Colombia says it has evidence that Farc rebels are in Venezuela [Reuters]

Venezuela has broken off diplomatic relations with Colombia after Bogota charged that leftist guerrillas it is fighting are holed up in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has said.

“I announce with a tear in the heart: Venezuela breaks off from this moment all relations with the government of Colombia,” Chavez told journalists at the presidential palace on Thursday.

“We have no other choice but, out of dignity, to totally break our relations with our brother nation of Colombia,” the president said live on state television, as he hosted a visit by Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona.

Nicolas Maduro,Venezuela’s foreign minister, declared immediately afterwards that Colombia had 72 hours to withdraw its diplomats in Venezuela and close its embassy.

Earlier, Colombia’s foreign ministry had said that Maria Luisa Chiappe, its ambassador to Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, would be called back to Bogota “to evaluate the situation”.

At an emergency meeting of the Washington-based Organisation of American States (OAS), Luis Alfonso Hoyos, a Colombian diplomat, presented evidence that he said suggests Venezuela was harbouring Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebels.

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Obama has pledged $600 million in funding for more border guards and surveilance equipment [AFP]

Barack Obama, the US president, has ordered more than a 1,000 members of the US National Guard to the country’s southern border with Mexico.

Officials said on Monday that the troops will deploy on August 1 to help control the flow of illegal immigrants, drugs smuggling and human trafficking from across the Mexican border.

The soldiers “will provide direct support to federal law enforcement officers and agents working in high-risk areas to disrupt criminal organisations seeking to move people and goods illegally across the southwest border,” Janet Napolitano, the US Homeland Security secretary, said.

Around 300 customs and border protection agents were being deployed to the 3,200km border, alongside the 1,200 guardsmen, as well as new helicopters and other surveillance equipment.

“The border is more resourced and more secure than it’s ever been but the work continues and the challenge remains,” Alan Bersin, commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection agency, said.

Obama has pledged $600 million in extra funds to support the mission.

Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/201072074349202737.html

The increasingly frail Mandela spent his birthday with his family in Johannesburg [AFP]

The world has been marking the first Nelson Mandela International Day as South Africa‘s first black president, turns 92 years old.

The United Nations last year agreed to commemorate Mandela’s birthday every year  to recognise the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s contribution to resolving conflicts and promoting race relations, human rights and reconciliation.

The former South African president celebrated his birthday on Sunday with his extended family at home in Johannesburg.

But elsewhere, people were enouraged to devote 67 minutes of their day to public service, to honour Mandela’s 67 years in politics.

Volunteers carried out a wide variety of tasks including feeding street children, cleaning schools and caring for the elderly.

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Police say the thieves fled the casino with 20,000 to 40,000 Euro [AFP]

Riots have erupted in the French city of Grenoble after a local resident was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police.

Rioters burned cars, attacked a tram and shops and shot at police in the suburb of La Villeneuve following a memorial service for the man, who was suspected of robbing a casino in the city.

Brice Hortefeux, France’s interior minister, visited the southeastern city on Saturday and vowed that order would be restored.

The violence in Grenoble recalled civil unrest that exploded across France in late 2005 after two teenagers from a Paris suburb died as they were fleeing police.

Police said they were forced to intervene early on Saturday after a tram was stopped by a group of about 30 youths armed with baseball bats and iron bars.

The gang started a fire on the rails and stoned the vehicle, forcing the passengers inside to get out.

Later dozens of cars were set alight and police used tear gas in an attempt to control the violence. At one point one of the rioters fired a shot and police returned fire, a spokesman said.

Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/07/

Syrian police guard the State Security Court in Damascus during a 2005 protest [GALLO/GETTY]

On the tenth anniversary of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s rise to power, a prominent human rights group has accused him of doing too little to change his country’s long-running history of government oppression and abuse.

While Assad has used the US invasion of Iraq and the “chaos” surrounding his country in the Middle East to justify his tight control over the limited freedom of expression allowed in Syria, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that “a review of Syria’s record shows a consistent policy of repressing dissent regardless of international or regional developments”.

Assad’s state security forces have jailed at least 92 human rights activists and 25 bloggers and journalists in the past 10 years, according to a report released by the organisation on Friday.

The report, which refers to Assad’s time in office as “a wasted decade,” details the 117 cases and their outcomes, which ranged from three months’ imprisonment to 12 years, but notes that the number of jailed writers and activists is probably far larger than what HRW was able to discover.

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Violence has spiraled since Mexican president Felipe Calderon sent the army to fight drug gangs [REUTERS]

An attack that killed three people, including two police officers, in the border town of Ciudad Juarez on Thursday was the result of a car bomb, the Mexican military has said.

A car packed with 10 kilogrammes of explosives rammed into police vehicles and the explosion was activated with a cell-phone, the military said on Friday.

Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07

Castro said he believed a confrontation between the US and Iran was imminent [Reuters]

Appearing relaxed, cogent and in fighting form, Fidel Castro, Cuba’s former president, has made his first major television appearance in three years, and immediately took on old nemesis the United States.

Speaking slowly but clearly, the 83-year-old former revolution leader, who has been in ill health, talked about the conflict between North and South Korea at the start of the interview on Monday on a daily Cuban current events talk show.

He accused the US of sinking a South Korean warship in March, an attack Seoul and an international team of investigators blamed on Pyongyang.

He also spoke about his belief that a confrontation between the US and Iran was imminent, saying nuclear war could break out when the US, in alliance with Israel, tries to enforce international sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities.

“When they launch war, they’re going to launch it there. It cannot help but be nuclear,” he said. “I believe the danger of war is growing a lot. They are playing with fire,” he said.

Castro spoke haltingly at first, but gathered steam as he outlined long grievances against the US and detailed its large store of nuclear arms and heavy military spending.

“The United States spends more than all the other countries together on defence,” he said, leafing through papers to check his facts.

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At least 74 people have been killed in two near simultaneous bomb explosions, apparently targeting crowds watching the World Cup final, in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, police say.

One blast hit an Ethiopian restaurant in the south of the city on Sunday, while the other occurred at a rugby sports club in the east of Kampala.

Somalia‘s al-Shabab, a group which the US says has links to al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

“Al-Shabab was behind the two blast in Uganda,” Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, the group’s spokesperson, announced in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, on Monday.

“We thank the mujahideens that carried out the attack. We are sending a message to Uganda and Burundi, if they do not take out their Amisom [African Union Mission in Somalia] troops from Somalia, blasts will continue and it will happen.”

Uganda and Burundi currently have peacekeepers in Somalia as part of a stabilisation mission supported by the African Union.

These attacks are the first time the group, which has carried out multiple suicide attacks inside Somalia, has struck outside of the country.

Read More  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/07/2010711212520826984.html

Turnout was low is some areas which are plagued by drug-related violence [Reuters]

Mexico’s main opposition party has claimed victory in state and local elections – held across nearly half the country – after exit polling gave them a significant lead in many of the races.

“The results that we have in hand show that our victory was convincing in the areas where voting took place,” Beatriz Paredes, the head of the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI), said on Sunday.

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Petraeus met with dozens of Afghan officials at the US embassy in Kabul on Saturday [AFP]

General David Petraeus, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, has called for a united effort against the Taliban in his first public remarks since landing in Kabul.

Petraeus spoke at the US embassy on Saturday, where thousands of people gathered to mark the US independence day holiday. He called the war a “tough mission”, but said he was confident of “achiev[ing] progress”.

“This is an effort in which we must achieve unity of effort and common purpose. Civilian and military, Afghan and international, we are part of one team with one mission,” Petraeus said.

“On this important endeavour, co-operation is not optional.”

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