NAFBPO: El Universal (Mexico City) 7/17/08 - This paper accessed "restricted circulation" reports of the DEA which show that the Sinaloa and Gulf narcotraffic cartels have contacted extremist groups in Iran to send "elite" thugs, mainly ex-military, to that country to receive training in weapons and explosives and that these contacts go back to 2005. Reportedly, they travel to Iran via flights from Venezuela. In Iran, the Revolutionary Guard furnishes advanced training in command, control, rockets, automatic weapons, sniper rifles and explosives.

July 17, 2008
Memri Special Dispatch
Lebanon
Iranian News Agency Press TV Publishes Excerpts From Nasrallah’s Speech on the July 16 Prisoners Exchange  
On July 16, 2008, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech on the occasion of the prisoners exchange. Excerpts published in English on the Iranian Press TV website are as follows.

June 24, 2008
The Lekarev Report
Olmert May Resign if Vote Passes Tomorrow

According to aides close to Prime Minister Olmert,  we are told that he will most likely submit his resignation to President Shimon Peres in the coming days should the motion calling for the Knesset's dissolution pass a preliminary vote tomorrow.  After some discussion yesterday in light of Olmert's threat to fire all the Labor ministers if they voted for dissolving the present government, Labor decided late yesterday to hold to their earlier decision to vote "Yes" to bring down the government.

June 22, 2008
Jonathan Spyer
The Jerusalem Post
 
Israel's announcement of a willingness for peace talks with Lebanon is one of the early fruits of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent visit to the region and her unexpected visit to Lebanon. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recent visit to Lebanon and upcoming visit to Israel is also crucial here.

June 23, 2008

By George Friedman
Stratfor
On June 20, The New York Times published a report saying that more than 100 Israeli aircraft carried out an exercise in early June over the eastern Mediterranean Sea and Greece. The article pointed out that the distances covered were roughly the distances from Israel to Iranian nuclear sites and that the exercise was a trial run for a large-scale air strike against Iran.

June 23, 2008
Memri Dispatch 1967
IAEA Chief ElBaradei: Iran Can Produce Enough Enriched Uranium for a Nuclear Bomb in Six Months to a Year
 The following are excerpts from an interview with IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei. The interview aired on Al-Arabiya TV on June 20, 2008. (To view this clip go to MEMRI TV).
If It Wants To Produce Nuclear Weapons, Iran Would Have To "Leave The NPT, Expel The IAEA Inspectors, And... It Would Need At Least Six Months to One Year"

June 22, 2008
Dani Reshef

British Special Forces operating on the border between Afghanistan and Iran have uncovered fresh evidence that Tehran is actively backing insurgents fighting UK troops.
 
Documented proof that Iran is supplying the Taliban with devastating roadside bomb-making equipment has been passed by British officials to Tehran, prompting fears that the war in Afghanistan may escalate into a regional armed conflict.

June 20, 2008
Afghanistan: Commission calls on U.S. Government to Insist that Spurious Blasphemy Charges Be Dropped
Right Side News

WASHINGTON—The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom calls on the U.S. government and its allies to seize every opportunity to press the government of Afghanistan to swiftly overturn the death sentence against Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, a 23-year-old Afghan student and journalist accused of blasphemy for his alleged connection to the procurement and dissemination of writings that comment critically on Islam and its treatment of women.