Lengthy read at IHT on the importance of opium in Afghanistan.

Strikes in Kuwait.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has given three days to the company of the striking Bangladeshi cleaners to resolve their problems, failing which 'stern action will taken against it,' says Shariar Siddiky, the Labour Attache at the Bangladesh embassy. Speaking to the Arab Times, following a meeting with the ministry officials, the labour attache added that the manager of the company has given in writing that it will fulfill all the demands of the workers except for one; that includes sacking of some officials who were reportedly maltreating the cleaners. When asked what action the ministry will take against the company in case it fails to honour the agreement, Siddiky said the ministry has warned the company that it would transfer the residencies of its workers to other companies, even as 'a lot of cleaning companies are in urgent need of workers.'

It's surprising how little press this is getting. Maybe that's a good thing.

Turkey's air force has bombed several bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the Turkish military says.

The raids focused on PKK hideouts in the Zap area along the Turkey-Iraq border, a region considered to be a major stronghold for Kurdish fighters, the Turkish military said in a statement on Thursday.

"All 13 targets were successfully hit," it said, without giving a figure on how many PKK fighters died in the raids.

"Operations as part of the fight against terrorism will continue with determination both at home and abroad."

Ya think that Obama will have to answer any questions on this?

Top Pentagon leaders are expected soon to recommend to Defense Secretary Robert Gates which additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan over the next month or so, according to a senior military official.

The units are likely to be small and could include engineers, ordnance disposal troops and other support forces needed to shore up fighting needs and the training of Afghan forces. Officials have not ruled out identifying a larger, brigade-sized unit before the end of the year that could either be shifted to Afghanistan from a planned deployment to Iraq or moved from some other location.

U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have been asking for three combat brigades, or roughly 10,000 more troops, to help quash rising violence there.

This is the kind of thing that Obama will provide a different answer for each different group.

Canadian security taking this seriously.

The Canadian government hedged on allowing a Sudanese-Canadian terror suspect to return to appease the U.S. government, the Globe and Mail reported Thursday.

Classified intelligence documents seen by the newspaper said Abousfian Abdelrazik is on the U.S. no-fly list of suspected Islamic terrorists and indicate a reluctance to allow him a return to Canada.

Abdelrazik has been living in the lobby of the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum for almost three months awaiting a return to Canada but documents reveal international relations don't bode well for him, the Globe and Mail said.

"Senior government of Canada officials should be mindful of the potential reaction of our U.S. counterparts to Abdelrazik's return to Canada as he is on the U.S. no-fly list," the documents say. "Continued cooperation between Canada and the U.S. in the matters of security is essential."

Abdelrazik is also on the U.N. travel ban list of suspected terrorists, the Globe said.

Israel starting to look like Iran?

The Jerusalem girls' dance troupe told to wear hair coverings and long clothing for its performance at the inauguration of the bridge at the capital's entrance is planning on suing the Jerusalem Municipality for NIS 500,000, an attorney for the group said Wednesday.

The Jerusalem girls' dance troupe that performed at the 'Bridge of Strings' inauguration ceremony on Wednesday was forced to wear knitted hats and long clothing, thr troupe's director says.

The clothing controversy, which led to screaming headlines in the Hebrew press such as "Iran is here," brought the sensitive issue of alleged religious coercion by the capital's haredi-run city hall to a fore in an election year, and galvanized the main opposition party in the city.

The girls, who ranged in age from 13 to 16, were informed by production organizers several hours before the event that at the municipality's instruction they had to change their dress.

Get the UN involved. That'll help.

The U.N. Security Council will hold a special meeting on a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand that has sparked fears of a military clash, France and Vietnam said on Wednesday.

French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters the council discussed a request by Cambodia to take up the issue, adding that council members would likely decide on Thursday on the date and format for the meeting.

"We are worried about the situation and the potential tension," said Ripert, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency until the end of the year.

More hope shattered.

A fiery Muslim scholar and former army colonel that the United States has accused of having links to al-Qaeda said Wednesday he has taken over leadership of Somalia's opposition alliance.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys - who denies any links to violence - said he deposed the former chairman, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, because Ahmed had signed a UN-brokered peace deal with the government.

"From now on I will be the leader," Aweys told the Associated Press by telephone, adding that the opposition decided to remove Ahmed as chairman "because of his misuse of the leadership."

Analysts say Ahmed was seen by Somalia's government and other countries as a religious moderate and more accommodating to compromise than Aweys.

Day by Day

Curses! Foiled again.

John McCain's adviser, economist and former Sen. Phil Gramm, got canned for suggesting that the only recession we had was "mental."

Turns out, he's right.

The U.S. in the second quarter, while not booming, seems to be growing quite nicely, thank you. Not even close to recession.

A consensus estimate of economists by Bloomberg puts second-quarter GDP at about 2.2%. First Trust Advisors' Brian Wesbury, who is admittedly at the extreme end of the expectations spectrum, thinks GDP growth will be 3%.

Not only not a recession, but quite respectable.

I'm guessing that this won't make the news.

Protester sticks to Gordon Brown.

A protester who wanted his message to stick managed to superglue himself to the British prime minister Tuesday evening.

Dan Glass was at 10 Downing Street to receive a charity's award for his work on transportation issues when he staged the unusual protest.

Just before Prime Minister Gordon Brown presented him with the award, Glass squirted superglue in the palm of his left hand. He shook Brown's right hand and then grabbed the prime minister's sleeve.

Video at the link above.

Speaking of Turkey - the arrests continue.

Police in Turkey have arrested a further 20 people over a suspected plot to overthrow the government, according to Turkish media reports.

The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into a shadowy ultra-nationalist group known as Ergenekon.

Eighty-six people have already been charged with involvement in the group. ...

... Among those detained were three senior members of a small leftist party and a journalist.

Turkey on Security Council?

Turkey, which is attempting to secure a two-year term on the UN Security Council, appears to be well placed to succeed in its bid, according to a foreign policy expert.

Turkey's previous efforts to win a temporary seat on the 15-member Security Council have mostly failed in the past because of the fact that the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), the UN regional group to which Turkey belongs, is full of powerful countries, according to Sedat Laciner, head of the Ankara-based Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK). Ankara is competing with two more candidates in the WEOG, namely Iceland and Austria, to win one of the two seats reserved for the group.

The French are finally coming around.

The latest gastronomic sensation in France is the burger - and not just any beef patty in a bun. Only the McDo will do. You can ignore anti-globalisation protests, French cultural snobbery and antipathy over Iraq, the monkeys have not merely surrendered but are prostrating themselves at the Golden Arch.

McDonald's has conquered the last bastion of global resistance to American cuisine and it has the turnover and profits to prove it. In 2007, its French revenues increased by 11 per cent to E3 billion (L2.3 billion), almost 10 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

Even more astonishing, France is leading the field for McDonald's in Europe; its profitability is ahead of Britain and showing a clean pair of heels to the stagnating American market. The double-digit sales growth continued in the first quarter and there is evidence that the Big Mac is outpacing rivals in the French fast-food arena.

But this is stupid.