multilateral (ir)relevance [generally assembling]

LAT: Italy deploys troops after mafia violence near Naples
"This time authorities are responding to months of deadly violence attributed to the Casalesi, a Camorra clan whose wild, swaggering exploits contrast with the brutal but more disciplined and discreet style of the Sicilian Mafia. Recent killings in Castelvolturno, a hub of the drug trade in Caserta province, also reflects the new ethnic structure of a criminal underworld that is being reshaped by immigration.

On Thursday, four men killed the owner of an amusement arcade in Castelvolturno. The assailants then drove to a clothing store operated by West African immigrants and fired hundreds of rounds into the store, killing three Ghanians, two Liberians and a man from Togo. On Monday, police arrested a suspect linked to the Casalesi clan.

The slayings set off riots by African immigrants, tens of thousands of whom have settled in the region.

Prosecutors suspect that the shootings stemmed from a clash over drug turf. As cocaine smuggled into Europe increasingly arrives via West Africa, criminals from that region have carved out a role in the underworld in places such as Caserta. The Neapolitan mafia collects "taxes" from Africans, Albanians and other immigrant gangs engaged in drug dealing, prostitution and other crimes in its territory."

BBC: Pakistan police kill 6 in protests against military operations in the northwest
BBC: group claims responsibility for suicide bomb in Islamabad last week
WP: Afghanistan wants joint operations with US and Pakistan

CSM: Iraq insurgents underground, not gone
"Facing a local population that has grown intolerant of AQI's indiscriminate acts of violence, many operatives like Mr. Wasit have gone underground – some have even formed sleeper cells in the Iraqi security forces. Members now only emerge from hiding to conduct high-profile attacks. Though this strategic shift has created an apparently less active AQI, the group has not given up the fight in Iraq and will likely remain a threat here for years."

BBC: UN says LRA has 90 child hostages in Congo

BBC: Nigeria militants claim air attacks have been launched against them, 3 days after they enacted a unilateral cease-fire
"[The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta] declared a ceasefire after appeals from local leaders, but it warned it would end the truce if attacked by the army again.

"Mend will not play into the hands of the military by retaliating and putting the peace process in jeopardy at this time," the group said in an e-mailed statement, Reuters news agency reports."

BBC: violence flares in Mogadishu, peacekeepers targeted

BBC: Somalia, other war-torn countries, top new ranking of most corrupt states

NYT: Burma political prisoner freed after 19 years in solitary confinement

BBC: fighting escalates in northern Sri Lanka as troops move against the LTTE; UN aid worker recounts withdrawal

BBC: the distribution of East Timor's resource wealth
"Oil and gas revenues currently make up more than 95% of the government's income and there is a pressing need to create a more stable mainstream economy for when those resources run out.

But most of the extra money in this year's budget was to enable the government to subsidise rice and fuel prices - not exactly a contribution to Timor's long-term growth.

And the finance minister herself admits this was more about avoiding potential instability than building a future economy."

Gdn: anti-government blogger imprisoned in Malaysia

WP: US offers aid to Cuba for first time in 47 years, following hurricanes - but so far it's rejected
"Our country cannot accept a donation from the government that blockades us," [Fidel Castro] wrote recently in Granma, the party's daily newspaper. "The damage of thousands of lives, suffering, and more than $200 billion that the blockade and the aggression of the Yankees has cost us -- they can't pay for that with anything."
But, the aid conversation on the US side might open opportunity to soften or end the embargo.

Gdn: Japan confirms Taro Aso new prime minister

BBC: Luo politicians undergo circumcision, against tradition, to support anti-HIV measures in Kenya

Gdn: landmark: it's the last time Bush will ever represent the US at the UN General Assembly
"The US president - who ultimately ignored the UN in pressing ahead with the 2003 invasion of Iraq - said the scale of the threat illustrated that the UN and other multilateral organisations 'are needed more urgently than ever.'"