A U.N.-declared cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel went into effect this morning after a brutal escalation in violence over the weekend. Prospects for sustaining the cease-fire appear “dim” and assembling the international military force in Lebanon “is expected to take at least two or three weeks.”
Despite a “months-long push” to search for militants in “every house and business, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood,” sectarian violence continues to rock Baghdad. “Car bombs and a rocket barrage struck a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing at least 62 people” today.
Illinois has dropped a referendum to ban gay marriage from its November ballot. State officials say supporters say failed to gather enough valid signatures.
“Violence against women in Afghanistan is widespread and mainly happens inside victims’ homes,” according to a report from the U.N. Development Fund for Women. “Acts of violence (against women) are happening with impunity,” the report said.
Saqib Ali, a Muslim candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates, is being protested by a man who sits outside Ali’s house “with a sign reading ‘Islam sucks,’ and a shirt with the slogan, ‘This mind is an Allah-free zone.’”
Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) made a tax-free profit of $10 million from land sold to the city of Monrovia by claiming that the city “had forced him to sell the property under threat of eminent domain.” Just one problem: “Monrovia officials say that Miller sold the land willingly and that they didn’t threaten to force him to sell.”
“Rich countries have largely failed to back their voluble lip service to combating global poverty by doing more to help,” according to the Center for Global Development. The U.S. ranked 13 of out 21 countries “according to how their policies on overseas aid, trade, security, the environment, migration, technology and investment help poor nations.”
The Christian Science Monitor has begun an 11-part series by Jill Carroll, who was kidnapped and held for three months by insurgents in Baghdad.
And finally: Two Wisconsin candidates for attorney general brought civility back to politics after a debate between them got a little heated. “That’s why you suck, Paul, because you only listen to people who agree with you,” J.B. Van Hollen told Paul Bucher. “I don’t suck,” Bucher responded. The two made up over fax last Friday after Van Hollen apologized.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
Previous in TP Politics
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.