 per month in late 2006/early 2007 to about 500 per month. Much of the drop in violence was attributed to the emergence of the 'Sons of Iraq', about 90,000 Iraqis who were assisting in the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq. Many of them were former insurgents who had turned against AQI. Also, increased oil revenues were strengthening the Iraqi government. (CNN.com)

26 JUNE 2008

Iraq

A car bombing in Mosul killed at least 18 people and wounded 80. (CNN.com)

7 JULY 2008

Afghanistan

A suicide bombing in central Kabul, near the Indian embassy, killed at least 41 people and wounded another 139. (CNN.com)

10-11 JULY 2008

Middle East and North Africa, diplomatic affairs

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Iraq and reached agreements with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on a range of issues including military cooperation. (CNN.com)

12 JULY 2008

Asia and the Pacific, diplomatic affairs

The latest round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program ended with the North reportedly agreeing to complete dismantling of its Yongbyon nuclear facility by the end of October in return for the completion of energy assistance to North Korea by the US and other countries at the same time. (CNN.com)

Afghanistan

British members of ISAF killed Mullah Bismullah Akhund in the Now Zad district of Helmand province. The British Defense Ministry announced Bismullah's death on the 17th and called him "a senior key facilitator and logistician responsible for the northern Helmand region". (CNN.com)

13 JULY 2008

Diplomatic affairs

Representatives from over 40 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, including Israel and Arab states, meeting in Paris, issued a declaration launching a 'Union for the Mediterranean'. The declaration said members would "pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction" including nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and their delivery systems, and would "consider practical steps to prevent the proliferation" of such weapons. (AP)

Afghanistan

A suicide bombing in Tarin Kowt killed at least 21 people. (CNN.com)