Reports in the Nigerian press indicate that the European Union, Russia and China are all wooing the government for rights to build the proposed $21 billion Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project, which would export gas from the Niger Delta to Europe through Niger and Algeria. The sources claimed that the EU, which had previously displayed skepticism on the project, renewed its interest following fears that Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, has approached Nigeria over the contract—and could thereby tighten its grip on European energy supplies. The pipeline project was first proposed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but has met with skepticism due to ongoing unrest in the Niger Delta, Sahel and Maghreb. (BBC World Service; Punch, Nigeria, Sept. 18)

The UN General Committee, which sets the agenda for the General Assembly, voted unanimously Sept. 18 to approve a Serbian resolution calling for a review of Kosova's declared independence. The resolution, opposed by the US and UK, next goes before the General Assembly. If approved there, Kosova's independence would go before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

At least 23 inmates have been killed and scores wounded in days of rioting at the overcrowded La Mesa prison in the Mexican border city of Tijuana. Violence first broke out Sept. 14 during family visiting hours after a prisoner died inside, apparently at the hands of guards. Prisoners took advantage of the greater mobility afforded by the visiting hours to seize work implements such as picks and shovels to use as weapons, and set mattresses on fire with cigarette lighters. Four prisoners were killed in the initial outbreak; the remainder met their deaths as Baja California state police stormed the prison Sept. 18. Authorities said prisoners also used firearms, but no guards were among the casualties.

Unknown assailants lobbed grenades through the crowded town square in Morelia, Michoacán, during Independence Day celebrations Sept. 15, killing seven people and injuring more than 100. The first explosion hit just after 11 PM as bells began to ring across Mexico and Michoacán's Gov. Leonel Godoy was delivering the traditional "grito" of independence before thousands of revelers. President Felipe Calderón, whose hometown is Morelia and has mobilized thousands of soldiers to Michoacán to fight drug gangs, delivered a nationwide address the next day calling on Mexicans to unite against the cartels. "On this national holiday, there are cowards hidden in the crowds of patriotic people that have converted joy into sadness and the happiness of Mexican families into sorrow," he said. (NYT, Sept. 17)

Bolivia's government said Sept. 17 it had recovered full control of the country's network of natural gas pipelines after 17 days of anti-government protests. Protesters who occupied the Vuelta Grande natural gas processing plant and a pipeline control station in the southern Chaco region of Chuquisaca department surrendered the facilities early Wednesday after the government signed a deal to start talks with opposition leaders. "Today, the pipeline to Argentina has been reopened and full pumping levels will be reached starting on Friday," an Energy Ministry said in a statement.

The US military said Sept. 17 that three soldiers have been charged with premeditated murder committed in an unspecified incident in or near Baghdad in March or April 2007. Sgt. John E. Hatley, 40, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo, 27, and Sgt. Michael P. Leahy, 26, all formerly assigned to the 1st Batallion, 18th Infantry Regiment, are also charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and obstruction of justice. Two of the soldiers had said in sworn statements that the three had killed four handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqi prisoners with pistol shots to the head beside a Baghdad canal. Hatley and Leahy have also been charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder over a separate incident in or near Baghdad in early January 2007, according to the statement from the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command based in Graefenwoehr, Germany. (AFP, BBC, Sept. 17)

The number of confirmed cases of cholera has risen to 107 in central and southern parts of Iraq since an outbreak of the disease in late August. Ihssan Jaafar, director of Iraq's Public Health Directorate, said cases have been confirmed in Baghdad, Babil, Karbala, Najaf, Diyala, Basra and Maysan. Jaafar said health authorities are raising awareness about the disease through posters and TV spots. (IRIN, Sept. 18)

Presumed al-Qaeda militants attacked the US Embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana Sept. 17, exploding a car bomb and firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in an assault that left 16 dead—six militants, six guards and four civilians. Three police officers and seven civilians were injured, including children in a residential compound across the street from the embassy. It was the deadliest attack on a compound that has been targeted four times in recent years by bombings, mortars and shootings. With the attackers—some dressed in army uniforms—unable to penetrate the compound's massive security barriers, civilians waiting in line for visas outside the embassy were among the casualties. Susan Elbaneh, 18, a US citizen from Lackawanna, NY, recently wed in Yemen in an arranged marriage, was killed along with her husband. (AP, Sept. 17; The Scotsman, Sept. 18)