The popular major of Pollica, a town south of Naples on Italy's Tyrrhenian coast, was assassinated Sept. 6 next to his home in the fishing hamlet of Acciaroli. Angelo Vassallo, noted for his efforts to preserve the environment and for standing up to organized crime, was killed with nine lethal shots as he drove his car. Anti-mafia judge Raffaele Marino stressed that Vassallo paid for his stand on respect of the law.

Priciliano Rodríguez Salinas, mayor of Doctor González, a town outside Monterrey, Nuevo León, was shot to death Sept. 23. A group of armed men intercepted the PRI-affiliated mayor as he was arriving at his home near city hall. A companion who was with him in the vehicle was also killed. (Poder 360, Sept. 24)

Sponsor governments of the Middle East peace process called on Israel to extend its settlement moratorium. In a statement released Sept. 21, the Quartet—the US, EU, UN and Russia—called upon Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to extend the 10-month settlement freeze due to expire at the end of September. "The Quartet noted that the commendable Israeli settlement moratorium instituted last November has had a positive impact and urged its continuation," the statement read.

A Canadian-Iranian writer credited with starting the blogging movement in Iran faces the death penalty over his work, two watchdog groups said Sept. 23. Hossein Derakhshan was arrested after returning to Iran in November 2008 and charged with "collaborating with enemy states, creating propaganda against the Islamic regime, insulting religious sanctity, and creating propaganda for anti-revolutionary groups," according to the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and PEN Canada. According to the two organizations, prosecutors are now calling for Derakhshan to face the death penalty after he was convicted by Tehran's revolutionary court earlier this year. "The proposed sentence is a travesty," said CJFE president Arnold Amber, calling on the Canadian government to intervene. (AFP, Sept. 23)

From AP, Sept. 15:

Cops: Driver using GPS when bus hit NY bridge
SALINA, N.Y. — A double-decker bus driver may have been distracted by his own GPS device when he drove the vehicle into a railroad bridge in central New York, killing four passengers, authorities said Wednesday.

An armed commando of some 40 men with assault rifles ambushed a patrol of the State Ministerial Police (PME) in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero Sept. 18, killing eight and leaving a ninth seriously wounded. The police were attempting at arrest a homicide suspect in El Revelado, Teloloapan municipality, near the border with Mexico state. The bodies of some of the dead officers are reported to have been mutilated when they were recovered. (La Jornada Guerrero, BBC News, LAHT, Sept. 18)

Turkey allowed Armenians to hold mass Sept. 19 at the Church of the Holy Cross—an iconic 10th century landmark on Akdamar Island in Lake Van, southeast Anatolia—for the first time since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. Turkish officials hailed the service as a sign of tolerance and reconciliation. But the mass was attended by only some 1,000—a fraction of the 5,000 expected. An Armenian boycott saw thousands cancel their trips after Turkish authorities refused to display a 440-pound cross on the church's roof, claiming it was too heavy and could damage the structure. The 16.5-foot-tall cross instead was displayed next to the church's bell-tower. Worshippers were largely from the Armenian diaspora. Protests against the event were held at the Armenian genocide memorial at Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan, Armenia's capital; and among Armenians in Jerusalem.

Protesters in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval, symbolically demolished a "Wall of Lies" attached with news clips from the Western media about the Georgia war of two years ago. The wall was built near the former site of the local parliament building, demolished by Georgian forces in August 2008. The action came one day before the 20th anniversary South Ossetia's declaration of independence from Georgia, to be marked on Sept. 20. (Voice of Russia, Sept. 19) A car bomb in Vladikavkaz's central market Sept. 9 left 17 dead and scores wounded. The aftermath of the blast has seen protests by Ossetians against ethnic Ingush, who are apparently being blamed for the attack. (RFE/RL, Sept. 16; RT, Sept. 15)