Heavy fighting is reported between the Syrian army and opposition activists in central Homs province, as anti-government protests continue. In Rastan, seven soldiers and police were reportedly killed battling troops who have defected to the opposition. At least 11 protesters were killed after thousands took to the streets after Friday prayers Sept. 30, activists said. (BBC News, Sept. 30) European nations have meanwhile dropped an explicit threat of sanctions against the Syrian regime in a bid to win Russian support for what would be the first UN resolution condemning the military crackdown on civilian protesters. Europeans diplomats meanwhile appealed to all sides in Syria "to reject violence and extremism." (UKPA, Sept. 30)

A military court in Bahrain sentenced a group of medical staff to up to 15 years in prison Sept. 29 for treating anti-government protesters. The doctors and nurses were convicted on charges including incitement to overthrow the government, stealing medicine and occupying a hospital. Dr. Fatima Hadji told the BBC she was beaten in custody and threatened with rape before being released on bail. At least 30 people were killed and hundreds injured when the regime, supported by troops rushed in from neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in March. (Radio Australia, Sept. 30)

US-born purported al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki was killed Sept. 30 in a drone strike outside the town of Khashef in Yemen's Jawf province. At least three of al-Awlaki’s companions were also killed in the same strike, including fellow US citizen Samir Khan, editor of the slick al-Qaeda magazine Inspire. President Obama hailed the killing as "a major blow to al-Qaeda's most active operational affiliate," saying the death "marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al Qaeda." American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer said the killing was part of a US counter-terrorism program that "violates both US and international law."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sept. 28 rejected Western and Arab complaints that the newly announced construction of 1,100 Jewish homes in Gilo on annexed land close to East Jerusalem would hurt efforts to revive the peace process. "Gilo is not a settlement nor an outpost," Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said. "It is a neighborhood in the very heart of Jerusalem about five minutes from the center of town." He asserted that in every peace plan on the table over the past 18 years Gilo "stays part of Jerusalem and therefore this planning decision in no way contradicts" the Israeli government's stated desire for peace based on a two-state solution.

More than 160 people were arrested in Bulgaria Sept. 27, in a second night of protests against the Balkan country's large Roma minority. The protests were sparked by the hit-and-run killing of a 19-year-old man by an apparent associate of the local self-proclaimed "Gypsy King" Kiril Rashkov in the village of Katunitsa near Plovdiv, but quickly spread to cities and towns throughout the country. (See map.) Protests dwindled the night of the 28th, after Rashkov was arrested. More than 2,000 marched in Sofia at the height of the protests. At least one incident of skinheads attacking a Roma man and his young son was reported, in the town of Blagoevgrad. Residents of Blagoevgrad's Roma neighborhood, hearing of the assault, armed themselves with axes and sticks and attempted to march on the center of the town to confront the protesters, but were blocked by police.

Bolivia's Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti became the latest cabinet member to resign Sept. 28 in the wake of police repression of an indigenous protest in the Amazonian rainforest zone of the country. Llorenti, the target of much criticism, said he was stepping down because he did not want to be "a tool of the right, of the opposition, which intends to attack the process of structural transformations." Other officials to step down in the aftermath of the violence include Defense Minister Cecilia Chacón and several ruling party lawmakers. Llorenti was immediately replaced by Wilfredo Chávez, a close ally of President Evo Morales who until now has served as deputy government coordination minister. Ruben Saavedra, meanwhile, was chosen to resume leadership of the Defense Ministry. He had left that post in April to lead Bolivia's legal fight against Chile to regain access to the Pacific Ocean.

Peru's national government pledged to establish formal talks between Southern Copper and the regional government of Tacna region to resolve a dispute over scarce water resources. Authorities in Tacna say they want Southern Copper to stop using groundwater that it relies on to operate two of its copper mines, at Toquepala and Cajone. Tacna's president, Guillermo Chocano, said mines in the desert region should rely on desalinated seawater instead. The regional government has called for a halt to protests to give the government time to respond to its demand that approval of an environmental impact study on the planned expansion of operations at the Toquepala be suspended. But he and provincial mayors promised a strike to shut down the region next week if their demand is not met. "We are ready to open a working group on this," Prime Minister Salomon Lerner told reporters. "The strike won't go forward." He suggested the use of desalinated sea water rather than scarce groundwater for operations at the mines. (Reuters, Sept. 28; RPP, Sept. 27)

Police in Mexico's resort city of Acapulco found five decomposing human heads left in a sack outside a primary school in the Garita neighborhood on Sept. 26. Handwritten messages were also found, apparently threatening the state governor as well as local drug lords. Five decapitated bodies were earlier found elsewhere in the city. Some 100 schools in Acapulco have been closed since last month with teachers on strike in response to extortion threats from criminal gangs who demanded they hand over half their salaries from Oct. 1. Guerrero state Gov. Angel Aguirre has promised increased police patrols and the installation of security cameras and panic buttons at schools.