Sweden has re-opened the rape investigation against Wikileaks leader Julian Assange. Prosecutors issued the first arrest warrant for rape on August 20, but withdrew it less than 24 hours later and explicitly said they had no reason to suspect that Assange raped anyone. The accuser’s lawyer appealed that decision, and the investigation is back on. Assange maintains that the allegations against him are being orchestrated by intelligence operatives to punish him for leaking classified documents about the war in Afghanistan.

Two Yemenis who were arrested in the Netherlands for allegedly carrying suspicious but non-lethal items in their checked baggage have been released without charge. The men attracted suspicion because they changed their itineraries abruptly (due to missing their original flights, as it turned out) and because of the unusual items (e.g., a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle) in their bags, which were headed to different destinations than they were.

Twenty-two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since last Friday. McClatchy attributes the uptick to a “major stepup” in the U.S. offensive against the Taliban. U.S. officials say the casualties are rising as they intensify their attacks on the Taliban in the south and the allied <a href=”http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/haqqani.htm”>Haqqani network</a> in the east.