The Philippine military launched attacks on Muslim guerillas in Mindanao Aug. 9 after hundreds of fighters with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) defied an ultimatum to withdraw from Christian villages. At least six soldiers were wounded in clashes with the MILF in the villages in Aleosan and Pikit. The fighting has displaced up to 100,000 villagers in North Cotabato province. Residents of the predominantly Christian province have struggled to recover after Typhoon Fengshen ravaged farmlands in June. (AlJazeera, Aug. 10) On Aug. 10 there were reports of Philippine Air Force planes bombing MILF positions. The contested villages lie outside the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where regional elections were to be held on Aug. 11. (Inquirer.net, Philippines, Aug. 11)

Georgian authorities say Russian warplanes are targeting the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, and have carried out over 50 air-strikes near the conduit. A BP-led consortium operates the pipeline, which transports one million barrels a day from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean. "They need control of energy routes," Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said of the Russians. "They need sea ports. They need transportation infrastructure. And primarily, they want to get rid of us." (The Telegraph, Aug. 11)

Kurdish PKK guerillas claimed responsibility for an Aug. 5 blast near Refahiye, in eastern Turkey's Erzincan province, that shut down the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. "Attacks on economic interests have a deterring effect... As long as the Turkish state insists on war, such acts will be naturally carried out," PKK commander Bahoz Erdal told the pro-rebel Firat news agency. The conduit is expected to remain shut for about 15 days. (AFP, Aug. 8)

Canadian lawyers for Guantánamo detainee Omar Khadr filed suit with the Federal Court of Canada Aug. 8 demanding that Prime Minister Stephen Harper intervene on behalf of the 22-year-old Canadian citizen, who has spent the past six years at the military camp. Lawyers are asking the court to require that Harper demand Khadr's release before his military tribunal begins in October. Khadr was 15 when he was captured in a 2002 Afghan firefight. He is alleged to have thrown a grenade during that battle that fatally wounded a US soldier.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva said Aug. 4 he hopes an agreement may still emerge from the Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations. "I don't believe the round has failed. We still have enormous possibilities to negotiate," said Silva in a weekly radio address. The round was initiated in 2001 in Doha, Qatar, but collapsed July 29 at a meeting in Geneva, when the US, India and China failed to agree on agricultural policy. (Forbes, Aug. 5)

Bolivia reached a "friendly" agreement Aug. 8 to compensate Royal Dutch Shell for its stake in the nationalized gas pipeline company Transredes. The accord was signed by Energy Minister Carlos Villegas and Shell representative Jose Maria Linardi in the presence of President Evo Morales. The amount of the deal for Shell's stake in Transredes was not divulged by officials, but reports put the sum at $120.57 million. Bolivia's state-owned YPBF now assumes a 98% stake in Transredes, with the other 2% held by private partners. "YPBF has become owner of Shell's share in Transredes at a price established by the national government," Villegas said.

The Colombian government should ensure an independent investigation into misuse of the Red Cross emblem by security forces during the July 2 hostage rescue operation, Human Rights Watch said Aug. 7. A videotape made public Aug. 4 shows a soldier wearing a vest displaying the Red Cross emblem before the operation started. In response to images shown earlier of the soldier wearing the emblem during the operation, President Álvaro Uribe had said use of the emblem was a last-minute improvisation by a soldier, and not part of the plan. The new videotape contradicts those claims, suggesting that the Red Cross was deliberately misused from the start, in violation of Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions.

José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a prosecutor who oversaw Mexico's extradition of drug traffickers, resigned Aug. 4—the second senior crime fighter to quit in a week. Santiago was Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor for two decades before taking his current position as sub-prosecutor for international affairs in the office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR). Noé Ramírez resigned late last week as chief of the Special Sub-Prosecutor for Investigating Organized Delinquency (SIEDO), as part of a law enforcement shake-up by President Felipe Calderón. A US State Department statement welcomed the reorganization as part of the Mérida Initiative. (AP, El Informador, Mexico, Aug. 5; Milenio, Mexico, Aug. 3)