MEXICO CITY, Jul 19 2021 (IPS)* – In June, the Department of Homeland Security made a critical announcement. For the first time in U.S. history, more than 15 national and local agencies and civilian organizations conducted a simultaneous major binational operation to find missing children inside and outside the United States.
Rosi Orozco
They called it “Operation Lost Souls”. Its objective was to find girls and boys who were missing and possibly deceived or kidnapped by sexual exploitation gangs.
The secret operation lasted a week. And the result announced by Special Agent Erik Breitzke surprised even the organizers: 24 minors were recovered and, among them, three were located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
There are serious gaps in our knowledge about how violent extremists get their hands on weapons and money.
Far right supporters commemorate the death of Benito Mussolini on 2 May 2021 | Piero Cruciatti/Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved.
18 July 2021 (openDemocracy)* — In the 1970s and early 1980s, Italy was plagued by a spate of violence and deadly terrorist attacks – the so-called “Years of Lead” (anni di piombo).
Technology is the answer! But what is the question?
London’s great smog of 1952 which led to thousands of deaths from inhaling coal smoke on which Britain relied for electricity | Image fromWall Street International.
July 2021 (Wall Street International)* — In the 19th and 20th centuries most, new technologies were equated with our societies’ progress. We loved electricity, automobiles, airplanes, telephones, radio, television, the Internet and space exploration.
Pegasus: Human rights-compliant laws needed to regulate spyware
Unsplash/Chris Yang | The UN says it’s concerned about the potential misuse of surveillance technology to illegally undermine people’s human rights.
(UN News)* — The UN human rights chief on 19 July 2021 said the apparent widespread use of Pegasus spy software to illegally undermine the rights of those under surveillance, including journalists and politicians, was “extremely alarming” and confirmed “some of the worst fears” surrounding the potential misuse of such technology.
20 July 2021 (UN News)* — Survivors of a massacre of mainly Muslims in the former Yugoslavia, and people associated with the perpetrators of what has become known as the Srebrenica genocide, have been telling their stories in a new exhibition by the United Nations, released 26 years after the events took place.
ICTY/Isabella Tan Hui Huang | Items recovered in a warehouse in the former Yugoslavia where men and boys were held, were used as evidence in trials at the ICTY.
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Some 8,000 boys and men were killed by Bosnian Serb forces when they overran the town of Srebrenica during a regional war in the Balkans in July 1995, the largest atrocity on European soil since the Second World War..The exhibition in the form of a timeline, explains how the genocide was planned and carried out.
Only the leaders of the region’s extremist movements have cause for optimism about the future
After 20 years, in which more than 2,400 troops lost their lives, the US is withdrawing from Afghanistan | Nelvin C. Cepeda/U-T San Diego/ZUMA Wire/Alamy
17 July 2021 (openDemocracy)* — On Monday 12 July, the head of US military operations in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, completed his deployment and handed over to Marine General Frank McKenzie. In a telling change of command, McKenzie will be based thousands of miles away from Afghanistan in Tampa, Florida, where he heads US Central Command.
The Communist Party of China has always surmounted difficulties with fortitude | Image from Wall Street International.
17 July 2021 (Wall Street International)* — The contrasts are apparent between the two poles of power in the world.
In Beijing, there were huge celebrations, with fanfare and fireworks, marking 100 years of the founding of what is today the world’s largest political party (95 million members), holding power for the longest duration (72 years), in the most populous country of the world (1.4 billion).
July 2021 — In this moment of great challenge and terrible danger for South Africa, it is imperative for everyone who calls this country home to be part of finding solutions and making a future that is liveable for all.
Members of the public paying their respects outside Mandela’s Houghton home | Robert Dennison | CC BY 2.0
The temptation at times like this is to become paralysed, or to look away, or to give up. Our call is to honour Madiba in this month of Mandela Day by stepping up.
(UN News)* — Nelson Mandela International Day is an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of “a legendary global advocate for dignity, equality, justice and human rights”, the UN chief said on 18 July 2021.
Unsplash/John-Paul Henry | Nelson Mandela International Day recognizes his struggle for democracy and a culture of peace throughout the world.
“Nelson Mandela International Day is an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of a legendary global advocate for dignity, equality, justice and human rights.
London’s great smog of 1952 which led to thousands of deaths from inhaling coal smoke on which Britain relied for electricity | Image from 
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 