Every Wednesday you will find links and top-line summaries to current events around the globe.


Hitmen kill 10 Mexican police, 28 die in jail riot [Reuters]

- Suspected drug cartel hitmen killed 10 police officers and 28 inmates died in a prison gun battle on Monday in Mexico’s escalating war over the narcotics trade, security officials said. Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon, has emerged as a key battleground as the cult-like La Familia cartel fights other gangs and security forces for control of the mountainous state
- At least 23,000 people, mainly traffickers and police, have been killed in drug violence in Mexico since Calderon launched his army-led and U.S.-backed crackdown on traffickers after taking office in December 2006. Separately, in the Pacific state of Sinaloa, 28 prisoners were killed and three prison guards were injured in a gun battle between rival gangs inside a jail, the daily Universal reported. Sinaloa is the home turf of Mexico’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman
- Some investors have frozen funding for factories in cities on the U.S. border, especially in Ciudad Juarez, the most deadly place in the drug war and just across from El Paso, Texas. Last Friday was the most violent day yet of Calderon’s presidency with 70 drug-related killings, including the murders of 19 addicts at a rehabilitation clinic in the northern city of Chihuahua

US oil firms ‘unprepared’ for major offshore disaster [BBC]

- Major oil firms drilling off the US coastline are as unprepared as BP for a large-scale spill, the head of a Congressional panel has said. Edward Markey told the House energy and commerce sub-committee Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell all have identical response plans to BP
- A cap placed by BP on the damaged oil well earlier this month is now said to be collecting about 15,000 barrels daily. But US government and independent scientists now estimate that the most likely flow rate of oil is between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day – a sharp increase on the estimate of a week ago
- At issue were the choice for the design of the well, preparations for and tests of the cement job, and assurances that the well was properly sealed on the top. Among other things, BP apparently rejected advice of a sub-contractor, Halliburton, in preparing for a cementing job to close up the well

Israel sets up inquiry into deadly Gaza ship raid [Reuters]

- Israel’s cabinet approved on Monday an Israeli inquiry into a deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, responding to international demands for impartiality by putting two foreign observers on the panel. The decision coincided with growing signs that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was poised, under international pressure, to ease controls on the flow of goods into Israeli-blockaded Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians and run by Hamas Islamists
- Netanyahu’s cabinet voted unanimously to set up the commission headed by retired justice Jacob Turkel, the prime minister’s office said.It will include two other Israelis — an international law expert and a former general — and two non-voting foreign observers: David Trimble, a Northern Ireland politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Canadian jurist Ken Watkin
- The panel’s mandate, as stipulated in a statement on Sunday, does not include an examination of the Netanyahu government’s decision-making role in a raid that is regarded by many Israelis as a fiasco because of its planners’ apparent failure to gauge the strength of resistance on board the Turkish ship. Instead, it will examine whether the Gaza blockade and the flotilla’s interception conformed with international law and also investigate the actions taken by the convoy’s organizers and participants

World’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm, Thanet, officially unveiled [BBC]

- The world’s biggest offshore wind farm, expected to generate enough electricity to power 240,000 homes, is being officially unveiled off the Kent coast. With more than 90 of the planned 100 wind turbines installed, Thanet Wind Farm supplied power to the National Grid for the first time on 16 May
- The project, built by Swedish energy giant Vattenfall, is expected to be fully operational in the autumn. The construction vessel Resolution is currently working on the final few of the 380ft (115m) tall turbines being built seven miles (12km) off Foreness Point in Thanet. Construction began a year ago at the £780m wind farm, which can be seen from the coast on a clear day
- Thanet will hold the title of the biggest in the world for only a short time. The London Array project in the Thames Estuary, for which energy firm E.ON is a major backer, will enter its offshore construction phase next year. In all, up to 341 turbines will be installed over a four-year period.

In China, an Attempt at a Hollywood-Style Movie [New York Times]

- The movie has ancient Greek warriors, pirates, underwater kingdoms, a villain called the Demon Mage and mermaids that kill men during sex. There is a sultry Bond girl, too, playing the mermaid queen. Most of the actors are American, and the cameras use 3-D technology. But the movie, “Empires of the Deep,” is not another fantasy dreamed up by Hollywood. It is being conceived and shot here on the world’s largest studio set, north of Beijing
- China has been able to dominate one manufacturing industry after another but so far has not made significant inroads into the world’s most glamorous business. The producers say the budget for “Empires” is $100 million, less than Hollywood juggernauts but the biggest ever for a Chinese movie, surpassing John Woo’s dynastic war epic, “Red Cliff.”
- The first movie by a mainland Chinese director that achieved wide global appeal was “Hero,” the 2004 swordplay spectacle directed by Zhang Yimou that earned $177 million worldwide. Mr. Zhang quickly became the favorite director of government officials and remains the most famous mainland Chinese director in the world. No movie made by a mainland director has surpassed the international earnings of “Hero.” But even to Chinese audiences, Hollywood products like “Avatar” and “Transformers” are still much more popular

Evidence of Plans for Kyrgyz Violence [New York Times]

- Violence ebbed on Tuesday and people began emerging from their barricaded homes in Kyrgyzstan’s ethnically torn south, as evidence mounted that days of brutal bloodletting had been deliberately organized to ignite long-running tensions between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. A spokesman for the commissioner, said the attacks — which left at least 100 dead and 100,000 or more Uzbeks as refugees — were “orchestrated, targeted and well planned,” not a spontaneous outbreak of ethnic violence
- As humanitarian aid began to flow into a south depleted of supplies, the office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights said its investigators believed that the conflict may have been touched off by five coordinated attacks by separate groups of armed men last Thursday night in different parts of Osh, the largest city in the south
- Mr. Bakiyev fled this region in April, taking up exile in Belarus. His opponents, though, have feared that he was not finished here, given his family’s business interests and long hold on power in the south of this nation. Kyrgyzstan houses both American and Russian military bases. Mr. Bakiyev’s opponents contend that he provoked the conflict between majority Kyrgyz and minority Uzbek to destabilize the fragile interim government and try to return to office. Mr. Bakiyev has denied any involvement

Iraq’s new parliament convenes [Reuters]

- Iraq’s parliament convened on Monday for the first time since a March election, cloaked by heavy security a day after gunmen and suicide bombers raided the central bank in a sign of continued lawlessness and instability
- The inaugural parliamentary session more than three months after the March 7 vote was a major step toward the establishment of a government but it appeared likely it would still take weeks for politicians to agree on a prime minister and other posts. The newly elected lawmakers met for barely 20 minutes to take their oaths of office before dispersing to continue talks
- The 325-member parliament will be tasked with drafting legislation on a slew of issues as Iraq tries to move beyond the sectarian violence unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and set off on a path of economic development. The number of civilians killed each month since March has increased slowly but steadily, raising questions about whether the U.S. government can stick to its plan to end combat operations in August ahead of a full withdrawal in 2011

News Corp seeks to reel in BSkyB, rebuffed for now [Reuters]

- Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NWSA.O) is proposing to pay $12 billion to take full control of British satellite broadcaster BSkyB (BSY.L) as it seeks to generate steadier earnings and make better use of its cash pile. But BSkyB, founded more than 20 years ago by Murdoch and still chaired by his son James, demanded a higher offer on Tuesday for the 61% of BSkyB that News Corp does not already own
- Shares in BSkyB leapt as much as 22%, their biggest single-day jump for a decade, and were later up 17.15% at 703.5 pence on expectations a deal is likely. News Corp shares were up 7.24% at $14.07 on the Nasdaq at midday. Until a potential deal is approved by regulators, however, neither side plans to negotiate further on price, according to sources close to the talks. Approval could take up to a year
- Last month, Murdoch told investors during an earnings call that the company’s balance sheet was inefficient and he was looking at uses for its cash, including dividends, buybacks and debt repayments as well as investments in the business. News Corp executives said on Tuesday that a stock buyback would be unlikely before the BSkyB deal is settled

- India’s Clogged Rail Lines Stall Economic Progress [New York Times]
- Emerging economies ‘to enjoy food production boom’ [BBC]
- N. Korea Warns of Response to U.N. [New York Times]
- The Genome at 10: Awaiting the Genome Payoff [New York Times]

Photograph by AP / D. Dalton Bennett


Ethnic Uzbek gather near the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border in southern Kyrgyzstan, on Saturday, June 12, 2010, trying to seek refuge in Uzbekistan from mobs of Kyrgyz men attacking the minority Uzbek community.

via The Frame: Uzbeks flee ethnic clashes in Krgyzstan

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