The Associated Press reports Jan. 24 the arrest of police officers in Basra by British troops. What is not reported is that move has prompted an official protest from the Basra Governate. First, from the AP:

British troops launched a crackdown Tuesday on Basra's troubled police, arresting several officers in a force long believed infiltrated by extremist Shiite militiamen with ties to neighboring Iran.

Curbing militia power is considered crucial to building trust among Iraq's rival communities and establishing government authority, but finding a way to do it has proven elusive.

Fourteen people were detained in the early morning raids, British officials said. Nine were released but five others - all policemen - were jailed for alleged roles in murder and other crimes "connected to rival tribal and militia groups," British spokesman Maj. Peter Cripps said.

The trial of Saddam Hussein continues to get more problematic. From the London Times, Jan. 24:

THE court trying Saddam Hussein has replaced its chief judge a day before the former dictator returns to the dock. The Iraqi Special Tribunal yesterday named Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd from Halabja, where 5,000 died in a gas attack during an offensive by Saddam’s forces, to succeed Rizgar Amin.

Judge Amin, who is also Kurdish, quit after criticism of his handling of the dictator. Since the beginning of the trial Saddam’s tirades from the dock have delayed proceedings and angered many Iraqis, including senior politicians.

A victory for historical memory—doubtless motivated by the Turkish state's desire to gain EU entry. But as this Jan. 23 press release from Amnesty International makes clear, the greater victory will be when the law under which Orhan Pamuk was charged is repealed.

A glimmer of hope. But will the Supreme Court uphold it? From the Jan. 24 New York Times, via Mediachannel:

A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to release the names and nationalities of hundreds of prisoners detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, rejecting the government's argument that it would be a violation of their privacy and expose them to retaliation by terrorist groups.

You can almost feel blood pressures rising on Wall Street and in corporate board rooms. From Dow Jones Newswire, Jan. 23:

Bolivia Pres Names Cabinet; Marxist In Energy Post
Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday announced his 16-member Cabinet, which includes a Marxist journalist to drive Bolivia's energy policy and a street protest leader to head the new Ministry of Water.

The appointment of Andres Soliz Rada as Minister of Hydrocarbons could signal a tough fight for the multinational gas and oil companies operating in Bolivia.

Two explosions in North Ossetia near a border post between the Russian Federation and Georgia's unrecognized breakaway Republic of South Ossetia seriously damaged the main pipeline that supplies gas to Georgia and Armenia Jan 22. The FSB concluded it was caused by explosive charges equal to some 800 grams of TNT. The prosecutor's office of the Republic of North Ossetia reportedly suspects militants from neighboring Ingushetia. A third explosion in the Russian Federation's Karachaevo-Cherkessia Republic damaged the main power line supplying electricity from Russia to Georgia.

A conviction in a torture-killing in Iraq... But no prison sentence—just a "reprimand"...

FORT CARSON, Colo., Jan 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army jury on Monday ordered a military interrogator be reprimanded but not sent to prison for the killing of an Iraqi general who was stuffed head first into a sleep bag.

Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, the highest ranking Army official charged in the death of an Iraqi detainee, also was ordered to forfeit $6,000 in pay and given 60 days of restricted movement.

This one really takes the cake. William Blum's anti-imperialist tome Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower has shot up from 205,763 to 26 on Amazon.com's index of the most-ordered books since it was given a favorable review by Osama bin Laden. Wrote the acccused terror mastermind in his Jan. 19 communique: